Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-25

Su Ming was nervous. The Qi within the man standing before him felt stronger than Lei Chen’s. He was probably around the fifth or sixth level of the Blood Solidification Realm.

Su Ming could not hope to win against such a person. If the man decided to attack him, Su Ming would have had a hard time dodging it. However, he needed a large number Cloud Gauze Grass, which would require a lot of stone coins.

Due to this, he had to take a risk. Besides, after he killed Yu Chi in the forest, he felt that his mindset had changed somewhat. The knowledge he obtained by reading the beast skin scrolls he got from the elder were now deeply ingrained in his mind.

Somewhere in his mind, he thought that if he could not overpower the other party with his Qi, he could at least make his opponent hesitate. Then, his opponent would not act rashly.

That was why he chose to disguise himself before going into the tent at first. Secondly, he brought the wild beast with him. All of it was to create shock at the right time.

It seemed that his actions produced pretty good results but Su Ming was still nervous. He did not dare let his guard down.

In truth, Su Ming was not the only nervous one in the tent. The man was possibly even more nervous than Su Ming. He would occasionally glance at the spot where the creature died. When he saw the pile of dust, his heart would race; not out of excitement, but out of fear.

In the man’s sight, the person before him, covered entirely in hides gave off an enigmatic air. It put a lot of pressure on the man especially with the shocking scene that happened just moments ago. The anxiety and nervousness he felt towards Su Ming was far stronger than what Su Ming felt towards him.

‘This man is very experienced. He speaks calmly but he is a ruthless man. He must be a Fallen Berserker who went into hiding in one of the mountains… but from his mannerisms, he seems to be someone reasonable… But I don’t think this weird medicine will be very strong. ‘

As the man was drowning in his own fears, there were footsteps outside the tent. Then, the flaps of the tent were lifted and a man walked in.

The man’s face was blank. When he walked into the tent, he did not say a word. He stood by the side waiting for the one-eyed man’s orders.

When the other man came in, Su Ming only cast him a glance. The presence of his Qi was not thick. He was the same as Su Ming. They were both practitioners at the second level of the Blood Solidification Realm.

"Eat this and this as well!" The one-eyed man did not hesitate and handed the pill along with an herb to the other man who just came in.

The other man took the pill and the herb, his face still blank and swallowed it after a few bites. Then he sat down with his legs-crossed, circulating the Qi in his body. Very soon, his whole demeanor changed as if he was surprised. He opened his eyes before long and looked at the one-eyed man with uncertainty.

"There aren’t really any major effects… I just felt the effects of the Prime Spirit Grass increase… maybe about one fold."

When the one-eyed man heard his words, he immediately narrowed his eyes as his heart hammered against his chest. He knew what the increase of effects for any herbal medicine by one fold would bring. If it was just a normal herb, the effects would not be obvious. However, if it was the sort of herb taken by Berserkers above the eighth level of the Blood Solidification Realm, the value of the pill would practically be immeasurable.

‘For a normal herb worth 10 stone coins, this item would only be worth one stone coin. But if it were an herb that was worth 100 or 1,000 stone coins, the increased effect…’

The one-eyed man grew more excited as he thought of the possibilities but he could not be sure that the item would have the same effect for higher-leveled herbs.

‘It’s a pity I don’t have a lot of stone coins on my person…’

He quelled his excitement and sent the other man away. Then he stood respectfully before Su Ming and forced a smile.

"Sir, this medicine of yours is really mysterious. I’ll give you 30 stone coins in exchange for one, how does that sound?" The one-eyed man did not dare offend Su Ming. To him, Su Ming was a Fallen Berserker. If he could produce such a powerful medicine, he was definitely not a common Berserker Practitioner.

"Thirty coins?" The price offered made Su Ming’s heart pound in excitement but he spoke with a colder voice instead.

"This… Sir, 30 coins is my final offer. I can’t even be sure whether this medicine works the same for higher-leveled herbs." The one-eyed man immediately explained himself but before he could finish, Su Ming cut him off.

"If you consume this medicine, no matter what herb you take, the effects will increase by one-fold. If I didn’t want to buy a Berserker Vessel, I wouldn’t even sell this."

The one-eyed man struggled internally for a while before he gritted his teeth and nodded at Su Ming.

"How many do you have?"

"Besides the one you just ate, there’s still one more!" As Su Ming spoke, he produced a small bottle from his chest. There was only one Scattering Dust pill in the bottle.

When the man heard this, he felt his heart twisting in pain at the loss of the first pill. As he hesitated, he saw Su Ming standing up and putting away the bottle. Then Su Ming lifted his hand which turned the small creature into red mist earlier. He was also glaring at him from behind the layers of hides that covered his face. The man immediately remembered that he wasted a pill as an experiment and quickly spoke up.

"Sir, sir! This… 50 coins! This is really all I can give you!"

Su Ming did not want to linger around for too long so, he spoke flatly, "Fine. Along with the pill you used just now, that’ll be 100 stone coins!"

The one-eyed man only hesitated for a short while before producing a beast skin pouch from his chest. He handed it to Su Ming respectfully. There were two white stone coins inside.

