Pursuit of the Truth

The place was still surrounded by fog. He could not see too far away. The only thing vaguely visible was the peak of the mountain amid the mist. It was quiet around him. There was neither wind nor sound around the area.

Su Ming looked at the mountain shrouded by fog. It was his second time there. It was also the second time he stood where he was and sized up the strange mountain before him, especially the strange letters and drawings carved into the mountain. Su Ming had a sense of respect for whoever it was that left them behind.

He took a deep breath and looked at the accessory on his chest. The black stone was gone. He pinched himself and was once again certain that he was not dreaming. He had really arrived at the strange place.

He reached into his bosom and took out a few bottles that contained Scattering Dust. Then he quickly walked towards the fog. Before long, he arrived at the foot of the mountain and he went into the tunnel again.

He did not stop until he reached the stone door in the tunnel. As he looked at the familiar circle in the middle of the door and the 15 small holes there, Su Ming hesitated for a moment. Then he took a pill out from one of the bottles. With the pill between his fingers, he placed it into the very first hole on the door.

At the very moment his fingers touched the small hole on the door, Su Ming felt a faint pull coming from the hole and it sucked in the pill between his fingers.

Su Ming’s became stern and alert. He was unsure if his judgment was correct and he did not know what would happen once he filled up all 15 holes. However, he had envisioned this trip for a long time and a part of him was looking forward to it.

He did not act rashly. After the first hole absorbed the pill, Su Ming focused his attention on the door, but nothing happened.

Su Ming scratched his head. After a moment of thought, he took out another pill and placed it in the second hole. This continued until he placed the 15th pill into the last hole with much reluctance and nervousness.

‘If there are still no changes even after I’ve placed 15 pills into the holes, all of this would be a waste…’

Su Ming watched the 15 holes anxiously. At that very moment, a gentle glow surfaced from the holes.

Su Ming immediately retreated excitedly. As the light surrounded the door and gradually grew brighter, the strings on the door came to life and moved slowly. After a while, they joined together and started to turn quickly like a vortex.

As they turned, the light from the 15 holes was slowly but surely sucked into the vortex, causing the door to be enveloped by a brilliant light. A roaring sound suddenly reverberated throughout the tunnel. The sound was so loud it could have made a person deaf. It made Su Ming involuntarily manifest the 10 blood veins within his body. He felt the blood in his entire body boiling and he instinctively resisted the pull.

The roaring sound lasted for a few moments and green smoke emerged from the 15 holes. It was as if the pills had dissolved into smoke. As 15 puffs of smoke emerged from the holes, the gigantic stone door shook. A straight and narrow gap appeared all of a sudden at the center of the door.

As soon as the gap appeared, the two sides of the door slowly swung to the side. The door opened!

Su Ming’s heart pounded against his chest. As he watched the scene unfold before him, he felt himself trembling in excitement. It was only after the door opened completely that Su Ming took in a sharp breath. There was no longer a tunnel behind the stone door but a small stone chamber.

The walls in the chamber were not smooth instead, they were filled with carvings. There was a large door that was tightly shut at the northern wall in the chamber.

On the ceiling of the chamber were some stones glowing faintly. They had fused into the walls of the chamber. There was a faint aroma in the chamber which could lift a person’s spirits the moment they took a whiff of it.

Su Ming’s eyes lit up with excitement but he still walked into the chamber carefully. He swept his gaze around the walls and saw that the style of the carvings on the walls was similar to the ones in the tunnel. They all featured men with messy hair creating medicinal pills in an ancient setting.

When Su Ming first arrived at the place, he was baffled by the drawings. However, following the success of his own quenching of the herbs and the additional memories he gained, he could understand most of them when he saw the drawings again.

The figures on the drawings were creating different medicinal pills. As Su Ming observed the drawings, he could not help but be immersed in them. He verified each and every one of the drawings with his own experiences and forgot about time as he obsessed the drawings.

He would move quickly to search for the next carving once he finished observing one. He did not realize how much time had passed. When he finished looking at all the carvings, he still longed for more and he cast his gaze on the door within the chamber.

This door was slightly different from the first one. It was completely black and it gave off a nice aroma. It seemed like the materials used to build the door held some mysterious properties.

It also had a sort of heaviness to it. There was a drawing on the door too but it featured a gigantic cauldron. There were also wisps of smoke carved on top of it. It almost looked real. As Su Ming looked on, he had the impression that he was not looking at a drawing but at a real cauldron used for the quenching of herbs.

