Pursuit of the Truth

Chapter 422: Old Acquaintance

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

‘I don’t understand why the patriarch chose him! He’s just as cowardly as Ahu! We’ve already been walking for ten days in the forest!’

Another five days passed by, and Su Ming brought the girl and boy out of the forest. All along the way, they did not run into any sort of danger whatsoever. On the final few days, Su Ming increased his speed by quite a large margin, which caused the girl’s resentment to disappear slightly, but it was still very strong.

‘There’s no danger here, and we wasted ten days. Those people who overtook us must have already arrived in Shaman City, but we only managed to travel such a small distance.’

The girl was extremely livid, and Su Ming’s unfazed attitude towards everything had especially made her feel as if she could not vent her frustrations, making her feel really horrible for having to keep her anger in.

Because of that, the boy turned into her punching bag and had to be scolded by her all the time during those few days, but there was never a hint of displeasure on the boy’s face. Every single time, he would try to console and comfort her.

Even after they walked out of the forest and there was an endless plain before the girl, she still did not know that there was a large number of trees in the forest behind her that contained numerous corpses. Those corpses were all impaled by an endless amount of tree branches, and there was liquid flowing out of their bodies, nourishing the trees.

Those corpses were all drying up one by one, and as time passed by, they would become part of the trees…

Su Ming turned his head around and cast a glance at the strange forest with a calm expression. Most of the time, he did notice the corpses that were absorbed into the forest using some unknown method.

‘As expected of the World of Nine Yin, it’s already so dangerous even though it’s just the Shamans’ territory… But the Shamans have already occupied this place for many years, and they should know about the dangers within their territory like the back of their hand. If that’s the case, why are the people who come in here acting so recklessly?’

This was something that Su Ming did not understand.

It was explainable as to why White Bull Tribe did not understand the dangers in the place. After all, White Bull Tribe was practically cut off from the world and they were located in a remote region. It was difficult for them to know the details of this place, but there was in no way the other tribes were the same as White Bull Tribe…

As Su Ming was engrossed in his thoughts, his expression suddenly changed, albeit only slightly, and his gaze fell on the forest. Rustling sounds came from within the place, and it was followed soon after by a middle-aged man walking out, exhausted.

Behind him was a boy. His face was pale, and his right arm was withered up!

Su Ming had seen the middle-aged man once before. He was the aloof person who had charged through the sky with four teenagers behind ten days ago!

Not only did Su Ming recognize the middle-aged man, even Ahu and Lan Lan had managed to recognize him with just one glance. Ahu’s pupils shrank, and as for Lan Lan, she was momentarily taken aback.

The middle-aged man also saw Su Ming and the other two youths behind him. There was surprise on his face. Clearly, he had also recognized Su Ming. He could remember somewhat that he had seen these three people in that strange forest ten days ago.

At that time, he had been calm, and he did not bother himself too much with those not connected to him. He only noticed these three people because they were walking in the forest and not charging through. That strange action made him give them a second glance, but that was all.

However, when he saw Su Ming, the middle-aged man was shocked in his heart, and a hint of amazement could be seen faintly in his eyes. He found that there was not a hint of injury or patheticalness on Su Ming, but that was not all. The stranger was clearly the same as he was and was tasked to protect these children, but…

No sign of injury or patheticalness could be found on the boy and girl as well. This caused the middle-aged man to not be able to help but be surprised.

He knew too well of the strangeness and terrors of forest by then, and it could be said that he had escaped death narrowly. In fact, he even had to use Enchanted Vessels and divine abilities that could protect his life before he managed to bring one person out, albeit with much difficulty. Yet even so, the boy he managed to bring out already had his right arm rendered useless.

It was because he knew of the changes and the terrors of the forest that he was shocked by the trio’s current appearance.

He immediately recalled Su Ming walking leisurely through the forest ten days ago. If he did not run into Su Ming right at that moment, he would not have thought too much into it, but once he did, he immediately recalled his discovery when he was escaping from danger a few days ago.

He had found that the faster he moved in the forest, the more dangerous it was, but if he moved at a relaxed pace, the level of threat would reduce by a large half. Besides his divine abilities, a large part of the reason as to why he managed to escape from the forest with his protégé was this!

When he remembered just how the man had been walking this way since ten days ago, the middle-aged man found himself in shock, but at the same time, he also became wary of Su Ming. He absolutely did not believe that he was merely lucky. This sort of thing had absolutely no connection with any luck whatsoever!

"I am Nan Gong Hen. I’m afraid I’ve embarrassed myself before you with my current sorry state compared to me ten days ago." Nan Gong Hen smiled wryly and wrapped his fist in his hand towards Su Ming before he bowed. His attitude towards Su Ming was extremely polite.

"There’s no embarrassment whatsoever. I am Mo Su." Su Ming returned the greeting with a wrapped fist and replied without even batting an eyelid.

"Fellow tribesman Nan Gong, I remember seeing you fly in the sky a few days ago. Why did you walk out of the forest now?"

"Brother Su, why are you asking what you already know? The forest suddenly changed and caught me off guard. I was surprised when I saw you walking in the forest a few days ago. By the looks of it now, it seems that you have already foreseen this coming." Nan Gong Hen shook his head and laughed bitterly.

"I only thought that this forest was slightly strange. I only got out by pure luck. If I exchanged places with you, it might have been difficult for me to walk out alive," Su Ming stated calmly.

