The change in the small snake"s behavior caused Nan Gong Hen"s words to die in his throat. He was momentarily stunned, and he immediately whipped his head around to look at the source that brought out the small snake"s ferociousness. When he saw that sealed cave abode, a glint appeared in Nan Gong Hen"s eyes.
Su Ming narrowed his eyes and his gaze fell on the sealed cave. The small snake"s howls grew even louder as it sat on his shoulders. The hatred in its eyes caused all the people who saw it to feel fear blooming in their hearts.
"That is senior Hei Ya"s cave abode…" Nan Gong Hen muttered softly.
With a calm expression, Su Ming lifted his right hand and seized the air. Immediately, a wisp of green smoke appeared in his hands. As that smoke swirled around his hand, it turned into an illusory shadow that looked like it was drifting towards that cave abode as if it was being absorbed. That shadow looked like the old man in black that had plotted against Su Ming in the past!
The green wisp of smoke had been extracted from the wisp of divine sense of the old man when Su Ming was still in the Undying and Imperishable World. Back then, he"d thought of using it to search for him when he was in the world outside. Once he saw the small snake"s abnormal behavior, he fell into a moment of deep thought, then brought out that green wisp of smoke to test it out, and immediately, a bone chilling murderous intent appeared in his eyes.
"So you"re here!" Su Ming smiled coldly, then took a step a forward. The small snake on his shoulders charged out and rushed towards the sealed cave.
Almost the instant Su Ming took that step forward, a low roar traveled out from that sealed cave. The door to the cave exploded with a bang, and a black figure flew out from within.
Right when that black figure appeared, he immediately ran into the small snake charging towards him. Sparks flew into the air, and the black figure let out a m.u.f.fled groan, but he still managed to cast some sort of divine ability that caused the small snake"s body to freeze.
Right at the instant its body froze, the black figure charged to the sky.
With a cold harrumph, Su Ming took a step forward and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already standing in midair, right above the black figure. When he lifted his right hand and pressed down, the black figure let out a roar. He lifted his right hand as well, and their palms crashed against each other in the air.
A loud bang rang out. Su Ming did not even budge an inch, but the black figure coughed out a huge mouthful of blood and his body plummeted straight to the ground. At that moment, his appearance was revealed.
The black figure was wearing a black robe, and he was indeed the old man in black who Su Ming wanted to kill. As he fell to the ground, the hood covering his head was blown off by the violent gust of wind that stirred up, revealing a face that was covered in rotten fles.h.!.+
That face looked incredibly ugly. Most of the flesh and blood was already rotten, and bones could even be seen in certain parts of the face.
"Destiny!" The old man let out a piercing howl and glared at Su Ming. He originally thought that he could avoid Su Ming"s divine sense, and like the darkness residing under a lamp, he could remain undiscovered, but he forgot about the snake!
When the small snake had been in his grasp when he used it to threaten the Candle Dragon and Su Ming, it might have looked like it had fallen unconscious, but in truth, it was still awake. It thus had engraved the old man"s presence deep in its memories. Although that presence only belonged to a wisp of his divine sense, once the small snake obtained its legacy from the Candle Dragon, it was no longer the snake it was in the past. That was why it could recognize the person hiding in the cave based on his presence even when he had avoided Su Ming"s divine sense!
"So what if you escaped from the Undying and Imperishable Realm? You can"t escape from my master"s arrangements. You can"t escape from your destiny!"
The old man laughed sinisterly. He knew that he could not escape from death, that was why he swallowed a medicinal core before he ran out just now. That core gave one-tenth of a chance to break the Curse, but there was also a nine-tenths of a chance where he would quickly lose his will, his memories would fall apart, and he would end up like a wild beast.
A hint of murderous intent shone in Su Ming"s eyes. He had originally held his suspicions about the old man"s origins, and now, he no longer had any doubts. This person was indeed Di Tian"s lapdog!
He took a swift step forward and appeared before the old man in a moment. Madness appeared in the old man"s eyes, and he formed a seal, thinking of executing a divine ability. Yet his body was already incredibly weakened. Before he could even execute that divine ability, his hands were pushed aside by Su Ming"s right hand. Su Ming grabbed his black robe, yanked it, and tore the entire black robe from the old man"s body.
Once the black robe was pulled off, the old man"s emaciated body was revealed, along with that rotten stench that spread through a large area in the sky.
"You look neither a human nor a ghost!" Su Ming immediately tapped his right index finger on the old man"s chest. Once his finger touched him, the old man shuddered and staggered back a few steps, black blood starting to flow out from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
"So what if I die? At least I have all my memories with me! What about you? Take those fragmented memories of yours and your confusion to walk down your path as Destiny." The old man was incredibly weakened and did not show even a hint of resistance before Su Ming, but his laughter, containing all his madness, continued ringing in the air and reverberated through the area.
Su Ming did not speak. He took a few steps forward and lifted his right hand to tap the old man"s chest once again. Once he tapped several spots on his body, black wisps of smoke instantly surged out of the old man"s chest and charged straight to his right hand, causing his entire right arm to look completely black. It started rapidly rotting away.
