Meanwhile, Shen Luo appeared in a mountainous forest after being engulfed by a burst of dazzling white light.
The surroundings looked quite familiar, very similar to the area where he had previously searched for Five-Finger Mountain. The only difference was that where there should have been a low-lying marsh, there now stood a mountain over a hundred zhang tall.
The mountain's summit had already broken and collapsed, yet five separate peaks, like severed fingers, could still be seen. There were neither more nor fewer than five of them. Beneath the broken fingers, the "palm" buried underground was also visible, covered in green moss.
From afar, three distinct ravines could be seen in the center of the palm, intersecting in pairs like the lines on a human hand.
Shen Luo was overjoyed at the sight. Without even checking on his injuries, he immediately raced toward Five-Finger Mountain.
When he rushed to the foot of the mountain, he saw that the palm lines were in fact stone stairways built along the mountainside. Their intersecting center lay precisely at the middle of the palm.
Shen Luo released his Divine Sense to investigate and found no unusual aura nearby. Instead, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was incredibly dense, worlds apart from the chaotic and impure spiritual energy outside.
As he approached the mountain, he saw a statue of a Buddhist monk standing at the entrance to the mountain path. It was slender in build and benevolent in appearance, holding a monk's staff in one hand and an alms bowl in the other as it stood silently in place.
"Could this be... Master Xuanzang?" Shen Luo thought to himself, finding the monk's features somewhat familiar.
Then he pressed his palms together and bowed to the monk before quickly climbing the mountain toward the