Chapter 115 No Trespa.s.sing
(TLN: You shall not pa.s.s)
Two months had pa.s.sed since his first encountered the Mán-tribes of this land, but Su Ming chose to stay where he was, spending his days refining southerner"s pills as his injuries gradually progressed towards a full recovery.
Presently, he was meditating within his cave in silence after having consumed a southerner"s pill. Of the two hundred and forty three blood veins on his body, only ten were still dim, the rest shimmering with vitality.
Over the span of a year, the vast amounts of southerner"s pills have at last alleviated his severe injuries from before. Often, he would recall the tribe, and thought of Grandpa, Xiao Hong, Bai Ling.
As well as Lei Chen.
Su Ming had no idea how the tribe is doing currently. He wondered if Xiao Hong was still happily playing about at Wu Mountains, and whether Bai Ling was still waiting for him when he missed their date back then.
Every time he recalled these things, Su Ming"s heart was seized by a wrenching pain. All alone by himself in this foreign land, whenever he gazed upon the moon in the skies he is reminded of his home, his denial of Grandpa"s pa.s.sing, and all that he was close to.
But he did not have the faintest clue pointing him home. All he knew was that he was in the western region where the Miao Tribe offshoot the FengZhen Tribe originated from.
"I need a map that leads to the Eastern Domain!"
"I have to get stronger, only then can I have the strength to search for my home. Only when I become strong can I make that black-robed man and his group pay the price!!"
In this period of more than a year, Su Ming constantly replayed the battle against the HeiShan tribe in his mind. He realized that there were many details he had missed out back then, all of which pointed towards the black-robed individual.
Su Ming opened his eyes as he awoke from his meditative state. Staring at the darkness surrounding him, he was a.s.saulted by a sense of loneliness that even after a year, he felt was hard to get used to.
Some time later, Su Ming emerged from the cave in silence. Outside the crevice, he watched the moon in the night sky. It was all quiet as he sat at one corner, breathing in the air that was still damp. Taking out the bone ocarina he carried on him, he stroked it gently.
After an unknown amount of time, with no one other than Su Ming in the surroundings, a faint whistling sound reverberated between the land and the skies with a lingering sorrow.
Su Ming did not know how to play this instrument, the bone ocarina itself too was damaged, no longer able to make the sounds it previously could. This sound was not played out, rather it existed within Su Ming"s heart, holding the ocarina in his hands with his eyes closed, this melody could be heard in his heart.
In this land, what accompanied him was just this tune which appeared to play by his ears, and from it he could draw a sense of familiarity in this foreign environment.
Whenever he was feeling lonely, he would always recall the good days in the past.
Whenever he was lonely, he would always recall the happiness he previously had……
As the moonlight grew to its peak, Su Ming"s eyes would close as he sat there, his body enveloped in the moonlight which would form figures flying around him.
Those figures were figures of the NightWings, the NightWings who were transformed from the Fire-Mán with the immense powers of the Mán-G.o.ds, granting them eternal life at the cost of having neither a human nor animal form. As time pa.s.sed, the powers binding them too waned as their eternal life too had faded.
However, the fight with Bi Tu and the black-robed man was not enough to vanquish them, what they had lost was merely their physical bodies, their spirits still remained flying around and in Su Ming, revealing themselves only under the moonlight, unseen to all but those who cultivate the ways of the Fire-Mán.
This was something Su Ming had not verified, rather the answer came from the souls of the NightWings themselves.
This was Su Ming"s greatest support, which was also why he did not mind letting the youth two months ago know of his existence.
He did not want to unnecessarily kill someone, but if someone were to find trouble with Su Ming, he would have to be ready to face death.
As the moon faded in the skies, and the glow of the morning sun appeared in the horizon, weak shouts could be heard coming from the forest beneath the hill.
"Senior…… senior……"
"Senior, I was wrong…… senior……"
Su Ming"s expression was calm, he could hear this voice speaking out every other day. This forest was vast and filled with mountains, to find a single person was not yet considered searching for a needle in a haystack, but it truly wasn"t too far off either.
This voice belonged to that youth that he met two months ago, Su Ming had expected something, the youth"s words neither revealed much nor hid anything.
If he revealed too much, it would have caught the attention of his tribe and some strong people might come, but even so in this forest, to find a person was no easy matter. Especially when Su Ming was actively avoiding them.
But most importantly, they were here to seek a favour, so if they only sought to satisfy themselves they might incite Su Ming"s displeasure instead.
This youth did not disappoint Su Ming as in the past two months, he had come alone many times shouting for Su Ming.
Su Ming heard the shouting, but he did not choose to pay attention to it, returning to his cave he continued refining Southerner"s Pills, and treating his injuries.
After several days, the voice slowly faded away.
After half a month, when there were only nine dim blood veins left on Su Ming"s body, he once more heard the weak voice coming from the rainforest.
"Senior…… Senior……"
This voice continued for the next two days, as Su Ming"s opened eyes revealed him deep in thought.
"I will not make the same mistake again……" Su Ming was thinking of something as he walked out of his cave. After putting on a hide robe, his body flashed as he dashed into the forest.
In the rainforest, Fang Mu"s face was filled with regret, but with even more caution and vigilance. In his hand was a chilling bone blade which he used for self-defence.
As leaving the tribe and coming here alone was a very dangerous thing, if he were to run into enemies, with the blade at least he could put up a fight.
