Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming remained calm. His expression did not change at all due to the young man’s words. It was as if he did not hear him at all.

”Perhaps I should be calling you brother Su, and not… brother Mo.” When the young man saw Su Ming reacting this way, he spoke once again, still with a slow tone.

Su Ming smiled faintly and lifted his head to look at the mackerel pikes swimming about in the dark sky. With a glint in his eyes, he took off the mask on his face, placed it by his side and took a big swig from the wine pot at his side.

The instant he took off the mask, all the nine previously retreating Medial Shamans immediately took a few steps forward and stood around them. Their expressions changed and murderous intent shone in their eyes, but they did not attack.

The young man’s eyes were instantly trained on Su Ming, like lightning when he saw his sudden movements. He stared at Su Ming’s pale face and the scar under his eyes, and after a long while, he let out a cold harrumph.

”You killed many of my tribesmen, and the thickness of the smell of Shaman blood on you can be detected lis away. How dare you sit so brazenly among us?!

”Do you not believe that with just one command from me, your head will immediately fall to the ground and your soul will instantly scatter?!”

”Do you believe that before my head falls to the ground, I won’t drag you to hell with me..? Do you believe that once my head falls to the ground, your Autumn Sea Tribe won’t find it incredibly hard to even walk down the land of the Shamans?” Su Ming brought up the wine pot and drank another mouthful before he cast the young man a flat look.

”Do you not believe that perhaps my head will not even fall to the ground?”

The young man stared at Su Ming, then suddenly started chuckling after a long while. His chuckles were not loud, but as he started chuckling, the cold look in his eyes disappeared.

”Su Ming, o Su Ming, this is the first time we met, but you already gave me a lot of surprises. I didn’t expect that you, a member of the Berserker Tribe, would repair a rattle drum for the children of my race. I also didn’t expect that once I exposed your real identity, you would turn the tables and threaten me when we are in my tribe.

”Do you know that your name has already spread to all the Berserkers? Even if Sky Mist City has issued a gag order, the things that happened that day cannot be hidden away.

”True Divinity Wind Berserker, True Divinity Lightning Berserker, and you even obtained a part of the legacy belonging to the first God of Berserkers. You, who possesses the power of the God of Berserkers, have already caught the attention of all the powerful Berserkers in the land of the Berserkers.

”At the same time, you have also caught the attention of many powerful Shamans.”

Su Ming did not speak. He simply continued drinking. The instant he was exposed, his heart had indeed been in turmoil, but he soon calmed down. There were many mysteries that could not be explained clearly about this matter, such as why he was allowed to stay in the tribe and why the young man said all these things even though he had no obligation to tell him about them.

However, once the young man said his piece, Su Ming began to have a vague understanding about the situation.

”I’ve always been curious about why there were only one Shaman and one Berserker who chased after me when I left Sky Mist City that day and why I didn’t run into any other Shamans on the way, but at the very last moment, I encountered all of you.

”Now, I understand it somewhat.” Su Ming put the wine pot down and looked at the young man sitting before him, then he said, ”Thank you for this.”

The young man’s pupils shrank, but he shook his head after a long while and sighed.

”It’s so boring. I originally thought your expression would change slightly or you would react in an extreme fashion, but I didn’t expect that you would remain so calm.

”That’s right. My people are fighting on the battlefield now. Our Sacred Lady is also there. She was the one who created the chance for you to escape in secret. She warded off the other powerful Shamans from other tribes chasing you down. There’s also someone helping you in secret from Sky Mist City, that’s why there were only two people who came after you in the end.

”You ran into us because the Thought Soothsayers from my tribe have predicted your arrival. You can say that you didn’t find us, but we were waiting for you.” The young man spoke slowly as he looked at Su Ming.

Su Ming fell silent.

After a long while, the young man frowned and asked, ”Do you know the reason?”

”The reason is because you’re our Shaman Lord’s junior brother!” The person who said those words was not the young man, but an old woman who was walking slowly towards them and was speaking in a raspy voice.

That old woman was the End Shaman from Autumn Sea Tribe Su Ming had seen during the day!

When the old woman showed up, the nine Medial Shamans around them immediately knelt down on one knee. Their expressions were filled with intense respect and zeal. Even Ya Mu, who was by Su Ming’s side, immediately stood up and bowed towards her respectfully.

”A very long time ago, before the land of the Berserkers was divided into five portions, there was a powerful tribe to the south. The leader of the tribe was so strong that his power was at an equal level to the second God of Berserkers.

”That tribe was called Nine Li!

”Something happened between the leader of Nine Li and the second God of Berserkers during that time. We can no longer look into it, but as their descendants, we only know that when the second God of Berserkers was killed by the Immortals in the other worlds, he was cut into pieces, and once the land of the Berserkers was divided, Nine Li Tribe was also divided and scattered… When the leader of Nine Li died, he left behind a will declaring that the tribe’s Berserkers would be hence known as Shamans!

”A large amount of these people gradually increased in number and developed into small tribes in the Land of South Morning. They called themselves Shamans, and they are the members of the Shaman Tribe you see today.

