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

The summit of the mountain behind Taiqing Palace.

Master Xuanmo suspected that there was something wrong with his ears.

"Celestial Master".

"How many shots?"

"Nine shots."

Chen Shidu looked at him, his tone flat and without any inflection.

Master Xuanmo gasped.

The "Demon-Subduing Bell" in the front hall of Taiqing Palace is a magical artifact passed down by the founder of the Zhengyi School.

One sound gathers the crowd, three sounds meet the enemy, six sounds threaten the very survival of the tradition.

Nine shots.

Three hundred years.

Since the seventh Celestial Master quelled the Xiangxi Corpse King, this bell has never been rung nine times again.

The sound of nine gongs signifies the Celestial Master's decree: a fight to the death.

"Go knock."

Chen Shidu withdrew his gaze and turned to look in the direction of Jiangcheng.

Master Xuanmo dared not ask any more questions and bowed deeply.

"I will obey the Celestial Master's decree!"

He turned around, his true energy erupted from his feet, and he transformed into a streak of green, rushing straight towards the front hall.

Three minutes later.

"when!"

The first bell rang.

The deep, resonant tolling of the bell instantly shattered the sea of ​​clouds above Taiqing Palace.

Deep in the mountains, countless birds fluttered their wings in alarm, and beasts lay prostrate on the ground, trembling.

"when!"

Second tone.

Inside the Taiqing Palace, the elders of the four academies—Danfang, Wuleiyuan, Zifu, and Jinlu Keyi—simultaneously opened their doors.

The twelve old Taoist priests, all with white hair and beards, suddenly changed their expressions.

"The Demon-Slaying Bell!"

"Something terrible has happened!"

"when!"

Third tone, fourth tone...

The bells tolled continuously.

On the bluestone steps, hundreds of Taiqing Palace disciples rushed out from their various cultivation sites.

The Taoist priests, who usually valued tranquility and inaction, now looked solemn and quickly gathered in the square in front of the main hall.

Until the ninth bell rang.

The lingering sound echoed through the Ten Thousand Mountains, lingering for a long time.

Deep within the Taiqing Palace.

This place is perpetually shrouded in darkness, with three sides facing away from the sun.

A pure black stone palace rose from the ground, with two crossed blood-red stone sword reliefs on the palace door.

Hall of Punishments.

It is the sharpest knife.

The Taoist priests here do not pursue immortality or refine elixirs; they only practice the arts of killing and warfare.

He secluded himself for many years, using the yin energy of the earth's veins to temper his mind.

"Boom!"

The pure black stone door, silent for sixty years, slowly pushed open to both sides.

An elderly man with one arm, dressed in a dark red Taoist robe, was the first to step out of the stone gate.

Lu Chen, head of the Hall of Punishments.

Behind him followed forty-nine Taoist priests, all dressed in dark red robes.

Each person carried two magic swords on their backs, their eyes cold and indifferent as if they were looking at inanimate objects.

"The bell tolls nine times."

Lu Chen raised his head, his one eye looking towards the main hall.

"We've got a job."

Fifty dark red figures, shrinking the distance to an inch, rushed straight to the main hall.

Inside the main hall.

The flames of the twelve ever-burning lamps suddenly surged.

Chen Shidu sat upright on the sandalwood throne.

Below, the elders of the four academies and hundreds of their direct disciples stood in formation, waiting.

At the threshold of the main hall, Lu Chen led forty-nine disciples of the Punishment Hall to stride in.

"Lu Chen of the Hall of Punishments pays respects to the Celestial Master!"

Fifty men knelt on one knee, their murderous aura reaching the sky.

Chen Shidu raised his hand, signaling everyone to stand up.

"There are still remnants of the Nine Infants lineage."

Chen Shidu spoke, and his voice echoed throughout every corner of the hall.

"They cultivated their own Ghost King, and tonight, they went to Jiangcheng and attacked my people."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Then, with a loud "boom," the true energy of all the elders and disciples erupted uncontrollably.

"The Nine Infants lineage? Weren't they wiped out three hundred years ago?!"

"Dare to touch a Celestial Master? You're asking for death!"

Lu Chen stepped forward, his single eye flashing with a fierce light.

"Celestial Master, give the order."

Chen Shidu looked at him.

"The Hall of Punishments, all members, are now engaged in worldly affairs."

