Chapter 272: A Game
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Your Creation?"
Tian Xie Zi turned around and with brightly shining eyes, he looked at Su Ming, who may have been tired, but whose eyes were as calm as still water.
He looked at his fourth disciple and waited for his answer.
"Master, this is my Creation," Su Ming looked towards the direction of Lizard Shaman Tribe and stated slowly.
"I don't really understand eldest senior brother's Creation, but I can tell that the skill he is training with is the fusion of ice and fire. Ice is cold, and fire is hot. They are like two complete opposites, and the fusion of these two defies common sense, making it difficult for others to understand it.
"Yet if he is successful in fusing two elements that contradict each other, then he'll be able to clear his mind. This is eldest senior brother's Creation." Su Ming averted his gaze from Lizard Shaman Tribe and looked at Tian Xie Zi.
Tian Xie Zi remained silent for a moment before he met Su Ming's gaze.
"Your eldest senior brother's Creation is the Sound of Creation."
"Sound is noise, and isolation is silence. It is still combining two complete opposites. Isolation is ice, and noise is fire, it is the same," Su Ming said calmly.
"Let's talk about second senior brother next. He possesses a pair of Hands of Creation. During the day, he creates life for the plants, and during night, he destroys the plants' lives by pulling them out from their roots…"
Su Ming's murmurs echoed in the forest.
"These are also two opposites and defy common sense. Creating and destroying is like life and death. Second senior brother's Creation is the fusion of life and death, the combination of creation and destruction."
Tian Xie Zi's face was calm, but his heart was shaken. He did not expect that Su Ming, who had not been long in the ninth summit, would have made such discoveries and arrived at such conclusions.
"Continue!" he said.
"Third senior brother trains with two complete opposites as well. His is a mindset that defies common sense, a fusion between truths and lies. The truth is reality, and the lie is his dream.
"He is trying to fuse reality and dreams together. By being constantly drunk, he can linger in a state between being awake and being asleep. If the day comes that he truly wakes up… then his Creation will be complete."
Su Ming's gaze fell upon Tian Xie Zi once again and he asked softly, "Master, am I right?"
"That is indeed the road your third senior brother is taking." A praising look appeared in Tian Xie Zi's eyes and he nodded his head.
"It's not." Su Ming's voice was weightless, but his words were filled with determination.
Tian Xie Zi frowned.
"This is the road you want them to take…" Su Ming shook his head. "Because they cannot be understood, because they have to fuse those two opposites, that's why people think that all those within the ninth summit are weird. Eldest senior brother is always in isolation, so he seems slightly more normal than us, because he rarely ventures out and the people don't really understand him.
"Second senior brother plants flowers during day and destroys them at night. Using 'weird' to describe his actions is no longer sufficient.
"Third senior brother is constantly drunk and always talks about bringing people into his dreams. When those who don't understand hear him, they might think he's crazy. Because these things defy common sense, because they are different from other people, because they are not understood by others, that is why they are praise worthy to you. They have become the vice that is the meaning of your middle name, the Xie in Tian Xie Zi!"
When Su Ming reached this point of his speech, he stopped talking.
Tian Xie Zi was silent.
Both Master and disciple remained silent in the forest for a moment until Su Ming whispered, "Master, this is your path… not mine."
"Then what is it that you pursue?" Tian Xie Zi looked at Su Ming and a complicated look appeared in his eyes.
"I don't know…" Su Ming shook his head. He cast a glance towards Lizard Shaman Tribe once more before he turned his gaze towards the sky. "If there really is one, then I think it should be… to open my eyes."
Su Ming closed his eyes.
"What do you want to see when you open your eyes?"
As Tian Xie Zi looked at Su Ming, the look in his eyes became even more complicated. He looked at Su Ming and found himself seemingly looking at his past self, at the time when he talked to his own Master. Their words might be different, but they had the same expression on their faces.
"Perhaps it is to see the world that others can't see."
Su Ming opened his eyes, and a brilliant light could be shining within them. There was a firm resolution within that light, along with determination and aspiration.
"Why do you want to see a world that others can't see?" Tian Xie Zi asked calmly. His voice was laced with curiosity and echoed in the surroundings.
Su Ming was silent. After a long while, he looked back at Tian Xie Zi.
"To see myself… my true self," he mumbled.
A smile appeared on Tian Xie Zi's face, then it gradually grew wider before it escalated to a full blown laughter. His laughter reverberated through the forest and floated into the skies.
"Good. What you pursue is not the vice I want either. You want to open your eyes to look at a world that no one can see, and that means that the entire world is drunk, and you are the only one sober!
"This is not a vice, this is a state that has far surpassed a vice. This is… a life which I don't even know the name of! Su Ming, if you eventually manage to do it someday, then you must be prepared. You might find yourself unable to tolerate this drunken world anymore!
"Because you… will be awake!"
Su Ming shuddered. He looked at Tian Xie Zi and nodded.
"Come. I'll take you home now…"
Tian Xie Zi patted Su Ming's shoulder and waved his arm. A huge gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and lifted both Master and disciple into the air before they disappeared into the vast sky belonging to the Shaman Tribe.
"But before we go back, I want to bring you to some places. Once you see these places, you will gain a deeper understanding of the blood feud between the Shaman Tribe and the Berserker Tribe… It will also prepare you for when you open your eyes and see a bigger world."
Tian Xie Zi's voice echoed in the air before they gradually disappeared.
Within Sky Mist Barrier, at the borders of the Land of South Morning belonging to the Berserker Tribe was a mountain range. The sky above that mountain range distorted, and from within the distorted ripples, Tian Xie Zi and Su Ming walked out.
"Take a close look at the ground below you and tell me what you see." Tian Xie Zi looked at the mountain range below him and his voice fell into Su Ming's ears.
Su Ming's fatigue remained, but his wounds were already under control. He looked at the place where Tian Xie Zi pointed. That place was filled with mountain ranges, and at first glance there was nothing strange about it. The only thing that stood out was perhaps the few mountains that were rather desolate and barren. There were absolutely no plants growing on them.
Su Ming frowned. He descended from midair and stood on one of the barren mountains. Then he crouched down and grabbed a handful of sand from its surface. When he placed it by his mouth, a bright glint appeared in his eyes.
"There's a faint stench of blood…"
Su Ming lifted his head and looked around. The instant he swept his gaze across the place, he suddenly focused his eyes on a certain spot.
That was a mountain ridge, and it was filled with a desolate air. Even the sand was bleak.
He walked towards the mountain ridge with uncertainty in his heart. Gradually, a grave look appeared on Su Ming's face. He lifted his right hand and pushed his palm towards the ground through the air. A large gust of wind instantly roared through the air and lifted the sand around the area, turning into a vortex. The wind rose and blew away the sand layer by layer.
Some broken wood and shattered stone bowls were revealed buried under the sand. There were also… human bones that had turned brown due to time.
The entire place was filled with broken bones…
Su Ming swept his gaze across the broken bones. Some of the bones were rather thin, some thick. Eventually, Su Ming's eyes fell on a rather complete skeleton.
It was a child's skeleton. Only the upper half of it remained, but he could see that many the bones were broken. The child's hands suggested that he or she had been holding onto something before death, but that thing was no longer around.
A shudder ran through Su Ming's body and he lifted his head swiftly to look at Tian Xie Zi standing in the sky.
"This was once a tribe…"
"It was a rather big small-sized tribe. There were about 700 people in it, though they had less than forty Berserkers in their tribe. The others were either normal tribe members or toddlers.
"300 years ago, we failed to defend a part of Sky Mist Barrier and some Shamans entered our land. This tribe was one of the tribes they destroyed.
"The men, women, old, and young were all killed brutally!"
Su Ming lowered his head and looked at the child's bones. He fell silent.
"If you go east from here, you will find more than 40 of such tribes that were destroyed in this fashion… There are tribes here that were destroyed 300 years ago, and there are also those that were destroyed far earlier in the passage of time."
Su Ming took a step forward. Instantly, he started charging towards the east. Tian Xie Zi followed behind him, no longer speaking. He simply watched as Su Ming moved through the ruined tribes.
As time passed by, Su Ming's face became darker with each ruin he passed. Once an entire day went by, Su Ming stood on a plain of grass with dark clouds covering the sky. Lush grass grew underneath his feet on the plains, but it could not hide the blood and slaughter that had occurred in this place before.
Tian Xie Zi moved to Su Ming's side and said calmly, "This is just a part of it…
"In the Sky Mist Barrier, entire tribes that were massacred like this amount to too many. Thousands of years have passed by since then, and this has turned into the hate between us and the Shaman Tribe. Unless one of us dies, we will never stop fighting against each other…"
Su Ming closed his eyes and only whispered his thoughts after a long time had passed, "The Shamans… are very strong."
"That is true." Tian Xie Zi turned his gaze to the sky in the distance.
Su Ming hesitated for a moment, then started, "Then the so called Sky Mist Shaman Hunt…"
The one who answered Su Ming's question was Tian Xie Zi, who was standing by his side. "To the Shaman Tribe, this once in a decade activity is known as the Berserker Hunt."
Su Ming's pupils shrank. The bloodiness within those two simple words could not be formed by killing just 10, or 100, or 1000, or even 10,000 people. This was a mass slaughter that had happened throughout the ages. As people spoke and listened to these two words, they would feel a murderous aura spilling out from within them.
"This is just like an agreement made by both sides, a massacre that occurs once a decade…" A glint shone in Su Ming's eyes and he looked towards Tian Xie Zi.
Tian Xie Zi looked at Su Ming. After a long while, he nodded his head.
"This… is a game."
"A game?" Su Ming looked at the grass plains under his feet and let out a chuckle.
"The game is played by both sides. The reason why it has lasted for thousands of years is because both sides have their own goals. As for what the goals are… well, you have to find the answer yourself.
