Pursuit of the Truth

The instant the woman heard that voice, she shuddered. She swiftly turned around and saw another person standing at the spot where the boy had previously been behind her.

That person was dressed in white and looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. He looked incredibly handsome, but the scar under his eye added a slight devilish air to his face. The ancient look in his eyes also made him look as if he was submerged in the passage of time.

He stood there and looked at her silently.

His appearance was about a sixth similar to the boy’s who had left just now, causing the woman to be caught in a daze for an instant.

The two of them looked each other in the eyes. Time trickled by. The room was quiet. After a long while, the dazed expression on the woman’s face disappeared, and a smile appeared on her lips as her eyes twinkled.

”I know that it’s not real,” she said gently. She lifted her pearly white hand and tugged a lock of her hair. Then, she abruptly lifted her right hand, and immediately, several rays of dark light shot straight towards Su Ming like lightning.

The rays of dark light shone with a chilling presence and closed in on Su Ming in an instant. The woman’s attack had caused Su Ming to be momentarily stunned, but an Art of this level was simply nothing to him.

He did not dodge. A faint golden light simply flashed briefly on his person, and banging sounds immediately reverberated in the air. Right before him, three strands of hair gathered together in midair before shattering to pieces.

The woman had stood up at that point and now took a few steps backwards. Her eyes were filled with murderous aura and anger as she glared at him.

”Just who are you?!”

”I am Su Ming.” Su Ming cast a glance at the woman, then suddenly started smiling.

”There’s no way Su Ming would have your level of cultivation.” The woman frowned and took a couple more steps back.

”This is Southern Swamp Island. There are plenty of powerful warriors standing guard in this place. Even if you’re good with illusions and I have no idea how you came to know how Su Ming looks like, but this sort of trick is simply despicable!” the woman bit out with a chilling voice.

Su Ming looked at the woman before him and smiled even wider. They had not seen each other for twenty years, and she had changed quite a lot. She might seem as if she was a calm person, but in truth, all those who managed to survive through the calamity would be incredibly alert. They would not believe in others so easily. After all, the things a person heard and the things a person saw might contain some degree of falsehood at times.

Clearly, this awareness existed in the woman’s mind.

”Then why do you think I would need to transform into another person to appear before you?” Su Ming smiled and took a step forward.

When he did so, the woman immediately moved back, looking as if she was about to cross over to the exit, but she did not leave. Instead, she glared at Su Ming, and the anger in her eyes burned even stronger.

”If you can transform into him, then you must know him well. Either you met me early on in my life, or this is connected to senior sister Zi Yan.” As the woman spoke, she took another step backwards. However, right when she took that one step, Rune light immediately appeared on the ground around Su Ming.

That Rune was filled with a fierce air that instantly turned into nine ice blades which appeared out of nowhere, as the Rune started rotating rapidly. Those ice blades charged towards Su Ming as they spun.

He took a step forward and simply allowed those ice blades to close in on him. Once they exploded with huge banging sounds around him, the inside of the tower was immediately filled with a freezing air.

Yet the instant Su Ming took that step forward, Runes appeared on the ground under his feet once more. And this time it was not one single Rune, but nine Runes that had him completely surrounded!

As their light flashed, the freezing air around the area suddenly tumbled backwards. Once it was swiftly absorbed by the Runes, it abruptly shot out, and the denseness of the freezing air actually managed to make Su Ming feel as if his flesh and blood were turning cold, like he was about to be instantly frozen. That was the power of that freezing air!

Su Ming let out a faint gasp of surprise, then golden light shone from his whole body. He took a step and walked straight out of the freezing air, but right at the moment he walked out, cracking sounds echoed behind him, and a gigantic ice block gathered where he’d been.

The woman’s face was incredibly grave, but her heart was filled with shock. She had prepared the Runes in this tower for Yun Lai, and she had been preparing them for years, all for the sake of killing him at the final moment!

In everyone’s eyes, killing a powerful Berserker in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm was impossible for a weak woman like her. However, she believed that it was not impossible!

Yet when she saw the person who had turned into Su Ming dodging the first two of her killing Runes without even having a single strand of his hair harmed, her confidence was shaken. By her calculations, while the first two Runes would not be able to kill Yun Lai, they could still cause him to freeze for a moment, and she would have time to execute her next moves.

But the things that happened now filled her heart with shock. Still, she lifted her right hand without any hesitation and pointed forward. Immediately, Runes appeared once again around Su Ming, and this time, there were thirty-six of them, and they practically covered the entire floor in the tower. Freezing air abruptly exploded, and the woman used that momentum as it swept her away to swiftly back away until she left the tower. She seemed to have made precise calculations in her retreat, exactly thirteen steps had been taken.

The instant she took her thirteenth step, she felt a bump under her foot. Once she stepped on it, light circled around the tower’s courtyard, causing the entire area outside the tower to become a gigantic Rune!

It started rotating with loud rumbling sounds and turned into numerous black flames. They surrounded the tower and gathered together to turn into a black fire dragon that charged straight inside.

The moment the freezing air in the tower erupted, it turned into a humongous ice block. When it touched the fire dragon, cold and heat crashed into each other, and an astonishing power was born. A loud bang shot into the air. It should have echoed in all directions, but was strangely contained within the mountain and did not spread out.

