Pursuit of the Truth

The moment the hand swung down, a thunderous roar resounded between heaven and earth. Ripples immediately appeared in the space between the arm and the people in the field. Shi Hai and the others jolted, as if a huge force fell on their bodies. One by one, the Qi within their bodies erupted and broke. Their faces turned pale. and they fell to the ground, coughing out a mouthful of blood. They may not have died, but they felt as if their entire bodies had just erupted, and they could not stand.

”Still alive? Looks like I can’t look down on a tribe born from the weaker branch of the Great Tribe of Man Miao. After all, there is still some blood of the Great Tribe of Man Miao left within you…” As the gruesome voice echoed in the air, some unknown method was used within the mist, causing the mythical beast’s roars to be tainted with a hint of pain.

”It’s not hard to obtain a sealed Great Bird… This seal has already limited half of your power to begin with, let’s see how you’ll resist now!” There was a hint of joy within the gloomy voice.

Yet at that moment, a low roar travelled from the distance.

”Thief! How dare you harm our holy mountain!” As the sound travelled through, Wind Stream Tribe’s Elder, Jing Nan, came in, roaring in anger. Behind him was the beautiful but icy cold woman clad in purple. The woman may have already been middle-aged, but her beauty was not tarnished. At that moment, there was a baleful look in her eyes, and within it was a look of similar anger and killing intent towards the intruder.

When they arrived, they rushed into the crack and entered the black mist surrounding Wind Stream Mountain without hesitation. Very soon, thunderous roars that shook through the skies and earth travelled out from within the black mist. At one point, Jing Nan also let out a low growl.

Su Ming did not know about everything that was happening within Wind Stream Tribe. Even if he did, he would not have paid attention to it. To him, the most important thing at that moment was to return to his tribe at the fastest speed he could muster.

He wanted to see whether his tribe was still around…

He wanted to see whether his tribe members were still safe…

Once the bout of nervousness, anxiety, and madness was over, he became quiet. He ran across the snowy land in silence. A long time had passed since the elder left the place. The sky was still in a state between darkness and dawn. Su Ming knew that with the dark python’s speed, the elder and the others might have already returned to the tribe a long time ago.

”Please be safe…” Su Ming’s feet continued bounding on the ground as he ran at the fastest speed in his life.

The speed at which he ran was so quick that the moment anyone saw him approaching, within the blink of an eye, he would have already disappeared into the distance. He did not care about consequences as he ran. He even forgot about his own fatigue, and to make himself run faster, he continued making all 243 blood veins that surrounded his body burst forth in power to give him more strength, which allowed him to go even faster.

The moment the sky turned completely bright and the sun began rising as light shone on the land and a silver light was reflected off the surface of the snow covering the ground, Su Ming had already ran out of the region belonging to Wind Stream Tribe and rushed into a dried up forest. He was near the trading square he went to some time ago.

He would have needed half a day to reach this place with the speed he had in the past, yet now, as he ran silently, he used less than four hours to cover this distance.

To others, that speed would be so incredibly fast, it would leave them in awe, but Su Ming still felt that it was too slow!

He no longer roared, but instead ran through the forest silently as veins popped out on his legs. He would suddenly take a leap forward and use the momentum to continue dashing forward. As he continued running nonstop, Su Ming was drenched in sweat. Not only were his legs hurting, every part of his body was beginning to feel pain.

Time passed by slowly. When noon was around the corner, snow stopped falling from the sky. There were no clouds, and the sky was clear. Yet there was a person running silently within the forest. Even his sweat could not travel down his skin and was flung back due to his speed.

The only thing supporting Su Ming now was determination and persistence. He was worried about the safety of his tribe and its members. He could not describe his current feelings. It was as if his body was drained and he was only running due to his persistence.

The distance which Su Ming would have needed an entire night to cover by running without stopping in the past was now breached by the time it was noon with Su Ming’s current mad dash. Gradually, Su Ming’s eyes were filled with agitation and anxiety.

He was getting close to the tribe. The sounds of his heartbeat echoed through his entire body, causing his anxiety and anticipation to become much stronger. He was afraid that he would see his tribe in ruins, and he would see his tribe members’ corpses lying on the ground.

He was afraid, but his speed did not decrease. A swift and fierce strength grew in his body instead.

When the outline of Dark Mountain Tribe appeared in his eyes from a distance, Su Ming trembled, and tears fell from his eyes.

From a distance, he saw that the gate to the tribe had collapsed. Many parts of the great wooden fence surrounding the tribe were also broken. There were even wisps of black smoke rising from within the tribe, a clear sign that there had been a fire.

The tribe was not silent. A large number of tribe members seemed to have gathered together.

