Pursuit of the Truth

Right at the moment Su Ming opened his eyes, a brilliant light appeared in his eyes, but that light faded away in an instant. At the same time, the thick layer of snow that had accumulated on his body quietly floated away and surrounded him before it started circling around him slowly.

Second senior brother sat by his side with a smile as he watched with full attention.

At that moment, Tian Xie Zi, who had been putting away the plate with a prideful look, also noticed the changes and looked towards Su Ming. The youth seemed very different from how he usually was, and Tian Xie Zi slowly grew stern.

At the same time, Hu Zi, who was originally in his cave abode, walked out and stood outside to look in the direction of the platform at the mountainside.

An attentive gaze was also trained towards that direction from the basin in the ice layer under the ninth summit.

Su Ming opened his eyes, but there was only calmness within his gaze. That calmness was different from the one he’d showed previously. This was a stillness within his mind, a stillness that would remain unperturbed even if the mountain crumbled and the earth shattered before him.

The things that allowed him to remain in such a state of calm were the snow flowers before him. As they danced around him, Su Ming slowly lifted his right hand, and they immediately gathered there, turning into a snow brush between his fingers.

When Su Ming held the pen, he drew a stroke in the air before him.

He took a few more strokes, and snow would float to the places the tip of the brush passed through. With each brushstroke, the air before him turned into a canvas, and a mountain appeared on the mountain.

The mountain’s lines were formed by snow and floated in midair. It looked like an ordinary picture, but if someone focused their attention on it for too long, they would start feeling that the mountain was alive.

When he drew this mountain, Su Ming’s heart was in a serene state. It was a serenity that he had never experienced before. It was one that had never appeared in his heart ever since he left Dark Mountain.

In that serene state, Su Ming did not notice that his second senior brother was sitting behind him, neither did he know that Hu Zi was also looking at him from the distance, nor did he know that his eldest senior brother was concerned over him in the basin under the mountain, much less did he notice the old man in white robes on the top of the building.

All his attention was focused on the pen in his right hand and the snow that was drawing out the scene that he wanted to draw the most in his heart.

He was not in a trance but seemed like he was. He did not close his eyes to enter that strange state, yet he seemed to be deeply immersed in that state and refused to get out of it.

”Creation… Picture Creation1… This is the answer he gives me…”

The foolish act Tian Xie Zi had put up when he was facing the old man in purple robes was gone without a trace. There was instead an indescribable air of wisdom around him as he looked at his fourth disciple.

”What my eldest understood was Sound Creation. That’s why he chose to isolate himself and go into a state of silence, away from the noise around him. Once he gets rid of all of them, what is left is his heart. That’s why he walks the path of Sound of Creation.

”What my second understood was Flower Creation. He uses flowers and plants as his Creation and has turned his hands into the Hands of Creation, which allows him to take control of life and death.

”What my third understood was the word Creation itself. The act of dreaming itself is Creation…

”I didn’t expect my fourth disciple would gain an epiphany on a fourth type of change… Picture Creation…” Tian Xie Zi mumbled and his eyes brightened up.

On the platform, Su Ming looked at the mountain he drew and he continued drawing with the brush in his right hand. With each brush stroke, the five summits on a mountain became clearer. Dark Mountain was drawn.

At the moment Dark Mountain was drawn, the Mountain Mark on Su Ming’s face appeared faintly, as if it was shining, and it caused his power to show signs of changing, though he did not know about it.

Right at the moment Su Ming finished drawing the mountain, he drew a long line across it with the snow brush in his hands. That long line was a ghastly sight. It was like a sharp sword that exuded a shocking amount of killing intent.

The moment that killing intent appeared, Tian Xie Zi’s expression immediately changed.

At the same time, Su Ming’s second senior brother, who had been keeping watch over him all this while, also became serious. Hu Zi had the same reaction outside the cave abode.

Even the eldest senior brother who was in isolation also started breathing rapidly the moment he noticed the long line.

‘What incredible killing intent!’

Su Ming did not notice this. He was only following his heart and calmly Creating a Picture to draw out his own life.

When his brush reached the end of the long line, he slowly started drawing out the Dark Mountain Tribe within the Berserker Mark on his body. The flowers, trees, and houses gradually appeared before him and started glowing in the air with his Berserker Mark.

He did not know how much time had passed by, but the moment he finished drawing the entire Dark Mountain Tribe, the brush in his hand stopped moving.

The picture in the air before him had mountains, plants, stones, wood, houses that stuck together, and fences that formed a seemingly complete picture of a tribe.

It was identical to his Berserker Mark.

Yet Su Ming’s hand remained lifted, even though he had stopped drawing. It was as if he did not know what he should draw next. His eyes remained serene, but there was a lost look in the depths of that serenity.

A long time passed by…

”Sound Creation, Flower Creation, Creation, Picture Creation… All of these are creating something from nothing… There is shock in silence, a realm within a mirror… Youngest junior brother, I think that there’s something lacking in that picture…”

Second senior brother’s kind voice floated gently into Su Ming’s ears.

