Pursuit of the Truth

To some people, the wind in the snowstorm sounded like a mournful song echoing through the vastness of the plains. It was so for Bai Su. She pulled the fur around her collar tighter, and her breath came out in white puffs.

There were also some who did not register the sound of the wind as if it was mourning. Instead, for them it sounded like someone sighing. That was how Su Ming heard it. He walked on the ground and stepped on the snow. As he listened to the sound of the wind along with the crunching sounds coming underneath his feet, he continued walking forward.

The two of them did not walk at a fast pace, neither did they talk to each other. They simply welcomed the snow and wind in their faces as they gradually walked into the distance.

The wind was strong and the snow fell heavily. A lot of it fell from the sky and fell on their shoulders, their clothes, and their hair.

”You… you also walked like this in the snowstorm with her in the past, right?” After a long while, Bai Su’s soft voice reached Su Ming’s ears.

”You still ask about it.” Su Ming did not stop. He simply continued walking, and when he spoke, it sounded as if he was sighing.

”Shouldn’t I have?” Bai Su took a few brisk steps forward to walk beside Su Ming before turning her head sideways to look at him.

Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he spoke in a soft voice. Nostalgia appeared in his eyes. ”She and I walked in this manner many years ago.”

Bai Su lowered her head and asked in a whisper, ”Are we really that alike, she and I?”

”Very, except for a few details.” Su Ming’s voice drifted in the wind.

”Is it this thing?” Bai Su stopped and brought out two items from her bosom. Then right before Su Ming, she placed them on her earlobes. A smile appeared on her lips when she looked at Su Ming, who had turned around to look at her.

The moment Su Ming saw the pair of earrings hanging off Bai Su’s ears, he shuddered and a dazed look appeared in his eyes. That pair of earrings was something that belonged solely to Bai Ling in his memories.

Bai Su, standing under the night filled with snow and wind while wearing the earrings as snow floated down between them, threw Su Ming into an absentminded state. It made him feel as if he had returned to that particular moment at the foot of Dark Mountain, the moment part of those beautiful years in his life.

”Su Ming, didn’t you say that you’ll walk in circles with me..?”

A bashful look appeared on Bai Su’s face, but she kept her head straight and did not lower it. Instead, she kept her gaze on Su Ming as she spoke softly.

The moment she said those words, Bai Su clearly felt that Su Ming had frozen up in the snowstorm, even his gaze too, seemed to have frosted over.

When she saw him acting this way, Bai Su became exceedingly pleased with herself. She had been preparing for this day for a very long time.

‘Just a bit more…’

Just as Bai Su was feeling pleased with herself, Su Ming closed his eyes and sighed softly. When he opened them once again, his eyes were calm, and he turned around to walk forward.

Bai Su widened her eyes, then stomped her feet in a fit of discontentment before quickly catching up with him.

At that very moment, in a corner of the temporary tribe built by Western Sea clan for the auction was a clearly much more extravagant tent among the dozens of tents set up there, and within that tent, Si Ma Xin suddenly opened his eyes as he sat inside. A hint of surprise shone briefly in his eyes.

‘There’s no mistaking this… Just now, for a moment, I felt a Berserker Seed showing signs of blooming! That Berserker Seed is located on the snow plains beyond the tribe… The fluctuations from that Berserker Seed were so strong that it surpassed those from all my previous Berserker Children. That person is definitely Su Ming!!

‘Bai Su, whether I succeed or fail now depends entirely on you…’

Si Ma Xin had originally given up on using Bai Su to plant a Berserker Seed in Su Ming. He had thought that it would be very difficult to succeed, that was why he had instigated the incident with Zi Che and wanted to use Northern Frontier to kill Su Ming. However, he did not expect that the matter would end that way.

Towards Bai Su, he only felt deep regret and hate, but he did not dare offend her. After all, he still needed her help to enter Freezing Sky Cave. Quite some time had passed by and he had still received no news about it, but no news was also a form of hope for him.

He had originally made up his mind that if he still had not obtained the right to enter Freezing Sky Cave before Sky Mist Shaman Hunt and Su Ming had also not become his Berserker Child, then he would need to join Sky Mist Shaman Hunt and obtain those Shaman heads first.

Yet if he could just manage to achieve one of those things, then he would not need to join the battle. He could instead focus all his attention on making preparations to enter Heaven Gate. The sudden signs of the blossoming Seed this night made Si Ma Xin’s heart instantly jump in joy.

He stood up and lifted the tent flaps. As he looked at the world in the distance, excitement and anticipation appeared in his eyes.

”Bai Su, you are my destined wife. If you help me make this happen, then I will swear right now that I will marry you!” Si Ma Xin mumbled and clenched his fists. Once he took a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down before he once again sat down on the snow.

Su Ming continued walking on the plain of snow in the snowstorm. Once Bai Su caught up to him, still feeling discontented, she would occasionally glare at him, fuming as various thoughts raced in her head.

At that moment, she did not know that Si Ma Xin was gazing at that particular spot from the tribe not too far away, waiting anxiously.

Time trickled by, and it was soon midnight. The moonlight was scattered due to the snow floating down from the sky, yet in an instant, the light would merge together once again, making others feel like their eyes were playing tricks on them.

”It’s late. If you have nothing else to do, go back.” Su Ming’s footsteps faltered and he turned around to look at Bai Su.

Bai Su was silent. She did not speak.