"Now, tell me. Do you… still want to join Sky Mist Shaman Hunt?"
Tian Xie Zi turned around and walked towards the sky.
Su Ming stood there for a while before he turned into a long arc and flew back to his Master's side, who was waiting for him in midair.
"I will join Sky Mist Battle… As a member of the Land of South Morning, I will take part… in this game."
Su Ming's voice was calm. He and Tian Xie Zi turned into two long arcs, moving in the direction of Freezing Sky Clan. They gradually flew into the distance and disappeared.
Chapter 273: A Request
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To all the people within the nine summits on the Great Frozen Plains in Freezing Sky Clan, five normal days had gone by. Nothing especially big happened during those five days and everything simply went on as it usually did.
The sun continued with its usual routine of rising and setting, night was still graced with the presence of the moon, and the freezing wind still blew as usual. There was no differences whatsoever, no changes.
Even if someone had isolated themselves to train for five days, their power would not have increased by much. To almost everyone, these five days were practically the same as the other days in a year.
The seventh summit's Tian Lan Meng sat on a big rock near the top of the mountain. Wind lifted her hair. To her, these five days were just one meditation session.
Zi Yan and Han Cang Zi had their own things to do. These five days passed by quickly for them and nothing had changed.
The fourth summit's Han Fei Zi was in isolation and was making the final preparations for Sky Mist Shaman Hunt. With her Master's help, she was already near Awakening and would reach that Realm within a few days.
The first summit's Si Ma Xin still sat in his cave abode as he usually did. Occasionally, when he woke up, his eyes would be cold and dark. There was nothing different about him.
Most of the people were as such, and it was the same for the ninth summit. Hu Zi remained drunk and did his usual things during those five days. He would drink, dream, and snore like war drums. Happily waking up and happily falling asleep again.
Su Ming's second senior brother continued planting flowers during day and floating around like an apparition during night. These five days passed by very quickly to him.
To the eldest senior brother, these five days passed by like the blink of an eye. Within the silence of isolation, if he did not pay even the slightest amount of attention to his surroundings, it would not be just five days that had passed by.
However, there were a handful of people to whom these days passed like years.
Zi Che was one of them. During the first day, he was very calm, but this calmness had turned into doubt after three days had gone by. It was already three days since he saw Su Ming.
More importantly, he could not feel any presence from the cave. It was as if Su Ming was no longer there.
That feeling became clearer when the fourth day arrived. He had a vague feeling that something was not right. Su Ming rarely isolated him. Even if he was meditating, he would occasionally walk out and stand on the platform to look at the horizon.
Yet four days had already passed by and Su Ming had not appeared. This made Zi Che think that there was something off.
Especially since Zi Che was not the only one waiting for Su Ming outside his cave during these five days; there was also… Bai Su!
She had already waited there for several days, not leaving. If it was not for Zi Che stopping her, she would have entered Su Ming's cave a long time ago.
During the fifth night, Zi Che sat outside and frowned as he looked at Su Ming's cave with his heart filled with uncertainty, but he did not dare enter the cave.
As Zi Che remained hesitant, a voice that made him feel resigned fell into his ears.
"Just how long are you going to stand in my way? I want to see Su Ming!"
That was from Bai Su. She was dressed in purple and was sitting right in front of Zi Che with determination showing through her wild beauty.
"Su Ming, it's already been five days and you still refuse to see me? Is seeing my face really that shocking to you?!
"Even if you don't see me, are you going to stay in your cave forever?!
"Unless I die, then I won't give up!"
The dark cave was quiet, like always. Not a hint of sound reached them from within. This silence made Bai Su's determination grow stronger.
Zi Che did not even bother talking to Bai Su anymore. To him, this girl was unreasonable and her constant badgering was annoying.
Bai Su felt bitter. She had naturally seen Zi Che's expression and knew that her constant badgering had caused him to hate her, but… she had to do this.
At that moment, a freezing wind whistled by and lifted a large amount of snow to blow against their faces. When the wind passed, the area returned to silence, neither Zi Che nor Bai Su notice that a person had walked into the cave with the wind and sat down inside.
Tian Xie Zi also walked back to the top of the ninth summit. He chose to reenter isolation and the color of his clothes slowly changed.
Tian Xie Zi and Su Ming's return went unnoticed by Hu Zi. He continued snoring in his sleep. His second senior brother floated in the air like an apparition, lifting his head a moment before resuming his search for his other self that represented destruction.
A gentle gaze came from within the ice where the eldest senior brother had isolated himself before he closed his eyes once again, and that gaze disappeared without a trace.
Su Ming sat down in the cave, and the dark cave gave off such a feeling of familiarity it reminded him of home. He took a deep breath and looked at his surroundings. To the others, these five ordinary days might have passed by quickly, but Su Ming, he had gone through an earth-shattering change, an experience that a normal person would rarely have to go through, and a life threatening crisis.
To Su Ming, those five days had been like five years, even longer…
Within those five days, he saw Master's junior brother, witnessed the shocking fight, although that fight had become a blur in his mind and he could no longer remember it clearly.
Five days ago, he saw the old xun maker and played a song. He gained an epiphany and an understanding towards the change of heart, which led to him making his own decision.
In those five days, he went to the land of the Shamans, saw his Master's incredible power, saw the Spirit Medium, saw the strange Split Dawn, and also the gigantic sacred beast that was about 10,000 feet in size - the Golden Roc!
In those five days, he killed one of the Split Dawn and went through a series of pursuits for his life.
In those five days, he completed the first Style of his Picture Creation and heard his very own God of Berserkers Song.
In those five days, he went through… a complete transformation!
'Battle, destroy, forget…'
Su Ming lifted his head in the darkness and looked at the world outside his cave. There seemed to be a girl's figure in the gentle moonlight.
'Among the three methods to deal with the changes of heart… the easiest would be to destroy it! Kill her and everything will end. The hardest would be to forget. Forget Bai Ling, and Bai Su won't be able to affect me.
'As for fighting… It won't solve my problems.' Bai Su's voice from beyond the cave reached Su Ming's ears. Her voice was very clear in the silent night.
'These are Master's methods, not mine…'
Su Ming's eyes were calm as he looked at the moonlight beyond the cave.
"The change of heart is triggered by a person or event. A person can choose to destroy, fight, or forget… These three methods are all a form of escapism… Since it had already existed since the beginning, then I might as well let it continue existing… I'll face it head on," Su Ming mumbled under his breath.
"If a person's heart can change due to persistently holding onto something, then why can't that persistence grant me peace?"
Su Ming closed his eyes, and after a moment, he slowly opened them. He brought out his drawing board and flipped it to its front. Ever since he drew that piece on the front, he had never looked at it. The drawing board was empty, but in his eyes, his own body had appeared on the drawing board, and his foot, which he wanted to lift up, was tangled by grass.
A smile appeared on his face. He looked at the grass, then slowly lifted his head.
"Zi Che, let her come in."
Zi Che had sunken into a state of hesitation and doubt outside the cave. He had a feeling that something was off in Su Ming's cave. Just as his ears rang with Bai Su's constant badgering, Su Ming's words suddenly floated out of the cave.
As his voice left the cave, Zi Che's heart trembled and the mixed feelings within his heart immediately disappeared without a trace. He got up, bowed towards the cave, and obeyed.
A glint appeared in Bai Su's eyes. With one single move, she walked past Zi Che and immediately stormed towards the cave. He followed behind her and the two of them entered Su Ming's cave.
Due to the darkness outside, the cave was tossed into an even darker shade of black. Once they entered, they could only see a faint outline of Su Ming's body. Anything beyond where he sat was practically impossible to see clearly.
Yet even so, when Zi Che entered the cave and saw Su Ming, he still felt his heart rumbling when he saw Su Ming's gaze. That gaze seemed the same as it did five days ago, but Zi Che felt a new, powerful pressure. He could tell that the Su Ming before him was completely different from the him five days ago!
He could not tell what was different, but this pressure was similar to that when Zi Che was facing Su Ming's second senior brother, and even similar to that when Zi Che stood before his own Master.
If the Su Ming five days ago still had a sort of naivety to him, then the him now no longer had that naivety. This was a gaze that belonged to a ferocious beast that walked out of death's door after going through a series of hardships.
Zi Che felt his heart tremble and he quickly lowered his head to bow towards Su Ming.
"Greetings… Master." Zi Che's breathing quickened slightly. His heart pounded against his chest and that intimidating feeling became stronger.
'Just what had happened to him during these five days..?'
Zi Che did not dare lift his head. Shock rose in his heart, along with bafflement.
Zi Che was not the only one who felt this way, Bai Su was the same. The moment she saw Su Ming's gaze, she was shocked. She could not help but slow down her originally overbearing walk and eventually come to a stop.
"I, Bai Su… greet… greet uncle master Su…"
Bai Su's heart raced against her chest. Su Ming's calm gaze made a dazed look appear in her eyes for an instant. It was as if the person sitting over there was not Su Ming, but Si Ma Xin, Tian Lan Meng, or perhaps not even the both of them, but people who were as strong as her father.
That gaze seemed to contain a power that could attract a person's mind and make even the angriest people calm down.
Su Ming looked at Bai Su, at that face that was the exact same as Bai Ling's, and nodded.
"From tomorrow onwards, you can come here and I'll teach you how to draw… Zi Che won't stop you anymore."
Bai Su's mind was in turmoil. She lifted her head and stared at Su Ming blankly. She could not understand why he suddenly changed his mind.
"However, I have a request," he stated flatly.
Bai Su's breathing froze and a wary look appeared on her face. The impression of Su Ming within her mind was extremely bad, and if it was not for Si Ma Xin, she would not have approached him.
Bai Su had already been dubious when Su Ming suddenly agreed to it, so when she heardhim talking about a request, her eyes gradually grew cold.
"Say it. As long as I can do it, I will."
