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

Outside the mountain gate of Taiqing Palace.

Sun Yinglong, carrying a black cloth bag, descended the 1,200 bluestone steps.

At the foot of the mountain, three off-road vehicles were parked on a forest path.

Seven people were squatting next to the car; some were smoking, some were eating dry food, and some were staring blankly at a map on their phones.

"Brother Long!"

The first to rush forward was a burly man with a thick beard.

Codenamed Iron Shovel, one of the nineteenth generation core disciples of the Sun family's tomb raiding tradition.

"How did it go? Did you see the Celestial Master? Did he give you anything?"

A lean young man also came over from behind.

"Brother Long, what's the situation inside? Are those old men from the Taoist sect easy to talk to?"

Sun Yinglong walked to the car, placed the cloth bag on the hood, and unzipped it.

There were twelve talisman papers lying inside.

With golden patterns and vermilion outlines, the runes on each one are different.

That's all.

Sun Yinglong said.

The shovel peeked out, and the expectation on his face instantly vanished.

"A talisman? Just a talisman?"

The fine needle also came closer, and its mouth twitched.

"Brother Long, I thought you went to see the Taoist master and would at least bring back some magical artifacts, but... twelve pieces of paper?"

Another bald man walked over; his code name was "Groundhog," and his tone was even more direct.

"Brother Long, you know what's going on inside. Old Ma and Little Sun died on the second level of the barrier. Ah Gui is still lying in the hospital, looking like he's been frozen for three days. His fingers are all black."

He stared at the twelve talismans, his voice deepening.

"Is this all you're going to do?"

Sun Yinglong did not answer immediately.

He zipped the cloth bag up again and turned to look at the crowd.

"The Celestial Master has one more thing to say."

Everyone was looking at him.

"The monument must be removed."

silence.

The man with the shovel furrowed his brow.

"Brother Long, it's not that I'm a coward, but the ice tunnel on the second floor is so cold that you can't move after just fifteen minutes. The third floor... I didn't even touch the edge of the third floor. If I stood too far away, my nose would start bleeding."

"I know."

Sun Yinglong's voice was very low.

"But the Celestial Master instructed me to do so."

He glanced at everyone.

"Who among you dares not to complete this?"

All seven people fell silent.

The 18th Celestial Master of the Zhengyi School.

Who would dare refuse a request from someone like that?

The fine needle was the first to grit its teeth.

"Damn, what's there to be afraid of?"

He slapped his thigh and stood up.

"Our lineage of tomb raiders has been around for 1,800 years, from the end of the Han Dynasty to now. What kind of grand tombs haven't we explored? The Yin Ruins royal tombs, the underground palace of the Former Qin Dynasty, the outer perimeter of the Qianling Mausoleum of the Tang Dynasty, the hidden tombs of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty... which one wasn't a one-way trip?"

The shovel he struck caused blood to rush to his head.

"Go to hell! I've lived for thirty-six years, and I've never backed down from a pit!"

The groundhog stubbed out the cigarette butt.

"Let's go. At worst, we'll die inside. At least we'll die on the path the Celestial Master points out. It's not shameful."

Sun Yinglong nodded and flipped open the sheepskin map on the hood.

"We'll depart in two hours. Our destination is the Jingwang Mausoleum, the third level, the underground lake stone platform."

He patted the cloth bag.

"The Celestial Master said that these twelve talismans should be used only when facing a desperate situation, and should not be used until a desperate situation is reached."

"Did you hear me clearly?"

"Listen carefully!"

……

Six hours later.

In the heart of an unnamed mountain range in the southwestern mountains.

At the entrance to the underground river, a crack less than two meters wide is hidden behind the bushes.

If Sun Yinglong hadn't personally led the way, no one would have been able to find this location.

Eight people, descending in sequence.

The rope sank into the darkness.

The light from the headlamp slid across the damp rock face, and the sound of water came from below, deep and distant.

Seventy zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Landing.

The underground riverbed had dried up considerably, with only a shallow layer of water flowing beneath our feet.

