Clear sky was forever gone from the rain riddled world. Heavy, dark clouds pressed down above the endless sea, making all those who saw them feel a sort of oppressive feeling weighing down on their chests. Most of normal people might have died, while some of them might have been lucky enough to survive through the calamity, but they would never be able to see clear blue sky again. All they could see… was this foggy darkness.
If anyone wanted to see the blue sky, they would need to possess a certain level of cultivation. Only then could they fly through the layers of tumbling clouds and arrive above the clouds to see the sky that had been hidden away.
However, while flying near the ground was easy, it was certainly not an easy thing to move through the layers of clouds that were filled with the power of lightning that aimed to rip apart flesh. Not only was there an incredibly high requirement for the physical body to be able to move through the clouds, if that person had yet to reach the Berserker Soul Realm, it was simply too difficult to last for long in the clouds as the bolts of lightning crackled around.
Those thick layers of clouds covered the land that belonged to the Shamans and the Berserkers in the past…
Seawater stretched far and wide into the distance, and nothing else could be seen on the land… Nothing but for a faint, large, and black shadow in the rain. That shadow seemed like the Eastern Wastelands… and there was only emptiness further down ahead.
It was as if South Morning had disappeared.
At that moment, under this dark sky and the rolling clouds, three figures could be found charging through the rain. They had turned into three long arcs and were shooting forward.
The three people were das.h.i.+ng into the distance at full speed with panic on their faces. They were two men and one woman, and they were dressed in normal clothing. There was nothing outstanding about their appearance, and their levels of cultivation were the only things that were somewhat presentable about them. The strongest among them was a man, and he seemed to be halfway through to becoming a Latter Shaman. The other man was around the late stage of a Medial Shaman.
But curiously, the woman among the three of them was a Berserker, and she did nothing to hide her ident.i.ty. The waves of ripples belonging to a Berserker in the Bone Sacrifice Realm spread from her body clearly. By the looks of it, she should be around the later stage of the Bone Sacrifice Realm.
With their power, if the group ran into a normal powerful Shaman that had just recently become a Latter Shaman, they would still be able to put up a fight, albeit with a struggle. They would still lose, but if they worked together, one of them could still escape.
This trio were charging forth above the sea extremely quickly. However, from their panicked expressions and extreme speed, all those who saw them would be able to tell that they were running for their lives!
There were two long arcs that were chasing the trio down, and they were an old man and a young teenager. The old man’s face was indifferent. His body did not move, and his feet merely swept through the air as he traveled forth. The boy behind him had a prideful expression on his face, and he was regarding the three people escaping with scorn on his face.
"Master, are these three people idiots? They know clearly that they don’t have any chance to survive, so why are they still escaping so desperately? If it were me, I would fight to the death!" The boy cast a glance at the old man beside him when he spoke.
"Because I gave them hope," the old man stated blandly. He looked calm and at ease, just like a person would when the sky cleared up after rain. It was as if there were few things in the world that could make his expression change.
"With your power, killing these three people is as easy as flipping over your hand…" The boy frowned.
"These three people are just bait. This wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t out. But since I came out, and I brought you with me for the hunt, then we might as well hunt more. They will continue calling for help as they escape, and they will lure out more of those from South Morning. With that, we will also be able to get enough battle achievements for you during the Scour Sieve Festival and get you into Scour Sieve Temple." The old man still looked calm, as if he had everything completely under control.
"Are we fis.h.i.+ng now?" A brutal smile appeared on the boy’s face. He looked at the three people escaping in front, and his smile grew wider.
"Scour Sieve Festival…" Antic.i.p.ation appeared on the boy’s face. It was as if the meaning behind those three words was incredibly attractive to him.
"A large amount of our tribesmen will come to South Morning’s Barren Swampland to harvest the souls here half a year before the Scour Sieve Festival. That’s why we have to avoid them and come here earlier."
As the Master and disciple spoke to each other, a large area of seawater under the three escapees suddenly exploded. As seawater sprayed into the air, four figures shot up into the air. Those four people were incredibly quick as they charged into the sky. Once they appeared, those figures turned into four people.
All four of them were middle-aged people. Three of them were Berserkers, and the last was a Shaman. The instant these four people appeared, the full power of their cultivation exploded forth from their bodies. Right away, the three people fleeing in front also came to an abrupt halt. Without any hesitation, they moved back and charged towards the old man and the boy with the other four people.
"You are merely Berserkers in the Bone Sacrifice Realm and Medial Shamans. How dare you try to ambush me?" the old man stated flatly, disdain appearing in his eyes. He lifted his right hand and pressed his palm against the sea beneath him.
That sea immediately erupted and a huge wave shot up. That wave surged into the sky and instantly covered the entire area. Booming sounds and screams of pain echoed in the air, and when the wave disappeared, five of the seven exploded, turning into flesh and blood that spilled down. The remaining man and woman coughed up blood, and with grief on their faces, they quickly retreated, fleeing at full speed once more.
The old man remained standing in his original spot and shook his head.
"The people of South Morning are so weak, they can’t even put up a fight. Let’s go. We’ll kill another three hundred of them, and then you’ll have obtained enough battle credit," the old man stated flatly and continued chasing the two people in front leisurely.
The boy looked at his Master with adoration and idolization in his eyes and quickly followed behind.
