Pursuit of the Truth

“Yeah, my name is Ya Jiu.”

The boy was not afraid of strangers. Perhaps he could sense Su Ming’s good will, which was why he spoke loudly.

Once he did it, the adults talking among themselves were immediately stunned. When they turned their heads around to look, they instantly discovered Ya Jiu talking to thin air.

The crowd was stunned, especially Bai Chang Zai. With a glint in his eyes, he spread his divine sense through into the area, but he found nothing extraordinary.

“Jiu Er, who were you speaking to?” Zi Yan took a few swift steps forward and arrived beside Ya Jiu to speak softly to him.

“There’s a big brother here. He asked me whether I am Ya Jiu.”

The boy blinked innocently and pointed at Su Ming. He did not know that his words immediately caused Zi Yan’s expression to change, and Ya Mu’s reaction was even more prominent. He might be a little slow on usual days, but at that moment, a freezing glare immediately appeared in his eyes, and he appeared swiftly in front of Ya Jiu.

Bai Chang Zai had murderous aura spread out from his entire body. With a cold sneer and a ghastly tone, he spoke to the empty spot.

“I didn’t expect someone to arrive in Southern Swamp Island. Sir, since you are already here, why bother hiding? Please show yourself!”

“Grandpa Bai, that person has already left,” Ya Jiu quickly said behind his father’s back.

“He already left, and he gave me this. He said I was a good boy.” Ya Jiu lifted his hand, and a white scale appeared on his palm.

That scale seemed incredibly normal, but the people in Southern Swamp Island were familiar with it. It was the one and only reverse scale of a sea dragon.

Bai Chang Zai’s expression changed, and he turned around swiftly to stare at the sea dragon he had just captured. The spot where the reverse scale was originally located was now empty.

“That big brother is a very good person, and he even said that I’m smart. He gave me this gift, and he said that if I run into any danger when I grow up, this gift will help me neutralize the danger nine times.”

The young Ya Jiu looked at his family around him, and his young voice rang in the air.

Zi Yan’s face was pale. She could already imagine just how strong the person was if all of them could not notice him. After all, with Bai Chang Zai’s power, even the old monsters among the nine great forces of power who were conferred titles of nobility during the era of the Fourth God of Berserkers were unable to conceal their presences to the point where Bai Chang Zai could not notice them.

Wan Qiu frowned and looked around her. She did not speak. Zi Che’s eyes sparkled as if he was thinking about something. He stared into the distance.

Bai Chang Zai hesitated for a moment, then picked up the white scale from the young Ya Jiu’s hand. Once he scrutinized it, his pupils shrank swiftly, and his breathing quickened.

This scene immediately caused the people around the area to become nervous.

Ya Mu hesitated for a moment before he said in a whisper, “Senior Bai…”

Bai Chang Zai was silent for a moment before he spoke in a solemn voice. “This person bears no ill-will. His… His level of cultivation has already surpassed what I can understand. Just this scale alone… gives me the feeling as if it can destroy me millions of times.”

When he said those words, the people around the area sucked in a sharp breath. Zi Yan held Ya Jiu, and her expression changed several times. Ya Mu was slightly more level-headed while by her side, but there was still disbelief on his face.

Wan Qiu was still frowning, but due to Bai Chang Zai’s words, the grave look in her eyes became stern.

Only Zi Che stared into the distance. No one knew what he was thinking.

“This person… I don’t think he’s a cultivator of our world. Even those old monsters in this world cannot reach this sort of level of cultivation. This is… a level which I simply cannot understand nor describe clearly. I can only sense that this person can destroy all of us Berserkers with one thought.

“And… this scale gives me a feeling as if my blood is boiling. All of you must have sensed it before. This is… giving me the exact same feeling.

“That’s why I’m certain that this person… came from the world outside!” Bai Chang Zai’s expression became even more solemn, and he appeared to be slightly worried.

The entire area descended into silence. Zi Yan and the others would not be skeptical of Bai Chang Zai’s words, but it was precisely because of this that made them feel lingering fear in their hearts.

“Oh, I just remembered. Grandpa Bai, that big brother said you just need to put that scale at the center of your brow, and you will be able to recover from the internal injuries you sustained. He says to treat it as him repaying you for how kind you were to him in the past,” the young Ya Jiu quickly said.

Upon hearing his words, the people in the area were stunned again. Bai Chang Zai’s expression changed. Only he alone knew of his injuries. He’d had them for a long time, and they were a lurking problem that he could not get rid of, but with his level of cultivation, he simply could not find anyone who could help him with his injuries.

While he pondered over Ya Jiu’s words, Bai Chang Zai’s eyes shone. He placed the scale at the center of his brow without any hesitation. At the instant the scale touched his forehead, a bang shot out of Bai Chang Zai’s body, and a gentle wave of power surged into his body from the scale. It swam a full circle in him and easily got rid of all the internal injuries that had bothered him for years without healing.

As his internal injuries disappeared, Bai Chang Zai’s cultivation base increased by leaps and bounds, but this could not attract Bai Chang Zai’s attention, because the young Ya Jiu’s words still echoed in his mind.

