Pursuit of the Truth

The situation was perilous. The screen of light protecting Lan Lan and Ahu was shining furiously, looking as if it was about to shatter. It would only be able to persevere for a few more breaths before it disappeared completely.

Once it disappeared, then the fragile boy and girl, who were not even Fledgling Shamans, would shatter with just a touch. Similarly, the Spirit of Nine Yin was also caught in a life threatening crises. He was actually struggling due to that strange giant eyeball even though he had the power of a Latter Shaman. By the looks of it, he was in a considerable amount of pain as he was continuously pulled near the tear in the eyeball, and the eyeball looked as if it wanted to devour him.

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and without any hesitation, he charged towards Lan Lan and Ahu like a bolt of lightning. His clone and puppet followed closely behind him. At the same time, the mark of the crimson dragon on Su Ming’s arm shone, and as a low roar echoed in the air, the dragon appeared. With a swing of its huge head, it rushed towards the Spirit of Nine Yin who was being dragged towards that eyeball and swept its head across the land.

Su Ming’s speed had reached its peak, but right at the instant he was about to close in on Lan Lan and Ahu, the screen of light shattered with a bang under the impact of those white figures and their shrill cries, turning into a large amount of fragments that scattered everywhere. The white figures pounced on the children.

Su Ming’s face turned dark. His clone let out a low growl beside him and his body disappeared in an instant, only to reappear right when the screen of light shattered and the white figures pounced on the children. As Lan Lan’s face was filled with despair, the area before her distorted, and Su Ming’s clone walked out, and when he did so, he formed a seal with his right hand and patted the air before him.

With that one pat, the fog around the area immediately started churning rapidly, as if there was a great force bursting forth and pushing outwards from the clone’s palm, like a vase full of water shattering with an explosive bang. The pouncing white figures let out piercing screeches, and once the impact crashed into their bodies, they froze for a moment in midair before tumbling backwards.

Without a hint of hesitation, Su Ming’s clone waved his arm, using the force from the motion to immediately bring Lan Lan and Ahu away from the spot and back to his side. The remaining white figures let out piercing shrieks, and just as they were about to rush over, due to the clone’s impeccable aid, Su Ming managed to arrive at the most crucial moment. Almost at the instant the clone brought Lan Lan and Ahu away, Su Ming himself came charging and arrived swiftly like a violent gust of wind.

The Poison Corpse came with him.

With murderous intent burning on his face, the moment Su Ming closed in, he clenched his left hand into a fist and hurled it straight at one of the white figures. His fist traveled so quickly that the white figure did not even have time to dodge before the fist rammed into its body.

That figure was immediately ripped into pieces, but when those pieces turned into a layer of fog that spread backwards, it gathered together once again. The same thing happened over at the Poison Corpse’s side.

”A vengeful spirit?”

Su Ming let out a cold harrumph, then flipped his left hand over. Immediately, dark light started flickering around him, and Han Mountain Bell swiftly manifested. Once that bell appeared, Su Ming formed a seal with his hands and pointed towards it. The Nine-Headed Dragon’s illusion instantly formed outside the bell, and the dragon roared right when it appeared.

As it roared, the white figures froze up and did not dare come forward. Instead, they moved swiftly away, as if they wanted to escape into the fog, but with murderous intent raging on his face, Su Ming formed several seals with his hands, and the sixth head of the Nine-Headed Dragon opened its eyes, widened its mouth, and sucked in a deep breath in the direction of those white figures.

Those white figures immediately shivered and turned into wisps of fog, and as if they could not control themselves, they were all sucked into the sixth head’s mouth and were devoured. That sixth head even chewed a few times, looking as if it had just had a tasty meal.

During that time, the Spirit of Nine Yin was on the verge of being devoured by the giant eyeball with a dazed look mixed with a hint of struggle on his face. However, the crimson dragon’s head rammed straight into the spirit’s body with a huge force, and from the distance, he looked as if he was swept away by the crimson dragon’s head, causing his entire person to be forced out from the eyeball’s strange Soul Catching abilities.

At the same time as the Spirit of Nine Yin was knocked away, the crimson dragon let out a low roar. It lifted its claw and swiped it at the eyeball, but right at the instant its claw was about to touch it, gray fog filled the inside of the eyeball and it disappeared without a trace, causing the crimson dragon’s claw to swipe at air before falling on the ground, which made it tremble.

All of this seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, only several dozens of breaths had passed since the moment Su Ming and the group were ambushed. When the white figures were devoured by the Nine-Headed Dragon and the giant eyeball disappeared, everything returned to silence around them.

The fog that was blasted away by Su Ming’s club also came rolling back from all directions, as if it wanted to submerge the entire area once again.

The Spirit of Nine Yin crawled up from the ground and pulled off his helmet from his head. His expression was dark, and his eyes were burning in anger, but at the same time, there was also wariness within them.

The Spirit of Nine Yin cast Su Ming a glance before he spoke slowly, enunciating each word clearly. ”You Shamans didn’t keep to your promise. You must have gone past the edge of the seal, that is why the seals are being continuously broken, and now abnormalities have appeared on the Sacred Nine Yin’s skeleton here... That eyeball just now doesn’t possess incredibly powerful divine abilities, but its Soul Catching abilities aren’t something an ordinary person would possess. That is the Sacred Nine Yin’s second eye!”

