Pursuit of the Truth

”Big sister…”

Veins popped out on Zi Che’s face and he stood up swiftly. Then with one step, he instantly arrived beside the ice and threw a punch at it. A loud bang rang through the air, and the ice instantly shattered into pieces.

The shadow on the ice also disappeared as the ice shattered. Yet the moment it disappeared, the woman in it seemed to have noticed something and she turned her head as if she was looking at something.

Hu Zi was furious. He widened his eyes and glared at Zi Che, then rushed out like a tiger, roaring, ”How dare you break the treasure your Grandpa Hu created after all the blood, sweat, and tears he poured out?! I’m going to teach you a lesson!”

Su Ming had a strange expression on his face. He respected Hu Zi’s weird quirk. He was not entirely sure whether this was just his imagination, but when Zi Che broke the ice, he seemed to have heard two sighs traveling softly from around him.

”That’s my sister! My sister!”

Zi Che was also furious and he shouted at Hu Zi, who was rushing towards him.

Hu Zi was originally livid, but when he heard Zi Che’s words, he was momentarily stunned, then his anger faded away instantly. He also came to an abrupt halt even though he was charging forth at high speed previously. He scratched his head and an embarrassed look appeared on his face, but it quickly turned into nonchalance.

”Oh well, your Grandpa Hu has a big heart. So what if it’s broken, I can just make another one.”

Zi Che’s breathing quickened and he glared at Hu Zi. More veins popped out on his face.

Hu Zi was feeling slightly guilty, which prompted him to quickly speak, ”Ah… Alright, alright. I won’t look at your sister anymore.”

”Do you really mean it?!” Zi Che immediately asked.

”Of course, there’re plenty of other people in Freezing Sky Clan. If I say I won’t peek at her anymore, then I won’t,” Hu Zi hastily promised. ”But don’t tell your sister.”

Zi Che’s face was dark as he looked at Hu Zi’s guilty expression, and he could not help but start laughing bitterly. However, cold sweat had already broken out on his body and he instinctively looked at Su Ming.

Su Ming had a strange look on his face. He did not bother about Zi Che and Hu Zi. Instead, once he got closer, he walked around the place as if he was looking for something.

His strange actions immediately attracted Hu Zi and Zi Che’s attention. The two of them also started looking around the place.

An excited look appeared on Hu Zi’s face and with light footsteps he quickly got closer to Su Ming, then whispered softly, ”Youngest junior brother, what are you looking for?”

While asking, he started looking around the place.

Su Ming’s footsteps faltered and his gaze fell on the frozen river before him. After a long while, he shook his head and looked at Hu Zi.

”Third senior brother, could you also… not look at Chen Xiang anymore?”

Once Hu Zi heard it, he immediately nodded, but soon, realization dawned on his face and he grinned mysteriously at Su Ming.

Su Ming was just about to speak when he saw that grin on Hu Zi’s face.

”I know, I know… Hehe, youngest junior brother, you don’t have to explain anything. There’s nothing your third senior brother doesn’t understand. Your third senior brother is the smartest person in the ninth summit.”

Su Ming could only laugh bitterly. He knew that he could not explain himself out of this, and decided not to even try. Instead, he simply wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed towards Hu Zi.

”Why are you being so courteous? We’re under the same Master! By the way, youngest junior brother, my Entering Dream was great, right? I chased Si Ma Xin away, didn’t I? Heh heh, don’t you worry, youngest junior brother. I haven’t mastered Entering Dream yet. Once I master it, it’ll be even more powerful.”

As Hu Zi spoke, a proud look appeared on his face and he patted his chest.

He suddenly lifted his head and looked at the weather.

”Youngest junior brother, I won’t be talking with you anymore. It’s almost time now, so I have to hurry to the eighth summit. Do you want to come with me?”

Hu Zi looked towards Su Ming, and once he saw Su Ming shake his head, he flew up quickly and turned into a long arc that charged into the darkness in the distance. He soon disappeared, but no matter what, his departing figure still gave Su Ming the impression that he was running away.

