Pursuit of the Truth

So… it was all just a dream.

However, the world in his dream had been so real. South Morning’s ninth summit had been so warm. The concern shown by his senior brother Hu Zi, his second senior brother, and his eldest senior brother would filled his whole entire body with warmth when he recalled it, and he would miss it dearly, in a manner which he could not describe.

So… those were all just part of the dream…

He had not been swept into the void above Dark Mountain. His elder had not disappeared. He had never gone to… South Morning, and neither did he have a Master called Tian Xie Zi.

So… it was really just a dream…

He had not entered Freezing Sky Clan and neither had he gone to the World of Nine Yin. He did not meet with any Shamans either, much less witnessed the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands. Neither did he form all that amount of enmity towards that man called Di Tian.

He did not attain great completion in the Berserker Soul Realm in the end as well, and he did not become… the God of Berserkers.

”This dream lasted so long…” Su Ming mumbled as he leaned against a dried up tree in the region Wind Stream Tribe had given to Dark Mountain Tribe. He sat there and looked into the distance. The wind from the horizon sounded as if it was moaning, and as it blew on his body, it made him instinctively feel a little cold.

’In my dream, I saw all those familiar faces. Bei Ling, Chen Xin, Wu La, and the others… I saw the Immortals, Shamans, Berserkers, the old xun maker, and Yin Death Region.” Su Ming sighed softly.

’Was it really… just a dream?’ He lifted his head and looked at the flying snow in the sky. A dazed look appeared in his eyes.

Right behind Su Ming was a tribe that was no longer whole. His tribe members who had migrated from Dark Mountain had lost their families and their home. They could only be affiliated to Wind Stream Tribe within the tribe’s area.

The elder was gravely injured, and he was in still in a state of unconsciousness.

Lei Chen left. Su Ming had no idea where he went. Perhaps he would return some day. Perhaps…

Wu La died. Nan Song died. Many of his tribe members had already turned into corpses. Waves of sorrow filled the entire tribe, and they were so heavy that it made Su Ming’s breathing freeze a little.

Shan Hen had also died. He died in Su Ming’s hands, and Su Ming lowered his head and looked at his own hands, staying silent.

The little girl called Tong Tong was curled in a corner of the tribe behind him. She was hugging a broken doll, and tears were falling down her cheeks.

”Su Ming, we’re about to start.” In the midst of his silence, a deep voice reached him from his side. That voice belonged to Bei Ling, and he was walking towards Su Ming with a pale face, stopping under the tree Su Ming was sitting on.

Su Ming looked at Bei Ling. In his dream, he saw that this person was an Immortal, and he belonged to Great Leaf Immortal Sect. He was Di Tian’s disciple, but that was… just a dream, was it not..?

Su Ming shook his head and jumped down from the tree.

A funeral service to make offerings to the deceased in Dark Mountain Tribe was held in the tribe in the midst of the tribe members’ grief and silent cries. The burning flames danced about in a strange, distorted fashion. Arranged neatly within those flames… were the corpses of all those from Dark Mountain Tribe. Those were all the remains they had managed to retrieve of their deceased.

Most of these corpses were incomplete. There were few that were whole. The flames licked the bodies. In the midst of the coldest blizzard during winter, all Dark Mountain tribe members silently knelt on the ground.

They looked at the flickering light from the burning flames and listened to the cracking sounds traveling through the air. All the silent cries of the tribe members turned into a depressing air, causing the area around them to become even colder.

Su Ming saw Wu La and many familiar faces within those flames, and a number of those that were less so.

The funeral service ended during the third midnight. Su Ming stood in his tribe and looked at the snow in the sky, then at the ground that was no longer dark due to the illumination of the snow. He saw a girl’s figure standing there, as if she was waiting for him in silence.

It was Bai Ling.

The blizzard was strong, so strong that it seemed to have broken the world into fragments, and these pieces could no longer gather together to become one. In that snow, Su Ming walked towards Bai Ling and stood with her. They remained in silence. Neither of them spoke.

Bai Ling, who was dressed in white mink fur and who had snow on her dark black locks, was an incredibly breathtaking sight with her beautiful face in this snow. However, the concern and sadness in her eyes caused her to look at Su Ming with a dazed expression, and slowly, tears fell from her eyes.

”I’m about to leave… I’m going to a place far away. My parents have sent a message to have someone pick me up…”

Bai Ling bit her bottom lip and looked at Su Ming.

”Come with me,” she whispered softly.

Anguish filled Su Ming’s heart. He had lost a lot of his tribe members, and too many other things had slipped from his hands. He could not leave, but it was even more difficult for him to make Bai Ling stay. He… did not know what right he had to make her stay, preventing her from seeing her parents.

”Have… a safe trip.” Su Ming remained silent for a long time before he whispered in anguish.

Almost at the instant he finished saying those words, Bai Ling walked up to him and hugged him gently. Then, a pair of icy cold lips and that face which Su Ming could never forget occupied his entire world.

Her lips were very cold, but there was a hint of warmth amid their chill. The anguish in the girl’s tears had also fused together with that warmth to turn into this… kiss of farewell.

