Pursuit of the Truth

The red-haired Su Ming smiled coldly and simply looked at the old man while his presence continued growing stronger. Even as he was facing the numerous runic symbols floating around him and the gigantic golden runic symbol charging towards him in the sky, he turned a blind eye towards all of it and was completely not bothered.

”Hidden Dragon Sixth Dao, Fire in Sleeves!”

Ever since the old man heard the word ‘Destiny’, his expression turned incredibly grave, along with a slight hint of nervousness. At that moment, as he spread out his arms, his hair started moving without wind and his robes started fluttering about. Once the long-haired woman formed an invisible barrier with an Art using a drop of blood from the bottle to cover up the Berserkers’ heavens, the old man revealed a large part of his power, and he immediately attacked with one of the great divine abilities of Hidden Dragon Sect.

The moment the last three words fell out of his mouth, the old man lifted his arm. His face instantly turned red. He had his lips shut tight, holding in a breath of his Primordial Qi, and he waved his arm at Su Ming.

With that one swing, huge banging sounds instantly rang in the air before the old man, then right before their eyes, a sea of fire appeared as if the air itself was burning. The sea of fire continued spreading out, and in the blink of an eye, it had already covered up the entire area.

At that moment, the old man opened his mouth, and he breathed out that puff of Primordial Qi contained in his previously shut mouth. That one puff caused a violent gust of wind to stir and swept through the area, and it gathered up the sea of fire around them to charge towards Su Ming!

From the distance, it looked as if the sky was burning, and the sea of fire looked as if it wanted to swallow Su Ming. Rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, and the sea of fire enveloped Su Ming in an instant. It was also at that moment that the golden runic symbol in the sky and the other runic symbols around Su Ming charged towards him along with the sea of fire to kill him.

Those thunderous rumbling sounds shook the sky and earth. The red-haired Su Ming stood in the air with a cold smile and did not move a single inch, simply allowing those runic symbols around him to attach themselves to his body, the gigantic golden runic symbol from the sky to stick to his head with a huge bang, and gave permission to the sea of fire around him to drown him in flames.

Those divine abilities struck Su Ming, but not only was there not a hint of happiness on the old man’s face, his eyes also went so wide that it looked as if they were about to fall out of his eye sockets. He sucked in a sharp breath with disbelief on his face.

The sea of fire that had enveloped Su Ming shrank swiftly from its previously grand and flashy state in the span of a few breaths until it eventually disappeared completely. Su Ming continued standing there and only opened his mouth to suck in a breath.

The sea of fire that had spread around him was completely sucked into his mouth, as if his body itself was a bottomless pit. At the same moment, all the golden runic symbols on Su Ming’s body became dimmer and eventually disappeared from his skin as if they had melted. The gigantic golden seal on his head also faded out at a rapid pace and eventually turned into a wisp of golden air that crawled into Su Ming’s jugular notch.

Su Ming’s face was as calm as ever. As he continued smiling coldly, a hint of derision appeared in his eyes, and he said languidly, ”Too weak. I will give you two more chances to attack me.”

The old man’s expressions kept changing as he stared at Su Ming and he started groaning in his heart. He might have heard about some of the rumors about Destiny, but he had never expected him to be so terrifying. That Fire in Sleeves he casted just now was enough for him to fight against those in the Berserker Soul Realm, but this Destiny was completely unharmed.

‘Damn it, why is he Destiny? If he wasn’t, then I wouldn’t have to risk my life trying to stall him here. The celestial phenomenon has appeared now, so the others from the sect should be coming soon…’ The old man’s eyes sparkled and the desire to retreat appeared in his heart. Yet at that moment, Su Ming’s smile turned even colder before him.

”If you don’t attack within three breaths, then I will let you have a taste of my divine abilities.” As Su Ming spoke, he lifted his right hand and curled his fingers into a fist, then swiftly unfurled them. Once he did so, he pressed his palm against the air.

That one push immediately caused the ground beneath him to tremble, and cracks suddenly appeared. At the same time, a vast amount of earthen aura shot up with a loud rumble like a wave of air, sealing up a circular area of five thousand lis, turning the place into a cage.

Not a single shadow of a person could be seen if anyone looked from the distance. They would only be able to see an indistinct wall of air that surrounded the place and was linked to the sky.

This sort of divine ability, this sort of Art that used earthen aura caused the old man’s pupils to shrink. He instinctively took a few steps back and shock appeared in his eyes. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and as he groaned in his heart, he also grew to hate that long-haired woman whose face had turned equally pale. If the woman had not revealed his identity, there would be no need for him to attack.

He was stuck. When Su Ming spoke, the old man remembered what he said about three breaths and knew he did not have any time to think more. The old man’s hair danced wildly in the air and veins popped up on his face. He lifted his right hand and started forming seals before him so quickly that in the blink of an eye, numerous after images flashed before him as if they were connected together.

As the old man made those seals, the veins that had popped up on the his face started twisting and moving, turning into a pattern that looked like the stripes on a tiger’s face!