When he saw Zi Che’s controlled anger, he understood that his third senior brother was feeling embarrassed and guilty after being caught red-handed, which was why he chose to leave so hurriedly.

”Do not do this again. It doesn’t matter whether he is right or wrong, if you do this again, remember that I still lack an ingredient to make my medicine.”

Su Ming turned around and cast Zi Che a cold glance.

Zi Che trembled and felt a little upset, but when he saw the cold look in Su Ming’s eyes, he lowered his head and obeyed.

”That ice was blurred out and you couldn’t see anything. Besides, my senior brother has already said that he won’t peek at your sister anymore, so let it be.”

Su Ming walked away as he spoke.

Zi Che breathed out a sigh of relief. He was not an unreasonable person. Su Ming may have said those words, but he did not do anything to him due to his actions just now. He only gave him a warning to not do it again. This in itself was a form of respect towards Zi Che.

When Su Ming and Zi Che left, a person suddenly charged towards the place that was now filled with shattered ice. That person came to the place and looked at it carefully and sneakily before quickly crouching down and taking away all the ice shards.

With his back arched, the person quickly left the place. That tall and built figure was, of course, Hu Zi.

”I’m so unlucky. This is the first time I made this, and I was having fun watching, but who knew I’d meet up with her little brother? How could I forget about this..? Oh well, I’ll just have to be more careful next time,” Hu Zi mumbled and quickly left.

A short moment after Hu Zi left, the space above the frozen river where Su Ming was staring at previously suddenly distorted and a handsome man gradually walked out of the distortion.

There was also a hint of embarrassment on his face, but even so, he still looked as gentle as spring wind. This person was naturally Su Ming’s second senior brother.

Once he appeared, he let out a few fake coughs.

”I was almost found out by youngest junior brother. It’s all the third’s fault. Why did he have to make something so nice.?” second senior brother mumbled under his breath and left the place hastily.

A moment after Su Ming’s second senior brother left, distorted ripples appeared once again in the space in this area that was about a few hundred feet wide. An old man wearing a flowery robe walked out from within the distortion.

The old man walked out with one brisk step, then patted his robes in a relaxed manner before placing his hands behind his back and walking towards the top of the mountain calmly. While his expression might be passive, pride could be seen within his eyes.

”The third did a good job. He made something interesting… It’s a pity it was broken… But with my third disciple’s personality, he’ll make another one in a few days, and it’ll be even sturdier than the previous one so that no one can break it with just one punch.

”It’s a pity… but the fourth has really sharp senses, he almost found out where the second was hiding… Heh heh, but they’re still not good enough to find me,” the old man mumbled under his breath as he walked away proudly. That old man… was Tian Xie Zi.

Tian Xie Zi, who was wearing a flowery long robe!

Time passed by gradually in this peace and quiet. Hu Zi continued creating things and peeking at other people and Su Ming’s second senior brother continued planting flowers in the day and stealing them at night as well as occasionally running into Hu Zi looking at the ice he created. Of course, sometimes Tian Xie Zi would also appear during the night, dressed in a flowery robe.

Very soon, two months passed by.

During these two months, Su Ming and Si Ma Xin’s battle had been spread throughout Freezing Sky Clan by those who had witnessed it that day. Gradually, almost all the disciples from the other eight summits knew that there was a person in the ninth summit that was strong enough to fight against Si Ma Xin.

They also learned that this person was a Divine General of Awakening.

His name quickly spread through Freezing Sky Clan, and slowly, due to his battle with Si Ma Xin, Su Ming’s name appeared on Freezing Sky Clan’s Great Frozen Plains’ ranking boards.

He was ranked ninth on Great Frozen Plains’ ranking boards, replacing Zi Che.

