Time was short. Xuan Lun could come back at any moment. All sorts of accidents could happen no matter how much Su Ming theorized and a.n.a.lyzed the situation. After what happened with He Feng, he had to admit that there was still a big difference between his intelligence compared to those who have been plotting and scheming for a long time.
Sometimes, the world did not work the way you wanted it to.
He carried the unconscious He Feng and ran into the miasma of the rainforest as he continued circulating his Qi. As the sky gradually lit up, he used his speed and went deeper into the rainforest.
The forest in these parts was very dense. The branches and leaves here were wide and big. Due to the density, even if it was daylight, the sunlight would be scattered by the leaves and branches, causing the rainforest to remain mostly in darkness.
When Su Ming reached the deeper parts of the forest, the humidity also increased along with the miasma, causing some of the stranger beasts and bugs to increase. Su Ming saw centipedes the size of pythons swimming in the mud; sight of them alone was terrifying.
There were also a lot of strange plants that let out nice fragrances, but if he breathed in too much of the scent, he would feel as if he wanted to throw up his internal organs. That sweet and nice fragrance was uncanny.
The sun was bright outside. It was already noon. Su Ming ran through the rainforest and heard singing voices that could not be described with words. The singing voice had a beautiful melody that sounded as if a young girl was humming, making Su Ming become enthralled by the sound.
If he had not remained in constant alert and continued circulating his Qi so that he quickly woke up from the trance, then the consequences would have been grave.
When he snapped out, he saw that he had unknowingly walked towards a big rotten tree dozens of feet away from him. There was a white bird on one of the branches, and the five colors - yellow, green, white, red, and black - were s.h.i.+ning brilliantly behind it. Yet there was an eerie big mouth looming under the five lights.
Su Ming was alarmed. While traveling deeper and deeper, he saw a lot of things he had never seen before.
When dusk arrived once again, a mountain range appeared before him. Behind the mountain range was another rainforest. There was no way of knowing where the deepest part of the rainforest lay.
Yet Su Ming did not dare to continue. There was bound to be even more terrifying things in the rainforest behind the mountain range, and they were all things that he could not yet fend off with his current power.
Su Ming’s eyes flashed. He brought He Feng into the mountain range in the rainforest and chose a naturally formed crack before crawling into it.
This was originally the resting place of a wild beast. There was a layer of shed skin left behind, and there was a faint, foul stench in the air. Su Ming swept his gaze across the cave and was certain that this was the house of a reptile.
‘The skin is dry, and the smell is faint. It should have been a long time since the snake came back; maybe it died outside.’
Su Ming fell into contemplative silence. Once he placed He Feng on the ground, he gathered up the shed skin and placed it at the entrance of the cave. He would use the smell to repel all those strange plants, beasts, and insects from bothering him.
Although he did this, Su Ming’s heart remained nervous. Yet once he mulled over it, he gradually relaxed. This place was far away from where Xuan Lun and He Feng had fought each other. The chances of Xuan Lun finding this place were not too high.
Besides, Su Ming could not think of a better place to put He Feng. From another viewpoint, this was the only place that was marginally safe.
Still immersed in his thoughts, Su Ming cast his eyes on He Feng. The man was still in an unconscious state. On their way here, He Feng had breathed in even more miasma. If it were not for his incredible power and having Awakened, then he would have died a long time ago due to his grave injuries.
He might be hanging onto his life for now, but he could not wake up. As time pa.s.sed by, death would gradually close in on him.
Besides avoiding Xuan Lun, Su Ming also chose this place to make sure that He Feng would continue to be in a weakened state, using the miasma in this place. After all, this person’s power was extremely great. Once he recovered, he would not be as sincere as he was before.
Su Ming might not be afraid of this He Feng, who was gravely wounded, but he could not stop him from self-destructing. However, if miasma continued invading his body, then he could prevent He Feng from doing so.
‘He said that he had something for me.’
Su Ming did not act rashly. He Feng was a man of many schemes, and he had firsthand experience of it. At that moment, he sat down in the cave, recalling all of He Feng’s actions and words before he fainted, and waited for dusk to pa.s.s into night.
It did not take long before the sky turned darker. The mountain range Su Ming was at was low. There were only a few ridges, and most of the mountain range was covered by dense trees of the rainforest.
The sky above had turned dark. The moon hung high in the sky, but the moonlight was just like the sunlight during the day—the light was scattered as it fell upon the rainforest.
Even so, Su Ming could still feel that his condition reached its peak during night. Only then did he stand up and walk to stand before He Feng. Once he scrutinized him cautiously once again, he lifted He Feng’s clothes and saw a purple item lying against his bosom.
The moment he saw the purple object, Su Ming’s expression changed. A sharp and piercing look immediately appeared in his eyes. He stared at the purple object on He Feng’s bosom and, gradually, a dazed and nostalgic look appeared in his eyes.
