Pursuit of the Truth

1

Thank You

When Su Ming looked at the thin man’s statue of the God of Shamans at such close proximity, he could see clearly that the giant had black fur and was dressed in coarse hides. A primitive and savage presence radiated off it.

On its messy head was an old man dressed in a black robe, meditating in a sitting position. The black robe covered his face, preventing Su Ming from seeing his appearance, but with just one glance, Su Ming could recognize that the old man was his Master!

However, his Master’s robe was black when he appeared with the statue of the God of Shamans this time. It was different from last time, and this made Su Ming think.

Veins popped up on the thin man’s body. With a roar, the illusion of the giant behind him swiftly lifted its large hand, clenched it into a fist, and hurled it straight towards Su Ming, sending its fist crashing towards him.

Su Ming took a step forward, and the moment the fist was to come into contact with him, he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already on the illusory giant’s head, right beside the black-robed Tian Xie Zi.

Due to the familiar presence, Su Ming forgot where he was at that instant. He looked at the old man, and even it was just an illusion, Su Ming still treasured the sight before him dearly.

“Master…” He bowed towards the old man in black sitting on the giant’s head.

Yet before he could finish bowing, the thin man’s roar reached his ears again. A totem appeared on the man’s forehead, and it was the picture of a mountain.

Once it appeared, a sharp presence erupted from his body. He charged straight towards Su Ming, and from the distance, he looked as if he had turned into the peak of a mountain. With his whole body, he rushed into his opponent.

Su Ming frowned. As he turned around, he lifted his right hand, but at the instant he was about to strike the man, he saw the totem at the center of his brows. Su Ming’s heart trembled furiously, and he pulled back most of the power from the attack he had been about to deliver.

A bang rang out. Su Ming did not move, but the thin man coughed up blood and fell back continuously. There was a hint of puzzlement when he looked at Su Ming. When he retreated swiftly, five wisps of black smoke spread out from his right hand, and once they transformed several times in front of him as if they were forming hand seals, he pointed towards the skeleton he had been crouching on previously.

The skeleton shuddered. Dim flames rose in the broken skull, and as the body shuddered, the skeleton lifted its head. At the same time, the dim flames spread out through the entire body, connecting with each other. Soon, the skeletal beast stood erect in the galaxy.

It was a beast that had possessed wings when it was alive. Once it stood up, skeletal wings spread out on both sides of its body. The dead creature rushed forward, and with an incredible speed, it instantly appeared under the thin man’s body. When it had the man on its back, it left into the distance, deep into Divine Essence Star Ocean.

Su Ming stood on the giant with a dazed expression. In his mind, the totem at the center of the thin man’s brows resurfaced. That mountain was so incredibly familiar to him. It was… the ninth summit!

Su Ming could not contain the excitement in his heart. If he had still felt slightly skeptical when he saw his Master, then when he saw the ninth summit, he became completely certain. His Master… had definitely come here, and had been here for a very long time, or else it would have been impossible for the ways of a tribe to have been changed!

And there was even a high possibility… that Master was still in Divine Essence Star Ocean!

When Su Ming thought of this, a glint appeared in his eyes, and he swiftly went forward. The bald crane and Abyss Dragon had run off to search for something on the bones while Su Ming had been fighting against the thin man. When they saw him leaving into the distance, they quickly went after him.

Su Ming had the Duke of Crimson Flame perform a shift for him at that moment. He disappeared, and when he reappeared, he was far from where he had previously been and could see the thin man glaring at him intensely from the skeleton not too far away.

“If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have let you run so far. I have three questions, if you answer me, I will let you go,” Su Ming said calmly.

Uncertainty appeared on the thin man’s face. He opened his mouth, about to speak, but then his expression suddenly changed drastically. A vortex appeared in the space behind him, and like a gaping mouth, it swallowed the skeletal beast along with the man.

This happened too suddenly. A focused glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, but he soon regained his composure. He did not make any move to head forward, but instead sat down cross-legged in the galaxy with a relaxed expression on his face.

Days went by. Three, five, seven… until half a month had gone past.

Su Ming continued sitting there, and there was not the slightest hint of impatience on his face. During the past half a month, everything was quiet around him, and Su Ming did not see a single ferocious beast or anyone else living in Divine Essence Star Ocean passing by.

When three more days went by, at the spot in front of Su Ming where the thin man and the skeletal beast had been devoured half a month ago, a flash of red suddenly appeared, and it instantly charged into the distance.

That flash of red was naturally the thin man. At that moment, his body was surrounded by blood fog, and his expression was incredibly dark. There was indignation on his face. There was also a faint black line there as well.

Su Ming smiled faintly and stood up. With a step forward, he continued chasing after the man.

The other had outstanding intelligence. It did not matter whether it was his act of taking the initiative to attack, keeping the skeletal beast as a reserve, or putting up the act of being devoured half a month ago—they all showed how cunning he was.

However… all of these things were akin to a child fooling around in Su Ming’s eyes. With just a glance, he could tell what was going on. This was Divine Essence Star Ocean and the thin man’s homeland. While he might not know all the things that lurked around here, he would definitely know most of them.

