Pursuit of the Truth

When the morning of the second day arrived, the rainstorm was still pouring heavily outside. The world outside looked blurry due to the rain, but Su Ming’s eyes were bright as he sat in the cave in the crack on the mountain, though he looked exhausted.

In his right hand, a ball of black liquid was tumbling about, as if about to gather together. Yet after a few tries, it could still not fuse together.

Su Ming’s heart was as calm as the still water in an ancient well. He controlled the fire in his hands, and after a moment, the flames suddenly became greater and turned into a fireball, hiding away all the black liquid inside.

After a while, Su Ming’s face turned pale. His body was in a weakened state. Using the fire in his Qi for a long period of time was a little too much for him. He panted harshly, and the fire in his right hand gradually disappeared. There were three black pills in his palm.

A nice medicinal fragrance wafted into his nose, making Su Ming feel refreshed the moment he smelled it. He brought the three pills before his eyes and scrutinized them. The medicinal pills weren’t green, but their fragrance was familiar to Su Ming. Without any hesitation, he placed one pill into his mouth. It was still hot, but it didn’t hurt Su Ming.

The moment the medicinal pill touched his tongue, it melted. Su Ming closed his eyes and quietly experienced the feeling.

”It’s a little different, but it’s definitely Scattering Dust,” Su Ming mumbled and placed the other two Scattering Dust pills away. He sat down cross-legged and meditated. Once a large amount of the fatigue in his body went away, he looked at the herbs piled before him, and a resolute look appeared on his face.

‘If I can use the core of the tree struck by lightning to create Scattering Dust, then I can use the same method to create South Asunder. I… have no idea what the effects of that medicinal pill are, but I’m quite certain that it won’t increase the power of my Qi like Mountain Spirit.

‘After all, there were three types of medicinal pills provided after I opened the second door. I can ignore the Welcoming of Deities. Now, since Mountain Spirit increases Qi, then it’s highly possible that South Asunder won’t repeat this effect.’

Su Ming rubbed the center of his brows. Most of his hopes were placed on South Asunder. If his analysis was incorrect, then he would have to leave this place in his weakened state and search for a method to recover outside.

To ensure that he could definitely create South Asunder, Su Ming did not immediately start the quenching process, but rested for a long while until the sky became dark once again. After an entire day’s worth of rest, Su Ming began creating South Asunder, the pill that could possibly be very important to him.

Half a month passed by slowly. Su Ming had already been in this unfamiliar place for two months. His body had become even weaker during the past half a month due to him creating medicinal pills.

Nonetheless, because it was Su Ming’s first time creating South Asunder, failure was inevitable. Yet due to his continuous hard work, after half a month, he managed to create two South Asunder.

Su Ming’s face was pale, but his eyes were calm as he looked at the purple pills that were clearly larger than Scattering Dust, being the size of a fist. There was no medicinal fragrance from it, and it looked incredibly normal.

After a period of silence, Su Ming took one of the pills decisively and placed it in his mouth without hesitation. After going through so many things, he was no longer a child. He could analyse on his own now. Ever since he started creating the medicinal pills, besides Scattering Blood, which he had created on accident, everything else was harmless. More importantly, he did not have the luxury to waste even one pill for experimental purposes.

When the purple pill entered Su Ming’s mouth, it did not melt immediately. Instead, it slowly broke apart and slid down his throat with a bitter taste. After that, Su Ming took one Scattering Dust and swallowed it.

Once he was done, he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes, circulating the Qi in his body to feel the effects of South Asunder .

Time trickled by. After an hour, Su Ming’s suddenly shuddered and the 243 blood veins surfaced on his body. However, only about 80 of these blood veins glowed in a brilliant red color. The rest of them were dull.

The trembles shaking Su Ming’s body became more intense, and a pained look appeared on his face. After a moment, he opened his eyes and coughed out a mouthful of black blood. The black blood fell on the ground, letting out a rotten stench.

The moment Su Ming spat the blood out, a hint of red appeared on his cheeks. Around ten of the dull blood veins on his body became revitalized. They no longer emitted a dull light, but slowly glowed with a brilliant red light.

After a long while, Su Ming’s breathing calmed down. He looked at the final South Asunder in his hand.

‘South Asunder has curative effects! If only I had managed to create this pill before the tribe went into battle…’

Su Ming closed his eyes and let out a light sigh.

He stayed in the mountain range located deep in the rainforest, seldom going out. Every time he did so, it was because he had used up all of the herbs, or ran out of the replacements for Night Glitter Branch, having to go out to seek more of them.

Fortunately, the rainforest was huge, and it was not uncommon for lightning to strike trees. Usually, when a bolt of lightning struck a tree, it would provide Su Ming with a large amount of materials.

In the blink of an eye, a year passed by.

During that year, there was a period of half a year where there was no rain, yet there was no sight of snow that would have made Su Ming feel at home. It was as if there was no winter in this place.

His injuries were too deep. During that year, he had taken in a large amount of South Asunder, but it only made his Qi recover to around 190 blood veins. He was still slightly away from his peak condition.

