Chapter 410: Poison Corpse and Clone
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
'Di Tian's projection should have disappeared under the power of the God of Berserkers… But his clone is already so powerful. If he sends another one or comes himself…' Su Ming sat down cross-legged in his cave abode, and when he remembered what happened half a year ago, a dark look settled on his face.
'But if he has such power, then why am I so important to him..? Is there a secret on me or perhaps in Di Tian's heart?' Su Ming had been thinking about this question for a very long time, but he still had not found a complete answer.
"Fei Er…" Su Ming said softly. At the same time he said those two words, while there was no grief in his divine sense, but sorrow rose within his heart and body uncontrollably.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them after some time, anguish surfaced in them.
"Perhaps the greatest sorrow in the world is when you don't even know why you're sad…" Su Ming mumbled softly in anguish. He remembered the stone statue of the girl in the coffin. He also understood that everything in the dream was perhaps real, but… there was still a large part of his memories missing, and it was difficult for him to experience that sort of misery in both his body and soul.
'Without deeply etched memories, even the most familiar people will turn into strangers… but no one can wipe away the body's memories. The pain in my heart is reminding me of the existence of this sorrow… but my mind is calm. It's as if my body and soul are separated.
'Just what is this Destiny?!
'Just what is Di Tian's will?!
'Who am I? Was everything in Dark Mountain really just an illusion..?
'Why… why did elder name me Su Ming..?'
'Destiny… Destiny… Once I control my own fate, then who else can call me Destiny?! No one!' Su Ming lifted his head, and his gaze seemed to have penetrated through the cave abode to look at the sky beyond the seal.
After a long while, he closed his eyes and started forming seals with his hands. The Nascent Soul in his body moved in accordance to the seals and cast the divine ability required to refine puppets. The material for it was that old Berserker.
Time trickled by, and in the blink of an eye, another month passed.
During that time, the small snake kept vigilance and observed the surroundings outside, keeping to Su Ming's orders given to it through his thoughts, acting as a protector.
On this day, the power of the world in Su Ming's cave abode suddenly started churning in waves and turned into a vortex in an instant, absorbing all the power of the world around the area. Even the mountain range started roaring, and this continued for most of the day until two people walked out of the cave abode.
The person walking in front was Su Ming. His expression was aloof and he was dressed in a black robe. Behind him stood the old Berserker, whose gaze was blank. He was covered head to toe in black, and there was a ghastly air emanating from him as he followed Su Ming.
Su Ming stopped outside the cave abode and turned his head back to cast a glance at the old Berserker behind him. A faint glint appeared in his eyes, and he lifted his right hand, formed a seal, then pointed at him. Immediately, dark light shone in the old man's eyes. He took a step forward and threw a fist towards the sky.
That one fist caused a loud rumble to ring in the sky, along with a large amount of ripples. There was also a wave of black fog that spread out as he threw his fist outwards, and it covered an area of seventy to eighty feet. Not too far away, the small snake lifted its head and stared at the black fog with a quizzical look in its eyes.
The old Berserker stood in midair, unmoving.
Su Ming stared at the old man, then shook his head and sighed.
'This person might just be in the initial stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, but he practiced some sort of divine ability that not only made his body really sturdy, he could also split his soul up in several parts and hide them in his body.
'With the Immortals' Art to refine puppets, I can only refine two of his Souls and four of his Spirits [1], I still can't find where he hid that one other Soul and three Spirits of his, or else I would be able to use him to cast divine abilities belonging to the Berserker Soul Realm instead of me being only able to use his physical strength.
'But this is good too. From this Corpse Transformation through All Venom Hong Luo left for me, I can refine a Poison Corpse. I don't need any divine abilities, I just need a strong physical body, because the venom in that body is the best divine ability it has.
'Right now, while I'm only halfway done refining it, but some of the small snake's poison is in his body, and that poison is very domineering. I can use that poison temporarily. Once I run into other sorts of poison in the future, I can let this Poison Corpse absorb it and then slowly refine him into a real Poison Corpse!
'With just a Poison Corpse alone, I might not be able to break that ice just yet. I still need to make more preparations.' Su Ming mulled over his thoughts for some time before he sent out a thought to the Poison Corpse, then he ignored it, returning to his cave abode and isolating himself once again.
The Poison Corpse descended from the sky. It was still covered head to toe in black, but its eyes had become dull once again. It stood outside the cave abode, unmoving.
The small snake in the sky hesitated for a moment before it flew towards the puppet in a flash and laid down on its head while hissing, looking really comfortable.
Time continued trickling by. During these days, Su Ming continued trying to refine Ji Yun Hai's corpse, but every single time he sent his divine sense into Ji Yun Hai's corpse, he could not make his divine sense stay. There was no place for him to leave his Brand there.
Ji Yun Hai's body was empty. Even his organs could not be found. His entire person was like an empty shell, making Su Ming truly puzzled as to how Madam Ji had managed to control it.
He tried a lot of methods, but none of them yielded any results Su Ming stared at Ji Yun Hai's corpse and thought about it for a long time with a frown on his face, but he could only shake his head and sigh.
'Soul Catchers are really mysterious. Madam Ji's puppet is also different from the young Soul Catcher's puppet I saw in the past. Just how did she control this puppet?
'This is clearly an empty shell!' Su Ming frowned. Suddenly, a focused look appeared on his face and he looked towards Ji Yun Hai's corpse swiftly. A brilliant flash gradually appeared in his eyes.
'Empty shell… empty shell…' Su Ming's eyes sparkled. After a moment of pensive silence, he closed his eyes, formed seals with his hands, then tapped on several spots on his body. His entire presence changed, and the small Nascent Soul in him opened his eyes. The spirit in his eyes made it clear that this was indeed Su Ming.
With one move, that small Nascent Soul seeped out from Su Ming's jugular notch, then floated above his head. His body was rather indistinct, as if he would dissipate when wind blew against him. He also shuddered, and it caused shock along with confusion to appear in the small person's eyes.
"The Nascent Soul Cultivators only train their souls. Their bodies are just an empty shell. Their Nascent Souls are their foundations. For a Cultivator, once their Nascent Soul or Nascent Divinity is taken away, it would signify their death. On the other hand, their bodies are less important…" Su Ming's voice tumbled out of that small Nascent Soul. With a dash, it charged towards Ji Yun Hai's corpse and disappeared without a trace.
After a moment, Ji Yun Hai opened his eyes. They were gray, but within the depths of that gray a dark light was flashing. Yi Yun Hai sat up slowly and dipped his head down to inspect his body. After some time, a smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
'Not bad. So I can use puppets like this as well? It must be different from Madam Ji's method though…'
At the same time, Su Ming opened his eyes. Once he met Ji Yun Hai's gaze, a smile appeared on his lips, and at the same time, a rather intrigued look crossed his face.
Su Ming looked at Ji Yun Hai and felt as if he had been split into two. One of them had manifested in Ji Yun Hai's body with his power in the Immortal Tribe, while the other one was his real self, watching himself casting an Art akin to Possession so that he could control Ji Yun Hai.
Su Ming smiled. Ji Yun Hai, who was under the control of his Nascent Soul, also smiled. He got up, and with one move, booming sounds came from another stone chamber. There was a large amount of black beetles there, and they were all waking up, charging towards him.
Su Ming's gaze narrowed, but he did not move. Even Ji Yun Hai, who was under his Nascent Soul's control, did not move. He simply let those beetles approach them and cover up Ji Yun Hai's entire body, making it seem as if Ji Yun Hai had become another person. If no one took a closer look, they would be unable to tell that this body was not made of flesh and blood but by those insects.
'If that's the case, then I can consider this to be another clone for me.' Su Ming's spirits were lifted up. He witnessed the might of Di Tian's projected clone, and now that he obtained this strange puppet as well, his understanding towards the Immortal Tribe increased.
Su Ming was already sitting cross-legged on the ground. With just one thought, a hint of a smile appeared on the dark clone's face and he took a huge step forward before he walked out of the cave abode.
As he watched the clone leave, Su Ming lifted his right hand, and when he turned it over, a crystal the size of a fist appeared in his palm. That was the Wind Crystal of Inheritance. He stared at it, and a strange look appeared on his face.
He had thought of everything he could, but it was simply too difficult for him to fuse with this item. However, during the fight with Madam Ji that day, an idea formed in his head when he saw Madam Ji cast a divine ability when they were fighting against each other.
However, he had lost his consciousness later. Now that he had returned to his cave abode, he could clear his mind and ponder over that idea to see whether it was feasible.
'It doesn't matter whether it's the power of the God of Berserkers or Han Mountain Bell. Even this Immortals' power is just external power to me. I can't rely on them too much. My power as a Berserker alone is the foundation for me to become stronger!'
Su Ming stared at the Wind Crystal of Inheritance for several moments before a strange light shone in his eyes.
'Perhaps this method will work!' He gritted his teeth.
At that moment, his clone walked out of his cave abode under the control of his Nascent Soul. At the instant he walked out, the small snake lying on the Poison Corpse's head immediately looked up, and uncertainty appeared in its eyes.
Su Ming's clone smiled. He swung his right hand at the ground, and the Black Crane tribe leader's corpse flew towards him. With it in his arms, the clone shot into the sky and turned into a long arc to charge into the distance. Once he was close to the seal Hong Luo made around the mountain range, Su Ming's clone lifted his right hand and formed a seal before he pointed at air. Immediately, ripples appeared right in front of them. Su Ming's clone stepped into the ripple and disappeared without a trace.
When he reappeared, the clone was standing in midair. When he dipped his head down, he saw an empty mass of land beneath him, not the mountain range. There was also a fiery red ape squatting down not too far away, and it was looking at him with a flabbergasted look.
When he saw the Fire Ape, Su Ming's clone let out a laugh and joy could be seen radiating off his face. He lifted his right hand and pointed at the Fire Ape. Immediately, ripples appeared in the space before the Fire Ape, revealing the entrance to the cave abode. The Fire Ape was momentarily stunned before it immediately crawled in and disappeared within that entrance.
