Pursuit of the Truth

”That’s right. This is an agreement made in Tranquil East Tribe to avoid any accidents from happening. We’ll all… hm?”

Dong Fang Hua was stunned. As he was making his explanations, his pupils shrank and he looked carefully out of the crack.

It was quiet outside, and it was clear that no one was there to receive them as per the agreement.

”Something’s wrong!”

The man named Chen’s face became dark, and he took a few steps forward before placing his right hand on the wall by the side of the crack. He closed his eyes and reopened them after a while.

”There’s no ambush outside, but… the guests that should be receiving us aren’t here either.”

As he spoke, he channeled power into his right hand and dug out a mountain rock. Then he bit his tongue and coughed out a mouthful of blood on the rock before throwing it out of the crack.

The moment the rock crashed on the wall, it turned into a silhouette who looked exactly the same as the man named Chen. It went out of the crack cautiously and walked around before it returned.

”There’s no ambush lying around, but why aren’t they here..?”

The man named Chen looked at Dong Fang Hua while speaking in a low tone.

”Wait a bit more!”

Dong Fang Hua frowned as he looked at the silhouette formed by the Berserker Art outside the crack.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the silhouette loitering outside turned into blood mist and became a piece of rock once more.

Su Ming saw this, and became cautious of the man named Chen.

”Brother Mo, brother Chen, there’s something wrong. When we go out later, it’s best that we don’t separate from each other. We have to rush northwest. I remember that place to be Tranquil East Tribe’s gathering place.”

There was a hint of alarm on Dong Fang Hua’s face when he hissed out the words. When he saw Su Ming and the man named Chen nodding, he took a deep breath and gritted his teeth before charging out.

The man named Chen followed suit with Su Ming behind him. The three men charged out of the crack, and a gust of wind with the smell of blood rushed towards them, lifting Su Ming’s hair. The area was dark with a thin layer of mist, but otherwise empty and desolate. Black mist rose from the ground and gathered in the sky above.

Dong Fang Hua and the man named Chen turned into long arcs as they dashed northwest. Su Ming originally wanted to follow, but the moment he charged out, he instinctively looked at the sky in this place. The moment he did so, he suddenly trembled, and the calmness and aloofness in his eyes were instantly replaced by shock. He stopped.

”Brother Mo?”

The man named Chen running ahead was stunned and turned back to look at Su Ming.

”Don’t bother about him! Something must have happened here, we can’t stay!” Dong Fang Hua quickly spoke, and without any hint of stopping, he ran ahead.

The man named Chen hesitated for a moment before hastily leaving as well. Gradually, these two people disappeared ahead without a trace.

Su Ming stood where he was, dumbfounded as he looked at the stars in the sky. Even if He Feng was calling out to him in alarm in his head, he did not seem to hear his voice. It was as if he had forgotten about everything around him.

As he looked at the stars in the sky, bafflement filled his eyes.

He had gone through the devastation in Dark Mountain, the feelings of disorientation in the Land of South Morning, the loneliness in the past few years, and the things that had happened with He Feng - all of them had made him used to staying calm, familiarising him with indifference and keeping his silence.

Although such an expression of shock might not be rare on him, it was still uncommon. He was also currently in the grave of Han Mountain’s ancestor.

In a place filled with danger, his mind became blank for a span of a few breaths due to shock.

He looked at the sky. It might have been shrouded by fog, but his eyes could see through it and to the stars glimmering in the black sky. If it were not because the four manmade cracks in the sky which made the fog continue slipping through, Su Ming would have not been unable to differentiate whether the starry sky was real or fake.

”It’s fake…” Su Ming mumbled.

He looked at the four cracks. Their existence told him clearly that the starry sky was fake and created by man. It… did not exist.

But he had seen this piece of starry sky before.

”Su Ming, remember this sky…”

The elder’s voice echoed in Su Ming’s head like a desolate wind.

He stood there, unmoving, as his face filled with bafflement. He looked at the sky and his eyes became blank. The area was quiet, but there was a voice mumbling in his heart.

‘Why did the sky the elder told me to remember appeared in this place..?

‘Why do his treasures incite feelings of familiarity within me..?

‘Why couldn’t He Feng take out that treasure, but when it saw me, it fused into my body..?

‘Why did the sword open a path of flesh and blood once it entered my body? This path of blood also gave me a feeling like it had originally existed within me, but was sealed up…

‘Why does the red meadow of Han Mountain’s ancestor absorb other people’s Qi when they use it, but is completely different when I use it..?

‘Why…?

‘Han Mountain’s ancestor, where did you… come from..? Did you come from the place where this piece of starry sky belongs? Then where did I come from..?!’

The voice in Su Ming’s heart eventually turned into a roar, but it was only in his heart and no one else could hear it. They would only be able to see that he was standing stunned outside the crack, as if he’d lost his soul while looking at the sky, with a dumbfounded expression.

Thousands of feet away from Su Ming was a small hill. There were two people sitting cross-legged there. One of them was an old man in black robes. His eyes flashed when he pressed two fingers on his right eye.