”We Shamans are the descendants of the Nine Li Tribe, and we keep the blood of Nine Li pure in wait for the blood descendant of our Shaman Lord to awaken the power that belongs to the Nine Li.

”However, during the long span of time we waited for the descendant of our Shaman Lord to awaken, a part of the Shamans have changed… They gave up on the glory of the Nine Li and contacted the Immortals who came from the other worlds. They are no longer Shamans. They’re not fit to be called Shamans who will not bow to any authority in the world...

”They are the lapdogs of Immortals of the other worlds!

”We saved you because your eldest senior brother is the Shaman Lord of Nine Li in this generation! He has arranged for one of Nine Li’s three hundred Shaman Souls to be by your side. You are an honored guest of Nine Li Shaman Tribe.”

The old woman’s voice was ancient and it fell into Su Ming’s ears. As he listened to her words, he was shaken. He lowered his head and looked at the bracelet on his wrist. With a single thought, the bracelet immediately turned into black smoke. That black smoke instantly spread and merged together to form a woman’s body before him.

The woman gradually gained form. Once her body was completely revealed, she swept her gaze across the old woman and the surroundings with her back turned towards Su Ming.

”Which faction of Nine Li Tribe do you belong to?” For the first time, the woman spoke. Her voice was aloof, and there was a chilling quality to it.

”Autumn Sea Tribe.” The instant the old woman saw the woman, excitement appeared on her face. She wrapped her fist in her palm and bowed to her. She was not the only who did so. All the Shamans around the area immediately prostrated themselves before her.

”By the orders of our Young Lord, we are to provide the greatest amount of help we can provide to a certain amount of people in all the tribes that belong to Nine Li Shaman Tribe before the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands comes to us.

”In the previous battle, we’ve already sent the news to the Shamans, but almost all of them no longer have the blood of Nine Li flowing through their veins…

”The Immortals from the other worlds have descended upon us three times within the past hundred years. Each time they come to us, there would be traitors who would ally themselves to them to obtain the skill to reach immortality by offering their blood right to them.

”It is especially so now, with the arrival of the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands, the ancient legends are beginning to show exactly what they meant, and many more of those from Nine Li Shaman Tribe have surrendered their blood right to become affiliates of the Immortals of the other realms...

”The battle this time was started by the tribes who have affiliated themselves to the Immortals. The few tribes who still have the blood of Nine Li coursing in our veins will face the danger of extermination if we don’t follow their orders and send our warriors to war.

”Young Lord, please come back and bring us back to the path of Nine Li…” With an agitated face, the old woman knelt down.

Su Ming’s breathing quickened. He suddenly realized that the originally rowdy Autumn Sea Tribe in the area where he stood had become silent. Those from further away might not be looking towards them, but Su Ming had a faint feeling that this area had turned into the center of the attention for tens of thousands of members of the Autumn Sea Tribe.

”Right now, there are less than three years left before the Immortal’s fourth descent within this century. This time, there will be more factions of Nine Li Shaman Tribes choosing to join them. After all… the temptation of breaking through the End is one that all End Shamans cannot resist...

”It is especially so after the people have seen just how strong a Hollow Shaman is after the Great Patriarch made his choice in the past…

”From what we could tell, the Immortals have also descended three times within this century among the Berserkers. It is only logical to assume that there is quite a large number of Berserkers who have come into contact with them as well. In fact, we have our suspicions that Sky Mist City no longer belongs to the Berserkers!”

The old woman spoke quickly, as if she wanted to use this chance to tell everything that she knew to their Shaman Lord through this Shaman Soul of Nine Li!

Su Ming sucked in a sharp breath. The old woman’s words had delivered a great shock to him.

”We believe that Sky Mist City is fighting against the Shaman Tribes that have affiliated themselves to the Immortals from the other worlds because they belong to two or three different factions of power among those Immortals!

”Shaman Lord, what should we do?!” the old woman asked hastily.

The woman formed by the black smoke continued to stay silent.

Su Ming was also silent. He had a sudden feeling that Autumn Sea Tribe saved him in secret and allowed him to stay in their tribe so that they could have a chance to speak to his eldest senior brother. It was not because of Su Ming himself that they did so.

When he remembered his eldest senior brother, Su Ming could not help but be reminded of his Master.

The Nine Li Shaman Soul formed by the black smoke still remained silent.

Suddenly, a calm voice floated towards them from afar. Those words were uttered in an indescribable rhythm. That voice was very pleasant to the ears, but at the same time, it also contained a feeling as if it was trying to stun souls. As that voice echoed around, it made all those who heard it feel buzzing sounds going off in their heads.

Even the Nine Li Shaman Soul Su Ming’s eldest senior brother had given him looked as if it was about to scatter under the power of that voice.

”Tell the Shaman Lord that if he still hasn’t made a choice, that I, Zong Ze, whose life has almost ended, will chose to surrender my blood right in exchange for a chance to break through the End… If I succeed… If I am no longer myself…” When that voice reached this point, it paused for a moment before it turned into a sigh.

Su Ming knew who exactly that voice belonged to - that End Soul Catcher!