Chapter 24

Su Chen didn't expect that his momentary kindness would have such a return.

After leaving the Qingxi Sword Sect, he found a cave in a deep mountain with an unknown name. After setting up restrictions in the cave, Su Chen took out the wooden box and took out the mysterious picture scroll again.

After taking out the picture scroll, Su Chen confirmed again that there were no omissions in the restrictions in the cave, and then he calmed his mind and looked at the mysterious picture scroll.

The picture scroll was heavy to the touch, neither gold nor jade, and he didn't know what kind of material it was, warm to the touch, yet revealing a sense of ancient desolation.

He slowly unfolded the picture scroll, and the tall god holding a giant axe in the painting appeared in his eyes again. The domineering true meaning of opening heaven and earth rushed toward him, making his heart tremble.

But Su Chen's gaze was quickly firmly attracted by the two symbols on the right side of the picture scroll.

Those two symbols, looking like words but not words, like pictures but not pictures, the strokes twisted and coiled, yet natural, as if they were traces imprinted by the Great Dao itself when heaven and earth first opened.

"Innate Dao Text," Su Chen spat out four words lightly.

He had seen a few words about Innate Dao Text in an ancient scripture at the Three Stars Cave.

Before the birth of human characters, there were creatures in heaven and earth who used runes to record things. The characters of the Witch and Demon clans were all created by their great powers according to the principles of heaven and earth, although mysterious, they were ultimately acquired things.

Only the Innate Dao Text is an innate character born from the Heavenly Dao itself when heaven and earth first opened and the Great Dao manifested.

Every Dao text contains incredible power.

Because of this, Innate Dao Text is almost impossible to record, because there are few substances in the world that can carry it.

"Being able to carry two complete Innate Dao Texts, the material of this picture scroll is probably more precious than ordinary Immortal gold and spiritual iron."

Su Chen thought to himself, becoming more and more curious about the origin of this picture scroll.

He didn't recognize these two words, but this didn't prevent him from comprehending them.

Innate Dao Text itself is the embodiment of the Dao; as long as one can understand the innate principles contained within, one can naturally understand its true meaning.

Su Chen sat cross-legged, suspended the picture scroll in front of him, and immersed his spiritual sense into it, trying to touch and understand those two ancient symbols.

Once he entered meditation, it lasted for three days.

For three days, Su Chen did not drink or eat, did not move or shake, his whole person like a stone statue.

In his perception, those two Innate Dao Texts were like the Great Dao River, vast, revered, ancient, and boundless.

And he himself was like a grain of sand by the river, only able to feel the grand Dao charm, but fundamentally unable to see its full picture, let alone understand the true meaning within.

On the morning of the fourth day, Su Chen opened his eyes, a trace of helplessness flashing in them.

The Great Dao contained in these two Dao texts was too profound, far from what his current realm could comprehend.

"It seems I can only rely on it."

Su Chen's heart stirred, and the Heavenly Secret Tianji Baojian emerged.

"Please crack the information contained in this picture," he made his request to the treasure mirror.

The Heavenly Secret Tianji Baojian's light flickered.

【Insufficient Heavenly Secret Points.】

【Prompt: To interpret the complete information contained in this picture scroll, it requires consuming two hundred Heavenly Secret Points.】

Seeing this prompt, Su Chen looked at the fifty Heavenly Secret Points he had left, but instead of feeling any frustration, his eyes became amazingly bright.

Two hundred points!

The value of this picture scroll was higher than he had imagined!

Daoist Qinghe had sent him a huge gift this time.

However, this feeling of holding a treasure mountain but being unable to even enter the door was really itchy.

"Forget it, one must eat rice one mouthful at a time, and walk the road one step at a time."

Su Chen quickly calmed his mood.

This picture scroll was already in his pocket, and he would be able to unlock its secrets sooner or later, so he was not in a hurry. The most urgent task was to find Mount Wanshou, obtain that hollow willow, and temper the Golden Core, which was the right path.

He carefully rolled up the picture scroll, put it into the wooden box, and kept it close to his body.

Removing the restrictions at the cave entrance, Su Chen walked out of the cave, feeling refreshed.

"I can't keep looking like a headless fly."

Su Chen stood on the mountain peak, looking at the vast mountains, and began to carefully recall his memories of Journey to the West from his previous life.

Regarding Mount Wanshou Wuzhuang Temple, the descriptions in various film and novel works in his previous life were quite vague; he only knew it was in the Western Niuhe Continent, but there was no specific coordinate.

Directly locating Wuzhuang Temple wouldn't work, so he could only use a stupid method: reverse reasoning.

Su Chen carefully sorted out the plot line of Journey to the West.

After stealing the Ginseng Fruit in Wuzhuang Temple, it was the Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon.

Pushing forward, Su Chen remembered it was the Four Sages Testing the Dao Heart, where the Lishan Mother, Guanyin, Puxian, and Wenshu Bodhisattvas transformed into beauties to test the Dao heart of Tang Seng and his disciples.

But that difficulty also didn't specify a specific location in the book, only saying it was in a deep mountain and wild forest.

What about before that?

"Liushahe!" Su Chen's eyes lit up.

The Liushahe where Sha Seng was accepted was an iconic location.

Tang Seng and his disciples crossed the Liushahe before encountering the Four Sages Testing the Dao Heart, and then it was Wuzhuang Temple.

Although there was a distance in between, as long as he found the Liushahe, it would be equivalent to having a clear reference point, and then walking west, he would always be able to find some clues.

This train of thought was clear and feasible.

Su Chen didn't hesitate, identified the direction, rode the wind again, and rushed toward the west.

His current cultivation of Return to Emptiness allowed him to fly thousands of miles a day.

But the vastness of the Western Niuhe Continent was far beyond his imagination.

Su Chen flew for more than ten days, and the terrain ahead finally began to change.

The original towering mountains gradually disappeared, replaced by a wide river that couldn't see the opposite bank, stretching between heaven and earth.

The river water was muddy, but the flow speed was unusually rapid.

"It should be here."

Su Chen lowered his figure, flew along the river bank upstream and downstream for two days, and finally found a huge stone tablet half-buried in the sand at a river bend.

The stone tablet had weathered the wind and frost, and several lines of ancient large characters were carved on it, with vigorous brushwork, entering the stone three points.

"Eight hundred miles of Flowing Sand Realm, three thousand deep Weak Water. A goose feather cannot float, and reed flowers sink to the bottom."

Su Chen looked at the words on the tablet, and couldn't help but feel secretly lucky in his heart.

This Weak Water specifically pollutes cultivators' magic treasures and corrodes cultivators' flesh; even ordinary Immortals dare not touch it easily.

Fortunately, he was not the mortal Tang Seng, and could ride the wind to cross, otherwise, just this eight-hundred-mile Liushahe would be enough for him to drink a pot.

He didn't stay too long by the river, rode the wind again, carefully avoided the river surface, and flew from high altitude.

After crossing the eight-hundred-mile Liushahe, he flew west for a distance, and a human city of considerable scale appeared in his field of vision.