…..
Some distance away from that spot in the dark depths of the Dead Sea was a strong ray of light that appeared for an instant in the darkness before it disappeared. The light had appeared from the bottom of the sea, and it came from a gate that was filled with an air of decline.
That gate was near complete collapse, and when the light disappeared, a person took form.
That person was Su Ming!
He was submerged at the very bottom of the Dead Sea.
He turned his head around and cast a glance at the gate. After some time, he charged towards the surface. There was not much light in the Dead Sea, and there were many ferocious beasts that laid within. However, the instant Su Ming flew out, a ray of violet light spread out from his body, and it made all the ferocious beasts around him shudder and quickly move away. It was as if he had become an incredibly terrifying existence to them.
Su Ming dashed forth quietly through the Dead Sea, and he moved so quickly that he stirred up a vortex at the depths of the sea. That vortex moved with loud booming sounds, causing the surface of the sea to start churning slowly as well. After some time, the surface of the sea exploded, and as it reverberated in the air, Su Ming shot out from the bottom of the sea.
Seawater shot up and fused with the rain from the sky before it fell to the sea again. Su Ming stood on the surface of the sea and looked around him. There was only an endless expanse of emptiness, and it made him fall silent for a long period of time.
‘South Morning… should no longer be around.’
Su Ming cast his eyes to the south. That was where the land of the Berserkers was. That was also where the ninth summit was located.
As he continued looking, a deep, longing look surfaced in his eyes. He missed the ninth summit, missed his Master, missed his eldest senior brother, his second senior brother, and also Hu Zi.
"Twenty years…" Su Ming mumbled. He had left the ninth summit for twenty years, and at this moment, he, who had returned from the frozen world, yearned deeply to go to the land of the Berserkers, back to the ninth summit, and to see the things that had once existed in the past.
With that yearning lingering in his heart, Su Ming turned into a long arc and charged forth in the air, straight towards the direction where the land of the Berserkers was located.
He did not hide his power. The presence that surged into the sky, the astonis.h.i.+ng speed, and the freezing aura that had acc.u.mulated in Su Ming’s body over several years caused all the people who noticed him as he flew to feel shocked to the core.
Even those who had reached the Berserker Soul Realm or had become Latter Shamans would feel a sort of intimidating pressure once they sensed the presence of Su Ming’s body, and that feeling could make their hearts pound in fear!
Su Ming charged forth without stop. His gaze landed on the surface of the sea beneath him, and he saw islands floating about!
‘South Morning was torn apart in the clash… The land either sank to the bottom of the sea or turned into numerous islands. South Morning’s entire terrain has changed completely.’
Su Ming shook his head. Then with a flash, he instantly disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already far into the distance, heading towards where the land of the Berserkers was located in the past. Just as he was about to continue onward, he suddenly stopped, and turned his head sideways to cast a glance at the surface of the sea in the distance.
"That’s…" Su Ming was taken aback for a moment, then he changed his direction.
…..
There was an island on the Dead Sea. It looked small and was filled with mountain rocks. There were no plants on the island, and it looked incredibly empty.
There had been originally no island there. In fact, there had never been islands around South Morning in the past. However, after the disaster, many islands had gradually appeared.
There were less than twenty people staying on the island, and there was a faint screen of light covering that island, serving as a simple protection. These dozen something people had formed a few simple cave abodes and stayed there.
Their cave abodes were located on a part of the island that looked like a valley. It was at the top of the hill, and on top of it was a statue. That statue was roughly carved, but anyone who saw it could vaguely tell that it was a man with long hair.
That man had his head lifted and was looking into the distance. He held a large bow in his right hand, but his appearance was indistinct, and his facial features could not be seen clearly.
There were two old men sitting on the mountain rocks underneath the man’s statue. These two men were dressed in rags and looked ancient. They currently had their eyes closed and were meditating. Wisps of chimney smoke spread from the cave abodes due to the members of the tribe preparing food underneath.
Ever since this group of nearly twenty people had gathered together on this island and formed their tiny tribe, they had been living their lives day by day this way.
Soon, the islanders walked out from their cave abodes. There were men and women, elderly and young among them, and they all moved to gather atop the hill. Once they did so, they knelt down before the statue and started wors.h.i.+pping it while mumbling under their breaths.
"We Fated Kin were born in a barren and undeveloped world. We originally did not have a future, because we needed to create our own future… We will wors.h.i.+p Respected Senior Mo [1] until Fated Kin vanishes from the world…"
"The Respected Senior Mo is our heaven. We are the souls living in that heaven, and our words of wors.h.i.+p will never change…"
"We will gather under Sky River Mountain. We of the Fated Kin must remember this. We must search… for Sky River Mountain…"
This wors.h.i.+p that would occur every day had not ceased for even a single day for the past few years, no matter rain nor s.h.i.+ne. Nothing could stop them from their sincere ritual.
Translator’s Notes:
1. Respected Senior Mo and respected senior Mo: I thought that since the Fated Kin practically wors.h.i.+p Su Ming as their G.o.d, it would make no sense if they referred to him as ‘respected senior Mo’, sounds kind of disrespectful. So when the Fated Kin refer to Su Ming, it will be Respected Senior Mo, with the big caps, and when other people refer to him with that t.i.tle, it will be respected senior Mo.