Pursuit of the Truth

The mountain could still be marginally seen from the distance, but the grudge-filled fog surrounding Evil Spirit Sect caused the area to be obscured from view. It sounded like there were shrieks and howls reverberating in the air. Those shrill sounds were enough to make anyone’s heart tremble the first time they arrived to this place.

This was precisely how the two people who had brought Su Ming back felt when they first entered the sect. As they flew forward, they misinterpreted Su Ming’s paleness, which was normal to him, as fear. That was why they did not see anything wrong in his silence.

As the two people charged forward, they flew around Evil Spirit Sect’s mountain several times before they plunged straight towards the foot of the mountain. They landed right before the gate to the mountain, which had an eerie presence seeping out of it and was black in color. It also looked as if there were numerous vengeful souls surrounding it, looking like they wanted to pounce on all those who wanted to pass through.

The people who brought Su Ming had calm expressions on their faces and were completely unbothered by the vengeful spirits. They held Su Ming by his arms and took a few steps forward. Once they passed the mountain gate, a huge flight of stairs leading to the top of the mountain appeared before them.

There were plenty of black statues placed on both sides of the stairs. Each of the statues looked incredibly ferocious and exuded a ghastly and cold presence. They were also the spots where the hate filled spirits gathered.

”If you walk on this path of no return, you will enter Evil Spirit Sect. Boy, do you hear those shrill cries around you?” One of the people who held Su Ming cast him a glance, then spoke with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

”If I let go of your hand and make you go up alone, you might be dragged away by these vengeful spirits before you even manage to take a few steps, and then you’ll turn into one of them.” The other Evil Spirit Sect disciple spoke coldly, and as he did so, he suddenly lifted his right hand and formed a seal before swinging his arm forward.

The path leading up the stairs instantly became different. It might look the same… but an innumerable amount of shadows appeared there. They were shaped as men and women, the elderly and the young. They were all either dressed in rags or were covered in blood, and they were all struggling and howling on the road. Many of them were staring at Su Ming and the two disciples with ferocious expressions, as if they were about to pounce on them.

There were also numerous vengeful souls like these on either side of the mountain stairs. All of them stretched out their arms as if they wanted to grab the trio and drag them to their side.

”Welcome to Evil Spirit Sect. Over here, you will know what is hell and what is terror…” The two Evil Spirit Sect disciples who brought Su Ming to this place smiled at each other and held him by the arms as they strode up the mountain stairs. As they moved up, the hate-filled souls around them swiftly moved away, as if they were incredibly afraid of the two disciples.

The souls did not dare get any closer to the three of them. Some who weren’t able to move away in time, once the Evil Spirit Sect disciples holding Su Ming closed in, let out soundless screams and would rather have their bodies crumble instead of touching them.

This was even more so for the vengeful souls that were stretching out their arms on either side of the mountain. The moment the three people closed in, they seemed to have seen a frightening presence, for all of them backed away.

”Senior brother Zhang, there’s something off about these vengeful spirits… They usually aren’t like this when I return to the sect!” The person by the name of Zuo frowned and spoke in a low voice while continuing to lead Su Ming up to Evil Spirit Sect.

”You’re right. Usually, when they see someone, they will lunge forward without caring whether we are from Evil Spirit Sect… I only remember them moving away in fear when they faced the progenitors of the sect, but now…” The other man holding onto Su Ming was also incredibly puzzled.

The two of them could not figure out an answer to this no matter how much they mulled over it. Due to uncertainty, they moved even quicker and brought Su Ming up to the middle section of the mountain. He remained silent all the way. He looked at the mountain, at the many black halls littered all over the mountain, and at the corpses hanging on top of the halls.

In fact, he could even see some long arcs occasionally flying through the sky.

’How could Berserkers practice the cultivation methods of Immortals…?’ This was the question that was lingering in his heart when he thought about Evil Spirit Sect.

Before long, Su Ming saw a big man of about ten feet tall standing not too far away on the mountain stairs as the three of them continued moving upwards. He was half-naked and carried a huge basket behind his back, as he walked down the mountain. Once every few steps, he would lift his hand and reach into the basket to grab some minced flesh before throwing it into the air. There were wisps of black smoke on the torn pieces of flesh, and when they fell on the ground, the vengeful souls would immediately pounce on them, devouring each one.

The man had an incredibly ferocious expression on his face. He was also scarred, which made him look terrifying. When Su Ming and the other two saw him, the man also saw Zhang and Zuo. His lips parted into a grin. The scars on his face twisted, making him look as if he had four to five mouths on his face, and they were all laughing savagely at the same time.

He looked incredibly horrifying.

Even if Zhang and Zuo were uncomfortable when they saw that smile, they quickly stepped to the side and made way for the man.

”Greetings, senior brother Shan.” The duo wrapped their fists in their palms towards the man in respect.

When the man approached them, Su Ming saw a red glare lying in his pupils. If he looked into the man’s eyes for a prolonged period of time, he would feel incredibly uncomfortable.

”Why did you bring an outsider back to the sect?” When the man walked over to them, he grabbed another handful of torn flesh and tossed it to the side, making the vengeful spirits pounce on it and devour it without care for anything else.

