Pursuit of the Truth

The expressions of the members of the Lie Shan Family within the chamber differed in regards to Su Ming’s voice. Some of them narrowed their eyes, some of them had dubious looks on their faces, and some of them put on scornful expressions.

Lie Shan Xiu was the supreme Progenitor of Lie Shan Family. Forget outsiders, most of the members of the family had never seen his face before. And even if they had, it was only from afar, for it was rare for any of them to be summoned individually.

Right then, to most of the family members, the act of this person with an unknown identity making this request made him seem a little too arrogant and conceited.

However, while the family members harbored different thoughts in their hearts, they did not show it on their faces. At that moment, Elder Feng shook his head before them.

”What a spirited young fellow.” Elder Feng’s furrowed brows gradually smoothed out. The uncertain look in his eyes remained, but there was a smile on his face.

He looked at Su Ming, and the smile on his face was one full of joy and delight, like the feeling that would come straight from a member of the older generation’s heart when he saw a promising member of the younger generation.

As for his act of shaking his head, it was akin to an affable show of forbearance towards that particular member of the younger generation born out of a form of affection.

In fact, that smile continued growing wider, until Elder Feng eventually started laughing loudly. This joy had not been felt by him for tens of thousands of years. His laughter was hearty, and the members of the Lie Shan Family looked at each other while at a loss as to what to do.

”This young fellow is slightly mischievous. Still, how dare a mere member of the Tai Ci Family provoke my scion?” As Elder Feng mumbled under his breath, a domineering presence that looked down on the entire world spread out from his body.

The members of the Lie Shan Family behind him immediately felt fear and lowered their heads, not saying a single word. They had never seen Elder Feng, who had an incredibly high status in the Lie Shan Family, laugh in such a delighted manner before. In their memories, while Feng Lai did not have Lie Shan in his name, he was one of the four great generals of their Progenitor, Lie Shan Xiu.

He had followed Lie Shan Progenitor for many years, and they were so close that Elder Feng was like their Progenitor’s right hand. Elder Feng was an incredibly stern person. There was also a sort of pride in his heart. He had been in the Lie Shan Family for many years and had an incredibly high status, but he never had a lover, and neither did he have any children. He spent his days in quiet isolation, and he did not even have any disciples.

There was once an older member of the family who pleaded to meet Elder Feng and begged him to take in some children who showed great potential as his disciples, but all of them were rejected by Elder Feng. He had once uttered a single sentence when he rejected them, and that sentence gradually spread through the entire Lie Shan Family. Then, as time went by, no one came forth to ask Elder Feng to take in disciples anymore.

”I have a disciple. I might not know who this disciple of mine is and I might have never seen them before, but I will have a disciple and will have a scion who will inherit my legacy. This person will be my only disciple.

”Perhaps I might never be able to see this disciple of mine… but I will only take in this one disciple in my life.”

As he laughed, his mutters were naturally not heard by the members of the Lie Shan Family standing behind him. He watched the chaos in the auction hall from the screen of light where Yu Rou, the Duke of Crimson Flame, and Yu Chen Hai fought against the cultivators from the Tai Ci Family. The booming sounds from their battle of Arts reverberated in the air.

However, this was, after all, Lie Shan Family’s auction hall. The growth of the family for tens of thousands of years had caused the members of the Lie Shan Family to not all be like Lie Shan Kang Jiu. When the family grew in number, parts of it would form their own connections and acquaintances. Among the members of the Lie Shan Family standing behind Elder Feng was one of these people, and he was an old man who had a very close relationship with the Tai Ci Family.

The old man hesitated for a moment before he took a step forward, then wrapped his fist in his palm and spoke respectfully.

”Elder Feng, should… should we stop both parties from attacking each other?”

”Hmm?” The smile on Elder Feng’s face instantly disappeared, and the chilly expression returned once again. He did not even bother turning his head around.

However, that one single sound was like a gust of freezing wind that blew on the old man’s body, and he trembled instantly. He felt as if his entire body had been frozen, and his face instantly turned pale.

”Why should we stop them?” Elder Feng asked flatly, and the entire chamber instantly turned dead silent. The current Elder Feng was the one the members of the Lie Shan Family remembered.

”Elder… Elder Feng… the Tai Ci Family is one of the three greatest families in the planet. Black Water City is under their jurisdiction, and if any of their family members run into an accident in this place, then the Lie Shan Family will definitely incite Tai Ci Family’s fury, this is…” the old man quickly explained as he shuddered. He had a feeling that if he did not explain his reason for his request clearly, he would be immediately frozen to death.

Lie Shan Family’s rules were incredibly strict, and Elder Feng had another task in the family - to monitor the members of the Lie Shan Family. He had the right to kill or spare them, and it was not as if Elder Feng had never used the right either. He had used it many times in the past, and every single time he did so, someone in the Lie Shan Family died.

Lie Shan Family’s Progenitor, Lie Shan Xiu, turned a blind eye to this. Because of that, the members of the family were incredibly respectful to Elder Feng.

”You are right,” Elder Feng said flatly.

When the old man heard this, he immediately let out a huge sigh of relief in his heart. By then, his body was already drenched in sweat. Cold sweat continued seeping out through his skin, but right at the instant he relaxed, Elder Feng’s chilly voice reverberated in the air once again.

