Pursuit of the Truth 424 Shaman City

"Brother Mo, the depth of your cultivation and your keen perception has really impressed me! Wherever we go to next, as long as you give the word, I will definitely follow you!" Once Nan Gong Hen caught up, there was a slight awkward look on his face as he wrapped his fist in his palm towards Su Ming.
The boy with the withered right arm behind him no longer looked at Su Ming with an aloof gaze. There was instead a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"I was just lucky. Brother Nan Gong, if you look closely, you will also be able to discover some clues." Su Ming shook his head and spoke calmly.
"Brother Mo, you don’t have to be humble. I’ll be honest with you, I couldn’t tell that the place was that dangerous…" Nan Gong Hen laughed wryly and bowed once more towards Su Ming.
Su Ming smiled and no longer spoke. He continued charging forward with Nan Gong Hen with the three youths behind them.
With Su Ming’s divine sense and Nan Gong Hen’s wandering souls swimming about in the area, while they might have run into some dangers on the way, they managed to avoid all of them. Even if they had to take certain longer paths, they did not run into any life and death crises.
As time passed by and they got closer to Shaman City, Nan Gong Hen grew to respect Su Ming even more, and he deeply believed that he had made the right choice when he first invited him to travel with him.
Nan Gong Hen was really curious as to how Su Ming managed to deduce the dangers. There were one time during their journey that while he had followed along with Su Ming’s suggestion to change their path, he turned around and saw with his own eyes several long arcs charging through the place they avoided. Without any obvious reason, those people suddenly let out piercing, shrill cries, and their bodies exploded into bits and pieces.
Nan Gong Hen was then struck dumb, and thoroughly convinced by what he saw, he trusted Su Ming’s judgments and decisions wholeheartedly, following his instructions right down to a tee without any hint of hesitation.
Ahu was already practically holding Su Ming in position akin to that of a god in his mind The zealous look in his eyes was clear to everyone watching. As for Lan Lan, the things she went through on the way made her skin crawl, even though she was a bold girl. She felt cold chills crawling down her spine, and her gaze as she looked at Su Ming became very different.
The boy following behind Nan Gong Hen was the same. He could remain aloof to everyone, and he treated Nan Gong Hen in the same aloof manner, but when he looked at Su Ming, that aloof gaze disappeared, and it was no longer replaced with curiosity, but with respect.
Somewhere along the way, Su Ming became the leader of the team. When he suggested changing their course, every single one of them would obey without question. Eventually, he did not even need to speak. He just needed to move, and Nan Gong Hen, along with the others, would immediately follow.
‘White Bull Tribe is really lucky to have been able to find someone like Brother Mo as a guardian for their tribe members who have been sent for the trial…’ Nan Gong Hen would occasionally cast his gaze at Lan Lan and Ahu all along the way and sigh deeply in his heart.
He knew that the others might perhaps have a way to reach Shaman City, but with Nan Gong Hen’s power, if he did not have Su Ming guiding the way, it would be difficult for him to protect the boy behind him, and his own life would be in danger as well.
However, the boy and girl from White Bull Tribe were completely unscathed all along their journey, and all of this was because of Mo Su.
One month later, in the midst of that frightening but safe journey, Su Ming and co arrived at the center of the Shaman Tribe’s territory - Shaman City. Once they were a hundred li away from Shaman City, they were no longer allowed to travel in the sky. Su Ming and Nan Gong Hen descended from midair and landed on the ground.
Shaman City was not very big, but it was built to look incredibly majestic. It was cubic in shape, and there were gigantic walls of one hundred feet surrounding it. The city was entirely crimson, as if it was dyed in blood. The crimson city walls occasionally shone with a red glare, forming a mighty pressure that would make people’s hearts tremble.
There was only one gate to Shaman City, and all people used that gate to enter and exit. From a hundred lis, several unique buildings could be seen shooting off the ground within the city, and they their distinct characteristics stood out.
It was especially so for the stone pillar that shot high into the sky at the center of the city. It gave off an ancient feeling, and at the same time, there was a gigantic head placed at the top of it. That head was one thousand feet in size, and due to some unknown method of preservation, only a small part of it had decayed.
That head’s appearance could still be clearly seen. Its inside was empty, and it was lopped on the stone pillar, turning it into the most eye catching building and road mark within Shaman City!
It was a gigantic head that was filled with drooping branches. It had the appearance of a human, but had the skin of a dried up tree bark. The head was entirely brown and its facial features could be seen clearly. Anyone who saw it at first glance would think it was a human head, but if they looked closely, they would find it was clearly a giant block of wood.
There were numerous branches drooping down like tentacles from that gigantic head. The longest of them all was nearly one thousand feet long, and the breadth of each branch was different, along with all their lengths. They were all supported in the air by the stone pillar. If anyone looked from the distance, they would find that the stone pillar looked like a huge long spear that had lifted the head high in the sky.
"We’re finally in Shaman City… Brother Mo, I cannot express just how grateful I am for all that you’ve done during the trip…" Nan Gong Hen looked at Shaman City and let out a huge sigh of relief. He wrapped his fist in his palm to Su Ming with gratitude radiating off his face.
