Pursuit of the Truth 262 Boy

The sky in the land of the Shamans was vast. At a place not too far from Sky Mist Barrier that could be considered to be at the borders of the land of the Shamans was a bloody stench that filled the entire land. Even if wind swept past the land, it still could not get rid of the bloody stench from the land.
A golden bird that was about 10,000 feet in size floated in the sky. There were hundreds of ferocious beasts prostrating themselves before it, unmoving, as if they were waiting for the Golden Roc’s orders.
The Golden Roc had its eyes closed. There was an old man who also had his eyes closed sitting on its back. His purple robes looked like dried up blood as they swayed in the wind.
Tian Xie Zi had already sat in the spot for one and a half days. He would wait for another one and a half days for his fourth disciple, for Su Ming to return.
This was a test. It was also his first ever test to Su Ming.
"No matter whether you succeed in going through your first change in heart, you will still be my disciple. As long as you are alive, then you will still have chances to go through other changes in heart.
"But… Sky Mist Shaman Hunt usually ends with a person going in alive and coming out dead…" Tian Xie Zi mumbled and opened his eyes.
"I won’t worry about your change in heart. I might not know what sort of past you have, but I am confident that you will succeed in going through your first change in heart… you should have found peace in your heart once you saw him creating xun.
"What I’m worried is that… while you are vicious, you don’t have any sense of belonging to the Land of South Morning and don’t have enough understanding of our hate towards the Shamans, and because of that, you will… have a moment of weakness."
There was no longer any brutality within Tian Xie Zi’s eyes, only calm.
He looked at the distance silently.
If anyone followed Tian Xie Zi’s gaze that seemed to be looking forward endlessly, they would find a small hill in a forest that seemed to span endlessly in a place that could only be reached if they traveled for a day and a half.
Su Ming stood on the small hill and did not turn his head back to look at the boy standing not too far from the foot of the mountain. The kid looked like someone who could fit right into his tribe, and if he was there, his power would be around the second or third level of the Blood Solidification Realm. He might be from the Shaman Tribe, but Su Ming could not bring himself to kill him.
Sharp pain spread out from Su Ming’s chest as he continued remaining in silence. Blood flowed out from his wound. The shell knife had still brought harm to him.
If he had not avoided the attack, that knife would have stabbed his heart.
He pulled out the shell knife, and at the same time Su Ming left the small hill, he lifted his left hand and pointed towards the pale boy who had just snapped out of his terror and had turned around to run back quickly.
A gust of wind sliced through the air and closed in on the running boy in an instant. The moment it fell on him, the gust of wind suddenly split into two parts. One crashed into the big tree by the boy’s side, and a green, poisonous snake that had charged out without the boy’s knowledge fell to the ground once its head exploded.
The other gust of wind crashed into the boy. He shuddered and fell to the ground unconscious.
Only those who had mastered Awakening fine control could make the wind formed from the fingers split into two, and Su Ming’s fine control had already arrived at an incredibly precise state.
"I won’t kill you, but only if you don’t go back and reveal my whereabouts."
Su Ming left the small hill and went back by the same path he’d taken forward.
He had already used more than a day’s time for this chase. Now that it had ended, he did not stop to rest, but instead used the quickest speed to run so that he could get back within the three days, in the time limit his Master had given him.
Su Ming was extremely careful as he traveled through this unfamiliar land that belonged to the Shamans and was filled with all sorts of dangers. He knew that he should have killed the boy, but he… just chose to make him unconscious.
After the time it takes to burn half an incense stick after Su Ming left, the boy’s body suddenly jolted. A mysterious energy had appeared out of nowhere and made the boy wake up beforehand!
The boy opened his eyes and first examined his body. Once he learned that he was uninjured, he saw the poisonous snake that had lost its head by his side, and he was momentarily stunned.
Yet it only lasted for a brief moment before it disappeared quickly. There was no longer any hint of shock on the boy’s young face when he looked at the small hill. All traces of it were replaced by ruthlessness and hatred.
He got up and ran back to where his tribe was at full speed. He did not stop as he ran, and as he did so, he bit his tongue and coughed out a mouthful of blood, then closed his eyes. When he reopened them soon after, that blood of his had turned into a small blood-red bird.
The bird flapped its wings and charged into the distance at shocking speed before disappearing without a trace.
In a place that was not too far away, a village could be found on a spot where the forest was cleared. The mud on the ground was filled with sand so that it was firm. There was also a large plot of land in the distance that was planted with vegetables.
Laughter could be heard from the village. Men belonging to the Shaman Tribe with Tattoo filled faces could be seen occasionally roaming the village with wary expressions on their faces. Yet when an hour later they saw the red bird that suddenly flew out of the forest, their expressions immediately changed.
That small red bird flew into the village and straight away went into one of the houses in the village.