The reason why he was ranked ninth was because there was no outcome to Su Ming and Si Ma Xin’s battle. The people might have some understanding towards Su Ming’s power, but they did not know the details. When he fought against Si Ma Xin, they could also tell that Si Ma Xin was clearly stronger than Su Ming.

A lot of them felt that it was a pity that the two of them did not manage to execute their final attacks in the battle.

During these two months, besides Su Ming’s name spreading through Freezing Sky Clan, the school was also preparing for something big hurriedly and in secret.

That event was the Sky Mist Shaman Hunt that only occurred once every decade. There was only less than ten months left until the start of the hunt. Sky Mist Shaman Hunt was a big event within Freezing Sky Clan that was already considered a common practice among the disciples.

The event occurred once every decade, and the disciples that took part in the event would differ in number from thousands to tens of thousands every single time. Similarly, Western Sea Clan, which belonged to the other big tribe in the Land of South Morning, Western Sea, would also send out disciples and fight against the Shamans in the battle that occurred once every decade.

At that time, once Sky Mist Shaman Hunt began, the disciples of the two clans would frighten off the Shamans in Sky Mist Barrier and also gather a set number of people to venture out of Sky Mist Barrier and invade certain territories of the Shaman Tribe.

Each Sky Mist Shaman Hunt would last for a year.

That year would be a bloody and gruelling test as well as an ordeal for most of those who joined the battle. During that year, the people would know whether these swords, which were the disciples, would break or shine with a brilliant glint.

However, big scale battles did not happen for all Sky Mist Shaman Hunts. Since a long time ago till now, there were only a dozen Shaman Hunts which were incredibly devastating. The rest were actually rather mild battles.

However, the battle this year would be significantly different from all the previous battles. The Sky Mist Shaman Hunt ten months later would be a giant battle that only happened once every century!

The Sky Mist Shaman Hunts that only occurred once every decade were small battles, yet after ten of such battles came the battle that would only occur once every century, and the scale of that battle would be much greater than of a regular Shaman Hunt.

This was a rule set by the two big tribes in the Land of South Morning a long time ago. The reason as to why the battles were held so regularly with a large scale battle occurring once every century was because they wanted to know at all times just how quickly the Shaman Tribes outside Sky Mist were increasing their power.

They wanted to know whether there were any shockingly powerful people there, wanted to know whether they had any new Spells, wanted to know whether there were any new Shamans over there. All this information was the main purpose for the battles that occurred once every decade.

There were plenty of disciples who had joined the Sky Mist Shaman Hunt multiple times within Freezing Sky Clan, but there were also those who had never joined the battle. However, most of the disciples were familiar with this event. During the ten months, those who wanted to enter the battle would isolate themselves to train and make preparations.

In the two months of peace and quiet in the ninth summit, there were also certain things that happened, and these things were not considered peaceful. Zi Che’s older sister had come to the mountain multiple times with her anger directed straight at Hu Zi.

At that moment, Su Ming was sitting on the platform outside his cave abode, under the clear sky. As he sat there, his right hand was drawing on the drawing board placed before him.

His actions were very slow, but there was also a feeling of age gradually seeping out from his fingers and appearing on the drawing board as he drew each stroke.

He was copying Si Ma Xin’s sword slash. During these two months, he had kept copying Si Ma Xin’s sword slash so that he could find that feeling he had in the beginning.

Zi Che was by his side and totally absorbed in watching Su Ming’s actions. It was as if he was trying to search for his own epiphany in those strokes.

Yet at that very moment!

”Sun Da Hu, get your *ss down here!”

A woman’s chilling voice sliced through the air from beyond the ninth summit.

”You witch! Why are you just targeting me?! Your little brother also saw you at that time, even my youngest junior brother Su Ming saw you!” Hu Zi’s voice traveled forth, muffled, and with a hitch that suggested he was almost in tears. He sounded really upset.

Zi Che instantly looked as if he was caught in an awkward situation, and Su Ming lifted his head with a bitter smile on his lips.