Pursuit of the Truth

”You… you are…” Chen Yu Bing immediately whipped his head around and was about to bow in greeting respectfully when he saw the middle-aged man. He became stunned. ”Uncle… Uncle master Bai?”

Chen Yu Bing immediately felt as if thunder clapped in his heart and his expression drastically changed. He might have known that those who were defending Freezing Sky Clan’s portion of the wall were all from his school and knew that this particular wall would have the same treatment, but he did not expect that the person defending this particular portion would be the man before his eyes.

He’d seen this man only once, but the memories of that encounter were etched deep into his mind. He was not the only one who knew him, most of the people in Freezing Sky Clan knew about this person’s existence.

‘No wonder he allowed us to stand on the wall…’

Chen Yu Bing was very nervous. He bowed deeply towards the middle-aged man respectfully.

”I am Freezing Sky Clan’s disciple, Chen Yu Bing. Greetings, uncle master Bai.”

The middle-aged man gave him a slight nod and then no longer took notice of him. He looked at Su Ming instead, and once he sized him up, he asked with a calm voice, ”What’s your name?”

When the man was sizing up Su Ming, he felt a wave of pressure landing on him, but strangely, this pressure was not terrifying, for some reason it gave him an affable feeling.

Su Ming wrapped his fist in his palm and said calmly, ”I am Su Ming. Greetings, uncle master Bai.”

”You just Transcended, right?” the middle-aged man asked unhurriedly.

”Yes.”

Su Ming nodded.

”I don’t think you’ve been taken into Freezing Sky Clan, or else, with your status as Divine General, those old fellows wouldn’t just send Outer Sect disciples to receive you,” the middle-aged man said, his voice remaining cold.

”Yes…”

Su Ming nodded once again.

”You don’t need to go to Freezing Sky Clan. Stay. Defend the place with me and become my disciple. Besides me, no one else in Freezing Sky Clan can teach you suitable Arts.”

There was a tone in the middle-aged man’s voice that suggested the man would not allow refusal.

Su Ming was stunned.

Chen Yu Bing was also stunned, and envy appeared in his eyes. As for Han Fei Zi, she lowered her head as she stood by the side and did not speak.

Su Ming hesitated for a moment. The cordial feeling within him towards the man grew stronger as he continued talking to him. ”I… I already have a Master.”

”Oh? Who is it? I’ll have him give up on you.”

The middle-aged man’s voice was calm, but there was a shocking pride in his words.

Having two people suddenly wanting to take him in as a disciple was a first for Su Ming.

”Yes… Tian Xie Zi.”

The moment he said the name, the man’s expression turned odd, looking like a mix of expressions: as if he could do nothing about this, as if he was caught between wanting to laugh and cry, as if he was furious. Eventually, the man settled on to a cold harrumph.

”If you ever regret acknowledging him as your Master, then come to me.”

When Chen Yu Bing heard those words, his expression changed once again to surprise and he looked at Su Ming. He was about to say something, but in the end, did not. However, he instinctively took a step back and widened the distance between him and Su Ming.

Su Ming was slightly alarmed. It did not matter whether it was the middle-aged man’s words or Chen Yu Bing’s instinctive reaction, all of them seemed to be expressing a rather bad connotation to him acknowledging Tian Xie Zi as his Master…

”Let’s put it aside first. Now, the three of you, stand here and tell me what you saw!”

The middle-aged man’s voice was still cold when he spoke. He did not look at Su Ming anymore, but instead towards the desolate world past the wall.

Su Ming was silent when he looked at the land before him. He could still hear vague roaring in his ears. The entire world outside the barrier was filled with a desolate and bloody air. It looked like a quiet place, but it gave Su Ming an oppressive feeling. That oppressive feeling came from the silence, the barren lands, the black dirt, and the endless wall he stood on.

”Hate. I see hate.” Chen Yu Bing was the first to answer. The light in his eyes flickered as he looked at the piece of land. ”The Shamans’1 hate towards us, and our hate towards them.”

Chen Yu Bing’s words held a steadfast quality, as if he was very confident in his answer.

”Not bad, it’s the train of thought passed down to all of you by those old folks in Freezing Sky Clan, but that’s not what I want!” the middle-aged man said coldly.

Chen Yu Bing smiled bitterly and acknowledged the rebuke with his head lowered. Indeed, his answer was formed based on the knowledge shared by most of the people in Freezing Sky Clan towards the world outside the barrier.

”What about you, lass? Tell me what you see.”

The middle-aged man did not look at Han Fei Zi when he asked her, but continued staring at the barren lands before him.

Han Fei Zi’s face was still slightly pale. She remained silent for a while before she whispered her answer.

”I don’t see anything.”

The moment she finished answering, the middle-aged man turned around and cast a profound look at her.

”What’s your name?”

Han Fei Zi bent her body slightly and answered respectfully, ”I am Yan Fei.”

The middle-aged man remained silent for a moment before he asked, ”Su Ming, what do you see?”

After a long while, Su Ming answered languidly, ”I see desire.”

”The left preceptor got himself a good disciple. Tian Xie Zi also got himself a good disciple.”

The middle-aged man let out a long sigh before he lifted his right hand and pointed towards the land outside the wall.

”You can view the Land of South Morning as a circle.” As he spoke, he waved his right hand forward and black light appeared out of nowhere, forming a black circle before their eyes.

