Pursuit of the Truth

The tribe leader of Black Crane was supported by his other two tribesmen. Blood flowed down the corner of his lips, and his right leg was wrecked. It was a bloody mess, and shattered bone could also be seen among it.

The man’s blood dripped down to the ground, and the intense pain made his face turn white. Huge beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Let’s go!" He gritted his teeth and spoke as if he was hissing through his teeth. The two old men beside him said nothing and quickly brought him to retreat hastily. When they were several thousands of feet away, they turned into long arcs and left the place hastily.

Right up till the end, Su Ming only spoke once. He stared at the man leaving coldly and did not stop them. After all, this was the first time they’d come to the place, and there were still some problems to Su Ming’s identity. He only wanted to be here to train in peace and quiet and to understand the ways of wind and lightning so that he could become stronger. He did not want to cause trouble.

He was also an outsider. If he went into too much conflict against those Shamans who had deep roots in this place, even if it was a small tribe, it would still pose a problem.

As for that Shaman Crystal vein, while Su Ming had high hopes for the place, he did not think that it was necessary for him to make it his own. He had tried mining those Shaman Crystals before. If he did not have a special method to do so, they would shatter when he touched them. He had used the small virescent sword to test it before and brought out eight pieces, but in the process, he also broke a similar amount of Shaman Crystals.

Unless he used his hands to dig them out and did not mind wasting a large amount of time digging them out bit by bit, then he would he be unable to reap the biggest reward.

That was why Su Ming chose only to stun White Bull Tribe and did not kill them. As for Black Crane Tribe, as long as they did not do anything out of hand, then he would also choose not to kill them. His attacks might be vicious, but they were also used to shock them. Only when the two tribes were wary of him would he have the opportunity of knowing whether they were weak or strong, and then only would the possibility of a peaceful negotiation appear.

As he watched the three people from Black Crane Tribe leave, Su Ming turned around, towards the direction of his cave abode, then turned into an illusion and went back. The Fire Ape looked displeased. It believed that if Su Ming had not appeared, it would still have been able to fight against the man.

With the rod in hand, it swung it in the direction of Su Ming’s back several times before it turned into a fiery red blur that started loitering around the area, trying to find other trespassers that were still ignorant enough to come.

Another few days passed by. Su Ming never exited his cave abode during that time, and no one came to bother him. These sort of days might be boring, but Su Ming was not bothered by it. He was used to clearing his mind. He might be in a foreign land now, but in truth, to him, besides Dark Mountain and the ninth summit, almost every other place was a foreign land.

He, who had long since accustomed himself to this sort of lifestyle, continued researching the Wind Crystal of Inheritance. That thing was about the size of a fist and was translucent. There seemed to be wind contained inside, making it seem as if there was wind and clouds tumbling about in the crystal. There was a strangely attractive charm to it.

‘Wind Separation Slash… Provenance of Wind…’ Su Ming frowned and stared at the Wind Crystal of Inheritance in his hand as he mulled over his thoughts.

‘If I can’t fuse this Wind Crystal of Inheritance with myself, then I won’t be able to gain any epiphany concerning the three styles of Wind Separation. I can also only use the very basic functions for Provenance of Wind. I can only circulate it in my body to make my speed slightly faster.

‘But the Wind Berserker is definitely not just about speed, but… just how can I make the Wind Crystal of Inheritance accept me?’

Su Ming had thought of everything he could during these few days, but even with the help of the black stone fragment, he could not achieve his wish. It did not even give him even the slightest hint of response no matter how much he called out to it.

‘Could it be that no one has the possibility of obtaining the legacy unless the real True Divinity Wind Berserker appears..?’ Su Ming clutched his hand around the Wind Crystal of Inheritance and his face darkened as his eyes flickered.

He knew of all his weaknesses. It did not matter whether it was the power of the God of Berserkers or whether it was Han Mountain Bell, all of these things were external power and were not actually a part of his own power. This external power might belong to him now, but there was also a possibility that it won’t belong to him in the future.

The basis for becoming a powerful warrior was his own level of cultivation and his divine abilities. These were the main things. Yet now, Su Ming was incredibly lacking in divine abilities. Besides Berserker Obliteration, which he created on his own, he only had his speed and the Execution of Three Evils left.

This was fatal if he ever engaged anyone in a battle of Arts, and Su Ming had experienced this firsthand when he traveled into the land of the Shamans. The reason why he was spending so much time in examining the Wind Crystal of Inheritance was so that he could increase the variety of divine abilities and Arts he had at hand.

Yet the results made Su Ming feel rather resigned. However, no matter what, he did not give up and simply continued trying to fuse together with the Wind Crystal of Inheritance. This item was like a key that would open the door to the main parts of the Wind Berserker’s legacy.

To the east of Su Ming’s cave abode in the mountain range was a low mountain range 10,000 lis away. There was a mountain over there that was not very tall.

It was very strange, and all those who saw it would not be able to forget it after seeing it once, because the shape of the mountain looked like a crane that had its wings spread and was about to fly!

The crane was a nonexistent creature in the land of the Shamans, and it was the same for the land of the Berserkers. This creature belonged to the Immortals, and was a living being that possessed high intelligence.

However, this mountain that was formed in its shape had appeared in the land of the Shamans, and there was even a tribe in there that was named after a crane. That alone was enough to cause people to think.

