Pursuit of the Truth

It was a winding Spirit Vein located underneath Thousand River Valley, but it was scattered all around the place. Perhaps more accurately speaking, this Spirit Vein was incomplete and was in pieces. It was as if the words ’Thousand Rivers’ were true for this Spirit Vein as well, in the depths of the ground, for it had split up into a thousand veins there.

Each vein was incredibly weak and barely noticeable, but the power of the world formed right at the end of these thousand veins was still able to make Hidden Dragon Sect take a fancy to this Thousand River Valley. Because of that, they chose this location to set up their branch.

This Spirit Vein that was a crystal vein, which gave birth to the stones called Shaman Crystals among Shamans, Berserker Stones among Berserkers, and spirit stones among Immortals, was the most important reason why Su Ming came to Thousand River Valley, besides looting all the sect’s spirit medicine, of course.

Several days later, he opened his eyes in the cave abode. His face was calm and not a single different thing could be detected about him; no one could guess what sort of pain he was going through at that moment.

However, Su Ming knew that he had to get used to this pain and familiarize himself with it!

He stood up slowly, and with one move, disappeared from the cave abode. When he reappeared, he was already in the depths of the ground. As he swam through the earth, he saw a layer of crystalline light before him.

It was a crystal vein that was a hundred something feet long running down a winding path. It appeared as a crystal vein, but when Su Ming swept through it with his divine sense, he felt as if this was a small dragon that was buried in the depths of the ground.

’Let’s hope that Hong Luo’s Art works.’

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. The power he had spent to suppress the Bright Yang Stone during the past ten days had completely recovered, and when it did so, he had discovered to his surprised delight that his cultivation base had increased a little. It might not be much, but it had made his cultivation base reach near nine-tenths in his path towards full recovery from the injuries he had suffered!

It might still be only nearing that amount, but there was only a sliver of distance left before he would have completely recovered nine-tenths of his cultivation base!

’If this Art works, then I will be able to recover to a state where I’ve never been before in a short period of time, and I will be able to try and reach Berserker Soul Realm!

’If I can reach Berserker Soul Realm…’

A brilliant glint shone in Su Ming’s eyes, but when he narrowed his eyes, it slowly disappeared. He took a step towards the crystal vein before him. His body moved through the ground, though at a clearly slower pace than it usually would, because this sort of movement used up a large amount of power. After a moment, when Su Ming appeared by the crystal vein, his eyes flashed with a light. He lifted his right hand and formed a seal. After he changed it nine times, ripples spread out from his body and traveled outwards in all directions.

As it spread out, Su Ming’s body slowly began turning indistinct. This kind of state lasted for about a quarter of an hour before Su Ming sat down cross-legged on the crystal vein, and a strange change began gradually showing up on his body, as he remained in that state.

’In truth, this Art to devour a crystal vein came from… the Ten Transfigurations from the Nine Transformations, Ten Transfigurations, One Voice Art! Nine Transformations can increase the strength of any divine ability or skill nine times so that they would reach the limit of their power.

’And Ten Transfigurations is a divine ability that can transform a person. This Ten Transfigurations in Hong Luo’s inheritance will only begin the transformation once I fuse into the item I want to change myself into, and once I choose it, I won’t be able to turn back.

’The Ten Transfigurations Art allows me to fuse myself into ten different objects… and the first thing I will transform into with my Ten Transfigurations Art is a crystal vein!’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. When he sat down, his body continuously turning more indistinct, his legs started slowly changing, and crystals started forming on them. They continued spreading up his legs, and an hour later, his whole body looked as if it had turned into a crystal.

In fact, at first glance, Su Ming looked incredibly similar to the crystal vein. Two hours later, he even completely disappeared to be replaced by an extra section protruding out of the crystal vein in the ground!

That extra section was in the shape of a person, but it looked like it was one with the crystal vein and could not be distinguished clearly. Even if there was someone else in this place, they might not be able to see anything wrong with this crystal vein at just one glance either.

This was the Ten Transfigurations Art. It would allow the caster to choose an item he wanted to transform himself into and fuse with it. Once he was successful, he could turn into the exact same thing as the item he had fused with, and not only would their appearance be similar, even their internal structures would also be exactly the same!

Just like now. Su Ming had chosen a crystal vein as his first transfiguration among the ten. And in a few hours, he had successfully turned into a crystal vein. When not a single difference could be detected between them, it allowed the process of him absorbing the spiritual aura from outside his body to turn into devouring the crystal vein from inside.

He was one with the crystal vein, and their fusion existed within their bodies. Time passed, and three days later, the crystal vein started showing signs of drying up. It gradually turned dark as it lost its spiritual aura. Only the extra, human-shaped crystal vein became brighter.

On the fifth day, this part turned indistinct once again and gradually turned back into Su Ming. He no longer looked as weakened as he was before either, but had recovered a little of his vitality.

A large portion of his cultivation base had also been restored!

’I can use this method!’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled, and he disappeared with one move. When he reappeared, he was already on another crystal vein that was a hundred something feet away from where he had been previously. Similar to before, when he touched that crystal vein, he transformed into it and became one with it.

