Pursuit of the Truth

Si Ma Xin’s piercing howl echoed in the water. He stopped after tumbling several thousands of feet backwards. His left hand started rotting away, and as his left leg trembled, it began swiftly withering away. Signs of decay appeared on his body.

Hair fell from his head, and a large amount of black spots appeared on his face. Those black spots rotted away one by one and let out a horrible stench. This was not due to the power of Moon Slaughter, but was due to Su Ming gathering up the power of the Curse within him when he executed Shift in the Moon!

”You might know all my divine abilities… but you… definitely won’t know the last divine ability I will cast in my life!”

Si Ma Xin’s eyes became dull and lifeless. When he lifted his head and looked at Su Ming, a crazed sneer appeared on his lips. This was an expression formed due to his grudge, his unwillingness to accept his face, and everything else before he died. Perhaps this could not be called a sneer. It was an expression that had no name, an expression that was not of crying or smiling.

”The God of Berserkers’ fate… was to suffer being quartered. His body would be torn to pieces, and he would seal the land of the Berserkers for generations to come. This… is the will of Morning Dao,” Si Ma Xin mumbled. This string of words had emerged in his head the instant he touched the hand all those years ago.

This was… the power that sealed the second God of Berserkers!

This power did not belong to Si Ma Xin, but belonged to the world in the depths of the sea where he and Su Ming stood right at that moment, because this was the place where the second’s left hand was sealed, and this sealing power had originally existed in this place to begin with!

Si Ma Xin was simply activating the seal, making the seal spread out to seal all the people who had any sort of connection to the second God of Berserkers!

Almost the moment he said these words, the sea stopped moving. The sea surging down from above also stopped moving as if time had stopped for them. The God of Berserkers’ left hand trembled, and yellow waves of light shot out from it.

”The worlds located in the five directions [1] suppress the Berserker’s arm. Once these five directions shift, the universe will close its eyes, and Yin Death… will open!”

Si Ma Xin laughed loudly. At that moment, a glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. Just as he was about to close in on Si Ma Xin, the man closed his eyes and continued laughing.

”I lost, but I didn’t lose to you, Su Ming! I lost to fate!

”God, if you already had me in the world, then why did you make Su Ming appear?!

”Could this be my destiny? Am I fated to fight against Su Ming, and the only one alive will be the one truly chosen by heaven?!” Si Ma Xin laughed maniacally, tears fell from his eyes. His left hand swiftly exploded, while his left leg rotted away into liquid.

From the moment he obtained the second God of Berserkers’ inheritance up to this point, from his initial delight up to his current despair, Si Ma Xin had gone through too many things. As he looked at Su Ming, his hatred had grown to an indescribable level. Even if he had to die, he would drag Su Ming down with him!

”If this is my destiny, then I will fight against it! Neither of us will survive! I want him to die with me! I want this destiny to not be fulfilled against me!” The instant he said these words, his body shattered, turning into a large amount of black flesh pieces that fell onto the surface of the sea.

Si Ma Xin, who was the prodigy of Freezing Sky Clan, who had obtained the second God of Berserkers’ inheritance, and who had called himself the fourth God of Berserkers, ended his life right before Su Ming in the place he obtained his inheritance and in the place that was the source of his great power…

As his body was torn apart, no more life force went towards him. Perhaps his life had been determined since the moment he met Su Ming in Han Mountain City…

If he did not die, then Su Ming would!

At the instant Si Ma Xin died, a ray of red light flew out from his shattered body. That red light… was a wooden red puppet!

It was built in Si Ma Xin’s image, but there was a dried drop of blood at the center of its forehead, and right under that drop of blood was a white strand of hair!

It was very short and incredibly soft. It did not look as if it belonged to an adult, but looked like the fetal hair of a baby. However, it was white… there was no sign of life on that strand of hair, only a thick wave of aura of death that Su Ming was incredibly familiar with!

But he was even more familiar with the strand of hair and the dried drop of blood. He might never have seen them before, but the familiar sensation from them gave him a feeling that they belonged to him.

At that moment, cracks appeared on the puppet’s body… With a bang, it broke down into smithereens. Right then, the white strand of hair got dyed in blood and floated to the air. Su Ming did not know whether it was a mere coincidence, but the strand drifted towards him and landed on his palm.

When it touched his palm, he shuddered. Then, something akin to a storm stirred in his eyes. It was as if his mind was dragged out by the strand of hair and he entered a strange world.

Su Ming could only feel booming sounds going off in his head. He saw himself rushing out of the depths of the sea towards the sky. The clouds in the sky churned, and with an extreme speed, he charged towards a protective screen of light surrounding this place, right to the boundless sky!

When he arrived at the end of the sky and shot through the dark clouds that covered the sun, a bright clear sky appeared. He did not stop. It was as if there was a string tied securely around him, guiding him to continue rising into the sky!