The smile on Su Ming's clone gradually disappeared, replaced by coldness. He looked towards the direction of Black Crane Tribe, then charged straight towards it!
Translator's Notes
Three 魂 (Hun) and seven 魄 (Po), translated as three Hun and seven Po, but it sounded really odd if I used pinyin, like I'm talking about something else entirely, which is not, so here we have three Souls and seven Spirits.
In Daoism, it's believed that the three Souls and seven Spirits make up a person. The people in Imperial China also believed in this thing.
The three Souls govern your life, your will, and your intelligence.
The seven Spirits are seven emotions: Joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, hate, and desire.
Chapter 411: Black Crane
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The clone looked like an extremely powerful man from the distance. He was about ten feet tall and had no hair. His entire body was black, and there were waves of murderous aura spreading out from him.
That murderous aura came from those black beetles. At the same time, lying within that murderous aura was a dense life force, and hidden within it was a similarly dense aura of death.
The fusion of life and death could be said to be perfect, and it was enough to shock all those who saw it.
This was not a normal puppet. In fact, it could be said that there were a lot of differences between this clone and the other Soul Catchers' puppets. Due to Su Ming's Nascent Soul, the clone looked like a normal person!
As Su Ming's clone moved forward, black fog tumbled about under his feet. Buzzing sounds could be heard faintly, echoing in the air. If anyone lifted their heads to look from the ground, they would definitely be terrified by this scene.
Black Crane Tribe was not far from this mountain range to begin with. Su Ming's clone would be able to reach it very soon with his current speed. Smoke could be seen coming up from Black Crane Tribe's mountain from the sky in the distance. It was noon at that moment. Clearly, the members of the tribe had lit up fire to cook their food.
Some children were still playing, and the warriors stationed around Black Crane Tribe were not on alert. Most of them were lounging around.
The stone statue that looked like a crane at the top of the mountain cast a shade on the land under the sunlight. As time passed by, that shade started moving slowly.
It was peaceful in the entire tribe, but that peace turned into cries of surprise when Su Ming arrived. The children quickly ran back to their houses, and the expressions of the lounging warriors changed drastically as they looked towards the sky in shock.
Su Ming's clone appeared in the sky above Black Crane Tribe with billowing black fog around him. That black appearance and murderous aura that filled his entire body caused the clone's arrival to be met with commotion from Black Crane Tribe.
He looked at the nervous warriors within that small tribe coldly, then flew down, landing on the peak of the mountain, right on top of the head of that gigantic crane.
As he stood there, Su Ming called out in a deep voice, "Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe, come out!"
Almost at the same time Su Ming's clone said those words, several old men immediately rushed out of their own houses from the tribe underneath. There was a thin old man among these people. He held a bone cane in his hand, and with a steely face, he stared at Su Ming. However, that person was feeling rather terrified in his heart.
He had never met Ji Yun Hai before. At that moment, as he saw Su Ming with this appearance, especially that life force and aura of death that filled his entire body, along with that murderous aura, the old man felt as if he could smell the stench of blood in the air.
"Sir, who are you? I am the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe!" The old man took a step forward and tapped the ground with the cane in his hand before he spoke in a low voice.
Su Ming's divine clone smiled coldly. He did not speak, only lifted his right hand to point at the direction below him. Immediately, a dried up corpse appeared behind him and charged towards the old man. It landed on the ground with a bang. That corpse was naturally the tribe leader of Black Crane.
The instant he saw that corpse, the Patriarch's pupils shrank. When the other tribe members beside him saw that corpse, their expressions also changed, and they couldn't help it.
"What is the meaning of this? Who is this? I have never seen him before." The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe gritted his teeth and remarked in a low tone. He had been able to recognize with just one glance that this person was the tribe leader of Black Crane, but he could not admit to his identity no matter what. He could not tell whether this dark man was sent by Madam Ji or by the owner of the mountain range.
Yet no matter who sent him, the Patriarch was not exactly in a position where he could offend either one, which was why he decided to grit his teeth and not admit to his identity.
"It doesn't matter to me whether you admit it or not." A freezing glare appeared in the eyes of Su Ming's clone. He lifted his right hand slowly. This tribe had made him go through all those dangers half a year ago. If Su Ming had not wanted to bring trouble on himself and not destroy this tribe, only choosing to teach them a lesson, then perhaps this would not have happened.
Hong Luo's appearance and the things that happened later might have been extremely meaningful for Su Ming, but it also made him a lot of enemies in the land of the Shamans. The outcome of it all was not exactly very valuable, and there was in no way Su Ming could accept it if the source of it all did not pay for the consequences.
Almost the instant Su Ming lifted his right hand, the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe let out a piercing howl and charged over. Behind him, the other powerful warriors of Black Crane Tribe flew up swiftly and charged towards the close as well.
This was different from White Bull Tribe's restraint. Black Crane Tribe had chosen to attack!
A cold sneer appeared at the corners of Su Ming's lips. He might not have gotten himself completely used to this body, but if he worked together with the black beetles, his battle prowess would increase by a large margin.
At that moment, as the people from Black Crane Tribe rushed over, Su Ming let out a cold snort. Immediately, a deafening buzz stirred up around him. Then, as if his body was dissolving, the black beetles scattered away and flew up. At the same moment they turned into a black fog, they charged towards thee incoming members of Black Crane Tribe with hisses and killing intent.
At the same time, the true appearance of Su Ming's clone was revealed. The dried up body and gray eyes made all those who saw him feel terrified.
Shrill cries of pain instantly spread through the attackers. Those people who had rushed over were enveloped by a large amount of black beetles. Blood gushed all over the place from their bodies. They no longer rushed forward, but chose to quickly retreat.
Su Ming watched everything aloofly while standing on the crane's head. He lifted his right hand and made a seal before pointing in the direction before him. Immediately, the power of the world around him rushed to him with a boom, gathering up into a gigantic sword before him. He lifted that sword and swung it down in the direction below him.
The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe let out a low growl and pushed his hands forward to crash into the incoming sword. His body shuddered, and a purplish red hue appeared on his face, but he managed to keep that sword in midair.
There was not a hint of change on the clone's face. He only said one word coldly.
"Explode!"
Once that word was spoken, the sword suddenly exploded and stirred up a whirlwind that swept through the area. The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe coughed out a mouthful of blood and tumbled backwards.
The instant it happened, Su Ming's clone took a step forward and disappeared. The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe saw this with his own eyes, and a bad feeling immediately rose in his heart. As he turned around, his pupils shrank. He saw a finger coming swiftly to tap at the center of his brows.
That life threatening crisis made the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe bite his tongue and cough out a huge mouthful of blood. His body rapidly withered away and he looked as if he had aged several dozens of years in an instant. His face was covered in wrinkles and his presence weakened. When Su Ming pierced through the center of his brows, his body started scattering away. Clearly, this was just an afterimage.
The old man's body reappeared several hundreds of feet away. His face was ashen and there was fear in it. Shrill cries of pain rang nonstop all around him. All the warriors in the tribe were surrounded by the invincible black beetles. Those bugs were mysterious insects that Ji Yun Hai had personally refined in the past. It could be said that these bugs had also given him that fiendish reputation in the Shaman Tribe.
There was in no way such a small tribe like this would be able to kill these bugs so easily. After all, even Su Ming had only been able to make these bugs fall asleep once he isolated Ji Yun Hai's body.
"Sacred Progenitor of Black Crane, I offer my blood to you as a sacrifice, please awaken!"
When the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe saw his tribe's warriors dying, his eyes became bloodshot. He tore open his chest ferociously and ripped out his own heart right before Su Ming without caring about his blood flowing out nor his life force gradually diminishing. That heart was still beating as the old man held it high above his head.
A sharp look appeared on Su Ming's face. Immediately, he heard a large number of voices crying out similar words by his ears. Those people who were fighting against the black beetles imitated the old man's actions with madness on their faces. They tore open their chests, ripped out their hearts, and held them high in the air.
"Sacred Progenitor of Black Crane, please receive our offerings and awaken… Bring down sacred punishment on this person!"
The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe coughed out a mouthful of blood. The instant he finished speaking, cracks appeared on the gigantic crane statue at the top of Black Crane Tribe's mountain. Rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, and the stone on the statue turned into numerous fragments that shot out everywhere. At the same time, a black figure flew up from the shattered stone statue, turning into a huge black crane that was one hundred feet in-size!
With a screech, that crane turned into a ray of black light that charged straight towards the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe. It bit down on his heart and swallowed it. Once it did so, the black light shone once again, and in the span of a few breaths, the crane devoured all the offered hearts, then with a chilling gaze, it looked towards Su Ming.
"You're just a puppet at the Berserker Soul Realm. You're not fit for me to attack you. Leave, or else I won't mind making you stay and have you become my toy!" As that cold voice came from the black crane's mouth, an incredibly powerful presence swiftly spread around. That presence was so powerful that it made the weather change slightly, and even the clouds looked as if they had become duller.
Su Ming's pupils shrank. He stared at the gigantic black crane, and uncertainty rose in his heart.
"Sir Sacred Progenitor, you can't let him leave!' The old man who had lost his heart was strangely not dead. He was lying down by the side at that moment, struggling to speak.
"Hmm? All right. I'll give you the span of ten breaths. If you don't leave, then I might change my mind and make you stay. I'll have you know that it's been several tens of thousands of years since I last killed someone." The presence within the gigantic black crane increased once again. It looked at Su Ming in a manner of a person looking down on someone else as it spoke slowly.
Su Ming's eyes sparkled, then he spread his divine sense swiftly to envelope the area, also scanning through the big crane before he eventually gathered it at the small remaining stone left from the shattered stone statue on the mountain.
"Divine sense!" The expression of the gigantic black crane changed. When it saw Su Ming staring at the remaining half of the stone statue, panic immediately appeared in its eyes, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye, turning instead into ghastliness.