The value of the stone coins were decided by their color. The gray ones were worth one each and one black coin was equivalent to 10 gray coins. As for the white coin, it was equivalent to 50 gray coins. If it was a purple coin, it was worth 100 gray coins.

"Give me black coins!" Su Ming only glanced at the two coins before he spoke all of a sudden.

The one-eyed man was taken aback but only for a moment. He did not ask any questions instead, he produced 10 black stone coins and gave them to Su Ming.

After placing the stone coins into his pouch, Su Ming threw the little bottle to the man. He picked up the basket on the ground and left the tent without another glance at the man. Once he left the tent, Su Ming did not act immediately. He chose to walk around the square. The moon and stars were shining brightly in the sky and there were torches lit everywhere. Yet, there were still a lot of people at the square. However, most of the people who were shopping at that moment were all dressed up like Su Ming.

He wandered around the square until he was sure no one was watching him. Then he went to the places selling Cloud Gauze Grass that he singled out in the morning. He bought more than 60 of them. After that, he went to a more secluded place to change his attire. He left quickly and went to the place he promised to meet up with Lei Chen. Lei Chen was already at their meeting place, yawning up at the sky. Su Ming did not speak but walked past Lei Chen.

Lei Chen was surprised but followed suit. Both of them disappeared into the forest soon and ran once they were in there. Su Ming even changed his path multiple times. He did not stop to rest until the sky started to darken the next day. Even then, his face was pale due to fear.

Lei Chen was panting hard. He did not understand it but he chose not to ask. He especially decided to keep his silence when Su Ming threw five stone coins in his direction. Once he caught them, he laughed excitedly.

They took a short break before Su Ming stood up once more. He ran with Lei Chen towards the direction of their tribe. He did not stop this time but ran at full speed. In fact, his speed seemed to increase with each step he took. His Qi might not have been as powerful as Lei Chen’s, but in terms of speed, even Lei Chen struggled to keep up.

‘I had a pretty good haul this time… I originally thought that if I could not sell the pills, I would experiment with five pieces of Cloud Gauze Grass first. I didn’t expect things to go so smoothly.‘

As Su Ming ran, he appeared to be deep in thought.

‘The one-eyed man should be scared of me but I still can’t let my guard down. I have to return to the tribe as soon as possible.’

Su Ming was careful all the way back to the tribe. They were far away from the square by then but they would still change their paths occasionally. Su Ming even used his experiences in the forest to erase their tracks.

The sun lit up the sky but there was still some time before noon. Su Ming and Lei Chen caught sight of their tribe some distance away. When he saw the tribe, Su Ming finally relaxed. There was even a smile on his face.

"We’re finally back. Su Ming, you still haven’t told me how you knew Bai Ling was a member of Dark Dragon Tribe." Lei Chen was gasping as he tried to catch his breath. As Su Ming slowed down, he grabbed the chance to ask him the one question that had been on his mind.

"Bai Ling?" The image of the tall and beautiful girl surfaced in Su Ming’s head. He thought especially of the girl wrinkling her nose and looking at them with her bright eyes. She seemed feral but it was a wild sort of beauty.

"I didn’t know that she was from Dark Dragon Tribe." Su Ming smiled. The girl named Bai Ling was the prettiest girl he had ever seen since he was young.

"No way. If you didn’t know, how did you manage to get it right in one go?" Lei Chen had been thinking about it for a long time but he still could not get an answer. Now that Su Ming did not intend to tell him the answer, he became desperate.

Su Ming took one look at Lei Chen and laughed out loud.

"Lei Chen, you like her?"

"Nonsense!" Lei Chen shook his head fervently, then began mumbling under his breath.

"She’s too thin for my liking. I like those who are a bit on the plump side…" Lei Chen scratched his head. He had always liked women who were a little more built since he was young. Even now, it was still the same.

Su Ming continued laughing and joking with Lei Chen as he ran back towards the tribe. The sounds of carefree laughter and camaraderie resounded in the cold winter.

"The tattoos of the Dark Dragon were on the three men behind Bai Ling. The only ones who like painting Dark Dragons on their body around this area are the people from Dark Dragon Tribe." As they were near their tribe, Su Ming told Lei Chen between laughs.

When Lei Chen heard the answer, he immediately laughed wryly. He did not expect the answer to be so simple.

Su Ming and Lei Chen returned to their houses safely. As Su Ming brought out the Cloud Gauze Grass he bought, his eyes were bright with anticipation.

‘Mountain Spirit… I wonder what its effects are once I finish making it! The elder told me to not leave the tribe for the time being… I’ll return as soon as possible. I don’t think I’ll be gone for long.’

Su Ming made his decision after he was deep in thought.

At the same time Su Ming made his decision, something big happened at the square far away from Dark Mountain Tribe!

The cause of it all was the round pill Su Ming created.

Once Su Ming left, the one-eyed man pondered for a long time in his tent and refused to accept any more clients who wanted to trade with him. As he was thinking, he gritted his teeth. He quickly took the bottle containing the pill to the owner of the square, who resided in the large purple tent.