Pursuit of the Truth

”Don’t be afraid.”

Su Ming smiled faintly. His voice remained serene as he crouched down and put his right hand into his bosom and pulled out a few items unhurriedly.

His actions not only attracted Zi Che’s attention and affected his mind, it also made Hu Zi incredibly curious. He quickly widened his eyes to watch.

It was a beast bone and a few shrubs of herbs.

When Hu Zi saw Su Ming taking these common items out, he was disappointed and started mumbling under his breath. He originally did not want to look at it, but when he saw Zi Che’s expression changing drastically when he saw the items, he was immediately surprised.

”What do you want to do?!”

This was the first time Zi Che spoke after he was captured. His voice was hoarse, but there was terror in his voice, and he was indeed terrified. This terror far surpassed the terror of facing Hu Zi. It was one that stemmed from his heart.

Because when he saw the beast bone and the herbs, he suddenly understood what Su Ming meant by ‘material’. In his words, the beast bone was the material, the herbs were the ingredients, and Zi Che himself was also treated as a material.

This understanding and terror forced him to speak.

”Hmm? You jerk… you can actually speak? Then why didn’t you talk when your Grandpa Hu asked you a question?! Why didn’t you speak even when you were in the dream?!”

Before Su Ming could say anything, Hu Zi had already widened his eyes in anger. He took a step forward and slapped Zi Che viciously again.

”How dare you lie to me?! I hate people lying to me the most!” Hu Zi slapped him a few more times in anger before he turned to look at the materials Su Ming brought out. ”Fourth, what are the bone and herbs for?”

Hu Zi scratched his head with a puzzled look.

”Third senior brother, you may not know this, but before I joined the ninth summit, I was creating medicine myself… His body is in good condition, he’s perfect for me to create a certain medicine.”

Su Ming smiled softly and took up a shrub. His swept his gaze through Zi Che’s body, and as he spoke, he crushed the herbs and took out some of the seeds before stabbing through Zi Che’s chest with a finger. Just as blood flowed out of the wound, he pressed the seed into his flesh.

Su Ming immediately followed by tapping on several other spots on Zi Che’s body in quick succession.

Zi Che did not feel too much pain, but his chest quickly grew numb, and when he lowered his head, he was shocked and terrified to see the seed on his chest growing at a bizarrely quick speed.

Zi Che’s expression drastically changed when he saw the seed growing. This change of emotion was not at all weaker than when he was facing Su Ming’s second senior brother’s Hands of Creation. He could clearly feel the herbs absorbing his blood and life force to aid in their growth.

The roots of the herbs were even spreading out slowly through his body. While he could ignore the pain of having something force its way through his flesh, but the terror of the unknown made his breathing quicken. A terror that was never seen in his eyes appeared as he looked at Su Ming.

That terror reached its peak when Su Ming took some of the blood from Zi Che’s body and let it drop on the beast bone.

Zi Che quickly asked, ”Just what do you want to do?!”

Su Ming lifted his head and cast Zi Che a glance. With a faint smile, he said, ”Make medicine.”

”What medicine?”

Zi Che trembled.

Hu Zi was paying full attention to what was happening, but there was puzzlement on his face. However, when he saw Zi Che’s expression, he could not help but admire Su Ming a little.

‘Fourth is good… Just a few actions, and this man is already terrified. My intelligent self will have to learn this.’

Hu Zi nodded his head as if he was deep in thought.

”The procedure of making this medicine is easy. All I need is a living dead person. I’ll plant some herbs in his body and use his blood and life force as nutrients for my herbs. Once the herbs fully mature, the living dead person will become an important material to create this medicine, call it a Medicine Human, if you will.

”And then, I’ll need some aura of death to create the pill. Once the medicinal pill is formed, the Medicine Human will also die. When the Medicine Human dies, the medicine will also be ready.

”Don’t worry, I’ve already made it once, so I’m very familiar with the process. I’ll make sure that you won’t feel too much pain,” Su Ming said, smiling, and due to his words, his voice was naturally laced with a strange quality.

He brought out a few more herbs and planted them within Zi Che’s body. His actions were very gentle, as if he was afraid of damaging the herbs and the ‘material’ before him.

Yet when his actions fell into Zi Che’s eyes and his words which sounded casual but held a determined quality to them echoed in his ears, his face instantly turned pale. Terror or fear could no longer be used to describe how he looked at Su Ming. He was petrified.

Even Hu Zi, who was crouching beside Su Ming, sucked in a sharp breath when he heard those words. A strange look came to his eyes as he looked at Su Ming.

‘Eldest senior brother is a turtle and he’s always in isolation… Second senior brother likes planting stuff, but he steals the plants at midnight himself… as for Master, well, forget about him… I thought my new youngest junior brother would be the only other normal person besides me in this mountain…

‘Who would have known that he has such a weird quirk? Treating a person as a material and turning him into medicinal liquid before drinking it down…’

Hu Zi shuddered and let out a long sigh.

He had already finished thinking about how he would describe the fourth to his fifth junior brother if he should ever have one.

”Your… Your second senior brother only took away three years of my freedom! He said he’ll release me three years later!” Zi Che quickly said.

”It’s fine. I can ask him to turn those three years to an eternity,” Su Ming said and smiled. He did not lift his head but continued stabbing bloody holes into Zi Che’s body and planting medicinal herbs inside him.

”We… We’re from the same school! You can’t do this! You… You… My Master won’t let you off!”

Zi Che looked at Su Ming, who was still smiling, and his terror reached its peak. To him, this face could practically become the most terrifying sight he had ever seen in the world.

He suddenly understood why Si Ma Xin still asked him to take away that thing from Su Ming even though he was already on the way back.

