The night was over. The last shreds of darkness were being chased away by the rays of morning sun. The moon in the sky turned into a crescent moon and was about to disappear. Su Ming, who was still in the cave on Black Flame Mountain s.h.i.+vered and finally lowered his head.
There was confusion, bafflement and most importantly, a shred of emptiness in his eyes. When Xiao Hong saw the expression on Su Ming’s face, it immediately puffed its fur up and retreated quickly until its back was pressed against the wall of the cave. Fear and shock appeared across its face.
He saw the faint shadow of the blood red moon slowly disappearing from Su Ming’s eyes.
The vague shadow of the blood red moon finally disappeared completely from Su Ming’s eyes after a long time and he snapped out from his trance. Xiao Hong watched Su Ming by his side for a while with a dumbfounded expression. Bewilderment slowly edged itself onto its face.
Su Ming took a deep breath. To him, the entire night had pa.s.sed by in the blink of an eye. Now that his mind was clear, the memories of the night only served to make him even more confused. Once he checked his body however, all his confusion turned into shock.
"My injuries… are all cured…" Su Ming mumbled. His body had been injured when he forcefully trained himself. While the injuries had not been serious, he still knew from experience that he needed to meditate for a few days to recover. Yet now, he recovered in one night.
After a long while, Su Ming drew in a breath and lifted his head. He only saw the clear sky and sun from the numerous holes in the wall.
‘That was indeed a Berserker Art, an Art belonging to the Fire Berserker Tribe! This Art has an incredible power. I only needed to sink into my thoughts for one night and all my injuries have healed…’
Su Ming’s eyes lit up and he immediately activated the Qi in his body. Soon, all 19 blood veins appeared on his body.
However when the 19 blood veins emerged, an odd expression appeared on Su Ming’s face. He could faintly feel some leftover strength within himself. His expression became serious and once again, he began circulating the Qi around his entire body. When the Qi went through a few cycles around his entire body, the 20th blood vein appeared suddenly on his chest!
Su Ming widened his eyes in shock. Once the Qi in his body dispersed, he became even more surprised with what happened the previous night.
His heart pounded against his chest. The incredible effects from Mountain Spirit had caught him by surprise. In addition to the discovery of the mysterious effects of the Fire Berserker Art, a new path seemed to have opened itself right before Su Ming’s eyes!
‘Awakening! Perhaps I can reach the Awakening Realm and become a powerful Berserker in the Awakening Realm!’
Su Ming took a deep breath and quelled the excitement in his chest. Xiao Hong ran towards him from where it was not far away and climbed onto Su Ming’s shoulders. It stared into Su Ming’s eyes with a confused expression. It even brought its paws up to pinch Su Ming’s cheeks.
Su Ming laughed and pushed the little monkey away. They played around for a while before Xiao Hong hissed at Su Ming as if it remembered something. It raised its right paw and sniffed it. An elated expression appeared on its face. It even licked its paw a few times and placed it right before Su Ming like it wanted Su Ming to sniff it.
Su Ming was momentarily surprised. He noticed Xiao Hong doing the same thing for the past few months and had a few theories about it. However, he always thought there was something off about his theories. Now that he saw it again, he looked at Xiao Hong’s right paw in his face with hesitation. He then sniffed it as Xiao Hong looked at him expectantly.
A foul smell wafted its way into his nose. It made him push the paw away. He found Xiao Hong’s actions funny and annoying at the same time.
Xiao Hong immediately glared at him. It seemed displeased with how Su Ming pushed his hand away and hissed at Su Ming. Then it ran to a corner of the cave and sniffed its paw again. It had the same elated expression on its face, as if it once caught something in its right paw…
‘It never had that habit before…’
Su Ming looked at Xiao Hong’s expression and became even more surprised. As a thought flickered in his mind, he decided on something.
A few days pa.s.sed by since then and Su Ming was once again lost in the process of quenching herbs. The powerful effects of Mountain Spirit made his heart pound in excitement and his desire to create more of them increased.
It was a pity that the failure rate for creating Mountain Spirit was incredibly high. Su Ming had only managed to create two pills after he used half of the Cloud Gauze Gra.s.s he had in stock.
Besides quenching herbs, Su Ming would also sit down and control the circulation of the blood around his body during the day. It allowed his body to stabilize even more in the third level of the Blood Solidification Realm. A strong presence spread through his body. Based on Su Ming’s a.n.a.lysis, he would have been able to fight against the Berserker from Black Mountain Tribe whom he killed using Scattering Blood face-to-face at this point!
During the night, Su Ming would give up on the quenching of herbs and sit in the cave to stare at the moon. He pictured the image of the blood red moon in his head quietly. However, the effects were no longer as powerful and strange as the first day.
Even so, the training Su Ming did for the past few days allowed him to manifest another blood vein, turning him into a 22 blood veined Berserker.