"You're not leaving? Fine! Then stay!" As the huge crane spoke, its presence became stronger once again. Rumbling sounds rang in the air. The wind and clouds tumbled about, and its body grew larger once again, making it now look one thousand feet in size. Its voice was like a tidal wave that spread in all directions.
Yet Su Ming turned a deaf ear to its words and did not even spare it a glance. He walked towards the remaining half of the stone, lifted his right hand, and placed his hand on it.
"You… What are you doing?! Stop! Let's talk peacefully, bro…"
Chapter 412: Small Chick…
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Su Ming pressed down on that remaining half of the stone statue, cracks immediately appeared on it. As cracking sounds appeared along with the spread of the cracks, the black crane that had already become one thousand feet big charged towards Su Ming with a huge gust of wind from behind him.
"I gave you a wide path to tread, but you didn't take it. There was no road leading to hell, but you forced your way into it. I'm going to kill you!" With a ferocious expression, the one thousand feet black crane closed in on Su Ming with its gigantic body in a instant, bringing with it a murderous aura. With a flap of its wings, that strong gust of wind immediately forced the people on the ground to be pushed back incessantly.
However, when that wind fell on Su Ming, it only managed to make him stop for a moment and did nothing else. He turned his head around and cast a glance at the one thousand feet black crane, then lifted his right hand and struck down the cracked half of the stone statue.
The instant, his palm struck, the eyes of the Nascent Soul in Su Ming's body sparkled. A mighty power surged from his arm into the stone statue with a bang.
The stone statue immediately shattered in pieces and the fragments shot in all directions, but there was nothing in there. Su Ming could not help but frown.
He had scanned that statue with his divine sense previously, and had clearly felt a faint wave there. It was this wave that stirred up the power of the world in the area and made it turn into that big crane in midair.
"Hmph, fine. Your Grandpa Crane will give you one more chance. If you leave immediately, then I will let this slide, if you don't… then don't blame me for attacking you. I'm telling you, I'm very powerful!" The one thousand feet crane seemed to have let out a sigh of relief and stared at Su Ming in midair while speaking sternly.
Su Ming's eyes sparkled. He turned around swiftly, and with one step, he arrived at the previously shattered rock at a lightning fast speed. He grabbed one of the stones, then the illusionary shadow of a palm appeared on his right hand. With one squeeze, that illusionary shadow also seized that rock, and with a bang, that rock immediately shattered. There was nothing inside.
But Su Ming did not stop there. In a flash, he arrived at another rock, then did the same thing he'd done previously—he crushed it again.
"You bully!" Panic and terror rose in the one thousand feet large crane in the sky. It looked as if it was beyond rage. With a flap of its wings, it let out a piercing screech.
"You must think I'm full of empty threats, that's why you're not scared. All right, looks like I have to go back on the promise I made years ago. Once I beat you up, let's see whether you still think that way!" As the one thousand feet crane cried out shrilly, it started spinning in midair, and as it did so, black feathers instantly shot out from the vortex.
Su Ming had his hand around a stone at that moment. Once he crushed it, he immediately felt something dangerous charging towards him. He did not turn his head back but took a step forward and his body immediately disappeared.
When he reappeared, he was already a hundred feet away from his previous spot. With a bang in the sky, the ground trembled, a countless number of rocks and dust rolled down the mountain, and a gigantic pit formed below.
At the same time, feathers flew out swiftly from that deep pit. They whistled as they flew into the air and charged towards Su Ming.
"Heh heh, now you see how powerful I am, right? Well, even if you want to leave now, it's too late!" There was smugness in the crane's voice coming from the sky. At that moment, it changed once again and transformed into a vortex. This time, even more feathers charged out and went towards Su Ming.
The entire sky was practically filled with black feathers. All of them were incredibly sharp, and as they whistled in the air, they chased after Su Ming. His clone's gray eyes sparkled. He did not manage to dodge those feathers chasing after him even after several warps.
In fact, as he continued dodging, there were already seven to eight feathers that had managed to pierce his body. They quickly melted and turned into wisps of black smoke that seeped into his body, going straight for his Nascent Soul.
Su Ming let out a sharp cry. His body flashed once again and he reappeared on the ground. The feathers in the sky came after him. The instant they charged towards him from midair, he stretched his arms out wide, and immediately, the black beetles turned into black clouds that came towards him in an instant.
Before those feathers managed to pierce through Su Ming, the black beetles had already covered his entire body, causing the clone to return to being covered head to toe in black, regaining his tall and big man's appearance.
Booming sounds shot up once again, and the feathers fell on Su Ming's body like rain, causing the ground beneath his feet to shatter because of it. The earth sank in, and Su Ming also fell into that pit, sinking further and further down. The feathers stabbed his body, turning into black smoke that tried to seep through the dense black beetles and crawl into him.
In the blink of an eye, booming sounds from the pit filled the air. When all the feathers disappeared, the members of Black Crane Tribe who had witnessed everything immediately cheered.
The large crane in midair also looked incredibly pleased with itself. It flapped its wings and let out a few fake coughs.
"Due to the promise I made in the past, I originally did not want to injure him heavily, but this person did not appreciate my kindness. Oh well, remember to offer me more sacrifices. I'm tired now. I need to…"
As the large crane spoke, its voice suddenly died down, and it narrowed its eyes to the point that it looked as if it wanted to squeeze its eyeballs out of its sockets. It whipped its head around to look at the pit underneath.
Right before its eyes, it saw a pressure spreading from the pit, and it was soon followed by a brilliant flash. As that light shone, a small person about the size of a palm could be seen floating within!
That person's face was dark and he no longer bore Ji Yun Hai's appearance. That small person was naturally Su Ming's Nascent Soul!
The body of this type of Nascent Soul was something the people of Black Crane Tribe had never seen before. Once they saw it, they were all taken aback, and the Patriarch, who had lost his heart but was still alive, also widened his eyes.
"Nascent Soul! You're an Immortal! Damn it! How dare a Nascent Soul like you fly out at your level? Go back! Do you know that just a gust of wind of Yin and your Nascent Soul will shatter? Y-Y-You… Go back!" the large crane immediately cried out in a panic.
Su Ming's Nascent Soul floated out of the pit, and with sparkling eyes, he looked at the screaming crane. The crane was greatly different in his eyes now. It was just an illusion, and only the black feather in its body was real.
Ignoring the black crane, Su Ming immediately lowered his head and swept his gaze through the land with a dark light in his eyes. Then with one step, he immediately warped away. When he reappeared, he was already on a broken stone located not too far away. He seized at the air with his tiny hand, and immediately, that stone charged towards his palm.
"Bro! Let's have a proper talk! Don't…" The large crane immediately cried out, and as it screamed, before Su Ming managed to catch the stone that was being sucked to his hand, that stone exploded and shattered on its own. A black ray of light flew out from within, and inside that light was a small black crane that was the size of a fist.
The small crane looked incredibly cute. It did not have a lot of feathers, only a few. At first glance, it did not look like a crane, but instead was more like a long-necked chick that had its feathers plucked out.
At that moment, the small crane looked like it was in a state of panic. It charged forth, as if it wanted to run away, but with a glint in his eyes, Su Ming's Nascent Soul swiftly gave chase. The small crane let out a shrill cry, and it became much faster, charging straight towards the large crane in the sky.
At the same time, the large crane in the sky shuddered and its body instantly began fading away, eventually turning to a feather, and when the small crane wanted to seize it with its mouth…
Su Ming's Nascent Soul opened his mouth wide and a ray of green light shot out. It was naturally the small virescent sword, and it was charging at a speed much faster than Su Ming's to appear before the small crane.
The few feathers on the small crane's body immediately stood up. It let out a shrill cry and no longer bothered about that black feather. With one turn, it ran off into the distance swiftly, and with just a few flashes, it disappeared without a trace.
Su Ming's Nascent Soul grabbed the black feather, then fixed his gaze at the spot where the small crane disappeared, quickly giving chase.
"Damn it, I am the Sacred Beast of Celestial Dao. I could have killed a puny Nascent Soul Cultivator like you with just one breath. Now, the cranes have fallen, and the land of the Berserkers is being trampled by others. Y-Y-You… Just you wait!"
The small crane immediately shot forth and avoided that ray of green light that charged by its side. It shuddered in fear, and its pathetic look made it seem even more like it was a long-necked small chick that had lost its feathers… It became even faster.
Su Ming's Nascent Soul was right behind and continued with his relentless pursuit. He had already naturally seen through the strangeness of the crane. It should be from the Immortal Tribe, and now that he ran into it, he would definitely not let it go so easily.
"You were the one who forced me. I'll… I'll fight you!"
When the chick saw Su Ming closing in, it found that the green rays were becoming more frequent, and coupled with the dejection it felt, along with its very important feather being snatched away, that small chick… The more the small crane thought about it, the more upset it became. At that moment, it turned around and madness blossomed in its eyes.
"Celestial Dao, Sacred Light!" it cried out in a shrill voice, opening its mouth wide to breathe out a puff of air at Su Ming. That puff of air was invisible, and the instant it was exhaled, a strong light shone out of nowhere.
The power of the world around them was absorbed towards them, causing the ray of light to shoot through hundreds of thousands of feet as if it was the sun. It did not rush towards Su Ming but exploded abruptly between the two of them!
There were no booms, only an almost violent gust of wind blowing past. There was a powerful propelling force contained in that wind, pushing Su Ming's Nascent Soul back. At the same time, the small crane also let out a shrill cry of pain. It was pushed back, causing its speed as it escaped to increase exponentially, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared.
"When did this damn Sacred Light of Celestial Dao become so weak?! I wasn't boasting earlier, I could destroy a world with just one breath, but now, I can't even kill a small Nascent Soul Cultivator… Just you wait!
"I'm a bird that holds onto my grudges! A lot! Immensely" As the small crane left, its voice also gradually became weaker. As for Su Ming, he was pushed back by that violent gust of wind, and his Nascent Soul was left several tens of thousands of feet away. He executed several warps and only then did he manage to avoid the impact of the force. Yet even so, his Nascent Soul had already become quite transparent because of it.
