Pursuit of the Truth

As eldest senior brother’s voice traveled throughout the region, the ground started shaking nonstop, and the entire Eastern Wastelands looked as if it was tumbling about. The entire Dead Sea also trembled because of it, as if there was something that had been buried under the land of Berserkers and under the Dead Sea.

And at that moment, those things were being summoned into the world.

Three breaths. Only three breaths! Then, a loud boom that surged into the sky immediately shot up from under the ground. Right before everyone’s eyes, the land squirmed and was continuously torn apart before a gigantic mountain shot out of the earth.

That mountain was clearly not buried here but had gathered together from the land of Berserkers due to eldest senior brother’s call. Once it broke out and appeared, what revealed itself before everyone’s eyes was a mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall and standing erect on the ground, causing the pupils of all those who saw it to shrink.

Right when Su Ming shifted his gaze to the mountain as it shot out of earth, cracks appeared on it and booming sounds reverberated in the air. The mound of earth crumbled swiftly and turned into an endless amount of pieces that tumbled backwards. At that moment… a green armor appeared within it!

That armor had been clearly buried within that mountain, and when eldest senior brother summoned it, it was finally brought into the world. The armor shone with a piercing blue light and flew up from the crumbling mountain, appearing on eldest senior brother’s body within an instant before turning into a blue vortex. As he stood inside it, he equipped the armor and stood there, stirring up the aura existing in all directions, just like a supreme king!

Nine Li’s Shaman Lord!

He lifted his right arm, and a circular hole that was the size of a palm appeared above the right hook. That hole was pitch black, and it looked as if it could swallow all light from the area, causing the space around its edges to look as if was continuously shattering and disappearing. It was a terrifying sight to behold.

The black hole was lifted up by the right hook on eldest senior brother’s arm, and he turned his gaze towards Su Ming.

”This is the Shamans’ cauldron!”

Su Ming stared at the hole, then closed his eyes slowly. At the instant his eldest senior brother took a step forward and charged towards him like a blue shooting star, Su Ming’s eyes flew open.

He lifted his right hand, then bent his body slightly to make himself look like a crescent moon. At the instant he formed that shape, he whispered softly, ”God of Berserkers’ alteration towards the stars, sun, and moon. Second Alteration: Shift in the Moon!”

When the shattered starry sky turned dimmer due to his words, a crescent moon appeared in the night-view above.

A powerful dark light shone from Su Ming’s body, and he turned into a crescent moon whose light scattered through the area. Wherever it went, a biting, desolate air would fill the place!

Almost at the same time Su Ming executed this divine ability, an illusion of a moon appeared on his eldest senior brother’s body, who was still closing in on him in the form of a blue shooting star. That illusion enveloped his body, making him look incredibly bizarre.

”Moon Slaughter!” Right at the instant his eldest senior brother was about to arrive, Su Ming opened his mouth swiftly and shouted.

The moon in the sky cracked right from the center, and the moon on Su Ming’s body also cracked, but it did not result in any harm to him. The illusion on him had just dissipated. However, an incredible amount of power erupted forth from the cracks that appeared in the moon on his eldest senior brother’s body, making it seem as if it wanted to rip apart all that existed.

”Destiny’s reincarnations created my right arm!” Su Ming lifted his right hand and pointed forward. The right arm of his statue of the God of Berserkers immediately turned into a young man with purple hair, and the two mountains behind him closed in on his eldest senior brother.

”The Lightning Enchanted Vessel became the divine power in my left arm!” Su Ming swept his left arm sideways, and his statue’s left arm instantly turned into a bolt of crimson lightning that rushed towards his eldest senior brother.

”The three Berserker statues, the Curse, and the rain runic symbol became the source that formed my torso!” Su Ming’s words were still echoing in the sky. His statue’s torso immediately turned into the three Berserker statues and surrounded his eldest senior brother. At the same time, black rainwater poured down from the sky, bringing with it powerful Curses.

”And the final alteration for the God of Berserkers’ alteration towards the sun, moon, and stars… Sun’s Sacrifice!” Once Su Ming said these words, a piercing golden light instantly erupted from his body. As it spread out madly through the area, his body looked as if it had turned into a golden sun.

That sun was radiated a powerful light and heat, causing the entire world to be swiftly illuminated by its brightness. Within that light, Su Ming fused together with that sun, and with a heart of a martyr, he executed the strongest style within the alterations towards the sun, moon, and stars.

The entire world was replaced by the sun’s light, causing no outsider to be able to see what was going on inside, but the continuous booms and tremors on the ground as well as the endless waves that were spreading in all directions were enough to prove just how powerful and shocking the clash was this time.

As booming sounds rang into the air, eldest senior brother fell back and black blood gushed out of his mouth. The blue armor on his body disappeared, and the Shaman Cauldron, too, vanished.

His body fell to the ground with a bang, right beside his war drum.

He lost, but he did not lose to Su Ming. He had instead lost to time, the time which allowed him to burn his blood. In the end, he could not make the span of time which he could become Shaman Lord last long enough.

The light in the sky disappeared, and Su Ming walked out from within. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and with a pale face, he looked at his eldest senior brother lying on the ground. If it was not because his eldest senior brother was unable to continue, then the victor for the battle just now would have still been undecided.

”Youngest junior brother… it is done…” Eldest senior brother struggled to stand up and lifted his head to look at Su Ming. ”I have a final style… This style… is the limit of my blood. It is my fate… and also… my return…”

There was something unusual within eldest senior brother’s words, and when Su Ming heard it, the grief that had originally been hidden away appeared once again. He nodded at him.

Just like how he had understood what was going on previously, he now understood that his eldest senior brother’s will was not something that Di Tian could control completely. His will still existed, and it wanted to go through the Shamans’ sacrifice. If he did not, then he would not live!

This was a form of life.

”I have the blood of Nine Li flowing through my veins. All the Shamans think I am a direct descendant… but I know that I am not. I am the scion of the three clones that belonged to Nine Li’s Shaman Lord, Xing Gan…

”Xing Gan’s descendants… have always been headless!” Eldest senior brother stood up and sliced through his neck with the hook on his right hand. With it, his head flew up, but even as blood gushed into the air, his body… remained standing on the ground. He showed no signs of falling down!

At that moment, a human face emerged on his chest. That face belonged to eldest senior brother, and the head that flew up crumbled in midair, turning into an illusion wearing a crown and an Emperor’s robe. His face was filled with disbelief.

”As a descendant of Xing Gan, I will now forget my original name. From now onwards… I am Xing Gan! Axe of Execution [1], return!” A bang rang out of eldest senior brother’s body, and the world went mad. Then, in eldest senior brother’s lifted left hand, a gigantic bronze battle axe immediately manifested!

Translator’s Note:

1. The connection between Xing Gan (刑干, xing2 gan4) and Axe of Execution (刑斧, xing2 fu3): The word 刑 can be a surname, which is the case for Xing Gan. It can also be execution/punishment, which is how Axe of Execution came to be.