Pursuit of the Truth

The area surrounding the place which may be the grave or the isolation grounds of Han Mountain’s ancestor could be said to be hidden hundreds of thousands of feet in the deep canyons under Han Mountain City, but it could also be said to be connected to the city with a secret tunnel. It was a strange dimension that was created by people.

This place was not too big, but if someone wanted to travel through this entire place, they would still need at least ten days even if they traveled with Su Ming’s speed.

This place was covered by mountain ranges, but it was not too humid. The air was incredibly dry, but there was an extremely thick spiritual aura within it that normal people would not be able to feel clearly.

This spiritual aura enveloped the entire place, and Su Ming could feel it tumbling around like waves in the air. As for the others in this place, they would feel refreshed to the point they could almost forget their fatigue.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the spiritual aura in the air why there were a lot of plants growing in the mountain ranges. These plants also seemed to be more spirited and livelier compared to the plants in the world outside. There were even some precious herbs here that would be difficult to find in the world outside.

The locations of some of the precious herbs were stated clearly in the list that was given to every guest in Tranquil East Tribe, and the map of the place was also drawn alongside the list.

This map, it would prevent people from getting lost in the place.

Su Ming held the bamboo slip given to him by Tranquil East Tribe and memorized everything drawn on the slip in his heart. Then he dashed forward cautiously along the mountain ranges.

As he traveled, Su Ming spread out the Brand and kept an eye out on all the movements in the area. He knew clearly that something had happened in this place and he might run into danger at any moment. This danger came from Lake of Colors Tribe, and he did not know whether Tranquil East and Puqiang had formed an alliance. If they did not, then this place would eventually fall into chaos.

‘Among the guests of Tranquil East, the strongest is the chief guest, Nan Tian… This person has already Transcended, and he was best descripted in the bamboo slip Fang Mu gave me.

‘He was among the first batch of people who had entered the place. I wonder where and how he is now… Tranquil East Tribe’s Nan Tian, Puqiang Tribe’s Xuan Lun, and Lake of Colors Tribe’s Ke Jiu Si… These three people are the strongest guests among the three tribes.’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. His feet made no sound as he traveled, and after the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he saw a gigantic ravine that looked as if it was formed by a mountain that was split in half.

‘Serene Spirit Grass is here!’

In the list of herbs Su Ming had memorized from the bamboo slip Tranquil East Tribe had given him, nearly a seventh of the herbs were that he did not know about, and in that list, besides Sky Flute Branch, the other herbs were useless to him at that moment.

However, since he was already here, Su Ming did not want to give up the chance to collect a much wider variety of herbs. After all, they might prove useful when he needed to create other pills that would come after Spirit Plunder.

As he looked at the ravine in the mountain, Su Ming became more cautious. When he approached the place, he focused the Branded area of 2,000 feet and scanned it multiple times. Once he did so, he charged forward and turned into a long arc that stuck close to the ground. With a flash, he rushed into the ravine.

The ravine was very deep, its end impossible to see, which made it seem like it went down to the very center of the earth. Su Ming touched one of the walls when he was in the ravine and took a deep breath.

‘This is manmade… By the looks of it, it’s as if it was sliced in half by a person using a blade… Just what level of cultivation did the person have to reach to be able to do this?!’

Su Ming quietly walked down the ravine, and as he moved, he calculated the distance he traveled.

After a while, he stopped. He saw a crevice within a rather deep part of the ravine. That crevice was not big but dark inside. It looked as if it had been a tunnel once, but was cut apart by this ravine.

‘This is the place.’

Su Ming walked forward carefully and spread out the Brand before slowly making his way into the crevice. He took a step forward, and the moment his foot landed, a faint white mist spread out from inside. That mist appeared out of nowhere and immediately enveloped Su Ming.

He did not dodge, but immediately brought out Tranquil East Tribe’s bamboo slip. The descriptions given regarding the location of the various herbs were very detailed. These herbs were gathered and planted by Tranquil East Tribe in certain locations over the years of entering this place.

They also protected these herbs and did not take them all out in one go. They would instead allow the herbs to grow in these locations before they came and collected them next time.

The bamboo slip was necessary for locating and entering the place. With this item, he could open the seals Tranquil East Tribe had placed over the locations where they grew the herbs. Yet over the centuries, it was unavoidable that there would be times when Tranquil East Tribe’s bamboo slip would be snatched away by the other two tribes.

However, cases where Tranquil East Tribe snatched away the other two tribe’s bamboo slips also happened. With this happening often enough between these three tribes, almost a ninth of the places where the herbs were planted were known to all the three tribes.

However, to avoid the herbs going extinct over all the fighting and snatching, a strange balance was formed between the three tribes. Besides a few locations where incredibly rare herbs grew and it was necessary for the three tribes to fight over them, the rest of the locations were divided equally amongst the three tribes before they opened up the hidden grounds.

The white mist tumbled before Su Ming, and once it touched the bamboo slip in his hand, it gradually dispersed and the path inside was revealed. Su Ming lingered around for a moment before he went in cautiously.

