Family Heirloom Secret Map, Entering Wu Mausoleum

I surveyed the surrounding area.

The reason for the increase in Sea Fish remained unknown, but Xiao Chen unexpectedly spotted a Small Spirit Ship anchored on the sea.

The entire ship was covered in a ghostly blue glow, and numerous light blue runes gathered around the hull to form two concentric rings, flashing continuously like breathing.

Another golden chain extends from the stern and plunges into the sea.

"How could we possibly run into other people in such a remote place?"

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Chen decided to get closer and observe the situation.

As he got closer, he could feel the fluctuations of Spiritual Power coming from ahead more clearly, as if someone was fighting underwater.

But strangely, the sea was calm.

This suggests either the battle took place in a very deep place, or there must be something else going on.

Just as Xiao Chen was observing curiously, someone on the ship noticed him approaching.

"Second brother, third sister, someone is coming from the southeast."

The young man in the white robe asked, "We've only seen one so far. Should we chase him away?"

The third sister, who had been busy adjusting the talisman array, asked, "What is his cultivation level? Can you tell which family he's wearing?"

The young man raised his hand to brush his forehead, reactivating his spiritual eye.

He could immediately see the scene three hundred miles away clearly. "He looks like Mid-stage Golden Core, wearing a white feather robe, but I can't recognize his background."

"He's flying this way, about two hundred miles away, almost there."

The young man immediately drew a spirit sword, his expression showing some tension, and his breathing quickened slightly. "It seems they're heading for the cave abode. Should we make a move?"

Upon hearing this, the third sister, who was standing nearby, immediately took out a Formation Flag to temporarily stabilize the talisman formation.

He then pulled out a nine-foot-long Lotus Adorned Silk, ready to fight.

"Don't do anything rash, don't panic!"

The second brother, who was in charge of operating the Dragon Seeking Chain, put down the Compass in his hand, looked at his nervous younger siblings, and shook his head slightly.

"You've only met one person, no need to be so nervous. Put away all the Spirit Artifact first."

He instructed, "Third Sister, go inside the cabin and keep an eye on the Defensive Formation."

"In case a fight breaks out later, you need to stay there and protect the talisman array. Don't forget that we came here to help our clan retrieve the Secret Method; that's the most important thing."

Then he turned to the white-robed youth. "Fifth brother, how many times have I told you?"

"In a battle, self-preservation should be the primary focus."

"How can I feel comfortable letting you go out alone in the future if you keep acting like this?"

After a few words of reprimand, his tone softened. "Follow behind me, let's go and see what's going on."

After saying that, he stepped out of the spirit ship and went to meet Xiao Chen.

The young man in the white robe frowned, inwardly grumbling to himself.

Even though Third Sister didn't take out any defensive Spirit Artifact, she still scolded him.

The Sword Cultivator he had read about in the novels were all wielding Three-Foot Green Edge, majestic and awe-inspiring, slaughtering all around them.

Who would raise a shield before engaging in a magical duel? Even if they won, it would be too ugly.

Even though he was unhappy, he still obediently sheathed his Flying Sword and followed behind.

"Fellow Daoist, I bow in greeting."

The second brother, dressed in a light yellow outer robe, bowed and said, "We are setting up an array ahead, so it's not convenient to get close. Please stop here, fellow Daoist!"

Xiao Chen stopped when he saw the person approaching.

At this moment, he was less than ten miles away from the spirit ship and could clearly sense that although the golden chain appeared to be submerged in the water, it was not actually particularly deep.

They weren't actually fighting with magic below, but rather trying to Break Formation.

In other words, the other party is probably opening up a cave abode or a small ruin.

He immediately returned the greeting with clasped hands. "Fellow Daoist, my name is Xiao Chen. I happened to be passing by and came to inquire about some news with you."

"I wonder if you are a local cultivator?"

Do you have any information about the situation in the nearby waters?

"Especially around here, are there any famous Meteorite Land?"

Finding the Wu Mausoleum on his own was a bit of a hassle, so since he had encountered a cultivator who seemed familiar with the area, Xiao Chen thought he could ask for directions.

