Pursuit of the Truth

The bat tattoo on the man with Fu Ge’s appearance was originally dark, but at that moment, dim light started shining on it. He lifted his foot slowly and took one light step towards Su Ming.

The instant he took that one step, the Fire Ape stood up swiftly, lifted both its arms towards Fu Ge, then struck its chest repeatedly with madness shining in its eyes, looking as if it would immediately strike should Fu Ge take one more step into its territory.

The man who looked like Fu Ge was not bothered by the Fire Ape. He kept his gaze trained on Su Ming, who still had his eyes closed, and lifted his right foot once again, but hesitation appeared within him once more.

As he hesitated, he had his eyes fixed on Su Ming and stared at him with a piercing gaze as if he wanted to see whether there was anything off about him. After a long while, killing intent appeared within his eyes. Yet the instant he was about to put his foot down on the ground for the third time...

”He Feng, are you tired of living?” a calm voice suddenly asked.

The instant that voice spoke, the killing intent within the eyes of the man who looked like Fu Ge disappeared. He shuddered slightly and instantly knelt down on one knee.

He saw Su Ming, who had been leaning against the big tree, open his eyes. The xun in his hands was already placed on the ground, and he was looking at him coldly. Strangely, even though Su Ming was no longer playing any songs on the xun, the mournful notes from the song still echoed gently in the area.

”Master, you’re mistaken. I only wanted to return to your side.”

He Feng’s heart shuddered, and he quickly lowered his head. He looked calm, but the emotions in his heart were surging wildly due to that one sentence from Su Ming, along with Su Ming’s gaze.

Su Ming did not speak. He only stared coldly at the man before him, who had the appearance of a Shaman but was in truth He Feng. This was the first time he saw He Feng’s mystical ability. That mystical ability was incredibly strange, and it was enough to make Su Ming feel a little alarmed.

He Feng had a rebellious bone within him, and that was something Su Ming knew since a long time ago. This person was not willing to be used by him, that was why he harbored unfaithful sentiments. If Su Ming wanted to use this person, then he must dominate He Feng using extreme measures, forcing him down beneath him forever, have terror fill his mind. Only then would Su Ming be able to control him.

He had to control He Feng using fear!

Su Ming closed his eyes, and the instant he did so, He Feng, who had been kneeling on the ground, suddenly started shuddering viciously. As he trembled, He Feng let out shrill and pained cries that were filled with intense agony, as if he was going through an unimaginable amount of suffering.

He continued screaming, and as He Feng trembled, he found himself not even being able to keep his body upright. He fell to the side, and as convulsions wrecked the body he had just obtained, the body started withering away and drying up rapidly.

A large amount of black smoke could even be clearly seen coming from the body’s skin as it continued to rot and wither away. There was a countless number of Wings of the Moon within that black smoke devouring the body madly.

The sudden change did not make He Feng surprised. He was incredibly intelligent, and right from the start Su Ming said those words, he knew that he was definitely going to be punished.

Yet he was not at all bothered by this punishment. In his mind, there was in no way Su Ming would kill him. Even if he wanted to kill him, he would not do it now. After all, He Feng would be of incredible help to Su Ming during the battle in Sky Mist.

He believed wholeheartedly… that Su Ming would not dare to kill him!

‘It’s just going to be a light punishment, and it’s just to let me know that he’s my owner so that I won’t have any rebellious thoughts. Judging from such an immature tactic, Master, you’re still too naive. You might have changed a lot during these years, but compared to me, you’re still lacking!

‘I’ll just show a pained face so that you’ll be happy when you see it and feel relaxed, then I’ll make some promises and it’ll be enough to deceive you.

‘This is just a show, and I’ll act it out with you.’ He Feng laughed in his heart coldly, though he was still screaming out in pain while begging for mercy.

He Feng might be rebellious, but the Wings of the Moon were not. To the souls of the Wings of the Moon, Su Ming was their king. Su Ming’s will was their everything, and with just one thought, he could let them willingly do anything, even if he was demanding them to self-destruct.

Hence, even if He Feng had fused together with the Wings of the Moon, and by spreading out his will haf become the main body after the fusion, but everything that he had was from the Wings of the Moon!

That was why, He Feng, who had never gone through any sort of punishment before, had still underestimated the pain.

As his newly acquired body continued trembling and he kept screaming, He Feng went through two different pains coming from his body and his soul. He felt his body rotting away, sensed the pain of his soul being ripped apart, and the indescribable agony of his entire being, his body and his soul, being devoured by the Wings of the Moon.

‘Damn it, why does it hurt so much?! Su Ming, you as*hole, you bastard, once I regain my freedom, you’ll be the very first person I devour. Remember that!’ He Feng raged in his heart, but his face was filled with pain, and his voice became increasingly agonized.

”Master, I did wrong… I did wrong. Please forgive me, please spare me this once…” He Feng’s body convulsed on the ground, and his pained screams made even the Fire Ape’s eyes change. His screams reverberated in the air and intersected with the mournful notes of the xun.