"When you come to see me, wear a long white robe. Don't let your hair down and tie it up with a red string made of straw. Leave two small braids by your ears, and have all your remaining hair tied behind your head.
"Put some glittering crystals on your forehead. Then when the light from the snow on the ground will reflect off the crystals, they will shine with a piercing light.
"When you smile, show your canines."
Bai Su frowned.
"Since you want to turn into the person in my memories, then dress yourself this way," Su Ming told her slowly and closed his eyes.
Bai Su was silent for a while before she let out a cold snort and left.
Chapter 274: Daze
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Once Bai Su left, Zi Che bowed towards Su Ming respectfully and quickly left the cave. Only when he was about 100 feet away from the cave did he let out a huge breath. He turned his head back and cast a glance at the cave where Su Ming was. His eyes were filled with respect.
'He's… no longer the same.'
Zi Che could not pinpoint the details. This was merely a feeling of his.
Under the dark sky and within the cave abode, Su Ming breathed calmly and silently meditated. The injuries on his person were already controlled, and as he recovered his breathing, his wounds began to heal.
When dawn arrived, Su Ming opened his eyes. There was no shining light within them, only clarity. He looked at the darkness beyond his cave. A chilling gust of wind blew in and lifted a few locks of his hair to float before his face.
'The battle in the land of the Shamans…'
Su Ming lowered his head and looked at his hands. A contemplative look appeared on his face. In his mind, the scenes that had happened right from the moment he chased down and killed the remaining half of the Split Dawn alone to the moment he walked out of Lizard Shaman Tribe slowly appeared.
"I made a few mistakes in this fight," Su Ming mumbled. He lifted his left hand and picked up the drawing board before he began drawing on its back with his right hand. Gradually, pictures appeared on his drawing board.
The first thing that appeared was a small hill in a dense forest. His body stood on the hill and was charging down. Below the hill, the remaining half of the Split Dawn was similarly approaching him.
'Even though I had paid a high amount of attention to the enemy… At the critical moment of the battle, I neglected checking the terrain of the place. Even if I didn't know of the strangeness there, when I saw my target suddenly pausing, I should have been cautious.'
Su Ming looked at the drawing board and the very first scene of the fight appeared clearly in his head.
'I could have not been injured by this fight… There was also the boy. I also could have not made any mistakes when I met him. Even if I didn't kill him, I could have brought him with me and let him go when I was save.'
Su Ming closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he flicked the drawing board with his right hand and a thin layer of dust flew up. Once the previous drawing was erased, he continued drawing on the board with his right hand.
It was still a forest that appeared on the drawing board this time, and within that forest, a dozen Shamans were charging to the tree where Su Ming was sitting from all around him.
'I was not vigilant enough. My actions were not careful enough. I was in Shaman territory. If I had set up traps before I started resting… If I had brought out the red meadow before I started resting… then I wouldn't have needed to use the treasure eldest senior brother gave me. I could also not have suffered so many wounds and killed all these people!'
Su Ming waved his right hand and continued drawing on the board. Soon, the scene of him being chased by the old Shaman in the forest and his subsequent counterattack appeared on the drawing board.
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes as he looked at the picture.
'I didn't make any mistakes in this battle… If I hadn't made the previous two mistakes, then perhaps this battle wouldn't have occurred. Even if it had, winning this battle wouldn't have been so difficult for me since I'd have bought enough time for myself.
'My trip to the land of the Shamans this time showed me just how much I'm lacking in real battle… I need to be careful, more careful!'
Firm resolution appeared in Su Ming's eyes.
Finding out and summing up all his mistakes in his battle while figuring out all his inadequacies was one of the ways Su Ming made himself stronger.
This life and death crisis did not just bring him the joy of narrowly escaping death. If that was the case, then perhaps he would never have a second chance to narrowly escape death again.
To Su Ming, a life and death crisis should bring about transformation and growth so that he could continue improving himself. He could continue rectifying his mistakes and how he dealt with things, then when he was in the face of danger again, he could have more chances to survive.
'I have to make each move carefully. I have to remain alert for danger that might appear at any time before I take any action. Only by doing so can I become stronger, as well as survive during Shaman Hunt.'
Su Ming closed his eyes and engraved the lesson from the trip this time in his head.
'Besides the inadequacies in my actions, there's also something else that I need to be careful of and rectify as well.'
Su Ming opened his eyes and lifted his right hand to draw a line across the air before him. Once he drew it, Su Ming looked at the spot where he just drew with brilliantly shining eyes.
'This line may be complete. Perhaps it's not perfect, but with my current power and understanding, this is my limit… but besides this line, I have nothing else I can use to fight against strong enemies…'
He frowned. Before he entered the ninth summit, he had not had this worry.
Yet since he joined the ninth summit and searched for the method to clear his mind according to Tian Xie Zi's teachings, he had not had any chances to learn any other Arts.
The battle against the Shaman Tribe let Su Ming learn of his weakness and inadequacy.
'I don't have enough divine abilities… I was good with my speed to begin with, but it wasn't enough when I fought against the old Shaman! It's not just my divine abilities and speed, my defenses were the same.
'The Divine General Armor can still resist the attacks dealt by those around the same level of cultivation as me, but when I meet those stronger than I am, then the Armor isn't able to repair itself in time. Because I didn't go to the Great Yu Dynasty to get my real Armor, that's why it's not sturdy.
'Thank goodness I have Han Mountain Bell, but I mainly use it to stun my enemies with the bell chimes, not defense. Using it for defense is a last resort.
'Besides these, I don't have a lot of enchanted Vessels either. The ice fire eldest senior brother gave me has already disappeared, the Divine Clone uncle master Bai gave me also disappeared… I must prepare a large amount of these things before Sky Mist Shaman Hunt begins.'
Su Ming frowned.
'There aren't many medicinal pills left either. I need to make them again. The power of Spirit Plunder far surpassed my expectations. While it might have only absorbed the old Shaman's spirit for an instant and I still can't exploit that one moment of weakness, but if I' become fast enough, if I had two or three or even more Spirit Plunders to freeze my enemies, then… I would have a chance!'
In his silence, Su Ming touched the black stone hanging off his neck. Gradually, the medicinal pill called the Welcoming of Deities appeared in his mind.
'That old Shaman said that my Spirit Plunder was actually the Barren Core of the Shaman Tribe when he saw it… Could it be that this stone fragment actually came from the Shaman Tribe?'
Su Ming frowned. He had a feeling that it was not so.
As he continued thinking in silence, the darkness in the sky outside was slowly chased away and the surroundings gradually turned brighter. When it was completely bright, morning arrived.
When the morning sun shone into the cave, Su Ming took a deep breath. With a direction for what he wanted to do for his subsequent preparations in his heart, he got up and walked out of his cave.
It had been six days since he was taken away by Tian Xie Zi. It had been six full days since he stood on the platform outside his cave during morning while breathing in the chilling wind and looking at the sky, clouds, sea beyond the mountain, and the occasional falling or flying snow.
He stood there and looked at the horizon. He might not be able to see it clearly, but he could still feel just how the land of Shamans looked like in this morning beyond the Sky Mist Barrier that obscured the view.
"Youngest junior brother, morning."
A gentle voice that sounded like spring wind came from behind Su Ming. When he turned around, he saw his second senior brother walking towards him with his usual gentle smile while dressed in long robes.
"Second senior brother, you're up early today."
Su Ming was curious. He seldom saw his second senior brother waking up so early. Most of the time, he only woke up when it was noon. After all, wandering about during night would leave him needing sleep when the morning sun rose.
Second senior brother let out a few fake coughs and turned his face to the side slightly so that the sun could shine on his side profile.
"Youngest junior brother, there's one sentence that I finally understood, waking up early is good for you." Second senior brother swayed his head slightly.
Su Ming smiled and did not speak.
"Hmm?"
Second senior brother was about to say something when his gaze suddenly focused. He took a few scrutinizing looks at Su Ming, patted his body with his right hand, then walked around him once before suddenly speaking in a low voice.
"Fourth, tell me, did Master come to you at night when he was dressed in purple? How did you answer him?"
"I told him… I wanted to see it." Su Ming smiled.
"That's… no good…" Second senior brother was momentarily taken aback before a faint smile appeared on his lips. That smile grew wider until he finally burst out laughing. "Why didn't I think of that? That's… really no good…"
A hint of eagerness appeared in second senior brother's eyes and he patted Su Ming's shoulders. "And then? What did Master do?"
"He brought me to see a battle, we watched a person making a xun, then went to the Shaman Tribe and killed a whole bunch of Shamans…" Su Ming said softly.
Second senior brother widened his eyes and an expression that said he was looking forward to it appeared. Resolution gradually formed in his eyes.
"Next time, when Master comes to me in purple, I'll answer that way as well!"
Second senior brother was about to continue, but he suddenly lifted his head and quickly straightened up his robes before turning his body to the side to make sure the sun shone on the side of his face. A gentle smile appeared on his lips.
Two long arcs charged out from the seventh summit in the sky. Those two arcs traveled one after another. The person in the long arc in front was a woman. That woman was beautiful but had a frown on her face, as if she did not want to come. It was Zi Yan.
Once she was close to the ninth summit, she glared at Zi Che. Zi Che did not dare look at her and quickly lowered his head. Su Ming's second senior brother moved forward and with the sun still shining on his side profile, he spoke gently to Zi Yan.
"Miss Zi Yan, let's go."
As he spoke, he took a step in the air and walked towards Zi Yan. They turned into two long arcs and went into the distance, reluctance evident on Zi Yan.
Su Ming did not look at his second senior brother and Zi Yan leaving. Instead, he looked at the girl who came in the second long arc. She was dressed in white, had her hair tied up with a red string made of straw, had two small braids by her ears, and had a few glittering crystals on her forehead.
At that moment, a dazed look appeared in Su Ming's eyes.