‘If only I had a cauldron like this… ‘

Su Ming looked at the cauldron for a few more moments with envy.

Su Ming saw a number of different herbs on top and on both sides of the cauldron. He immediately felt himself quivering in excitement and paid full attention to the drawing. This was what he came here for, to find more recipes to create other medicinal pills.

To the left of the cauldron were seven herbs. Among the seven herbs, five of them were herbs needed to create Scattering Dust. As for the other two, Su Ming had never seen them before. After he carefully observed their features, Su Ming imprinted their image on his mind.

There were eight holes on the stone door arranged neatly, right underneath the recipe.

To the right of the cauldron were eight herbs. The recipe was slightly similar to the recipe on the left. Five of the herbs required were also the necessary ingredients for Scattering Dust.

When Su Ming saw the additional three ingredients necessary, his eyes lit up with joy. He knew two of the three herbs. They were just slightly rare.

There were also holes underneath this recipe but the number was slightly more than the recipe on the left. There were 12 holes underneath it.

When Su Ming looked at the recipe on the top of the cauldron, his face became grim. The ingredients to the recipe were not herbs. The drawing was of three things that would incite fear among those who saw them.

The first was the scales from the tail of a python, the second was the ninth leg from a Nine-Legged Spider and the third was the third finger from the right hand of a small black humanoid creature, the size of a palm.

Strangely, there were no holes underneath the third recipe. Perhaps, it was because the medicinal pill was too hard to create so it was not necessary to make it.

Su Ming fell silent momentarily. He walked towards the stone door and raised his right hand. Without any hesitation, he pressed his hand on the door and immediately, the drawing of the cauldron emitted a piercing light. It enveloped Su Ming’s body.

After a moment of discomfort, foreign memories appeared once again in Su Ming’s mind. He obtained the method to create the three medicinal pills and their names.

‘South Asunder!’ Su Ming looked at the drawing on the left of the cauldron, then turned his gaze to the right.

"Mountain Spirit… As for the last one… the Welcoming of Deities!" Su Ming looked at the strange recipe on top of the cauldron and mumbled.

As Su Ming thought about them, the light surrounding his body gradually dimmed along with the light from the cauldron on the stone door. Once the light completely disappeared, Su Ming’s vision blurred but he was not nervous. He had already experienced this once. There was a strange whistling sound next to his ears. Once it was over, his vision slowly returned, and he found himself in his room within the tribe settlement.

Su Ming took a deep breath and walked towards the door immediately. He took away the chair and opened the door. It was still night time outside. The stars shone in the sky. It was quiet as the cold night wind blew past him.

However there was a faint silver light at the horizon, a clear sign that dawn was about to arrive.

‘Looks like the difference in time between the two places is not too big… ‘

Su Ming closed the door behind him and sat down with his legs crossed again. He cupped his chin with his hands and began thinking.

‘All three crafting methods are different for the three medicinal pills. I’ve never seen the two herbs required for South Asunder so I can ignore that for now. As for… the Welcoming of Deities… ‘

Su Ming narrowed his eyes.

‘The ingredients required for this pill aren’t herbs and the items are simply too strange. But what happens once the pill is created is really shocking! ‘

Su Ming remembered how the weather had changed when the person in his memories created the Welcoming of Deities. The sight of the wind and clouds traveling backwards and made his heart pound fiercely.

‘The effects of the pill must be really shocking! But it’s a pity… It’s clear with the lack of holes on the stone door that the creation of this pill is extremely difficult… That’s why it does not serve as a key to open the door. ‘

With some thought, Su Ming already guessed about half of the true story.

‘Looks like the only thing I can create for now is Mountain Spirit. I know two of the three additional herbs… I may not have it now but there must be some in the tribe’s herbal storage.’

As Su Ming continued thinking, light gradually filled the sky and a new day arrived.

He had not rested an entire night but Su Ming was not tired at all. The lack of fatigue became obvious when he reached the second level in the Blood Solidification Realm. It was as if he had obtained a huge amount of energy. Unless he went a few nights without sleep, he would not become tired.

As day arrived, the members of the tribe started busying themselves with work. Once Su Ming cleaned himself up, he walked towards a house made of grass not far away from his own house. It was surrounded by a fence which was constantly guarded by a few members of the tribe.