”Seal off all exits in the auction hall, activate the Segregation Rune, besides those from the Yu Family, do not allow even a single person to get out of the place… If they resist, kill them!” Elder Feng’s voice was calm, but there was a freezing tone and a murderous aura contained in his calm speech, which was enough to make all the members of the Lie Shan Family in the place tremble.

They might not understand why Elder Feng had said this, but the reputation he had built over the years made it so that no one dared to refute his words. They immediately lowered their heads and voiced their obedience.

When the members of the Lie Shan Family spread out to execute Elder Feng’s orders, the chilling aura on Elder Feng’s body gradually dissipated. Delight rose in his heart, and it turned into a kind and affable smile on his face. As he looked at Su Ming, who seemed to be looking at him through the screen of light, he found himself liking this youth more with each passing moment.

”Haha! This boy is good, he’s very good!” As he laughed, Elder Feng lifted his right hand and swung it at the screen of light. Wind blew instantly, stirring up a layer of ripples that caused the screen of light to distort.

”Lie Shan Progenitor isn’t here, young man,” Elder Feng said with a smile. This time, his voice shot through the screen of light and echoed in the auction hall.

Su Ming frowned.

Booming sounds reverberated by his side at that moment. Yu Rou was facing off against the old man, and as they fought, she had the upper hand. However, the old man’s entire body was incredibly sturdy, as if he had refined it. Most of the effects from divine abilities and Arts were greatly reduced when they landed on him.

As for the Duke of Crimson Flame, he was fighting against the old guest from Tai Ci Family, and they were fighting on equal ground.

However, this made things hard for Yu Chen Hai, because he was absolutely not the other old man’s opponent. Amid the booming sounds, he was forced backwards continuously. If the two big dogs were not constantly beside the old man to occasionally launch nasty sneak attacks on him to hold him back slightly, then Yu Chen Hai would have definitely been heavily injured by now.

”How dare you commit such an act of treason?! This is Black Water City! This is Tai Ci Family’s city! How dare you attack the members of Tai Ci Family here?! You won’t be able to leave Black Water City! You’ll regret ever provoking us! You’ll have the fury of the Tai Ci Family upon you!” the young man with the fan in his hand screamed shrilly at that moment. There was not a hint of panic on his face. Although he was retreating, his words echoed in the air.

He had the confidence because this was Black Water City and because this was where Tai Ci Family was located. He did not believe that anyone would dare to kill him in this place. If the puny Yu Family dared do so, then they would have to pay the price of being utterly annihilated.

Su Ming averted his gaze from the air above. He did not even spare a glance at the young man, but instead took a step forward. Then, right before the thousands of people’s gazes, his figure distorted, and he appeared right in front of Yu Chen Hai.

Yu Chen Hai was in a disheveled state and was retreating rapidly. The expressionless old man in front of him seemed to have gotten used to the two big dogs’ harmless bites and was ignoring them at that moment while closing in on his target.

Su Ming’s appearance immediately excited Yu Chen Hai while the incoming old man paused in his footsteps, but right at the instant he stopped, Su Ming lifted his right hand and hurled a punch at him!

This punch contained all the power of Qi within Su Ming’s body. It contained all the power within this clone of his and also his Divine Essence. In fact, when he hurled his punch forward, cracking sounds came from his body. With it, wind and clouds stirred within the auction hall. All the currents of wind instantly gathered at the spot where Su Ming was and fused into his fist. Booming sounds created from wind slicing through the air also up, and even space shattered with cracking sounds.

At the instant, the punch landed on the old man’s chest.

Bang!

As a loud noise resounded, none of the old man’s methods to fend against the punch could block the attack. He coughed up blood and his body immediately fell backwards. Instantly, it started showing signs of crumbling right before the crowd’s eyes.

However, there seemed to be some sort of power that reversed the flow of things in his body, for as he crumbled, he started recovering as well. However, Su Ming’s punch contained Divine Essence, and it prevented the old man’s recovery. As the old man fell back, the two dogs which he was no longer wary against suddenly put on extremely nasty smiles.

Right then, the yellow dog swung its head. It tore apart, and a gigantic, ferocious dragon head stretched out from within the opened up space. This dragon’s head was too big and was completely disproportionate to the dog’s body. Once it appeared, it opened its mouth wide and snapped its jaws shut around the old man, who now had an expression of disbelief on his face.

With just one bite, half of his body went into the strange creature’s mouth!

The big black dog by the side let out a loud howl and imitated the yellow dog’s movements. It swung its head as well and turned it into the bald crane’s bald head. Perhaps it had never wanted to bite the old man, but once it saw the Abyss Dragon’s actions, it immediately thought that this particular act was incredibly mighty. Which was why when this thought appeared in its head, it let out a weird, shrill cackle and used its sharp beak to pierce the old man’s… groin.

Immediately after, it turned into a black gust of wind and started plundering all the things on the old man’s body.

The old man died while harboring a great amount of grievances. He did not die because of Su Ming’s punch, but had died in the Abyss Dragon’s mouth. His soul and Nascent Divinity were all sucked away by the Abyss Dragon. Then, once he died, all his possessions were taken away by the bald crane.

He had never expected that one of the two big dogs… was a dragon!