Chapter 275: They Do Not Have Honor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Su Ming."
The girl in white walked towards Su Ming through the sky with a smile that revealed her canines. There was a ribbon underneath her feet. That ribbon floated about, causing the girl to look as if she was walking on thin air as she walked towards the platform before Su Ming.
Her gentle voice sounded as if it had traveled through the passages of time when it fell into Su Ming's ears. It awakened the sorrow that was hidden deep within his memories and the promise he did not manage to fulfill that year.
At that moment, because of the wind, the snow from the sky was lifted and flew in between Su Ming and the girl. The snow covered their sight as if it wanted to obscure their vision, but as the snow blew past them, their vision was cleared up once again.
"Su Ming, do you remember me..?"
The girl in white bit down on her lower lip, and there was wildness within her bright eyes. She approached him with light footsteps and slowly came to stand before him. The faint and refreshing fragrance from her body was carried by the wind to Su Ming and wafted into his nose, then right into the deepest parts of the memories in his soul.
Under the illumination of sunlight, the crystals on the girl's forehead let out a brilliant light. It shone into Su Ming's eyes and similarly seeped into that spot where he had buried all his memories.
She had her hair tied up with two braids by her ears. The few locks of hair that were lifted up when she approached him touched Su Ming's face.
"Why didn't you come find me..?" the girl asked softly. Her gentle voice echoed in his ears.
Su Ming trembled and stared blankly at the girl. Grief appeared in his eyes.
"Su Ming, do you remember me? Do you remember my name..? Do you remember how we first met..?" The girl's soft words cut into Su Ming's heart.
"I remember…" he mumbled.
He lifted his right hand, touched the girl's black locks, removed the red string and tied it up for her again, then put the braids by her ears behind her shoulders before taking off the crystals on her forehead and changing the location where they were placed.
Once he was done, calmness appeared in Su Ming's eyes and he spoke slowly, "You only look more like her this way."
When Su Ming finished speaking, the girl immediately frowned. The disgust on her face was difficult to hide away. She took a few steps back, as if the act of Su Ming touching her hair itself was difficult for her to accept.
"If you can become her and make me look at you like her… then when you leave, you will have completed the task Si Ma Xin arranged for you," Su Ming said calmly.
He cast a glance at the girl and turned around to walk towards Zi Che, who was looking at them from the distance.
Bai Su stomped her feet. It could be said that she had made detailed preparations all for the sake of shocking Su Ming this morning. In fact, she had also practiced all the ambiguous words, including her expressions when she spoke, multiple times carefully.
Before she came this morning, she had even practiced before the ice mirror. Back then, the moment she started practicing, she had a feeling that she had turned into another person. It was as if a stranger's soul had gathered in her body and changed all her actions.
She knew deeply that the instant she first appeared as the person in his memories and stood for the first time before Su Ming with this look was her best chance.
In fact, if she caught this chance, then there was a high possibility that there would no longer be any need for her to do anything else.
When she saw Su Ming's dazed look, she had been pleased with herself, and when she noticed the grief in his eyes, it caused her to be even more pleased with the detailed preparations she had done the night before.
Yet things did not go according to her plans. Su Ming's last words and actions made Bai Su understand that all her preparations to meet him in this appearance had failed.
Su Ming walked up to Zi Che. As Zi Che looked at him respectfully, Su Ming gave him an order.
"I need an object that is not too big but is very heavy. The heavier, the better. Can you find something like this for me?"
Zi Che was silent for a moment before he nodded his head.
"Master, I know a type of ice. It's called Drowned Ice. It's said that this ice will never melt and each piece of it is about the size of a fist. It weighs the same as a mountain rock about the size of a human."
"Bring back as many as you can, the more the better."
Su Ming lifted his right hand and threw a plate into Zi Che's hand.
Zi Che looked at the plate and a strange look appeared on his face. The plate was considered to be a sacred item to him before he came to the ninth summit. Yet the more he knew, especially when he learned that this item was something Su Ming had borrowed from Hu Zi, the more he became perturbed.
He took the plate and wrapped his fist in his palm toward Su Ming before turning into a long arc and going off.
Once Zi Che left, Su Ming walked down the mountain path that led to Hu Zi's cave. Bai Su stomped her feet once again. When she saw Su Ming ignoring her, she took a few brisk steps forward and caught up to him.
"Hey, didn't you say you'll teach me how to draw!"
"What do you want to draw?" Su Ming did not stop and his voice came out at a moderate pace.
"Slow down! I want to draw myself!"
Bai Su took another few quick steps forward and only then did she manage to walk beside Su Ming. It was clear that she did not want to walk behind him. Even if the ice on the mountain stairs was slippery, she still wanted to walk at the same pace as Su Ming.
"It's easy drawing yourself. Position yourself before the ice and draw yourself while looking at the reflection on the ice." Su Ming's voice still retained its mild tone and did not surge with any sort of emotion.
"Then… Then what's the point of me looking for you?!"
Bai Su was momentarily taken aback before her face colored red with rage. Yet Su Ming was walking very quickly and most of the steps he took were about several feet each. She could barely catch up to him.
"I didn't ask you to look for me."
Su Ming did not even turn his head back. The distance between him and Bai Su was gradually widening.
Bai Su gritted her teeth and ran once again.
Su Ming heard Bai Su's voice coming from behind him, "I don't want to draw myself anymore. I want to draw you!"
He stopped and turned his head back to cast a glance at the running Bai Su.
When Bai Su saw Su Ming stopping, she quickly ran to his side and satisfaction rose within her heart as she thought that there was no way Su Ming could get out of it. If she needed to look at ice to draw herself, then if she wanted to draw someone else, she would naturally need that someone to stand before her so that she could draw them.
"You want to draw me?" Su Ming looked at Bai Su.
The pride in Bai Su's heart was reflected on her face. She lifted her chin and as the sun shone on the crystals on her forehead, they glittered. Her tied up hair moved along with the wind.
"That's right. I want to draw you."
Bai Su let out a snort. That prideful look on her face overlapped for a moment with the person buried deep within Su Ming's memories.
He lifted his right hand and drew a few lines on the ice rock beside her. Once he was done and numerous ice shards flew into the air, a person appeared on that ice rock. That person was naturally Su Ming.
"Draw according to that."
Once Su Ming finished speaking, he turned around and left.
Bai Su was stunned for a moment. She looked at the person Su Ming had drawn on the mountain rock, then at Su Ming himself, who had already walked into the distance, and once again stomped her feet on the ground.
"Su Ming, you jerk!"
Bai Su's current appearance, expressions, and her words were completely different from how she was when she was with Si Ma Xin. When she was with him, Bai Su would always look naïve. She would always look at him with a gentle and adoring gaze along with a docile expression.
Yet when she was before Su Ming in the ninth summit, it was as if she had turned into someone else. If Si Ma Xin was here, he would definitely be stunned, because the Bai Su now was greatly different from the usual Bai Su before him.
Bai Su was seething and her glare made her eyes shine. Once she stomped her feet on the ground, she saw that Su Ming had already walked away and could no longer be seen. She glared at his portrait on the mountain rock and lifted her foot to kick it.
"I'll kick you! Su Ming, you jerk!"
Only when Bai Su gave a few repeated kicks to the portrait did she feel her rage subside slightly. She looked at Su Ming's portrait on the ice. Suddenly, the light in her eyes flickered and that prideful expression appeared on her face once again.
She took a few steps forward and brought a black cylinder from her bosom before starting to paint on Su Ming's portrait. As she continued painting on it, she started giggling in gleeful pride.
Su Ming arrived before long outside Hu Zi's cave. He did not hear any snores but instead some strange chuckles coming from within. Su Ming did not stop and walked in.
The moment he entered Hu Zi's cave, he immediately noticed Hu Zi crouching on the ground with numerous round, wooden pictures scattered all over the floor. There was also the picture of a mountain among these circles. They surrounded each other as if there was a path lying within them.
Hu Zi had a knife in his hands and was carving on the pictures repeatedly. As he did so, he would let out that strange laughter. If Su Ming saw Bai Su's expression now, he would definitely think that she looked quite similar to the Hu Zi before his eyes right now.
"Heh heh, your Grandpa Hu is the smartest person of all, the smartest!
"So what if you changed the Rune? Darn you, just you watch, I'll definitely break it!
"Your Grandpa Hu has never found a place that he couldn't enter. No matter how hard this thing is, I still managed to solve it after I went to sleep."
Hu Zi was far too engrossed in his thoughts and did not notice Su Ming entering his cave. In fact, he did not even notice Su Ming standing behind him looking at the pictures he had carved on the ground.
"I used ten days for this, and I only drank thirty something pots of wine during these ten days. It's all your fault that I drank so little. Damn it, why did you people in the seventh summit suddenly change your Mountain Protection Rune? Just watch me break this!"
Hu Zi brought up his knife and carved a few lines on the ground before excited glee appeared on his face and he lifted his head to howl in laughter.
Yet the moment he lifted his head and started laughing, he caught sight of Su Ming from the corner of his eye. Stunned, his laughter died away.
"Fourth, when did you come here?"
"A long time ago…" There was an odd expression on Su Ming's face as he looked at the messy-haired and bloodshot-eyed Hu Zi.
"You heard everything?" A stern look appeared on Hu Zi's face.
"I heard… a part of it." Su Ming's expression turned even weirder.
Hu Zi lowered his head before lifting it swiftly once again. He grabbed Su Ming and his voice reverberated through the cave like a tidal wave.
"Fourth, you're truly my dearest, closest youngest junior brother. You knew that your senior brother Hu Zi was going to succeed today, that's why you came to congratulate me. You're great. You're an awesome junior brother. I won't hide from you, so be my judge. Say, that darn, damning, shameless, perverted, outrageous seventh summit, aren't they really unfair? Aren't they really heartless? Aren't they really without honor? They… they actually changed their Mountain Protection Rune!"
