Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-552

The choice each tribe made was different. Once Shepherd Tower Tribe realized they could not obtain Su Ming’s arm, they gave up and their Elder chose to use his life in exchange for the possibility of obtaining freedom for his tribe.

Blood Absconsion Tribe’s staunch and unyielding attitude made them choose to sacrifice their own lives. With their sacrifice and their control over their own deaths, they showed their struggle towards fate and delivered Su Ming a serendipitous event so that the small remnant of their tribe members in the world outside could perhaps continue their tribe’s line.

Phantom Dais Tribe had chosen to make this sort of trade. With their entire tribe’s lives on the line, they pleaded to Su Ming while kneeling on the ground in hopes of obtaining his arm.

They did not want to think about whether it was possible for Su Ming to kill Si Ma Xin. They were afraid that even if Si Ma Xin died, he would still be capable of killing the people who had his Seed planted within them.

They were even more afraid of Su Ming dying in Si Ma Xin’s hands, because that would mean that a worse fate would fall on Phantom Dais Tribe.

They only wanted freedom, and by Si Ma Xin’s orders, they could only obtain it with Su Ming’s limbs.

As Su Ming looked at the Phantom Dais Tribe, he was reminded of his second senior brother…

He was silent. The tribe leader mentioning that he knew Lei Chen’s whereabouts had also brought about great shock to him.

"You have to obtain freedom with your own hands. Only then will you be truly free." A long time passed by before Su Ming spoke up calmly.

"Please grant our wish. We only desire freedom. We…" Full of anguish, the tribe leader of Phantom Dais Tribe looked towards Su Ming. He knew that this request was too much, but he could not think of a better method to go about this.

Su Ming ignored Phantom Dais Tribe. If they did not attack, then he would not kill them. He walked towards the sky, and as he lifted his right hand, the long spear in his hand started shining with a violet light.

"Sir!" The tribe leader of Phantom Dais Tribe stood up and cried out after Su Ming. Tears fell down from his eyes, and sorrow appeared on his face.

"Please pity the children in my tribe. They’re still young, but they already have Si Ma Xin’s Berserker Threads in their bodies. They don’t have a future, and we do not have any other tribe members in the world outside. We’re all here, and we will die or live our lives as if we are already dead.

"Please… help us! We will never forget your kindness to us!

"Sir, we had a conflict with you many years ago, but this is all in the past. We only have this many people now, we can choose not to leave, but I wish for our children and our youngsters to obtain freedom so that Phantom Dais Tribe can continue growing!"

The voice of the tribe leader of Phantom Dais was filled with grief as he pleaded pitifully. He kowtowed again and again towards Su Ming. All the Phantom Dais tribe members behind him began bowing towards him in silence again, and the sounds of their heads hitting the ground rang in the air nonstop.

The children’s cries traveled into the air. The elderly cried. The women started weeping softly as well.

Su Ming froze for a moment in midair before he continued walking towards the sky. The violet light on the spear in his hand grew even stronger, and the killing intent he harbored towards Si Ma Xin glowed even stronger in his eyes.

The ‘game’ Si Ma Xin spoke of made Su Ming endure a trial of his humanity, forcing him into situations where he could neither kill the people… nor choose not to kill them!

Sometimes, making a choice is difficult, but it is even more difficult to make that decision when no other choice is present!

When the tribe leader saw Su Ming lifting the long spear in his right hand, about to stab the sky in the sixth layer, his cries of despair reverberated in the air, and each word he spoke was filled with tears of blood!

"Sir, the sixth layer is unlike the other layers beneath us. Si Ma Xin has placed the control over our lives in the sky. If the sky shatters, then we will all die immediately. All of us, all my tribe members will die right before your eyes the moment you break this sky.

"This is our fate…"

Su Ming remained silent. The tip of his spear had already touched the sky’s barrier, and the hint of presence of Life Cultivation had fused into the sky’s barrier. He sensed the connection tying all the lives of those in Phantom Dais Tribe to the sky.

It was just as the tribe leader said. Once this sky was destroyed, all these people would die.

‘Si Ma Xin, you tried to tear into my heart with Bai Su in the past so that you could plant your Berserker Seed in me… Now, you changed your method. You prepared all the things in Heaven Gate to make me hesitate so that you can achieve the results you wanted in the past.’

Su Ming closed his eyes, then after that brief moment of pause, the long spear in his hand stabbed the sky!

The rumbles stirred by that thrust shook the sky and earth, causing fine cracks to appear in the sky. Once these cracks connected with each other, they turned into fragments that erupted with a loud bang at the tip of Su Ming’s spear!

"Sometimes, death is a form of freedom…"

Su Ming closed his eyes, and beneath him, all the kneeling Phantom Dais tribe members trembled and exploded as the sky was ripped apart. A large amount of red threads tore through their skins, and as these people died, those red threads gathered in midair to turn into an indistinct figure.

That figure looked somewhat similar to Si Ma Xin.

