Pursuit of the Truth

Three days passed by quickly. Once those three days were gone, the whirlpool in the mountain range that created the pattern of Three Evils disappeared. It looked normal, and was still an evil mountain and a barren land.

Su Ming had returned to the cave abode he made, then used a mountain rock to serve as his door, while also using the power of Runes to increase the safety. Once he did so, he began making preparations to stay here for long periods of time.

Su Ming waved his right hand within one of the stone chambers, and instantly, the old Berserker’s body appeared in the center of it.

The old man was still immobile. He laid there with his eyes closed, but his mind was awake. His hate towards Su Ming had already reached a monstrous level, and if the slightest chance arose for him, he would cut Su Ming into a thousand pieces!

However, Su Ming would not give him that chance. Once he brought out the old man’s body and placed it in the stone chamber, he took a few steps forward and swept his gaze across the body. Then, he suddenly lifted his right hand and tapped his finger on the old man’s knees in succession.

Loud cracking sounds reverberated in the air and the old man’s kneecaps instantly shattered. Su Ming did not stop. He tapped on all the joints on the old man’s arms, and only when all the joints in the old man’s body were turned into dust did he stop.

The old man might not be able to move, but he still felt an intense pain traveling through his entire body. It made him open his eyes and glare at Su Ming. If his power was not frozen up, then at the very least, he would use his gaze and deliver a shocking blow that was fatal to Su Ming.

”This is the price of you coming after my life.” Su Ming’s expression was cold. As he lifted his right hand, green light shone at the center of his brows. The small sword appeared in his hand, and he cut open a gash on the old man’s arm.

Blood poured out immediately, but Su Ming did not stop there. He continued making similar gashes on all the old man’s limbs.

”If this is truly just your clone, then I will wait for your real self to come here.” A cold sneer appeared on his lips. Once he let go of the small sword, he brought out some herbs from his storage bag and placed them into the old man’s limbs.

After some time, he brought out few more shrubs and planted them in the man’s shattered joints. Those herbs were all needed to create Spirit Plunder and they would not serve to heal any form of injury. Once they came into contact with blood, their roots would immediately stretch out and crawl into the old man’s flesh to absorb his life force and blood to grow.

Su Ming had done this plenty of times and no one had been able to withstand this sort of pain before. However, while the old man was trembling, his gaze did not change. He continued glaring at Su Ming, as if he wanted to engrave the image in his mind.

That venomous glare and expression that said that he was completely unbothered by the pain was a first to Su Ming.

”As expected of a Berserker in the Berserker Soul Realm who went through the life threatening crisis of Bone Sacrifice. This mental state of yours is indeed admirable. If your reason wasn’t controlled by your greed and you had the confidence to kill me with one blow, you wouldn’t have chased after me.” Su Ming spoke calmly as he continued planting the herbs.

”It’s a pity…” Su Ming shook his head and patted his storage bag with his right hand. Two Spirit Plunders immediately flew out and floated above the old man’s forehead, causing the old man’s eyes to move towards them, as if they were being absorbed by them.

Su Ming fell silent for a moment, and still felt somewhat uneasy about it. He brought out another Spirit Plunder, causing all three of them to float above the old man’s body. Only then were his worries soothed.

”You’re powerful. If I didn’t have the power of the God of Berserkers, I would’ve died much earlier in your hands.”

Su Ming grabbed at the air with his right hand, and the small virescent sword flew out once again. Once he held it in his hand, he stabbed the sword into the bloody mess in the old man’s right arm. With a light tug, the old man’s body jerked forward viciously, and his entire right arm fell limp.

The tendon in his right arm had just been torn off, and Su Ming did the same to the tendons in the old man’s left arm and his legs. Once he did that, he opened up a few more gashes right on a few spots where his arteries and veins were, causing a large amount of blood to instantly flow out and spill on the stone chamber’s floor.

”But your tendons in your arms and legs have already been torn off, all your blood is flowing out of your body, as well as being absorbed by those herbs, and your soul is also being absorbed by my Spirit Plunders.