"Brother Nan Gong, you don’t have to do this. I also wanted to come to Shaman City. We could take care of each other if we traveled together. Besides, you want to enter the treasure gambling event as well. I’ve heard quite a lot about it when I was previously in the land of the Shamans, but I didn’t manage to enter it due to certain reasons in the past. Now that I’m here, I’d like to experience it no matter what. I will need your help in introducing me to the place." Su Ming said with a smile.
After experiencing all the things on the road, Nan Gong Hen had become even more intent on becoming friends with Su Ming. Once he heard Su Ming’s words, he immediately spoke.
"That’s easy, I’ve entered the treasure gambling event a few times before. Since you’re here, brother Mo, you should indeed experience it. Perhaps if you’re lucky, you will be able to find a priceless treasure. But brother Mo, before we go, we should rent a Spirit of Nine Yin…"
Nan Gong Hen fell silent for a moment, then extended his invitation to Su Ming.
"How about this? If you don’t mind, why don’t we stay in the same inn in Shaman City? If that’s the case, we will be able to communicate with each other easier."
Su Ming thought about it for a moment before he nodded with a smile and expressed his gratitude.
Nan Gong Hen let out a boisterous laugh and walked forward briskly towards Shaman City with Su Ming, bringing with them the three youths behind them. Before long, the group arrived right outside the city. There were already quite a number of people waiting to enter at that moment, and there was already a very long queue in line.
Most of the people in the queue were teenagers, and there would be one Medial Shaman standing in between some of the teenagers acting as their protector.
It did not matter whether it were those teenagers or the Medial Shamans, most of them had injuries on their person. There were even some of them who looked pale, as if they were injured terribly.
The queue waiting to get into the city was very long, but the examination right in front was incredibly strict. There were a dozen something Medial Shaman dressed in uniform standing right outside the city gate. Usually, once they finish each of the examinations, they would receive some money before they allowed the people into the city.
There were quite a number of impatient looking people waiting in the long queue to enter the city, but once they looked at the Medial Shamans in uniform, they would force down their irritation.
However, there would occasionally be someone who arrived and did not need to queue up due to their unique identities. They could walk straight to the gates and enter the city after a simple examination. All of these people belonged to big tribes or had close relations to the God of Shamans Temple.
"There are so many people here! We’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow before we can go into the city…"
When Lan Lan saw the long line once she arrived outside the city gate, she sighed. However, she also noticed that most of the teenagers that were like her, waiting in line, looked defeated. Clearly, they had gone through a lot of hardships on their way here. There were even some of them who had grief on their faces, and it was plain as day that their companions had died on the way.
When Lan Lan remembered just how her journey to this place had been more frights than true danger, she could not help but look at Su Ming.
Su Ming swept his gaze past the crowd with a calm look. He did not mind waiting till tomorrow, that matter was not a problem to him.
"We don’t need to wait, we can just go in."
Once they arrived near Shaman City, Nan Gong Hen felt his spirits lift up. When he heard Lan Lan’s words, the idea of letting Su Ming know the vast amounts of connections he had popped up in his head. After all, to people with their current level of cultivation, making friends was not because they could get along well, it was also because they could mutually benefit each other.
Su Ming’s nonchalant attitude during the entire trip was incredibly valuable in Nan Gong Hen’s books, that was why it was necessary for him to befriend Su Ming. However, he felt that he still had yet to show his own value to Su Ming. As he spoke, he brought the group straight to the city.
Su Ming’s lips curled up into a light smile. He could somewhat tell what Nan Gong Hen was thinking. Judging by how confident the other looked, he definitely had a way, and if Su Ming did not have to wait, he would naturally choose not to wait in line until tomorrow.
He followed behind Nan Gong Hen, and Lan Lan, along with the two boys, followed suit. The act of those five people not lining up and going straight to the city gate immediately caught a large amount of attention from the crowd. When they looked over, a large number of the Medial Shamans who were protecting the children immediately appeared shocked when they saw Nan Gong Hen. Some of them even wrapped their fists in their palms from the distance and greeted him with a smile.
"So it’s you, brother Nan Gong? Which tribe are you protecting this time?"
"Brother Nan Gong, it’s been a long while. How are you?"
"Haha, brother Nan Gong, once we get into the city, you and I have to drink till we’re drunk."
With a smile on his face, Nan Gong Hen continued walking forward while wrapping his fist in his palm to return his greetings to these people. He was not at all disoriented because there were too many people greeting him. Everything was done methodically, and it was obvious that he was already used to this.
When Nan Gong Hen arrived right outside the city, the Medial Shamans who were dressed in uniforms and were examining the people smiled. They did not examine Su Ming and the others at all, but simply moved out of the way, and when they did so, Su Ming was shocked by the connections Nan Gong Hen had.
There was always a smile on Nan Gong Hen’s face. Once he greeted the Medial Shamans guarding the place, he brought Su Ming and the others through the city gate.
As they walked through the city gate’s tunnel, Su Ming remarked with a smile, "Brother Nan Gong, the amount of people you know is really impressive, though the reason why the guards from the God of Shamans Temple let us in without an examination isn’t because you were close to them, am I right?"
"Brother Mo, it seems like I’ve made a fool of myself before you. I like making friends, and since my father also has a large number of friends, I’ve grown up in the God of Shamans Temple since I was young… That’s why, please excuse me for making a fool of myself," Nan Gong Hen said with a smile.
Su Ming smiled. He was just about to speak when his smile suddenly froze and his pupils shrank. He saw a woman walking towards him from inside the city through the tunnel.