"Let's go to Jiangcheng."

"First, dig out all the remnants of the Nine Infants lineage and grind them to dust."

"Secondly, in the Jiangcheng area, any evil spirits tainted by Yin energy will be eliminated without exception."

Chen Shidu paused.

"Tian Shu is short-handed over there, so help them sweep the floor while you're at it. Don't let people think that we Taoists only talk about tranquility and inaction."

Lu Chen grinned.

That smile, to an ordinary person, was more terrifying than a vengeful ghost.

"Receive the imperial decree!"

"Hall of Punishments, come down the mountain with me!"

Early morning, at the foot of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The tourist town is just beginning to awaken.

Several early risers were taking photos of the mountain scenery with their mobile phones.

Suddenly, a dark red wave appeared on the mountain path.

Fifty Taoist priests, lined up in two rows, strode down the bluestone steps.

They didn't deliberately use their lightness skills, but each step they took was several meters away.

The tourists were completely dumbfounded.

"Holy crap... is this a movie shoot?"

"Where are the cameras? I can't see the film crew!"

A young girl was holding up her phone, her hand shaking so much that the screen was wobbling.

"That aura...it's terrifying. When they looked at me, I felt like I was being slashed by a knife."

The fifty people ignored the gazes of ordinary people.

Lu Chen walked at the front, took out an old Nokia phone from his sleeve, and dialed a number.

"Arrange a chartered plane."

"Destination: Jiangcheng."

Screen switch.

One hundred meters underground in Jiangcheng, in the conference room of the Tian Shu branch.

An encrypted video call is being conducted on the large screen in the conference room.

On the other end of the screen was Zhou Ce, the deputy director of the Tian Shu headquarters.

On the other side of the screen, Qin Yuan and Zhao Yue sat at a long table, their combat uniforms still covered in grayish-white powder, their expressions solemn.

"Speak."

Zhou Ce took off his glasses and slowly wiped them with a cloth.

"An A+ level anomaly, what happened to it?"

Qin Yuan took a deep breath.

"Instant kill".

"Who did it?"

Zhou Ce paused.

"A red string."

"You...you're not kidding?"

Qin Yuan recounted everything that had happened at the Shen family villa in detail.

"Runes lit up on the red rope, and pure white lightning descended from the sky, ignoring the Yin energy shield and wiping it out in one strike."

Qin Yuan pointed to a sealed bag on the table, which contained a small amount of grayish-white powder.

"This is all that was left behind by that A+ level monster."

Zhao Yue added from the side.

"Director Zhou, when Lao Qin and I arrived, the lightning had just struck. That level of heaven and earth pressure was definitely not a superpower; it was orthodox Taoist lightning magic."

"and……"

Zhao Yue swallowed hard.

"The Shen family's daughter said it was a gift from her fiancé."

Click.

The arm of Zhou Ce's glasses was snapped off by force.

He threw the broken glasses on the table and crossed his hands to support his chin.

"Chen Shidu".

Zhou Ce read the name aloud, his eyes deep.

"Fifty million Taiyi Star Papers, two sacred artifacts of the Daoist sect as betrothal gifts, and now a red rope spanning a thousand miles to summon heavenly lightning."

Zhou Ce looked at Qin Yuan on the screen.

"You will immediately take over the security around the Shen family compound. Do not disturb the Shen family members, and do not try to probe those two sacred artifacts. We will only be responsible for perimeter security."

"clear!"

"in addition."

Zhou Ce frowned.

"Since the evil cultivators of the Nine Infants lineage dared to attack the Shen family, they must still have strongholds in Jiangcheng. Send out all the agents from the branch office and dig them out!"

Before he could finish speaking...

The automatic door to the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

Lin Xue barged in without even knocking.

"Team Leader Qin! Team Leader Zhao!"

Lin Xue's voice trembled uncontrollably.

"Something's happened!"

Qin Yuan frowned.

"What's got you so flustered?"

Lin Xue walked quickly to the conference table and connected the tablet to the large screen.

"Ten minutes ago, at the construction site of the new district in the western suburbs of Jiangcheng, an excavator unearthed an underground cavity while laying the foundation."

Several slightly blurry photos of the scene appeared on the big screen.

The photo shows a pit that is more than ten meters deep.

At the bottom of the pit, a Buddha statue was half-buried.