Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-76

The status of being a prodigy in Wind Stream Tribe was no longer of any use to Su Ming. He had thought about it carefully before finding courage to look for Wu Sen.

‘Tomorrow morning, I’ll go and get enough herbs when everyone from Wind Stream Tribe is paying all their attention to the second stage of the test,’ Su Ming thought in his heart and placed all the stone coins into his bosom.

He did not think that they were heavy. Although it made the area around his chest bloated, the satisfaction in his heart made him not care about the weight.

Once he put away all the stone coins, Su Ming took out the small wooden box and opened it. Once he saw the seven-leaved herb inside, a bright look appeared in his eyes. This thing was as important as the stone coins. He did not expect to obtain this from Wu Sen. This was one of the two herbs he had never seen before that he would need if he wanted to create South Asunder.

‘So it’s called Seven Hearts… It’s a pity he didn’t have the other herb, or else I could try making South Asunder. I wonder what the effects of this pill are compared to Mountain Spirit.’

Su Ming looked at the herb for a few more moments before placing it close to his person. If anyone had looked at his chest then, they would have been able to tell that there were a lot of things hidden away there.

However, Su Ming could not do anything else about it. He had too much stuff that he had to take with him.

Once he arranged everything, Su Ming sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. He did not activate his Qi to train, but chose instead to recall the method to cast Dark Blood Dust and tried to practice the Berserker Art.

This was the second Berserker Art he could train and cast. Compared to Spirit Devourer, this Art had more devastating power, but could not be used repeatedly.

Time passed by slowly, and no other words were spoken that night.

When the first rays of sunlight fell from the sky and morning arrived, the entire Wind Stream City woke up from its slumber. Noises began to reverberate around the city as it gradually grew in volume.

Today was another day of the grand ceremony. It was the second stage of the test! This stage was no longer a test of potential, but a test of power and speed, which was directly related to participants’ cultivation. The venue of the test was again, not in Wind Stream City, but located at the giant field with the nine eagle statues, which was at the foot of Wind Stream Mountain.

The moment morning was over, the tribe members in Wind Stream City left one after another towards the field. It was the same for Dark Mountain Tribe. With the Head of the Guards and Shan Hen guiding them, Bei Ling, Lei Chen, and Wu La walked out of their lodgings. However, the elder did not follow them this time.

Even after everyone had left and Su Ming came out of his room, he did not see the elder. He did not know where the elder had went, but once he thought about it, he did not pay too much attention to it. The elder should be with Wind Stream Tribe’s Elder at the moment.

When he walked out of the lodgings, Su Ming did not change his appearance. He had discovered that the Berserker Vessel that the elder had given him could not alter his appearance as completely as he pleased. Right now, it could only maintain Mo Su’s appearance and the one he had used when he snatched away the Blood of Corpses from Wu Sen that night.

Even if he could change his appearance into a third different look, there would be something off about it. That was a clear sign of the limit of this item. That was why he chose not to alter his appearance and used his original look to walk around Wind Stream City. Still, he had prepared himself. He bought a few beast skin shirts to wrap around his body. He also wrapped up his head until his eyes were the only things left visible.

His appearance might have seemed odd, but there were quite a few people disguised this way within Wind Stream City. It was clear that they did not want anyone remembering how they looked like when they were buying things.

There were fewer people walking in Wind Stream City. Most of them had already gone to watch the second stage of the test in the field.

Since there were fewer people here, not only were there less people wandering about the streets, even those who went to the stalls were few and far in-between. Su Ming’s target was clear as he walked through the streets. He might not be completely familiar with Wind Stream City, but he knew about the few places that were specifically used for trading.

There were some houses that specialised in selling herbs. They were the main places Su Ming intended to visit. There was one such shop right before him at the moment. It had no name, and it was not a big stall, but there was a tribe member from Wind Stream Tribe lying on the table yawning. When he saw Su Ming coming in, he cast him a glance and quickly stood up.

Without even waiting for the person to speak, Su Ming spoke slowly with a coarse voice.

"I want 100 Cloud Gauze Grass!" While speaking, he brought out his right hand from his sleeve and placed it lightly on the table. A white stone coin appeared in his hand.

The eyes of the person from Wind Stream Tribe immediately brightened. He was used to customers like Su Ming. He knew that these sort of people did not want anyone inquiring about their identity. They did not need anyone introducing them herbs either. Their targets were always very clear.