When he saw that his tribe members were safe, Su Ming’s anxiety was slightly placated. Yet following that was a killing intent directed towards his enemies who dared to destroy Dark Mountain Tribe.

Su Ming dashed towards the tribe. Before he even got closer, he was seen by the Warriors who were part of the tribe’s hunting party. They immediately became cautious, but when they saw Su Ming’s face, they relaxed and could not find it within themselves to hide the fatigue on their faces.

Su Ming cried as he returned to the tribe. He walked past the gate that had been blown to pieces. He walked into the tribe and saw the fatigue on the hunters’ faces. He saw dozens of corpses gathered on the ground in the center of the tribe.

Those corpses were all people Su Ming was familiar with. Those were his tribe members. The people weeping by their bodies were their families. As their cries echoed in the tribe, it stabbed Su Ming’s heart, and the pain he felt made him think that he was about to bleed.

He saw sadness on the faces of the normal members of the tribe. They were packing their belongings in fear and uncertainty before running towards where they were supposed to gather.

On the young La Sus’ youthful faces, he saw tears, dread, and fear as they held tightly to their mothers’ hands. It was as if they were afraid that the moment they let go, they would never be able to hold their hands again…

Many of the houses within the tribe had collapsed. The ground was a mess. There were terrifying bloodstains covering parts of the ground, a clear sign that a battle had just occurred here some time ago.

As Su Ming continued looking at the sights before him, he clenched his fists. Hatred appeared in his eyes. That was a look of hate and killing intent that was rarely seen on a teenager that was not even seventeen years of age!

Su Ming’s tears continued falling. He saw the kind lady who lived next door sitting dumbly outside her ruined house. There was no one by her side… Her child had died, her husband too, had died… She was the only one left and sat there alone at a loss.

When Su Ming looked over, he could clearly feel her sadness and grief that no words could describe.

‘Black Mountain Tribe!’

Su Ming clenched his teeth. He saw Lei Chen, who looked tired as he helped to gather the crowd to a spot and bring the things important to the tribe.

Lei Chen did not notice Su Ming. He was already far too exhausted.

Su Ming also saw Wu La, the girl who had always looked down on him but had a crush on Mo Su. She seemed to have grown up overnight. There was a huge bow slung across her back. She was comforting the crowd in whispers and helping them gather together within the shortest amount of time possible.

Chen Xin too, was standing in the crowd. The frail look on her face made her look delicate and pitiful, but the resolute look in her eyes showed that she too, had grown up.

Su Ming did not see the tribe leader, the Head of the Guards, Shan Hen, and Bei Ling. Neither did he see the powerful Warriors within his tribe, who had reached the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm. They were all absent.

However, Su Ming saw the elder.

The elder was standing in the distance. His face was pale, and his face had aged by far too much. It was as if a few decades had passed within that single night. At that moment, the elder had his head lowered as he healed a tribe member whose left thigh was bloodied and torn. That tribe member was a Warrior of Calamity, and he was about twenty-seven to twenty-eight years old. Su Ming knew him. That was Liu Di, who often played songs with the xun¹.

That person did not like getting close to other people within the tribe. There was an item made of bone the size of a fist hanging by his waist. There were a few small holes on it, and it looked really strange.

Su Ming knew that item. It was called a xun. It was an instrument that most members in the tribe did not know how to play. Only this person had that talent, and they would sometimes hear the sounds of the xun in the tribe.

Now, no hint of pain could be seen on his face. Only persistence and resolution could be found.

Tears continued falling from Su Ming’s eyes as he walked towards the elder step by step. Everything that he saw once he returned to the tribe turned his anger into killing intent. He wanted to fight for the tribe!

As Su Ming approached the elder and the young man, he heard the tribe member whom the elder was healing say with a hoarse voice, ”Elder… Forget about me. My legs are already ruined, but I can still fight… I…”

The elder’s face was dark and filled with sorrow. He nodded his head gently. Then, as if noticing something, he lifted his head and saw Su Ming walking towards him.

The moment he saw Su Ming, the elder was stunned. There was an unmistakable look of disbelief and shock on his face. He knew about the seal he had casted, and knew that there was no way a normal person could break through it so quickly. Yet Su Ming was right before his eyes. It threw him into a state of disbelief, like he had seen an illusion.

It was the first time the elder had showed that expression before Su Ming. He could not believe that Su Ming managed to break through the seal and arrive at the tribe in such a short amount of time.

At that moment, the elder was not the only person who saw Su Ming. Lei Chen also saw him. He widened his eyes and a look of astonishment appeared on his face. At the same time, Wu La, who was not far away, also by chance saw Su Ming.

Translator’s Note :

¹ Xun: a Chinese woodwind instrument, round shape, most definitely not an ocarina.