He did stay inside for long before charging out of the crevice in a flash. He dashed towards the exit of the ravine and soon arrived outside. He stood by the edge as a glint appeared in his eyes. After a moment of pensive silence, he lowered his head and looked at the ravine underneath his feet once again before making his decision.

He did not leave, but rather charged into the ravine once again. This time, he did not go into the tunnel in the crevice, but went down at a rapid speed. It was dark deep below in the ravine, but with Su Ming’s Branded area, he could still sense the things around him, even if his eyes could not see.

Time trickled by. After a moment of running, the ravine before him started narrowing down, though the end still could not be seen. In fact, there were a lot of places that were so narrow he needed to position his body sideways before he could go through.

At that moment, Su Ming saw something within the Branded area.

‘I knew it!’

Su Ming stopped before he started moving towards the object he had sensed through the Branded area. Before long, a corpse without a head appeared in front of him.

It was stuck in-between the walls of the ravine. He did not have a head, and he wore a blue robe. Many wounds covered his body, and there was one slice on his chest that had almost cut through the body.

There was a plate on his waist, and it was one belonging to a guest of Tranquil East Tribe!

Su Ming observed the corpse for a few moments, then searched his body, but there was nothing left behind. However, he could tell that this person had only died a few days ago from the signs on the corpse.

‘He lost his head and his blood…’

Su Ming stayed silent, then charged forward. Very soon, he left the ravine. He did not stop, but quickly moved further into the distance.

A few hours passed by, and Su Ming had already gone to five of the locations where the herbs grew, his expression growing darker. As he stood by a gigantic mountain rock, he touched the bamboo slip in his hand and fell into contemplative silence.

‘All of these places have herbs!’

This was not a good thing for Su Ming. This meant that the two batches from Tranquil East Tribe that had come to the hidden grounds before him did not have much time to collect the herbs. Even if they did manage to find them, they ended up like the person in the ravine – as corpses.

Su Ming’s eyes flashed. After a moment of pensive silence, he made his decision. He was just about to continue onward when the whistling of a sword echoed in his ears. He turned around abruptly and immediately saw a white cloud charging towards him from the distance.

There were two people standing on the white cloud. One of them—the one with the alluring body—was Han Fei Zi!

Su Ming’s pupils shrank and without further ado, he immediately withdrew and hid behind the mountain rock. He did not want to meet Han Fei Zi. In his mind, her presence in this place was not exactly a surprise, but if he could, he still wanted to avoid her.

As the white cloud whistled through the sky and got closer to him, its speed gradually slowed down. The person of blood floating before Han Fei Zi suddenly let out a piercing red light.

The moment the person of blood let out that red light, it instantly caught Su Ming’s attention. He thought Han Fei Zi was just passing by, but the speed of the white cloud under her feet was slowing down as if it was going to stop. He also saw the person of blood letting off that red light. When he trained his eyes on it and saw its face, Su Ming’s heart trembled. It was him when he wore the mask!

‘This is bad!’

Su Ming immediately knew that Han Fei Zi’s presence here was not an accident. She was using a strange, unknown Berserker Art as a guide to look for him!

‘It must be that man in red robes from Lake of Colors Tribe!’

Su Ming immediately retreated, yet the moment he withdrew less than 30 feet, the mountain rock he was previously hiding behind instantly let out an oppressing chilling air. A few rumbling sounds resounded, and the rock was instantanly covered in frost. In the blink of an eye, it turned into an ice block.

The ice block exploded with a boom and turned into countless ice shards that charged towards Su Ming.

At the same moment, a chilling glint appeared in Yan Guang’s eyes, who was the tall man standing behind Han Fei Zi on the white cloud in the sky. He took a large step forward and turned into a long arc using the force of his descent from the sky to charge towards Su Ming.

”Guest from Tranquil East Tribe! You killed one of my people, now do you dare fight against me?!”

Yan Guang’s voice was clear as it spread through the area. As he closed in, a piercing sound rose up and a long spear materialized in his hand. That spear was entirely blue and let out a mysterious light. He held the spear in his hand and charged down with it. In an instant, he closed in on Su Ming.

‘The later stage of the Blood Solidification Realm, around 850 blood veins!’

As Su Ming retreated, he saw through the man’s power from behind his mask. If he had encountered this man alone, he had the confidence that he could win, but Han Fei Zi was right beside him.

Su Ming could afford to not be bothered by the man, but he had fought against Han Fei Zi before. This woman had a lot of skills and tricks. If they both attacked at the same time, he would have no way of fighting back.

Various thoughts passed thorugh his mind in a flash while he dashed backwards. He lifted his right hand and hurled his fist towards Yan Guang descending from the sky.

At the same time, a black snake appeared in Su Ming’s left hand. That snake hissed and charged out towards the ice shards closing in on him from the front.

The moment Su Ming’s fist connected, his body immediately trembled, and he staggered a few steps back. His face, which was hidden behind the mask, became slightly pale. Yan Guang, who was still in the sky, was in an even worse shape. A strong force came crashing towards him as he descended, causing him to tumble hundreds of feet back before he managed to stop himself.