Pursuit of the Truth

There were various tattered metal swords, damaged shields, and other broken items trailing behind the turtle as if it was dragging them along. In fact, there were even some of items whose original form could no longer be seen. There were so many of them that it was dazzling at first glance…

Yet when Su Ming took a second glance, he did not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry, because all of these items were useless. Some of them still had shards of ice behind them. Clearly, this turtle had just dug everything out from ice.

The turtle ran on the ice towards him like a puppy. Once it returned to the spot right above Su Ming’s cave abode, it came to an abrupt halt, but the scraps behind him did not stop. They fell on the ice in front with a loud clattering sound. Once they landed into a small hill, the turtle cast a smug look at the small snake, then looked at Su Ming eagerly. It even licked its lips.

Su Ming looked at the scraps, then at the smug turtle that now actually seemed rather simple and honest, and lifted his right hand with a wry smile. He flicked his wrist, and the medicinal bottle with the black liquid appeared in his hand.

Right after Su Ming brought that bottle out, the small snake lifted its head. A longing look appeared on its face. The turtle outside the layer of ice widened its eyes and puffs of air started rolling out of its nostrils. It even started pawing at the ice instinctively.

After a brief moment of pensive silence, Su Ming decided that he did not want to dismiss the turtle’s hard work. He poured out a drop of black liquid, cast a glance at the turtle, then took away a large part of the black liquid, leaving behind only a small part of it. He frowned and put on a dissatisfied look, then with that small drop of black liquid in his hand, he went to the ice mountain, opened up a small hole once again, and flicked the liquid out.

The turtle opened its mouth wide and immediately lunged forward to swallow that small drop of black liquid. An intoxicated look appeared on its face, but after waiting for some time, it saw that Su Ming returning to the ice cave underneath instead of giving it anymore of the black liquid. It let out a few roars of displeasure, even moving forward to fiddle with the small hill of trash it had built up.

When it saw Su Ming still ignoring it, the turtle became even angrier, and then started walking in circles on the ice. After a time, it seemingly thought of something and flew off the ice and disappeared into the darkness again.

When the turtle moved away, Su Ming calmed himself down and stood beside the Enchanted ring to look at the poisonous wasp in the semi-transparent mountain stone. After some time, a resolute look appeared on his face, and he lifted his right hand to press his palm against the Enchanted Vessel. Immediately, the light ring started humming and scraping at the stone. As fragments of the stone fell off, gradually, the semi-transparent mountain rock became smaller and thinner!

After a moment, it shattered with a crack. The instant it turned into dust, Su Ming’s right hand shot out like lightning, golden light shining on his fingertips. His movements brought up a cyclone that fused with the golden light, and once it surrounded the poisonous wasp in several layers, he caught it between two fingers.

Su Ming’s heart pounded against his chest. Did the poisonous wasp have any nectar in it? If it did not, then all his expectations would fall flat. If there was indeed nectar in the wasp’s body, then would the nectar be from the God Sealing Flower? If it was not, then everything would still fall flat!

Once he remembered just how wild the people in Shaman City had been for this God Sealing Nectar and remembered their comments about it, remembered that this mysterious and practically extinct God Sealing Flower might not be from this world, not from the True Morning Dao World, but instead came from the True Sacred Yin World or perhaps even from the universe itself, when he remembered its shocking effects, Su Ming found that it was simply impossible for him to not be nervous!

As he became anxious over the prospect of possibly gaining the nectar but also worried that he might not, he looked at the poisonous wasp sealed with the golden vortex between his fingers with an electrifying gaze!

The God Sealing Flower was a legendary item, and its rarity could not be described with words. In fact, it could be said that currently not a single leaf of it could be found in all the continents of the Berserkers!

The nectar was even rarer. After all, the flower itself must first exist, and the nectar would only come when it bloomed. As of then, the God Sealing Flower was practically a legend, and by mere association, it was also impossible to get its nectar!

As Su Ming stared at the poisonous wasp between his fingers, he spread his divine sense outward and fused it into its body. Yet the moment his divine sense touched the wasp, he immediately had a strong hunch about how long this poisonous wasp had slept. It might have a hint of life left within it, but if Su Ming forcefully fused his divine sense in it to examine it, then this wasp would immediately die!

Once it died, then would the God Sealing Nectar that could be possibly be contained inside be affected? Would it disappear along with the wasp? Su Ming was unwilling to take this sort of risk.

‘The easiest way for me to process it is to swallow the poisonous wasp and have it melt in me… But this wasp is an insect that can collect God Sealing Nectar. Its poison is definitely not weak. If I swallow it just like this…’ Su Ming’s eyes sparkled as he stared at the poison needle on the wasp’s butt.

After a moment of pensive silence, he decided not to act rashly. Instead, he simply carried on with his original plan and turned his divine sense into a Brand before slowly fusing it into the poisonous wasp’s body.

‘The only thing I can do is to turn this thing into my pet. Only by doing so can I make it throw up the nectar obediently. This is the safest way for me to obtain the nectar, and also the only way I’ll be able to get all of the nectar!’

The God Sealing Nectar was simply too rare, and Su Ming did not have room to make even a single mistake. He stared at the sleeping wasp and slowly left his Brand on it.

