Chapter 340: Sha Wujing's Whereabouts

Kongming was slightly enlightened.

In many film and television works, Sha Wujing's magic treasure and weapon all take the form of a crescent-moon spade.

But in the original Journey to the West text, the magic treasure and weapon used by Monk Sha is not a crescent-moon spade, but the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff, also called the Suoluo Treasure Staff, originating from the Moon Palace's Suoluo immortal wood.

Crafted and polished by Lu Ban, its exterior is inlaid with treasure and radiates brilliant light, its interior condenses golden auspicious qi; both ends are slightly narrow, looking a bit like a rolling pin, and also like a pencil sharpened at both ends, but not sharp.

In fact, in the original Journey to the West text, the one who truly uses a crescent-moon spade is the Nine-Headed Insect.

That's right, the son-in-law of Bibo Pool who has a wife-stealing grudge against Little White Dragon — the magic treasure and weapon he uses is the crescent-moon spade.

"How did the Dragon King get this thing?" Tang Luo asked, "Obtained in a mission world, or a reward?"

"Not a reward, obtained in a mission world." Li Jue said.

An indescribable panic and shock in his expression.

To tell the truth, he also didn't know that the black rod the Dragon King obtained would be Monk Sha's Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff; they only knew this was an extremely strong piece of equipment.

"How was it obtained?" Tang Luo said.

"A few missions ago, in a dark river, the Dragon King fought a red-haired man with a green face and fangs; after killing him he seized it." Li Jue said.

"... Probably not." Ao Yulie said.

Just from the description, it seems a bit like Third Senior Brother, but the image of a green face, fangs, and red hair was at the Flowing Sand River.

Later he became a Golden-Body Arhat; Third Senior Brother is just a bit taller, a bit more stout, a bit more developed pectorals, and no longer has the fierce and ferocious appearance from the journey to fetch scriptures back then.

Tang Luo didn't speak, tossed Li Jue to the side, crouched down and pressed his hand on the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff.

The faint golden patterns on it emitted a light slightly brighter than before, detached from the treasure staff, and converged into Tang Luo's hand.

"Refined it, right?" After a moment, Tang Luo stood up and said.

"Yes." Ao Yulie nodded.

————

Tang Luo sat on the sofa, eyes closed, looking like he was taking a short rest.

Li Jue and his wife were tossed off the Dragon King by him; this place isn't too far from shore, gritting their teeth they can still swim back.

After chatting with Tang Luo for a while, Kongming left on his own small boat.

The Dragon King's death wasn't framed by Li Jue and his wife; they just acted as deserters, leaving the Dragon King and another God-Demon Walker to "hold the rear."

Kongming didn't show anything excessive, but from his cold hard expression before leaving, Li Jue and his wife's future days probably won't be easy.

Might even be worse than being slapped to death by Tang Luo, finished once and for all.

"Master."

After the faint golden patterns on the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff disappeared, Ao Yulie successfully refined the entire Dragon King into his own magic treasure.

Overall it raised the Dragon King's defense and recovery.

But consumes Ao Yulie's own power.

The Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff, as the Dragon King's keel, was also not taken out; it is now a part of the Dragon King, and can also count as Ao Yulie's magic treasure.

"Hmm... Wujing left a piece of information on it." Tang Luo said, spreading his hand, a passage of text directly emerged —

"Five hundred years."

"I spent five hundred years, still unable to find any trace of Master, Senior Brothers. Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, also vanished without a trace. It reminded me of what Master used to idly chant: 'Heaven full of gods and Buddhas, vanish like smoke and scatter like clouds'; turns out that wasn't a joke, but a prophecy?"

"... (missing)... (missing), this world also changes increasingly severely, as if dying, yet also as if 'reborn' in another way."

"I have almost no time left."

"... (missing), injuries heavier, already difficult to recover, I need to seek new heaven and earth."

"West, the West perhaps holds the chance of life; there seems to be a path leading to another heaven and earth there."

"Too tired..."

"... (missing), I left the treasure staff in the river, left a final trace of imprint and information."

"... (missing), (missing), hope that one day, someone will find it."

A passage of information missing quite a lot of content, but also enough to explain many things.

After the great change of heaven and earth, Sha Wujing, like Ao Yulie, survived in a heaven and earth; this heaven and earth might be a world formed after the Shanhai Realm shattered.

It might also be an originally existing blessed land / cave heaven.

Sha Wujing's situation is much worse than Ao Yulie's; the world he is in is "dying."

He spent five hundred years, unable to find any old acquaintance's whereabouts; headed West, seeking a new path, a new world.

For some reason, the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff was left by him, and he left a passage of information and an imprint.

The one the Dragon King killed was Sha Wujing's imprint-shadow.

And Tang Luo triggered the information Sha Wujing left behind; additionally the Demon-Subduing True Treasure Staff is severely damaged, almost completely devoid of spirituality.

But its sturdiness as a magic treasure remains; after becoming the Dragon King's keel, it can also let the damaged Dragon King quickly "recover."

When necessary, it can substitute for fuel as the Dragon King's consumption — now Ao Yulie's power can also substitute for fuel.

Hearing Tang Luo's description, Ao Yulie irritably scratched his hair; although he got Third Senior Brother's information, finding him is no easy matter.