There was an old man sitting within the house. The old man was half naked and only had a beast skin wrapped around his waist. There was a small cauldron before him and it was burning with some herbs. Wisps of smoke seeped out of the cauldron and were sucked into the old man’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as he breathed in, before coming out of his pores, enveloping him in a hazy, distorted aura.
There were two beautiful girls from the Shaman Tribe behind him. They knelt by his side and fanned him gently with fans made of big leaves.
The breeze was very light and could not blow away the wisps of smoke. The entire house was silent.
Yet the moment the small red bird broke in, the old man suddenly opened his eyes, and within one of his eyes, four pupils could be seen!
The small red bird closed in and landed before him the moment the old man opened his eyes. With a bang, it turned into a layer of blood fog, and as the old man inhaled, the fog was taken into the old man’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Once he did so, the light within his eyes immediately flickered as if pictures had just appeared out of nowhere before his eyes, allowing him to see everything clearly.
"A Berserker…"
A cruel and bloodthirsty smile appeared on the old man’s face and he licked his lips. If any Berserker saw his tongue, they would definitely be taken aback, because the length the old man’s tongue had clearly exceeded the normal length of a human’s tongue. It looked like that of a snake, and it seemed as if the old man wanted to, he could lick his own hair.
With that bloodthirsty and cruel smile on his lips, the old man stood up, and once he walked out of his house, he spread out his arms and let out a low growl.
Once he growled, the entire tribe instantly fell silent. All the people turned their gazes towards the old man.
"Can you smell it?!" The old man’s voice was hoarse, ghastly "This is the smell belonging to a Berserker. This smell is the sweet smell of a Berserker’s blood… A Berserker has entered the forest where our Lizard God lives. He has walked on our land and killed a warrior of the Shaman Tribe!
"He has disturbed the Lizard God within the forest!
"Kill him. Take his head and hang it outside our tribe. Dig out his heart and squeeze the blood out. His blood will be drunk by the powerful Shamans of our tribe!
"Kill him, and pull out his teeth so that we can hang them off our necks as trophies!"
A short period of silence fell among the people before the entire tribe erupted in a maddening roar.
That roar came from all the Shamans within the tribe, and ruthless looks could even be seen on some of the children, women, and the elderly.
The old man took a step forward and turned into a long arc as he charged out of his tribe. Around twenty other people followed behind him,charging swiftly into the forest beyond the village.
Once they left the village, they split into two teams. The old man led a few men and flew into the sky. As for the rest, they started searching for clues within the forest with the skills passed down by their ancestors.
Su Ming was running through the forest at an extremely quick speed, not bothering to stop and take breaks. His chest was no longer bleeding, but the pain only became stronger as he continued with his mad dash.
He did consider flying, but that thought was immediately scrapped off. If he flew for a day and a half, then he might run into Shamans. To him, who was currently in the unfamiliar land, this act was one of foolishness.
Compared to the sky, the forest was more suitable for Su Ming to traverse.
Time trickled by as he continued running. When the second night arrived, he sat down cross-legged on a big tree and regulated his breathing.
‘Judging from the distance, I’ll reach my Master’s side by tomorrow night…’
Su Ming touched his chest and a blood red hue appeared in his right eye. It had been a long while since he had suffered such a grievous injury. His trip to the Shaman Tribe this time allowed him to see the mysteriousness surrounding the Shaman Tribe.
This would prove extremely useful to him during the Sky Mist Shaman Hunt a few months later, because the experience he obtained from hunting the Shaman alone in their land was not an experience everyone could have.
As he breathed in the air of the forest that belonged to the Shamans, Su Ming felt as if the oppressive feeling pressing against his heart started to fade away.
‘I didn’t expect… Master to have the Shamans’ sacred beast! I may not know what a sacred beast is, but with just one roar, he made the Spirit Medium crumble and killed one of the Split Dawns, while heavily injuring the other, and all the other Shamans around the area died.
‘This power…’
Su Ming sucked in a deep breath. He just remembered that he had seen a sacred beast like this before!
In his memories, he saw clouds tumble about in the sky like black fog, and it spread out to cover an area that was about thousands of lis. Within that fog was a gigantic mackerel pike.
There was a girl standing on the mackerel pike.
‘Uncle master Bai… could actually fight against a sacred beast?!’
Su Ming was stunned. As he saw and experienced more things, he gained a new understanding towards uncle master Bai’s strength.
Just as Su Ming was pondering over his Master and uncle master Bai and was shocked by the might of the Shaman Tribe’s sacred beasts, his eyes suddenly gained a serious look and the blood-red light in his right eye shone. His entire body tensed up like a strung bow and he leapt out of the big tree he sat on in an instant.
He could clearly sense a dozen Shamans within an area of 3,000 feet around him with his divine senses. Those Shamans were charging towards him with vicious cruelty and with an eager thirst for blood in a manner as if they were trying to surround him.
The first sight that entered his mind at that moment he sensed those Shamans was the boy he had knocked unconscious with the wind he’d summoned from his fingers!