Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-244

The insect’s unyielding spirit, cruelty, loyalty, and willingness to die made Su Ming understand that he could not turn that insect into his own pet unless he wasted a long amount of time, perhaps years or even longer. He would not be able to use Han Mountain Bell in that time, only keeping the creature trapped within it to break down its divine sense until he could eventually turn it into his own pet.

However, Su Ming did not have the time for this, neither could he waste so much effort for it.

Yet if he killed it just like that, Su Ming found it to be quite a waste. The insect’s speed and piercing power left a deep impression on him. If he could make it his own, then without a doubt, it would become an incredibly powerful weapon in his hands.

Since he found it a waste and did not have time to slowly bring it to his side, there was only one last method for Su Ming to use. He would have to forcefully leave his Brand on its mind. He might end up destroying the insect’s intelligence, but once it had his Brand, it could be used immediately.

Even if there was a possibility of the insect betraying him, it was still far better than killing it or not being able to use it.

However, Su Ming had only left a Brand on someone else’s mind once, and that was on He Feng. Besides, He Feng was the one who had taught him how to use this Art. In theory, he could use the Brand on the insect.

Nonetheless, in truth, Su Ming did not have much confidence in this. However, he had been practicing this Branding Art for quite some time. From what he understood, if the other party did not resist, then it would be easy for him to leave the Brand, but if the other party started resisting, then the chances of failure would increase exponentially. If he wanted to search for the chances to increase his success whilst the other party was resisting, then he would have to find its weakness, just like how he would if he was fighting against it!

Once he found its weakness, then Su Ming could use his Branding Art and enter its mind as it was weakened and leave his Brand deep within it.

It would be easier to find this weakness if the other party was a human, but with this strange insect that was about the size a finger’s segment, things would not be so easy.

Fortunately, Su Ming had noticed the insect’s loyalty to Si Ma Xin. That was why he said what he said—he wanted to create a weakness in the insect.

Once this weakness appeared, then Su Ming would immediately break in with his divine sense. If he was successful, then he could turn the insect into his own. If he failed, then even if he would feel that it was a waste, he would not show mercy.

During the very instant Su Ming’s divine sense spread out, he gathered it on Han Mountain Bell and entered it before turning into a typhoon within that descended upon the strange, weakened insect.

Once Su Ming completely surrounded it within his divine sense, he immediately sensed the insect’s divine sense resisting and struggling viciously. That was a spirit that screamed that it would rather die than be controlled, and it turned into an impact that made Su Ming’s divine sense falter for a moment.

A thought struck Su Ming’s mind. As the insect struggled, he gained a new understanding of divine senses and this Art.

‘By the looks of it, if my divine sense is strong enough, then I won’t even need to find any weaknesses. I can just forcefully leave my Brand behind…’

Under his divine sense, a crack opened up quietly in Han Mountain Bell. The moment the crack appeared, a bit of the insect’s presence instantly darted out through the crack.

‘Si Ma Xin, I’m waiting for you to create this weakness for me…’

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes and he gathered his divine sense around the struggling insect.

At that moment, on the first summit of the Great Frozen Plains of Freezing Sky Clan was an incredibly extravagant cave abode that was located near the top of the mountain. From the outside, that cave abode looked like a towering hall, and Si Ma Xin was sitting cross-legged within with a sullen face as he meditated with his eyes closed.

He was forbidden to leave, and for the next few months, he could not escape the mountain. At that moment, he was remembering the battle with Su Ming in his head. That battle made him truly understand his opponent’s power. To him, Su Ming was like a thorn stuck in his throat, and it was unbearable for him.

Ever since Si Ma Xin was born, everything had been easy for him. It had continued even after he entered Freezing Sky Clan. He was regarded highly by the older generation of the school and worshipped by those of the same generation. Besides, he was good at forming good relationships with other people. It could be said that he had an innumerable amount of friends within Freezing Sky Clan.

Many of the girls and women among them had been planted with the Berserker Seed of Love. The older generation of the school knew about this, but did not stop him. Their actions relieved him. When he was out traveling to practice the Great Art of Heartless Berserker Seed, those who caught his eye would find it hard to escape from his grasp.

In truth, his next target was Bai Su. That girl had a huge background that many of the disciples did not know. They only knew that she was a common disciple in the seventh summit, but Si Ma Xin once accidentally learned that her father was one of the people in the seventh layer within the nine layers of Heaven Gate.

Si Ma Xin did not know the details. After all, Heaven Gate was also a sacred and mysterious place to him. That place was the true core and the gathering place of the most powerful forces within Freezing Sky Clan.

The disciples in Heaven Gate rarely came down and appeared before the disciples of the summits in the Great Frozen Plains. One of them was in the sky, and the other on earth. They lived separately as if they were in two completely different worlds.

Becoming a disciple of Heaven Gate was practically the dream of every single person staying in the summits of the Great Frozen Plains.

Yet only the Lords of the summits could enter Heaven Gate. If they were not these people, the disciples would need to go through Freezing Sky Cave and retrieve 1,000 Shaman heads before they could enter.