”From the three people of Tranquil East Tribe, Dong Fang Hua and Chen Nuo are heading northwest, most likely to Tranquil East Tribe’s gathering place. We don’t have to bother about those two. If they go there, they’re just rushing to their deaths.

”There’s one person left. He’s staring at the sky unmoving, like in a trance. His power… is no more than 800 blood veins! I’ve never seen a person like this in the information provided about the guests of Tranquil East Tribe.”

”If he doesn’t even have 800 blood veins, then we can just take his head and get enough blood from him. Our tribe has been preparing for this for many years. It’s impossible that Tranquil East Tribe took note and planned for it. This might be a new guest they took in. Lin Dong, attack,” a man in his forties said coolly.

”Do it quickly. We still have to ambush the gathering place of Puqiang Tribe.”

The moment the man in his forties finished speaking, he closed his eyes. He was dressed in red robes, and the face of a woman loomed on his clothes. These type of clothes were only given to the tribe members of Lake of Colors Tribe in Han Mountain City.

It was clear that this man was a blood descendant of Lake of Colors Tribe!

The old man in black robes called Lin Dong nodded once he heard the words. He lowered his left hand from his right eye and stood up, then dashed forward so quickly that he disappeared without a trace before long.

Su Ming continued standing on the spot with a baffled look in his eyes. He had a strong feeling that there must be something in common between him and Han Mountain’s ancestor that was incredibly similar!

Yet it was as if there was a veil before him that obscured his view when he wanted to see clearly. He could only make guesses regarding everything about this.

‘I have to go to his tomb… I have… to see him!’

Su Ming closed his eyes and lifted his right hand abruptly before slamming it down on an empty space beside him.

There was a muffled boom, and ripples immediately appeared in the space beside him. An old man in black robes materialised with a pale face. Once he showed up, blood flowed out of his mouth. There might have been shock in his eyes, but he did not retreat. He seized the air with his right hand and immediately black mist surrounded his hand, turning into a black claw, which he swiped at Su Ming.

Su Ming might have still been in a baffled state, but the moment he stepped out of the crack, he had activated the Branding Art. Everything in the area of 2,000 feet could not escape from his senses, not even the grass moving in the wind.

He had sensed the stranger the moment the old man in black robes appeared.

Su Ming did not even look at the old man rushing towards him with the black claws. Instead, he lifted his head to look at the small hill not far in the distance. At the very moment he cast his gaze at the hilltop, virescent light suddenly flashed before the old man that was closing in on him at a fast speed. A virescent light appeared out of nowhere and pierced through the center of his brows, bringing with it a trail of blood that splattered behind the old man.

The old man widened his eyes in disbelief. The light in his eyes faded out, and he fell 30 feet away from Su Ming. His body convulsed on the ground a few times before he lost his breath and died.

This had happened too quickly. The man in red robes abruptly stood up on the hilltop. His expression changed, and shock appeared on his face. He did not pay too much attention to this fight because he knew Lin Dong’s power well. He might only have 800 blood veins, but his Berserker Art was mysterious. He could make his body fade away and it would be difficult to notice him as he quietly approached other people. With this Berserker Art, Lin Dong had built a name for himself.

Thus, the man in red robes did not expect Lin Dong to die so easily. He did not even manage to see the entire process clearly, only seeing the person staring at the sky in a trance hurling out a fist.

Lin Dong might have been forced back after suffering that one punch, but he still continued trying to kill him, and at that moment, Lin Dong suddenly died…

A shudder ran through the heart of the man in red robes. Coincidentally, the moment he stood up was the exact moment Su Ming turned his gaze in his direction. Their gazes met.

”Retreat!”

The man in red robes was taken aback. Su Ming at that moment was shrouded in mystery in his eyes. As a tribe member of Lake of Colors, he did not want to take the risk. As he spoke, he quickly withdrew and was just about to leave.

”Don’t even think about it!”

Su Ming’s eyes were cold and he bounded forward at full speed. He turned into a long arc that stuck close to the ground as he charged towards the hill.

The moment he saw Su Ming’s speed, the man in red robes was alarmed. The hill was 4,000 feet away from him, but as the masked man closed in, the distance between them rapidly closed up. Even if he wanted to escape, that person would still catch up to him before long.

‘This person killed Lin Dong with ease. He must be a powerful Berserker who hid his true power. I’m no match for him!’

A resolute look appeared on the face of the man in red robes as he retreated. He quickly brought out a palm-sized red box from his bosom. Once he crushed it, a spherical stone appeared in his palm.

The stone was entirely red, and there were dense marks covering its surface, forming a complex picture. The moment the man brought out the stone, a strong red light appeared on the surface of the stone, which swiftly spread outwards. The man in red robes gradually faded out, and as he stared at Su Ming closing in on him, still 3,000 feet away, a cold smirk surfaced on his face.

‘Lin Dong might have died, but we discovered another powerful Berserker in Tranquil East Tribe. We can consider this mission a success… You want to kill me? Hmph!’