Besides, Su Ming had not manipulated the direction in which the other fled. The thin man had chosen it himself, and if he had thought to keep the skeletal beast around to aid in his escape, then he had certainly had enough time to choose his path, which was why him being devoured and disappearing was most likely a fraud!

Besides, while the fear on the person’s face looked real, Su Ming could still find hints that suggested it was fake based on his vast experience. When he thought about it carefully, he could guess the truth.

That was why Su Ming was not in a hurry. He was certain that the man would not hide for too long. After all…

With the faint smile lingering on his lips, Su Ming said calmly, “If you don’t cure yourself of that poison in your body, your injuries will only get worse.”

Su Ming’s voice fell into the fleeing man’s ears, causing his expression to change, but he gritted his teeth and did not turn his head back. As he coughed up blood to boost his speed, he fled even faster.

Su Ming frowned. With a move, he shifted and appeared several hundreds of feet behind the man. But just as he was about to shift again, his pupils shrank, for a powerful sense of danger filled his heart. That sense of danger came from in front of him.

When he looked over, the space over there was calm; there was nothing strange about it. There was not a single piece of stone or dust in the area, but the powerful sense of danger told Su Ming that there was a murderous aura that could threaten him hidden in that tranquil space.

Right then, the sound akin to an old man mumbling echoed in the galaxy. At the instant it resounded, the thin man’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. His expression turned pale, and without any hesitation, he started retreating, but suddenly, an endless amount of ripples appeared out of nowhere next to him.

These ripples covered an area of about several hundreds of thousands of feet. As the ripples spread out, the outline of a creature resembling a gigantic fish formed in the galaxy.

There were nine sharp needles on the fish’s back, but its true form could not be seen. They could only see its general outline from the ripples. If someone looked at it from close up, they would not be able to see the outline clearly, but if they looked from the distance, they would be able to see the creature incredibly clearly because, since there were no ripples in the other areas.

This was a gigantic ferocious beast hidden in space.

At that moment, the thin man was right at the beast’s mouth. As the ripples spread out, Su Ming saw the ferocious beast open its mouth. The scene from half a month ago repeated itself before Su Ming’s eyes with an astonishing similarity.

The thin man’s eyes turned bloodshot, and he retreated madly, but his body slowed down, as if there was a power that had gathered on him and was interfering with his movements, making them much slower than before.

Su Ming took a step forward without hesitation. He shifted, and at the instant the ferocious beast was about to devour the man, he appeared right next to him.

He seized the thin man’s shoulder, and with a grim expression, he retreated swiftly, but right at the instant he moved back, he noticed that his body seemed to have rotted, as if there were innumerable threads that could not be seen surrounding him, causing his speed to slow down.

The danger was right before his eyes. The ferocious beast’s mouth was about to snap shut and devour him. At that moment, glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He lifted his left hand and slapped the center of his mouth, and when his hand left the spot between his brows, a ray of white light flew out.

That white light was a white jade that was the size of a palm. Once it flew out, it started expanding right in front of Su Ming.

“Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here!” Su Ming shouted out.

Countless runic symbols appeared on his body as bumps, the power of his Divine Essence gathered on each one of them. The runic symbols then flew out and fused into the white jade, and the speed of its growth became exponentially faster.

“Malicious Spirit Weighing an Elephant!”

A white elephant appeared in the galaxy, and a shrill trumpet rang out as well. A scale manifested in space, and a huge malicious spirit lifted it up. On one side of the scale was an elephant, and on the other was the ferocious beast hidden in space. The spirit started weighing them.

“It weighs… three maces and seven taels [1]!”

A buzzing came from the malicious spirit’s mouth, and a furious roar shot from the ferocious beast whose body was hidden in space. The creature shrank swiftly, and the force from its destruction erupted forth.

With a bang, the galaxy trembled. A powerful impact spread in all directions, and Su Ming was pushed back continuously. With one hand, he grabbed onto the thin man, and with the other, he pointed at the treasure that was Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here.

Immediately, the malicious spirit disappeared and the elephant vanished, turning back into a white jade the size of a palm before charging back to Su Ming. Once he caught it, sweat broke out at the center of his brows.

Su Ming immediately fled into the distance with the thin man. Behind them, ripples continued spreading out. The ferocious beast hidden in space had not died, and was now letting out roars filled with anger and pain.

The thin man’s face was pale, but there was a clear black line that had reached the top of his skull. He cast Su Ming a complicated gaze and said in a low voice. “Thank you…”

Translator’s Note:

1. Maces and taels: Maces and taels are units of measurement shared between eastern countries, though the unit was not standardized until recently. For mace, it’s easier, the weight for each mace is approximately around 3.76 to 3.78 grams. For tael though, it has been changed in each country and each dynasty so many times and so drastically that we will just go for the modern version and say it’s 50 grams, ‘kay?

Maces and taels are usually used to weigh money. I say money because in Ancient China, these units of measurements were usually used to measure silver, the currency used by the public.

So if it’s three maces and seven taels, it’s probably 361.31 grams.

Why would that creature weigh so light, though? Because it’s like a shrinking thing. If you read the chapter again, you will find that the creature shrank before it was destroyed (kind of). So what you saw was the creature being forced to weigh the same as the elephant, and then it got injured because it had its whole mass of who knows how many tons condensed to, well… 361.31 grams.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.