Before the voice from the third palace could finish speaking, Su Ming let out a cold bark of laughter and appeared beside the person who had pleaded for help. He lifted his right hand to seize that Berserker, and since that person knew that all his divine abilities were useless, he roared, deciding to burn his cultivation base and self-destruct!
Yet the moment he prepared to self-destruct, Su Ming’s right hand suddenly shone with violet light, and violet armor appeared to cover his entire right arm and hand. He pierced through the flames coming from this person’s self-destruction and seized his throat.
"We’re not family."
As Su Ming stated that flatly, he added strength to his grip, and with a bang, the powerful Berserker in his grasp was reduced to only flesh and blood. When he released his grip, the man’s mangled body fell downwards, but a white bracelet flew out from his corpse into Su Ming’s palm.
Su Ming cast a glance at the bracelet. He remembered that this item had also been placed in his Master’s cave abode in the past.
When he held the bracelet, the killing intent in his heart burned even more furiously. He lifted his head and looked at the final Berserker in the Berserker Soul Realm running away from him. He was a Clan Elder, and he was already close to the first palace. Su Ming took a step forward, but the moment he lifted his foot, an old man in white robes walked out from the third palace.
The old man looked at Su Ming with a complicated expression on his face. He had seen Su Ming before. At that time, he had been in the auction and had seen the young Berserker along with the Young Lord from the Great Tribe of Freezing Sky[1].
At that time, the Young Lord had wanted to win Su Ming over. Twenty years had pa.s.sed by since then, and times had changed. When the old man saw Su Ming again, the shock he had made him unable to calm himself down even after such a long time had pa.s.sed.
"Su Ming, you are a disciple of the ninth summit, why must you do this? You may be strong now, but don’t forget who took you in when you were still weak. It was Freezing Sky Clan, it was…"
As the old man in white walked forward, he spoke darkly. His heart was in great shock. Su Ming’s power, his strange divine abilities, and especially the scene where he sealed heaven and earth had made him incredibly wary.
This sort of person should have originally been part of Freezing Sky Clan, but now, he had become their enemy. It pained him to see this, and at the same time, he began sighing in his heart.
But before he could finish speaking, Su Ming lifted his head and looked towards him.
"It’s the ninth summit that took me in!" he said calmly.
When his foot landed, he had already arrived next to the fleeing old Berserker in the Berserker Soul Realm. When shock and despair appeared on his face, a cold harrumph came from the first palace. Immediately, the door to that palace flew open with a bang, and a dark ray of light instantly flew out to charge towards Su Ming.
A power at the peak of the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm erupted from that dark light, and there was a small cauldron contained within it. That cauldron spun rapidly and charged towards Su Ming. A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and as he waved his arm, his medicinal cauldron manifested immediately to crash into that incoming cauldron with a loud bang.
As that bang echoed in the air, Su Ming took a step forward. When the Clan Elder began fleeing once again, Su Ming moved past him to stand on the platform to the first palace. The Clan Elder in the Berserker Soul Realm s.h.i.+vered, and banging sounds came from his body. When he coughed up blood, a small snake crawled out of his mouth and flew up while hissing. It looked at its surroundings with a cold, dark glare.
That small snake was, naturally, Su Ming’s Candle Dragon!
Its eyes were cold and merciless. All of the living beings in this world were just food in its eyes… only when it looked towards Su Ming would gentleness appear in its eyes, and subservience would appear in its actions.
The instant Su Ming landed on the platform to the first palace, an old woman walked out from within. Sinister intent could be seen on her face. She held a cane with a dragon head in her hand, and when she slammed it on the ground, the dragon head started moving as if it had resuscitated, and started roaring towards Su Ming.
The old woman lifted her left hand at the same time, and there was a ring on her finger. When Su Ming it, the killing intent in his eyes started s.h.i.+ning brilliantly.
That ring belonged to his Master!
The old woman bit the tip of her tongue and coughed up a mouthful of blood on the ring. That blood fused within it in an instant, and soon after, a low roar came inside, along with a layer of black fog. It then instantly turned into a big hand that went on to seize Su Ming.
The old man in white from the third palace also took a step forward right then and lifted his right hand. Immediately, the air before him started distorting. As thunder rumbled in the air, a long sword with lightning sparks on its blade appeared. It swept through the air, and immediately, the entire sky seemed to have turned into a lightning lake that had an endless supply of lightning, and along with that sword, it charged towards Su Ming.
A sigh traveled out of the second palace soon after, and it instantly turned into an illusion before disappearing, revealing a person surrounded by red fog sitting within. The person slowly stood up, and when he looked towards Su Ming, he took a step forward and turned into a layer of red fog before charging towards him!
These three people’s level of cultivation was already extremely close to the later stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, but while they might be extremely close, that remaining distance might sometimes be a ravine that was incredibly difficult to breach, and in the end, they were still merely Berserkers in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm!
There were nine Lords in Heaven Gate, and there were also nine Lords in the Great Plains! These three people were clearly the three of the nine Lords of Heaven Gate. Su Ming remembered that his Master had once mentioned that there was one Lord missing from Heaven Gate, and they only had eight Lords at the moment.
There were also missing Lords in the Great Plains.
"So this is the standard of the Lords in Heaven Gate. You are nothing," Su Ming said flatly. He might not have killed many of those in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, but there were also quite a number of those who had died in his hands!
