Pursuit of the Truth

There was a large flock of birds circling about in the air in an area of about one thousand lis above the surface of the sea, and that area was where Su Ming had charged through previously. These birds looked slightly different from the ones Su Ming had encountered. They had three claws and were slightly bigger. Every single one of them was about five feet.

”Wa… Wa wa!”

Cries that sounded like those from infants echoed in the air. This was a unique sound that belonged solely to these birds. There were six Shamans who were surrounded by these birds, and all their faces were pale as they resisted madly against them.

However, the person with the highest level of cultivation among these six people was merely a Medial Shaman who had arrived at the peak of the stage.

It was difficult for the group to last long under the joint attack from these numerous birds. As the birds cried out and joined in the attack, the six gradually turned into five, and after a moment, there were only two left.

One of them was a boy whose face was deathly pale from terror. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, and he was incredibly handsome. The other person was a middle-aged woman. She was of average looks, but as she attacked, she would always protect the boy. By the looks of it, they seemed to be mother and son, but there was nothing similar about them in terms of their looks.

But before long, the woman’s head was captured by a bird and she was dragged into the flock. As shrill screams of pain rang in the air, she was reduced to torn pieces of flesh.

”Honey!” The boy let out a cry of sorrow. Tears welled up in his eyes, and grief filled his face.

”You are my thirty-ninth wife, and now you have left me as well. How am I to survive without you..?” The boy’s sorrow seemed to have reached its peak, and with bloodshot eyes, he roared towards the ruthless birds that lunged at him.

”Damn you all! We’re the same kind! How could you be so rude?! I… I’m angry now!”

When the boy saw that the birds were drawing closer, he gritted his teeth and turned into a black fog with a bang. The sudden change caused the birds around him to freeze for a moment, and the instant they froze, the black fog immediately gathered up to turn… into a black crane!

The crane howled, then flapped its wings and flew a few rounds before these birds, as if it was telling these birds that it also had wings…

”Do you see? Do you see now? I’m also a bird, we’re family…”

The brutal birds around the area just froze for a moment from the boy’s sudden change before lunging at him without any hesitation, causing the black crane to immediately widen its eyes, great sorrow shining within them.

”You… You’re all bullies!”

A bang came from within the black crane’s body once again, and it turned into fog once more. Yet soon, that fog gathered together, and what appeared before those birds was a bird that was the exact same as them in appearance - a bird with three claws. Their kin.

This transformation left all the birds stunned. With their low level intelligence, they could not discern what was happening before them, and uncertainty could be seen flashing in their brutal eyes, making the black crane that had transformed into one of them to be extremely nervous.

”Wa… wa wa… wa wa wa…” In its nervousness, the black crane hastily opened its mouth and imitated these birds’ cry, quickly throwing out some sounds.

Perhaps these few unique sounds brought about an effect, or perhaps it was due to the sudden appearance of a long arc in the distance that drew the birds’ attention, but once the black crane let out those sounds, the birds in the area immediately turned their heads around. As the arc charged forward, those birds rushed towards it while crying out with those shrill baby wails of theirs.

The black crane that had transformed into one of them originally wanted to leave, but the birds crowded around it, and it did not dare to leave alone, attracting attention to itself. That was why it decided to grit its teeth and charge towards the long arc with the birds.

As it flew, it heard the other birds letting out those piercing caws, and without any hesitation, it started cawing at the top of its lungs as well.

”Wa… wa wa… wa wa wa… wa wa wa wa…”

As the black crane continued cawing, it started feeling that the sounds were tumbling out of its mouth rather smoothly. When it remembered that it had escaped with its feathers intact because of this caw, the crane felt pleased with itself and started cawing even louder. Soon, the crane’s voice stood out from the crowd’s incredibly distinctly.

Su Ming had turned into a long arc moving through the air quickly, occasionally warping to avoid the dangers in the area as well as the pursuits he could not shake off. He also had in-depth experience with powerful existences in the air. It had just been a few days since he came back, and he already ran into several of them.

If his divine sense had not been powerful enough and he did not know how to warp, then it would have been difficult for him to avoid these creatures.

He continued rushing, and before long, something caught his attention. He saw a flock of birds he had never seen before right in front of him, and they were charging towards him with loud screeching. These birds were much larger than the ones he had seen before, and they were also much faster than the others.

They had also spread out to block his path. In just an instant, they filled the entire area and closed in on him. With an aloof expression, Su Ming continued onward without pause and charged straight towards those birds.

The moment both sides approached each other, green light immediately shone beside Su Ming, and wherever it went, the birds that happened to be in its path would be pierced through as they screeched shrilly. Su Ming’s attacks were decisive and clean. Not a single bit of uncertainty could be found in his actions. By the looks of it, he wanted to force his way through, killing his way out of the bird mob.

Su Ming had done this multiple times over the past few days. He didn’t need to kill all of them, just open up a gap and move through. That in itself was already enough for him to shake off all the birds and put a large distance between them. Unless he ran into the five-colored peacock from three days ago, then everything would be just fine.

Su Ming still felt fear pounding in his heart when he thought of that peacock. That bird’s strength lay in its five-colored light. It actually possessed a power that could confuse minds!