"So it's Daoist Xiao in person. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The yellow-robed cultivator smiled and replied, "My name is Sun Haoran, and I am not a local cultivator."

"But speaking of the Meteorite Land, I have actually heard of two places."

As he spoke, he turned to look behind him and said, "Fifth brother, go to the cabin and fetch the nautical chart from home."

The young man in white robes was somewhat taken aback upon hearing this. "Second brother, that's..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Sun Haoran glare at him.

So he immediately shut up, turned around and went to get a parchment scroll.

"Daoist Xiao, please take a look at this sea chart."

Sun Haoran immediately used his true essence to hand the sheepskin scroll directly to Xiao Chen: "This map has been passed down through generations in my family, so some place names are not quite the same as they are now."

"The above does mention two Meteorite Land, but I wonder if they are the places Daoist Xiao is looking for."

Despite regular maintenance, the parchment scroll is still yellowed overall, showing that it is indeed very old.

The nautical charts depicted above are rather rudimentary, with very few annotations, making them quite different from modern nautical charts.

Xiao Chen looked at it carefully for a while before realizing that although the nautical chart looked small, the area it marked was actually extremely large.

Based on a super-large island in the northwest corner of the Compassion Sea, and the Meteorite Land I had previously explored, I used these as references.

The other Meteorite Land on the map is estimated to be about 700,000 miles away!

It has completely exceeded the current boundaries of the Ocean of the Compassion Sea.

Xiao Chen was aware that the regional divisions in Ancient Times were different from those in modern times.

But what I really didn't expect was that the actual scope referred to by the three words 'Ocean of the Compassion Sea ' was much larger than it is now.

Considering that the Moon Witch Tribe existed in a very long time ago.

Xiao Chen immediately realized that the location where they built the Wu Mausoleum was most likely much further away.

In other words, although he had obtained twelve Demon Core in the previous three days, he may have gone to the wrong place.

Luckily, I came to ask for directions today, and Sun Haoran is a generous person who directly took out his Family Heirloom Sea Chart.

"So there's such a difference! Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Sun!"

Xiao Chen silently noted the location, then returned the parchment. "I have urgent business to attend to, so I'll take my leave now. Hope we meet again someday!"

Sun Haoran smiled and said goodbye, "Daoist Xiao, you're too kind."

My father always taught me to be kind to others when I'm out in the world.

"I wish you a safe journey, fellow Daoist!"

Watching Xiao Chen's figure transform into a small black dot and disappear into the horizon.

The young man in white robes then asked, "Second brother, why did you take out the family's nautical charts to show him?"

"It would be such a waste to let outsiders see the secret maps we've painstakingly preserved."

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Sun Haoran did not answer the question directly.

He countered with, "Then what do you think should be done?"

The young man in white thought for a moment and then said, "He has already seen the cave abode, and he is all alone."

"To keep this secret, shouldn't we kill them to cover it up?"

Sun Haoran, with mixed feelings, asked, "Haoze, let me ask you, what did Father say before we came out this time?"

He then answered himself, "I will use the Dragon Seeking Chain to find and open the cave abode left behind by our Great Ancestor in his early years, and retrieve the Lineage's lost Secret Method."

"In about ten more days, we will be able to open the cave abode."

"But you're thinking of creating unnecessary trouble?"

Sun Haoze immediately retorted, "No, I'm just worried that he saw the cave abode in the sea, hid in the shadows to ambush it, and might even notify the others to come and steal the treasure."

Sun Haoran pressed further, "Your concern is indeed valid."

"Then let me ask you, how confident are you of beating him?"

"What if we can't beat them even if we join forces?"

Sun Haoze's voice lowered by a third. "But he's only at the Mid-stage Golden Core, and he's all alone."

"Second brother, you're already a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator. With me and third sister joining the team, it's practically a sure thing."

Sun Haoran, however, reminded him, "That's right, he's all alone."

"I ask you, if you were alone and discovered a spirit ship in the distance, what would you do?"