He stood in midair, not bothered by the transparent condition and weakness of his Nascent Soul. Instead, Su Ming stared in the direction the small crane had ran off to, then after some time, he let out a cold harrumph and turned around to leave.
Chapter 413: Crystal Fusion!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe was now ashen pale. He stared at the sky with a blank look and a bittersweet smile appeared on his lips. He knew that he would definitely die, and he could not blame anyone for this. If it was not because of his own greed over the Shaman Crystals that caused him to try and destroy White Bull Tribe, he would have not brought such a disaster on his own head.
By his side, most of his tribe members who had offered up their hearts had died. The remaining few old people were by the Patriarch's side, and their faces were ashen, their presences weak.
"Patriarch, please cast the Spell quick. We're begging you. Don't stall anymore. We have to cast the Spell quick, according to the Spell our ancestors left for us. You won't die…" There was a middle-aged man kneeling before the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe at the moment, and that man was speaking anxiously.
"I have to die. If I don't die, then their grudges won't disappear… If I can buy the tribe's peace with my death, then there is at least value in my death!
"This is my fault… I shouldn't have been greedy for the Shaman Crystals… Ha…" the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe said in a pained voiced. He had lived for a long time and was the Patriarch of a tribe, so he was definitely not a stupid person. He knew perfectly well that this time he had to die!
"Patriarch!" Sorrow filled the middle-aged man and the other tribe members' faces.
"Enough, this is already decided! Once I die, take out the three sacred feathers of our tribe and offer it to the man… Use them in hopes for exchanging for the tribe's safety… and then… take our people away. We will have to migrate before the date.
"From now on, you are the Patriarch of your tribe…" Blood poured down from the Patriarch's lips as he looked at the middle-aged man kneeling before him.
Grief was clear on the man's face. He did not speak.
"Remember this. Do not think about taking revenge…" The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe gave a broken smile and he fell to the side, dead.
He could originally live, but he could not. He could have not died, but for the tribe, he had to die.
As he died, the old men who had lost their hearts also breathed their last. Most of the powerful Shamans in Black Crane Tribe were gone.
When Su Ming's Nascent Soul returned, he saw the Patriarch's corpse and the members of Black Crane Tribe kneeling down on the ground under the lead of a middle-aged man once they saw him.
With a calm expression, Su Ming charged towards the deep pit in the ground. After the burning of an incense stick, his clone slowly flew up from the pit.
"Sir, please forgive us… We are willing to offer you our tribe's sacred items…" Once Su Ming flew out, with sorrow on his face, the middle-aged man from Black Crane Tribe lifted his arms high in the air. There was a stone plate in his hands, and there were three black feathers on it.
There were waves of pressure spreading from those three feathers. Yet compared to the feather Su Ming obtained previously, they were insignificant.
Su Ming swept his gaze past the three feathers coldly. He did not look at the middle-aged man but towards the dead Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe.
He remembered that the old man had not died when his heart was eaten by the small crane. Clearly, there was some sort of secret in Black Crane Tribe's offering that allowed the people who made sacrifices to continue living.
However, the old man still died… Su Ming closed his eyes. When he reopened them a moment later, understanding appeared in his eyes.
"He paid the price, so I'll let it go!" Su Ming averted his gaze and looked towards the normal tribe members in the tribe. Then he walked towards the air and turned into a long arc that gradually disappeared into the horizon.
He did not take the three feathers. Those things were useless to him, but to a small tribe that lost most of their powerful warriors, the use of those feathers was great.
Su Ming was not the type to kill everyone and spare no one. His grudge had disappeared when the Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe and the other powerful warriors died.
Su Ming sat in his cave abode in the mountain range and held the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in his hands. There was a long gash on his arm. The blood there had dried up, and there was a variety of emotions on his face.
If anyone took a closer look, then they could see that the size of the Wind Crystal of Inheritance had shrank slightly!
"When Madam Ji brought out the red ring that day, she took it out from a bone. With that method, she managed to use the ring…
"Else, she wouldn't have had to suffer so much and could have just put it on her finger," Su Ming mumbled under his breath.
"I tried putting this thing in the gash on my arm earlier, and when I circulated my Qi, I managed to absorb some of it… but I only managed to absorb a little of it. It wasn't particularly useful…" Su Ming held the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in his hands in a tight grip, then gritted his teeth.
'Oh well, I'll try it with my original idea, but I won't do it here. We're at room temperature here. If I use this method, I'll lose too much blood.' Su Ming stood up and took a deep breath before he lifted his head to look at the Fire Ape crouching and leaning against a wall. His lips curled up in a smile.
The Fire Ape also looked at Su Ming and bared its teeth as if it was smiling at him. It looked rather excited.
He walked up and patted the Fire Ape's head, then walked out of his cave abode.
Once he walked out, the small snake on the Poison Corpse's head immediately looked towards him.
Su Ming fell into a moment of pensive silence, then gave up on bringing the Poison Corpse on his journey. He sent out a thought and comforted the small snake before walking out of the mountain range towards the frozen Gate to the Void floating in the air.
Standing next to the Gate to the Void, Su Ming closed his eyes, as if he was waiting for something. After a moment, ripples appeared in the sky, and his clone appeared to stand behind him.
Su Ming opened his eyes and lifted his right hand to press against the frozen Gate to the Void. Immediately, the layer of ice shattered slightly. Once a crack showed up, Su Ming moved inside. His clone followed behind him, and with a flash, he disappeared along with Su Ming and the Gate to the Void.
The deep parts of the black seawater and the endless glacier were still as dark as ever. There were numerous living beings sealed in the glacier, keeping their former appearances of when they were alive. They looked as if they were struggling.
The silence around the area seemed to have been there for countless amount of years. The only things that would appear in that black seawater were the occasional creatures of the sea swimming past the area.
In an ice mountain above the glacier was a frozen gate. At that moment, as that gate shone with a dark light, two figures appeared. Naturally, it was Su Ming and his clone!
Once they appeared, they did not move, and it was clear that they were also frozen. It would not be until a few days later when the ice cracked and shattered that Su Ming and his clone would be able to move about in that ice mountain.
The freezing air chilled Su Ming's bones, and he felt as if his flesh and blood were about to freeze. The circulation of his blood had become a lot slower. His clone stood by the side. With those black beetles around,coupled with the fact that this puppet was originally dead to begin with, it was only natural that he did not fear the cold. As his aura of death fused with the freezing air, he could move around with much more nimbleness and ease compared to Su Ming.
His eyes shone brilliantly, and he was prepared to protect his host.
Su Ming sat down on the ice in the area where he could move around with no problems. He closed his eyes and waited for a few hours. When his body was almost frozen, he opened his eyes, and as he lifted his right hand, the Wind Crystal of Inheritance appeared.
At the same time, his clone opened his mouth and spat out a ray of green light that turned into a small sword. That sword charged towards Su Ming under the control of his Nascent Soul.
With a bang, the small sword stabbed Su Ming's back. The frozen body caused Su Ming to be numb towards the pain and to be at ease with it. He only frowned slightly but did not make a sound.
The small sword stabbed into his back and started cutting apart his flesh downwards, revealing a small part of his spine inside!
Blood spilled out and seeped into the ice. Due to the freezing air, there was not much blood. However, even if the body was frozen, the pain still made Su Ming's breathing quicken.
There were four vertebrae on Su Ming's spine that were shining with a blue light. Those were his Berserker Bones. As the small sword stabbed into his flesh, a glint appeared in the clone's eyes. He lifted his right hand, and the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in Su Ming's hand floated and circled above his head once before charging straight to his back, plunging itself deep into the opened wound. Once it touched the fifth vertebrae on Su Ming's spine, the crystal stuck itself closely there.
Su Ming's face was pale. His entire body might be frozen, but there was still sweat beading on his forehead. However, there was determination on his face. His right hand was trembling when he lifted it up. He seized at the air, and immediately, half of the Lightning Crystal of Inheritance appeared in his hand.
He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth. Immediately, that Lightning Crystal of Inheritance shone and flew up to plunge into the wound on his back, right at his sixth vertebrae. When Su Ming forced both of the Crystals of Inheritance into his body as if he was planting them in himself, he closed his eyes and dispersed the power he was using to resist the cold. His body was slowly covered by ice, and eventually, his entire body froze up, and he turned into an ice statue.
Su Ming's clone sat by the side and observed the surroundings vigilantly, protecting his host.
Time trickled by. Su Ming had no idea how long he would need to complete this slightly insane action of his. In fact, if he did not have his clone by his side, it would be difficult for him to do this. The slightest lapse of attention when he was doing this would perhaps make him freeze to death in his weakness.
Due to his Nascent Soul, his clone could sense his host's condition. Once in a while, he would send a warm wave of power into Su Ming's body, causing him to remain alive while encased in ice. He would be in a state of life and death, which would cause the blood on his back to slowly freeze up so that he could gradually absorb the Crystals' power and gain an epiphany towards them.
At that moment, Su Ming's back looked horrifying. His spine was partially revealed and his flesh was ripped apart. There was a small amount of blood flowing out, but his flesh and blood were slowly growing back and recovering.
However, even if he was recovering, the protruding Wind and Lightning Crystals of Inheritance still looked horrifying.
Yet as time passed by and as the wounds slowly recovered, the Wind Crystal of Inheritance from the two protruding crystals gradually shrank…
Su Ming still had his eyes closed. As pain showed on his face, confusion would sometimes show as well, and occasionally, he would look like he was thinking hard about something, and at other times, he would look delighted…
The Wind Crystal of Inheritance became smaller… right until one day sometime in the future, the protruding Wind Crystal of Inheritance had shrank by a large half. The remaining part might still be protruding from Su Ming's back, but if no one took a closer look, it would be difficult for them to notice it.
On this day, in Su Ming's mind, a storm stirred up… and it was the storm of inheritance!
Chapter 414: Three Styles of Wind Separation!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was a layer of fog in the gray sky, and there seemed to be a sea of clouds tumbling about in the area. No one would be able to tell whether this was the sea of the sky, or whether it was the sea of the ground at just one glance.
