Pursuit of the Truth

The flatly spoken words had a chilling tone that made He Feng shiver.

Su Ming lifted his right hand and pointed it at him, and immediately, the wandering Wings of the Moon let out piercing shrieks and charged back towards He Feng. Once they surrounded him in multiple layers, He Feng managed to not completely disappear when the morning sun rose fully in the sky.

The Wings of the Moon fusing once again into his body gave He Feng a feeling as if he had just escaped death. In his heart, fear now replaced all thoughts of rebellion. He simply could not get a grasp of Su Ming’s thoughts, because how he thought Su Ming would react was completely different from how he truly acted and thought.

Just like today, he had originally thought that Su Ming would definitely not truly kill him. While he was indeed not dead, He Feng knew that if he had spoken a little slower just now, then what awaited him would have been death.

He Feng had an incredibly wild nature and could not find it within himself to accept being someone else’s slave. Right now, fear took up a large part of his heart, even if slowly, as that fear gradually drained away, he would once again… try to backstab Su Ming.

But for now, he would not dare to, not when he had not found a way to avoid the huge threat brought by the sunlight. He would not dare to try and kill Su Ming again.

Su Ming understood this fully.

He did indeed not want to kill He Feng. After all, his power was strange, and he would prove to be incredibly useful in Sky Mist Shaman Hunt. As for this person’s possible betrayal... well, Su Ming had his own plans to deal with it.

He Feng, who had by then fused back with the Wings of the Moon, turned into a shadow. He bowed towards Su Ming with fear lingering in his heart, then blended back into Su Ming’s shadow.

On the ground were two bloody heads and one rotting and withered corpse.

When the Fire Ape saw that Su Ming was awake, it yawned by his side, then casually picked up the brawny Shaman’s head before starting to toy around with it. If anyone saw this scene, it would be difficult for them not to be scared.

The notes from Su Ming’s xun gradually disappeared as the morning sun rose into the air and light illuminated the land. Su Ming looked at the clear blue sky and took a deep breath. Then he slowly stood up after having sat cross-legged for the entire night.

When he got up, popping sounds came from within his body. Those pops were like the sounds of bones knocking into each other, like his flesh rubbing against itself. As those sounds echoed in the air, Su Ming’s Mountain Mark appeared on his face. Under his clothes, Dark Mountain Tribe manifested. Snow trailed down his skin, and red appeared in his right eye.

The entire Picture of the snow covered Blood Moon and Dark Mountain was completely revealed. Light shone on the picture, and a song played by a xun could be heard faintly in the air. It was as if that song itself existed within Su Ming’s Berserker Mark. When that Berserker Mark was completely revealed, it would naturally ring in the air.

Su Ming’s hair started moving without wind. He lifted his head, then slowly, his feet floated off the ground until he was three feet away from the ground.

A powerful cultivation aura abruptly erupted forth from Su Ming’s body.

His level of cultivation had reached the later stage of the Awakening Realm after his first change of heart before the auction. He was already only one step away from reaching great completion. Su Ming had already understood at that time that he needed the sound of the xun to complete that one step. He needed to play out the melody in his memories, and if he could do it, then his Dark Mountain Berserker Mark could fuse completely with his memories.

When his Berserker Mark rumbled with power, it allowed his level of cultivation to move straight from the later stage into the great completion of the Awakening Realm!

After the auction, Su Ming came to this place, retrieved his repaired xun, walked for three days until he forgot everything, and only on the fourth night, the quiet night filled with bloodshed and murder, did he manage to truly play out a song on that xun, causing the xun to obtain a soul once more.

This soul was formed through the accumulation of Su Ming’s memories. This soul… was the soul of Su Ming’s Berserker Mark!

The presence of power within Su Ming became increasingly stronger, and after a moment, the ground in a circular area of several thousands of feet rumbled. The trees rustled as if there was a huge gust of wind blowing past them.

Su Ming’s body was floating several dozens of feet away from the ground. A brilliant glow appeared in his eyes, and a feeling that he held the reigns over an incredible power in his hands rose within him.

It might seem like there was only a level between the great completion and the later stage of the Awakening Realm, but in truth, the great completion was the peak of the Awakening Realm. It was the most powerful level within it.

Those who reached this level could call themselves Berserkers who had attained great completion in the Awakening Realm. That level was also known as Inferior Bone, because there was only a paper thin distance between that stage to the Berserkers’ Bone Sacrifice Realm.

If they managed to reach a breakthrough, then they would be able to tear through that paper with just a poke of their finger, but if they did not manage to reach a breakthrough, then even with time, they would not be able to wear out that sheet of paper.

Su Ming gradually descended from midair, and the moment he stood on the ground, his hair slowly fell on his shoulders. He had his eyes closed, and when he opened them a moment later, tranquillity could be seen within them.

‘This is the fifth morning, there’re still two days left… I don’t have enough time to make it back to Sky Mist Barrier from this place.’

When Su Ming had his eyes closed just now, he was not just calming down the fluctuations in his power, he was also sensing the location of the brand belonging to his life force.

He could somewhat sense its position, and from there, deduce the approximate distance between himself and the brand.

‘If that’s the case…’

A brief spark appeared in Su Ming’s eyes and he picked up the female Shaman’s head before he threw it to the Fire Ape. The Fire Ape leaped up and caught it. Once it did so, its face lit up with a smile. It held the two heads by their long hair and tied them to its waist, then patted its chest in Su Ming’s direction while putting on a face as if it was really strong.

