Pursuit of the Truth

In the World of Nine Yin, as Su Ming remained in the Candle Dragon’s carcass, lightning swam through his entire body. The power from the seven Berserker Bones burst forth fully, causing him to become even faster and his power of cultivation to also increase by a large margin.

When he crossed another several thousands of feet, he drank the fourth drop of Sea Marrow. He originally did not have that many drops, but when he was in Shaman City, he had discovered them on sale while on his shopping spree for medicinal herbs. Although there were not many on sale, he still bought them with some Shaman Crystals.

By doing so, he managed to charge through around seven thousand feet without a single stop. Carnage rained down behind him, and there was only a wreckage remaining where he passed through.

Yet he also had to pay a heavy price. The pouring of blood from his mouth, the shattering of his Divine General Armor, the return of Han Mountain Bell into his body, and the tumbling of his Qi all over his body caused Su Ming’s face to turn pale, but he did not stop. Instead, once the power of the drop of Sea Marrow disappeared, his Nascent Soul let out a piercing howl.

Light began flashing on his Nascent Soul’s body as he howled. Once that light enveloped Su Ming’s entire body, he took a swift charge forward, and they both immediately disappeared.

His Nascent Soul had warped, bringing Su Ming with him to appear at a spot nearly one thousand feet away from where they originally were. When they reappeared, the Nascent Soul let out another piercing howl, and they warped again.

They did this seven times, causing Su Ming to cross another seven thousand something feet in the tunnel. There were no longer any ferocious beasts being born from the Candle Dragon, but there was an endless supply of those creatures behind him, and they were all charging towards him.

Su Ming was gasping for breath. His Nascent Soul had already become quite dull and had returned to his Dantian region. Su Ming gritted his teeth and charged forward, drawing out a long arc with his movements. His speed as he traveled through the Candle Dragon became increasingly faster, and after a moment, the roars from the ferocious beasts behind him grew faint. Clearly, Su Ming had widened the distance between them quite considerably.

However, he did not let down his guard, because that suction force behind him did not disappear, but had instead become much stronger. Mumbling echoed beside his ears, and the words within it baited Su Ming time and again, making him want to turn his head back to look.

However, the words from the Spirit of Nine Yin remained as a constant reminder to him - he was to not look into the Candle Dragon’s eye no matter what!

Su Ming did not turn his head back. He only continued charging forth, even drinking one drop of Sea Marrow on the way, causing his power to instantly recover. His speed had also arrived at a state where it could not be described with words.

As he continuously charged into the deeper parts of the Candle Dragon’s carcass and got closer to its head, gradually, the heat around Su Ming reached its most intense state. Even the act of breathing itself sent waves of burning and painful heat in his body.

Even the walls of flesh around him had turned a crimson red. There was also a large amount of liquid dripping down the walls of flesh. When it trailed down and fell on the floor, sizzling sounds could be heard.

The liquid clearly contained powerful corrosive properties. The heat and the suffocating sensation that made Su Ming feel as if he could not breathe quickened his breathing and filled his heart with irritation.

A large amount of sweat seeped out of Su Ming’s body, and it instantly turned into steam the moment it appeared, causing Su Ming to look as if he was surrounded by a white, misty layer of fog as he pressed onward.

If anyone else was in his place, perhaps they would have found this situation difficult to bear. This had very little to do with the power of cultivation and was more related to an individual’s ability to resist heat.

Although it was difficult for Su Ming to bear through the heat, he continued maintaining that extreme speed, because this was not the first time he had such an experience.

When he was still a teenager, this sort of earthen fire had already been lying part of the cave abode he had made for himself. In fact, he had even gone into the deeper parts of the cave and seen the Wings of the Moon along with the rolling magma.

He had even practiced the Fire Berserkers’ Art and had in fact never given up on practicing the Fire Berserkers’ moon worshiping Art. That in itself was already enough to let Su Ming’s control over fire be much stronger compared to other people.

That was why he could charge forth like the wind without slowing down even the slightest bit in the Candle Dragon’s body despite the heat.

Time trickled by. He did not know how long it had been, but in Su Ming’s mind, his connection with the small snake always remained. He could sense that the small snake was flying forward in the distance.

He had called to it many times, but the small snake always ignored him. However, Su Ming could sense through the connection he had with the small snake that there was an unfamiliar power in the snake’s body controlling its mind.

With that connection, Su Ming never stopped moving and continued chasing after the snake until he reached an area that even he found difficult to beat. That was an area that covered ten thousand feet, and it was a place that seemed to be able to burn everything into ashes!

The instant he stepped into that area, pain shot through Su Ming’s entire body, and it was a pain brought only by burns. He saw a green light shining within that region. The ground was covered in a layer of green-like substance that made it seem like a swamp. That area was empty, there was not even a single skeleton around that spot.

The scorching heat came from that green swamp.

Su Ming only took a few steps forward before a feeling that his whole entire body was about to be burned to ashes rose strongly in him. If he did not take any preventive measures and just walked into the area like this, he believed that his feet would burn up before he could even take three steps forward, and when that time came, only death would await him.

However, he did not have time to think too deeply into this. The suction force and the mumbling sounds behind him were becoming stronger, causing him to be unable to stop and think of a foolproof plan.

