Pursuit of the Truth

The old Spirit Medium let out a cry of surprise, and in the blink of an eye, that horrified surprise on his face changed to one of shock.

He never expected that the person the big Shaman tribes told him to kill with an army to… possess a sacred beast of the Shamans!

The shock that came from witnessing a Berserker summoning their sacred beast, the sacred beasts that rarely appeared even when the Shamans themselves summoned them, was like that of lightning crashing onto him. The shock made his head roar, and besides surprise, his mind was completely blank.

Besides the old Spirit Medium, the beautiful Split Dawns were also shocked. Their expressions instantly changed and disbelief colored their faces. This expression was incredibly rare on these two men.

The two of them were sent to this place 15 years ago along with the old Spirit Medium, and their goal was to wait for the person who would appear in this area once every few years and bring about genocide.

Everything was going smoothly when they ran into Tian Xie Zi this day, but at the critical moment that one sentence from Tian Xie Zi changed everything in a manner as if the world had been turned upside down.

”The sacred beast, Golden Roc… No wonder we never managed to gain its acknowledgement and could never summon it even though we’ve sent our tribe members to its resting place multiple times in the past. So the Golden Roc… already has an owner!

”But how… How is this possible?! He’s from the Berserker Tribe and doesn’t practice the Ways of the Shamans. How did he get the approval of the Golden Roc?!”

In the time the Split Dawns sucked in a sharp breath, the Golden Roc arrived from where it was in the distance. Along with its arrival came a huge gust of wind that made people feel as if an innumerable amount of invisible mountains were crashing into them.

The remaining Shamans, who had surrounded Su Ming and Tian Xie Zi, lost all will to fight when the Golden Roc appeared. Terror appeared in the midst of their confusion, and they did not dare attack.

”The Golden Roc!”

”Oh heavens… It’s the Golden Roc!”

Uproars broke out at the sacred beast’s appearance. The Shamans held a level of respect akin to meeting the might of heaven itself in the face of their sacred beasts. This creature was like the totems within the Shaman Tribe. There was in no way they could fight against it.

At that moment, as the Golden Roc swept past the land and brought with it a huge gust of wind, these people were likefloating leaves in the sky and were thrown back. As booming sounds reverberated in the air, the wall of people crumbled down instantly.

Su Ming sucked in a breath when he saw the Golden Roc closing in. Its gigantic body that exceeded 10,000 feet formed an intimidating pressure that made morning sky turn dark in an instant. It was covered by the Golden Roc’s body as if it had just covered the sun.

Compared to it, the people around him who were swept away by the huge gust of wind and Su Ming himself were so tiny that they could practically be disregarded. The Golden Roc forced its way into all their sights in an incredibly arrogant fashion.

The moment it closed in, the extraordinarily mighty Golden Roc shone with a golden light that made it look like a golden eagle. It made the people be unable to look at it, especially into its eyes. There was an aloof look within its eyes, and as it swept its gaze across the land, cracking sounds would appear in the air as if the air itself could not withstand that pressure.

The intelligence it had made Su Ming believe without a doubt that it had far surpassed the intellect of all the ferocious beasts he had ever seen. Even the rod snake could not compare with it in this.

However, the rod snake was still an infant, so it was only natural that it would have a hard time competing against the Golden Roc, which was a sacred beast that was famous within the Shaman Tribes.

When the Golden Roc’s eyes fell on Su Ming as its gaze swept through the land, it paused for a moment to look at him, and at the moment it did so, the golden light within its eyes instantly became stronger. It made Su Ming shudder, as if everything about him had just been seen through.

Any other ordinary Berserker would have lost all ability to think, but Su Ming did not just practice in the Ways of the Berserkers. He also trained in the Skills of Aura Refinement and turned it into his divine senses. The strength of his divine senses might perhaps be nothing to those in the other realms, but among his peers in the Berserker Tribe, he was second to none.

At that moment, while the divine sense in his mind still could not withstand the Golden Roc’s gaze, Su Ming could at least still tell the reason behind the Golden Roc’s interest in him.

Su Ming had a feeling that the Golden Roc was not looking at him, but at the Han Mountain Bell residing within his body!

More accurately speaking, there was something within Han Mountain Bell that the Golden Roc sensed, and it wanted to take a closer look!

Almost at the same instant the Golden Roc trained its gaze on Su Ming, the rod shaped insect snake hybrid that was recovering slowly in the Han Mountain Bell within Su Ming suddenly curled up from its sleeping, relaxed position within the Bell. It lifted its head instantly and its dull eyes immediately regained their cruel glare.

The glare seemed like the last rays of sunlight before the sky turned dark. It seemed strong, but was in reality rather scattered, and hidden within the depths of the glare was the rod snake’s pride.

It was as if that pride existed within the blood and soul of the rod snake itself. That pride was passed down through generations and existed even now; it had never disappeared.

That pride that was hidden within its cruelty made it seem that if they took away the difference between their power, then the rod snake and Golden Roc did not even belong in the same category of creatures, because within the rod snake’s pride was an air of dominance and supremacy!

