Pursuit of the Truth

Chapter 243: The Strange Rod Insect

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Su Ming looked at the drawing board he had created, then lifted his right hand and gently stroked its surface. The drawing board was smooth, and he could not feel even a hint of roughness on it.

”You’ll be helping me understand the laws of Creation in the world from now on…” Su Ming mumbled and slowly closed his eyes.

The world outside was already dark. As the chilling wind moaned in the air, it landed on the ninth summit and swept past the platform outside Su Ming’s cave. Some of the wind even entered his cave and lifted his long hair.

Su Ming had his eyes closed. He was not trying to reach any sort of epiphany, neither was he immersing himself in his training. His mind was blank. However, a girl gradually appeared in his empty mind.

The girl had a beautiful laughter and her eyes twinkled, causing the others to be attracted by her charm when they saw her. As the girl’s body gradually grew clearer, a wild beauty could be seen on her.

She was like a flower refusing to be restrained and obstinately growing in a forest while giving out a natural and incredibly attractive fragrance.

She was dressed in white robes, and she was looking at Su Ming with a smile.

”Bai Ling… Bai Su…” he mumbled. With his eyes closed, he lifted his right hand and started drawing on the recently formed white drawing board with his finger as his brush.

With each stroke, an illusionary line would appear on the drawing board. That illusionary line would seem formless to others and they would not be able to see it, as if there was no line to begin with. Since there was no brush and his fingers were only sweeping by the board, it seemed as if there were no signs left behind.

Yet because Su Ming was using his heart to draw, he could see exactly what he was drawing every time his finger passed by the board. Perhaps more accurately speaking, he was drawing out what he saw in his mind. He was drawing out a feeling, an aura, and it was something that the naked eye could not see.

Time passed by gradually. The whistling sounds from the chilling wind became stronger during the night, but the cave remained silent. The only sound inside was of Su Ming sweeping his finger repeatedly on the drawing board. However, that sound was too weak in the face of the wind and could not be heard.

A night passed by. When the sun peaked out from the horizon, Su Ming’s right hand stopped moving on the drawing board and he opened his eyes.

He looked at the drawing board. To others, this drawing board would be no different from how it was before the previous night. It was still empty. Yet in Su Ming’s eyes, there was a girl on the drawing board.

The girl was dressed in white and she had a beautiful smile on her face. She looked alive, but she had no eyes.

Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he lifted his right hand and drew a few strokes where the girl’s eyes should be. Immediately, the girl on the drawing board had eyes. There was an attractive sparkle in those eyes, yet within that sparkle was disgust, causing her entire demeanor to change, making it seem as if she was questioning Su Ming.

”She… is Bai Su,” Su Ming whispered to himself softly.

There was a serenity within his eyes that remained still and did not seem like it could be disturbed. He looked at the girl on the drawing board for a long time before he tapped the drawing board with his right hand.

The drawing board immediately started trembling, and a thin layer of wood powder broke off from the surface of the board and jumped up. It looked like a veil that was lifted up, and that veil was the white figure he had drawn on the board.

As the powder sprung up like a veil that was lifted, the cold wind from outside came into the cave and raised the powder. It blew past Su Ming’s body and scattered away.

When the powder disappeared, the drawing board returned to a blank slate once again in Su Ming’s eyes. There were no longer any hints of the girl.

It was just like Su Ming’s heart. After a night of drawing with a calm mind, the slight shock brought by the similar face was gone like the wind. The shock would never be able to affect his heart.

It was bright outside by then. Sunlight shone into the cave through the entrance like it was trying to consume darkness. The light stopped three feet before Su Ming. He could see sunlight shining down and illuminating the outlines of the cave, making it seem like a ring in the area three feet away from him. Yet the spot where he sat was still in darkness.

In his silence, Su Ming placed the drawing board on the ground. A glint appeared in his eyes and he brought out Han Mountain Bell. Once the Bell appeared, banging sounds immediately came from within. It was clear that the rod like insect was still struggling inside and trying to break free.

Su Ming looked at the Bell and a chilling glare appeared in his eyes. When he fought against Si Ma Xin, besides understanding the power of the world from that one sword strike, he also obtained another thing – the insect within Han Mountain Bell.

To him, this creature looked like a strange type of insect, but Si Ma Xin had said that this was a snake. Su Ming did not have time to think about it at that time, but now that he was in a relaxed and calm state, he lifted his right hand and flicked the shrunken Han Mountain Bell before him.

The moment he flicked it, bell chimes echoed in the air, but these bell chimes did not spread out. They simply echoed within the bell and lasted for a long period of time. Faint, shrill shrieks could be heard from within the Bell, but as the bell continued ringing and shaking, the insect’s struggles quickly grew weaker, though it still continued crashing against the Bell.

Su Ming waited for the time it takes to burn another incense stick. When the insect inside the Bell could no longer struggle and only let out incredibly weak and faint cries, Su Ming pointed at Han Mountain Bell with a finger. The Bell instantly started growing. Once it was about the size of ten feet, a glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes and he made a strange sign with his right hand, albeit with jerky movements.