Su Ming returned to the path he originally came from and walked down that way as the wind and snow blew in the air.

”Su Ming!” Bai Su suddenly called out as she stood there.

The instant Su Ming turned around to look, Bai Su quickly walked forward and hugged him, burying her head in his chest. Su Ming was silent for a while before he lifted his arms and held Bai Su’s shoulders.

She lifted her head and looked at him. There was a complicated look and a hidden meaning that could not be described in her eyes as she stared at him.

”If we continue walking in the snow like this, will we walk… until our heads turn white..?” Bai Su mumbled softly, and her voice sounded as if it had traveled through time. When it fell into Su Ming’s ears, grief appeared in his eyes.

At the same time, Si Ma Xin trembled where he was seated in his tent at the corner of the tribe. Excitement shone in his eyes, and it was so bright it could rival the light from the moon.

His heart raced against his chest. He could feel that the aura of the Berserker Seed was growing stronger in the snow plains in the distance. Just a little more and it would be complete.

That feeling not only made him excited, it also made him feel like throwing his head and laughing towards the sky.

‘Su Ming, Su Ming, you might be getting stronger day by day, but you’re just too confident in yourself. Bai Su’s heart will always lie with me. She will fulfil my desires just as I have asked her to!

‘You are still going to end up becoming my Berserker Child!’ Si Ma Xin stared at the snow plains in the distance with excitement and waited.

On the snow plains, Su Ming stared at Bai Su as her voice echoed in his ears. The grief in his eyes became stronger and he closed his eyes quietly.

The complicated look on Bai Su’s face became more prominent. As she stared at him, hesitation and uncertainty rose within her.

”Let this end, Bai Su. You are not her. Don’t make things difficult for yourself anymore.” Su Ming’s hoarse voice fell into her ears.

He opened his eyes, and grief could be seen along with pity within them. He lifted his right hand, and in his palm was a fistful of snow.

”Place it in your hand and let it melt. When the snow turns into water, you will still be you, and you will not be her.”

Bai Su stared at the snow in Su Ming’s palm blankly. After a long while, for a reason she did not even know herself, and as if she was controlled by some supernatural force, she whispered softly.

”Su Ming, do you still remember our promise..?”

The moment she said those words, Su Ming’s hand visibly trembled.

”But you… didn’t fulfill our promise…” Bai Su mumbled, then took a few steps away and looked at Su Ming.

The snow in Su Ming’s palm had melted into water. He stared at Bai Su, and with a bitter smile, he nodded his head.

When Bai Su saw Su Ming acting this way, she suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain in her heart and found herself unable to face him. She staggered backwards and moved further and further away, right until she could no longer see him in her eyes.

Within the tribe, Si Ma Xin’s laughter rose into the air. He stood in his tent with an ecstatic look that could not be hidden away under his excitement. He could distinctly sense that the Berserker Seed in the snow plains had successfully formed. He could even feel a faint connection between him and that Seed. That connection gave him a feeling that with just one thought, he could determine whether that Berserker Seed lived or died!

‘Su Ming, Su Ming, in the end you still ended up as my Berserker Seed!’ As Si Ma Xin laughed loudly, he walked out of his tent and moved towards the snow plains. He wanted to see how Su Ming looked right now with his own eyes!

While on the way there, Si Ma Xin suddenly stopped, because he saw Bai Su staggering forward on that snow plain as if she had just lost her soul. With joy flowing within him, Si Ma Xin walked towards Bai Su.

”Su Er, I’m sorry to have made you suffer!” Si Ma Xin was just about to hug Bai Su, but she instinctively moved away from his embrace. There was a complicated expression on her face, and she remained silent.

”I originally wanted to go and meet my new Berserker Child, Su Ming, but you’re more important than him. I’ll stay by your side and have him come greet us.”

Si Ma Xin was far too excited and hence did not bother with how Bai Su looked right then. Instead, in his mind, he gave the order for that Berserker Seed to come to them.

Yet the moment he gave that order, Si Ma Xin’s expression started changing gradually, from that joyful excitement to uncertainty, then from uncertainty to puzzlement, and suddenly, his expression changed drastically.

Su Ming was sitting on the snow plain as he looked at the snow falling from the sky. There was not a hint of grief on his face, only a calmness that seemed like the still water in an ancient well. He shook his head gently.

”Bai Ling, I gave her a chance, and this was her choice… From now onwards, no matter how much she looks like you, even if she’s so much like you that she has turned into you, she will not be able to affect my heart…

”It has ended, along with my very first… change of heart.”

Su Ming lowered his head, and with a wave of his right hand, the drawing board appeared. A long time had passed since the change had begun, and now, for the first time ever since, he turned that board over, then looked at the figure of himself and the grass he had drawn under his feet. In Su Ming’s eyes, the picture on the drawing board… changed.

The picture of himself in the drawing lifted his foot, and the grass ensnaring his foot was shaken free as he did so. Then he walked over it, just like a gust of wind that left no traces behind...

As the picture changed, an aura characteristic of a transformation abruptly spread out from within Su Ming. His hair floated in the wind, and an aged look that seemed to have seen through something in the world appeared in his eyes. At that moment, the snow around him also seemed to be moving towards him.

For the first time ever, in the Picture of the Blood Moon and Dark Mountain on his body, snow started falling down…

The Picture of the snow covered Blood Moon and Dark Mountain!