Chapter 318: Shadow under the Moon!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Ming rushed into the cave like the wind and charged towards the room where He Feng was fusing with the Wings of the Moon. The moment he arrived before the stone room, a ferocious aura instantly came crashing against him. Su Ming’s footsteps came to a halt, and he saw He Feng’s body floating in the stone room. A gigantic pair of wings was growing on his back, and that pair of wings… belonged to the Wings of the Moon!
At the center of He Feng’s brows was a picture of a ball of flames. It looked as if it was blazing and burning, caught in a state between reality and illusion. When he saw that picture of the ball of fire, Su Ming sucked in a deep breath.
He was not unfamiliar with that picture, it was the symbol of the Fire Berserker Tribe!
The entire stone room was engulfed in a sea of fire. An intense wave of heat spread through the area, but even under that intense heat, Su Ming remained still, as if the fire did not affect him at all. It was the same for He Feng, but growls continuously spilled out of his mouth, and the pained look on his face made it seem as if he was struggling against something.
Every single time the picture of the fire shone, it would cause He Feng to sink into more pain. Veins popped up on his face, but he simply had his eyes closed as he continued bearing through the pain.
The fusion between the Wings of the Moon and He Feng was a test. Su Ming did not know what would happen, but the previous few fusions were successful, and by what he could tell from this final fusion, the amalgamation between He Feng’s body and the Wings of the Moon was already close to perfection.
‘So the final fusion shouldn’t be about the body, but… about memories!’
Su Ming’s eyes sparkled and he looked at He Feng, ready to take action at any moment.
Time trickled by. He Feng’s growls grew softer and softer, but the picture of the flames still could not be imprinted completely at the center of his brows, as if something was missing.
As time passed by, gradually, more veins popped up on He Feng’s face. His new body swelled up, as if he was about to explode at any moment.
His growls had already turned into pained howls. As his body shuddered, the pair of wings on his back started showing signs of being separated from his body. The sea of fire in the stone room became dimmer, as if it was about to be be extinguished at any moment.
If the sea of fire was extinguished and He Feng’s wings became separated from his body, then it would mean that the final fusion had failed, He Feng would die, and the souls of the Wings of the Moon would also vanish.
Su Ming would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen, especially when Sky Mist Shaman Hunt was about to begin. This was something he could not accept.
Without hesitation, Su Ming took a step forward into the stone room. The instant his foot landed on the ground of the sea of fire, the dimming sea of fire blazed up as if a barrel of oil had been thrown into it. A large amount of flames surrounded Su Ming as if he was their king and his appearance could make them stronger.
Su Ming walked towards He Feng through the blazing sea of fire and lifted his right hand. The moment He Feng’s head swelled up as if it was about to explode, he tapped his finger against the picture of of the ball of fire at the center of He Feng’s brows.
The instant Su Ming’s finger landed on the picture, a powerful rebound swiftly shot out from it and bounced off Su Ming’s finger, forcing him to a few steps back.
Su Ming lifted his head swiftly. He could feel that this rebound was not from the Wings of the Moon but He Feng’s will rejecting him!
That rejection could be said to be a repelling force that seemed to be a declaration from He Feng that he did not want Su Ming to do anything. Instead, he wanted to use the moment of success in the final fusion to break free from Su Ming’s control!
However, there was in no way that Su Ming was unprepared for this. When he helped He Feng in his previous fusions, he was also observing this. Through those fusions, he had continuously strengthened his methods to control He Feng. After all, he had no idea what would happen once the man succeeded. Su Ming might look forward to it, but the outcome of the fusion was also an unknown entity to him.
When he saw He Feng rejecting him for the first time, Su Ming gave a cold snort and a fiery red light swiftly appeared in his eyes, the faint shadow of the moon appeared in his pupils! It was the burning moon, the fire-red moon!
The moment the blood moon appeared, He Feng lifted his head and roared. Immediately, countless Wings of the Moon surfaced on his skin and let out submissive screeches, worshipping Su Ming.
"He Feng, are you the one who refuses to obey me, or is it the souls of my Wings of the Moon who are doing so..?"
Su Ming stood in the sea of fire and stared at He Feng’s pained expression. A bewitching feeling came from the blood moon in his eyes.
"You were the one who wanted to fuse with the Wings of the Moon, are you regretting it now..? If you’re regretting it, then I’ll release you!"
Su Ming’s voice reverberated in the air. The moment he spoke, the blazing roars of the sea of fire around him grew stronger once again. That fire burned everything around them and covered every single corner of the stone room.
The Wings of the Moon on He Feng’s skin howled as if they wanted to charge out of He Feng’s body.
He Feng trembled even more viciously. He looked as if he wanted to open his eyes, but he did not have the strength to do so. As his lips trembled, couple words spilled out of his mouth.
"Mas… please… don’t be… angry…"
Su Ming lifted his right hand, but this time, he did not go straight to tap the center of He Feng’s brows. Instead, he bit down on that finger, and when a drop of blood appeared, he pressed his finger at the center of He Feng’s brows.