”This is the barrier.” He drew a small circle with his right hand in the circle. ”This is the inner part of the land. The outer part is what you see now. The barrier exists to fend against wild beasts and Shamans invading the land.

”Shamans, they’re a group of people belonging to tribes that are completely different from ours, though they have a similar system to us. They have their own Elders, but they’re known as Patriarchs… You will learn more about this in the future.”

When Su Ming heard the middle-aged man’s words, he had a sudden urge to ask something. After falling silent for a moment, he asked uncertainly, ”Senior, there’s a barrier on the Land of South Morning, but what is it like outside the barrier? We have several other continents in the land of Berserkers, how do they look like?”

”I don’t know,” the middle-aged man answered calmly. ”I only know that the Great Yu Dynasty still exists… And I only know about this because the deity statues are still around and there are still people who are awarded the title of Divine General.

”But I’ve never been to the land of the Great Yu Dynasty. In fact, there are very few people from the Land of South Morning who have been able to go through the Shaman tribes and leave South Morning entirely.

”By the way, your Master, Tian Xie Zi… He said he left South Morning before. According to his words, he went to the Great Yu Dynasty and made a few close friends. As for whether the others believe in him, I wouldn’t know, but I don’t.

”Besides the Land of South Morning and the Great Yu Dynasty, I don’t know whether there are Berserkers in the other continents.

”The Berserkers have fallen into decay… We are long past the glory days of the first God of Berserkers.”

The middle-aged man let out a soft sigh and he looked slightly downcast.

Su Ming took a deep breath. He had never heard of such secretive things before. Shaken by the man’s words, he looked towards the vast mass of land lying outside the barrier. A feeling of powerlessness stemmed from the distance filled his heart.

‘I know that the Alliance of the Western Region’s continent exists, because I came from the Alliance of the Western Region…’ he mumbled in his own heart.

”That’s enough. Those who aren’t the guards of the barrier aren’t allowed to stay for long here. All of you…”

The middle-aged man swung his arm forward with the intent of sending Su Ming and the others away, yet at that very moment, vague roaring came from the world outside the barrier, and it grew increasingly stronger with each passing moment.

The moment the roars started, the barrier under Su Ming’s feet immediately shuddered, and a strong pressure rose up. That pressure was so great that it reached its peak in an instant, causing Han Fei Zi and Chen Yu Bing to turn drastically more pale and cough out blood.

If it were not for the middle-aged man waving his right arm and bringing up a typhoon to take Han Fei Zi and Chen Yu Bing backwards and out of the mountain barrier, the two of them would have definitely been heavily wounded by now.

Su Ming did not move back, because the moment he heard the roars, the presence of Transcendence surged forth from within him and spread outwards, turning into a layer of black fog. The black fog surrounded his body and turned into black armor.

The armor of a Divine General!

When the armor materialized, it allowed him to somewhat withstand the pressure outside the barrier. The light in his eyes flickered, and he looked towards the vast land lying before him. What he saw next made him tremble and suck in a deep breath.

What he saw was something Han Fei Zi and Chen Yu Bing could not see, because they were not standing on the barrier. At that moment, the air was twisting so much that it covered his entire field of vision.

Only Su Ming and the middle-aged man who now looked solemn saw that scene!

The clouds were rolling about in the sky of the vast lands outside the barrier. The clouds were dark and looked as if they were a layer of black mist that covered an area of thousands of li. Within those clouds, Su Ming saw a gigantic wild beast that put him in disbelief.

It was a humongous mackerel pike that swam in the sky and was leaping in the air. The sounds that they heard came from its mouth.

Su Ming even saw a person standing on its back!

The person was a woman. Her face could not be seen clearly, but he could make out that she was wearing a long purple robe. Her black hair was floating in the air, as if hinting that she had incredible beauty.

”She is a Shaman,” a cold voice said beside Su Ming. The middle-aged man lifted his foot and took a step in the air beyond the barrier.

The moment he stepped out, a large amount of white fog surged out of his body and surrounded him whole, turning into a white armor that was completely different from what Su Ming was wearing. It was at a caliber that was much more superior to his own!

The armor exuded a powerful presence that made the middle-aged man seem as if he could not be defeated.

”A Divine General!”

Su Ming felt his heart lurch. He finally knew just why he felt that there was an amiable feeling coming from the middle-aged man, why Chen Yu Bing would be so nervous and respectful towards this man when he saw him, why this person allowed Su Ming and the others to stand on the barrier, and why he wanted to take Su Ming in as his disciple. All of this was because this person was the same as him, they were both Divine Generals!

What was more, he should not be a Divine General of Transcendence, but… a Divine General of the Bone Sacrifice Realm!

Translator’s Notes:

The Shamans are known as the Wu （巫） Tribe, one of the five Barbaric Tribes in China. The choice for the name was pretty easy to choose, honestly. I was doing research about the Wu Tribe and found that apparently the official English translation is Shaman. For quick proof, you can look at Wikipedia.

So I just went, oh well, what the heck, might as well just take it.

As for patriarch （巫公）, it’ll be used strictly for the male leaders. Matriarch will be used for female leaders. So if you make noise about this, it’ll prove that: 1. You don’t read the TL notes. 2. You’re a troll.