Chapter 418: Strangers Together with You

He could feel the lake water's chill.

He continued to sink.

Bubbles gurgled up.

His hair and clothes floated upward.

Yet the Illusion Array's effects persisted; even with his eyes closed, various images flickered before him, influenced by the array. These sensations overlapped with the feeling of sinking into the lake in the real world, feeling somewhat surreal, like someone knocking on one's Game Capsule while playing a Spirit Realm game, unable to distinguish what was real and what was fake.

As he continued to sink, the real eventually became more real, and the false eventually became more false.

The frequency of the Illusion Array's flickering images accelerated until it went completely black; Chen Shu had sunk to a position near the lakebed, getting closer and closer to the Square Body.

In truth, there was no need for him to do this.

Although the treasures of the Mijing were worth a fortune, he was already a Spirit Sect Saint Son, and to him, the vast majority of things no longer held much significance.

Gold and silver wealth? He lacked none.

Heavenly treasures? He was not short of them.

Top-tier Artifacts? Most were already obsolete.

Rare treasures extinct in this era? Even if he obtained them, wouldn't he have to hand them over to the sect or the state? Was he supposed to just hold onto them until they grew moldy?

What Chen Shu was most interested in were the artifacts related to the Shengzu, preferably written records, but he had no need to move them home and claim them as his own. Rather than letting them gather dust on a shelf at home, it was far more meaningful to place them in a museum, letting the whole world admire and marvel at that glorious era.

Furthermore, Yiguo had already reached an agreement with Xixiao; Yiguo was to take back the vast majority of the items inside, and they would not be left scattered abroad.

Therefore, Chen Shu only needed to come in together with the history experts when the Square Body opened.

With the help of the big shots, his research would be even easier and smoother.

After thinking it over, the only thing useful to him was the Beast Pill.

A Ninth Stage Beast Pill could be used for himself, and the rest could be used for Xiaoxiao's advancement, though he could likely obtain these from the Spirit Sect's warehouse as well.

But this time, it was clearly an arrangement by the Secret Sect big shots.

Did the Secret Sect big shots know that he had the Crystal and could open the Tesseract Secret Realm?

As the head of the household for the Secret Sect Shengnyu, Chen Shu had some understanding of the Secret Sect—

The Secret Sect's abilities could not peer into the Crystal, could not peer into the Square Body, and could not peer into the gods, but the monstrous nature of Secret Sect Practitioners was not limited to this; they could still obtain these results through other channels and other aspects.

For example, from the mouths of the Spirit Sect.

For example, through the revelations of gods.

For example, by gathering a great deal of information and making inferences from multiple angles.

So, what did the Command Center want him to come here for?

Chen Shu made three guesses—

First, the Secret Sect big shot at the Command Center also wanted to know if the purpose of Cao Ci's disciple coming to Xixiao was related to the Square Body, so they had him come early to check if there were any items in the Square Body that could help Cao Ci achieve godhood.

Second, although Yiguo had reached an agreement with Xixiao that most items in the Square Body belonged to Yiguo, there was a price to pay, and this bunch of shameless people wanted it all.

And they didn't want to pay.

Third, the higher-ups of Yiguo were even more shameless; not only did they want the items in this Square Body, but they also wanted to get their hands on the things in other Tesseract Secret Realms.

Do not doubt the possibility of points two and three; when politicians get shameless, there is nothing they won't do.

Looking back at history, no matter the era, the outrageous maneuvers of top-tier politicians were always endless, each one more outrageous than the last.

Regardless, since the Command Center had arranged it this way, Chen Shu had come.

This could also be considered a kind of tacit understanding.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Chen Shu still did not open his eyes, nor did he maintain the Beishui Spell; instead, he stopped breathing, letting the lake water pour into his lungs and fill them, and in the process, he cast a sleep spell on himself and fell into a deep slumber.

"Thump..."

A slight sensation of contact came through.

Chen Shu landed beside a massive Square Body.

Not knowing how much time had passed, an image suddenly appeared before his eyes.

A hillside with gentle curves, the grass lush and green—it must have been early spring. In the distance was a city skyline blurred by dust and mist, and behind the city was a distant snow-capped mountain stained with the rosy hue of the setting sun, the colors like rouge. The breeze brushing against his face was always comforting, and a voice rang out:

"Can this feeling be kept for memory?"

"It was already a blur at the time."

"Hardship and sorrow bring on frosted temples?"

"Down and out, I've just set down the cup of murky wine."

"Is there no place to lodge in other mountains?"

"Pass."

"Meeting at the ends of the earth, mourning our old age, why refuse a cup of wine to speak of affection?"

"Pass."

"At the brushwood gate, I hear a dog bark?"

"The traveler returns in the wind and snow."

This world suddenly froze, and a few seconds later, its Spirit Power disintegrated, shattering into countless pieces and turning into light dust that returned to the heavens and earth.

Eighteen Mijing appeared in his perception, thirteen of which had already been opened.

Once his cultivation reached the Seventh Stage, the feeling was different again.

With just one glance, Chen Shu saw a rough idea of what was contained inside each Mijing.

Compared to the previous two times, the items in those dozen-plus opened Mijing were much fewer; the research bases and high-end weapons that had been stored there before were gone. Clearly, the disturbances in the Mijing the previous two times had made several major powers wary, and they no longer stored these items involving important national secrets inside.

At the same time, the Mijing could no longer unilaterally and forcibly establish a connection with him, allowing him to inspect and select slowly, without worrying about inadvertently taking all the Mijing into his possession and subsequently being invited to "drink tea."