However, getting the nectar was not something that could be done so soon. After a moment, Su Ming placed the wasp into a jade box and put it away into his storage bag. He then took a wisp of his divine sense to surround the entirety of the jade box so it would continue applying his Brand within the wasp.

‘If the wasp really has the God Sealing Nectar, then once I finish branding it and turn it into my pet, I will have my answer.’

Su Ming forced down his excitement and brought out another Crimson Stone, going on to break this stone on the frozen ground located at the bottom of the sea. This process of cutting into stone was incredibly dry and boring, but Su Ming was already used to being alone.

Was there a loneliness that could compare to the endless incarnations he had to suffer in the Undying and Imperishable World? Just like that, Su Ming continued staying in the frozen world.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, a year went by!

During that year, the turtle had returned several times, and each time it came back, it would bring over quite a large number of things. However, none of those items were complete or in working condition. They were all broken items, and these items formed numerous small hill on the ice mountain.

Su Ming’s cave abode under the layer of ice had also become much larger over the year. This was thanks to the Poison Corpse and the small snake who had managed to gradually make the cave not look so simple as they continued cutting out blocks of ice without stopping. The abode became much larger, and several ice chambers could even be found in there.

Besides the small snake and the Poison Corpse, there were also two floating souls in the freezing cave. One of them was a woman. That soul was, naturally, the Celestial Maiden. Su Ming had taken her out half a year ago, and she had been constantly snuggling up to him while keeping her gaze trained on him.

The other drifting soul was Ahu. He floated about at a loss in the cave, simply continuing to wander about…

Su Ming had cut open all the Crimson Stones over the year. He had picked them out personally in the past, and all of them contained medicinal herbs and other items within, causing his storage bag to be filled with a countless number of items.

Bringing out any of these items would very possibly cause a stir and people might start fighting for them. In fact, Su Ming didn’t even know some of the names of these items, but he had already prepared himself to search for these herbs’ effects once he got out.

This was how that one year went by. Su Ming would occasionally open his eyes and snap out of his meditation to look outside the layer of ice. He did not know what had come to be of South Morning after the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands had unleashed havoc on it.

After a long while, he turned his gaze away silently. The period of time he had spent meditating had allowed his power to reach its peak, and he was now prepared to do something else, something he had waited for for a long time, and for whose creation he had finally managed to gather all the needed materials!

”The Welcoming of Deities…”

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He cast a glance at the medicinal cauldron situated not too far away from him. This cauldron was now exuding a freezing air, and there were layers of ice covering it, making it seem as if it was sealed.

He lifted his right hand, and the medicinal cauldron’s lid immediately flew open. With a wave of his arm, a black shadow immediately flew out of his storage bag. Right at the moment that black shadow flew out, Su Ming’s eyes sparkled with a sharp light, and with his right hand still out in the air, he stretched out a finger and tapped that black shadow.

The true form of the shadow was revealed, and it was the spider’s leg! Once Su Ming’s finger touched it, it immediately shattered into dust. During that time, Su Ming opened his mouth and bit the tip of his tongue to cough out a mouthful of Berserker Blood.

The blood swept away the dust that had been the spider’s leg and flew into the medicinal cauldron. Then, with a grim expression, Su Ming patted his storage bag. Immediately, another item flew out of it. Right at the moment this item appeared, the small snake immediately lifted its head beside Su Ming, and a complicated look appeared on its face.

This item was the Candle Dragon’s scale!

As Su Ming looked at this scale, he flicked his wrist, and the item flew into the medicinal cauldron.

‘The last main ingredient is…’

Su Ming dipped his head down, and a dim light spread out of the storage bag. Gradually, a semi-transparent mountain rock appeared before it.

There was a small black humanoid sitting in the mountain rock. It had its eyes closed and did not move.

Su Ming stared at it before his gaze landed on the small humanoid’s third right finger. After staying silent for some time, he suddenly spoke.

”I know you possess intelligence and understand what I’m saying…”

The small black humanoid in the mountain rock remained still as if it was deep asleep. It did not seem to have heard Su Ming’s words.

”You might possess several secrets, and even if your arrival has nothing to do with the True Sacred Yin World, you are definitely somewhat connected to the Spirits’ of Nine Yin mission.

”I’m not interested in knowing about it. Since you’ve helped me reap a large amount of rewards from the Crimson Stones, I will only ask you for your third right finger, and I won’t bother you anymore,” Su Ming stated calmly.

However, the small black humanoid in the mountain rock remained deep asleep, as if it did not hear Su Ming’s words.

”I will give you ten breaths to think. If you still can’t provide me an answer after ten breaths, then I will forcefully wrench that finger out of your body!”

Once Su Ming finished saying those words, he closed his mouth. Time trickled by, and when the ninth breath arrived, the small black humanoid’s eyelashes fluttered in the mountain rock. It opened its eyes slowly and looked at Su Ming with mixed feelings.

”If I give you my third finger, will you let me go?” The small black humanoid looked at Su Ming, and asked hoarsely after a long while. There was a somewhat sharp quality to its voice as it shot through the mountain rock and echoed in Su Ming’s ears.

”No,” Su Ming stated flatly with a cool expression on his face, looking straight at the small black humanoid.