”Our promise still remains. It won’t end in seven days, nor will it end in seven years. It will last for an eternity… Su Ming, I will wait for you. I will always, always wait for you…” Bai Ling turned around and ran into the distance. Su Ming could not see where her tears fell in the snow, but there was one drop that seemed to have fallen on his cheek.

It was as cold as the snow, and Su Ming could not tell whether it was really her tear or just snow.

He stood in the snow and continued standing there until he saw two vague shadows of tall figures appearing beside Bai Ling, and as if they were protecting her, they took her into the distance.

Su Ming could not describe how he felt in his heart. He remained silent for a long, long time.

Half a month after Bai Ling left, his elder regained consciousness.

The elder mentioned nothing about the fight against Black Mountain Tribe’s Elder, and neither did Su Ming talk about it with anyone. As time passed by, the death of Black Mountain Tribe’s Elder gradually turned into something of the past.

Su Ming could sense that his personality had changed. He was no longer lively and had gotten used to silence. The cheerful sounds in the tribe in the past had also disappeared. The sorrow brought by the loss of their loved ones had caused all of them to choose to become silent.

He started training day and night, began creating medicinal pills without stop so that his level of cultivation would increase. However, he would often still open his eyes as he meditated in the dark, and he would remember that dream.

In the blink of an eye, ten years passed by.

Ten years could change many things. As the children grew up and time passed, the sorrow of ten years ago became incredibly faint. However, the people would still remember the devastating tragedy that occurred at that time every memorial day.

Dark Mountain Tribe had turned into an affiliated tribe of Wind Stream Tribe, because their elder… had already lost his power and become an old man who had one foot in his grave.

During these ten years, Su Ming stayed beside his elder, until the winter of the tenth year. That was a cold night. Freezing wind moaned in the air and blew against their tent, causing the lamp within the tent to flicker. His elder lay inside. At that moment, he was already incredibly old. He was looking at Su Ming, at the young man who had grown up before his eyes.

”I cannot continue staying by your side… La Su, don’t be sad. This day was bound to come… Remember the things I told you in the past. Remember… Berserkers’ Realm Mountain… You must find Berserkers’ Realm Mountain. You have to find it.

”I don’t know precisely where this mountain is either. I only know… that it is in your heart. Look for this mountain. You will be able to find all that you desire there.”

These were the elder’s final words to Su Ming before he breathed his last.

The elder passed away…

On the third day the flames of the elder’s life were extinguished, and Su Ming entered the Awakening Realm, becoming the second to do so in the tribe. The first was Bei Ling.

The existence of two Berserkers in the Awakening Realm caused Dark Mountain Tribe to have an incredibly high position among all the affiliated tribes in Wind Stream Tribe, and it also allowed Dark Mountain Tribe… to migrate back to their home.

Even Wind Stream Tribe would not prevent this migration, because the current Dark Mountain Tribe had already obtained this right.

This was a trip back to their home after a long separation of ten years. At the instant the entire Dark Mountain Tribe returned to the ruins of their home, many of the elderly folk wept and knelt down on the ground. Their cries echoed in the air.

Dark Mountain was no longer as it was. There were only four mountains left, and after ten years, this tribe under Dark Mountain began rebuilding itself, and its past form gradually reasserted itself.

This was their home. It was Dark Mountain Tribe’s home, and it was their people’s soul.

Time passed by quietly as the four seasons went by one after another. Bei Ling and Chen Xin’s wedding was held during autumn under Dark Mountain. That wedding was incredibly grand, because one of the people in the couple was the tribe leader of Dark Mountain Tribe, and the other was the daughter of their previous tribe leader.

At the moment Bei Ling reached Awakening Realm, he was elected as Dark Mountain Tribe’s tribe leader.

This wedding that was hosted after their people returned to their home was filled with joyful laughter, and many became drunk in this happiness. Su Ming stood in the distance in silence and looked at his people dancing around the bonfire at night. Joyful songs reached his ears. He saw the happy smile on Chen Xin’s face and also saw the tall and firm stature that would give the handsome Bei Ling the might that belonged to a tribe leader. Su Ming silently drank his wine.

He remembered Bai Ling.

It had been seventeen years since Bai Ling left.

Su Ming could still remember the cold kiss she had given him seventeen years ago, before she left. He could also remember that promise.

He could still remember the long dream that he had when he woke up seventeen years ago, but it only appeared in his head occasionally now.

On this night, Su Ming became drunk. The seventeen years of silence and his personality that made him a man of few words caused him to possess an incredibly awe-inspiring bearing within Dark Mountain Tribe. It was especially so after he became Dark Mountain Tribe’s Elder. That imposing air around him made all his tribe members not dare speak too much before him.

With a hint of tipsiness and a pot of wine in his hand, Su Ming looked at Bei Ling and Chen Xin before he turned around and walked back to his house. He started training, and right outside his house was a Fire Ape that was now a little old. It was Xiao Hong.

The passing of time and the people’s separation from their loved ones due to death caused the leaves in the autumn to draw out growth rings like those from trees as they floated down. With each circle, another year went by.

Another thirty years passed.