”I was the one who rented you with Scattering Dusts, and I was also the one who saved your life just now,” Su Ming pointed out calmly.

The Spirit of Nine Yin fell silent, and after some time, he began to laugh wryly.

”Did you just mention the Sacred Nine Yin?” Su Ming put away the spiked club and turned his head around to look towards the pale Lan Lan and Ahu, then swept his gaze around the area before finally landing on the gigantic carcass a thousand feet away.

”The dead body you see now is the Sacred Nine Yin’s carcass, which is also known as Candle Dragon among you Shamans. I was thinking that there was something off about this place just now. By the looks of it, those white figures are the vengeful spirits belonging to the enemies who were killed by the Sacred Nine Yin in the past.

”The beast claw in the fog we met previously is formed through the Sacred Nine Yin’s decayed flesh… When you Shamans broke the seal here all those years ago, you caused the Sacred Nine Yin’s will to scatter. You people had even thought about taking the carcass away, but once you found that you could not, you had your descendants come here to sense its will so that your so called Soul Catchers could be born.

”Then you came to our tribe so that you could work together with us to seal up this place along with a few other spots. But while those seals look sturdy, they are actually very fragile. Once ripples of power that are equivalent to those of End Shamans come from the outside world, then the seals will shatter… That one doesn’t count among those that would shatter the seal,” the Spirit of Nine Yin said, casting a glance at the crimson dragon.

Su Ming looked at the gigantic carcass. Most of its carcass had already rotted away, but not a hint of the smell of decay could be detected from its body. After a moment of pensive silence, Su Ming walked towards it.

Lan Lan and Ahu quickly followed behind him. The Spirit of Nine Yin cast an incredibly wary look at his surroundings before he too followed behind them.

The crimson dragon floated at a low altitude. Its eyes sparkled as it surveyed its surroundings cautiously. The air here made it uncomfortable, and that gigantic carcass especially filled the place with an oppressive air.

As the crowd moved closer, the fog from all around them slowly seeped closer, causing the area around them to gradually turn foggy once again. Then, when Su Ming arrived beside the gigantic carcass, he stopped.

He stared at the Candle Dragon’s carcass for a moment before he spoke unhurriedly towards Lan Lan and Ahu. ”Get closer to the carcass here and sense the Candle Dragon’s will. Now, whether or not you will be able to activate the path to become Soul Catchers will depend entirely on your own serendipity.”

The pair of teenagers might be afraid, but they nodded their heads resolutely. Then while holding hands, the both of them sat down cross-legged and closed their eyes, silently circulating the blood in their bodies which held that weak bloodline connecting them to the Soul Catchers according to the method their Patriarch had taught them.

Su Ming did not know how long the boy and girl would take. Once he ordered the Spirit of Nine Yin to protect them and had the crimson dragon keep a close eye on the area along with fighting off all threats as well, he leaped up into the air and charged into the fog in the sky to appear on the gigantic Candle Dragon’s carcass.

When he stood there, Su Ming could see the dark shadow of the Candle Dragon’s carcass under his feet stretching endlessly into the fog, and he had no idea just where the end was.

In fact, when he looked at the shadow, he had a feeling as if the Candle Dragon’s carcass was a path that led to an unknown destination.

Only when he stood up there did he manage to smell a faint and indistinct foul stench spreading out from the carcass.

Su Ming’s heart shook slightly. This was the biggest creature he had ever seen, and with just its physical body alone, this beast could already startle a person.

He could not imagine just what sort of power could bring about this beast’s death, except that it had finished walking through the course of its life and reached the end.

‘Perhaps it had indeed walked through the course of its life and chosen this place to die…’ Su Ming looked at the distance that stretched down endlessly and once again felt that there were simply too many forms of power and materials he did not know of.

When he put himself in comparison to these things, a feeling that he was insignificant blossomed in his chest.

Su Ming sighed. Just as he was about to leave and return to Lan Lan and Ahu’s side, his footsteps suddenly froze, because right beside his ears, that ancient voice echoed once again.

”The Candle Dragon’s tribe will never die and be destroyed… Even if the world crumbles, we will not. Even if the heavens rot away, we will not… In my long life, I have devoured ninety-seven worlds and more than one hundred billion lives… When I open my eyes, I can see the skies from all worlds, because I am day itself…

”When I close my eyes, I can let the darkness I see cover the heaven of my world… In my life, I have devoured three of the descendants of my tribe… so that my life will lengthen… They… did so willingly…

”This is how the Candle Dragon’s tribe grows… My child, you will be…” As that voice echoed in Su Ming’s head, the strange snake in Han Mountain Bell let out a piercing cry. The grief in that cry made Su Ming’s heart clench in pain.

The grief in that voice gave others the impression of an indescribable sorrow of a wanderer who was devoured alive by his own kin after finding his family after a long period of time spent unable to find home.

The strange snake lay within Han Mountain Bell, shaking as it continued crying incessantly…

A freezing glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. In silence, he leaped down and descended from the Candle Dragon’s carcass to land on the fog covered ground.