Yet this was still a massive undertaking; a large group of people might not even be able to finish it in ten days or half a month.

"Emmm..."

It seems this is the only way.

Chen Shu's mind stirred; except for the last Mijing containing a city model which was protected by some kind of force, all other Mijing were swept clean.

It was a pity that the Mijing of Lanya no longer held the most advanced fighter jets and warships, otherwise he would have had to make some contribution to the country regardless.

"Swish!"

Chen Shu opened his eyes.

At this moment, he was at the bottom of the lake, in pitch darkness.

"Bang!"

Chen Shu immediately shot upward from the bottom of the lake like a sharp Sword, until with a splash, he broke through the water.

Looking up—

The new moon was like a hook, and a Long Sword hung in the air, with a woman sitting horizontally on the blade, holding some unknown snack and eating it.

Hearing the sound, she turned her head to look at him and asked, "Did you find it?"

Chen Shu answered readily: "No."

"Didn't find what?"

"Find what?"

"What did you go to look for?"

"What do you think I went to look for?"

"You're asking me?"

"You asked me first."

"..." Zhang Suannai rolled her eyes, "That person who fell into the lake, what else could it be?"

"Yeah, what else could it be?"

"Did you find them?"

"Didn't find them."

"Then what about the Square Body?"

"Emmm..."

"Hehe~"

"Hehe..."

"Whoosh!"

Two streaks of light cut through the night sky.

Chen Shu returned to the base and sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his mind sinking into the Crystal to begin taking stock of the harvest from this trip.

Eighteen Square Bodies, thirteen opened, five remaining; one of the Mijing had protection, which was the one containing the city model. It should be that Shengzu did not want people to easily know his origins, so this time he had robbed the contents of four Square Bodies in total.

The quantity was vast, and the variety was great.

Chen Shu first took a rough inventory.

Inside were several Beast Pills, including those of the seventh, eighth, and ninth stages. Clearly, his fellow countryman also knew these were beneficial for the advancement of human Cultivators and had deliberately left them for him.

Naturally, he had to accept these.

There were not many rare treasures, because last time in Duqin, he had taken all the boxes in the remaining Mijing that were suspected to be rare treasures, and later handed them over to the country through the Spirit Sect; he did not know how much the Spirit Sect had skimmed off in the middle.

This time there were only a few that had slipped through the net.

Boring, boring.

What Chen Shu cared about most were cultural relics and Artifacts.

Among them, he cared about the cultural relics, and among the cultural relics, he cared most about the literature and archives. After a rough look through, he had a general idea in his mind.

The Artifacts were what the Command Center should be concerned about; he was also a little concerned, but not much. After a simple scan, in his personal opinion, although there were some legendary Artifacts recorded in history, there were none beneficial to becoming a god.

He did not know what Cao Ci was looking for.

"..."

When Chen Shu opened his eyes, the night was already half over.

Given that the Command Center had not found him and directly conveyed instructions hoping he would do so, but instead used hints and tacit understanding, he pondered for a moment and did not intend to report his harvest to the Command Center immediately. Instead, he decided to do as he did last time: return and then hand them over to the country through the Spirit Sect.

Before that, he would study them himself.

And filter through them by the way.

After all, the fellow countryman left them for him; only those he did not want, those of little use to him, or those he felt would have more significance in a research institute or museum would be handed over to the country through the Spirit Sect, while it was reasonable for him to keep the rest.

The next day.

Chen Shu filed a report regarding the use of the Small Blazing Sun Art by Mengong Lake, stating that he had fallen into an Illusion Array and, as a fragile Spirit Cultivator, had used the Small Blazing Sun Art out of necessity due to fears for his life, and that was that.

In the following days, he continued to fight in Xixiao while taking inventory of the literature and materials obtained from the Square Bodies.

He actually discovered something precious—

The Autobiography of Shengzu.

This set of the Autobiography was very thick, divided into many volumes, and the content inside was very detailed.

In Chen Shu's view, it was very likely written by Shengzu himself. It recounted the life events of Shengzu, described his appearance, and told of his personal growth and changes in mentality from youth to old age, only omitting the fact that he was a transmigrator.

The writing was delicate and the tone intimate; reading it was like Shengzu sitting in front of him, sharing his experiences after coming to this world.

Chen Shu had been reading this set of the Autobiography for the past few days.

Completely absorbed.

This would undoubtedly be a treasure for all of humanity; it would fill in a considerable portion of the gaps in the Xia Dynasty and allow the life story of a legendary figure from five thousand years ago, Shengzu, to be truly and detailedly presented before the world. Many debates would be resolved because of this, and many unknowns would find their answers.

This was even more of a treasure for Chen Shu.

Through this Autobiography, he felt as if he were listening to this fellow countryman tell his story across thousands of years.

The text often contained clever nuances that ordinary people would not notice, finding them very ordinary or interpreting them with other meanings, but the moment Chen Shu read them, he knew they were related to transmigrating or the previous world. He would either smile knowingly or fall silent in reflection, as if he had also found solace because of it.

A sad song can serve as weeping, and gazing into the distance can serve as returning home.

This was a communication spanning time and space, like a letter sent from afar by a fellow countryman; while reading, Chen Shu could never bear to put the book down.

Sometimes, looking at the descriptions in the Autobiography and comparing them with the history he was familiar with—one from the perspective of personal experience, the other from the perspective of history—the two collided to create a marvelous feeling, making him suddenly dazed for a moment: so the history we talk about with such relish was once the high-spirited youth of some individual.