Without a hint of hesitation, the Wind Stream Tribe member immediately nodded his head and went into the house. Before long, he took out a bag made of hides and placed it before Su Ming.

Su Ming took it and looked into the bag briefly. It was filled with Cloud Gauze Grass. The number should also be 100. This herb was not so easily sold outside, and it was rare for anyone to possess such a huge amount outside the city, but it was a common herb within the mudstone city.

He took the bag and left the stall. With the same method, Su Ming visited dozens of other shops. He bought a large amount of Cloud Gauze Grass from each shop and also a large number of some other supplementary herbs as well.

He also bought some herbs that he did not need as an act of caution. By doing so, even if his actions caught someone’s attention, they could not figure out his intentions.

Within less than half a day, there were only 1,000 something stone coins left in his possession from the 3,000 something stone coins he had before he started. The speed with which he spent his money made Su Ming’s heart clench in pain, but he had no choice. This was the first time he felt that quenching pills was difficult if he did not have enough money to buy the things he needed.

‘Ah, I’ll have to use this money sparingly… I’m spending my money too quickly.’

Su Ming’s face was bitter. There were bags made of hides of all sizes hanging off his person. He had too much stuff, and it caused him a headache, but he had no choice.

‘I should have enough. I’ll put them away in the lodgings first, only then can I come back and continue buying stuff.’

Su Ming made up his mind and quickly walked back towards Dark Mountain Tribe’s lodgings.

He only took a few steps before he stopped. His brows crinkled slightly, but quickly relaxed. His expression was blank as he continued walking forward.

Before him, there was an old man with a sharp mouth and cheeks of a monkey. He had his head lowered, clearly deep in thought. There was a prideful look on his face as he mumbled under his breath and twitched the fingers on his right hand as if calculating something.

Su Ming walked calmly towards him. The moment he brushed shoulders with the old man, Su Ming heard what he was mumbling about.

"I earned big this time. It’s all thanks to Mo Su, or else I’d have definitely lost a lot of money this time. He’s a great person, a great person indeed."

Su Ming’s heart did not waver. He continued walking forward once he passed by the old man.

However, the old man only took a few steps forward before he suddenly turned around and looked at Su Ming’s back. His eyes flashed brightly as he looked at the number of bags hanging off Su Ming’s body.

"Friend, please hold back," the old man immediately spoke.

Su Ming frowned. He pretended he did not hear him. Not only did he not stop, he walked faster.

"Ah, friend, stop!" The old man quickly ran after him and blocked Su Ming’s way. There was a familiar smile on his face, a smile Su Ming had seen before.

A cold flash appeared briefly in Su Ming’s eyes. He did not speak, but chose to walk around him.

The old man quickly took a few steps back. The smile did not disappear from his face as he quickly spoke, "Friend, listen to me! I see that you’ve bought a lot of stuff. You must have gone to a lot of stalls, but I have with me something good that those stalls don’t have!"

Su Ming ignored him and continued walking forward, but the old man did not mind his attitude. He just followed Su Ming and continued chattering away.

"Friend, don’t be so indifferent. I really have something good with me. Look at this herb. It may seem normal, but you know Mo Su, right? Let me tell you, it’s only because Mo Su took this herb of mine that he became so famous during the first stage!" While speaking, the old man took out a herb from his bosom and waved it beside Su Ming.

Su Ming was getting increasingly annoyed by the old man’s constant chattering. The old man seemed to have stuck himself on him and continued following him with an air of one who would continue pestering Su Ming until he relented and bought something. This was something Su Ming had prior experience of. Now that he experienced it again, it gave him a massive headache.

"You don’t believe me? Haha, it’s fine if you don’t, but let me tell you, I have something else. Look at this herb, it’s so colorful and pretty, right? Let me tell you, Ye Wang used this during the final moment of the test.

"This one too. You’ve heard of Bi Su, right? This person was previously unknown, but do you know how he placed fourth? I’m telling you, it’s because…" The old man’s bosom seemed to be an endless pit that stored a countless number of herbs. He brought them out one by one as if he was worried Su Ming would not buy them and continued introducing new ones to him.

"Because he ate that herb of yours, right." Su Ming felt as if his ears were buzzing when he interrupted the old man’s words coldly.