Sun Haoze was taken aback by the question.

If he encounters such an unexpected situation, the safest course of action is to proactively maintain a safe distance to avoid unnecessary conflict while alone.

"The fact that they dared to come alone means they were certain they had a way to escape."

Sun Haoran advised, "What we need to do is not gamble on his methods failing, but rather focus on ensuring we are not affected."

"Didn't you want to know why we showed Daoist Xiao the sea chart?"

"Because the Meteorite Land is far enough away from here."

"Who would come to such a remote place for no reason? He must have more important things to do."

"I was both giving him directions and getting him away from me."

Sun Haoze's eyes widened, clearly astonished.

But some doubts remained. "We can't just show it to him for free, can we? This is our family's secret map; we can make up a fake location."

Sun Haoran hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Finally, he patted his fifth brother on the shoulder and said, "Think about it this way: the Lineage is about to be born, and these secret maps would have been traded anyway."

"Let's just focus on our current tasks and get back to the ship."

On the bright side, having such a pure mind is actually not bad; it helps to increase the Cultivation Speed.

On the contrary, once the Lineage is established, it will attract many people.

When members of the Direct Lineage travel, two additional Guest Elder can be arranged to act as guards.

We no longer need to rely on our own staff for everything, which leads to a shortage of manpower.

Seven days later.

Before sunset, Xiao Chen successfully located the massive Sea Abyss.

Putting everything else aside, just looking down from mid-air, the sea appears even deeper in color, as if it were shrouded in a natural shadow.

He urged his Divine Sense to scan downwards, but couldn't even see the bottom.

It should be noted that, with the help of the Star Core over the past few months, Xiao Chen's Divine Sense Range has reached a full seventy-nine miles.

However, it is still somewhat insufficient in the face of such special terrain.

"This world truly embodies the four words—'Heaven is high and Earth is vast'!"

Xiao Chen sighed, then searched the surrounding area.

However, within a radius of 30,000 li, they could not find a place to settle down.

In the end, they were forced to turn back and return to a reef 38,000 miles away to recuperate.

After all, while the Burial Abyss Asura wouldn't be an obstacle, successfully entering the Wu Mausoleum and finding and retrieving the Witch Artifact would definitely present more than just this one problem.

I slept soundly under the protection of the Defensive Formation.

Xiao Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief when he woke up naturally the next morning.

He then returned to the Sea Abyss above the abyss, summoned the Ghost Mask Profound Light Shield for protection, and dived directly into the seabed.

"Gurgle~!"

As they descended deeper, the surrounding light became increasingly dim.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't have much impact on cultivators, since those who can come here all possess Divine Sense, which is often just as useful as eyesight.

However, Xiao Chen still managed to ignite a ball of Spirit Fire within the Body Protecting Profound Light using his true essence.

It illuminated an area of several dozen feet around him.

Firstly, he was indeed not used to complete darkness.

Secondly, Divine Sense is easily blocked, and he didn't know whether the priests in charge of building the Wu Mausoleum had paid attention to this aspect.

So, to avoid missing the entrance, he still chose to light a Spirit Fire to illuminate the surrounding area.

Then Xiao Chen saw that a group of small fish had unknowingly gathered around him.

They have dark scales on their bodies, which naturally form patterns that can conceal Divine Sense.

After the firelight came on, the small fish seemed startled and immediately fled out of the light.

The reason they are so afraid of light is that in the deep sea, only a few extremely powerful Demon Beast choose to use light to lure their enemies.

"Alas, it is said that High Antiquity powerful beings could burn mountains and boil seas."

As Xiao Chen descended, he thought to himself, "I wonder when I'll have that kind of power."

Then we won't need all this trouble, with diving and using Spirit Fire.

By directly using true essence to separate the seawater, it became immediately clear what was underneath.

However, even Nascent Soul True Lord might not be able to drive such a large amount of seawater with true essence; the task is arduous and the road ahead is long.

"Gurgle!"

Suddenly, a strange sound rang out.