In the course of that year, there were many times that Su Ming found tracks left by people when he went out searching for herbs. Once he even saw a team made of a dozen people hunting a giant snake in the rainforest.

These Berserkers were around the fifth and sixth level of the Blood Solidification Realm. Only one man was at the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm. By the looks of the others around him, the man was someone who was rather renowned.

They did not wear beast skins, but sackcloths. Most of them used spears as their weapons, and they seldom used bows. Almost everyone in the team wore a black bell that did not emit any sound on their wrists.

Most of them only had one bell on their wrists, but that man had two. Su Ming also noticed that there was a teenager at the fifth level of the Blood Solidification Realm among these people. His face was pale, as if he was sick.

He was surrounded and protected by the team, and Su Ming saw four bells on his wrist.

This was a completely different tribe compared to Dark Mountain and Wind Stream. When Su Ming was observing, he did not stand too close to them. Even so, he still attracted the attention of the man at the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm. The man did not make any sound immediately, but he did get closer to where Su Ming stood during the battle all while acting as if he did it unintentionally.

However, his actions were a little foolish in Su Ming’s eyes. He left. With Su Ming’s speed, if he wanted to leave, that man would not be able to stop him.

Su Ming did not bother himself with these people, but continued searching for herbs. Once the sky started to darken, he ran into the group of people once again when he was returning to his cave.

At that moment, they were setting up a simple beast skin tent in the rainforest while protecting the teenager with four bells. It looked like they were about to spend the night there.

The man at the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm held a spear and leaned against a big tree while keeping watch of his surroundings with bright eyes.

Su Ming crouched on a tree in the distance and watched these people. His eyes slowly brightened up. His power might not have completely recovered, but at least he could fight now. He wanted to know where this place was and what tribes were around here.

These people were obviously very averse to outsiders. If he approached them carelessly, they would likely not listen to his words and instead just engage him in battle.

As his eyes flashed, Su Ming lowered his head. He retreated without a sound and vanished into the rainforest. Time passed by. Two hours later, when the bonfire these people had made lessened the humidity in the air, the expression of the man leaning against the tree suddenly changed, and he clutched onto the spear in his hand tightly.

The other people noticed his actions, and their demeanor changed as well. Soon, the roar of a beast came from the deeper parts of the rainforest. A creature that looked like a tiger, but with spikes about half a foot long protruding from its spine, swiftly charged out towards these people.

”Black Sting!”

These people immediately let out shocked cries, and chaos ensued.

”This creature likes fire. Extinguish the fire, quickly,” the man at the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm said immediately.

He held the spear in his right hand and ran towards the wild beast. This beast may be strong, but it was just about the level of a Berserker at the seventh level of the Blood Solidification Realm. The man could fight against it.

Yet the moment he left the team to fight against that Black Sting, and his people extinguished the fire, the area became shrouded in darkness. While the people spent the next few short moments getting used to the darkness, a person charged out with a speed like lightning towards the teenager that was protected by the team.

The stranger was too fast. When these people finally reacted to his presence, he had already closed in on the teenager. Without waiting for the pale-faced youth to resist, the person slammed the heel of his palm at the back of his neck, knocking him out, and grabbed him under his arm before escaping.

These people were momentarily stunned, then their expressions changed drastically. Even the man’s face immediately turned sullen. He wanted to pursue the stranger, but he was unable to chase away that Black Sting. With that slight delay, the person who caught the teenager disappeared deep into the forest.

Su Ming sped through the rainforest with the teenager locked under his arm. He held no grudges against these people, so that’s why he would not kill them without a reason. Even if he chose to lure a wild beast towards them, he still made sure the creature was one that these people could chase away without anyone dying.

His target was only this teenager. This boy was definitely not of common birth. He must know quite a lot of things. If Su Ming wanted to know about this place, this was the only thing he could do.

‘Once I get my answers, I’ll let him go.’

Su Ming dashed through the forest into the distance. He circled the forest once and came to a more secluded corner before placing the boy down. He crouched down and scrutinized the teenager before understanding a few things.

When he first saw the teenager, he could already tell that there were some problems. Once he got closer and confirmed it, Su Ming fell into momentary silence before bringing out one South Asunder and Scattering Dust from his bosom and placing both in the teenager’s mouth.

Only then did he leisurely take a few steps back. He brought out a beast skin from the broken bag in his bosom; it was from a beast he’d hunted down for food during the past year. He placed it around himself, covering his body and face, and sat down against a tree not too far away from the teenager.

He grabbed a small piece of wood with his right hand from his side. With a tiny flick of his wrist, the wood charged towards the teenager’s brows. Su Ming did not use too much strength, but it was still enough to wake him up.

The teenager opened his eyes in pain. There was confusion in his eyes, but it soon turned into a calm look. His face may have been sickly pale, but there was no panic on it. He looked at Su Ming, who was sitting before him with a beast skin covering his entire body.

”Who are you?”