Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming naturally did not know what method the trio used to fight against their fellow sect members for the loot before killing the four Hidden Dragon Sect disciples only to find the now familiarly emptied out hall. Neither was he privy to their expressions and emotions, nor bothered by what sort of psychological trauma he would cause them due to his deception.

He had already swept clean the places he had checked with his divine sense in the left side of the hanging bridge, and it could be said that he had an incredibly great harvest from his exploits. If it was not because the Evil Spirit Sect members were killing and pillaging through the buildings and cave abodes to the right of the hanging bridge, he would have definitely been incredibly interested with the things there as well.

However, Su Ming still harbored the thought of snatching some things from the right wing despite the Evil Spirit Sect members being there, but the old man who was protected by the dozen something Hidden Dragon Sect members attracted his attention.

As Su Ming charged forward, he saw numerous corpses lying on the ground. They were of men and women, and most of them belonged to Hidden Dragon Sect, though some of them were from Evil Spirit Sect as well. Nonetheless, the corpses that belonged to Evil Spirit Sect were few and rare in-between.

Similarly, he also saw that the souls of the deceased had not disappeared, but had been sucked into the sky, and it was clear to him that there was something up ahead that could absorb souls.

When Su Ming lifted his head, a glint appeared in his eyes. He saw an indistinct figure sitting in the endless sky. There was a small bottle before him, and it was that thing that was absorbing all the deceased souls.

The deceased Hidden Dragon Sect members on the ground were in an incredibly miserable and tragic state. They either had their Dantian regions dug out of their bodies and their Gold Cores taken away, or had their bodies ripped into shreds before they could self-destruct.

Some of them sported cracks at the top of their skulls, and that was the signs of Nascent Souls being forcefully extracted. By then, these extracted Nascent Souls had most likely been devoured by someone.

The female cultivators were in an even more pitiful state. If they were beautiful, they would naturally be unable to escape the fate of being turned into a furnace [1].

As Su Ming moved forward, he saw one of such scenes happening, and the instigator was an Evil Spirit Outer Sect disciple, who was standing up while laughing ferociously. He kicked the woman’s head on the ground, and he was about to leave with sparkling eyes when he heard a sigh in his ears.

This was the final sound he heard in his life. Right after that sigh, his eyes went wide, and a bloody hole appeared at the center of his brow. He fell down, side by side against that female corpse whose head was now a bloody mess.

One of the woman’s eyeballs fell to the ground when her head exploded, and it would remain staring at the dead man for all eternity.

Su Ming continued on his way.

Before long, he found the dozen Hidden Dragon Sect disciples protecting that old man with his divine sense. They had already gone down the Thousand River Valley and were at the foot of the mountain. As they charged forward, they neared an operating Relocation Rune located before them.

The Rune had clearly been hidden away previously, which was why those from Evil Spirit Sect had not noticed it. If the runaways stepped into the Relocation Rune, they would definitely be transported out of this place.

However, just as the dozen something people were about to rush towards their escape, with that old man they protected in their midst, their footsteps abruptly froze. Their expressions turned dark, tainted with despair.

All of this was because a person had walked out of the air right in front of that Relocation Rune. He was dressed in a blue robe and appeared to be a middle-aged man. His expression was aloof, and his eyes were cold and sinister… and he was Shen Dong, the Grand Sect Elder of Evil Spirit Sect!

”Fellow Daoist Gu, why are you in such a hurry?”

”Shen Dong!” The old man who was protected by the group immediately turned livid with rage as he glared at Shen Dong.

”How dare you be so conceited as to go against the agreement between the Immortals and evil Immortals?! No matter how well you manage to hide this, the superior Immortal Sects will still learn about it, and at that time, you will not be fighting against the Berserkers, but against the Immortals!

”Your Evil Sect will not have the power to survive being surrounded and attacked by all the sects in the land of Immortals!” the old man declared hoarsely.

”That is not a matter of my concern. Fellow Daoist Gu, since we know each other, hand over the Bright Yang Stone, and I’ll allow you to die with your body intact. I will only devour your Nascent Divinity.”

”Creating one Bright Yang Stone requires ten thousand Immortal souls, and it is an important item for us Immortal Sects. It can aid us in returning to the land of the Immortals while also serving as the foundation in setting up our sects here, once we landed in the land of the Berserkers.

”I am of lowly status, how would it be possible for me to obtain such an item?!” the old man stated firmly, then laughed loudly.

”Each of you Hidden Dragon Sects will be given a small piece of Bright Yang Stone when you want to set up your branch. It’s fine if you don’t want to admit to it. I’ll still be able to get it if I kill you.”

While speaking, Shen Dong took a step forward, and during that instant, all the guardians behind the old man started casting their Arts.

Yet right at the moment Shen Dong’s foot landed, twenty-odd clones appeared as a hum traveled out from his body. All of these clones were exactly the same in appearance. As they charged forward, they shot past the old man like flowing streams of water.

There were no screams or loud banging sounds. There was only a buzzing, and when it gradually faded away, Shen Dong’s clones also disappeared. Only one remained to stand less than ten feet away from the old man.

As for the guardians behind him, they all fell to the ground with lifeless expressions on their faces. Their bodies turned into puddles of blood that seeped into the sand on the ground.

A thick stench of blood surrounded the area. This scene caused that old man’s face to turn even paler.

