Pursuit of the Truth

To the north of Su Ming’s cave abode in the mountain range was the group of people led by the middle-aged man. They were hastily leaving the place via the sky, afraid of making that Medial Soul Catcher unhappy if they were slow.

When they were about 100,000 feet away, they started slowing down, and they would occasionally turn their heads back to look. The mountain had already become indistinct when they were that far away from it. If they did not possess a certain level of power, they would only see that the mountain was in the distance.

”Sir Wu Zhu, what should we do now?” the tribe members beside the middle-aged man asked somewhat anxiously.

”That’s right, sir Wu Zhu, half a month ago, that place was still normal, but why did a Medial Soul Catcher suddenly appear..?”

”Could it that he’s a powerful Shaman Black Crane Tribe invited over and wants to forcefully occupy that place?!”

”Enough already! All of you, quiet!” The middle-aged man frowned, his face filling with resignation. He cast a glance at the people beside him, then at the mountain range where Su Ming was in the distance, then sighed.

”Perhaps that person is just temporarily training over there and will leave before long. After all, it is a barren land and there is nothing there that will attract a Medial Soul Catcher to stay there for long. Let’s go, I’ll report to the Patriarch when we return to the tribe and have the Patriarch make the decision.” As the middle-aged man spoke and shook his head, they quickly left the place.

”He must be someone Black Crane Tribe invited over. That mountain range is very important to both of our tribes. Hah…” a tribe member behind the middle-aged man mumbled, then stopped speaking.

As the crowd left, the area gradually returned to its previous state of silence.

Su Ming, who had been sitting at the top of the mountain and had been observing the whirlpool continuously disappear, suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze was profound and there was a dark light in his eyes when he looked in the direction the members of White Bull Tribe had left.

‘The nearby White Bull Tribe…’

Su Ming averted his gaze and looked at the mountain range. If he did not spread out his divine sense in a circular shape but instead gathered it together into one line, he could elongate it to 100,000 feet with his current power, and he had heard every single word exchanged between the members of White Bull Tribe.

‘Looks like there are actually people who value this mountain range, but before I changed it, this place was indeed barren and there was really nothing special about it. Then why would that White Bull Tribe and that… Black Crane Tribe have a dispute over it?’

Su Ming was rather surprised by it. He was certain that he had carefully searched through the entire place several times before he had decided to open up his cave abode here, and only when he discovered that there were no signs pointing to anyone’s presence that he made his decision.

Yet by the looks of it now, it seemed like there were still some secrets in this place that he did not manage to find.

Su Ming thought about it for a moment before he stood up and looked at the whirlpool formed by the power of the world. It was half the size it was previously, and judging by the looks of it, it would take around two days before it disappeared completely.

At that time, this place would return to normal. Unless anyone entered the mountain range, then it would be difficult for them to find that the place had been modified to become an excellent spot for training.

As for that whirlpool? Those members from White Bull Tribe would have been unable to see it due to the limits of their power. However, due to the accumulation of the power of the world in this place, the feeling it gave to those people had become different, though they were unable to discern the cause for it.

Su Ming investigated the mountain range once again. As he walked through the range, he spread out his divine sense, but he still could not find anything.

‘Strange.’

He frowned. After a moment of thought, a glint appeared in his eyes, and the memory of the direction those members of White Bull Tribe came from and left appeared in his head. This time, he did not check inside the mountain range, but charged outwards.

He increased his search zone and placed his focus on the area 10,000 feet away from the mountain range. Even if it was flat ground, Su Ming still searched through it carefully. After several hours, he stood on an uneven plain located some 7,000 feet north to the mountain range. He stared at the ground with sparkling eyes.

Not too far away from him was a dug out hole. That hole was covered by grass and could not be easily discovered, and it was also located beyond the mountain range. Su Ming had focused his searches mostly within the mountain range previously and had not noticed this place.

Even stranger still was that even when Su Ming was standing there and had spread out his divine sense to examine the place, he still did not discover anything off. However, once he sent his divine sense into the hole, he let out a faint gasp of surprise.

About 100 feet into the hole, Su Ming’s divine sense was bounced back by a domineering force. It was as if there was a seal placed within that stopped his divine sense from stretching down further.

‘Could it be that White Bull Tribe and Black Crane Tribe are fighting over this?!’

Su Ming cast a look at the hole on the ground, then walked towards it. He bent his back and walked into the hole. The hole was not big, but it could still fit in one person. Once Su Ming entered the hole, he did not feel any sort of discomfort on his person. However, once he had moved about 100 feet into the hole, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

It was the spot where his divine sense was sent coiling back. His eyes sparkled, because he had just seen that there were two items placed on the ground before him.

One of them was a black stone bowl, filled with fresh water. It was the first item.

