Chapter 102 – Shan Hen
Su Ming stood in the remains of the tribe as he looked at the crying man, his words remaining unanswered. This man was indeed Shan Hen, who knelt in the middle of the tribe, his tears overflowing, his expression one with pain, guilt and sorrow.
Su Ming remained silent, nor did he attack, rather he waited for Shan Hen’s answer.
After some time, as the cold wind continue to blow sending the various possessions of the people who used to live there flying, Shan Hen had finally stopped crying. Slowly standing up, he turned back to look at Su Ming.
His eyes were bloodshot and fatigued.
His familiar gaze had become foreign, this person who had been close to them had become a traitor of the Wu Shan Tribe. If not for him, the losses to the tribe would not have been as severe.
“It was you who informed the Hei Shan Tribe about our migration route.” Su Ming gazed at Shan Hen as he sadly walked over.
“When I came back, you were supposedly clearing the surrounding area of Hei Shan Tribesmen, and at that time you all split ways so no one knew where you were. And you, instead of killing those Hei Shan Tribesmen in the area, you gave them the information about our tribes migration.” Su Ming continued walking forward.
Shan Hen’s face was pale as he bitterly smiled, taking a few steps back, unwilling to answer Su Ming’s questioning.
“At that ambush, we lost a lot of our tribesmen……”
“After that, you managed to wait till the end at the most critical juncture to keep Lei Chen, grandpa Nan Song and us back and then strike out then severely injuring grandpa Nan Song and disrupting out plans……
Did you really want to see the Hei Shan Tribe brutally murder all of us……” Su Ming continued onwards, his voice slowly turning hoa.r.s.e.
Shan Hen’s expression grew even more pained as he retreated further backwards.
“But there are just two things I don’t understand, firstly, what benefit is there for you to betray the tribe like this. And secondly, when you got Bei Ling and his father to leave with the tribe, was it out of guilt or was it because you were not confident of taking on grandpa Nan Song while they were around.” Su Ming’s body trembled slightly as he got within twenty Zhang from Shan Hen.
“Tell me why!”
“Stop talking!!” Shan Hen’s face was pale as he loudly shouted, all his pain and sorrow bursting out as he backed off even further.
“Just stop……talking! There was no why, no nothing!” Shan Hen’s tears continued to fall out as he raised his right arm and pointed a finger towards Su Ming, a crimson glow appearing on his arm.
“I don’t care if you are Su Ming or Mo Su or whatever, just get lost! I can’t die yet, ten years later I will end myself here anyway.
If you keep coming closer, don’t blame me for ignoring the fact we were from the same tribe!” Shan Hen’s cold expression was no longer there, what remained was like a wild beast who would escape in a flash.
“As someone who chose to betray the tribe, what tribal relationships are you talking about, when you injured grandpa Nan Song, didn’t you think about what would happen to the rest of the migrating tribesmen when we fall!!” Su Ming fiercely grit his teeth, tossing the Scaled Blood Spear in his right arm towards Shan Hen.
Su Ming’s body once more turned into a red flash, the dancing strands of moonlight behind him instantly closing in on Shan Hen, as the sounds of battle rang in this originally peaceful tribe.
In an instant, the light from Shan Hen’s arm transformed into a b.l.o.o.d.y knife, clashing head on with the spear, sending out shockwaves into the surroundings.
“Wu Blood Dust!” Shen Hen took a few steps back and spat out some blood which disintegrated mid-air and flew towards Su Ming as a b.l.o.o.d.y mist.
With his higher cultivation, this Wu Blood Dust technique was not something Su Ming could compare to, instantly it covered an area several Zhang wide, the moment it lands on Su Ming’s body, it would pierce through it like an arrow. But as this powerful b.l.o.o.d.y mist approached Su Ming, his eyes flashed with moonlight, after all today was a full moon night!
The numerous strands of moonlight floating behind Su Ming suddenly surged forward and condensed into a barrier, meeting the blood mist the instant before it hit Su Ming.
A tremendous boom ensued and Su Ming’s body flinched from the recoil. The barrier of moonlight utterly shattered, but the blood mist also disintegrated as though erased by a violent gale.
At the same time, Shan Heng was blown several meters backwards by the impact, blood seeping from his mouth. Giving a mighty lurch, he chose to fled instead of resuming this engagement.
But Su Ming would not let him flee, and immediately gave chase with a turn of his body. When he approached Shan Heng, the latter suddenly turned around to face him, an expression of agony and killing intent on his face.
“Su Ming, you forced my hand!” Shan Heng gave a hoa.r.s.e roar. The instant he raised the knife that was his right hand, the vestige of a knife began to form on his face. That was his Man-Tattoo!
The moment the Man-Tattoo surfaced, the s.p.a.ce behind Shan Heng began to warp. A great red knife manifested out of nowhere. As the knife descended, it pierced Shan Heng’s body towards Su Ming’s head with an immense killing intent.