As Su Ming moved forward, he lifted his right index finger, and each time his finger pointed in a direction, one of the birds would disintegrate and die. In about the span of ten breaths, Su Ming had already made his way into the deep parts of the flock of birds. Before long, he would be able to break through the blockade like an arrow.

Right at that moment, he saw a three clawed bird cawing and looking as if it wanted to move back, but had its path blocked off by all the other birds that were rushing forward, and was pushed towards Su Ming.

As Su Ming took a step forward, he lifted his right hand and pointed towards the frightened and cawing bird. But right when his finger was going to land in the direction of that bird, it stopped cawing and instead widened his eyes and let out a piercing sound.

”It’s me! It’s me… I’m not the same as them! I… I’m that crane!”

The bird that was really the black crane immediately started shouting loudly in its fear, and as if it was afraid Su Ming would not believe him, black fog instantaneously gathered on its face to reveal… a crane’s head.

Su Ming was momentarily stunned, and his right index finger immediately froze in action. But he did not have time to think, for there was a five-colored light flashing from the direction he had come. The five-colored peacock that had been chasing him a few days ago came charging forward incredibly quickly.

Su Ming’s expression changed, and he ignored the black crane, turning around instead to take a step forward and charge straight towards the birds before him. As rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, Su Ming broke through the bird mob, then charged at full speed towards the distance.

As the birds screeched, they pursued him. The five-colored peacock shot past the flock of birds with a flash and chased after Su Ming. There was hate burning in its eyes, and it looked as if it would absolutely not give up until it caught up to him.

Su Ming charged forward with the five-colored peacock right behind him and the large flock of birds at the very end of the line. After the span of a breath, this group had already disappeared in the distance, leaving behind the black crane that had revealed its head, who was still lingering around in midair. It blinked, then started laughing loudly and smugly. There was also an excited look on its face.

”Well, bullocks. If I want to change, I should at least change into that big five-colored bird. Only that thing suits my status! I’d like to see who would dare to bully me once I change into that big bird!

”I’ll scare the shit out of whoever dares bully me again!”

Feeling smug, the black crane turned into a layer of black fog. Once it gradually gathered together, it immediately turned into a five-colored peacock in midair.

It looked at its current appearance excitedly, then lifted its head elegantly and flew slowly into the distance…

”If five colors are already so powerful, then wouldn’t I be even scarier if I turned into a seven-colored bird?”

Before long, the eyes of the five-colored peacock that was really the black crane twinkled, and its body turned into black fog once again. After a moment, a beautiful seven-colored peacock appeared in the world. Then, with arrogance and pride, it flew into the distance.

On Su Ming’s side, after a few warps in succession, he had finally managed to temporarily shake off the five-colored peacock’s pursuit. When he first met this peacock a few days ago, he had fought against it, but not only could the five-colored light confuse his mind, it also contained a strange power that suppressed his power, preventing him from unleashing it completely.

The peacock’s appearance would usually cause a large amount of birds to flock around it very soon, and because of that, it would be incredibly difficult to continue with the battle. Even Su Ming felt his skin crawl once he was surrounded by several hundreds of thousands, even millions, and perhaps even more of those birds.

When he shook off that peacock, he brought out the wooden slip and checked his location once again before he sucked in a deep breath and rushed forward. Several days later, after taking a detour and moving in several big circles to avoid several spots that felt threatening, he finally arrived at a spot where the waters were rolling furiously at the surface of the sea.

As Su Ming stood in midair, he lowered his head to look at the surface of the sea. There was a slight expression of regret on his face. According to his deductions based on the map, this place was where his cave abode had been located!

However, it was now deep under the sea…

The world had been turned upside down. As of right then, Su Ming could feel the meaning of this phrase deeply in his heart. He remained silent for a moment before he charged towards the surface of the sea, disappearing into the seawater and heading straight under.

Right after plunging in, Su Ming felt a powerful force coming from the sea pushing against him and sweeping his body, shoving him into the distance. This was the force that caused the seawater to continuously move toward the land of the Shamans.

Golden light shone around Su Ming’s entire body and he withstood this force with raw power alone. With his divine sense spread outwards, he charged swiftly to the bottom of the sea. It was dark all around him, but fortunately, even though he could not spread his divine sense too far away, he could still feel his surroundings clearly.

The sea was not too deep either. After some time, once Su Ming avoided the ferocious creatures in the sea, he gradually began to see a mountain range that looked like a dragon’s mouth at the depths of the sea… along with a huge crack outside the mountain range, as well as a dull screen of light…

The screen of light had been set up by Hong Luo in the past. Fifteen years had passed by since then, but it had actually managed to still stay around. However, it was clearly much weaker now, which was why it could no longer be used to hide the mountain, but it was still sufficient enough to be used for protection.

Su Ming charged towards the screen of light and closed in on it in the blink of an eye. He then lifted his right hand, pressed his palm against the screen, and his body passed through the screen of light.

Translator’s Note

The black crane: The black, bald-headed crane that was so small it looked like a chick, which Su Ming had run into when he went to Black Crane Tribe after the Madam Ji incident.