That heaven and earth has no accurate "coordinates"; there is no way to enter it.

Making a not-too-apt analogy: the original Shanhai Realm (Journey to the West world) is equivalent to a great tree; the many blessed lands and cave heavens are the fruits, leaves, and such on the great tree.

Branches and trunk are the "Gates", "Passages".

Generally blessed lands and cave heavens only have one or two entrances/exits; if not passing through the entrance/exit, it is very hard to enter inside.

And the current situation, the mission worlds Tang Luo and them have experienced one by one, might also be this kind of situation.

The most secure way to enter and exit them is the God-Demon Game's "Teleportation".

Otherwise, it is very easy to get lost in the Void.

What is the Void? Above the Nine Heavens, at the end of the Boundless Sea, beneath the Nine Netherworlds of the seabed, a stretch of nothingness, chaotic currents of time and space.

The Boundless Sea, in Buddhist circles, is also called the Sea of Suffering.

The so-called "Sea of Suffering is boundless; turn back and you reach the shore" refers to not entering the "end" of the Boundless Sea that has no end, shrouded in mist, a void from which none who enter can return.

"Didn't you get a hint from the God-Demon Game?" Tang Luo asked.

Ao Yulie's pacing steps halted: "What?"

"After I received the information, the God-Demon Game then gave a hint." Tang Luo said, "One should say, it explicitly stated a rule of the God-Demon Game for the first time. For the next mission, we can enter that world, but we need a certain thing."

"What thing?" Ao Yulie asked.

"This." Tang Luo flipped his hand, and a small earth-yellow sphere appeared on his palm, looking rather unremarkable.

But upon closer inspection, it gave off a feeling of weightiness.

"Earth Spirit Pearl." Ao Yulie recognized it.

This pearl, in the world he was in, was a spirit pearl condensed from the evolution of earth.

It contained the power of the earth and a vitality ordinary people could not bear.

Back then, the Tree Demon Granny held this pearl, and with a tree demon's body, ran incredibly fast, using all sorts of thousand-mile transpositions.

After Tang Luo got the Earth Spirit Pearl, he consumed its power, which helped somewhat with recovering from his injuries.

However, after leaving the original world and arriving in the real world, the Earth Spirit Pearl's consumed power recovered extremely slowly.

After all, it is a wonder from another world (heaven and earth).

Simply put, it's a case of acclimatization; it needs time to establish a connection with this world, which is actually quite similar to the Book of Life and Death Sub-Register.

After Tang Luo obtained the information left on the treasure staff, the God-Demon Game also gave a hint.

During the next mission "teleportation," they could offer up this Earth Spirit Pearl to let them go to that mission world.

After all, the information left behind is also a kind of coordinate.

But because they changed the "mission world" on their own, the difficulty of the relevant mission would also change, becoming extremely dangerous.

These were all "hints" given to Tang Luo by the God-Demon Game.

Compared to the previous "silence and few words," this time it could be said to have explicitly laid out the rules.

God-Demon Walkers, in terms of missions, do not completely lack any autonomous right to choose.

Pay a sufficient price, and you can choose the mission world.

Without a doubt, this is clearly "high-end player" gameplay, not something ordinary God-Demon Walkers can achieve.

After Tang Luo accepted the information left on the treasure staff, the fully explicit rules that appeared in his mind were as follows:

Offer an object meeting the conditions to change the mission world traveled to; one must obtain sufficient "information" from a strange world to change and go there. First change: after entering the world, mission difficulty will adjust, rise; this mission failure counts as two mission failures. Successfully complete the mission, and in the future, offering items again allows travel to previously experienced mission worlds.

First change difficulty rises, the implication being, survive this one, and future mission difficulty will not rise.

Through offering, one can even go to previous mission worlds.

And to get explicit hints, Tang Luo estimated two conditions must be met.

One, have a qualifying "offering object" on hand.

Two, the first changed world must be an unfamiliar world never visited before, yet the God-Demon Walker must have obtained sufficient "information."

Neither can be missing; the trigger conditions can be called harsh.

In Tang Luo's hands, besides the Earth Spirit Pearl meeting the offering conditions, there is one more thing that can be used as an offering: the Book of Life and Death Sub-Register.

Unclear on the offering object's requirements, but obviously it's not "equipment is strong enough" that makes it an offering object.

This fully explicit God-Demon Game rule, Tang Luo told Kong Ming.

Kong Ming left Li Jue and his wife behind, hurriedly departing also related to this; he wanted to go find Chi Jing Daoren.

This veteran God-Demon Walker of many years might have also triggered a similar situation, obtained explicit rule information.

You know, back then Kong Ming mentioned to Chi Jing Daoren the matter of Tang Luo bringing out a cat.

Chi Jing Daoren was very calm, saying this had already been done by someone, and was not the first time since the creation of the world.

You young people are still too green; you need proper tempering.

"Then we can go find Third Senior Brother." Ao Yulie said with delighted surprise.

"We can." Tang Luo smiled.

Ao Yulie's body instantly relaxed, laughing: "Haha, looking at it this way, we can find Second Senior Brother and Eldest Senior Brother soon too!" Full of hope for the future.