”It’s fine. I also have a Master.”

Su Ming still did not lift his head. He brought out another herb with a serious expression, as if he was hesitating where he should place it on Zi Che’s body.

In his terror, Zi Che gritted his teeth and cursed in his mind, ‘Damn it, Si Ma Xin didn’t ask me to return my debt to him, he just pushed me into a fire! This Su Ming may not have great power, but the terror I feel from him can’t be fake. This person… is definitely abnormal! I can’t use his power as a basis to judge him!’

”It’s Si Ma Xin! He was the one who asked me to come to you and take the bell away from you!” he quickly said.

Su Ming held the herbs in his right hand and slowly lifted his head. His expression remained passive, but in Zi Che’s eyes, that calmness was like the calm before a storm, a monstrous storm.

Zi Che even saw a hint of red in Su Ming’s right hand. That red was murderous intent. While that murderous intent did not erupt forth from Su Ming’s body, but as it appeared, the cave abode immediately turned cold.

Zi Che felt shaken, and he did not dare look at Su Ming’s right eye.

Hu Zi also took in a sharp breath by his side and shuddered. He could feel that his youngest junior brother completely changed from how he was previously in an instant.

”Where is Si Ma Xin?” Su Ming asked unhurriedly.

His voice sounded the same as usual, but when it landed in Zi Che’s ears, it sounded like thunder rumbling. There were even some lightning arcs traveling through his body, though they disappeared soon after.

Zi Che trembled and quickly explained, ”He’s rushing back to the school. He’ll be back in two days, I think… I owed him a favor in the past, that’s why when he sent me a letter to come, I couldn’t refuse him. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

He did not know why he was saying so much to explain himself, but he had a strong feeling that if he did not come clear, then even if he did not end up dead this time in the ninth summit, he would still be in great trouble in the future.

This was what his instincts told him. This was an instinctual feeling that rose in him as he faced Su Ming.

Su Ming was silent for moment until the red light in his right hand flashed briefly and he asked calmly, ”What is Si Ma Xin’s current level of cultivation?”

”He has been away for many years. When he left, he had attained completion in the Awakening Realm. I haven’t seen his current level of cultivation, so I’m not too certain… But if he reached the Bone Sacrifice Realm, he’ll definitely think of a way to enter Freezing Sky Cave and try to sense the will left behind by our ancestors there.

”Then he’ll have a chance to change all the bones in his body at the initial stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm and reach the great completion of the Bone Sacrifice Realm in one go!

”While the possibility of this happening is very low, and from what I know, there are only three people who had managed to do this, but if he can really find our Ancestor’s bones in Freezing Sky Cave, then he might be able to do it…

”He was originally known as the prodigy of Freezing Sky Clan to begin with, and was also rumored to be the person who is most likely to become the fourth God of Berserkers. He has a lot of friends within Freezing Sky Clan. Besides the ninth summit, the other eight summits are practically filled with his friends.

”If he becomes your enemy… then you’d best be careful…”

Zi Che’s voice echoed within the cave abode and lingered around for a long time.

”What’s Freezing Sky Cave?”

This was the first time Su Ming had heard of that name.

”I don’t know the details, but I heard that Freezing Sky Clan’s Great Frozen Plains is built on Freezing Sky Cave. If that’s the case, then… in the deep parts of the endless icy water under our feet is Freezing Sky Cave.

”After all, the ninth summit is still part of Freezing Sky Clan…” Zi Che said.

Once he was done speaking, he hesitated for a moment, then looked at the herbs on his body, gritted his teeth, and spoke again. This time, his voice dropped to a low whisper.

”If I were you, then I’d definitely settle all my grudges with him before he enters Freezing Sky Cave, or else… It won’t matter whether he succeeds or fails, as long as he makes it out of Freezing Sky Cave, then he’ll have a chance of entering Heaven Gate. Once he enters Heaven Gate, then his status will be completely different from us on the Great Frozen Plains.

”When that time comes, he will kill you… Unless the ninth summit has the power to go up against Heaven Gate, then you’ll definitely die!”

Su Ming was silent for a moment before he asked, ”Heaven Gate?”

”Freezing Sky Clan is divided into two sections, the Great Frozen Plains and Heaven Gate. Only those in Heaven Gate are considered to be the core of Freezing Sky Clan… Besides inheriting the right to enter Heaven Gate, the only other way to enter Heaven Gate is to obtain 1,000 Shaman heads and not die when you enter Freezing Sky Cave. You can only enter once you fulfill those two conditions!”

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT, VERY MAJOR, READ IT

Due to reasons of continuity, Transcendence Realm has now been officially changed to Awakening Realm.

Spirit Infant (灵婴）has also been changed to Nascent Soul.

But the major one is Transcendence Realm, the reason it’s changed is because the Immortals and RI and ISSTH also have a Transcendence, so to avoid confusion, the following has happened:

Transcendence Realm --> Awakening Realm

Transcended --> Awakened

Transcend --> Awaken

Divine General of Transcendence --> Divine General of Awakening

Deity statue of Transcendence --> Deity statue of Awakening

Power of Transcendence --> Power of Awakening

Everything should have been changed, except for chapter 51. For some reason, I don’t see the edit button for that chapter. I am waiting very patiently for that edit button to appear for me.

Anyway, all the changes for 365 chapters were done overnight in two hours to avoid the chaps looking like a mess of Transcendences and Awakenings flying all over the place, since it was done in a rush, I’ll be checking through all the chaps starting from chapter 0 in case I missed anything, but if you peeps happen to stumble on any lurking Transcendences, please leave a comment in the chapter, either Gemmy or I will change it :3

Much thanks!