During this moment of crisis, Su Ming lifted his right hand swiftly, bit the tip of his finger, then immediately swiped his finger across his eyes. The instant he smeared his blood on his eyes, the Fire Berserkers’ Art activated in his body. The moon could not be seen in this place, but the instant Su Ming wiped his blood on his eyes, his blood started feeling as if it was burning up, causing him… to perform the burning of blood!

The instant Su Ming’s blood started burning, the heat in the area instantly felt weaker. He did not hesitate any longer. He charged forward, turning into a long arc. One thousand feet, two thousand feet, three thousand feet… when he flew six thousand feet, sharp pain abruptly shot up his legs, bringing a great burning sensation. As his legs burned, the flames enveloped his entire body. At that time, Su Ming had already covered a distance of eight thousand feet.

When those flames covered his entire torso and charged straight to his head, he had already covered a distance of nine thousand feet. He lifted his burning right hand and performed the burning of blood once again.

With a hoarse roar, Su Ming flew past those ten thousand feet in an instant to appear on the other side of the green swamp in the Candle Dragon’s body.

When he arrived there and was just about to charge forward as per usual, cracking sounds abruptly sprang forth from his legs. Layers of ice covered his entire body, and the process only lasted for an instant before he turned into an ice statue!

Su Ming’s frozen body remained in his previous act of taking a step forward, and at that moment, he was standing on the spot, unmoving.

After going through the heated tunnel in the Candle Dragon’s corpse, an icy stage appeared before him, and Su Ming, who had run headfirst into this freezing chill, turned into an ice sculpture.

After three breaths, a spark of fire suddenly appeared in Su Ming’s eyes where he was sealed in that ice. At the same time, lightning sparks spread through the layer of ice from his spine. Soon after, a whirlwind spread out from within his body with a bang, and as cracking reverberated in the air, that ice instantly shattered to pieces.

Su Ming walked out of the ice, and freezing wind came crashing into his face, seeping into his body. Immediately, just like the heat from before, sharp pain spread through his entire body with each breath he took.

However, compared to this pain, the suction force that remained as a constant behind him, along with the roars and howls that had begun echoing beside his ears once again, were what bothered Su Ming the most.

He did think about setting up some traps to block those creatures before, but it was already difficult enough to set traps or Runes in this place, and that was not counting the fact that these creatures could come and go as they pleased since they were born from the carcass. Su Ming had even seen the fog beasts moving through the Candle Dragon’s flesh. The Bone Fiends also moved deep under the floor in the form of bones, and it was difficult for him to stop them.

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and he dashed forward, once again executing that extreme speed of his face with the freezing wind blowing against him. He did not know just how far he had traveled, neither did he know where exactly he was in the Candle Dragon’s body.

His path and his actions were all made after he sensed in his heart where the small snake was flying!

As he moved forward, Su Ming suddenly stopped, and the thing that brought this about was a frozen body stuck to the cold wall of flesh to his right.

It was a dried up corpse whose appearance could no longer be seen. However, he was wearing a purple armor, and it was shining with a purple light. The glowing armor was incredibly eye catching.

There were deep scars on the walls of flesh around that corpse. Judging by the scars, it could be seen that this person had actually managed to harm the Candle Dragon before his death.

There was one scar that looked as if a chunk of flesh had been ripped off, and it was a terrifying sight to behold.

But that was not all. Su Ming would not have stopped if that had just been the case. The one true reason that made him pause in his charge was because the armor’s appearance and presence gave him an incredible sense of familiarity at that instant.

That familiarity was not because he had seen this person before, but because that armor was… practically the same as his Berserker Armor, besides the color!

Su Ming’s armor was an illusion, and he had to get the true Berserker Armor from the Great Yu Dynasty. It was unknown as to whether the Great Yu Dynasty truly existed, but the armor before Su Ming’s eyes right at that moment told him… that the country truly existed!

The instant Su Ming saw the armor, his heart pounded against his chest. This was the first item that actually managed to tempt him ever since he arrived inside the Candle Dragon’s body.

Right at that moment, the suction force and the mumbling sounds behind him grew stronger. The roars and howls followed swiftly, and bumps even popped out of the walls around and ahead of him before they started squirming about. Clearly, the ferocious beasts had caught up to him!

Su Ming did not hesitate. He took a step forward, arrived beside the skeleton, and seized the purple armor. Yet the instant his hand touched the armor, the skeleton that Su Ming had deemed dead suddenly lifted his right hand and grabbed his wrist!

At the same time, within the skeleton’s eyes in his dried up head, a faint, dark light flickered.

”I found… the third…”

It was also right at that moment that an accident happened - Su Ming’s connection with the small snake broke.

At the same time, the eyes of the person in black robes who had followed Su Ming all the way into the fog surrounding the Candle Dragon’s carcass began flashing as he sat at a corner in the fog, looking as if he was hesitating and uncertain about something. Yet after a moment, he lifted his right hand and flipped it over, and a green jade slip appeared in his hand.

”Master made this personally, and this is the last Destiny Talisman I have…” The old man gritted his teeth and pressed the green jade slip to the center of his brows.

Almost the instant he pressed the jade slip to the center of his brows, his body began trembling furiously. Fog filled the insides of his eyes, and gradually, a picture appeared within his pupils. The person in the picture was Su Ming, who was inside the Candle Dragon’s body!