This strike was a sight to behold, the strongest attack of Shan Heng, the hunting captain of WuShan! Countless had fell before this attack, be it man or beast!
Around Su Ming, a vast quant.i.ty of moonlight transformed into countless threads to entwine the incoming knife, but breaking the instant it came into contact with the weapon.
Watching the knife that is about to land, flames began to emanate in Su Ming’s eyes, as though his pupils were ignited. With the appearance of the flames, a burning sensation kindled in Su Ming’s blood qi, as though his body contained a fire that could scorch heaven and earth!
On this full moon night, the burning sensation exceeded that of any previous occasion. His eyes blazing, Su Ming raised his right hand without making a sound towards the incoming blood knife, pressing his palm at it.
All over his body, flames suddenly erupted and enveloped him, forming a colossal figure of flames. Facing the moon, the blazing giant breathed in deeply, causing the surrounding to grow dim at once, as though all moonlight in this vicinity had been sucked into it.
“Fire!” Su Ming said softly. During his pursuit, he had already felt this fire within his body that he could summon at will anytime.
With a wave of Su Ming’s right hand, the flaming giant collided head on with the incoming blood knife. It no longer had a humanoid form, but morphed into a sea of flame, scorching everything in its path.
An earth rending explosion resounded the instant the sea of fire and blood knife annihilated each other. Spatting out blood, Shan Heng’s expression was one of disbelief. Being severely injured previously, more blood sprayed from his mouth as his body was blown backwards midair, no longer able to suppress his wounds. Stumbling, he fled in haste.
Blood seeped from the corner of Su Ming’s mouth and dripped onto the snow, immediately melting large swathes of it as though the snow was set aflame. Looking at Shan Heng who was about to escape, Su Ming gave a mighty lurch forward, thrusting the blood-scaled spear forward with vengeance.
In the midst of the wind’s howl, the blood-scaled spear morphed into a blood-coloured condor, and a loud bang sounded from Shan Heng’s position ahead. The sheer impact of the blast forced Shan Heng to stop in his track for an instant.
Seizing the moment, Su Ming gave the ground a stomp. A dagger on the ground beside him, left behind by his tribesmen during their migration, flew into his grasp. Wielding it in one hand, his body disappeared and reappeared beside Shan Heng in the blink of an eye, plunging the dagger into the latter’s body.
“I cannot die!” Shan Heng had a frenzied look on his face. Just before Su Ming’s dagger stabbed into him, the fingers of his right hand shone with a faint red glow and morphed into a red knife. Then, the two impaled each other at the same time.
“Give me ten years, just ten years!!” Shan Heng breathed harshly as those words came in an agonized, hoa.r.s.e shouting.
“When I was a child, you were an elder whom I admired deeply. I knew that your aloofness was a pretense that you put on due to your heavy responsibilities. You had to protect the tribe. The tribe needed not only an approachable figure like the Marksman, but also a detached individual.”
“Which is why you chose to be detached… I accept this stab of yours… is to thank you for your past contributions to the tribe.”
“But I will never forgive you for your betrayal, neither will the tribesmen who had died!” Blood seeped from Su Ming’s mouth. Leaning against Shan Heng’s body, he withdrew the stone dagger with his right hand, only to stab it in again.
“This, is on behalf of the elderly of the tribe who had died.”
“This, is on behalf the tribesmen who sacrificed themselves to protect the Patriarch.” Su Ming whispered beside Shan Heng’s ear, stabbing him once again.
“This, is on behalf of Wu La.”
“This, is on behalf of Liu Di.” Tears leaked from Su Ming’s grieving eyes as he stabbed continually. With each knife, Shan Heng’s body shook, blood drained unceasingly from his mouth. He was also crying as he suffered in agony.
This, is on behalf of Grandpa Nan Song.” Su Ming gazed at the ruins of the tribe, propping up Shan Heng so that he will not collapse. Pushing his body forward, he stabbed with the dagger on his right hand again. As Su Ming pushed, a frightful stream of blood formed on the snow beneath their feet, until they collided onto an undamaged part of the gigantic wooden fence surrounding the tribe.
With a bang, the fence shook. Once again, Su Ming withdrew his dagger.
“This, is on behalf of Grandpa”
“This, is from me.” Su Ming spoke softly as the stone dagger in his hand plunged deeply into Shan Heng’s heart. The latter collapsed onto Su Ming, his body convulsing as light faded from his eyes.
It was all silent. Only the two remained on the tribe, seemingly seized in each other’s arms. Su Ming shut his eyes. After a long while, he took a few light steps backwards, and Shan Heng’s corpse collapsed onto the ground. His eyes were devoid of life, as though he could no longer see Su Ming. He struggled to raise his trembling right hand to retrieve a piece of bone from his embrace.
It was a tiny piece of bone that seemed like the leg bone of an infant. Grasping that tiny bone, tears poured from his deaden eyes.
Amongst tears, he stopped breathing, and died.