Pursuit of the Truth

”Southern Swamp Island!” Zi Yan’s body came to an abrupt halt in midair and she immediately turned her head around to look at Su Ming.

”Wait here for me for a few days, then come with me to Southern Swamp Island.” Su Ming’s voice was cool as ice, but it made Zi Yan’s heart beat with joy, though that joy was mixed with the agony she had felt moments ago. She looked at Su Ming and nodded her head.

Ya Mu had never gone against Zi Yan’s decisions during the occasional moments she decided to make some. Instead, he quietly allowed her to invite Su Ming and speak freely. He did not leave either, but stayed on the island.

The zealous gazes in the eyes of the Fated Kin when they saw Su Ming seemed to be able to shake the world. It was as if Su Ming just needed to say one word, and they would give up everything for him.

This was not something born overnight. This was born over the years from the impression Su Ming had left in their hearts, along with how they had worshipped him when he had brought them out of the World of Nine Yin, as well as everything that he had done for them.

Fated Kin were different, making it difficult for them to mingle with outsiders for an extended period of time. Their aloofness and abandonment caused them to not believe in outsiders. They only trusted themselves and their own tribesmen.

They did not harbor much selfish desires in their lives. Their fifteen years of life in the World of Nine Yin had changed them too much, including their attitude towards practicing cultivation. Almost every single one of the Fated Kin who survived through the fifteen years would spend most of their time in training.

Only when they were stronger, only when they could endure the loneliness that other people couldn’t bear could they survive and control their own fate!

That was why they refused Ya Mu’s invitation in the past once they gathered a dozen something people together, choosing instead to live on this island, cut off from the rest of the world. They changed the island and turned it into a place suitable for living.

This was the reason why Su Ming did not choose to persuade the Fated Kin to leave with him. Instead, he used three days to make some detailed fixes and arrangements to the island.

He had first fortified the protective Rune in this place. With Su Ming’s current power, he had spread out all the Runes Hu Zi had given to him in the past on the island, turning it into the first layer of defense.

Then, he dived into the depths of the Dead Sea.

When he returned, eight Dead Sea Giants surrounded the island at the depths of the Dead Sea. They were all sitting down cross-legged, empty. Their souls had been taken away by Su Ming’s Spirit Plunder.

He gave that Spirit Plunder to the Fated Kin. If the island ran into any other dangers, then these eight Dead Sea Giants would turn into the island’s second layer of defense!

Once Su Ming finished doing all this, he took the two large bows in his hands and smoothed out the force in them with all his power of Bone Sacrifice, causing the might of the bows to be even sharper when they were drawn. This was the third layer of defense.

It did not end there. Su Ming might not understand the waves that belonged to the aura of death, but the Fated Kin understood it. He started rearranging the island according to their opinions and ideas, which in turn made the waves of aura of death become even stronger than before. This was their fourth layer of defense.

Su Ming still did not feel at ease with just these. After all, this was the Dead Sea. Not only did they have to face the disasters from the Eastern Wastelands, the ferocious beasts from the Dead Sea would also attack them. That was why he left behind a wisp of his divine sense and gathered it on his statue. Once the power of the statue fused with his divine sense, it could have three charges that would attack the minds of others, and the power of those charges would be akin to the embodiment of his power of cultivation.

This was the fifth layer of defense!

The Poison Corpse was left behind, and this was the sixth layer of defense Su Ming gave to the Fated Kin on this island! With the Poison Corpse and all the other means they had in their disposal, if another Berserker in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm came again, the numerous defenses would be able to force that person away, and there would be no need for Su Ming to act at all!

Unless, of course, someone decided to launch a mass invasion on the island. However, Su Ming was also prepared for this. With the skills he had inherited from Hong Luo, he laid out a simple Relocation Rune. This Rune was activated by Su Ming’s spirit stones, and if they were in grave danger, the Fated Kin could leave through it.

The island was so massively fortified by Su Ming’s arrangements that it had practically become an impregnable fortress. It also gave the Fated Kin a chance to venture out without worry. This would allow them to search for more of their tribesmen.

This place was not just a tribe for the Fated Kin, it was also a temporary training grounds for Su Ming among the many islands on the Dead Sea. Over here, his heart would find boundless peace, because in this place, he was their God!

Once he finished those arrangements, he, Zi Yan, and Ya Mu left the island, sent off by the Fated Kin who knelt down on one knee as they worshipped in the direction of the sky, with loud shouts calling his title while looking at him with fervent zeal.

Even after Ya Mu left, he still felt as if he was in a dream. The Fated Kin’s strength, their mysteriousness, their aloofness, and the zeal that appeared once they saw Su Ming were all deeply embedded in to his memories, and he would never forget it for the rest of his life. The impression the Fated Kin left in his mind would never disappear.

When they left, Su Ming remained silent. However, due to the matter in Southern Swamp Island, his silence seemed to cause the air around them to feel slightly stifling. In the midst of this suffocating atmosphere, Zi Yan and Ya Mu led Su Ming along the way at full speed.

Several days later, the trio stopped above a vast region of sea about tens of thousands of lis away from the Fated Kin’s island.

”Senior Su, that is Southern Swamp Island,” said Ya Mu respectfully as he stood by the side.

Su Ming cast his gaze downwards. The place seemed empty, and there was not a single island that could be found. Even if he spread his divine sense outwards to check, he still found nothing.