"This item…" Su Ming mumbled.
The image of a person who had been forgotten appeared in his head. It was an old man with a sharp mouth and the cheeks of a monkey. That old man sold a lot of strange herbs, and he even sold Su Ming a torn bag.
"Just what is it..?"
After a long while, Su Ming crouched down and lifted the purple object from He Feng’s bosom. He placed it before his eyes and saw that besides the color, this purple object was practically identical to the torn bag Su Ming had!
However, there were no torn parts on the purple bag, and it was in an complete shape. Su Ming’s bag could not hope to compare with this bag.
‘The same bags… Xuan Feng s.n.a.t.c.hed one away, one was given to Han Fei Zi… the ancestor of Han Mountain Tribe left behind four great treasures. Lake of Colors, Puqiang, and Tranquil East s.n.a.t.c.hed one away each. There’s one treasure left, and it’ was hidden away by He Feng…
‘In the canyons under Han Mountain City lies the greatest secret of the city. That place is where the ancestor of Han Mountain Tribe died.
‘If that’s the case, then does it mean that these are all the inheritances left behind by the ancestor of Han Mountain City..?’
Su Ming’s eyes became even more clouded. He had a feeling that there was a bigger secret lying within that purple bag.
He looked at the purple bag in his hands silently. If it was anything else that he had never seen before, he would need to ponder over it for some time before opening it slowly, but there was no need for him to do so with this bag.
Su Ming’s eyes flashed. He lifted his left hand and patted the bag. The moment he did so, a rebounding force immediately came from the bag.
Su Ming was stunned; he had never encountered this before. However, the rebounding force was extremely weak. As he circulated his Qi under fine control, the rebounding force dissipated in the span of a few breaths, allowing Su Ming’s left hand to land on the surface of the bag.
His mind shook, and an image of a dimension of hundreds of feet appeared in his head.
Su Ming closed his eyes, opening them only after a long time had pa.s.sed by. There was a look of pleasant surprise that was difficult to conceal in his eyes. As he lifted his left hand, a bright light flashed in his hand, and a bamboo slip appeared in his palm. It looked like an ancient artifact. It may not be broken, but there was an aged feeling coming from it.
This was the item He Feng said contained the Art that was completely different from Berserker Arts. It could allow Su Ming to have a clear grasp of another person’s power and turn it into a brand. As long as he was not too far away from the branded person, then he could lock onto him.
He placed the item aside, and another flash appeared in his left hand. In his palm lay a white bone. That bone was completely white, and when it appeared, there was a mirage above the bone, causing the person who saw it for the first time to be caught in a daze.
Su Ming could even hear piercing and mourning cries echoing in his ears. Yet when he snapped out of his daze, all of these dissipated away.
‘I don’t know where this bone came from. Did this bone belong to a man or a beast? But since such a strange thing happened because of it, then perhaps I can use it to plant herbs.’
Su Ming stared at the bone in his hands before grabbing the purple bag with his right hand and turning it upside down by his side.
With a crash, a large amount of items tumbled out of the purple bag, glittering on the ground. The light in the cave may have been lacking, but Su Ming could still see clearly. Most of the items were stone coins. There were not many white coins, and most of them were low ranked ones tainted with other colors. Still, the large amount was shocking.
"This is worth at least tens of thousands!"
Su Ming took a deep breath. This was the largest amount of money he had ever seen in his life. Yet very soon, his eyes landed on the two red stones lying among the stone coins.
The red hue of the stones was striking. Although the cave was dark, it was still difficult to dim out the light coming from the two red stone coins.
Besides these, Su Ming also found several small bottles. There were different liquids contained within them. Some had a nice fragrance, some were odorless, some stank, and some let out a refres.h.i.+ng fragrance.
It would have been fine if that was all, but lying among the items was a piece of beast skin. There were two Berserker Arts written on it. When Su Ming read them, the light in his eyes became brighter.
"It’s a pity there’s no Berserker Vessel… but that’s to be expected. He Feng must have used up most of the things that he could when he fought against Xuan Lun."
While mumbling, Su Ming’s gaze suddenly focused on two obviously unique objects lying among the pile of items.
One was a white stone box about the size of a palm.
The other was a black mask made from some unknown material. When Su Ming looked at it, he felt as if his gaze was about to be sucked in.
He first took up the white stone box.
After observing it with a couple careful looks, he was prompted to action. He did not know what was in there, but the box was made solely of melted and refined white stone coins. This stone box did not seem big, but it was actually quite heavy.
‘Just how many white stone coins were used..?’
Su Ming was momentarily stunned. He did not expect that stone coins could be used in such a manner. To him, they were just objects used for trading. However, the appearance of the stone box made him think that his previous a.s.sumption was somewhat wrong.
‘Could it be that these stone coins can not only be used for trading, but also other things?’
Inspired, Su Ming opened the stone box. When he saw what lay inside, he was startled.
‘This is…’