Chapter 276: I Win the First Day
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"It's the Mountain Protection Rune. Fourth, did you know that changing the Rune is very bothersome? It's seriously very bothersome! Who would change that thing so easily?! But that damn seventh summit, they… they're just bullies!" Hu Zi held onto Su Ming tightly with a face full of rage.
Su Ming wrestled himself out of Hu Zi's grasp, then looked at the livid man and found himself speechless.
"They went too far this time! I won't tolerate it!" Hu Zi shouted out, lifting his hands along with his voice.
"Fourth, what's with that expression of yours?"
It was a feat that Hu Zi could still see the odd expression on Su Ming's face when he was so angry and ask curiously.
"Uh… No… It's nothing."
Su Ming let out a few fake coughs. He had a feeling that now was not a good time to talk about the things he wanted with Hu Zi. Just as he was about to find a chance to leave as quickly as possible, Hu Zi's furious roar reverberated through the cave once again.
"They're humiliating me! This is a blatant challenge thrown in my face, isn't that right, youngest junior brother?! Isn't it horrible that they did something like this? Isn't it heartless? Isn't it without honor? Isn't it utterly shameless?!"
Hu Zi began pacing in his cave, and his messy hair made him look like a maniac as he continued shouting.
"They're horrible! It's a complete waste for me to have gone over to take care of their Rune in the past! They're heartless! I repaired their previous Rune multiple times in the past, you know! They're seriously without honor, how could they not tell me that they changed their Rune?!"
"Third senior brother… I still have some things to do, I'm just… going to go now…" Su Ming quickly took a few steps back in an attempt to leave the place.
"Youngest junior brother, don't go…" Hu Zi ran forward and blocked Su Ming's path. He was burning with rage, but underneath that rage was excitement.
"Youngest junior brother, you have to be my judge. Say, I haven't been here for long, but did you know? That seventh summit has already changed their Mountain Protection Rune six times!
"Six times, this is the seventh time! Aren't they just bullies? Every single time they change it, the new one is much more complex than the last. I have to mull over it long and hard before I find the way to break through it!
"Especially this time, they just went overboard. They went way overboard! I used a total of ten days to calculate and find the equations for it! It's been ten days since I went out to peek at someone else! Ten days!"
Su Ming let out a wry smile. He was just about to speak when an excited expression lying underneath Hu Zi's rage replaced the look of fury.
"But!" Hu Zi waved his arm and his bloodshot eyes were filled with brilliant light. "I still broke it. What's a Mountain Protection Rune before me? I'm the smartest person around! Youngest junior brother, look!" Hu Zi dragged Su Ming to the carved ground and pointed at the dazzling pictures covering it.
"Solving a Rune is easy. What is hard is how I'm supposed to make the Rune open up for me without it being noticed. Look, this line is me!"
Hu Zi grew increasingly more excited as he continued speaking. He took up his knife and drew a zigzagging line on the ground. That line twisted often as it went towards the deepest parts, never touching any of the other carved pictures. It was as if a path had been opened up out of thin air.
"Tonight, I'm going to let that seventh summit know that their Grandpa Hu… has come back!" Hu Zi patted his chest and laughed loudly.
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes and he crouched down to inspect the pictures on the ground. After a long while, he lifted his head with a smile on his face to look at the pleased Hu Zi.
"Third senior brother, you're indeed the smartest."
Once Hu Zi heard it, he became even more pleased with himself and slapped Su Ming's shoulders hard.
"You're my bosom buddy, youngest junior brother, there's no doubt about that. Tonight, I'll bring you out to broaden your view of the world. I know a few good places on the seventh summit. I never told anyone about them before, you know. I even gritted my teeth and didn't tell Master when he came to me in flowery robes.
"I've decided. How about I bring you to see Tian Lan Meng?" Hu Zi was talking excitedly when he saw Su Ming's eyes on the pictures on the ground again. He blinked and fell silent.
"Third senior brother, would the same effects appear if I carved these Runes on armor..?" Su Ming asked in a mumble, a brilliant light shining in his eyes as he stared at the Runes on the ground.
He had come to Hu Zi for this to begin with. That thought had originally been indistinct, originating from when he had seen Hu Zi create the ice that could show reflections of the seventh summit. He had once mumbled something that Zi Che couldn't hear—he planned to make his next creation sturdier.
This gave Su Ming an inspiration and an incredibly bold thought formed in his heart. This thought might be ridiculous, but Su Ming could not give up on the temptation of success.
That was why he had thought of coming to talk to Hu Zi. Now, when he saw the pictures on the ground, that thought became clearer in his mind.
"Carve it on armor?" Hu Zi was stunned and scratched his head. He mulled over it for a long while before he shook his head. "No can do. There aren't any materials for it. Besides…" Hu Zi frowned and left his sentence hanging midway as he sank into deep thought.
"Third senior brother." Su Ming stood up and shifted his gaze from the pictures on the ground to Hu Zi. "I need some pictures of Mountain Protection Runes just like these from the simple ones to the complex ones. I'll have to trouble you for that."
Hu Zi was still frowning. When he heard it, he nodded and patted his chest, saying, "Sure. I'll get it done in a few days. But youngest junior brother, it might be a bit difficult for you to do this. There aren't any materials to do so. Besides, Mountain Protection Runes change all the time, they aren't immobile objects… Even if you manage to carve it down, they won't change anymore."
Su Ming smiled softly before he wrapped his fist in his palm towards Hu Zi and walked out of his cave, leaving his third senior brother in a state of confusion.
Hu Zi thought for a little while longer inside his cave and still found that the thing Su Ming asked for was incredibly difficult to achieve, but since it was his youngest junior brother's request, he would definitely pour out his heart and soul to finish it.
Yet when his gaze fell on the pictures on the ground, his eyes immediately started shining. He no longer thought about how Su Ming was going to carve the Runes on his armor, but instead rubbed his hands together excitedly.
"I'll let that seventh summit know that I've come back tonight! They went too far this time! They're just heartless!"
Hu Zi picked up his wine gourd and took a big swig, then started imagining what he would be doing that night before he started giggling in a silly manner.
Su Ming left Hu Zi's cave and continued working on the idea that made his heart pound in excitement. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that it was plausible.
'I might need to use extremely precise fine control to do this…'
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes, and he suddenly stopped walking. His eyes were trained on Bai Su standing on the mountain path in the distance with a pleased look on her face.
"Su Ming, I finished my drawing!"
Bai Su had been waiting there for a long time. When she finally saw Su Ming, she immediately pointed to the ice rock beside her and spoke in a melodious voice.
Su Ming turned his gaze over and saw the picture of him on the ice rock having been altered. It was smeared to the point that it was a hideous mess. There was a giant shell on his back. Bai Su had also copied that picture on the ice rock by the side. She had drawn a turtle with its neck stretched out.
That turtle looked lifelike, especially its eyes. They even resembled Su Ming's own eyes somewhat.
Su Ming's expression remained passive and he walked over to take a closer look before nodding.
"Not bad. Continue." Once he finished speaking, he calmly walked past Bai Su and left.
Bai Su was momentarily stunned. Su Ming's calmness made her fly into a rage once again and she ran up to him once more.
"Hey, I drew you!"
"I know." Su Ming did not even slow down. He simply continued walking forward, up the stairs.
"Don't you think it's alike?!" Bai Su continued pestering him.
"No," Su Ming replied flatly.
"If it's not alike, then why did you say it wasn't bad? I think it's very like you." Bai Su jogged towards Su Ming and struggled to keep up with him.
"That's why I told you to continue drawing."
Su Ming returned to the platform outside his cave. Just as he was about to return to his cave, Bai Su's livid voice came from behind him.
"Su Ming, what's the meaning of this? I already dressed myself up as per your request and you agreed to teach me how to draw, but the day has gone by and you taught me nothing." Bai Su stood on the platform and glared at Su Ming.
Su Ming turned around and looked at Bai Su. "Your don't act like her."
"How so?" Bai Su immediately asked.
"Your expression. She's not as noisy as you are," Su Ming said coldly.
Bai Su stared at him, then closed her eyes after a moment. When she opened them again, she turned her back towards Su Ming. She looked at the sky in the distance and lifted her hand to tie up her hair once again before tearing her collar and dragging out the fur over there so that she looked as if she had a ball of soft fur wrapped around her neck.
Once she was done, she lowered her head and tore away a large portion of her long dress. When the dress was torn to shreds and they flew into the wind, the skin-tight long trousers underneath it were revealed, along with the fur boots on her feet.
After that, she turned around and pursed her lips while looking at Su Ming. The disgust in her eyes was no longer there, replaced by a gentle look. The two braids in front of her shoulders moved as she turned around, and it led to the a few locks floating before her eyes.
A wild and untamed feeling seeped out of Bai Su's expressions, her clothes, and her appearance. As snow was brought down by the wind, some of it landed on her hair.
Yet it could not hide the gentleness lying underneath her wild gaze. Her eyes dazed Su Ming once again.
The snowstorm grew bigger, and when it blew between her and Su Ming, everything seemingly turned silent. Only snow remained falling from the sky and only they remained staring into each other's eyes.
"Su Ming, you're back… do you remember me..?" Her gentle voice echoed in the surroundings, as if it had fused with the snow; it silenced Su Ming.
A smile appeared on Bai Su's face. That smile was very pure, beautiful, happy. When she looked at Su Ming, her laughter rang like silver bells. She took a step back and her whole body left the platform. Without the power of Awakening and anything to support her feet, she fell rapidly down the canyons of the ninth summit.
"Su Ming, you're back… but I… left…"
Bai Su continued falling, and a wild glare appeared in her eyes. She did not want to take defeat lying down, she wanted to take the risk! As she fell, she kept her eyes trained on the platform of the ninth summit that was growing further away until she fell on something soft and wind lifted her up, allowing the speed of her falling body to gradually slow down. A pleased expression appeared on Bai Su's face once again.
