Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 349 Xuandu Divine Palace
The Di Mermaid God was instructed by Li Wushou.

He kept his breathing low and hurried along the way.

Li Wushou would occasionally catch some fish and swallow them into his Golden Core Dragon Seed. Although he couldn't use the power of the Golden Core Dragon Seed at will, it was fine for him to eat.

Fish products have a moderate effect on improving the completeness of dragon species, but they are quite effective in nurturing one's own nascent soul.

This must be because the living beings in this world are born with strong and healthy souls.

After more than an hour, a mountain range at the bottom of the river came into Li Wushou's view.

This mountain range is undulating and much larger than the Ehuang Valley in Huazhou. The mountain range does not extend longitudinally from east to west, but rather runs in a north-south direction.

Through communication with the Di Jiao God, it was learned that this mountain range is called "River Boundary Mountain" or "River Channel Mountain". There are such "River Boundary Mountains" on both sides of the twelve water veins of Canglan Kingdom.

River Boundary Mountain possesses the power of isolation, separating the two waterways.

What appeared before Li Wushou was the boundary mountain between the Jinjing River and the Ebo River. Once he crossed this mountain range, he would enter the Ebo River.

However, due to the involvement of incense offerings, people on both sides are prohibited from crossing over to each other.

Therefore, both Dragon Kings imprisoned a large number of evil spirits in the mountains, while the gods could use the power of incense to cross them.

However, without imperial decree, neither of the two dragon kings would let them off easily once discovered.

Therefore, the Di Jiao God rarely comes here, lest it cause misunderstanding for the Dragon King of Jinjing River.

Now that they had received the "Dragon King's" order, things were different. The Di Jiao God carried Shui Sheng deep into the water, and Li Wushou's divine soul scanned the surroundings. At this moment, they were still more than ten miles away from the mountain range, which should be the place where Pei Ze had previously fished out river clams.

After looking around, they finally found the remains of a clam not far away. The clam was quite large, nearly five feet long, and its characteristics matched what Peize had described.

After identifying the area, Li Wushou began searching for all the river mussels within a radius of several miles, while simultaneously using his water-based powers to begin knocking at the mussels.

Suddenly, the clam clan was wiped out.

The Di Jiao God was dumbfounded; he had no idea how these ordinary river clams had offended the Dragon King.

He had intended to show his loyalty to the Dragon King by knocking down a few clams, but after two breaths, all the clams in the area he had observed were broken.

Observing the direction of the water flow, Di Jiao Shen swam towards the area where river clams liked to gather.

They were all dead, whether they were ordinary beings, powerful spirits, or even Yin spirits—they were all dead!
Li Wushou frowned. He had knocked on thousands of river clams, but to no avail. He had not found any other white jade slabs.

However, as the Di Jiao Shen swam unconsciously, Li Wushou also discovered the clustering pattern of river clams.

They seem to particularly like to linger by the channels of the underground currents in the river, waiting for food to flow out from the mountains at the river's edge for them to hunt.

If that's the case, could it be that the white jade slab was swept out of the Hejie Mountain by an undercurrent and then swallowed by a clam?

With a thought, Li Wushou rode the Di Jiao Shen against the current towards the direction of Hejie Mountain, while his divine soul power extended into Hejie Mountain at the same time.

Unfortunately, even after the Di Jiao God arrived outside the River Boundary Mountain, Li Wushou still hadn't discovered the white jade slab.

But the undercurrents are still very deep!
After thinking for a moment, Li Wushou extracted some of the incense power from the Di Jiao God and left the Di Jiao God outside the River Boundary Mountain to avoid attracting the attention of the Jinjing River Dragon King. Then, Li Wushou rode the aquatic body and swam into the depths of the River Boundary Mountain.

After about several dozen miles, the undercurrents became increasingly turbulent.

After several detours, the white jade slab in Li Wushou's hand suddenly emitted a shimmering light.

Beneath Li Wushou's feet, the undercurrent surged. Looking up, he saw a mountain that had been split open by the undercurrent, with a corner of the mountain broken off, revealing a glimpse of white inside.

With a look of joy in his eyes, Li Wushou broke through the hidden current and entered the mountain.

Apart from the outer perimeter being collapsed and covered with rubble, the mountain is hollow inside, with a white jade corridor extending deep into the mountain at your feet.

As you walk along the corridor and step onto a round platform, a buzzing sound suddenly fills your ears, and the immense water pressure abruptly disappears, as if you've entered land, but the steps remain damp.

As you ascend the steps, the path winds back to where you came from, as if taking a turn to enter the second floor.

After walking several hundred feet, a gate appeared on the mountain in front of Li Wushou, with four large characters written in a vigorous and elegant style: "Xuandu Divine Mansion" above the gate!
Li Wushou stepped through the portal and ascended to a spacious mountain chamber platform.

What came into view was a huge, ferocious beast, its body made entirely of white jade and its length exceeding ten feet.

This ferocious beast resembled a tortoise, with a long neck, a ferocious face, and its head held high as it looked back at its own back. Its two pupils were bright and piercing, yet indifferent.

Its shell has a raised center, resembling a cylinder, and is decorated with crisscrossing lines.

At the very end of its body grew a long tail, which resembled a dragon coiled around a huge shrine that looked like a temple.