Su Ming could not sense his own body. It was as if he had turned into a gust of wind in the sea of clouds and floated in the world, not knowing where he wanted to go…
Perhaps a long time had passed, or perhaps it had just been a moment. Su Ming, whose mind was a little muddled at that point, suddenly saw a long-haired man sitting in the endless sea of white and gray clouds before him.
That man was tall and thin. He was dressed in green and his hair was very long. He might not look handsome, but there was an elegant grace about him, especially his long and narrow eyes. They looked like the eyes of a woman, and those eyes that seemed like they belonged on a phoenix was an unforgettable sight.
At the same time Su Ming saw this man, the man slowly opened his eyes, and a brilliant light shone within them.
"You came, my scion."
Su Ming's mind trembled. His slightly muddled mind suddenly cleared up, and he remembered that he was absorbing the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in the glacier. He also remembered the storm that stirred up in his head at the end, along with himself appearing in this sea of clouds like a spirit once that storm was over.
"This sort of inheritance is only privy to the first scion. You will be the only one who can see me… The scions after you will not see me, but they will see you," the man with the long and narrow eyes stated slowly in a gentle voice.
"I am the Wind Berserker. I have become a Saint after understanding the power of wind. I fought with the God of Berserkers against the ninth great timeline in the great World containing all regions. Everywhere we went, there was no one who did not dare worship us…
"Now, what remains in this place is a fragment of my will that I left behind when I was about to leave the ninth timeline in the great World with the God of Berserkers to search for other timelines in hopes of seeking a chance for a breakthrough. I left the fragment behind so that the future generation may inherit my title as the Wind Berserker.
"The power of the Wind Berserker changes all the time and it can't be inherited in one go. That's why I separated it into three divine abilities. If you can master them all, then you will have understood a fifth of what it means to be the Wind Berserker.
"The first of the three styles of Wind Separation is Sun Genesis!" The man with the long and narrow eyes spoke slowly, and the moment he said those last words, his eyes sparkled. He lifted his right hand and waved it at the sky above the sea of clouds.
"Push aside the clouds in the sky, and you can make the sea of clouds stir, you can make the sun reveal itself. All you need to activate the power of Sun Genesis is wind!"
As his words echoed in the air, the sea of clouds started tumbling ferociously and turned into a giant vortex. With the man as the center, the vortex encircled such a huge area that it seemed endless, and with booming sounds, it started spinning.
Su Ming stood by the side and watched the sea of clouds spinning. He could even imagine that if anyone looked up from the ground at that moment, they would definitely find themselves witnessing a terrifying sight - a sight where all the clouds in the sky started spinning and turning into a vortex.
"Where does wind come from?" The man with the long and narrow eyes smiled.
"Wind comes when I wave my arms, and I channel it to the sky to move the sea of clouds. When the sea of clouds turns into a vortex, the wind will come back several times stronger!
"More accurately speaking, Sun Genesis is divided into three levels. The first is Wind Propelling, the second is Wind Borrowing, and the final level is… Sun Genesis!"
The man with the long and narrow eyes clenched his right fist, and the instant he formed that fist, the sea of clouds around them that had turned into a vortex, with a rumble, rushed towards the man. Eventually, as Su Ming's mind trembled, he saw the vortex disappearing into the man's right fist!
It was as if the entire process of him clenching his fist happened during the instant the endless sea of clouds rapidly gathered towards him.
It was just as if the man was holding the endlessly rotating sea of clouds in his right hand!
It was as if he now held the boundless power of the wind in the world in his hand.
"Sun Genesis!"
With his right fist, the man punched forward gently, seemingly without any power, but when that punch was delivered, a violent gust of wind that could not be described with words erupted forth. It felt as if a shocking thunder had crackled during a quiet dawn, as if the a storm spanning one hundred thousand feet had erupted on the quiet surface of a sea, as if an ear-splitting boom had resounded in a meadow!
The violent gust of wind turned into a wind dragon. As it roared, it charged out and tore through the sky, causing a gigantic pit to appear in the air. The wind dragon roared, then crawled into the pit and disappeared.
"The second style, Lunar Burial!" The Wind Berserker narrowed his eyes, and a green glare appeared within them.
"I personally like this style a lot. I didn't create this style on my own either. I gained an epiphany for it from an ancient legend. I also went to a lot of ancient ruins to examine them so that I could finally produce this ancient legend.
"I believe that this Art had existed since the beginning but was only lost in time. I am merely restoring it slightly. In older times, there was a legend that said that when the Ancients die, they are not buried in the sky or the earth. They are instead buried in the wind. The wind is their coffin…"
A smile appeared on the man's lips, but it looked rather sinister. He pointed at the ground with two fingers of his right hand.
When Su Ming lowered his head to look, the ground underneath suddenly turned indistinct. It did not last long, and the ground became clear once again. But once it became distinct, what appeared before Su Ming was no longer the ground he'd seen previously. Instead, it had turned into a place filled with people.
A large number of people whose clothes and appearances could not be seen clear were now on the ground. They all prostrated themselves and Su Ming heard words he could not understand coming out from their mouths in the form of buzzing sounds. From the sky, he could see that these people numbered to several tens of thousands.
They stood close to each other and formed a gigantic circle. The center was empty except for a gigantic wooden tower. At the top of the tower was a bound corpse that hung high in the sky.
"Look closely, my scion!" the man with the long and narrow eyes suddenly said. Su Ming immediately looked down with rapt attention, forcing down his shock, not shifting his eyes from the spot.
The tens of thousands of people surrounding the giant wooden tower on the ground started moving slowly. All of them were walking and looking at the sky. It was as if the circle they had formed was spinning. This scene sparked curiosity in Su Ming's heart.
He could not tell just what sort of connection these people's actions had with Lunar Burial. However, as time passed by, the tens of thousands of people on the ground gradually stopped walking slowly and started running. The tens of thousands of people running altogether caused the circle to start spinning even faster.
'Could it be that the vortex is formed when the people run, and that's how they form wind?' A sharp glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes.
As the tens of thousands of people ran, a wave of hot air spread from all these people. This was a wave that naturally came to be as their Qi circulated in their bodies. Perhaps the hot air from a singular person would not be much, but when tens of thousands of people ran together, it would look incredibly distinct.
Once that hot air spread from their bodies, it started floating into the sky slowly.
At the same time, several hundreds of people immediately shot up from the running crowd and charged into the sky to stand above the bound corpse on the gigantic wooden tower. These hundreds of people sat down cross-legged over there, and a chilling aura spread from their floating bodies. That chilling air immediately spread through the area, causing the place to abruptly turn cold.
What happened next took Su Ming completely by surprise. With his own eyes, he saw the chilling air that was seeping out of these hundreds of people descend to the area underneath, and during that process, that chilling air instantly clashed with the hot air floating upwards.
The instant they clashed, a violent gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, stirring up sharp whistling sounds. At the same time, the tens of thousands of people on the ground opened their mouths and shouted one word.
"Burial!"
The voice shook the sky, causing the tens of thousands of people to run even faster, and more hot air spread from their bodies. The hundreds of people sitting cross-legged and floating in the sky also opened their eyes at that moment and roared simultaneously!
"Lunar!"
The moment they shouted, a larger amount of chilling air spread out and descended to the area underneath. Once it clashed with the hot air, the wind started interacting as if they were convecting heat, and it gave birth to stronger wind. The wind swept past the land and blew against the corpse bound on the gigantic wooden tower, causing the dead man's blood and flesh to rapidly dry up from that indescribably man-made wind, eventually turning into skin and bones, ending up as a dried up corpse.
That was not the end, as the words 'Burial' and 'Lunar' were repeatedly shouted, the wind became stronger, and after an unknown amount of time passed by, as Su Ming's heart was shaken to the core, he saw the dried up corpse turning to ashes. As the wind was born, the ashes disappeared into the world, and once they disappeared, this scene, which was clearly from a ritual, returned to being indistinct and disappeared from Su Ming's eyes.
"That is Lunar Burial," the man with the long and narrow eyes said.
Su Ming looked at the muddled ground that had returned to how it originally was with a blank stare and his heart was in chaos, as if there were waves crashing against it. He was not shocked by the Lunar Burial but stunned by these people's intelligence, and how wind… was formed.
'Is this how wind is formed..? The clash of cold and heat… perhaps I should say it is the transfer between cold and heat that formed wind… Convection… forms wind… That's right, if I throw a punch, I will cause wind to stir, but I've never thought about how that wind came to be. By the looks of it now, wind is born due to the transfer between two auras.'
Su Ming looked as if he had gained an epiphany.
"My scion, wind exists in all parts of the world, but if you can separate the wind from a particular region, thereby causing wind to no longer exist in that region, then you can become the lord of that region!
"Without wind, there is no aura, and without aura, there is no power. When the power of the world is sealed within, when all manner of aura no longer exists, then from then on, the place where you are will be a forbidden area for all lives, and that is Wind Separation!
"The three styles of Wind Separation contain all my understanding towards wind. I am passing it to you, and it will depend on you on how much you can understand out of the Provenance of Wind…
"Also, besides Wind Separation, I will also use the remaining fragment of my will to give you three chances to gain an epiphany. Each of the chances will be for a style of the divine ability. This is your first chance, Epiphany for Sun Genesis!"
The man with the long and narrow eyes disappeared as he spoke. Soon after, a violent gust of wind whistled by and enveloped Su Ming within.
Chapter 415: Three-Headed Dark Turtle!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Time passed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was six months later. A year had gone by since the chaos caused by Hong Luo to the land of the Shamans.
Several large scale battles had happened in the war outside Sky Mist City, while the small scale battles launched over the warzone were already so numerous that they could not be counted. These battles were only becoming more intense.
The defense of Sky Mist City was also gradually being weakened. Most of the powerful Berserkers in the Berserker Tribe were acting as garrisons for Sky Mist City.
There was a rumor regarding the Calamity of the Eastern Wastelands spreading out secretly among the Berserkers, and most of those who heard it took it with a grain of salt.