“Repaying a kindness of the past… This person… Who?” Bai Chang Zai mumbled, but he simply could not remember anyone like that.

Wan Qiu crouched down and looked at Ya Jiu before she asked softly, “Jiu Er, tell me how that senior looked.”

“He…”

Before the young Ya Jiu could finish speaking, Zi Che suddenly spoke by the side. “Master is back.”

Zi Che did not mention the identity of the master he spoke of, but when he said those words, the expressions of all the people around him changed, and their breathing quickened swiftly. A single figure appeared in their heads.

“Also, that big brother asked me about a person called Fang Cang Lan. Who is she?”

…..

In an area in the sea not too far away from Southern Swamp Island was an island. It held a supreme status in the land of Berserkers… because this place was not just the main tribe of the Fated Kin, but also the Berserkers’ holy land.

Living within the palace in a mountain was the current spiritual symbol of all the Berserkers in the land, the Berserker Consort.

Fang Cang Lan sat quietly in the empty palace. She had a noble status and was worshiped by countless Berserkers. In fact, the lives and deaths of the Fated Kin beyond the palace could be decided with just one sentence from her.

However, there was not a single hint of joy in her for holding such a position. She was bound to be lonely in the palace.

Only a select few among all the Berserkers knew her name. Among them were a few people in Southern Swamp Island and the powerful warriors in the tribes who were given their titles by Su Ming in the past.

The Berserker Consort did not need a name. She only needed the title of Berserker Consort. This was the price to maintain her mysteriousness. The Berserker Consort was just a symbol, a living statue. She could not belong to a tribe, and she could not let anyone know her name.

Belonging to a tribe or possessing a name would wash away the sacredness of the Berserker Consort. Yet the loneliness of sitting in a high place could allow all the Berserkers to place their hopes in their God of Berserkers from the bottom of their hearts.

And mystery was the best manifestation of a symbol. That was why the Berserker Consort had to remain mysterious.

Fang Cang Lan bore all of it by herself. She bore the loneliness of leaving Southern Swamp Island and ignoring all her tribe members wandering outside. She had gotten used to loneliness and staying quietly alone while playing the Chinese zither and having the notes serve as her company.

The dusk seemed to plan to stay eternally in the sky, as if the sun would never set. It was frozen in the sky, causing the light of dusk to shine on the ground. the soft rays shone through the window and landed quietly in the palace.

Fang Cang Lan sat quietly beside her Chinese zither and closed her eyes to continue playing a piece that sounded as if it were waiting for someone. The notes of the piece echoed in the air and seeped through the palace to fill the island. When it spread out, it also landed in Su Ming’s ears, who was staring at Fang Cang Lan in a daze through the window while he stood in midair.

Su Ming had not come because he had sent his divine sense sweeping through the place. Instead, it was because the presence of the laws of fate in this place was the strongest out of all the other parts on the Dead Sea in the land of Berserkers, which was why when he was about to walk past this place, he cast a glance at the island, and when he did so, he could not avert his gaze.

He saw his own statue on the island and the Fated Kin next to it. He also saw the palace on the mountain. It was extraordinary, built in the typical style of a Berserkers’ palace.

This was something Su Ming could be certain of… because he had seen Great Yu Palace before.

The palace on the mountain was the one and only palace in the islands on the Dead Sea in the land of Berserkers as of then, and if Su Ming could not tell the meaning behind it, he would be calling himself intelligent in vain.

Insilence, he walked into the island and trekked up the mountain. He entered the palace, which was the source of the peace, and stood beside Fang Cang Lan. She could not see him, but he could see her.

Fang Cang Lan was slightly older and no longer as beautiful as before, but her graceful gentleness was even more pronounced than before, causing all those who saw it to be unable to help themselves but get immersed.

Su Ming stood quietly beside Fang Cang Lan and listened to the story of the Chinese zither. The one thousand something years of loneliness and wait made him feel as if he had slowly returned to the past and had… lived through the thousand years with Fang Cang Lan.

After a long, long while, the piece came to a stop.

Once the song finished, the air within the palace immediately distorted. A figure appeared, and with an aloof face, the man lowered his head and bowed to Fang Cang Lan.

“Under the orders of the Berserker Consort, we have investigated the cause of our blood boiling previously. It happened not just in this place, but in all the regions in the land of Berserkers! This is definitely connected to the sun not setting in the world outside.”

“Notify all the Fated Kin to activate the Berserker Protection Rune. Notify all the islands belonging to the Berserkers to be ready at all times… This is perhaps the signs of yet another beast swarm or the descent of ferocious beasts from the worlds beyond ours,” Fang Cang Lan said faintly after a moment of thought.

As she spoke, a dignified air belonging solely to the Berserker Consort naturally surrounded her.

“I will obey your orders, Berserker Consort,” the figure said calmly and instantly disappeared.

‘Berserker… Consort…’

Su Ming was stunned, and then, for the first time since he returned to the Berserkers’ world, he sent his divine sense outwards without any hesitation. He wanted to know the memories of the Berserkers in the Berserkers’ world and to learn… the origins of the Berserker Consort.