However, this place was situated in a remote area, and Black Crane was just a small tribe. Most of its tribe members seldom ventured out either, hence the people who took notice of them were few. It was also the reason why the mysteriousness of Black Crane Tribe did not spread far.

There was a house that was built using mountain rocks in the mountain, and in it was the man whose right leg was shattered. At that moment, his eyes were shut tightly and his body was trembling slightly. He did not cover up his upper body, and sweat poured down his skin like a river.

There was an old woman sitting before him. Her hair was white and there were numerous brown age spots on her face. She placed her dried up hands on the man’s right leg.

Strange words that sounded like chants tumbled out of the old woman’s lips.

Behind her were five Black Crane tribe members sitting just outside the door to the room where the man was in the house. Their expressions were filled with anxiety, along with anger and hatred.

Their hatred was not aimed towards the man, but would only appear when they occasionally lifted their heads to look into the distance, right in the direction where Su Ming’s cave abode was.

"The person who attacked doesn’t have any will to kill. I can heal your leg, but it’ll take a long time, around half a year or so. During this time, it’ll be best if you don’t get injured anymore, or else your leg might really be completely useless." After a long while, the old woman stopped murmuring those strange sounds. She opened her eyes and revealed a pair of murky eyes as she spoke slowly.

Once she finished speaking, the old woman stood up and walked towards the door with a hunched back. Her footsteps were not light as a cultivator’s, but they were not heavy. Nonetheless, it was clear that she was a normal person.

"Send the Shaman Healer off." The half-naked man opened his eyes and spoke with a tired look on his face.

A member of Black Crane Tribe immediately stepped forward and supported the old woman as she left.

Once the old woman left, an old man with a full head of white hair instantly stood up among the remaining people in the house. He took a few steps forward and spoke loudly. "Tribe leader, I’ve already gathered all the warriors in the tribe. We’re only waiting for your orders!"

"Tribe leader, we can’t just take this lying down. Why should we let this person take over our Shaman Crystal vein? He’s just one person, no matter how high his level of cultivation is. We can offer our blood and summon our Crane Ancestor if we really need to!" a ghastly voice stated from another person’s mouth. It was a skinny man whose age could not be determined. He sat on the chair like a skeleton.

The rest of the people spoke in succession, and their words were filled with a strong murderous intent.

"Quiet!" The man whose right leg was shattered slapped his right hand on the wooden chair he was sitting on.

"That person is not alone. He has a Fire Ape with him, and I can feel a terrifying presence in that mountain range. It’s clear that he still has other tricks up his sleeve.

"Even if we discount that, all of you saw the nine-headed beast that appeared when that strange phenomenon came to be on that day. That beast alone is not something our tribe can handle. I went so that I could do a final test and make a confirmation so that we can provide an explanation to the Patriarch when he comes back. Why are you raring to go? Do you want to die that much?!" The man’s eyes were freezing cold as he swept his gaze across the people in the room.

"We’ll talk about this once the Patriarch comes back…" Before the man finished speaking, his voice suddenly died away and he lifted his head swiftly.

At the same time, a piercing cry traveled through the sky above the tribe’s mountain. It reverberated in the area, and a huge gust of wind also appeared out of nowhere to surround the mountain before making its way through.

The man was not the only one who lifted his head. Looks of anxiety immediately appeared on the faces of all the other tribe members in the house. They stood up, and two among them went up to carry the man as they swiftly went out.

Almost at he moment they walked out, a large amount of tribe members in the other stone houses in the mountain walked out and knelt down with their heads turned towards the sky.

"Welcome back, Patriarch!"

Their voices were like waves that seemed to have fused together with the wind. As their voices and the wind circled around the area, a black long arc charged towards them from the sky. Within the long arc was a huge crane whose eyes were burning with raging flames. It was about 500 feet in size and was covered head to toe in black. It was flapping its wings while getting closer to them.

Standing on the black crane was an old man wearing a long robe made of feathers. There were several black lines on the old man’s face. He had wrinkles on his face, but his eyes shone brightly.

There was a person sitting beside him. That person wore a red robe and there were a large number of snakes and insects sewn on it. Those snakes and insects came in all sorts of colors, and they were terrifying to look at. There was a bamboo hat covering the person’s head so that their appearance could not be seen clearly, but from the stranger’s figure, it could be seen that the person was a woman.

"Madam Ji, this is my tribe. Madam Ji, this way, please." The old man swept his gaze past the ground on the black crane, and a smile appeared on his face. When he looked towards the woman by his side, that smile turned into respect, and he wrapped his fist in his palm before bowing towards the woman.

The woman whose age and appearance could not be seen clearly due to the bamboo hat gave a nod, and the black crane under the old man’s body instantly charged towards the peak of the mountain. They got closer in an instant, and as they charged forward, a large amount of black mist spread out from the mount’s body.

As the crane dived down, more black mist spread out, and right the instant it seemed as if the crane was about to crash into the mountain, it turned into black mist and disappeared. The old man and Madam Ji, who was the woman wearing the bamboo hat, landed on the mountain, right before the man, who was being carried by his tribesmen, and the other people who were in the house.

"Greetings, Madam Ji." The man whose right leg was broken immediately knelt down when he saw the old man and Madam Ji. Yet a sharp pain shot up his right leg due to his action, causing his face to instantly turn pale.

"Hmm? What happened to your leg?" The Patriarch of Black Crane Tribe immediately trained his gaze on his leg.