The second item was placed beside the bowl. It was a black feather stuck in the ground.

It was these two items that had created that force that blocked off Su Ming’s divine sense from spreading in. Su Ming stood by the side and looked at them for a long moment with his head dipped down, but he could not find what was so special about these two items.

That feather was just a normal bird’s feather, and it was not naturally black either. Some areas on the feather showed that it was originally white. By the looks of it, it was just a white feather that was smeared with burnt charcoal so that its color turned black.

The stone bowl was also just an ordinary bowl. The water within was the same.

Su Ming narrowed his eyes and spread out his divine sense swiftly towards the feather. The instant his divine sense touched it, he immediately had a feeling as if the feather no longer existed. In fact, when that feeling appeared, it was as if the cave also disappeared and Su Ming was buried underground.

‘No wonder I couldn’t detect anything when I was in my cave abode. This feather has concealing powers. It’s just an ordinary object, but it possesses such power…’ Su Ming covered the feather with his divine sense, and after numerous investigations, his expression suddenly changed.

Because he sensed a faint and weak divine sense contained within the feather. This was not perception but divine sense!

It was the exact same thing as the divine sense he had within his body! This was the second time Su Ming found an item that contained the same divine sense he possessed in the land of the Shamans - no, it should be said that this was the second time he found such a thing in the entire Land of South Morning!

The first time was when he was in the auction held in the land of Freezing Sky.

The divine sense gathered on that feather was very faint and weak. However, it was this divine sense that allowed this ordinary feather to contain the power of disguise. That divine sense had also noticed Su Ming’s presence, and was struggling as if it wanted to fight back against the intrusion of his divine sense.

However, compared to Su Ming, who was using the complete power of his divine sense, the divine sense on that feather was rather weak. The instant both divine senses clashed, that faint hint of divine sense instantly vanished, and even the feather turned into ashes that scattered on the ground.

Su Ming was momentarily stunned. This was the first time he came into contact with another item that possessed divine sense with his own divine sense. After a moment of pensive silence, he spread out his divine sense once again.

However, this time, under his control, only a small part of his divine sense spread out. The instant it touched the stone bowl, he instantly felt a domineering force coming from it, clashing against him.

All of this happened without a single sound, but Su Ming felt as if his head was buzzing. His divine sense was bounced back, but that feeling quickly disappeared. He let out a cold snort, then increased the strength of his divine sense before he pressed down on that stone bowl.

As if it could not endure that force, the stone bowl cracked. What little power of divine sense was contained within the bowl also disappeared. The bowl cracked and split into two halves. The fresh water contained within spilled out and seeped into the earth.

Su Ming frowned. He had no idea just what those two items were, but was certain that they belonged to White Bull Tribe or Black Crane Tribe. They might even be owned separately by both tribes.

Without the stone bowl and the black feather around, Su Ming closed his eyes and stood there. He did not move, but with no further obstructions in its way, his divine sense charged into the inner parts of the hole. After a moment, his eyes flew open, and a glint of surprise flashed past his eyes.

”So that’s how it is.”

At the end at the hole, which was about several thousands of feet underneath where he stood, his divine sense saw a karst cave. That karst cave was not big, but on its walls were not a small amount of glittering objects. There were also a lot of signs pointing that there had been mining activities around the area. With just one glance, Su Ming could tell that those glittering objects were Shaman Crystals!

This was a ley-line that was rich with Shaman Crystals.

When Su Ming filled the entire area with his divine sense, he saw that the entire Shaman Crystal vein was actually not big, and a small part of the crystals had already been mined, though there were still nearly 100,000 remaining in the vein. Perhaps that amount was nothing to slightly bigger tribes, but for smaller Shaman Tribes, this was a great fortune.

However, it was clear that the ownership of the place had caused disputes. White Bull Tribe and Black Crane Tribe were in conflict precisely because they were trying to fight for this place. However, based on Su Ming’s observations, it was clear that mining activities had been going on for several years in this place, and the two tribes were still fighting over this even now. It was not difficult to guess that they had already come up with a solution to this trouble. Although it was not the best possible solution, they could still avoid going to war.

However, all of this changed with Su Ming’s sudden appearance.

An odd expression appeared on Su Ming’s face. He did not expect that there would be a small treasure trove right before the doorstep of the place he wanted to treat as his cave abode. Once he thought about the great range of troubles that would come in the future when it was clear that White Bull Tribe and Black Crane Tribe would not give up on this place, he felt a headache growing.

‘Oh well, since this Shaman Crystal vein is right before my doorstep, then it means that it’s fated with me. If that’s the case, I can’t just give it away.’ Su Ming placed his hands behind his back and walked out of the hole. Before he left, he placed a wisp of divine sense in the place.