The instant Su Ming’s index finger touched the center of He Feng’s brows, his blood also touched the picture of the ball of fire. In the blink of an eye, a large amount of veins that looked like a spider’s web appeared at the center of He Feng’s brows. The color of those veins was blood-red, and they rapidly spread throughout the entire body. Even the ball of fire at the center of the brows turned red.
Once those red veins covered He Feng’s entire body, the souls of the Wings of the Moon in his body fused into him once again. As He Feng trembled, he opened his eyes.
Right as he did so, the blood moon appeared in his pupils. He stared at Su Ming, and a conflicted look appeared on his face. Su Ming was also staring at him with a regal look in his eyes.
Their gazes met. After a moment, He Feng closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he slowly knelt down on the ground on one knee. Right till the moment his knee touched the ground, he still made sure the center of his brows was connected to Su Ming’s finger.
When he knelt down, He Feng no longer trembled. The sea of fire crackled and surrounded him and Su Ming. He slowly tucked in his spread out wings and had them hang behind his back.
A powerful presence was contained within He Feng’s body. That presence was so powerful that Su Ming felt as if he was going up against a powerful Berserker in the Bone Sacrifice Realm!
"I swear by the moon that I will follow you, my Master… With the wings as my honor… I will bring back the scene of the Fire Berserkers burning the skies… I am the Fire Berserker He Feng. Greetings, my King…" He Feng lowered his head.
"I can grant you the power of the Fire Berserkers… and I can also take it back!" Su Ming said calmly, lifting his finger away from the center of He Feng’s brows.
The instant he did so, the sea of fire around them immediately surged up as if rejoicing and charged towards He Feng to fuse into his body. Those flames eventually gathered at the center of his brows, causing the picture of fire over there to become a real entity!
However, that color remained a blood-red hue. That red was Su Ming’s color, and within it was Su Ming’s will!
"The Fire Berserkers worship the moon and treat the moon as their honor. From now on, you will be my shadow. My shadow created under the moon will be your dwelling place."
Su Ming turned around and walked out of the stone room. As he walked out, He Feng’s body, which continued kneeling on the ground, gradually faded out, eventually turning into a mere illusion. Once he disappeared, Su Ming’s shadow became slightly different.
When Su Ming walked out of his cave, Zi Che looked over from his position not too far away. There was uncertainty in his eyes. Clearly, this was not the first time he had heard He Feng’s roars. He already had a few guesses regarding the secrets contained in Su Ming’s cave.
Compared to him, the Fire Ape who had been originally squatting outside the cave grooming itself lifted its head once Su Ming walked out of the cave and let out a few growls whilst snarling as it stared at Su Ming’s feet.
A wary expression appeared on its face, as if the thing under Su Ming’s feet was making all its fur stand on end. It even took a few steps back, the growling sounds becoming louder.
Zi Che immediately looked at Su Ming’s feet, but no matter how he looked at it, he could not see anything different. There was nothing under Su Ming’s feet besides his shadow created by the moonlight.
"His shadow..?"
Zi Che shuddered, and his gaze immediately fell towards Su Ming’s shadow. A shocked look gradually settled on his face. Su Ming’s shadow was not of a human but someone with a pair of tucked in wings, and during the instant Zi Che looked over, he seemed to have seen a pair of blood-red eyes staring coldly at him from the shadow.
Zi Che felt shaken, and he quickly moved back.
"Don’t look at my shadow," Su Ming stated unhurriedly and sat down on the platform outside his cave before he lifted his head and looked at the moon in the sky.
Zi Che quickly obeyed and took a few steps back. He had his head lowered, but he could not calm down. He had a feeling that his eyes had not been playing tricks on him just now. There was something strange about Su Ming’s shadow, especially that pair of blood-red eyes that had looked towards him just now.
Not only did they shake Zi Che to his core, they also gave him a feeling that the distance between him and Su Ming was becoming wider, and that distance between would only continue increasing for an eternity.
Once that distance arrived to a certain point…
‘Uncle master will no longer need me to protect his cave…’ Zi Che lowered his head quietly, and as he sat there, resolution appeared in his eyes.
‘My level of cultivation has been stuck at the same stage for a long time. Am I really unable to break through into the Bone Sacrifice Realm?!’
While Zi Che was occupied by his thoughts, Su Ming looked at the moon in the sky, and the Fire Ape stared at Su Ming’s shadow with a hostile look on its face.
Su Ming turned around and looked at it before he spoke softly. "Stay by my side until we go to the land of the Shamans. Let’s call you… Xiao Hong… Once we go to the land of the Shamans, I’ll return your freedom to you… Remember not to be captured by anyone anymore."
The Fire Ape rolled its eyes and gave Su Ming a stink eye. The words ‘I-don’t-believe-you’ were written blatantly on its face.
There is a saying that goes that the people who are lonely may be different from each other, but all of them stare at the moon. At that moment, there was a girl basking underneath the moonlight in the seventh summit. She had released the red string of straw tying up her black hair, released the braids, and was no longer wearing white clothes.
Neither was there any glittering crystals on her forehead anymore. The bone earrings had also been taken off her ears. She sat on a mountain rock with her chin placed above her hands as she stared blankly at the moon in the sky...