Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-123

As white mist surrounded him, Su Ming surveyed the area of the cave, paying special attention to a few special places. He had placed some thin beast furs over those places before he left. Those furs were very light, so light they could be lifted with just the slightest wind, allowing Su Ming to somewhat guess the strength of the wind with how far the fur was blown away.

He did the same thing at the entrance of the cave. Once he made his observations, he became certain that no one had come into his cave while he was away.

‘Thank goodness this method exists, or else it’d be quite troublesome.’

Su Ming ruffled his hair. As heat spread out from within his body due to his Qi, his hair slowly became dry. He brought out a small torn bag from his bosom and opened it, taking out the herbs and ingredients he had bought in Han Mountain City.

Only when he had checked them and was certain that the numbers did not dwindle did he feel at ease. There was a broken area in the dimension of the bag. That was why even though Su Ming had been using it often for the past two years, he would still feel worried.

‘I should prioritize creating Spirit Plunder. Once I create this pill, it’ll be of great help to me. I can use this as my finishing move when I can’t summon the Wings of the Moon.

‘But the demands to create this pill are simply too high… the herbs are not the problem, I found some at the third layer in Han Mountain City and now only have three left to get.

‘Still, I only have one bone of a beast that has the power equivalent to a Berserker of the Transcendence Realm.’

Su Ming took the black piece of bone from among the ingredients on the ground. The chilling presence from this bone was very strong; it was freezing cold even if he just held it in his hand.

‘Though it’s stated that I need the bones of wild beasts with power equivalent to a Berserker of the Transcendence Realm, no time requirement was given. I don’t necessarily have to kill the wild beast and get the bone myself. If that’s the case, then I should be able to buy them, even though there might not be a lot of these bones lying around.

‘Besides these, I also need to look for a person near death. There might not have been any requirements set for the person’s power, but since the ingredients for this pill are already so hard to find, then it’s clear that the stronger the person is, the better the quality of the Spirit Plunder produced would be once the herbs are planted… I wonder how strong will Spirit Plunder be if I find a Berserker at the Transcendence Realm who is near death…’

Su Ming’s eyes twinkled, but very soon, he sighed. He knew that he was indulging in wild fantasies. Such a thing was impossible.

‘I can’t use regular fire to create this pill either, I need the miasma of corpses to refine the herbs. I can already think of a source to obtain the miasma of corpses. Puqiang Tribe trains using the aura of death, so they must have an incredible amount of miasma of corpses stored in their tribe to assist their training.’

Su Ming mulled over it for a little while longer before he set the matter aside. After all, there were still a lot of materials that he had not gather to create Spirit Plunder. This was a matter that required careful thought over a long period of time.

‘My power has recovered. I should use Mountain Spirit to increase my power now.’

Su Ming took a deep breath. It might still be raining outside, but there was a wave of heat spreading within the cave. The source of the heat came from Su Ming’s right hand as the flames in his hand gradually burned herbs inside.

It was a dull process of creating pills and swallowing them one after another. Once the Mountain Spirits dissolved into his Qi, Su Ming circulated it around his entire body, causing his blood veins to increase steadily.

Once again, Su Ming seldom went out of the cave in the rainforest. He would spend entire days within, as if he had went into isolation. Half a month went by in the blink of an eye.

During this half a month, Su Ming had never left the cave; he had enough herbs to create Mountain Spirit. After this period of time, the blood veins in his body had increased from 243 to 249.

His training speed was moderate, but at the very least it was steady. Every single time an additional blood vein appeared, Su Ming would pause in his training. He would enter fine control with his mind and made sure his control over that new blood vein was complete before he continued with his training.

That was why even though the number of blood veins did not increase exponentially, his power still increased as days went by.

His periods of silence also increased. If anyone from Dark Mountain Tribe were to see him right now, they would be taken aback, because they would not be able to recognize him at first glance. His appearance was not the only thing that had changed; his presence itself had become vastly different from how he was before.

This was a metamorphosis, a nourishing growth.

There was a thin scar on his face parallel to his eyes, about two fingers away from his eyes. He could have healed that scar, but Su Ming did not want to.

He always touched the scar on his face and silently looked into the darkness of the dark cave.

On the day half a month later, Su Ming swallowed a Mountain Spirit and sat in the cave, circulating his Qi. As the pill dissolved, and he absorbed it into his Qi, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him from outside.

"Senior… Senior…"

Su Ming did not take action immediately. He waited until several hours had passed by. When the sky darkened, the moon shone in the sky, and the Mountain Spirit he had taken was completely absorbed into his body did he open his eyes languidly. His eyes were placid as he stood up and put on the beast skin shirt that covered his entire body before walking out of the cave at a leisurely pace.

Rain continued falling from the sky, albeit in a lighter manner.

The deeper parts of the rainforest were not too far away from where Fang Mu was calling out to Su Ming. The drizzling rain caused the area around them to be moist.

Su Ming stood on the branch of a big tree and surveyed his surroundings. This was the place he had chosen for them to meet in this time. Being a careful person, besides the first time he had went forth to meet Fang Mu, Su Ming always chose a safe place for Fang Mu to come forth and meet him for their subsequent meetings.