That night, Su Ming sat down with his legs crossed and stared at the moon. As he was imagining the red moon, Xiao Hong who had not gone out of the cave for a few days, got up silently. There was excitement and antic.i.p.ation in its eyes. It sniffed its right paw with an exhilarated look on its face and watched Su Ming. Once it realized Su Ming was not looking, it ran out of the exit.
The moment Xiao Hong disappeared from the cave, Su Ming opened his eyes. A smile appeared at the corners of his lips as he got up quietly and left the cave as well.
‘I want to see just what it is that is captivating Xiao Hong.’
Su Ming was after all, still a teenager. He was still inquisitive. After he noticed Xiao Hong’s actions, his curiosity was sparked.
With Su Ming’s new strength as a 22 blood veined Berserker, his speed and agility had arrived at an astonis.h.i.+ng level. If he wanted it, there would not even be footsteps left on the snow.
He could make it so that Xiao Hong did not notice him even as he followed it. Xiao Hong’s speed was extremely quick in the night. It reached the foot of the mountain very soon.
Su Ming followed it with a grin on his face.
However, that grin left his face an hour later and was replaced by an odd expression.
He saw Xiao Hong jumping around the forest with a destination in mind. It ran forward with absolutely no hesitation, obviously familiar with the route. It finally stopped in front of a burrow somewhere in the forest. Much of the plants around the burrow were already destroyed, making it look extremely messy.
Xiao Hong paced outside the burrow quietly. There was vigilance mixed with antic.i.p.ation in its demeanor. After it observed the burrow for a while, it rushed in quickly.
Su Ming frowned when he saw this not far away. With all his years of experience being in the forest, he could tell with just one glance that the burrow was used by a big wild beast for hibernation.
At that moment, a low roar filled with anger traveled out from the burrow and a red shadow immediately ran out from the burrow. As it ran, it would also let out piercing shrieks. There was also a hint of pride on its face. Su Ming saw a clear bundle of black fur in its right paw.
‘This is…’
Su Ming was uncertain of what it was but soon after, the land trembled and a creature that looked like a giant bear roared within the cave.
The beast was entirely black and had long fur. Its eyes were bloodshot with anger. When Su Ming saw the creature, a weird expression settled on his face.
He saw that there was only a handful of fur left on a huge portion of the angry beast’s groin. It looked positively stark and clearly it was not the first time the fur over that part was plucked. It must have happened multiple times…
When he remembered what Xiao Hong held in its hands, he could not help but also recall the time Xiao Hong asked him to sniff its paw just a few days ago. Su Ming widened his eyes abruptly.
The wild beast roared and chased after Xiao Hong furiously but it did not have Xiao Hong’s speed. Before long, it whimpered as if it had given up. Then it returned to the burrow looking very downcast. After a while, huge clamoring sounds came from within the cave as though the beast was venting its anger.
Su Ming’s mind was blank. With a peculiar expression on his face, he chased after Xiao Hong. His speed was much faster than Xiao Hong’s and not long into the chase, he saw Xiao Hong’s shadow from afar.
Xiao Hong stopped at a part of the forest filled with dried trees. It looked around its surroundings. It then quickly rubbed the black fur on its groin. Su Ming could see the pride on its face clearly. That look of pride seemed to announce that it was as "strong" as the bear. In all honesty, it just looked more like a pervert at that moment.
Su Ming’s face was emotionless. He watched as Xiao Hong walked back into the forest proudly after it was finished with its business. It screeched and then…
Su Ming saw a bunch of pet.i.te female monkeys whose fur were not red emerging from the forest quickly and surrounding Xiao Hong.
He watched as the pet.i.te monkeys sniffed Xiao Hong’s right paw. They were shocked and fearful. After that, they looked at its groin… Then Xiao Hong went into the deeper parts of the forest with the pet.i.te female monkeys feeling proud of himself.
Su Ming laughed wryly and sighed. He finally understood what was going on. Xiao Hong was using the might of a bear to attract the opposite s.e.x.
Su Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry. He did not even know what to think of it. He quickly left the place and went into a trance again to forget about how he was persuaded to sniff Xiao Hong’s right paw that day.
He returned to the cave feeling embarra.s.sed. Su Ming let out a long sigh. He pitied the bear that lost its fur.
‘No wonder every time Xiao Hong went out, it’d come back after a few days exhausted… After resting for a while, it’d recover its strength and go back outside…’
Su Ming touched his nose and forced himself to ignore the matter. Once again, he immersed himself in projecting the image of the red moon and sank into the mysterious feeling of having the red tint from the moon seeping into his blood.
A few days pa.s.sed by. One night, Su Ming was looking at the moon as he sat down cross-legged as usual. As he looked at the bright surface of the moon, the faint outline of the blood red moon gradually appeared in Su Ming’s vision. It shone brilliantly. Suddenly, the blood red moon in his left vision seemed to burn. Su Ming trembled.
A string of words crossed his mind.
‘"As the fire in mine blood burns, the nine is the utmost of all, and the one is the law. Light up the Berserker Fires and wors.h.i.+p the nine, did let us all becometh the authorities of Fire!"’