As he bounded through the forest, he constantly shouted the same words he had been shouting the previous days.
"Senior…… senior……"
After some time he grasped for air as he leaned against a large tree with a helpless expression.
"Don"t tell me that mysterious person had already left, otherwise after these three months there is no way he did not hear me…… sigh, if he has not left that means he is unwilling to meet me." Fang Mu let out a sigh as he bitterly looked around him, gritting his teeth as h decided to walk on.
"Senior…… are you even still here!" As he saw the sun about to descend and the moon"s figure slowly materialising in the skies, Fang Mu dishearteningly shouted loudly once more.
"I am."
As Fang Mu"s voice left him, these cold words sounded from behind him, they were spoken so suddenly that Fang Mu leapt forwards in shock, turning around with his blade raised. Surprise filling his face when he saw the figure standing on one of the branches.
"Senior, I have been bitterly seeking you for the past three months." Spoke Fang Mu as he hurriedly put away his blade, excitedly looking at Su Ming"s figure before taking a few steps forward and bowing towards him.
"I plead for senior"s a.s.sistance, this junior Fang Mu had previously concealed that he was actually from the An Dong Tribe, and my father is the Patriarch of the An Dong Tribe, if senior is willing to extend a hand and help treat this junior"s injuries, this junior"s father will definitely compensate you.
This blade is junior"s compensation for withholding the truth from you previously, please senior accept it." The youth Fang Mu looked very sincere as he extended the blade in both hands towards Su Ming after taking a bow.
This blade had a black l.u.s.ter, and emanated a grim aura, it was definitely no simple object, it should be similar to his Scaled Blood Spear – a imitation Mán-Tool, and was something precious for a small tribe.
As the youth was able to present such a knife, Su Ming could with a glance, guess that the three tribes in control of the Han Mountain City were definitely not small-sized tribes and at least a medium-sized one.
With a flash Su Ming appeared in front of Su Ming, after taking a glance at Fang Mu, he took over the black bone blade. Without circulating any blood qi, he used the formless NightWing soul to test it out, instantly the blade flared with a black glow and its coldness instantly disappear, instead it quickly turned red as it seemed to blaze.
The surrounding trees started to dry out amid the blaze.
This heat made Fang Mu hurriedly retreat as shock filled his face, his heartbeat beating rapidly. He could not see through Su Ming"s cultivation at all, but he knew that even the seniors from the tribe were unable to make the knife react with such intensity. Only someone like his father was able to use the knife to a similar degree, even then it was not a blazing heat but rather a frigid cold.
"Don"t tell me…… don"t tell me he is actually an awakened cultivator!" Fang Mu"s lips were dry as he inwardly felt relieved that he did not tell others about this matter and he had come alone, otherwise angering such a person would have disastrous consequences.
Su Ming"s expression was hidden from Fang Mu, making it even more mysterious, at this moment Su Ming right hand was raised and secretly delivered two pills into his mouth out of Fang Mu"s sight. Circulating his blood qi, a warm feeling flowed into his body from his mouth.
"I give you fifty breaths of time to remember these ingredients, the next time you come bring a thousand stalks of them to trade for your treatment! Also, I don"t like being spied upon, but I will give you this one chance!" Su Ming"s words were calm but hoa.r.s.e, holding the bone knife in his right hand, a large piece of tree bark suddenly appeared with the image of a herb on it, the image of the herb was the one herb Su Ming lacked to produce more Mountain Spirit Pills, the Sieved Cloud Leaf.
Afterwards he no longer paid attention to Fang Mu, rather he stepped towards the sky, beneath his feet were the invisible NightWing Souls, allowing him to seemingly take to the air.
The NightWing souls beneath his feet were invisible to others and to Fang Mu, it appeared as if Su Ming was walking in the skies, making him gasp as his eyes expanded in shock.
"Could he really be an awakened cultivator……" Only after a long while did he recover from his shock, as he recalled the words spoken by Su Ming as he left, Fang Mu quickly looked at the surroundings around him and saw a large figure slowly walking out.
"Dad!" Fang Mu rubbed his eyes in shock.
The man was in a blue robe, his expression serious as he walked to Fang Mu"s side, looking towards the direction Su Ming left in with a frown.
"Did your injuries truly turn for the better?" He softly spoke.
Fang Mu"s heart was apprehensive, as he hurriedly checked his physical status, realising it had gotten better he quickly nodded.
"Dad, while you were following me, did that senior really notice you, is he really awakened?"
"Does not seem like it…… his blood qi is……" The man frowned as he did not finish his words, suddenly the drawing of the Sieved Cloud Leaf slowly crumbled into oblivion and was blown away. This is one of the mysterious skill that Su Ming had managed to obtain after reaching nuanced control of the power of his blood qi.
"Exactly fifty breaths…… this is the nuanced realm of awakening!!" The man"s pupils suddenly constricted.
"It"s over, it"s all over, I haven"t had the chance to memorise the appearance of the herb!" Fang Mu who was standing by the side spoke with anxiety.
"That was Sieved Cloud Leaf, I will prepare it for you. You better to properly respect that person and not offend him with your words, treat him like you would an elder of the tribe, he might be a blessing for you." The man let out a sigh although he was still doubtful, he was still seventy to eighty percent certain as he solemnly spoke.