An incredibly powerful presence erupted forth from his body. The power of that presence caused wind to stir and clouds to tumble in the sky above the land of the Shamans and beyond the invisible screen of light casted by the long-haired woman to serve as their cover. The sky became indistinct, and muffled whistles could be heard traveling forth.

It was followed soon after by a bolt of lightning charging forth with a thunderous crackle from that dull and indistinct sky. A large crack formed above, and when it appeared, an indescribable pressure stretched out, descending on them.

Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the crack. A rarely seen look of seriousness appeared on his face. As for the old man, his heart was trembling in fear at the moment. When he saw the crack above him, he gritted his teeth and continued forming seals to cast another Art.

As for the long-haired woman, there was a layer of blood-red light surrounding her, and it shone from within her. It seemed like it had yet to become bright, but it had an incredibly powerful defensive ability. As the person chosen by the sect to cover the sky of Berserkers, her safety was usually the most important thing in a battle of Arts.

Yet at that moment, her face had turned pale. Blood flowed out of the corner of her mouth. Clearly, maintaining the Art to cover the sky of Berserkers was something she could not do for long.

More importantly, there was something off about her expression. She was not looking at the old man, but kept her eyes trained on Su Ming. There was a complicated look in her eyes. Occasionally, she would look as if she was in a daze, as if she was not sure whether revealing his identity had been the right thing to do.

She would never forget. When she was just an Outer Sect disciple of Hidden Dragon Sect, she became part of a team that was given a secret mission due to a selection. There were nearly a hundred girls in that team. At that time, she had been cowardly, and she was only at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. She was also very weak. She did not want to become a Cultivator, and only wanted to go back home and be with her parents.

It was not her wish to be an Outer Sect disciple of Hidden Dragon Sect either. It was simply because she was the only one in the family that had the physique to become a Cultivator. For the sake of her family to continue the line of Cultivators, she had to enter Hidden Dragon Sect.

Once she joined that team, she was sent to a strange place along her other fellow sisters. Only seven from among the one hundred something people remained over there, and the others were all not chosen. She… was one of the seven chosen.

It was also in that strange place that she lived for one hundred eighty years…

The long-haired woman bit down on her lip. With a dazed look in her eyes, she looked at Su Ming blankly, as if she had forgotten about everything.

As the crack appeared in the sky and the terrifying pressure appeared, the old man continued forming those seals with his right hand, then suddenly lifted his hand and pointed at Su Ming.

”Hidden Dragon Third Dao, Crouching Tiger!”

That one finger caused the twisted tiger stripes on his face to float before him in the form of an illusion of a tiger’s head. That tiger roared, and as it charged out, its body and limbs appeared to give it complete form, turning it into a semi-transparent tiger. As it charged out, its body lengthened in the face of wind, and its body stretched out to about several hundreds of feet long. It charged towards Su Ming with a roar.

”Hidden Dragon Third Dao, Hidden Dragon!”

Cloud and fog seeped out in a circular area of five thousand lis, as if the area had turned into a sea of clouds. As the sea of clouds tumbled about, a python like body would occasionally show up inside, making it seem as if there was a gigantic python swimming about in the fog.

Almost at the moment the tiger pounced on Su Ming, a gigantic head shot out from the fog of clouds behind him. When that head appeared, a gust of wind filled with a bloody stench swept through the area, and two long whiskers shook in the air. That was not a python, but a ferocious dragon head.

That dragon only revealed its head, and most of its body remained hidden in the clouds. Once it appeared, the dragon roared at Su Ming and charged towards him.

Before him was the semi-transparent tiger, and behind him was the ferocious dragon hidden in the clouds. Su Ming stood in the middle with a strange glint in his eyes. He did not dodge, but turned his body sideways and lifted his left hand to grab the tiger pouncing towards him. Then with two fingers pressed together, he pointed towards the dragon closing in from behind him.

”Complete Manifestations of Crimson Net, Reincarnations of the World!” Su Ming spoke slowly.

The instant he opened his mouth, his voice drowned out the tiger’s howl and the dragon’s roar. He turned his left hand into a claw and pressed it on the incoming tiger’s head. When he did so, a hint of ghastliness appeared on Su Ming’s lips. No one knew what sort of method he used, but with one swing of his left arm, a burst of energy was sucked into his body through his left arm from the tiger’s body, and that energy was then transferred to his right hand. Immediately, Su Ming’s right hand and his entire arm turned into a tiger that was the exact same tiger as the one before him!

From the distance, the tiger before Su Ming had not changed. Once the right hand turned into a tiger, his hand crashed into that dragon, but at that moment, a similar sight appeared. Su Ming left hand, pressed against the tiger’s head, twisted and turned into the dragon!

This scene made it seem as if a dragon and a tiger shot out of Su Ming’s body. The dragon and tiger fought against each other, and right in midair, the tiger and dragon formed from the old man’s divine abilities crashed into each other.