Xiao Chen immediately looked around.

But I didn't see anything.

There was no other way; even with the light of the Spirit Fire, his field of vision was limited to only a few dozen feet.

It's impossible to see the specific situation around us.

In just this short time, he had already descended nearly twenty miles.

On the ground, this distance would be as close as Golden Core True Person's doorstep; they could reach it with just a few steps.

However, in the ocean, this distance is considered very deep.

If you're really unlucky, there's a real possibility of encountering Fourth-Order Demonic Beast.

"Plop!"

A wave of water rushed in from the right.

It was then blocked by the Body Protecting Profound Light.

However, Xiao Chen could still clearly sense that a large amount of seawater around him was being moved by some kind of force.

It seemed that a huge creature was passing by not far away.

When faced with such a situation, most cultivators would either choose to surface or grit their teeth and continue exploring.

But Xiao Chen was different; he cultivated Law Technique to solve problems.

"Disease!"

With a flick of his finger, true essence surged forth from his body, transforming into a hundred ice needles that shot out to the right.

Fire Element Spell are inconvenient to use, while Ice Element Law Technique are largely unaffected by water.

The <Cold Light Ice Soul Needle> technique I practiced before can finally come in handy here.

.

"Woo~!"

The moment the ice needle flew out, a muffled thud came from the right.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding seawater surged, turning into a violent undercurrent that washed over the Body Protecting Profound Light.

Even in the darkness, the outline of Sea Fish about a hundred feet long could still be seen, wriggling its body.

"Splash!"

The sound of water filled the air, Sea Fish lunged forward.

It opened its gaping maw and swallowed the tiny, glowing object in its eyes, along with the protective shield erected by the Ghost Mask Profound Light Shield, into its belly.

Xiao Chen was not surprised by this situation; he was already experienced with it.

Not only Sea Fish, but many Demon Beast also like to swallow their prey whole.

Especially when you have a size advantage, this is a very useful fighting tactic.

But that's alright, it actually makes it easier for him to bypass the fish scales or skin that can Block Spiritual Sense and directly find the location of the Demon Core.

"Hmph, you beast, prepare to die!"

Xiao Chen smashed through the three-foot-thick layer of flesh inside the fish's belly with a single punch, and directly grabbed the Demon Core in his hand.

Then he unleashed a dozen more punches, smashing a path through the air.

The Sea Fish died instantly and slowly sank to the deeper seabed.

"This is outrageous. There shouldn't be any more Golden Core Sea Fish in this kind of remote area, right?"

After taking down two Golden Core Sea Fish, Xiao Chen finally managed to dive to the seabed.

Feeling that he only had half of his true essence left in his body, he took out a Third-Order Spirit Fruit from his Vast Sea Ring and swallowed it as a supplement.

In the Cultivation World, the so-called peripheral and core areas are defined entirely by the density of Spiritual Qi.

Logically speaking, the number of High-Tier Demonic Beast in such a place should be very, very small.

In just a short while, we encountered two, which is absolutely absurd.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen remained safe and sound for the next hour, without encountering any new attacks from Sea Fish.

However, due to the excessive pressure at the bottom of the sea, his true essence was depleted too much, and even after eating the Spirit Fruit, it still dropped to less than one-third.

For safety's sake, we returned to the reef to rest.

The second dive went much more smoothly, with no obstacles encountered along the way.

This also allowed Xiao Chen to confirm that it wasn't because there were too many Sea Fish here.

It must have been because its firelight was too conspicuous that it attracted the only two Golden Core Sea Fish in the vicinity on the very first day.

Unfortunately, after searching all day, we still couldn't find the Wu Mausoleum.

But on his third dive, he was attacked by a Golden Core Sea Fish.

"No, where exactly is the problem?"

Xiao Chen wondered if he had some kind of special ability to attract Sea Fish: "Why do I keep encountering so many Sea Fish lately?"

He had to travel tens of thousands of miles to catch just one fish when he was hunting for Sea Fish in the Southern Lao Sea.