”Master, I won’t dare to do it again. Ah… please spare me… Please spare me…” The new body He Feng acquired had already completely withered away and turned into a dried up corpse. Its flesh had completely rotted away, and the black wisps of air coming out of the corpse started tumbling about like smoke. The shrill screams were also coming from the shadows of the Wings of the Moon that were occasionally appearing in the smoke.

Su Ming had his eyes closed as if he could not hear anything and did not bother about him one bit. Time trickled by, and once He Feng’s screams reached their peak, his voice slowly started to weaken.

‘Su Ming, I’ll never forgive you!’

”Master… please spare me…”

‘Su Ming, I’ll return this pain I suffered back to you several fold in the future! You won’t kill me, I know that!’

”Master… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, please spare me this once… just this once… just this once…”

He Feng’s thoughts and words were two complete opposites, but gradually, the curses in his mind slowly dwindled down, and the pleads for mercy increased, because gradually, He Feng discovered something terrifying.

Wisps of smoke started drifting out of the ball of black smoke floating in midair. Once every wisp of smoke separated itself and drifted out of the ball, they would turn into a Wings of the Moon that would wander about in the area. Gradually, the black smoke became less until eventually, there was only one wisp left from that black smoke, and within it was He Feng’s shivering soul.

”Master, please spare me!”

He Feng’s soul looked as if it was about to dissipate, and as that black smoke was continuously dragged out, his soul became weaker, but that was not the true cause of what made him terrified. Occasionally, He Feng lifted his head and looked at the sky, and when he did, the anxiety in his pleads for mercy grew increasingly stronger. By then, the curses in his heart were gone without a trace.

The sky had already started to brighten up. The morning sun had peeked its head out of the horizon in the distance, and before long, it would show up completely. Once it did, the darkness on the land would be chased away, and a new day would arrive.

To Su Ming, this was just another day, but to He Feng, it would be the final moment of his life!

He originally did not fear daylight, but once he fused with the Wings of the Moon, even though he could still exist during the day, he could only do so if there were shadows around.

Yet as he was being punished by Su Ming and the Wings of the Moon in his body were dragged out by his will, in this state where he lost the Wings of the Moon, he suddenly realized that for some unknown reason he was immensely terrified of the sun. In fact, he even had a feeling that if the morning sun shone on him while he was in this state where the Wings of the Moon had yet to return to his body, then what awaited him was absolute death!

This was something he had never imagined was possible. It was something completely out of his expectations!

As time passed by and the morning sun was about to appear fully, He Feng’s terror reached its peak, because he just realized he had made a horrible miscalculation!

‘He wants to kill me! He actually wants to kill me!’ Extreme fear appeared on He Feng’s face. He was terrified now, truly terrified.

‘That’s impossible! He must still be thinking of just scaring me! He’ll definitely not destroy me for such a small mistake, not after wasting so many weeks in fusing me with the Wings of the Moon!

‘This is him warning me, that’s right… this is just a warning!’ He Feng continued consoling himself, but his eyes were glued to the horizon.

Suddenly, right the moment he looked over, the morning sun appeared in the horizon, and at the same time, the darkness enveloping the land started disappearing at a shocking speed along with the darkness within the forest where Su Ming was.

He Feng sank into fear, the fear that had been long absent from within him. He had only experienced this fear right when he was captured by Su Ming in the past and had originally forgotten it, but now, he suddenly remembered. At that one moment all those years ago, he had been certain Su Ming would not kill him, but in truth, if it had not been for He Feng convincing Su Ming with his final sentence, He Feng would have been long dead.

‘He really wants to kill me!’

He Feng let out a pained scream, and as the darkness disappeared while sunlight descended on land, his body started rapidly dissipating. As he disappeared, he went through pain that was several times more intense than that time in the past, and the feeling of death rose swiftly within him.

”Master… I did wrong, I made an absolute mistake, I was truly wrong. Please forgive me just this once, Master-AAAHHH!!!!” This time the scream was not fake. He Feng was truly begging for mercy.

Yet his plea did not get Su Ming to open his eyes.

He Feng was already in despair. He could tell that his body was about to disappear and his soul about to scatter into nothingness. When that happened, he, He Feng, would no longer exist. A deep seated terror and regret filled his entire being.

As he continued screaming, half his body disappeared, and when his head was almost gone as well, he suddenly remembered how he escaped death in the past.

”Master, I don’t want freedom! I’d rather follow and serve you with my entire life! I did wrong, and I will do this as punishment for myself!!”

”You don’t want freedom?” Su Ming opened his eyes. ”I will give you freedom, but it won’t be within 500 years. I will now increase it by one fold. After 1,000 years, you can be free,” he declared unhurriedly.

The moment he spoke, He Feng suddenly realized that… there seemed to be something different about Su Ming...