”Senior brother Shan, this person is Chen’s family, who Sect Elder Zhao asked for us to bring back when we went out of the mountain. He’s Chen Da Xi’s younger brother,” Zhang immediately said while still holding onto Su Ming.

”Chen Da Xi…” The man cast a sideways glance towards Su Ming, and a strange look appeared on his face. When his lips split into a grin, he grabbed a piece of torn flesh from the basket and gave it to Su Ming.

”I see, so it was junior brother Chen. I don’t have a welcoming gift for you, so I’ll give you this piece of flesh.” When Zhang and Zuo saw this, envy immediately appeared on their faces.

Su Ming felt a thump in his chest, and received the piece of torn flesh before wrapping his fist in his palm and bowing towards the man.

”Thank you, senior brother Shan.”

”You don’t have to thank me. It doesn’t matter which vengeful soul you feed this to, it will end up helping you do one thing. Only Inner Sect disciples are allowed to have this. Treasure it well. If you can survive in this place for seven days, then you can thank me.” The man smiled eerily. He no longer bothered himself with Zhang and Zuo but instead began walking down the mountain.

When he left into the distance, Zhang’s gaze fell on the piece of flesh in Su Ming’s hands. Zuo, who was standing beside him, was also looking at it with a light in his eyes.

Su Ming naturally saw their expressions and laughed coldly in his heart. Not only were these people from Evil Spirit Sect sinister, they also loved fighting among themselves. He had just arrived to this place today and had already bore witness to a scheme.

That man, Shan, had given him this piece of torn flesh at the spur of the moment after he heard of Chen Da Xi’s name. By the looks of it, it would seem that he had some sort of grudge against Chen Da Xi.

This might seem like a gift, but in truth, if he was truly a twelve- to thirteen-year-old boy without a hint of power and he was greedy, then judging by Zhang and Zuo’s expressions at the moment, he would most probably bring ruin to himself.

’Chen Da Xi… Ugly Little Thing’s big brother, just what did you do in Evil Spirit Sect that this Sect Elder Zhao would ask for people to bring your family here, and why would this Shan, who is a Berserker in the initial stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, want to plot against me…?’

Su Ming sighed in his heart and shook his head. Before waiting for Zhang and Zuo to say anything, he handed the torn flesh in his hand to Zhang, who was still holding onto him.

”Senior brother Zhang, I have no use for this thing. Please take it.”

Zhang gave him a deep and profound smile, then took away the torn flesh without bothering with any form of courtesy. He cast Zuo a glance, and the violent look that had been in their eyes moments ago disappeared. When they looked towards Su Ming, a hint of praise was now present in their gazes.

”Junior brother Chen, you may be young, but you already know the principles of giving and taking. Not bad,” Zuo said coldly.

”Senior brothers, who is that senior brother Shan just now?” Su Ming immediately asked.

”He’s an Inner Sect disciple, and we’re Outer Sect disciples. We’re different… Remember this, Outer Sect disciples can fight among themselves, but if we run into Inner Sect disciples, we have to be careful, because while it’s alright for an Inner Sect disciple to kill you, it’ll be huge trouble for you if you hurt an Inner Sect disciple.” Zhang seemed to have decided to warn Su Ming because of that piece of torn flesh.

”But with your current situation, you’ll have your hands full by just trying not to get bullied, you won’t have time to bother about offending any Inner Sect disciples.”

As they charged up the stairs, Su Ming saw a few other Evil Spirit Sect disciples, and they were all gloomy and silent. When they walked past these people, Zhang and Zuo continuously greeted them, and from this alone, Su Ming could tell that their position in the sect was not high.

He could also tell that this Sect Elder Zhao was also just an ordinary person in Evil Spirit Sect.

After a moment, Zhang and Zuo left the middle section of the stairs with Su Ming and walked to a small path on the side. Su Ming could see a gigantic mountain gate in the distance.

”This is where we Outer Sect disciples belong to in Evil Spirit Sect. If we go any further, we’ll reach the Inner Sect. The foot of the mountain is where we keep our pets and also where our laborers stay. Once we walk past this mountain gate, we’ll bring you to Sect Elder Zhao. It’s not up to us to know where you’ll be placed from then on.

”But since you gave us this piece of flesh as a sign of respect, allow me to give you a piece of advice. All the Berserkers who want to walk down the path of Immortals in Evil Spirit Sect need to soak themselves in the Evil Pool and change their blood to activate the passage of Qi of Immortals in their bodies, but only one among ten who step into Evil Pool manage to survive.” Zhang smiled eerily and no longer spoke.

In his eyes, this person called Chen Su will definitely not survive past three to five days. It was especially so when he remembered Chen Da Xi’s strange death and all the rumors in the sect surrounding Sect Elder Zhao. He was certain that this Chen Su would definitely die.

Soon, they got close to the mountain gate, and when the trio stood by its side, Su Ming immediately saw a gigantic python wrapped around it.

That python was hissing with its tongue out and staring at the trio with a cold and dark look, as if it was about to charge forward and devour the three of them in one bite.

The python was perhaps thousands of feet long, and despite it having wrapped its body around the mountain gate, the remainder of its tail that was not on the gate was still very long.