Su Ming noticed that aura. He was shaken by this, and the light in the Golden Roc’s eyes wavered for a brief moment, and Su Ming felt as if he saw hesitation within him, and he even saw the hint of fear lying underneath that hesitation.

At that moment, Su Ming had a sudden feeling that the rod snake was like a tiger cub. Although it was small and injured, even if the tiger cub ran into lone wolves, it would still lift up its head and show off its unique aura.

That feeling only appeared for an instant. As the Golden Roc turned its gaze away, that feeling also disappeared without a trace. No one around him noticed it, not even Tian Xie Zi.

After all, the Golden Roc’s gaze only stayed on Su Ming for a moment. In Su Ming’s eyes, it had happened slowly, but in reality, it only lasted for a moment.

When the Golden Roc’s gaze swept through the entire land, a huge gust of wind swept through the land. The Golden Roc lifted its head and with its mouth wide-open, it let out a shriek towards the sky.

While the shriek might not have been deafening, it still reached its peak in an instant and turned into an indescribable sound wave that traveled in all directions.

When the Shamans who were swept away by the wind heard the shriek, they let out shrill cries of pain and blood gushed out of their eyes, mouth, nose, nose; they exploded and their flesh and blood scattered into the air.

The ferocious beasts under their feet had long since frozen, ever since the Golden Roc arrived. They were shivering in midair and did not dare move.

The sound wave contained a power that made booming sounds echo in Su Ming’s head, and his mind instantly turned blank. When he regained his senses, he saw the old Spirit Medium’s head exploding as he cried out in pain. His entire body was dyed in black blood as he fell to the side.

Besides the devastating deaths of the Shamans around him, Su Ming also saw the two beautiful Split Dawns bleeding from their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths. They looked pathetic as they ran away with their faces tainted with endless terror.

Yet as they ran, one of them could not endure the Golden Roc’s voice and coughed out blood, trembling. As he ran, his body started shattering inch by inch, and before he could make it to 100 feet, he crumbled into a mass of blood and flesh, then disappeared. Only his right arm, which still held onto his lover’s hand, remained.

The remaining man looked at the arm in his hand and let out a cry of despair, but he did not turn back. He charged forward in a mad dash instead, and a large amount of blood mist seeped out of his body and surrounded him. As the blood mist spread out, his beautiful face started decaying, and in an instant, his beauty turned into horrifying ugliness. However, he still managed to escape and disappear from Su Ming’s sight.

At the same time, the body of the person that was formed from the ghosts which had Tian Xie Zi buried within crumbled and exploded under the Golden Roc’s voice. It turned into the faces that were full of hate once again before they disappeared into thin air.

Tian Xie Zi opened his eyes.

He took in a breath of the bloody stench around him and asked calmly. ”My fourth disciple, have you killed before?”

This was the first time Su Ming saw such a large scale massacre, the first time he saw Tian Xie Zi act, and the first time he saw the might of the Golden Roc.

Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he nodded his head. ”I have…”

”Chase him down. I’ll wait for you here.”

Tian Xie Zi cast him a glance and walked onto the Golden Roc’s back calmly. The Golden Roc closed its eyes and allowed Tian Xie Zi to climb onto its back to sit down cross-legged.

”The power of those two Split Dawns is equivalent to the Berserkers in the Berserker Soul Realm. One of them has died now, and there’s only one left. He’s also injured, so his power is now only around the Bone Sacrifice Realm.

”Split Dawns are rare among the Shamans. Finding a pair like this isn’t easy, but he should be very quick, you also stayed around for too long. If you want to chase him down, then you will have to enter into the deep parts of the Shaman Tribe.

”Do you dare do it, my fourth disciple?” Tian Xie Zi asked languidly.

Su Ming lowered his head and a light flashed in his eyes. He did not speak, simply turned around and charged towards the direction of the only person who escaped in a long arc.

”I will wait for you for three days. If you don’t come back three days later, then you won’t be able to come back.”

Tian Xie Zi’s voice floated through the air and spread out, falling into Su Ming’s ears. However, he did not falter for even a moment. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the distance.

Tian Xie Zi closed his eyes slowly and sat down on the Golden Roc to wait.

A bleak air covered the entire land of the Shamans. The moaning from the wind sounded like mournful human cries. As the sound traveled through the land and the wind blew past the sky, it brought about an unfamiliarity and a depressing feeling that pressed heavily against one’s chest.

Su Ming charged through the sky belonging to the Shaman Tribe, yet after he flew for an hour, he frowned and lowered his head to look at the land beneath him. The land was covered in an endless sea of forest.

A glint appeared in his eyes and Su Ming flew towards the ground. After a moment, he stepped on the muddy floor in the forest and closed his eyes to spread out his divine senses. After a moment, he opened his eyes and disappeared from the spot. His body floated like smoke, and after a moment, he appeared by an old tree. Su Ming crouched down and touched the wet ground. There was a drop of blood there.

”He is afraid of being chased down, that’s why he didn’t fly in the air. Instead, he chose to use the forest as his cover and hide in familiar lands so that he can buy time to recover…” Su Ming mumbled and a smile appeared on his lips.

Forests were his home!