There were no longer any tribes located at the edge of the Dead Sea in the land of the Shamans. Almost a seventh of the tribes had migrated.
However, there were some tribes that did not migrate. These tribes either had no power to migrate or were small tribes that would have difficulties if they moved too far even if they wanted to migrate, which was why they decided… to stay.
White Bull Tribe was one of the tribes in the latter category. They struggled before, pondered over it, had the urge to migrate, had even sent their people to venture out in search for any migrating tribes that would pass by their tribe, but eventually, they had no choice but to give up.
This was a remote land to begin with. If their tribe members traveled far and wide, they would perhaps run into migrating tribes, but that was only a possibility. If they did not meet any of them, then instead of being destroyed, they would rather stay in their tribe.
On the last month of the past six months, the monkey-faced old man, the Patriarch of White Bull Tribe, went to the area near Su Ming's mountain range multiple times. He still believed that there was something off about the place. When he learned about the things that happened to Black Crane Tribe, he became even more skeptical of Su Ming's mountain range.
The old man was polite every single time he came to the place, even after he'd visited it many times. He would respectfully shout outside the mountain range in hopes of meeting Su Ming, but never received any response. However, the old man did not give up. He always came back once every few days.
Time passed by this way, and the Fire Ape laid around lackadaisically within the seal of the mountain range. The small snake flew in midair. As for the Poison Corpse, he continued standing at the entrance of the cave abode and never moved once during those six months.
The ice on the frozen Gate to the Void still remained during that half a year. It continued releasing cold air and never melted.
Su Ming was sitting cross-legged in the ice mountain located in the glacier surrounded by black seawater. His body was completely frozen up. His clone had protected him for half a year.
There was no longer any blood flowing out of Su Ming's back. His wound had slowly recovered during the six months. By now, there was only a bump that could be seen belonging to the Lightning Crystal of Inheritance. As for the Wind Crystal of Inheritance, it practically could not be seen anymore.
There were four Berserker Bones in Su Ming's spine, but at that moment, the fifth vertebrae was shining with a green light, and it seemed as if it had already transformed. Its appearance might not have changed, but it gave people a similar feeling to the Wind Crystal of Inheritance. It was as if the shrunken Wind Crystal of Inheritance had been absorbed by the fifth Berserker Bone.
Another month passed by. On this day, the layer of ice surrounding Su Ming, who had isolated himself there for seven months, suddenly shook. At the same time it started shattering and cracking, Su Ming opened his eyes slowly.
The instant he opened his eyes, besides the profundity in his gaze that already existed before, there was also a vortex that looked like a whirlwind in his eyes. At the same time, the layer of ice around him shattered with a bang, causing Su Ming to regain mobility.
He silently sensed the changes in his body, and he could clearly feel that he had become much stronger compared to how he was before he isolated himself, and more importantly...
"Sun Genesis, huh..?"
Su Ming lowered his head and looked at his right hand. There was a brilliant flash in his eyes. In the one chance he had to gain his epiphany during his entire process of understanding the inheritance of the Wind Berserker, he had tried countless times to cast Sun Genesis. In that sort of condition to gain his epiphany, Su Ming had a feeling that he had been reborn in that illusion filled with wind.
He lightly formed a fist and stood up slowly. The instant he stood up, the clone behind him also did the same.
Su Ming did not turn his head back, but instead stared at the shell of the ice mountain and the glacier before him. After a moment of pensive silence, his gaze fell at the spot sealing the green-scaled man eight hundred feet away.
After thinking for some time, Su Ming lifted his right hand and touched the layer of ice before him. Immediately, it cracked. After another moment, it shattered, and black seawater instantly surged in, but the instant the seawater surged in, Su Ming had already walked out of the ice mountain. His clone also followed behind him.
He did not bother about the ice mountain behind him. A wave of pressure descended on them in that black seawater, causing Su Ming to sink, but his expression was calm as he walked forward slowly.
He walked forward until he was eight hundred feet away from the ice mountain. When he arrived at the place sealing that green-scaled man, Su Ming once again felt the difference between his current self and his previous self. Before he fused with the Wind Crystal of Inheritance, walking eight hundred feet was already his limit, but now, he felt that he could still walk several dozens of feet forward.
As he stared at the ice mountain sealing the green scaled man, Su Ming furled his right hand into a fist and punched. At the same time, his clone behind him took a step forward and pointed at the ice through the water.
Immediately, densely packed circles of cracks appeared on the layer of ice Su Ming punched. Green light flashed, and the small sword flew out from his clone to stab into the crack. At that moment, Su Ming lifted his right hand, and when the sword retreated, he pressed his palm on the ice once again.
The process repeated several times, and as the cracks on the layer of ice slowly spread outwards, the crushed ice also fell off.
Su Ming's spirits lifted and he increased his speed. By working with his clone, they gradually dug a hole in the ice mountain, and behind that hole was the black wooden club with nine teeth held by the green scaled man.
As the layer of ice continuously became thinner and when he was just three inches away from the tip of of the club, suddenly, a strong current shot forth from the black seawater above the glacier. At the same time, Su Ming heard a muffled growl.
Soon after, a gigantic, muddled figure charged forth from the black seawater. As it closed in, its low growl shook the glacier, causing the the seawater to roll, and the pressure formed made Su Ming's heart shake.
His eyes sparkled. At the moment, there was already a big hole wide enough to fit a person dug out in the ice mountain. He was less than three inches from that club, before long, he would be able to completely dig through. However, the arrival of that low growl made Su Ming hesitate for a moment before a resolute look appeared on his face.
He immediately curled his right hand into a fist and rammed it against the thin layer of ice. His clone attacked at the same time, intending to break through before the unknown creature came over.
Yet before Su Ming managed to attack, the low growl traveled to his ears as if the sound came right from his side. The seawater around him started distorting, and an incredible force came charging towards him.
Su Ming's expression changed. Without a hint of hesitation, he immediately crawled into the big hole he'd dug out. His clone crawled in at the same time.
The moment they blocked the entrance, Su Ming found out, to his shock, that the entire glacier shuddered. His pupils shrank, and he saw a gigantic ferocious beast with an astonishing presence appearing in the seawater.
It was a two-headed dark turtle!
Two of its gigantic heads were outside its shell and were coldly staring at the layer of ice where Su Ming had hid himself. The moment a fierce glint appeared in its eyes, it swung its tail, and immediately, another head rose on its tail!
This was not a two-headed turtle, but a three-headed dark turtle!
Its body was not really that big, only one thousand feet in-size. It stood on the glacier and not many ripples formed from its aura could be seen. However, the presence of its Qi left Su Ming afraid.
Roar!
The three heads of that dark turtle roared at Su Ming at the same time. However, it only stood and roared. It did not do anything else. Su Ming hid himself in the layer of ice. His clone was slightly further ahead, and they were both sealed up by the newly recovered ice mountain. As Su Ming looked at the three-headed dark turtle outside, he groaned internally.
However, gradually, Su Ming noticed something strange about this dark turtle. The creature only roared and did not attack him. This stunned Su Ming momentarily.
He remained in pensive silence for a moment. As he saw the ice mountain gradually sealing up, he lifted his right hand and punched the newly returned three inch thick layer of ice behind him. Cracks echoed in the air, and the layer of ice became only two inches thick.
It was also at that moment that the three-headed dark turtle roared even more furiously as if it had gone mad. It took a big step forward, and at the same time it got closer to the ice mountain, its tail charged towards the ice mountain with a whistle, but it did not hit the ice. Instead, once it swung down beside the ice mountain, the dark turtle's face became even more savage, and it started growling lowly as it glared at Su Ming.
'The power of its Qi makes it clear that it has incredible power, and it's a power so strong that I've never seen its like before… but it looks as if it doesn't know any divine abilities.' A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes.
'And by its previous actions… Could it be that this creature cannot destroy the ice mountain here..? Could it be that it's the guardian beast of the place?'
A thought bloomed in Su Ming's heart and he moved closer to the thin layer of ice. Immediately, the dark turtle outside roared even more fiercely. It swung its tail back and forth, letting out piercing howls.
Su Ming immediately shrank back, putting some distance between himself and the thin layer of ice. The dark turtle clearly relaxed and no longer looked at Su Ming, but instead stared at the green-scaled man that was several inches away from Su Ming, sealed within the thin layer of ice.
Su Ming was incredibly nervous at the moment, but his head was calm. Once he saw the dark turtle's actions, he knew that the longer he stayed in the place, the worse it would be for him. That was why he sent a thought to his clone.
His clone immediately lifted two fingers and tapped at the ice behind them. As it was just a short time since that ice was formed, that one tap immediately broke a small hole. A black beetle instantly flew out and crawled into that hole.
Su Ming stared at the bug. When the dark turtle saw the bug flying out, it only spared it a glance and no longer bothered itself with it. It let the small bug fly eight hundred feet back to where the Gate to the Void was in the ice mountain.
Chapter 416: Snatch the Treasure!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
'It's not paying attention to us, but those sealed in the ice…'
Su Ming narrowed his eyes. This was not the moment for him to anger that dark turtle now and forcefully take the black club.
After a moment of pensive silence, a glint appeared in the clone's eyes. He lifted his right hand and drew a circle on the layer of ice before him. With one press, the circle instantly shattered, and then he took a step outside to walk out of the hole in the ice mountain.
Su Ming stared at the dark turtle and was already prepared to use his Nascent Soul to escape, but the dark turtle only cast a glance at the clone before it ignored him.
'Could it be that as long as we don't touch the things that are frozen here, then the turtle won't bother us..?'
Su Ming gritted his teeth and walked out slowly from within the hole in the ice mountain. Once he completely came out, his heart started racing. He saw the dark turtle turning its head around to cast a freezing glance at him before averting its gaze. Su Ming let out a huge sigh of relief in his heart.
He walked forward slowly, but once he took a few steps, conflict appeared on his face, but it did not last for long. Su Ming did not stop moving, and as he continued moving forward, his clone immediately moved back and crawled into the hole in the ice mountain.