This was one of the few methods to control the Bell which appeared in his head after he took the Bell as his own. Once he made that strange sign, Su Ming swiftly pushed his right hand forward.

Han Mountain Bell immediately jolted. Gradually, ripples appeared on its surface, and the Bell became transparent, allowing Su Ming to clearly see the small rod like insect sealed inside. Its body was bent like a drawn out bow, as if it could explode with a shocking force at any moment it wanted.

There were no signs of it being injured on its body. There was also a ghastly, chilling glint in its eyes, as if it was waiting for a chance.

It would have been fine if that was all, but Su Ming saw with his own eyes the insect letting out weak cries from its mouth even though it was full of vigor and just waiting for a chance to attack while looking forth with a fierce glare in its eyes.

‘What a smart insect!’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. The intelligence possessed by the strange insect made him sneer coldly. He immediately flicked the Bell a few times with his right hand, causing the rumbling sounds to reverberate inside the Bell, forming a large amount of sound waves to spread.

The insect’s face immediately twisted, but it endured all the attacks. The rhythmic cries eventually turned silent. If someone used sounds to determine whether the insect was still alive or dead, then he or she would most probably think that the insect was almost a goner.

Yet Su Ming clearly saw that the insect was still bending its body in a stance, ready to attack at anytime, even though it was trembling lightly. The glare that showed its cruelty and bloodlust had not diminished one bit, but instead became even stronger in the midst of its pain.

This sight moved Su Ming.

”How in the world did Si Ma Xin make this creature submit to him?!” he mumbled. The ferociousness within the creature was a clear sign that it was a gargantuan task to try and subjugate it.

”I’d like to see just what are the limits of this insect!”

Su Ming’s eyes turned cold. He lifted his right hand, but he did not flick the Bell this time. Instead, he slammed his palm against Han Mountain Bell.

The moment his palm struck, the rumbling sounds inside reached their maximum volume. The loud sounds may have sounded weak outside the Bell, but they were powerful and fierce inside, and those sounds turned into an insane force.

The insect immediately trembled viciously. Its bent body seemed to be unable to withstand the force and it gradually grew lax until it eventually completely unfurled, though it was still letting out shrill shrieks.

As it continued shrieking, cracks seemed to appear on its body, and a milky white liquid flowed out of its body like blood. Its expression immediately grew dejected and its wings too fell to its sides, but the vicious look in its eyes did not diminish even the slightest. The viciousness had grown even stronger until it even looked like madness.

The cruelty in its eyes became even stronger, and it looked like if it found a chance and escaped, it would rain down maddening vengeance on the person who made it suffer so much.

Su Ming’s expression remained passive as he lifted his right hand and slammed it against Han Mountain Bell once again. The volume of the rumbling sounds inside increased to a new height. Under these bell tolls, the insect’s wings were instantly torn apart and broke into two pieces. The insect trembled and looked as if it was about to break down. Lots of blood flowed out and the creature lay within the Bell like a lump of mud. It did not have a hint of strength left, as if its life was about to end.

Yet Su Ming did not see a hint of surrender in its eyes, neither did he see despair. He only saw that burning ferociousness that almost swore that as long as life had not ended, it would never fade away!

Su Ming lifted his right hand for the third time. He knew that if he struck the Bell this time, the insect would immediately die! After all, the insect excelled in speed and that piercing ability that shocked Su Ming, not in this type of endurance.

After remaining silent for a moment, Su Ming slowly lowered his right hand. He looked at the small insect in Han Mountain Bell. Not only did he see ferociousness and tenaciousness within the insect’s eyes, but he also saw its loyalty towards its master, Si Ma Xin.

The reason why he could see the loyalty hidden underneath that cruelty in the insect’s eyes was because Su Ming had once seen the same look in his fire ape’s, Xiao Hong’s, eyes.

‘Xiao Hong…’

Su Ming could not help but remember the little monkey.

He closed his eyes and only opened them after a long while. Calmness returned once again to his eyes, and as he looked at Han Mountain Bell, he suddenly said something in the Bell’s direction, ”You’re intelligent, so you must surely understand my words… Since you’re so loyal to Si Ma Xin, why don’t we conduct an experiment?

”Let’s see just how important you are to Si Ma Xin!”

When the insect heard Su Ming’s words, it lifted its head in one swift motion, but it could not see Su Ming. It could only see the endless haziness that surrounded it.

”I’m curious what Si Ma Xin would do for you and what he would choose…” Su Ming stated in a dull tone. He lifted his right hand suddenly and tapped the center of his brows with a finger.

At the same time, a large amount of stone coins flew up on their own from Su Ming’s storage bag and floated to midair. Once they surrounded Su Ming, the Branding Power erupted from within him!

ENDLESSFANTASY TRANSLATIONS 1 YEAR BIRTHDAY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. STILL VERY MAJOR.

Endless Fantasy Translations will be celebrating our 1st birthday!!! *fireworks*

So as one of their translators and also one of the novels that happen to have quite the number of backup chaps, we will be releasing a bonus 40 chapters over 4 weeks.

The main announcement is in the link below, so go have a read and look at Zenobys’ handsome face ;3

https://forum.webnovel.com/d/362-birth-of-a-family-endlessfantasy-translations