The tower crumbled and the ice block exploded. The black flames had devoured everything, but the woman had still yet to let down her guard. As the ice tower exploded, she retreated once again until she was a hundred something feet away, as if she was swept away by the impact. She lifted her hand, and a jade skull appeared in her hand. She sat down cross-legged, pressed her palms on the skull, and a dark light appeared in her eyes.

The instant it started shining, the color of the jade skull she had her hands on instantly changed from white to black. At the same time, the entire mountain shuddered with a boom.

From ninety-nine spots in the mountain, ninety-nine rays of black light shot up. Bringing with them a powerful presence, they charged towards where the tower had been. Each of those ninety-nine rays of black light contained power equivalent to a Berserker in the initial stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm. When they got closer, the dark light on the skull in the woman’s hands shone once again, and immediately, the imposing presence of the rays of black light instantly increased exponentially, becoming equivalent to the power of a Berserker in the middle stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm. They then instantly charged to the spot to the center of the previous explosion.

Su Ming had just walked out of the ice as it collapsed around him with a resigned expression on his face, when a serious look appeared on his face. The ninety-nine rays of black light were not strong in his eyes, but their speed and the spot where they were charging towards had sealed off all the possible spots where he could dodge.

However, that was not what made Su Ming serious. The reason behind that expression was because he had sensed a threat… from the sky!

Almost the instant Su Ming discovered that threat, killing intent shone in the woman’s eyes, and she softly said a word.

”Su!”

The instant that word tumbled out of her lips, the setting sun in the sky that she had been watching serenely just moments ago and the one she had been looking at for most of her time every single day, gazing at it as if she could never get enough of it, suddenly grew much brighter!

The hundreds of spirit stones in the setting sun instantly shattered, and a powerful blast of light abruptly shot out right after the sun darkened. It shook the world, causing all the Southern Swamp Islanders go slack-jawed in shock!

That strong light seemed to have absorbed all the rays of the sun. It charged down swiftly, and with an incredibly fast speed, it rushed towards the mountain where the woman was, straight towards… Su Ming, who was in the Rune and among the ninety-nine black rays of light!

An intense bang caused the entire mountain to tremble. Thick fog surrounded where the tower had previously been, and people could only see a big sunken hole there. Everything else was unclear.

This was Han Cang Zi’s true killing move. Everything beforehand was simply for the use of confusing her enemy, even the ninety-nine black rays of light had been used to achieve the same effect!

Perhaps this strong ray of light could still not kill a Berserker in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, but the woman still had other tricks up her sleeve. At that moment, she formed a seal with both her hands, and just as she was about to bite the tip of her tongue, suddenly, the jade skull under her right hand started shining with a dark light. Her body disappeared instantly and she appeared a hundred something feet away from where she had been previously. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but she appeared right where Su Ming had previously traversed.

Su Ming took a step forward, right to where she had moved. There was a wry smile on his lips, but his gaze as he looked at the woman was filled with praise.

He did not expect that the meek woman from the past could lay out such a shocking murder plan while being only in the initial stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm. If a Berserker in the initial stage of the Berserker Soul Realm stepped in here, then the slightest mistake could cause them to be grievously injured. Even a Berserker in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm would find some trouble with this.

Every single one of her moves were calculated precisely and were all connected to each other. Su Ming could even imagine that if this woman continued executing her moves, then perhaps the entire Southern Swamp Island would be used as part of her plan, and an unimaginable change might happen to the island.

When he saw the woman standing a hundred something feet away and looking as if she was about to continue, Su Ming took a step forward, thinking of closing in on her, but right at the instant he was about to move, that woman gave up on casting her Art and instead brought out a black knife, placing it directly against her neck.

”Take one more step and I will kill myself! There’s venom on this knife!” Han Cang Zi glared at Su Ming coldly as she declared coolly.

”Your level of cultivation has exceeded my expectations. I can’t kill you, but since you turned into him, then you must be thinking of capturing me alive. If I died, then you will gain nothing!”

”I’m really Su Ming…”

Su Ming laughed wryly, but before he could finish speaking, the knife in Han Cang Zi’s hands fell to the ground where she sat on the ground. Tears spilled from her eyes and she looked at Su Ming, stupefied. The aloofness in her eyes turned to gentleness.

”Su Ming… it’s really you…” Su Ming saw pictures flashing in her pupils, and those pictures contained all of Su Ming’s memories from the past twenty years!

This was Han Cang Zi’s unique Art. As long as someone had touched an item or walked past a place before, she could use these to see everything in the person’s past.

”Of course it’s me. We haven’t seen each other for twenty years, and you seriously left a deep impression on me this time. Are you really not scared that you’ll die of poison?” Su Ming laughed wryly.

”If you aren’t Su Ming, then I’d rather die. If you are Su Ming, you will naturally not let me die.” Fang Cang Lan winked at him and smiled happily as she spoke.

Translator’s Thoughts

Mogumoguchan Mogumoguchan

Preview to next chapter: She Said She Doesn’t Want To

Su Ming and Fang Cang Lan have a bittersweet talk.

Yun Lai comes.

Badass moment for Fang Cang Lan.