He did not know how much time passed. When the bright clear sky was no longer around, black fog surrounded him. He was familiar with it. It was… the fog from Yin Death Region, the fog that had surrounded the ancient bronze sword in the past and stopped it from traveling out!

Su Ming rose up through the fog in a daze until he heard a roaring. A beast lay within the fog before him. It had the head of an alligator, but the body of a dragon that stretched to an unknown distance. That beast was looking around with its head stretched outwards, as if hesitating about something.

A powerful presence that almost made Su Ming’s mind break down spread from the creature’s body, but the beast clearly did not see him. Su Ming could feel himself shooting through the black fog as he continued rising into the air.

On the way, he saw more than a dozen powerful and strange ferocious beasts. In fact, the ones he saw near the end gave him a feeling that they were even stronger than Di Tian’s clone.

The fog above him gradually became thinner. As faint and indistinct roars echoed in the air, he shot out of the darkness, and he saw the galaxy, the stars, and everything else that he had seen on the ancient bronze sword in the past!

Su Ming also saw the vortex formed by the black fog beneath him. It was gigantic and covered an incredibly wide area within the endless galaxy. The vortex rotated with loud rumbling sounds, and as the fog surrounded it, the aura of death filled the entire area.

Su Ming’s body continued rising even as he looked at the galaxy and the stars. Unable to control himself, he arrived on a large piece of land floating in this galaxy, located somewhere away from the vortex.

This was a desolate piece of land. There were signs of life here, the only structure a towering altar. On it was a person, and he was lying there quietly. His limbs were impaled to the ground, and his dried blood filled the entire area.

There was a drop of blood at the center of the person’s brows, and on it was a white strand of hair.

This person seemed like a young adult, but… the instant Su Ming saw his appearance, a bang went off in his head. This… was Si Ma Xin!

As Su Ming trembled, he whipped his head around, and then, he saw similar altars suddenly appearing on the originally desolate piece of land. Those altars were so numerous that they covered the entire area. By the looks of it, there were hundreds of them!

Moreover, the sizes of these altars varied. There were five altars that were incredibly tall and their sizes far surpassed those of others. When Su Ming saw them, he had a sudden urge to look so that he could see whether there were corpses similar to this lying around!

Yet right at the instant he wanted to go forth and look, a strong suction force appeared around his body and dragged him backwards at an extreme speed. Within an instant, brought Su Ming back to the vortex in Yin Death Region.

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. Just as he was about to cast a divine ability so that he could force his body to stay in this place, he found out… that he did not have a body, only a thread of his spirit.

In bitterness, he was forced to retreat while tumbling backwards, but in his eyes was madness as he silently engraved the image in his heart!

As he retreated, he saw... an endless amount of continents floating in the galaxy. There were altars such as these on each continent, as if they formed a gigantic Rune. Right in the middle of that Rune was a continent, and on that continent, Su Ming saw vaguely that there was… only one huge altar there.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the continent in the center was in itself an altar.

Su Ming might only have managed to catch a brief glance of that place, but he had sensed… a calling towards his soul.

This was the final thing he saw. When his world cleared up again, he found himself standing at the depths of the sea, and the strand of white hair floated above his palm.

It gradually shattered and disappeared without a trace...

Su Ming stood there quietly and closed his eyes. At that moment, yellow light was shining from the God of Berserkers’ left arm beneath him, and as it spread out, a loud bang rumbled in the air. The light grew brighter and illuminated the entire seabed!

A huge seal pointing in five directions manifested from the second God of Berserkers’ left hand. It covered the God of Berserker’s left hand, as if it was what had sealed the hand for an unknown amount of time!

That seal was naturally the Five Direction Seal that was suppressing the second God of Berserkers’ left hand!

It was also the treasure that Si Ma Xin was confident could make Su Ming die with him. There was only one use to this treasure, and that was to suppress and to seal. It was to suppress all those connected to the second God of Berserkers and seal away all of the second God of Berserkers’ power!

However, due to its long existence, the seals power had been greatly reduced. The mighty strength within the second God of Berserkers had also caused the Five Direction Seal to fuse with his left hand. Once they could no longer be separated, the seal’s power of suppression was weakened once again, that was why Si Ma Xin could obtain the inheritance.

However… due to Si Ma Xin’s madness, the seal was awakened…

The water in the depths of the sea was still. The waves at the seabed did not move. Everything at the bottom of the sea had ceased to move since the moment just now. Besides Si Ma Xin’s crumbling body, the white strand of hair floating above the palm, and Su Ming himself, everything else had been frozen.

Su Ming opened his eyes.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Five directions: Related to Buddhism, or more accurately, the Buddhas of the five directions. The directions are north, south, east, west, and the center. Each direction means something. Here is a link for anyone curious.

https://guamdharma.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/faq-what-is-the-meaning-of-the-buddhas-of-the-five-directions/