By doing so, he could guarantee himself some level of protection and avoid traps that may or may not exist.

He averted his gaze and swung his right hand before him. Immediately, the formless souls of the Wings of the Moon spread out and surrounded the area, causing the moonlight in the sky to also seem to become brighter.

"Fang Mu, come here!"

Once he was done, Su Ming spoke slowly. His voice was not loud, but it held a penetrating force that allowed his voice to echo in the surroundings.

When his voice traveled out, Su Ming stood where he was in silence, hidden away in the darkness as he remained still.

It did not take long before rustling sounds came closer. A person was quickly running towards Su Ming from the patch of rainforest at his side.

It was Fang Mu. He was already used to Su Ming’s mysteriousness and unusual habits. Locating him through the direction of his voice was not difficult for him. When he appeared, he panted harshly and looked at Su Ming. In his eyes, the stranger looked as if he blended together with the darkness; Fang Mu could only see the faint outlines of his countenance.

"Greetings, Senior Mo."

Fang Mu quickly wrapped one fist in the other hand and bowed towards Su Ming. Once he did so, he placed the big bag on his back down on the ground and opened it, revealing a large amount of Cloud Gauze Grass inside.

Su Ming swept his gaze across the bag and pressed his right hand on the tree beside him. The tree immediately shuddered, and part of the tree bark fell from the trunk. As Su Ming waved his fingers above it, a picture of three herbs appeared on the tree bark.

"I will heal you three times if you can find any one of these three herbs. If you can find all of them and give me something else of equivalent value, I might be able to heal your injuries completely!" Su Ming said languidly.

Fang Mu jolted. His face revealed nothing unusual, but anxiety flooded his heart. That anxiety did not stem from fear, but from excitement. If this was his first time meeting Su Ming and Su Ming had told him these words, he would have definitely not believe him. However, by now, Su Ming’s credibility had increased by a large margin in Fang Mu’s heart.

Fang Mu fell momentarily silent before he smiled, saying with pretended calm, "Senior, please don’t joke with me. I understand this injury of mine. This is due to a Berserker Art. Even my father and the Elder cannot get rid of it completely. They can only suppress its effects. Wanting to heal these injuries completely is far too difficult, unless you can find the person who injured me all those years ago and kill him."

"Come forward."

Su Ming remained quiet for a while before speaking coolly.

Fang Mu’s heart trembled once again. He walked forward without any hint of hesitation. The moment he got close to Su Ming, Su Ming immediately lifted his right hand and grabbed Fang Mu’s shoulder. A cold sensation seeped into Fang Mu’s body from the palm.

There was a chilling presence in that cold. It made Fang Mu shiver, but the moment the chill disappeared, it turned into a wave of heat that swam in his body as if it possessed a will of its own.

Before Fang Mu could feel that presence in detail, Su Ming had already lifted his hand. Fang Mu knew that Su Ming had an odd quirk - he disliked other people getting close to him, so he hastily took a few steps back and looked at Su Ming while anxiety gripped his heart.

"I don’t have complete confidence, the likeliness is only about seven out of ten," Su Ming said in a low voice.

"Seven…"

Fang Mu took in a sharp breath and resolution appeared on his face. He nodded his head and looked at the three herbs on the tree bark, engraving their images into his head.

"Also, you have to find two beast bones. They must be from wild beasts whose strength are equivalent to the level of Transcendence," Su Ming continued speaking languidly.

Fang Mu did not ask why Su Ming would need those bones. He only nodded his head and remembered them as well.

When he saw Su Ming finish speaking and looking as if he was about to end their meeting, a respectful look appeared on his face, and he placed his fist in his palm towards Su Ming.

"Senior, before I came here, my father told me to bring this to you. Please accept it."

While speaking, Fang Mu brought out a black bell from his bosom and crushed it before Su Ming. Mist wafted out from the crushed bell and disappeared after a moment, revealing a white wooden box.

The wooden box looked plain, and Fang Mu held the box out with both hands.

Fang Mu was very curious about the contents of the wooden box. When he was about to enter the forest this time, his father suddenly appeared and gave it to him. He was escorted into the forest by his tribe members once Fang Mu was told to hand the item to Su Ming in the rainforest.

"Open it."

Su Ming’s eyes landed on the wooden box. He was amazed by what had happened after the bell was crushed, but he did not show it.

Once Fang Mu heard his words, he immediately opened the wooden box. He was momentarily taken aback once he cast a glance inside the box. There was a bone blade in the wooden box. The bone blade exuded a chilling presence, and there was a faint red line on it. It was the blade Su Ming had used to barter in Han Mountain City.

Su Ming’s face remained passive when he saw the blade. He grabbed at thin air with his right hand, and the bone blade flew up into his hand.

"Thank your father for me."

Su Ming took hold of the bone blade that was returned to him and grabbed the bag of Cloud Gauze Grass. With one step back, he disappeared into the darkness.

Fang Mu found himself baffled. He was familiar with that blade, but he could not understand how that blade, which was given to Su Ming as a gift by his own self, would appear in his father’s hands, and why he would ask Fang Mu to deliver it to Su Ming once again.