Chapter 14: Metamorphosis (First Update)

  A new week, let's see how far this week can go!!! Fellow Taoists, recommendation tickets are extremely important for Ear Root, please beg for them!!

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  What is meant by "one drum makes a sound, two and it stops, three and it's extinguished" is precisely this principle. Su Ming had followed his Grandpa since he was young, and the numerous beast skin scrolls in Grandpa's place, he had almost read each one countless times, where there were many wisdoms that made him infatuated.

  The wisdom of his predecessors, in the subtle and imperceptible process, with the passage of time, slowly engraved itself into Su Ming's mind, yet remained dormant like a sleeper who had not awakened. But now, after this killing and pursuit, Su Ming was gradually awakening the wisdom that existed in the subtle and imperceptible realm.

  Yu Zhi's heart was filled with anxiety at this moment, he had thought it was impossible to escape, and just when he had finally steeled himself to turn back and fight to the death, but then saw that the distance between him and his opponent had grown even farther, and his will was quietly extinguished. When he opened his eyes again, it was still like this.

  After a few times, he no longer had that feeling of being willing to let go, and it was hard to be like before.

  In Su Ming's view, the black-robed warrior in front of him was just his prey, and a frightened one at that. As long as he made his opponent think there was still hope, he could slowly slaughter him.

  Su Ming was following this method, in the pursuit of constantly eroding that gloomy teeth's confidence and courage, with the continuation of the chase, he even intentionally pulled open the distance, letting the opponent have a relaxed feeling in high tension.

  Su Ming vaguely remembered that a beast skin book had roughly said before, after prolonged tension, once relaxed, fatigue and pain would be magnified countless times from hiding and spread out, that feeling was enough to drown the soul.

  These things Su Ming had only known about before, but now in this pursuit, slowly from understanding, gradually transitioned into his instinctive thoughts, and even without intentionally doing so, naturally achieved the effect he wanted.

  For him, today was the first time he had killed someone, the first time he had chased after another person's life, and even more so, it was the first intangible transformation in his life. Unfortunately, only Yu Zhi could personally experience this transformative process.

  The feeling of oppression was extremely profound, but he wasn't clear what the reason for all this was. He just felt that his confidence and courage had been reduced a bit after seeing that bizarre murder scene earlier, but in the process of being pursued, they gradually disappeared completely.

  Even at this moment, he no longer had the idea of turning back and fighting desperately, although his opponent seemed to be in the second layer of Blood Condensation as well. He just felt that if he turned back, he would definitely die, but if he continued to escape, there was still a chance of survival.

  What he didn't realize was that his fatigue had increased imperceptibly, especially when he sensed the boy behind him being dragged away without a trace. The feeling of exhaustion almost made his legs weak and trembling, but he couldn't rest and instead gritted his teeth to persevere.

  But this persistence soon turned into even greater fatigue when the other person's figure appeared again at the end of his gaze, giving Yu Rong a feeling that he was about to go crazy.

  "Evil!! He must be evil!!" His teeth clenched in shock and his heart racing, he fled forward and suddenly found himself at a fork in the road. To the left was a path that led deep into the mountains, away from the Black Flame Peak's range, while to the right was a path that circled around the Black Flame Peak, leading to the location of the Black Mountain Sect.

  Su Ming, who had been chasing from behind, had long known that there was a fork in the road here. At this moment, his eyes flashed and he suppressed his fatigue, suddenly bursting into speed, not pursuing forward, but shuttling through the forest, approaching the road to the front right side.

  Judging from its appearance, it seemed to have determined that the beast would take the right path, so he moved forward to the right in advance, in order to get closer to each other. In the jump, Su Ming even took out his bow and arrow, and shot several arrows at the fork in the road on the right side, making a whizzing sound as they all hit the trees on the right path, deeply penetrating, and the tail of the arrow shaft was still trembling.

  That humming noise seemed to possess some kind of strange power, entering Wu Zhi's ears and making his footsteps hesitate for a moment.

  As Su Ming launched another pursuit, his bow was full. Yu Chi let out a loud roar and was about to turn right, but Su Ming's speed had increased significantly, immediately giving Yu Chi an illusion.

  He felt that if he continued to flee to the right, he would likely be caught up immediately. If he fled to the left, due to the opponent's misjudgment, he could open up some distance again.

  The buzzing sound still echoed in my ears, and with a sudden turn of the head, I changed direction and rushed to the left, extremely fast, and disappeared into the thicket in the blink of an eye.

  Su Ming's eyes flashed, and amidst his fatigue, a hint of coldness appeared, with a cold smile at the corner of his mouth.

  He sprang up swiftly and took out the arrows from those tree trunks, continuing to chase after that Great Black Mountain Han who was escaping.