Su Ming was incredibly nervous as he did these series of actions. He continuously observed that dark turtle, and when he saw that it did not give too much of a reaction, he took a few brisk steps forward until he arrived at the frozen Gate to the Void located eight hundred feet away.
Once he stood inside the ice mountain containing the gate, Su Ming immediately came to stand beside it and started dealing with the ice around it to keep the gate open at all times.
When he finished doing all this, he turned his head around and stared at the frightening dark turtle outside, along with his clone inside the hole.
'Should I snatch it, or should I not..? The turtle is clearly the guardian of this place. All the things that it guards must be extraordinary items. The glacier here is very big too. I have reason to believe… that this turtle is not the only guardian of this place.
'Besides, when I broke open the ice mountain sealing that green-scaled man last time, that turtle had not appeared. Clearly, the degree of damage I dealt was not big enough. This time, when I almost succeeded, this creature appeared. Now I caught its attention. Even if I come next time when it's not around, it'll still be difficult for me to get closer to that item.
'I'll take it!' Su Ming's face lit up with determination.
Immediately, a glint appeared in the clone's eyes, who was within the hole of the ice mountain sealing that big man eight hundred feet away. He lifted his right hand and tapped at the thin layer of ice with two of his fingers. Once he tapped at it repeatedly, the layer of ice instantly shattered, revealing the black, spiked club inside!
As if the dark turtle had gone mad, it started roaring, and as it swung its tail back and forth repeatedly, Su Ming's clone pressed on that black, spiked club, wanting to put it away into his storage bag. However, the club did not budge. He could not put it into his storage bag.
With burning resolution, Su Ming immediately made his clone repeatedly break through the ice with his two fingers. When half of the black spiked club was revealed, the clone took hold of it and tore it out. A loud bang reverberated through the area, and the gigantic black wooden club was dragged out.
The dark turtle roared and blocked the ice mountain's exit. There was a murderous look in its eyes as it roared, but at that moment, Su Ming took a step forward and rushed out several hundreds of feet.
At that instant, his clone let out a piercing shriek, and as if it was burning, all the power of his cultivation erupted forth, and he used it all in warping. He rushed forth with that black wooden club, and then his body, along with that wooden club, instantly disappeared.
The instant he disappeared, the dark turtle was stunned. At the same time around. five hundred feet away, Su Ming's clone appeared. He looked as he usually did, but Su Ming's Nascent Soul inside had already shrunk quite considerably. It also looked rather unstable, as if it was about to dissipate and turn back into a Core.
When the clone appeared, Su Ming caught it and charged forth with a whistle in the water towards the ice mountain containing the Gate to the Void with his absolute fastest speed.
The dark turtle whipped its head around and let out a livid roar. It lifted its right leg and stomped on the ground. Immediately, the glacier shook and ice needles shot up from the ground. They also came from under the ground from all around Su Ming. As he continued charging forth, they shot out with banging sounds, turning into a fence of ice needles trying to block his path.
At the same time, the turtle's tail swung forth with a whistle in the water, bringing with it a shocking wave. With that one sweep, the seawater parted. All the ice needles that did not manage to block Su Ming were all shattered by the dark turtle's tail, but it did not slow down at all. Instead, the tail traveled forth even faster towards Su Ming.
The dark turtle's hatred towards Su Ming had clearly reached incredibly heights. It did not just swing its tail forth but also opened its mouth wide and blew a puff of white air at him. When that puff of white air was let out, booming sounds immediately rang out, and the seawater before the dark turtle instantly turned into ice, and it was rapidly spreading forward.
As Su Ming charged forth dragging his clone behind him, he was blocked in his path by the ice needles that shot through the ground, but he did not stop. At the same time he activated his speed, the Provenance of Wind in his body circulated rapidly, causing his speed to increase exponentially, and he charged out of the blockade.
When he saw that he was less than thirty feet away from the ice mountain containing the Gate to the Void, the whistling sound behind him whipped the seawater so hard that it parted. Su Ming felt his skin crawl. His Divine General Armor materialized on his body, and at the same time, Han Mountain Bell showed itself.
The Nascent Soul in his clone coughed out a mouthful of essence and warped once again, causing Su Ming to disappear without a trace the instant the dark turtle's tail rammed into his body.
When they reappeared, they were already beside the Gate to the Void. Su Ming coughed out a mouthful of blood. Han Mountain Bell hummed and shrank back into his body. The Divine General Armor also shattered, but the crisis was not over.
The instant Su Ming reappeared and pulled his clone to step into the Gate to the Void, the dark turtle behind him blew out a white puff of air, and the frozen seawater came towards him in the span of a breath, causing Su Ming's body to be filled with chills. His face instantly turned pale, but his body did not stop. He dragged his clone, and along with the black wooden club his clone held onto, they moved into the Gate to the Void.
The instant Su Ming disappeared, ice instantly covered the ice mountain with the Gate to the Void, causing the ice mountain to instantly become larger by several fold. Once it was frozen in many new, thick layers, the dark turtle floated up and let out mad roars, swishing its tail back and forth as if it was absolutely livid.
Eventually, it decided that it might as well lay there and fix its gaze on the frozen Gate to the Void. It continued staring at it.
The other end of the Gate to the Void located outside the cave abode in the mountain range in the Land of South Morning started flickering with a dark light, then Su Ming and his clone rushed out from within.
Once they charged out, Su Ming's clone fell to the side. The Nascent Soul was already in a state where it had almost completely vanished. The Nascent Soul had his eyes shut tightly in the clone and was silently circulating his Qi to recover.
Su Ming's face was pale. He turned his head around and cast a glance at the Gate to the Void, and fear could be seen lingering on his face. When he remembered what he had just done, Su Ming thought that his actions were a little too crazy.
He sucked in a deep breath and immediately sat down cross-legged on the ground. He did not have time to be bothered with the small snake and the Fire Ape that came towards him, quickly meditating to recover his Qi.
A few days later, Su Ming opened his eyes, and his face regained a slightly healthier color. He let out a long breath and immediately turned his head around to look at the gigantic, black wooden club beside his clone. The nine teeth stuck on that club where letting out rays of freezing light.
The black wooden club was Su Ming's height and it was filled with a savage air. Su Ming stood up and went beside it. After dipping his head down to look at it for a moment, he lifted his right hand and grabbed the wooden club, then a frown appeared between his brows. He sucked in a light breath and lifted that wooden club.
'I wonder what this thing is made of. It's so heavy. It'd be great if it was a little lighter.'
Su Ming gave it a few simple swings, and once those swings brought up whooshing sounds from the movements, he went on to place the wooden club down, but his body suddenly jolted and he widened his eyes to stare at weapon in his hands. He lifted it up once again, then swung it around himself once. Astonishment surfaced in his eyes.
'It grew lighter?
'Become lighter… Just a little lighter still…'
With that gigantic black wooden club in hand, Su Ming continued swinging it about on the spot, and its weight became increasingly lighter. Eventually, Su Ming practically could not feel its weight at all. Once he lifted it up, he leaped into the air and rammed the club against the ground.
The instant the gigantic wooden club crashed onto the ground, the ground trembled with a boom, and a powerful backlash spread from that wooden club straight up through Su Ming's right hand and into his body, making him lurch forward, and he was forced to let go of the club. He took a few steps back, and his face was a mix of red and white. He only recovered after a long while.
'If it just becomes lighter, then the value of this thing doesn't match up to the risk I took earlier…'
Su Ming took a few steps forward and picked up the wooden club once again. Looking at the nine teeth, he hesitated for a moment before he swung it again. He did not leap up this time, but instead, once he started swinging it and the instant he readied himself to smash it towards the ground…
"Heavier!"
That word fell out of his mouth when the wooden club crashed against the ground. Its weight increased exponentially, and the instant it fell, a shocking boom abruptly resounded in the air. Soon after, the ground trembled, and a large crack started spreading on the surface with rumbling sounds, stretching into the distance. It shot through the seal Hong Luo had placed and appeared in the land beyond. The crack stretched out so far that it was several tens of thousands of feet long.
Blood trickled down the corners of Su Ming's lips. He could not keep a tight grip on the wooden club in his hands, causing it to be flung out from the rebound and fall on the ground beside him. Another boom reverberated in the air.
Su Ming's breathing was quick. He looked at the wooden club in the distance, then at the giant crack on the ground. He suddenly laughed, and his laughter grew louder at each passing moment.
"I, Patriarch of White Bull Tribe, wish to see you, Sir Soul Catcher. Sir, you still remember me? I'm the guy who prepared the three virgins for you in the tribe."
As Su Ming laughed, a weak and complaisant voice came from within the crack on the ground.
The voice might have come from within the crack, but in truth, it came from the spot above the ground outside the seal. The monkey-faced old man from White Bull Tribe looked at the crack that suddenly appeared thirty feet away from him with a pale face, and cold sweat trickled down his body.
'Damn it all! Which bloody idiot is it that made this crack suddenly appear?! He scared the heck out of me!'
The old man wiped his sweat.
Chapter 417: World of Nine Yin!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Su Ming heard an old man's voice from the crack and that strange accent, he immediately thought of the old, monkey-faced Patriarch from White Bull Tribe.
Su Ming did not like nor hate this person, but his act of offering up three women from his tribe and giving up on having his entire tribe attack had left a rather deep impression on him.
At that moment, when Su Ming heard those words, he pondered over them for a moment before walking out.
The land was empty, but there was a place that sported a gigantic crack out of nowhere, and it was spread far and wide.
The old man from White Bull Tribe stood beside the crack and waited for a long time, but to no avail. So he went to the crack and stretched his head to look inside.
"Damn…"
The old man did not hear Su Ming's laughter in the seal. He only came here once every few days, and once he arrived at the place, he would walk around shouting the same words he said previously, though he himself did not know that his voice had already reached Su Ming's ears. He looked at the crack and started mumbling under his breath.
"Damn what?" Before the old man finished mumbling, Su Ming's cold voice rang out behind him, causing the old man to immediately be stunned. Once he turned around swiftly, surprised delight appeared on his face.