"I won the first day!"
Su Ming turned around silently and walked to his cave abode. The moment he turn though, he mumbled softly, "She's also similar to you when she was being unreasonable…"
Chapter 277: Cause
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The first true contact between Bai Su and Su Ming ended when the sky became dark and the moon showed up. Bai Su thought she won that day. She thought that she had done her best and successfully made Su Ming notice her, planting a faint mark in his heart.
If she did not win, then why would he look dazed when she met him initially? If she did not win, then why would he use that gentle wind when they parted ways?
Bai Su thought that she had completely won. Her act when she left had even unfolded all the unreasonableness and boldness within her.
When she thought about it, Bai Su could still feel her heart pounding against her chest. She sat down within her cave in the seventh summit and looked at the bronze mirror before her. She looked at her own reflection in the mirror. Gradually, a prideful look appeared on her face.
"Su Ming, you must have not expected me to do this, heh heh."
When Bai Su thought of what had happened, besides her heart starting to race in her chest, a hint of lingering fear also rose within her.
She had no idea what had come over her to do something so crazy. It was as if at that moment she was no longer herself but had turned into someone else entirely.
She looked into the bronze mirror and that person in the mirror became strange and unfamiliar to her. That person had her hair tied by a red string. Her braids fell on her shoulders, and there were crystals stuck on her forehead. This appearance was one Bai Su had never put on before this day.
She looked at herself, and simply continued looking…
"This appearance isn't so bad…"
Bai Su smiled with pursed lips and slowly closed her eyes before immersing herself in her meditation. That day, she did not look for Si Ma Xin. In fact, Si Ma Xin's name never crossed her mind, which was an event that had never happened before.
With a joy that she did not even realize she was experiencing and a smug smile on her lips, she eagerly waited for the next day.
During that night, it was silent on the ninth summit. Zi Che stood respectfully outside Su Ming's cave abode. Before him were a dozen ice rocks the size of fists.
Freezing air seeped out of the ice rocks, and when wind blew past, the freezing air blew into Su Ming's face, causing his eyes to flicker.
"This stone won't melt even when burned, but it's not sturdy. You can use cold air and mold the stone into all sorts of shapes. Master, I didn't have much time, that's why I could only find this number of stones… but don't worry, I will continue searching. Give me a month and I'll be able to gather much more," Zi Che said respectfully. When he saw Su Ming nodding, he retreated a few hundred feet away before sitting down and waiting for new orders.
Su Ming looked at the dozen ice rocks and picked one up. Immediately, he felt the rock weighing down his hand. It was only the size of a fist, but it felt like he was holding onto a mountain that was the height of a human.
"It's such a strange stone, but it has such fatal weakness."
Su Ming clenched his right hand. Cracks immediately appeared on the ice rock and, with a bang, it shattered into several pieces, each piece still weighing far more than their actual size.
Once Su Ming picked up the shattered pieces, he brought out an item from his storage bag with his left hand. Once that item appeared, Zi Che's pupils instantly shrank.
It was a spherical pearl – Spirit Plunder!
Once that pill was brought out, it absorbed all the light in the surroundings and the area became dark, making it seem like there was a void floating before Su Ming.
If a person could see through the dim light outside the pill and into the pill itself, they could clearly see that there were wisps of smoke within that were moving about slowly. At the center of the wisps was an ice flower. There was an enchanting eye floating above the ice flower, and that eye had two pupils!
Su Ming had no access to any cold air that would allow him to change the ice rocks into the shape he wanted, even if most of the people in Freezing Sky Clan trained using cold.
However, Su Ming had Spirit Plunder. A thread of the prodigy Si Ma Xin's Berserker Mark was in the pill. As Su Ming pointed at Spirit Plunder with his left hand, the dim light on the pill instantly vanished and was replaced with the seemingly sealed ice that flowed on top of the wisps of smoke.
The chilling air from the flower wound up Su Ming's left hand. When he pressed his hand on the ice rocks, that cold air spread out and surrounded them.
As the cold air seeped into the stones and gradually fused with the dozen ice rocks, the rocks started shrinking. After the time taken to burn an incense stick, when Su Ming lifted his hand and the cold air dissipated, two hoops made from those dozen ice rocks appeared before him.
The two hoops were of normal size and were very fragile. They could be destroyed if he used the slightest strength, but the weight added together of the two hoops was equal to a small hill.
Su Ming took up the hoops and a grave look appeared on his face. The two were very heavy, but not to the point that he could not lift them up. Yet if he had more pairs of these things, then unless he circulated his Qi, then he would be unable to move them with his physical body.
'I hope you'll be able to help me increase my speed.'
A light flickered in Su Ming's eyes and he placed the two ice hoops on his feet before standing up and taking a step forward.
The moment he took a step forward, the platform shuddered.
'It's still not enough.'
Su Ming walked around back and forth on the platform. Once he found that he was not in too much discomfort, he no longer thought about it and sat down once again. With the moonlight shining on his face, he looked at the moon in the sky and a contemplative look appeared in his eyes.
'I can use ice rocks to increase my speed, but that's only to increase my physical body's speed. It won't help me increase my speed when I fly…
'That's already not part of my physical abilities, but an Art…'
Su Ming looked at the moon in the sky, and a scene gradually appeared in his eyes.
There was a golden light shining in the horizon within that scene. That golden light stirred up a huge gust of wind and traveled 10,000 lis in distance in the span of a breath, approaching the place at a shocking speed before turning into the Golden Roc that was about 10,000 feet in size.
"This is the fastest speed I've ever witnessed!" Su Ming mumbled and closed his eyes.
After a moment, he opened them and brought out the drawing board. He drew a few lines with his right hand and immediately, a Golden Roc appeared on the drawing board before his eyes.
'In regards to my speed, I can use the ice rocks to train my body so it'll be able to resist the pressure brought by faster speeds, which will in turn increase my physical speed!
'Similarly, I can copy the instant the Golden Roc flapped its wings and use it as the second Style in my Picture Creation. By doing so, I'll be able to increase my speed more completely.'
Determination appeared in Su Ming's eyes.
'As for my defense… I have to wait for third senior brother to bring me those Runes before I can begin the tests.'
Su Ming sank into his thoughts once again for a while before he focused his attention and started drawing on the drawing board once again.
He was so absorbed in it that he ignored everything else around him. His entire mind was on the drawing board, and as he drew, multiple flying Golden Rocs appeared on it.
Every single time the Golden Rocs flapped its wings, their feathers would change, their bodies would transform, and under Su Ming's hand, the differences of each individual bird gradually became clearer.
It was the same as when he had copied Si Ma Xin's sword attack. He would continuously copy it to search for his own Creation.
When morning arrived and the morning sun rose in the horizon, Bai Su came once again to the ninth summit.
She was still dressed in that manner and was still smiling while showing her canines. With a proud expression on her face, she walked past Zi Che and stood before Su Ming. She looked at him sitting there with the morning sun shining on him as he drew on the drawing board.
Bai Su stood by the side and watched for a moment but could only see Su Ming moving his finger on the drawing board. She could not see what he drew. In her eyes, that drawing board was empty.
After a moment, she grew impatient.
"Hey, I've been waiting for half a day! Stop pretending I'm not here!"
It was as if Su Ming did not hear her and simply continued drawing. When Zi Che saw this in the distance, he smiled wryly and turned his head around to not watch them anymore. He could not understand Su Ming's actions. If he hated the girl, then why did he let her come here, but if he did not hate the girl, then why did he not choose to see her from the very beginning?
Zi Che could not see through the secrets behind this.
When Bai Su saw that Su Ming still pretended to not have heard her, she let out a harrumph and went forward to snatch his drawing board, yet the moment she wanted to act, for some unknown reason, when she saw the concentrated look on Su Ming's face, her outstretched hand froze.
It was as if she hesitated for a moment, but her hand still seized the drawing board. The instant she touched the drawing board, her hair suddenly floated up and the red string tying up her hair immediately broke, causing her long hair to fall down. Her clothes started flapping viciously as if a violent gust of wind was blowing against her.
Bai Su's face instantly turned pale and a dazed look appeared in her eyes, as if she had lost her soul and it was sucked into the drawing board. Right before her eyes, an unfamiliar world appeared.
She saw a golden light passing by through a dark sky. Once that golden light passed by, another appeared.
She had no idea how long it lasted, but Bai Su saw countless golden lights.
The moment she felt as if she forgot herself and her mind turned blank, an aloof voice seemed to echo within the clouded and indistinct world.
"This is a lesson for you, don't interrupt my training."
After the words, Bai Su felt as if her soul returned and she regained control of her own body. She trembled, and the world before her shattered. Once her vision reassembled itself, she saw Su Ming's eyes.
There was calmness within his eyes, but within that calmness was a might that made her heart tremble. That imposing might in his eyes was one that Si Ma Xin did not possess.
Under his gaze, an indescribable fatigue and weakness spread through her whole body. She staggered a few steps back and her vision blurred. She fell unconscious to the ground.
She fainted because she did not have the divine sense Su Ming had that had surpassed most of those in the Berserker Tribe. With her weak mind, she could not handle the Golden Roc's light that was formed by Su Ming's repeated drawings.
"Send her down. We'll have a few days of peace," Su Ming said slowly, then continued immersing himself in copying the Golden Roc.
Zi Che quickly walked forward. With one wave of his arm, he took Bai Su away from the ninth summit.
Chapter 278: Dream
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Dream
There was a legend that had been around for a long time among the people in the Berserker Tribe. It was said that this legend had been circulating about since the era of the first God of Berserkers.