‘I must enter Heaven Gate!’

Si Ma Xin clenched his fists. He did not harbor any sort of feelings for Bai Su, but as he got in touch with her, he found that Bai Su loved him.

Of course, this sort of love was fostered slowly using various methods while he was traveling outside. His goal was not to plant the Berserker Seed of Love within her. After all, Si Ma Xin was still wary of Bai Su’s father in Heaven Gate.

Yet this did not prevent him from approaching her, even if he had no thought of planting the Berserker Seed of Love within her. He wanted to use her to help him obtain the right to enter Freezing Sky Cave. After all, Freezing Sky Cave could only be opened with 1,000 Shaman heads, and he was far from having enough heads.

After all, unless the Shamans invaded their land in a large force, he would need to venture out deep into the world outside Sky Mist Barrier to obtain 1,000 Shaman heads. This was a little difficult for him.

His plan was to enter Freezing Sky Cave first and increase his power in there. Once he was done, he would go out and retrieve the Shaman heads. He had more confidence with this plan.

This method, which was akin to cheating, was not allowed within Freezing Sky Clan. The others would not be able to understand why this was not allowed, but they could not do anything about it.

But Si Ma Xin did not want to go along with the rules. That was why he set his sights on Bai Su. As long as there was someone within Heaven Gate who opened Freezing Sky Cave for a disciple of the summits in the Great Frozen Plains, then he would be able to achieve his dreams.

Besides, he had the confidence of succeeding with his Great Art of Heartless Berserker Seed, even if it was at the cost of sacrificing all the people. Once he succeeded, then his power would increase exponentially. When that time came, he would not have to worry about not being able to find Berserker Children. It might require a lot of time, but he believed that it was worth it!

That was right until he met Su Ming! More accurately speaking, it was right until he fought against Su Ming. An avaricious thought appeared in his mind. He wanted to plant a Berserker Seed in Su Ming’s body and turn him into his Berserker Son.

By doing so, his chances of success in clearing Freezing Sky Cave would not only increase by several fold, the power he would gain would also increase, and it would also be largely different from what he would gain with his previous plans.

There were a lot of benefits in this. There was even a high possibility that he would not need all of his Berserker Children to die. These benefits made Si Ma Xin’s heart pound in excitement.

‘Bai Su already promised me that she would speak to her father about this and that she would do everything that she can to make her father agree… She even told me that her father has never refused any of her requests before. This matter is practically in the bag, I just don’t know how long it’ll take… But now, I won’t have to hurry either…

‘Right now, the most important thing for me is to make Su Ming into my Berserker Son!’

Si Ma Xin closed his eyes and a myriad of thoughts swam through his head.

‘It’s a pity that I can’t leave the mountain. Even when the time is up and I can move about freely, it’ll be difficult for me to get in touch with Su Ming… Ha… If I knew this was the case, I should have given up on Han Mountain Bell and made friends with him, then planted the Berserker Seed within him!’

Si Ma Xin frowned with his eyes closed. As he was immersed in his thoughts, a thought suddenly struck his head.

‘Bai Su!’ Si Ma Xin opened his eyes and a sparkle appeared within them. ‘When Su Ming saw Bai Su, there was clearly something different about him, and he didn’t seem like he was faking it…’

A glint appeared within Si Ma Xin’s eyes and his lips gradually curled up in a smile.

"Use love as a hook, turn it into the Berserker Seed, and when it blooms, the love felt will turn into nothingness. During that instant, the Seed will absorb all the life from that person! If I can create the method of using love to train the Heartless Art, then I can make changes to it. I’ll use Bai Su as the hook and plant a Berserker Seed in Su Ming!" Si Ma Xin mumbled, and a heartless form of maliciousness was clear in his smile.

"Su Ming, once I’ve set my eyes on you, you… won’t be able to run!"

A glint appeared in Si Ma Xin’s eyes, yet at that moment, his expression suddenly changed and he lifted his head swiftly. He also rushed out of his cave abode and looked at the ninth summit, which was located far in the distance!

"My snake!"

Si Ma Xin’s pupils shrank and his expression instantly grew dark.

He could sense his treasured snake’s presence. Ever since Su Ming captured his snake, its presence had vanished. With its sudden appearance now, it jerked at the faint connection tying Si Ma Xin’s heart with it.

In truth, he had only managed to make the snake acknowledge him as its master because he accidentally obtained a blood picture sometime ago. That picture had existed for a long time, and he only discovered the use of the picture after a long amount of time spent on researching through many ancient scrolls. Its use was to allow him to form a connection with certain strange creatures and control them by making them acknowledge him as their master.

That blood picture belonged to the Shamans living outside Sky Mist Barrier. However, the picture Si Ma Xin obtained was already torn, and he could not use it for stronger creatures. That was why when he met the snake and witnessed its might along with realizing that the snake was still a baby, he used the blood picture without any hesitation.

Right now, he could clearly feel the connection formed by the blood picture being attacked. Although there was little sign of it being whittled down, after a moment, when the snake’s presence started fading away slowly, Si Ma Xin grew hesitant.