  "If you control the direction of the enemy's escape, you can manipulate his body." Su Ming murmured, this sentence he remembered was also written in a certain beast skin volume, he was confused before, but now suddenly understood.

  In the pursuit, time slowly passed, and soon it was deep in the night. The bright moon hung high, casting a white glow on the snow-covered ground, making the mountains and forests inside, even on a dark day, reflect a clear silver light.

  This pursuit had already changed the direction of Yu Chi's escape three times, slowly and indirectly controlling his body, making him go where he wanted to go.

  He patted his chest, and Su Ming's eyes, which were filled with bloodshot fatigue, had a hint of gentleness. In his arms lay the unconscious little monkey. This was from the previous time he controlled Yu Chi to change direction, when he threw the little monkey in another direction, wanting to use this to pull open an even greater distance.

  His move did indeed work, Su Ming rushed towards the little monkey, making Yu Chi feel relieved in his heart, but the speed was indeed faster.

  It wasn't long before Yu Chi discovered that behind him, another wave of arrows was whizzing through the air, driving him nearly mad.

  The night fell completely, and the stars hung high in the sky, twinkling like countless eyes watching the pursuit and killing happening in the thicket below.

  His teeth were clenched, his legs trembling with exhaustion. The feeling in his body was secondary; what mattered most was the state of his heart at this moment, which had been pierced by a thousand arrows and filled with endless regret. He regretted discovering that small hole, regretted chasing after the Fire Monkey; otherwise, everything would not have turned out like this.

  In front of him was a thicket with many weeds and shrubs, although it was winter, but this place still looked like it couldn't be seen deep inside. After Yu Chi stepped into the thicket without thinking, Su Ming's figure appeared outside the thicket soon after.

  He stood there, panting heavily, with a large amount of white air emanating from his mouth, but his eyes were filled with a cold intent. He didn't continue to pursue, instead standing silently in place, waiting.

  "This is the burial ground I've led you to! If you can still walk out of here with your current exhaustion, then that's a testament to your good fortune!" Su Ming said in a low murmur after his breathing had calmed down slightly.

  His words had barely fallen when, in the stillness of the night, a mournful cry suddenly came from within the thicket. The sound of that cry was so piercing that it made the listener's heart skip a beat.

  After a while, the miserable cry gradually weakened and became a faint whimper.

  Su Ming walked silently forward, slowly entering the thicket. He was very cautious in his movements, often taking a few steps before carefully looking around him, either retreating, circling around or directly jumping over.

  This is a trap area set by the Wushan Department's hunting team to capture wild beasts. In this dense forest, there are many traps, and apart from the Wushan Department, other tribes simply do not know about it.

  Even Su Ming only knew some general traps, and there were some that couldn't be known.

  If it were in its heyday, there might still be a chance to survive and walk out, but with its current state, stepping in here is equivalent to stepping into the underworld.

  Su Ming walked cautiously, the wailing sound in his ear growing fainter. As he moved forward, he saw ahead of him a row of trees with numerous large trees, sharpened to a point as thick as a person's arm, nailed onto the trunks like giant thorns.

  Its entire body was covered in blood, but it had not died yet. Instead, it trembled and let out a faint moan.

  Su Ming silently walked forward, beside the gloomy figure, looked at him, and after a long time, took out the bone horn and made a slash on his neck.

  He struggled violently for a few moments before dying, his eyes fixed on Su Ming with endless resentment.

  Su Ming fell silent, cutting off the rope of the trap. He turned over some miscellaneous items from Yu Chi's corpse and took out the remaining few Blood Scattering Sand. With a touch, the corpse turned into bones, and with another touch, it became flying ash.

  He silently turned around, Su Ming walked out of the forest, outside the forest, he looked at the bright moon in the sky, his eyes were filled with confusion. This was his second time killing someone, he couldn't express any feelings, tense, nervous, bewildered...

  After a long time, he let out a soft sigh. The Black Mountain Tribe and the Wushan Tribe he was in, although they came from the same origin, had become sworn enemies over countless years. Once one tribe became powerful, the other would face the danger of extinction. At that time, all male members would be slaughtered, while only women would be taken away to become part of the opposing tribe's descendants.

  Fortunately, such a thing has never happened. For many years, the grandfathers of both sides have been in the same realm and will not easily start a big war.

  Taking a deep breath, a feeling of exhaustion surged through Su Ming's entire body. He dragged his almost unconscious body and left with gritted teeth...

  Time slowly passed, after dawn broke, when the sun rose from the horizon, Su Ming returned to the dispersal grounds of Hei Yanfeng. His face was waxen yellow, he drilled into the cave entrance and appeared at the back of the fire cave, then fell head-first onto one side, fainting away.