The legend spoke about the land of the Berserker Tribe before it was divided into five continents a long time ago. In the land far south was a butterfly called Harmonious Morus Alba1. That butterfly was not big, only the size of a palm. She had all the colors in the world and all of them were different.
She flew in the sky but could not be seen by normal people, because she belonged to the world placed even higher than the ninth heaven, a world that was filled with hurricanes.
In the legends, it was said that even though she was a butterfly and had beautiful wings, she could only flap her wings three times in her life. Besides these three times, she would otherwise float in the wind.
The first time she flapped her wings it would be to fly into the place above the ninth heaven once she was born.
The second time she would flap her wings at the peak of her life. It would be to show off those magnificent colors in search of her companions, but she would be unable to find them.
The last time she would flap her wings at the point when her life ended. To leave a mark in the world, she would use all her strength, and the moment she would finish flapping her wings, her body would turn into sparkles of light and scatter to the ground in wind like seeds. These seeds would turn into cocoons, but only one of them would turn into a butterfly.
This legend spoke of the three times the Harmonious Morus Alba flapped her wings. There were also a series of other legends attached to this. It was said that when she flapped her wings the first time, an earth shattering change would happen to the southern lands.
The second flap of her wings would cause a mass of corpses with grey eyes to appear on the eastern lands.
Her third flap would cause the snow in the northern lands to bring about a long lasting night that would last for ten years.
That was the legend.
That was a legend that Su Ming had never heard of before, but Bai Su had.
At night, the unconscious Bai Su woke up in her dreams. She looked at the unfamiliar world before her with a dazed look and stood alone, a lost expression on her face.
She knew that she was dreaming and that everything she saw was an illusion, none of this existed in reality.
Yet she could not truly wake up from the dream and make it disappear.
She could see snow on the ground and more snow falling from the dark sky. It was quiet all around her. There was only one mountain range located in one direction in the distance. Everywhere else was flatland.
That one spot with the mountain range had a mountain that could not be seen clearly because it was covered by the snowstorm. She had a feeling that she had seen that mountain somewhere before. It was a mountain that shot into the clouds like a person's hands stretching out from the ground and wanting to lift the curtain in the sky!
"Where… is this..?" Bai Su mumbled, and she looked more lost than ever before.
In the midst of her confusion, she walked slowly forward. The snow trail under her feet seemed to be time itself, causing her to feel as if she was walking through all four seasons of the world with each step she took. As she continued walking, she arrived at a forest. She had no idea how long she had been in there, but at some point in time, she suddenly heard excited chatter by her ears.
That voice came from afar and caused Bai Su to stop. Instinctively, she moved to the direction of the voices.
Gradually, she passed through the mountain forest and saw something…
It was a large mass of land that did not have any forest. There were a lot of skin tents over there, along with many powerful Berserkers patrolling the area with aloof gazes. There were quite a number of people weaving in and out of the skin tents. That place was a small market.
There were a lot of squares like these in the Land of South Morning so that small tribes could trade with each other.
Bai Su looked at the unfamiliar faces. The chatter she heard sounded real, but when she looked at these people, they could not see her. One of the patrolling Berserkers even passed through Bai Su's body.
"This is…"
She was even more lost.
Yet right when she started feeling lost, she suddenly shuddered. She saw two people running quickly from the forest located not too far away.
One of the two looked very strong and had an honest face. The other person running beside him was also a teenager, but he looked frail. He had a handsome face and his eyes shone with a clear light.
He wore clothes made of beast skins and his features still showed his naivety, but the moment Bai Su saw the boy, she was shaken.
"Su… Su Ming!"
Bai Su's breathing quickened. She had never expected that she would see Su Ming in her dreams!
The Su Ming before her eyes was still a naïve boy. That frail looking person bore similarities to the Su Ming in her memories, but there were many more differences, so many that they seemed completely different people.
Yet at that moment, a delicate voice shouting in anger rang out.
"Lei Chen!"
Bai Su instinctively looked over. When she saw the young girl speaking, a roar echoed through her mind. She saw a young girl, and she was dressed in a shirt made of mink fur. Her long hair was tied up with a red string made of straw and there were small braids falling down her shoulders while glittering crystals decorating her forehead. With anger in her eyes and a frown on her face, she looked at Su Ming's companion, who was standing by his side.
Her appearance made Bai Su fall into a trance.
That was a young girl… with the exact same appearance as Bai Su.
It was the end. The sights froze in Bai Su's eyes and gradually disappeared. She opened her eyes swiftly and sweat beaded on her forehead. She looked around herself and found that she was back in her cave abode.
It was quiet outside. Not a hint of sound could be heard.
Bai Su stared blankly forward, her eyes unfocused. Her mind was still stuck seeing the things in her dream.
After a long while, Bai Su draped a robe over her shoulders and pushed open the door to her abode. The sky was dark, and a gust of cold wind made her feel slightly cold.
She stood outside her cave abode and looked at the dark sky. Under the moonlight, her gaze eventually fell on the ninth summit. As she looked at it, a befuddled and complicated look appeared in her eyes.
"Why did I have that dream..? Are the things in the dream real… or fake..?" Bai Su mumbled.
That same night, as Su Ming repeatedly copied the Golden Roc, at one point, when he drew one particular line, his finger froze and a dreamlike scene surfaced in his mind.
It contained a land where wind and snow continuously blew. The wind was strong and snow floated in the air, obscuring his vision. He could not see too far ahead, but he could still see a young girl about seven to eight years old crying as she ran ahead.
Walking in front of the young girl was a woman who had her back turned towards the young girl and was slowly disappearing into the distance.
"Mama, don't go… Mama, don't you want me anymore..?"
The woman stopped for a moment, but she did not turn back, and then simply continuing walking forward at a brisk pace. Among the snow, the young girl's crying voice was the only sound that could be heard.
When she could no longer run and fell to the ground, she still struggled to get up and tried to continue running forward with tears streaming down her face. She wanted to hold her mother's hand. She wanted to make her mother stay.
Yet that woman continued walking away until her figure could no longer be seen in the snowstorm. The young girl continued crying until she seemed to have used up all the strength in her fragile body and fell onto the snow, unmoving.
The wind blew strongly against her body, causing the young girl to curl into herself. She closed her eyes, and while she continued calling out to her mother in faint whispers, she lost consciousness.
Her right pinky gradually became green—that was the color of flesh being frozen…
Su Ming looked at all of this and did not speak.
Eventually, a man walked out into the snowstorm. The man appeared indistinct in Su Ming's eyes and he could not see his face clearly. He walked to the girl's side and crouched down before gently taking her up and walking into the distance.
"Su Su, come home with papa…"
The scene froze here for Su Ming. As it gradually disappeared, his body shuddered and woke up. He looked at his right index finger which remained frozen on the drawing board. After a short period of bewilderment, he looked at a corner of the drawing board swiftly.
That was the spot Bai Su had touched.
Su Ming let his mind wander for a moment before he brushed the corner Bai Su had touched with his right hand, and a pensive look appeared in his eyes.
'Why did that happen..? Ever since I Awakened, I never dreamed. That voice in my dreams never appeared either… But when I was copying the Golden Roc just now, I fell into a trance.'
Su Ming frowned.
'That dream did not seem fake, and there's no way it appeared out of nowhere. There must be a reason to this!'
Su Ming stayed silent and thought for a long time. When dawn was almost over and the first rays of sunlight started showing signs of appearing, a thought suddenly struck him like lightning.
'Could it be… when Bai Su touched the drawing board yesterday and had that brief instant of contact with my divine sense when I was fully concentrated in my task, it also meant that our memories were connected for a short moment of time..?
'And because of that I had that dream just now!
'The divine sense also has the power to look into other people's memories?'
Su Ming sucked in a deep breath. His eyes flashed, and before the sky was fully bright, he turned into a long arc and left the ninth summit. He charged to the foot of the mountain.
There were plenty of creatures who loved the cold, lurking around the endless ice outside Freezing Sky Clan. Due to the climate of the place, most of these creatures were aggressive.
Su Ming stayed in one particular ice plains for nearly two hours. The sky was already bright by that time, and eight Ice Wolf carcasses lay beside him.
Su Ming lifted his right hand and placed it on the head of one of the living Ice Wolves and closed his own eyes. After a moment, he opened them once again, and the instant he did so, that Ice Wolf shuddered, fell to the side, and died.
Su Ming's eyes shone with curiosity. After a moment of silence, he turned into a long arc and left the place to return to the ninth summit.
Yet the moment he arrived at the ninth summit and stood on the platform outside his cave, he saw Bai Su coming once again. When he saw her, the feeling of familiarity coming from her appearance and expression surpassed that of the previous day.
The beast skin boots, black mink fur coat, straight posture, hair tied up with a red string, and the anger in her eyes along with the frown between her brows…
Under the deliberate disguise, this Bai Su had become exactly the same as the girl she had seen in her dream, no matter her clothes or her appearance!
桑相 is the legendary butterfly. 桑 (sang) is mulberry, and that's the only name for it.
相 (xiang) has a lot of meanings:
1) Appearance
2) Bearing
3) Phase
4) Photo
5) Observe
6) Help
7) Mutual
8) Get along
9) Harmonious relationship (archaic).
After a heck load of thought, Harmonious Morus Alba was chosen, because no matter how I went with word + mulberry, it still sounded ridiculous, so I went for the Latin version of mulberry, which is morus alba, and came up with Harmonious Morus Alba. I mean, imagine Harmonious Mulberry, and then everyone freaking out about Harmonious Mulberry. I can't take it seriously, and it's supposed to be something that can destroy the world once it flaps its wings.
I really, really wanted to go for pinyin, but 1) I wanted to restrict it to strictly human names, 2) unless the word itself only means a surname, like Puqiang Tribe, where Qiang is a surname, 3) or the word means a province and it doesn't make sense in English, like Han Mountain City, which would have been Province Mountain City, I wanted to keep everything in English as much as possible, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.