A glint appeared in his eyes and he lifted his head to look at the dark clouds in the sky. When he dipped his head down once more, his divine sense swept out swiftly. But this time he sent it charging down to the depths of the sea. Gradually, a sharp gleam appeared in his eyes.

The bottom of the sea was murky, and there was a power that repelled divine senses. However, Su Ming could still sense something different about the bottom of the sea in this region.

However, it was difficult to figure out just what made it different. If he did not look into it carefully, it would be hard for him to see through it.

”Southern Swamp Island does indeed have its own intriguing parts to be able to become one of the few gathering spots for the people of South Morning in such a big region and not be discovered by the Cultivators from the Eastern Wastelands after the calamity,” Su Ming commented languidly and retrieved his divine sense.

Ya Mu wrapped his fist in his palm towards Su Ming respectfully, then took a few steps forward. As he lifted his right hand, a normal looking jade slip appeared on his palm, and holding it in a firm grip, he threw it out.

Immediately, that jade slip turned into a long arc and charged downwards, towards the empty looking sea. Without making a single sound, it fell into the sea.

Ya Mu calculated silently in his heart. Ten breaths after the jade slip fell into the water, he suddenly lifted his right hand, and after making some strange seals in succession, he pointed towards the air beneath him.

Immediately, booming sounds appeared from the seawater underneath and it started churning. At the same time, in the air above the seawater, two indistinct figures abruptly appeared, and their bodies started gaining form rapidly as they walked out.

These were two middle-aged men. They both wore simple robes, but their gazes were electrifying. One of them was a Shaman, and the other a Berserker. The Shaman was a Medial Shaman, and the Berserker was in the middle stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm. The instant these two people appeared, their gazes fell on Ya Mu and Zi Yan, then when they looked towards Su Ming, a freezing glare shining in their eyes.

They could not see through Su Ming’s level of cultivation, and his face was incredibly unfamiliar to them.

”Messenger Ya Mu, who is this?” the middle-aged Medial Shaman asked coldly.

”I owe my life to senior Su. Don’t be rude, you two. I can be his guarantor, open the tunnel!” A stern expression appeared on Ya Mu’s face.

The two people who were clearly guards hesitated for a moment, then the Berserker wrapped his fist in his palm towards Ya Mu and Zi Yan.

”Southern Swamp Temple just sent an order the day before yesterday that we are not allowed to let any outsiders into Southern Swamp Island during this period of time. We have our duties. Messenger Ya Mu, you can enter the place with messenger Zi Yan first. Once you receive your letter of guarantee, we will allow this person to enter.”

Ya Mu was momentarily stunned. Southern Swamp Temple was the faction that had been responsible for all the affairs of Southern Swamp Island after the two protectors of their island, Zong Ze and Yun Lai, decided to enter isolation. They would usually not issue this sort of order, unless…

”Could it be that Sir Zong Ze or Sir Yun Lai is about to come out of isolation?” Ya Mu immediately asked.

”We don’t know about this. But without a letter of guarantee, this person cannot enter,” the male Shaman said coldly.

Ya Mu was a little hesitant. He cast his gaze towards Zi Yan. She frowned, and just as she was about to speak, Su Ming walked past her calmly.

When he moved forward, the two middle-aged guards immediately raised their guard. Yet the instant they did so, they looked into Su Ming’s eyes, and a dazed look instantaneously appeared there.

They stood stunned in the air, and simply allowed Su Ming to walk past them. Ya Mu’s heart shuddered, and Su Ming became even more mysterious to him. The old Eastern Wastelander calling him a Berserker who had attained great completion of the Berserker Soul Realm before his death appeared in his mind once again.

He quickly moved forward and personally opened the defense on the island. As booming sounds echoed in the air, a thick light screen suddenly manifested on the empty sea. It covered about several hundreds of lis and looked like a huge bowl that was turned upside down.

The same thoughts as Ya Mu’s also appeared in Zi Yan’s heart when she saw Su Ming’s strange actions. She followed behind him, and the three of them walked into the light screen.

When they disappeared, the light screen gradually faded away as well. The dazed look in the eyes of the two middle-aged men in the air only scattered away after some time. In their memories, they only remembered that Ya Mu and Zi Yan had returned to the island. There was not a single memory left of Su Ming in their heads.

This was the power of a Soul Catcher, and it was part of the Candle Dragon’s Curse. Right then, if anyone looked through all the Shamans to try and find anyone else who could use the power of a Soul Catcher to this extent, they would find that there was no one else besides Su Ming who could do so!

Even the End Soul Catcher Zong Ze would find it impossible to perform such a task, unless he used other methods to do so.

The instant Su Ming stepped into the light screen, he immediately noticed a Relocation power surrounding him. Once that power disappeared, what appeared before him was a huge Rune. There were eight people sitting around it, and all of them looked towards them.

There was a mountain range rising and falling outside the Rune. Numerous towers could be seen on its mountains, and all of them looked incredibly elegant from the distance. In fact, he could even see several cave abodes built there.

He could even see the basic outline of a city moat surrounding that mountain range.

The entire area was brightly lit. There were no clouds in the sky. It was just a clear blue sky, and a sun that was shining brightly.

All of this was like paradise, and it was completely different from the world outside!