"Brother Mo, there’s no need for you to be humble…" Nan Gong Hen shook his head, but he already had quite a good opinion about Su Ming. He cast a glance at Lan Lan and Ahu beside him before asking, "Brother Mo, which tribe are you protecting?"

"Just a remote little tribe. You wouldn’t have heard about us before, Brother Nan Gong." Su Ming smiled faintly and avoided the topic.

"We came from White Bull Tribe!" But when the girl saw this middle-aged man, excitement appeared on her face, and she quickly spoke.

Su Ming frowned, and Nan Gong Hen was also taken aback slightly, but he soon smiled and ignored the girl. He had merely asked out of mere politeness and did not expect that Mo Su would answer. The girl butting in already allowed him to somewhat tell that there were some problems between this Mo Su and White Bull Tribe.

Nan Gong Hen hesitated for a moment before he cast a glance at Su Ming, then wrapped his fist in his palm and spoke politely. "Brother Mo, both of our destinations should be Shaman City. There’s still quite some distance before we can reach it. Why don’t we team up? We’ll be able to take care of each other this way." .

Su Ming did not answer immediately. Instead, he cast the girl a cold glare first, and there was a warning look in his eyes, along with a freezing glint. The girl also knew that she had acted rather recklessly just now. When she saw Su Ming giving her that aloof glare, she immediately lowered her head.

As for the boy, he was looking at Su Ming earnestly.

‘Do this one more time, and you will no longer receive my protection. I made a promise with your Patriarch that I would only need to have a single person complete the journey.’

Su Ming’s voice echoed in the girl’s head, and this method of sending his voice directly into her head without being heard by anyone made the girl’s heart tremble.

Once he was done dealing with the girl, uncertainty appeared on Su Ming’s face. After some time, as Nan Gong Hen continued waiting, he nodded his head.

Delight immediately appeared on Nan Gong Hen’s face and he let out a bark of laughter.

"Brother Mo, in all honesty, with you by my side, I feel slightly more confident, or else, I don’t know whether there will be any more sudden changes in the forest.

"This forest is truly strange. The wooden slip provided by the God of Shamans Temple never mentioned anything about the terrors of this forest, and I remember that I never ran into any sort of danger when I first came here with my companions and walked through this forest…"

"Brother Nan Gong, could you let me see the wooden slip? I don’t understand the changes in this place either." Su Ming asked unhurriedly. He had only agreed to travel with these two because he was not familiar with this place, and he was also wary of this so called ‘sudden change’ in this forest.

Nan Gong Hen cast a glance at the boy and girl beside Su Ming. Then, as if he had understood something, he smiled and brought out a wooden slip from his bosom, handing it to Su Ming.

Once Su Ming took it, he scanned it with his divine sense. There was a complete map on the slip, and the map covered an area of one million lis. Right at the center of the map was a city.

The Shamans’ territory was mapped out clearly.

This was precisely what Su Ming needed. Once he engraved that map in his head, he handed the wooden slip back to Nan Gong Hen, but right at that moment…

"Brother Mo, this is a gift for you. I have another map with me," Nan Gong Hen said with a smile.

"If that is the case, thank you." Su Ming smiled and saluted Nan Gong Hen with a wrapped fist as a form of thanks. The two of them flew up at the same time and charged towards the sky in the distance. Su Ming did not find any of those gazes focusing on him in this area, so he decided it would be good for them to be able to not walk.

As for the three youths, they were all carried into the air by Su Ming and Nan Gong Hen’s divine abilities and flew behind them.

As the five people charged forward, Su Ming spread his divine sense out in the area and observed his surroundings carefully. Nan Gong Hen swiped his right hand across the center of his brows, and immediately, a pair of violet eyes appeared at that spot. Those eyes blinked seven times in succession, then multiple spirits flowed out of Nan Gong Hen’s body, turning into a vortex as they swam about in the area, and that vortex covered an area several tens of thousands of feet wide.

Clearly, Nan Gong Hen was a Spirit Medium.

The three youths behind Su Ming and Nan Gong Hen were all quiet. The boy who lost his right arm looked extremely determined, but he would occasionally frown and pain would appear between his brows.

Ahu was looking at Su Ming’s back while lost in his thoughts.

As for Lan Lan, while she had been uncertain as to why the powerful Nan Gong Hen in her mind would be so courteous to Su Ming, she still believed that luck was a big reason as to why Su Ming had been able to bring them out of the forest.

Since Su Ming and Nan Gong Hen had to bring three youths with them, the group could not travel too quickly in the sky. They traveled for a few days, and on this day, as they were still flying in the sky, a gigantic ship broke through the clouds in the sky and charged forth from another direction.

There were eight people on that ship. Some of them were sitting cross-legged, some of them were looking into the distance from the railings, and some of them were talking to each other.

At one of the corners of the ship was a girl. She looked incredibly average and not a hint of extraordinariness could be seen on her person. The only thing that stood out about her was the distinct tranquility in her eyes. She was dressed in white and was frowning at that moment, absorbed in her own thoughts. She swept her gaze casually through the area, and when she saw Su Ming, her eyes widened, but her eyes soon filled with uncertainty, and a torn look appeared on her face.

‘He might be in the land of the Shamans, but there’s no chance for him to come here… Su Ming, where are you..?’ the woman thought silently in her heart, sighing.