So… Harmonious Morus Alba it is.
Chapter 279: The Howling Wind before the Storm
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As Su Ming looked at Bai Su, Bai Su too was looking at Su Ming. That morning, the two of them stared at each other on the platform outside his cave.
When Bai Su saw Su Ming hypnotized and bewildered for an instant, she no longer felt pleased with herself. There was only an indescribable feeling within her.
She knew that her dream… might very well have been real.
That frail looking boy in her dream gradually overlapped with the Su Ming before her.
Su Ming looked at Bai Su and walked towards her until he stood right before her. He looked at that familiar face, and after a long while, he lifted his hand and grabbed her right hand, lowering his head to look at it.
This was the first time he touched Bai Su's skin. She shuddered and instinctively struggled, but she could not escape Su Ming's grasp.
Most of the time, Su Ming only took note of Bai Su's face, which was the exact same as Bai Ling's. He had never observed any other part of her body, until now. He looked at Bai Su's right pinky. It might be as white as a pearl, but it was curled up. It… could not straighten out.
Bai Su broke free from his grasp and took a few steps back before she looked at Su Ming with mixed feelings in her heart.
"You… You saw it?"
Su Ming nodded.
Bai Su was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why did this happen?"
When she lifted her head, that complicated look could still be seen in her heart. That finger was her secret. She did not want anyone knowing about it. It was her most vulnerable part, and she had not even told Si Ma Xin about it.
"You should not have interrupted my training…"
Su Ming shook his head and walked past Bai Su before sitting down on the stone outside his cave abode and bringing out his drawing board to resume drawing.
Bai Su stood still for a long while, then for the first time, she turned around quietly. Without making any noise, without becoming proud of herself, without any hint of fury, she left the ninth summit, bringing with her mixed feelings in her heart.
When she left, Su Ming lifted his head and looked in the direction she had left before sighing softly.
'This is your destiny, and also my Creation… This is the path you chose, I didn't force you to… When you can no longer tell who you are, Si Ma Xin will lose.'
Time trickled by without anyone noticing it, and in the blink of an eye, another three months passed by.
There were less than six months left till Sky Mist Shaman Hunt. During those six months, an increasing number of people in Freezing Sky Clan entered their final isolation, begun their final preparations, and occasionally, some Freezing Sky Clan disciples would travel together to go to the affiliated tribes located at the borders of the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky, which were located not too far away from the school itself.
There were quite a number of squares over there, and the disciples could buy some of the things they needed. Some people would even bring a lot of things that were unique to the other parts of the Land of South Morning to trade in those squares.
The Sky Mist Battle that only happened once a decade would also bring about a many new trading squares. They would not only be formed by the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky itself, but would of many outsiders as well.
This was even more so for the Great Sky Mist Battle that only happened once a century. That was why during this period of time, there were two incredibly lively spots in the entire Land of South Morning. One of them was the trading square outside Western Sea Clan, and the other was the trading square outside Freezing Sky Clan.
Almost every day, there would be Freezing Sky Clan disciples going to these trading squares to get the items they needed. And since the amount of people going to them increased, auctions would also be occasionally held. The items that were brought out during these auctions would usually incite a large amount of interest from the crowd.
During the last three months, besides copying the actions of the Golden Roc in flight, Su Ming also trained his body by adding more weight onto himself after a set amount of time. Right now, there were already eight ice hoops on his legs.
The eight hoops were hidden underneath Su Ming's robes and no one knew about them besides him and Zi Che. Every single time the latter watched Su Ming walking as if he was the wind itself, he would feel shocked. He knew clearly just how heavy those eight hoops were. They were as heavy as hills, and under that weight, Su Ming would need to exert a great amount of effort to take a step.
Zi Che could be said to have witnessed everything that had happened to Su Ming after he wore those ice hoops. He had started relaxed, then whenever he added more ice hoops to each leg, he would be unable to take even a step forward. His body would tremble, and he would need to stand still for an entire day before he could marginally get used to it.
When he could walk around with ease with those three ice hoops on each leg, he added a fourth hoop and began a new round of getting used to that new weight. Gradually, those four ice hoops did not feel as if they weighed anything to Su Ming on his legs. It did not matter whether he walked or flew, he could do so at his normal speed.
Yet only Zi Che knew that Su Ming had poured in a large amount of effort to be able to do this. During these three months, he had practically not slept. Besides copying, having black fog surrounding his body and that Divine General Armor of his appearing, Su Ming used all the rest of his time getting used to the additional weights.
During these three months, Su Ming's Divine General Armor would frequently appear. Sometimes, it would gather up and turn into Armor, and at other times, it would scatter around him. Every single time the black fog from his Armor appeared, Su Ming would pour all his attention into using fine control along with his divine sense to start making a series of combinations for his Armor.
These combinations were made according to the dozens of Runes Hu Zi had sent to him two months ago, and the changes were made according to the transformations within those Runes itself. This was that absurd idea Su Ming had had.
If he could not increase the methods he had to defend himself, then he would have to create them himself. The best way was to control the black fog he obtained when he was Awakening was to turn it into various Runes as the black fog was in the process of manifesting into his Armor.
In theory, it was simple, but when it really came down to it, it was difficult. Su Ming had no knowledge whatsoever regarding Runes, so it was hard to make them with the black fog without making any mistakes.
Besides, Hu Zi mostly relied on his natural talent in this area and could not explain the concepts clearly to Su Ming. Su Ming had to rely on himself to understand everything. Fortunately, his Picture Creation allowed him to copy everything in the world, and after spending a large amount of time on it, he had managed to form a Rune as the black fog turned into Armor after a dozen tries since he started.
However, not only was this Rune the most basic of all Runes, the transformations within it were also limited. After the few times it transformed, Su Ming could no longer control it. He would need more precise fine control and a far stronger divine sense before he could perhaps do it.
Nonetheless, Su Ming did not give up. Even if he had only succeeded once out of those dozens of times, and that success was not perfect, once he tested it out, he could clearly feel that the illusionary Divine General Armor's defense had increased by a large amount.
This was a direction for him. When the day came that he could control it perfectly, then his Divine General Armor's defense would be incredibly powerful, even though it had no physical form and was just a mere illusion.
Su Ming had been continuously training and making preparations during these three months. But besides training, Bai Su had also been coming every single day during those three months.
The complicated look in her eyes only appeared for the first few days. Once half a month went by, she seemed to have come around to her thoughts and returned to her unreasonable self. She maintained that particular appearance, and the outside of Su Ming's cave abode would be noisy every single day.
"Su Ming, what exactly are you drawing? I've been watching you draw for several months, but nothing ever comes out!"
"Su Ming, see whether this looks similar, I drew a mountain!"
"Su Ming, can you just lift up your head and talk to me? Has anyone ever told you that you're like a mute?!"
Snow floated down from the sky above the ninth summit. Bai Su sat beside Su Ming and glared at him in rage. There was a piece of black charcoal in her hands and a drawing board that was identical to the one Su Ming had in his hands. She drew on it angrily a few times.
Su Ming did not open his mouth to speak. He remained seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. Black fog surrounded his body and turned into several strange shapes, but they would disappear soon because they could not maintain their shape.
When she saw that Su Ming was not reacting, Bai Su picked up her drawing board and threw it at Su Ming angrily, but the moment that drawing board got close to him, it stopped in midair.
Bai Su stood up and threw the piece of charcoal in her hand at Su Ming as well.
That charcoal also stopped before Su Ming.
Bai Su seemed to be used to this sort of thing happening. She was not at all surprised and took a few quick steps towards Su Ming. She lifted her foot and was just about to kick him, but the moment she lifted her foot, she forced it down once again and glared at Su Ming, who still had his eyes closed, in anger.
She had tried to kick him like this before, but the consequences were horrible.
Yet when Su Ming continued sitting there with his eyes closed as if he did not hear her words, Bai Su could not control her temper. She gritted her teeth and lifted her foot to kick him.
"I'll kick you, you stupid mute. I'll kick you…"
She kicked, but before her foot touched Su Ming, she immediately let out a cry of surprise. As if she was caught by an invisible hand, she floated beside Su Ming with her head downwards… along with her drawing board and charcoal.
"Su Ming, you… you jerk!" Bai Su yelled out, and fury once again burned in her eyes. She tried twisting herself, but she still continued floating with her head pointing downwards.
As she continued yelling, Bai Su could not help but grow tired. As time passed by, she became dizzy and her cheeks became flushed. She decided to shut up, but the anger in her eyes did not go away. In her mind, she continued thinking of ways to deal with Su Ming.
At that moment, a long arc approached the place and turned into Zi Che on the platform. He took a few brisk steps forward to Su Ming's side, and he also saw Bai Su, who was floating upside down.
When Bai Su saw Zi Che looking over, she started yelling again, "What are you looking at?! What's so nice about it?! Haven't you seen this before?!"
Zi Che straight up ignored Bai Su's words. During these three months, he had already gotten used to her tantrums and Su Ming's subsequent punishments for her.
"Master, there are no more ice rocks. I've searched through many places, but I couldn't find them. The trading square at the borders of Freezing Sky Clan have been really lively lately, though. Many of the sect members go there regularly, so there must be ice rocks around.
"Please grant me permission to leave the ninth summit temporarily to go to the square in your place."
"Trading square?" Su Ming opened his eyes. The black fog around him seeped into his body and disappeared.
"The closer Sky Mist Battle gets, the more trading squares like these will appear at the borders between the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky and Freezing Sky Clan. Don't worry, Master, I'll only need half a month to return," Zi Che quickly replied.
"Be careful," Su Ming muttered softly.
He had gained some understanding towards controlling his Divine General Armor's black fog lately and did not want his training to stop because he had to go out. He nodded his head, lifted his right hand, and tapped Zi Che's body, temporarily lifting his restraints.