Su Ming was silent. The sky gradually grew dark. The moon appeared in the sky and moonlight scattered on the ground and glowed with a silver light, causing people to feel cold just by looking at it.

No one was asleep on the ninth summit on that night. All of them were watching Su Ming. They knew that this was an incredibly important day for him. It was especially so since he had clearly found a method to clear his mind, but he was still a little lost and his understanding was not complete.

This was a critical moment for Su Ming.

Perhaps there were only a few from Freezing Sky Clan who were not from the ninth summit who understood this. Yet those on the ninth summit walked on a path that was different from others. They knew just how important the first epiphany was for this path.

As the darkness in the sky started changing and light reappeared in the horizon once again, the moon was about to be hidden away. It was just a shadow remaining in the sky when Su Ming’s right hand, which had stopped in midair for a long time, suddenly started moving once again!

At the moment his right hand started moving, Tian Xie Zi’s expression immediately became grave on the mountain. The second senior brother, third senior brother, and eldest senior brother, who remained in isolation, also had the same expressions on their faces.

They saw Su Ming’s right hand move, drawing a circle with the brush right above the picture of Dark Mountain that was drawn on the air as there was a canvas before him.

That circle was simple. It was done with one stroke, but that simple stroke took Su Ming an entire night to finish. Right at the moment he drew it, Su Ming’s body trembled viciously, and a circle also gradually appeared right beside the Mark of Dark Mountain on his face.

At the same time, Su Ming’s power started circulating within his body with a bang. It reached its maximum point in an instant and his power started showing signs that it had reached the peak of the initial stage of Transcendence. It felt as if he just needed one more step and he could reach the middle stage of Transcendence!

At that moment, the circle on the canvas Su Ming created before him started glowing with a piercing light. That light was red, and the circle seemed as if it was burning before it turned into a moon!

The blood moon!

The burning blood moon!

This was the first Berserker Mark Su Ming gave up when he was in a trance. At this moment, it was drawn on his very first canvas in his serene state.

Right at the moment he finished drawing the blood moon, the presence within the canvas changed abruptly and turned into the Picture of the Blood Moon and Dark Mountain! A shocking amount of killing intent came from the Picture of the Blood Moon and Dark Mountain, and the strength of that murderous intent made even second senior brother’s face become grave.

Hu Zi shuddered outside his cave abode and mumbled out a few sentences under his breath.

As for the eldest senior brother, he remained silent for a moment before he sighed.

”Looks like the ninth summit won’t be peaceful any longer… But since he’s my youngest junior brother, it’s fine.”

When the Picture of the Blood Moon and Dark Mountain appeared, it made Su Ming tremble and his power broke through his previous limits. Banging sounds echoed within his body, and his level of cultivation reached the middle stage of the Transcendence Realm from the initial stage!

One epiphany, one picture, and one Blood Moon. These things changed Su Ming’s Mark and made his training reach a breakthrough!

”My disciples don’t need any skills or abilities. They will only need to understand the rules of Creation lying in the world once they find the way to clear their mind…” Tian Xie Zi’s words rose back in Su Ming’s mind. At that moment, he finally understood what the old man was trying to teach him.

This was a completely different path that trained the mind!

The ninth summit did not practice any skills neither they did they learn any mystical abilities, but they honed their minds!

Tian Xie Zi was silent as he stood on the mountain. After a long while, he turned around slowly and walked towards the sealed hall. He may have seemed to be staggering, but his footsteps were stable.

He had turned around, so no one could see the sad determination on his face.

‘Master, I’ll prove to you that the path we Berserkers take… is wrong! You’re wrong! You’re all wrong!’

After Tian Xie Zi left, the picture before Su Ming gradually returned to being snow and scattered on the platform on the ninth summit as the serenity within his eyes disappeared and he truly woke up.

”Youngest junior brother, you have quite a nice place here. Do you mind if I plant some of my flowers on your platform?”

Right at the moment Su Ming woke up, his second senior brother’s gentle voice reached his ears.

Su Ming was momentarily stunned, and he immediately turned around to see his second senior brother, who had appeared at some unknown point of time behind him. He quickly stood up and looked at the plants that now filled his platform.

”Er… Second senior brother, could you leave a place for me to meditate..?”

”Oh, alright. I’ll leave a small spot for you…”

Second senior brother winked at him and gave him a gentle smile.

”Oh, that’s right. When you were trying to understand those words, I caught something living for you. That thing’s with your third senior brother. When you have time, go take a look.

”Also, a pretty disciple niece came to search for you. If you have the chance to see her, remember to ask her for the name of the lass beside her for me.”

Translator’s notes:

There’s a MASSIVE play of words here. 造化 is Creation, and 造畫 is drawing, but I tried to make sure the word 造 retains its original meaning, and 畫 is picture.造嘩 is Sound Creation, and 造花 is Flower Creation. 造化 is read as zao4 hua4, 造畫 is also read as zao4 hua4, 造嘩 is zao4 hua1, and 造花 is zao4 hua1. 化 and 畫 have the same pronunciation, and 嘩 and 花 have the same pronunciation. All of them have different meanings.