The instant the trio’s divine abilities closed in on him, an endless amount of fine violet threads seeped out of Su Ming’s body. As he stood there, they surrounded him entirely, turning into the Undertaker’s of Evil Armor!
When he lifted his right hand, the Undertaker’s of Evil Spear manifested. The instant that long spear appeared, murderous aura surged into the sky and filled the entire place. A thick, b.l.o.o.d.y stench spread through the area.
That b.l.o.o.d.y stench formed a bloodthirsty aura that roiled as if there were numerous vengeful spirits within it,shrieking and howling, surrounding Su Ming’s spear unable to escape. A large amount of these vengeful spirits were the savages from Scour Sieve Island!
The moment the Undertaker’s of Evil Armor appeared, it would not disappear without tasting blood. The manifestation of that Armor meant that Su Ming’s rampage was about to begin!
He swept the long spear across, and the instant those three people closed in, he turned into a violet shadow. As the aura of death spread out from his body, as the rolling black fog stretched out to fill the sky, as the pair of crimson eyes that looked like stars in the black fog started s.h.i.+ning in a strange, enchanting light, the trio appeared right before him.
A loud bang that shook the sky and earth reverberated in the air, and as a powerful force spread out swiftly through the area, the old woman coughed up blood and was forced back several hundreds of feet. She coughed up blood once again, and shock along with disbelief appeared on her face.
"The later stage of the Berserker Soul Realm!"
She had been unable to determine Su Ming’s level of cultivation previously, and while she might be wary of his strange divine abilities, in her mind, he was still only at the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm, even if he had received some sort of serendipity. After all, only twenty years had pa.s.sed since the last time she saw him.
Yet now, after exchanging blows with him, she discovered to her shock that everything had surpa.s.sed her expectations.
Almost the moment she started tumbling backwards, the old man in white also fell back. He staggered a few hundred feet back and started bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Vicious coughs wrecked his body, and as he coughed, a red thread crawled out from his right hand before crawling back in within an instant. A red flush appeared on his face, and though he was in pain, his gaze locked on Su Ming became increasingly more complicated.
The person who had turned into red fog also fell back. The fog collapsed, but it gathered up once again to turn into a person whose head was filled with red but whose body looked like a statue. He stood there and looked at Su Ming quietly. He was apathetic, but there was conflict hidden underneath that apathetic expression.
The instant Su Ming saw that red-haired person, his pupils shrank.
"Zi Che!"
The red-haired person was clearly Zi Che! When he heard Su Ming’s voice, the man immediately started trembling, and the conflict in his eyes became stronger!
But Zi Che had not even reached the Bone Sacrifice Realm when they had parted in the past, yet now, the power he showed was in the middle stage of the Berserker Soul Realm. This immediately put a frown between Su Ming’s brows.
With just a glance, he could tell that something was wrong with Zi Che. His body was no longer made of flesh and blood, but was like a statue. He looked… just like a statue of the G.o.d of Berserkers!
At the same time, the wave of ripples that had spread out due to the crash between the four people just now had touched the other palaces around the area. The instant they touched them Su Ming immediately saw the remaining six palaces breaking down, and all of them shattered to dust.
Once they shattered… he found that there was no one in those six palaces!
That scene was filled with a strange air, causing the entire Heaven Gate to be filled with a strange atmosphere as well. However, Su Ming also immediately noticed the frozen Heaven Gate disciples around him looking shocked and confused when they found out that the remaining palaces were empty.
"Master, leave, this place is…"
At that moment, Zi Che suddenly started shouting loudly, but before he managed to finish his words, several red threads immediately crawled out of his eyes before crawling in once again. Frenzied killing intent appeared in his eyes once again.
"Since you’re here, then why leave in such a hurry? Su Ming… I’ll be waiting for you at the ninth layer. I hope… you will have the chance to come up here, and I will… kill you with my own hands!!"
A soft and dark voice abruptly came from the sky, and a vortex appeared in the portion of the sky that had yet to be filled by black fog. As that vortex spun, a vast expanse of land appeared.
"By the way, Bai Su is also here, and if you don’t kill me within an hour, that senior brother of yours, Hu Zi, was it? He’ll end up the same as Zi Che…
"Also, you have an old friend here, and he really wants to fight against you…
"Su Ming, I’ve been waiting for this day for too long. I’ve always been waiting for you to come back… I will make you suffer slowly, and I will return to you all the pain I had to endure by thousandfold. I… am the true G.o.d of Berserkers!" As that voice echoed in the air, a chilling air could be felt contained within it, and that voice… belonged to Si Ma Xin!
The moment that voice appeared, the Rune to leave Heaven Gate collapsed with a bang.
At the same time, the sleeping Hu Zi did not notice that the scars on his back had torn apart, and there were red threads crawling in and out of his back while he remained asleep on the ninth summit outside Heaven Gate…
This was something even Su Ming had not noticed before he left…
"The game has started. Su Ming, I look forward to this so much…"
Si Ma Xin’s voice became even softer, making those who heard it to be unable to tell whether he was a man or a woman, but the hatred contained within towards Su Ming felt as if it had been engraved into his soul, and it was an irreconcilable hate!
Translator’s Notes:
That Young Lord had also helped Su Ming with his payback during the auction, and also gave him the invitation to the secret auction.