”Even if your power recovers, let’s see just how much of it you can use!” Su Ming stood there and spoke coldly. The old man heard his words, but his gaze was still venomous and did not change even the slightest bit.

Su Ming walked out of the stone chamber and instructed the Fire Ape, who had been watching the entire procedure by his side. ”Xiao Hong, tear off his tendons and let his blood flow out of his body once a day.”

With an excited look on its face, the Fire Ape bared its teeth and nodded. Its eyes shone and it stared at the old man with animosity.

‘Turning that person into a Spirit Plunder is a bit of a waste… Soul Catchers are skilled in using the Undying Spell. That Spell is somewhat similar to the creation of a Spirit Plunder, perhaps I can experiment to see whether I can turn that person into a puppet like that.’

Su Ming remembered how that young Soul Catcher still remained alive even after losing his head.

Immersed in his thoughts, Su Ming arrived at another stone chamber. He placed his right hand on his storage bag. Immediately, yellow light shone brilliantly, and a gigantic cauldron appeared in the stone chamber.

The cauldron was so big that it occupied half of the room. Su Ming had specially made this place to be bigger than the other stone chambers just to store the cauldron in it.

Once the medicinal cauldron was placed inside, an ancient feeling instantly filled the entire place.

As Su Ming looked at the cauldron, his breathing quickened slightly. He knew that there was a medicinal pill being refined inside it, and he had his guesses and desires towards exactly what type was held within, along with what sort of value it possessed.

”This might be a very rare medicinal pill that contains the essence of time within it. A refinement that lasts thousands of years… I wonder just what that medicinal pill would look like.”

As Su Ming mumbled, he placed both of his hands on the cauldron and spread his divine sense outward. Immediately, that cauldron lurched forward and distortions appeared around it, as if it was burning with invisible flames.

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He brought out his small sword and let it circle around the cauldron once, while occasionally stabbing into the stone walls, causing the power of the world outside to enter through. Immediately, a large portion of the dense power of the world in the cave abode was lured in and surrounded the medicinal cauldron. It was then absorbed to nourish the medicinal pill within.

Su Ming had obtained this medicinal cauldron for quite some time now, but he simply did not have a quiet time where he could continue refining the pill inside it. Now that he had decided to stay in this cave abode for a long period of time, he brought this cauldron out to begin refining what’s inside.

He had great hopes for the medicinal pill, and it was precisely because it was an unknown pill that this hope became stronger as he continued refining it.

Su Ming stared at the medicinal cauldron for a long while, then exited the stone chamber to sit down at the central hall of his cave abode. It was quiet all around him. He lifted his head and looked at the numerous small holes on the ceiling. Moonlight was shining through through them.

This was not the first time Su Ming had created this layout. Now, as he lifted his head to look at the moon in the sky through the holes, he fell into an absentminded state.

Because when he was in the cave in Dark Mountain, he had also lifted his head like this to look at the moon.

He had Xiao Hong keeping him company back then, just like what the Fire Ape was doing now by leaning against the wall not too far away while scratching its fur.

Su Ming stared at the moon and mumbled to himself after a long while, ”Dark Mountain, I’ll definitely come back!”

The him now was different from when he initially arrived in the Land of South Morning, the bewilderment of being in an unfamiliar land could no longer be found in him. He seemed to have gotten used to being alone and the loneliness when he sat down in his cave abode to meditate and train on this sort of nights.

Su Ming lowered his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them a moment later, serenity could be found in them

When his emotions had also calmed down, bell chimes suddenly echoed within his body. A layer of light surrounded him and spread out swiftly. From the distance, it looked as if there was a bell shaped cover manifesting in the form of an illusion on Su Ming.

It was originally just an illusion, but it slowly gained physical form. After the time taken for the burning of half an incense stick, Su Ming lifted his right hand and made a seal. When he pushed his hand forward, the bell-shaped cover surrounding his body floated forward slowly and went through him. Once it stopped in front of him, that cover turned into Han Mountain Bell.