”The Great Blood Clone Transformation Art… I didn’t expect you to truly be able to successfully master this Evil Art…” That old man laughed brokenly and moved to take a few steps backwards, but at the instant he did this, his body exploded with a bang.

That self-destruction came incredibly suddenly, and his body crumbled right away. The impact that was formed from the blast swept through the entire area, and during that moment, the old man’s Nascent Soul grabbed a storage bag from his crumbling body and shot up to flee frantically.

However, before he could escape more than a hundred feet, the air before him immediately distorted, and Bao Qiu walked out of the air! The old man’s Nascent Soul let out a shrill screech and immediately changed direction, but he still did not manage to fly more than a hundred feet before another person walked out once from the air again. In the end, once that old man’s Nascent Soul changed several directions, the eight Evil Sect members who had been following behind Shen Dong appeared, and were coldly blocking off the escape.

”You can’t run, fellow Daoist Gu.” Shen Dong walked out of the impact and dust clouds on the ground formed by that old man’s physical self-destruction. The Evil Spirit Grand Sect Elder’s expression was as aloof as ever when he spoke languidly.

Despair appeared on the old man’s Nascent Soul. Just as he was about to take action, he was momentarily stunned, but that brief moment of shock disappeared within an instant. Immediately after, he threw the storage bag in his hand in the distance.

Once he did so, he instantly ran in the opposite direction. Because of that, all the people’s gazes, including Shen Dong’s, were immediately absorbed by the storage bag.

The Evil Spirit Sect’s Elder who was the closest to that storage bag was a pureblood Immortal, since he was an Immortal who had descended to this place. At that moment, his eyes sparkled and he charged forward with one swift step. Once he closed in, he lifted his right hand, and just as he was about to grab his target—

Another hand immediately shot out from the empty space next to him just as his fingers were about to touch that storage bag, and that hand snatched the storage bag before the Sect Elder could grab it.

This happened too suddenly, which caused all the people’s gazes to be locked on it. At the same time, when the Evil Spirit Sect’s Immortal saw that the storage bag that was just about to reach his hands was snatched away by someone else, he let out an enraged roar and formed a seal with his right hand. There was no time for him to think. He positioned both of his fingers into a sword and swiftly cut down on the hand that had stretched out of the air beside him.

A cold harrumph reverberated in the area. Right before everyone’s eyes, that hand from the air that had grabbed the storage bag, did not even bother dodging the slash from the two fingers. It instead just turned its back to block it.

Rumbling sounds instantly rang in the air, and the person from Evil Spirit Sect immediately shuddered before he coughed up a large mouthful of blood. His body was instantly sent tumbling backwards, as if that power from the block executed by the back of that hand was so strong that it could flatten him!

This scene might seem to have happened slowly, but in truth, only a few breaths had passed ever since the battle began. When the Immortal coughed up blood and fell backwards, a person walked out of the air.

He stood tall and straight. There was a black mask on his face, and he was dressed in black robes. His long hair danced behind his head, and with the storage bag in hand, he looked at the crowd with a cold stare.

The people in the area might not be familiar with this mask, but if he was in the land of the Shamans, then there would definitely be quite a large number of people who would be able to recognize its owner!

The person wearing that mask was naturally Su Ming!

He still did not want to give up on such a recuperative spot as Evil Spirit Sect. That was why when he appeared, he decided to wear the mask. There might be quite a number of cracks on it and it had also shattered in the past, but it could still be used to hide his face.

”Who are you?!” Shen Dong’s pupils shrank. He stared at Su Ming and demanded slowly.

Bao Qiu looked at Su Ming from her spot. With the connection they shared between their souls, she could tell with just one glance that this person was her master. She blinked and kept her silence.

”Why should I bother wasting my breath telling you my name?! I’m taking this Bright Yang Stone!” Su Ming put away the storage bag, speaking coldly.

”How conceited!!”

Another old white-haired Immortal from Evil Sect instantly let out a low growl. As Immortals that had descended to this place, they always held themselves in a prideful manner. At that moment, when he saw that someone actually possessed the guts to snatch away their things and saw that he was in the advantage because he had more people on his side, he took a step forward while he spoke.

Those remaining in the area did the same thing, and Bao Qiu was forced to take the same action. Only Shen Dong adopted an incredibly grave expression as his pupils shrank.

Almost at the instant the Immortals closed in on Su Ming and started forming seals with their hands, a brilliant glare appeared in Su Ming’s eyes.

The power of his Berserker Bones swiftly erupted from his body, and he lifted his right hand before hurling a fist towards the ground. At the moment his punch landed, the entire ground started trembling as if there were earthen dragons tumbling about it. When the ground started rising and falling like waves, wisps of black smoke seeped out from the ground, and when Su Ming lifted his right hand, that black smoke quickly gathered in his hand to turn into a thirty feet long spear!

Undertaker of Evil’s Spear!

”If you want to fight… then we shall fight!” Su Ming lifted his head, and a cold smile appeared on his lips, which were hidden behind the mask.

Translator’s Note:

1. Furnace: First appeared in Renegade Immortal chapter 96. Generally, they are women whose sole purpose is to provide the aura of Yin to powerful male cultivators through s*xual int*rcourse so that these men can become stronger. There are exceptions to these furnaces.