Su Ming then walked towards the dried up corpse of the man with the bat tattoo on his face. With his right hand, he slashed down at the corpse’s dried up throat. Rumbling and cracking sounds appeared. Before Su Ming could pick up the head, the Fire Ape had already run towards him, unable to control itself. It snatched up the man’s head, causing it to be separated from his body. Not one drop of blood fell from the tear between the head and its body.

Fire Ape became even more pleased with itself and quickly tied the three heads together on its waist. It shook its body several times beside Su Ming, growing even more excited.

Su Ming did not lift his head but continued staring at the headless corpse. Once he patted several spots on the corpse, he found a grass-woven bag.

That bag looked really worn out, but when Su Ming held it in his hands, he realized that this bag had the same function as a storage bag. With his divine sense, he left his own Brand on it without any difficulty.

”Hmm?”

Su Ming poured out the contents of the bag onto his palm, and out fell a stone about the size of a fingernail. That stone glowed in five radiant colors under the sun, and wisps of smoke could be seen within, giving it a rather pretty look.

There were about a hundred stones like this within the straw bag.

Besides those stones, there were also some medicinal herbs Su Ming had never seen before. There were also quite a large amount of these herbs in the bag.

Su Ming put away the straw bag into his bosom then stood up. With one move, he disappeared from the spot, and when he reappeared, he stood in front of the brawny man’s headless corpse located in a spot in the forest not too far away from where he was previously.

Once he searched through that corpse, Su Ming frowned. He got up and disappeared once again. This time, he reappeared beside Ying Huan’s corpse in opposite the man’s corpse. He searched through her body, but there was still no straw bag that could be found.

A barely noticeable glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. Once he got up, he started walking into the distance in the forest. The Fire Ape followed behind him. Somewhere along the line, it had found the giant battle axe and swung it over its shoulders. That battle axe was very heavy, but with the Fire Ape’s natural godly strength, it did not feel that the axe was heavy.

Su Ming looked at it, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

”Xiao Hong,” Su Ming called out to it softly.

The Fire Ape lifted its head and rolled its eyes at Su Ming, then ignored him.

Su Ming smiled, then with one move, he charged forward at a high speed. The Fire Ape quickly followed behind him, and a competitive look appeared on his face. It was clear that it was not satisfied with how it lost to Su Ming the last time they raced.

The man and ape dashed forward, and two hours later, they left the forest and appeared on a spacious grass plains. The grass rustled in the wind. Some wild flowers could be seen, and their faint fragrance wafted in the air, causing the uninhabited place to be filled with a beauty that no human was present to appreciate.

”How is this place for you?”

Su Ming stopped on that grass plains before he asked languidly. His voice echoed in the area. The Fire Ape looked around itself, then thought that Su Ming was talking to it, causing it to roll its eyes at him again.

”Sir, you’ve been following me all the way and escorted me here, but still choose to keep silent. Could it be that you still aren’t ready to attack?”

Su Ming turned around and looked towards the distance, in the direction where his back was previously, his eyes burning brightly.

The Fire Ape was momentarily stunned, then immediately looked in that direction.

As the grass continued swaying in the wind on the grass plains, a thin and frail figure slowly revealed itself and walked towards Su Ming. Once he was several hundreds of feet away, he stopped.

It was a thin and tall person wearing a long black robe. He looked to be in his 30s. His gaze was perceptive, and he had his hair done in many tiny braids that were scattered behind his head.

He stared at Su Ming with a grave look on his face.

Su Ming, too, stared at him, and their gazes met each other from where the two of them stood several hundreds of feet away from each other.

”I am Wu Duo, of Western Sea Clan!”

After a long while, the man lifted his right hand and a deep blue plate appeared in his hand. He threw it towards Su Ming.

That plate turned into a deep blue line that charged towards Su Ming, but Su Ming simply took a few steps back and let the plate fall to the ground. He did not touch it.

When he saw Su Ming doing this, the man’s pupils shrank, though it was barely noticeable.

”I am Mo Su, of Dark Mountain Tribe,” Su Ming stated calmly. ”It is none of my concern to which clan you belong to, but you took away my battle prize. You will have to give me an explanation for that.”

Su Ming stared at the man. From what he could sense, this man had also yet to reach the Bone Sacrifice Realm. He was the same as he himself - they had both attained great completion in the Awakening Realm.

Yet this man gave Su Ming the feeling as if he was standing before a ferocious and murderous lone wolf. That murderous aura had far surpassed that of the three Shamans earlier who had power equivalent to those in the Bone Sacrifice Realm.

When he heard Su Ming’s words, the man fell silent and did not speak. Similar to what Su Ming sensed, he could also tell that this Mo Su standing before him looked as if he was just in the great completion stage of the Awakening Realm, and what was more, he had just arrived at that level. Still, he felt uneasy about Mo Su, especially when this person had noticed him following behind secretly. This alone made Wu Duo unwilling to act rashly.

Besides, he also understood that he definitely could not judge Mo Su by his level of cultivation alone if he could kill those three Shamans. He had also never heard of Dark Mountain Tribe, which meant that Mo Su had made it up on the spot.

”Perhaps you followed me for this,” Su Ming said slowly and lifted his right hand. A gem the size of a fingernail, shining brilliantly with five colors, appeared on his palm.