Dark light flickered within it, and immediately, that strange rod snake flew out of the bell. It circled round the cave abode, and almost the instant it appeared, the Fire Ape lifted its head and bared its teeth, growling at it with a wary look on its face, as if it was showing its might.

The rod snake that had turned into a black line took a turn and charged towards the Fire Ape, causing the Fire Ape to grab its rod and wave it around quickly while jumping about, all the while roaring incessantly.

Su Ming’s Brand was on the rod snake’s body, that was why he knew that it was just playing around and would not hurt the Fire Ape. Besides, the Fire Ape’s body was slowly recovering, and its speed and power were now equivalent to the Berserkers in the middle stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm. When Su Ming saw that neither of the two creatures would get injured, he left them alone and stared at Han Mountain Bell.

This bell was a priceless treasure, but it was a pity that Su Ming could not utilize its full strength and had only taken over four of the nine heads. Besides defense, he could only really use the bell chimes to shock and trap his enemies.

Now, Su Ming’s level of cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds. He was prepared to refine Han Mountain Bell once again, to see whether he could bring out even more of this priceless treasure’s might.

With a glint in his eyes, Su Ming lifted his right hand to form a few seals, then pointed at Han Mountain Bell.

”Nine-Headed Dragon, Southern Emperor, Absolute!”

The instant Su Ming spoke and made those hand seals, buzzing sounds immediately appeared from Han Mountain Bell. Bell chimes reverberated within the stone chamber and shot out to echo in all directions of the mountain range.

At that moment, there were seven long arcs charging forward from the north outside Su Ming’s cave abode in the mountain range. Right in front of those long arcs was an old man. He had the face of a monkey and wore a big red robe. His expression was dark and his speed quick. There was also a murderous air surrounding him.

By the looks of it, he was also a Medial Shaman, and a Medial Shaman who had reached the peak of that realm to boot.

As for the six people behind him, two of them were Medial Shamans, and the other were all Fledgeling Shamans who had reached the peak of their realms.

As the seven of them charged forth, the old man leading the team saw the place where Su Ming was residing. With a cold snort, he closed in on it. Just as he was about to descend from midair, he suddenly heard bell chimes coming from within the mountain range.

Those bell chimes were drawn out and appeared slow, but when they fell in the old man’s ears, it made his heart and soul tremble, forcing him to stagger a few steps back. He widened his eyes and looked at the mountain range beneath him before he sucked in a deep breath.

”Damn it, the heck’s that voice?! ” Before the old man could even speak, one of the men behind him cried out.

Translator’s Notes:

Nine-Headed Dragon, Southern Emperor, Absolute is actually Nine-Headed Dragon, Southern Emperor, Absolute Genocide. The latter is the full version of the whole entire chant.

Original is 九嬰南皇通形殺, and here we have the broken down version.

九 (Jiu) = Nine

嬰 (Ying) = Infant, 九嬰 added together is Nine Headed Dragon, supposed to have a cry like infants

南 (Nan) = South

皇 (huang) = Emperor

通 (tong) = a preposition, can mean thorough

形 (xing) = form

殺 (sha) = kill, massacre, slaughter

Added together it is Nine Infant South Emperor Thorough Form Slaughter, but Nine Infant would be way out of the way considering it really meant the Nine Headed Dragon.

There are seven words to the original version, and with the intention of keeping to the seven word form in the translated version, 通形 was added together to mean Absolute, since 九嬰 contained three words, which is Nine, Headed, and Dragon, despite the hypen.

The original version when this Art first appeared was actually 九, 嬰, 南, 皇, 通, 形, 殺, with the commas, and there is a reason for this.

These seven words were meant to be used as a chant for Su Ming to form seals. So, the gist of it is this.

Nine = 1 seal

Headed = 1 seal

Dragon = 1 seal

And so on.

So when Su Ming forms each seal, he says one word, and when he says it quickly, they become Nine-Headed Dragon Southern Emperor Absolute Genocide, but please do pay in mind that they are seals and chants, not the name of an Art.