"Destiny, you will only be Destiny throughout your life! I"ll wait for you in h.e.l.l!" The old man"s Curse completely burst forth once Su Ming jabbed those few spots. In his pain, he roared, and he looked as if he had descended into madness.
However, the moment he started shouting, Su Ming appeared beside his right hand, grabbed it, and then with his left hand positioned straight like a blade, he cut down. A crack rang in the air, and the old man"s blackened right arm was instantly torn off.
The intense pain caused the old man to descend further into madness. With the Curse around, his Nascent Divinity could not leave his body, and he could not even self-destruct. In the midst of that pain, his screams became even stronger.
"Master"s clone will come at any time now. I"d like to see just how you"ll stand up against him. Destiny… Haha, in the end, you"ll still be walking on the path you should take…" As the old man shouted, Su Ming"s right index finger swiftly tapped a few spots on his chest, causing his left arm to instantly turn dark as well. Then Su Ming cut off the old man"s left arm.
As the old man who had lost both his arms screamed in pain, he continued shouting out those malicious words without stop.
"Even if you"ve walked out of the Undying and Imperishable World, fifteen years are already gone. Fifteen years… I"ve trapped you for fifteen years, it"s already enough!
"I die for my master. With his divine abilities, when he eventually achieves greatness, he will definitely revive me. Why should I be afraid of death? But you, Destiny, you will never know just what your memories are and just what you lack!" As the old man shouted, the spark of intelligence gradually disappeared from his eyes, and he started howling like a wild beast.
His body shuddered. Not only had the full power of the Curse erupted forth in his body, it was also rapidly eating away his life force.
"Haha, I didn"t die in your hands, but in the Curse"s hands… I"m free now! But you, you"ll never know where your little sister, you"ll never know just how many mysteries surround you. You will lose yourself as you remain in your daze…"
Before the old man finished speaking, his eyes had already completely lost their spark, and he completely turned into a wild beast that had lost all form of intelligence.
"It"s not so easy to die," Su Ming said calmly. When the old man was reduced to a wild beast that had lost all intelligence, he straightened his fingers and swiftly pressed his palm on the old man"s chest.
Black smoke gushed out of the old man"s chest once again and charged straight to his legs. With a swing of his arm, the old man"s legs immediately exploded, and the Curse could be seen rapidly fading away from his body.
His Curse came from the Candle Dragon. Su Ming had been in the Undying and Imperishable World for a countless number of years, and the small snake had also acknowledged him as his master. His knowledge and understanding towards this Curse was already greatly different from before.
When he pressed down on the old man"s chest, the old man"s dull eyes gradually brightened up as if life force had started growing within him after experiencing some form of stimulus. However, as his eyes brightened up, his intelligence slowly returned, and he gradually saw what was around him clearly, his expression instantly changed drastically.
He originally thought that he had died, but right then, right before his eyes, Su Ming saved him. This should have been a joyous occasion for him, but to him, it was something that was even more terrifying than death!
He could already imagine just what sort of punishments and pain he would have to go through once Su Ming captured him when he was no longer under the Curse and in a weakened state. In fact, all his memories in his head could even be continuously forced out of him with all the methods Su Ming could think of.
To him, this sort of thing was several times more severe than death. He knew that if he had died just now, then at least he would have died for his master. He would still have had a possibility of being revived in the future.
But if Su Ming used some sort of method and learned of everything from him, then he would truly die. Not only would his master not revive him in the future, there was also a high chance that his master would be angered, and the old man would drag down his entire family in the land of the Immortals!
"You… you…" The old man"s heart trembled and great terror appeared in his eyes. He watched Su Ming tap a few more spots on his body, and even though he was in a weakened state, he could still clearly feel a large part of the Curse dissipating from inside him.
During these fifteen years, he had always been struggling. He was afraid of death, but when he met Su Ming, he no longer feared. He wanted to die, but once he found out that he could not die, a surge of fear that was even greater than the fear he felt towards death rose within him.
His words that he had used to provoke Su Ming just moments ago had now turned into the source of his extreme terror.
The sight of Su Ming saving that old man in black robes fell into the eyes of all the people around him. Nan Gong Hen saw it as well. All their hearts shuddered, and a deep chill rose within their hearts due to what they saw.
Just what sort of hate could a man possess that killing his enemy would still not be enough for him to resolve that hate, and he would save his own enemy?!
Just what sort of grudge could a man possess that would make him think that death was not relief, and that living was the greatest form of torture?!
Just what sort of resolution must it be for a person to be able to do this? That he would not even let a person die? Then just what sort of h.e.l.l would await the old man in black robes?!
Nan Gong Hen looked at Su Ming, looked at him doing all these things with an apathetic and cool expression, and his heart was filled with a deep chill. He sucked in a sharp breath.
"Welcome back."
When the old man"s eyes completely regained their clarity, Su Ming lifted his right hand and pressed it against the top of the old man"s head. His power surged in and sealed all the old man"s power. Once he did so, he looked into the old man"s terrified eyes, and he whispered those words softly.