Sun Yinglong raised his hand and made a gesture.

Everyone turned off the extra light sources, leaving only the two headlamps at the front.

"First layer, burial pits."

Sun Yinglong lowered his voice.

"Last time, Ah Gui and the others were attacked here. The resentment condensed into Yin energy, which invaded their consciousness and caused them to hallucinate."

Xizhen took out a handful of black donkey hooves from his backpack, crushed them, and smeared them on everyone.

"The old method: black donkey hooves to ward off evil spirits, glutinous rice to seal acupoints, plus..."

He pulled a row of wax pellets out of his pocket.

"Hold a cinnabar pill in your mouth and press the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth; it can keep you warm for a quarter of an hour."

Each of the eight people received one.

"Walk."

The passageway was narrow, and two people could barely pass side by side.

The air grew colder, and the light from the headlamp illuminated the numerous niches on the walls on both sides.

Each niche contains a mummified corpse, in a different pose and with a grotesque face.

The shovel was third in line, his eyes glancing at the mummified corpses, his teeth clenching.

"Don't look."

Sun Yinglong's voice came from the front.

"Keep your eyes focused straight ahead, don't get distracted."

The further you go in, the lower the temperature gets.

The exhaled breath began to condense into white mist.

The groundhog suddenly stopped.

"Brother Long, that's not right."

Sun Yinglong turned around.

"What?"

"The mummified corpse in the niche has moving eyes."

Everyone froze at the same time.

The headlamp swept across.

The mummified corpse in the niche remained motionless, maintaining its original posture.

The fine needle shook its head.

"You're seeing things. Let's go, don't stop..."

"Click."

A faint sound.

From the left niche.

The neck of a mummified corpse slowly turned thirty degrees.

The empty eye sockets were staring right at them.

"run!"

Sun Yinglong roared.

The eight people burst forth simultaneously, sprinting forward.

Behind me, a series of clicking sounds came from the niche.

"Don't look back!"

Sun Yinglong shouted as he ran.

"That's a malevolent spirit! If you turn back, you'll fall victim to its trap!"

The shovel was the last to arrive, his back drenched in cold sweat.

He felt a breath on his back, cool and blowing against the back of his neck.

Thirty seconds.

At the end of the passageway, there is a stone gate.

Sun Yinglong rushed to the door, pressed his hands on the stone grooves on both sides, and pushed hard.

The stone door opened a crack.

"Go! Hurry!"

The eight people squeezed in and pushed the stone door back into place.

"boom!"

The moment the stone door closed, countless impact sounds came from outside.

It lasted for ten seconds.

Then it fell silent.

He leaned the shovel against the wall, panting heavily, his hands trembling.

"Damn... it wasn't this weird last time..."

Sun Yinglong wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"They weren't triggered last time, but this time there are more people, so their resentment has been disturbed."

He counted the number of people; there were eight, no one was missing.

"First level, cleared."

Xizhen, catching his breath, gave a wry smile.

"I almost peed on the first floor, the next two floors..."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Sun Yinglong patted the cloth bag on his back.

"Walk."

……

The second layer.

ice.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of the passageway were all covered with a layer of glistening white frost.

Breath instantly turned into solid white mist, and icicles formed on eyebrows and eyelashes within seconds.

"Oh my god..."

He rubbed his arm with the shovel.

"How low the hell is it?"

Xi Zhen glanced at the thermometer on his wrist.

Minus 28 degrees Celsius.

"It's still falling."

Sun Yinglong squatted down and used his dagger to scrape off the frost on the ground.

"It's not a natural low temperature, but a chilling cold released from a forbidden zone; it gets colder the further you go in."

He stood up, recalling his previous experience.

"Last time, when we reached two-thirds of this passageway, Ah Gui started to lose his temperature, his hands and feet became stiff, and the two behind him just fainted."

The groundhog wrapped itself tightly in its military overcoat, its teeth chattering.

"Brother Long, is there any way?"