"What? Damn who? There's no damning whoever anywhere. Greetings, Great Soul Catcher." The old man quickly wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply towards Su Ming.
Su Ming cast the old man a glance. He did not speak.
The old man was being cautious and was sizing up Su Ming from the corner of his eye as well. Once he saw the mark of the peach blossom at the center of Su Ming's brows, he quickly averted his gaze and put on a complaisant look.
"Sir, this old man told quite a number of the women in my tribe to make preparations this time. You'll definitely be pleased with them. If you aren't, then I'll be a damned old fool from now on!"
"What damned old fool? Stop using the word 'damn'!" Su Ming frowned.
"Okay, okay, then I'll change it to boyo." The old man quickly nodded his head and put on a flattering smile.
As the old man's expression fell into Su Ming's eyes, he scrutinized him. He remembered that this old man was a very tactful person. It did not matter whether it was their first encounter with each other or his decisive act of sending the three women to him, they were enough to show that this old man was definitely not as he seemed.
"What is it? Speak up." Su Ming said calmly.
The old man was feeling rather nervous. When Su Ming was scrutinizing him, he immediately felt that he was being seen through. This sort of feeling, as if he was standing naked before someone else, made him instinctively avoid looking into Su Ming's eyes.
"It's nothing, really…" The old man hesitated for a moment, and once he said those words, Su Ming turned around and walked into the distance, no longer bothering with the old man.
The Patriarch was momentarily stunned, then quickly walked forward and spoke with a obsequious smile.
"Sir, please wait. This is… This is actually a very difficult thing for me to say. It's like this. You know that the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands is coming in a few years time, and most of the tribes in the land of the Shamans have already migrated.
"But White Bull Tribe is too small and we have a lot of normal tribe members. With my power alone and the other powerful Shamans in my tribe, it's still impossible for us to protect them, that's why… I'd like to ask whether you take on jobs." The old man no longer hesitated and rambled off rapidly as he chased after Su Ming.
Su Ming paused in his footsteps, then turned around to look at the old man.
"What are you using to hire me? If you truly have an attractive pay, why insist on finding me?"
"Sir, the most powerful Shaman around this area is Madam Ji… But Madam Ji has already gone missing…" When the old man said those words, he became even more cautious, even cast a glance at the mark of the peach blossom at the center of Su Ming's brows.
"This is a remote place, and powerful Shamans seldom come here. We're also at war now, so it's really very tough for us to find powerful Shamans we can trust.
"Well, sir, we are kinda like neighbors, and I can trust you. As for the pay, well, I'm going to offer our ancestor's priceless treasure. It's also the sacred item White Bull Tribe inherited, and we offer our sacrifices to it." The old man looked rather pained when he said those words.
"Oh? If you give me your tribe's inheritance, then you will have broken off your own tribe's roots. What difference is there?" Su Ming knew that each Shaman Tribe had a different item of worship. Some of them contained strange powers while some of them were common objects, but no matter what, these were all a tribe's soul.
Like the lizard statue from Lizard Shaman Tribe, the crane from Black Crane Tribe, and the mackerel pike from Autumn Sea Tribe. All of them were such items.
"If I don't give you this item, it would be difficult to convince you. If our tribe stays here and doesn't move, we will end up dying and being destroyed during the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands, but even if we leave, as such a small tribe, it will be very tough for us to survive. No one knows how many of us will end up surviving either.
"In fact, there's a high chance that all of us are going to end up dead. If that's the case, then what use is the tribe's sacred item? Instead of keeping it as our ancestors told us to, I'd rather use it in exchange for a slim chance of survival." The old man forced those words out of his mouth.
In truth, he had thought about what he just said for a very long time before he decided to go to Su Ming for help. After the few brief encounters they had, he had slowly come to realize that Su Ming was the type of person that if no one caused trouble to him, then he would not go and cause trouble to others.
But the most important thing about Su Ming was that if he truly wanted to snatch their things away, then he would not have waited for so long and still not acted.
"I can't agree to this, I'm not leaving this place for some time." Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he shook his head.
When the old man heard his words, he looked rather disappointed, but judging by his looks, it seemed that he expected Su Ming to give that answer and was already prepared for it. He spoke once again.
"I understand that you have your problems. How about this? I won't need you to protect us when we migrate, I just need some of your time to help two of my tribesmen to pass the Seal of Soul Catchers. I'll still use the sacred item of our tribe as pay. Sir, how's that sound?"
"Seal of Soul Catchers? How should I help? Tell me the details, but I might not agree to it." This was the first time Su Ming heard of that term.
"Hmm? Sir, you are a Soul Catcher, you should have gone through the Seal of Soul Catchers before…" The old man from White Bull Tribe was suddenly stunned, and a faint sparkle appeared in his eyes.
"I've gone through the Seal of Soul Catchers before, but I didn't have anyone helping me, nor have I helped anyone before." Su Ming looked as calm as ever as he provided a vague explanation.
"Sir, you must have come from a big tribe, no wonder you don't know about this helping thing. Ha… whelp, you can hear it as a joke. The chances for Soul Catchers to appear in small tribes like mine are very tiny. Even if they appear, most of them won't be able to clear the Seal of Soul Catchers alone and obtain the Soul Catcher legacy. That's how hiring powerful Shamans to help came about." The old man put on a confused look on his face before he spoke with a wry smile.
"It'll be the Month of Spirits next month. Sir, you know that the Month of Spirits is the Month of Inheritance for Soul Catchers, set by the God of Shamans Temple. During that month, all the tribes that have the potential to become Soul Catchers will sense the call from the God of Shamans Temple, and the Soul Catcher's Relocation will be activated with the mysterious power of the God of Shamans Temple.
"Right now, I managed to identify two of my tribe members who might have a Soul Catcher's constitution. They will be sent by the power of the God of Shamans Temple to the World of Nine Yin. If it is their destiny, then they will be acknowledged by the Candle Dragon there and begin their path as Soul Catchers.
"Sir, I hope that by using the power of Relocation as a draw, you will go with them and help them so that they would successfully become Soul Catchers." Once the old man from White Bull Tribe finished speaking, he looked at Su Ming nervously. This was the final method he could think of. If Su Ming did not agree to it, then White Bull Tribe would have to forcefully migrate.
Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he shook his head. He did not have knowledge about this, and once he heard about it, he found that there was nothing too attractive about it for him.
"Sir, this is the first time you're helping someone become Soul Catchers. Honestly, from what I know, there are many Soul Catchers who willingly use the chance to be Relocated to the World of Nine Yin with those who have a Soul Catcher's constitution during the Month of Spirits.
"Because every Soul Catcher can only be actively involved in the Relocation once, and it is during the first time they go there. If these Soul Catchers want to enter the World of Nine Yin from then on, they will need to rely on the power of Relocation from the people by their side drawing them in.
"In fact, it's not just Soul Catchers. Spirit Mediums, Thought Soothsayers, and the other Shamans will also use the chance to enter, because you must surely know about that legend saying that there is a corpse of a Candle Dragon buried in the World of Nine Yin.
"In fact, there is one more legend telling that the mysterious Curse came from the World of Nine Yin. Since this World was an ancient ruin to begin with, when it was first discovered, there are quite a few places that the members of the Shaman Tribe have not explored. There is only a small part in the World that is used for us to obtain the cultivation method of a Soul Catcher.
"Only after we discovered the place did we start researching the Curse…" The old man spoke in extreme detail. With his intelligence, he would have not have spoken in such detail if he was speaking to another Shaman. After all, this was not exactly a secret among the Shamans.
However, it was clear that the old man was speaking in such detail because he, with his intellect, had caught onto a faint trail that there was something off about Su Ming. However, to him, Su Ming's origins did not matter. His only concern was his tribe's survival.
Besides, Su Ming's power had caused the old man to pretend as if he knew nothing even after discovering those clues. He would not tell others about it and bring disaster to his own tribe either.
There was the ghost of a smile on Su Ming's lips. He looked at the old man and did not speak.
The old man let out a fake cough and continued speaking. "The Berserkers should also be looking for ways to enter the World of Nine Yin, because there is a plant called Nine Abyss Flower in that place. It can increase the chances of survival during the life and death disaster they have to go through when they enter the Berserker Soul Realm achieving great completion in the Bone Sacrifice Realm…
"Also, there are plenty of serendipitous encounters in the World of Nine Yin…" The old man continued speaking, but Su Ming still remained with that ghost of a smile on his lips, and it made the old man rather scared.
"Tell me your real motive," Su Ming said slowly.
"... About that, I wouldn't dare hide it from you, Sir. My goal is that once those two tribe members of mine obtain the cultivation method to become Soul Catchers, then with their potential, they might be sought after by some middle-sized tribes. It'll be best if they take those two away, and as a price, help our tribe migrate. If we can't manage to do it and the two of them are still taken away, they will still be able to continue passing down the line of our tribe.
"Even in the worst case scenario, if the two of them can find other powerful Shamans and form a deal for us, it'll still be better than our current situation." The old man spoke with a wry smile. After a moment of hesitation, he suddenly lifted his right hand and grabbed something from his bosom. When a dark light flashed, a round object appeared in his hand.
"This item is the sacred item of my tribe, please take it first!"
When Su Ming swept his gaze past that round object, his pupils shrank and a large storm raged in his heart!
"This is…" Su Ming waved his arm and immediately seized that round object in his hand!
Translator's Notes
Nine Yin: This one in particular is written as 九陰 (jiu yin), not 燭九陰 (zhu jiu yin). The difference between the two is that the latter is the Candle Dragon, the one which in this book lords over all Soul Catchers, and the former is a world in itself. The word 九陰 first appeared as 九陰真經 (jiu yin zhen jing) and was translated as Nine Yin Manual (well actually no, it was officially translated as Jiuyin Zhenjing) in Jin Yong's Condor Trilogy. So please don't confuse the Candle Dragon and Nine Yin, they're both different things and the Candle Dragon has an extra word in front.