This time, he did not take five days to absorb the vitality, only four, and after these days, the crystal vein turned into dust.

Time passed. As Su Ming continued absorbing the crystal veins while they subsequently turned into dust due to his actions, after a month went by, he managed to reduce the speed of his absorption from five to only one day!

That length of time was also still shrinking. If he continued with this speed, before long, the amount of crystal veins he absorbed in a few days might be equivalent to the amount he had absorbed over the past month.

The increasingly faster pace of absorption was due to Su Ming’s growing familiarity with the Art and his own change!

The absorption of the crystal veins during the past month had let Su Ming see hope and filled his face with enthusiasm, because as he continued devouring, he had finally reach nine-tenths of his cultivation base!

Not only did he achieve that, his cultivation base was also still increasing.

He could clearly feel himself becoming stronger with each moment as he continued devouring the crystal veins. This feeling was incredibly addictive, and it also strengthened his ability to suppress the Bright Yang Stone in his body.

One day, two days, three days… the crystal veins behind Su Ming shattered, and when another half a month went by, the amount of time he required to absorb a crystal vein was reduced to only six hours!

As his speed increased, the thousand crystal veins under Thousand River Valley swiftly disappeared, and gradually, the spiritual aura in Thousand River Valley started slowly reducing. This was bound to catch many people’s attention.

Yet strangely, no one came to check, causing Su Ming to be unable to use all the attacks he had prepared beforehand. This was something that puzzled him as he continued absorbing the crystal veins.

However, he was at a critical moment at that point, and it was not convenient for him to venture outside to check. The act of absorbing the crystal veins also rendered his connection with Bao Qiu almost non-existent, which was why he could not find out what was going on outside through her.

To him, nothing outside could be as important as him recovering his cultivation base at that moment, so he gradually stopped thinking about it. When two months had passed since the start, Su Ming was sitting on a large crystal vein, and in less than two hours, it shattered into pieces. When he opened his eyes, a piercing, brilliant light flashed in them.

’I’ve recovered ninety-seven percent of my cultivation base! There’s only half a step left for me to reach great completion!’ Su Ming did not know how many crystal veins he had absorbed, but by his estimations, he should have devoured nearly a hundred of them.

At that moment, while he needed around two hours to absorb larger crystal veins like the ones he had been sitting on, he only needed a quarter of an hour to absorb the small ones like the one he had chosen at the start.

’If I continue with this speed, then in just another month, I’ll be able to recover completely! In fact, if I can increase my speed, I won’t even need a month!’

Su Ming’s heart pounded against his chest. He might have surpassed the pinnacle of his power when he fought against Di Tian in the past, but his body still had yet to recover fully. There were still some hindrances lying about when he circulated his power. Right then, the hope of full recovery made Su Ming to resist feeling a little excited.

’Di Tian, the injuries I sustained all those years ago were because of you…’ Killing intent shone in Su Ming’s eyes. When he closed them, he appeared on another crystal vein and began absorbing it.

Three days, five days, seven days, ten days!

When another ten days passed, the number of crystal veins Su Ming absorbed had already surpassed the number of all the crystal veins he had absorbed in the past. There were only a small amount of them left from the thousand that had existed at first. Most of them had already been devoured by Su Ming.

With his speed, he only needed a hundred breaths to be able to reduce a small crystal vein to dust by then.

On the tenth day, Su Ming opened his eyes after devouring the vitality of another vein, which shattered and crumbled under him, at his frightening speed. Right then, an indescribably powerful might swiftly burst forth from Su Ming’s body with a loud bang.

His cultivation base continued rising without stop, and as he kept on recovering before eventually reaching complete recovery, the hindrances and obstacles that had existed previously when he circulated his power were now gone. The passages within him were like straight lines, which resulted in him reaching completion!

This was completion in its truest meaning. All his flesh and blood had been turned into that of a true Berserker. Every single inch of his bones had been turned into Berserker Bones. Every drop of his blood shone with a faint golden light, and all his organs, everything within his body, had become perfect at this instant!

Su Ming had a strong hunch that there was only one path before him at that moment, and it was to reach Berserker Soul Realm!

As he examined his body, surprised delight rose in him, but it swiftly turned into uncertainty before a variety of expressions started appearing and taking each other’s place on his face.

He could sense that once he reached Berserker Soul Realm, then there was a huge possibility that he would be able to move straight from the initial stage to the middle stage, then the later stage, before he reached great completion in the Berserker Soul Realm!

Because his foundation gave him the right to do so!

However, it also meant that the process of reaching Berserker Soul Realm would be exceedingly difficult. This difficulty might be a hundred times more higher than that of a normal person trying to reach that Realm.

Fortunately for Su Ming, due to the state of his foundation being something that no predecessor of his had ever possessed, even if he failed in trying to reach Berserker Soul Realm, he would not be destroyed like the others. However, he could not fail more than three times. Once he did, then he would still die. This was something Su Ming had come to understand naturally once his cultivation base recovered and his body reached completion.

’Should I go for it, or should I not..?’ Su Ming did not have an ounce of confidence in succeeding. After a moment of hesitation, a determined look appeared in his eyes.

’I’ll do it!’