He looked at Su Ming and suddenly started laughing loudly. His laughter was soft and velvety, causing those who heard it feel incredibly uncomfortable.

"As expected, you and I are the same type of people. I originally intended to give these people what they so desired according to what I promised if you really gave them your arm, but that freedom would be death!

"Because I, too, sometimes think that death is freedom!

"You’re good. You’re so good… I’ll be waiting for you in the ninth layer. There are still two layers to go. You’d best hurry, or else you’ll have to face the same choice when you meet Bai Su… I’d like to see what your choice would be at that time!"

When those words were said, the indistinct figure that was formed by the blood threads fell apart and scattered, turning into a puddle of blood spilled on the ground. Killing intent shone in Su Ming’s eyes. At that moment, the desire to kill Si Ma Xin turned into a powerful existence burning within him.

He quietly turned around and stepped towards the seventh layer!

A great battle unfolded in the seventh layer, and it was a long string of killings that did not stop. All of this was because of one single phrase echoing in the air, uttered by Si Ma Xin the instant Su Ming arrived at the seventh layer.

"If he reaches the eighth layer, then all of you will die!"

The string of killings unfolded at that moment. No words were exchanged between them. There were only ragged breathing and an endless amount of divine abilities flying in the air. Su Ming could sense a wave of murderous aura and cold callousness from the five hundred Berserkers around him.

None of them were ordinary people. All of them possessed outstanding power and had with them a vast experience of battle. They were Freezing Sky’s sharp blades, the people who defended the Southern Frontier!

They did not fight for their freedom. They were only fighting… so that they could die in battle!

They would either kill or be killed. Dying in the hands of a powerful warrior was to them, the highest form of glory in their lives!

Su Ming looked at them. As he lifted his right hand, the long spear howled, and he swept past the area at high speed. Wherever he went, slaughter would fill the air. These people did not resist. They only used their full power and fought with their divine abilities. Some of them even chose to self-destruct when they were injured.

The murderous aura from these five hundred people surged into the sky, causing Su Ming to fall silent in its face as well.

Eventually, he closed his eyes, and the armor on his body turned into an endless amount of violet threads. These threads shot out in all directions, but not a single scream of pain could be heard. The only things he saw were quiet smiles and absent-minded looks on their faces that said they had been freed.

Su Ming did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps it had been the span of half an incense stick, perhaps it was longer. When the roars and sounds of battle disappeared from around him and a sticky substance was all over the ground, he opened his eyes. The violet threads returned to him. Once they turned into the armor on his body, only one person remained before him. That person was shivering, but he was gritting his teeth so that he would not fall.

It was an old man. His head was filled with white hair, and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth. He looked at Su Ming, and no hate could be found on his face. There was instead only a smile on his lips.

"Kill me. Don’t let me die in the hands of that brat Si Ma Xin’s despicable Berserker Threads. I am Tian Shen. Use that spear of yours which can absorb souls and take my soul with you. Turn me into a battle soul and will let me help you in your fight against Si Ma Xin!"

The old man’s voice was like thunder. As it rumbled in the air, respect appeared on Su Ming’s face. He swung the spear in his right hand, and when he walked past the old man, he took his soul away!

He held the long spear in his hand, and there were now five hundred incredibly distinct battle souls surrounding his Undertaker’s of Evil Spear. They did not let out any shrill screams, and only silence could be found on them, along with a frightening murderous aura that erupted from them.

They accompanied Su Ming, rushing towards the sky that led to the eighth layer’s world, and crashed into it. A loud bang that shook the sky reverberated in the air, and a crack tore through the seventh layer’s sky. Su Ming rushed forward and turned into a violet figure. Then, with the five hundred souls, he rushed… into the eighth layer!

Heaven Gate’s eighth layer!

The world where the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky was located!

But the instant Su Ming stepped into the eighth layer, his pupils constricted abruptly.

This was a desolate world, a world that had no signs of life. The sky here was gray, and even the ground was like that…

All the people here… were also gray!

Their eyes were gray, and so were their broken bodies. All the gray-eyed people were beings that had lost their signs of life in this world…

Perhaps they could no longer even be called people. In Su Ming’s field of vision, the entire region that belonged to the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky were just ruins. Within them were an innumerable amount of corpses. Though more accurately speaking, they were not exactly corpses, for their eyes were open, and gray.

They did not breathe, and no signs of power could be felt from their bodies. In this quiet world, everything Su Ming saw was filled with a strange air. Among the bodies were men and women, the elderly and the young, and all of them were lying on the ground quietly, as if they were sleeping… All of them had also another similarity - they did not have left hands!

All of their left hands were gone.

There was a large, cone shaped stone in the gray sky. The stone stage was very large and wide, and there was a person sitting on it. When that person saw Su Ming, a sinister smile appeared on his lips.

Perhaps that cone shaped stone platform was Heaven Gate’s ninth layer, because Su Ming could recognize the person sitting there with a single glance. He… was Si Ma Xin!