The wedding was livestreamed by the sister, revealing his identity as a Taoist priest.

Sun Yinglong was stunned.

The rolled-up sheepskin map was still held in mid-air.

It didn't say where the site was, how big it was, what the layout was like, or what it looked like.

The Celestial Master's simple statement, "I know what it is," completely shut down the explanation the Celestial Master had prepared over the past three days.

"Celestial Master..."

Sun Yinglong's Adam's apple bobbed.

"You really know?"

Chen Shidu ignored the question.

He turned to look at Master Xuanmo.

"The Purple Palace Underground Palace, T-shaped scroll rack, third floor, bamboo slip number 107."

Master Xuanmo was stunned for a moment.

"Bring it here."

"yes!"

Master Xuanmo turned and left, his steps so fast that the hem of his Taoist robe fluttered.

The hall fell silent.

Sun Yinglong maintained his bowed posture, while the two attendants behind him lowered their heads even further.

Ying Fei held his teacup, his gaze fixed on the rolled-up sheepskin map in Sun Yinglong's hand, and remained silent.

Elder Zhu couldn't hold back any longer and leaned close to Ying Fei's ear.

"Why are the tomb raiders coming to us? These people have always kept to themselves with the Taoist sects."

Yingfei shook her head slightly.

"Anything that can attract the personal attention of a tomb raider's successor must be extraordinary."

It takes about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Master Xuanmo has returned.

He held in his hands a roll of yellowed bamboo slips, the edges of which had oxidized to a dark brown, bound with a vermilion silk thread.

The characters on the bamboo slips were written with cinnabar. Over the years, the color has darkened, but each character is still clearly legible.

Master Xuanmo's gaze swept over the first line, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

In the second line, his breathing stopped.

On the third line, his hand began to tremble.

"Celestial Master!"

He looked up abruptly, his voice piercing.

"This is……"

"read."

Chen Shidu spoke.

Master Xuanmo took a deep breath, turned the bamboo slip towards the elders, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Handwritten by the Ninth Celestial Master of the Zhengyi School..."

"In the third year of Yongping, Prince Jing borrowed the Taoist sect's [Xuantian Dangmo Stele] on the grounds of protecting the people of the world."

"This stele was forged by the third Celestial Master using the divine thunder of the Nine Heavens to temper the stone of Kunlun Ruins, and it took thirty-six years to complete. On the day the stele was completed, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky, which did not dissipate for three days."

"The stele weighs 9,900 catties and is 9 feet 9 inches tall. It is engraved with 108 restrictions of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends. Wherever it is placed, no evil spirits can invade, no ghosts can be repelled, and no evil spirits will arise within a radius of 100 miles."

"Prince Jing used the stele to quell the rebellion, erected it in his royal tent, and his army was invincible. In three years, he established his rule over the world."

"After the deed was done, Prince Jing did not return."

"The Ninth Celestial Master sent people to demand it three times, but Prince Jing used the excuse of seed to refuse. After Prince Jing died, the stele was buried with him in the mausoleum."

"For the next six hundred years, all the Celestial Masters knew the whereabouts of this stele, but the imperial mausoleum could not be disturbed without permission, so the matter was put aside until now."

After Master Xuanmo finished reciting the last word, the entire hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

All the elders' expressions changed.

Elder Zhu was the first to stand up, and his chair slammed backward with a loud thud.

"The Mysterious Heaven Demon-Subduing Stele!"

His voice was eight octaves higher.

"The stele that the third Celestial Master forged from the Kunlun Ruins stone using the Nine Heavens Thunder and Fire? Wasn't that lost long ago!"

The old Taoist priest in the alchemy room slammed his cane on the ground, his face filled with disbelief.

"I've searched through countless ancient texts, and I've only seen this name in three books. Two of them are incomplete, and I can't even find a complete description!"

"It hasn't been lost."

Chen Shidu's voice was flat.

"It was borrowed and not returned."

The hall was silent for two seconds.

Then the expressions on the faces of the elders simultaneously became somewhat subtle.

It was borrowed and never returned.

Six hundred years.

The most powerful evil-suppressing artifact of Taoism was kept by an emperor for six hundred years.

Yingfei took a deep breath and looked at Sun Yinglong.

"The ruins you discovered in the southwest... are they the tombs of Prince Jing?"

Sun Yinglong's expression at this moment could no longer be described as shock.

His mouth was agape, his pupils were unfocused, and only one thought remained in his mind...

The vast magical power fluctuations he sensed deep within that tomb, the thing that caused his entire team to lose three members and still be unable to make any progress, actually belonged to the Taoist sect.

"I……"

Sun Yinglong's throat was dry.

"We didn't know it was Prince Jing's tomb; there were no markings on the ground, and its location didn't match historical records. But..."

He steadied himself and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Everything the Celestial Master said is exactly right."

He straightened up, his gaze becoming serious.

"Let me tell you about the situation of that mausoleum."

Chen Shidu nodded slightly.

Sun Yinglong unfolded the sheepskin map in his hand and spread it on the desk.

"The entrance to the tomb is seventy feet underground. We cut in through a collapsed underground river and bypassed the outer sealing layer."

He pointed to a winding route on the map.

"First layer, burial pits."

"They were all human sacrifices. Six hundred years have passed, and the resentment of those sacrifices has not dissipated, but has condensed into Yin energy. My men were inside for less than a quarter of an hour when the three veterans simultaneously began to hallucinate and started fighting each other."

His fingers moved to the second layer.

"The second level is the mechanism passageway."

"It's not an ordinary physical mechanism; it's a combination of magic and mechanism. There are runes on the stone wall that I can't understand. Once triggered, the entire passageway is filled with yin wind, and the temperature drops to the point where it can freeze a person into an ice sculpture within three breaths."

Elder Zhu frowned.

"That's a restriction, not a mechanism."

"right."

Sun Yinglong nodded.

"That's why we can't get through it."

His fingers continued to move downwards.

"No one has ever been to the third floor."

"But looking down from the end of the second floor..."

He paused, as if recalling that scene.

"Below is an underground lake; the water is black and completely non-reflective."

"There is a stone platform in the middle of the lake, and on the stone platform stands something. Several dozen feet away, when my men approached the edge of the passageway, blood started gushing from their noses."

"It's not yin energy."

He looked at Chen Shidu.

"It's because the magic power is too strong, and a mortal body can't withstand it."

The elders in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.

The magical power overflowed to the point that mortals would bleed from the nose if they got close. The stele had been sealed for six hundred years, and its spiritual aura not only did not dissipate, but it was nurtured even more.

Sun Yinglong put away the sheepskin map, took a step back, and bowed again.

"To be honest, the reason why my Sun family has come to seek out the Celestial Master is because the danger of that tomb is far beyond our capabilities."

"The first layer of Yin energy, the second layer of restrictions, and the third layer of magical suppression—my Sun family can't break through even one of them."

He gave a wry smile.

"Before coming here, I considered seventeen different plans, but none of them worked."

Chen Shidu looked at him without saying a word.

Sun Yinglong raised his head, his eyes filled with sincerity, but also with a final hint of probing.

"So, I dare to ask the Celestial Master, is it possible to retrieve this stele?"

All eyes in the hall turned toward the throne.

Chen Shidu stood with his hands behind his back in front of the desk.

His gaze shifted from the parchment image to the last line of text on the bamboo slip.

The last four characters in the handwriting of the ninth Celestial Master, written six hundred years ago.

"Future generations should learn from this."

Chen Shidu looked away.

"That's something I believe in."

His tone was very soft, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

"Six hundred years is long enough for someone else."

He stepped out of the hall.

"It's time to take it back."