Now they're all pounced on me one after another.

It's important to understand that, despite the Endless Sea, the total number of Sea Fish is virtually limitless.

However, the number of Golden Core Sea Fish is ultimately a limited small portion.

Previously, in the City Lord Manor, even an ordinary Demon Core could be sold for 20,000 Spirit Stone.

But if we consider the density that Xiao Chen is currently sensing, wouldn't the price drop by at least half?

If that's the case, it would be a good thing, as it would make it easier for everyone to obtain cultivation resources.

Due to limited visibility, Xiao Chen searched for six days straight, covering almost half of the Sea Abyss.

Finally, in a deep trench at the bottom of a Sea Abyss, they discovered half of a man-made pillar exposed on the ground.

Despite the fact that over millions of years, a thick layer of sediment has accumulated on the pillars, making their original appearance almost unrecognizable.

However, this is thanks to the fact that the pillar itself is made of stone.

Ultimately, a few crooked hieroglyphs were preserved.

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's better to carve the words on stone."

Xiao Chen sighed and peeled off the solidified sediment on the outside.

Sure enough, the text inside was both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.

It bears some resemblance to the text in the images he had seen during the Moon Eclipse.

"It wasn't easy, but we finally found it!"

Xiao Chen's spirits lifted immediately, and he began digging downwards along the pillar.

At the bottom of the Sea Abyss, there is mostly sedimentary quicksand and some small pebbles.

Therefore, it wasn't particularly difficult to handle, except that there were just too many of them.

After digging for three days straight, Xiao Chen finally unearthed the original entrance to the Wu Mausoleum from among the sand and stones.

What appeared before him was less a door and more a massive boulder covered in runes.

These runes come in various shapes and sizes; some resemble crescent moons with delicate Spiritual Pattern along their edges, while others look like ferocious beasts with bared fangs and claws, exuding an ancient and majestic aura.

"There's no door, how do we open this?"

Xiao Chen tried to reach out and push the boulder.

Unexpectedly, the moment his fingertips touched the cold stone surface, a strange power spread along his arm and swept across his body.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a jolt in his blood and qi, as if it had been stirred.

As if confirming something, the force returned to the boulder.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from deep within the Wu Mausoleum, as if something was turning behind the boulder.

Then Xiao Chen saw that a light seemed to be shining from behind the boulder in front of him.

The boulder then swayed and slowly sank into the ground, revealing the transparent light curtain behind it that blocked out the seawater.

ah?

It can even open by itself?

Xiao Chen was already thinking about how to brute-force his way through, but to his surprise, everything at the entrance was normal.

This doesn't make sense.

Logically speaking, the entrance shouldn't have been sealed off with huge rocks.

Then, should we set up numerous traps and mechanisms to stop those malicious intruders?

Looking at the spacious entrance and the transparent light curtain that didn't obstruct his view at all, Xiao Chen suddenly had a feeling that he was being lured into a trap.

He slowly descended the steps from the entrance and entered, immediately smelling a rotten odor.

It's like old grain that's been stored in a warehouse for years, wrapped in a blanket soaked with moisture during the humid season.

Finally, it was buried under an old tree stump on a hillside that never sees the sun, creating that unique scent.

The steps weren't deep, only eighty-one in total, and about three or four zhang high.

At the end was a fist-sized Luminous Pearl, emitting a soft, moon-white light.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs, Xiao Chen looked out and saw a long passageway in front of him.

The walls of the passageway are inlaid with countless shimmering crystals, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

These crystals are not ordinary prismatic shapes, but are carved into the shapes of various Witch Talisman.

The most numerous symbols are the moon, representing its different Phases of the Moon, followed by unfamiliar runes resembling flowers and birds.

The ceiling of the passageway is adorned with magnificent murals, their colors as vibrant as ever, seemingly untouched by the passage of time.

The painting at the entrance depicts the High Priest raising his scepter high and pointing it at the moon, while the clansmen kneel in orderly worship.

Quick tip: There are only 28 days left this month, and your monthly pass is about to expire.