This shrine is about 99 feet tall and 33 feet wide, even taller than the giant tortoise. Inside, on the stone wall, is a white jade shrine inscribed with "The Shrine of the True God Xuandu".
A glint of light flashed in Li Wushou's eyes upon seeing this!
True God Xuandu?

If I remember correctly, in the information about the divine realm that Scholar Wu told me, the true god of this realm should be called Canglan!

So Xuandu is the divine title of Canglan?

Li Wushou's mind was in turmoil as he looked down at the altar, where a white jade incense table stood.

The area above, which should have been adorned with many offerings, was now in disarray, as if it had been disturbed by something. Among the scattered stone cups, Li Wushou discovered a stone tortoise shell.

The southwest corner of the tortoise shell corresponds exactly to the white jade slab in Li Wushou's hand, and the tortoise shell is like a vessel for holding the white jade slab.

Unfortunately, Li Wushou did not find the other five-sixths of the armor plates as he had initially imagined.

However, Li Wushou also learned from this that the complete form of the divine artifact Hetu should be a tortoise shell, and that the white jade slab should have been placed on this tortoise shell and offered before the altar.

How did this white jade slab end up outside the river boundary mountain?

Looking around the mountain chamber, and then looking over the giant tortoise at a corner of the chamber facing him, Li Wushou got his answer.

That corner of the mountain had been broken at some point, and now a film of water extended from the mountain wall, blocking the undercurrent that Li Wushou had seen outside earlier.

Just as I was looking at them, a crisp sound suddenly rang in my ears.

The water film directly opposite quietly broke, and the river water poured into the mountain chamber.

The undercurrents were surging, and the river quickly washed over the mountain chamber.

Just then, the white jade slab in Li Wushou's hand emitted a fluorescent glow once more, and the inscriptions on the inner wall of the shrine flashed simultaneously. The water film that had been broken off instantly reassembled.

The hidden current was blocked outside the stone chamber, while the river water inside the mountain chamber flowed down the white jade steps that Li Wushou had just entered through the doorway.

At this point, Li Wushou finally understood why the items on the altar inside the shrine had been scattered and broken, and why the white jade slab in his hand had been washed out of the stone chamber.

The fluorescence of the white jade slab in his hand faded, and Li Wushou looked towards the inner wall of the shrine, where the flickering of the inscriptions also gradually died down.

The underlying principle is that the white jade slab in Li Wushou's hand activated the power of the incense offerings on the altar, thus unlocking the power of the inscriptions in the shrine.

Just now, when he was outside near the mountain, the white jade slab lit up once, repairing the water film, but the protective power of the water film did not last long.

Ultimately, it's because the incense offerings to the deities are running low.

Otherwise, the stone chamber would not have been damaged by the undercurrent when the white jade slab was still enshrined on the incense table.

Is this because the true god is dead and can no longer gather offerings?
Li Wushou was somewhat skeptical. If it were outside, it would be one thing, but this was the other party's True God Realm. Although this world was in ruins, the Canglan Kingdom still existed, and in a sense, the other party's lineage had not been severed.

Why can't the other party's shrine attract worshippers?

Li Wushou frowned and pondered. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and after the inscriptions completely disappeared, murals appeared on the inner wall of the shrine.

The mural begins with a scene of worship, with a large number of people from the water surrounding a temple called "Xuandu" in worship.

The following murals depict a golden-armored deity slaying various evil spirits, and at this point, it is clear that there are more people from the marshes surrounding Xuandu.

Another mural depicts the other person sitting atop a giant tortoise, transforming the slain evil spirit into a water dragon, while a large number of believers gather on the tortoise's back, singing and dancing.

Further on, the inner wall is smooth, with only a large blank area.

Clearly, there must have been murals here before, but they are no longer visible now.

This is likely because the incense offerings to the deity are about to run out.

Judging from the few murals that have survived, it is not hard to imagine that the murals that followed must have recorded the life of the true god Xuandu.

This was a bit of a pity for Li Wushou!
Because if he could understand these things, the secrets of this world would be revealed to him.

Moreover, judging from the last mural, it already involves the structure of this world. At least the twelve water veins were most likely created by him to benefit all people.

Li Wushou's mind was in turmoil as he looked around the stone chamber once more, memorizing everything.

The remaining white jade slabs were probably swept away by the undercurrents long ago, and Li Wushou even suspected that the original ones placed here might not have been complete.

Otherwise, the stone chamber might not have been collapsed so easily!

However, no matter what the situation is, searching for it again is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Li Wushou had no intention of searching deliberately, nor did he have the time.

Moreover, although he did not find the stone slab, he did not come away empty-handed.

At that moment, a bold conjecture arose in his mind, and he urgently needed to find someone to verify it.

With his hands forming hand seals, Li Wushou used the incense power of the Di Jiao God to temporarily reinforce the broken corner of the stone chamber.

With a swift movement, Li Wushou left the stone chamber and swam towards the outside of the river boundary mountain.

Outside the River Boundary Mountain, the Di Mermaid God eagerly awaited his arrival. Upon seeing Shui Sheng's figure, he was overjoyed and was about to step forward when he suddenly heard a majestic question in his ear:

"Di Jiao, let me test you. What is my lord's true name?"

(End of this chapter)