I have a Taoist temple that connects me to other worlds

Back at their residence, the four of them huddled around the copied star chart that night. Yu Shiqie used vermilion to highlight the anomalies: "In the past three hundred years, every time the Emperor Star dims, there have been large-scale disappearances of infants."

Bai Jing curled his tail around a copy of 'Imperial Medical Records': "The current Emperor has been going into secluded recuperation every thirty years since the one hundred and twenty-third year of his reign, and the timing corresponds perfectly..."

Suddenly, Su Mu dropped his teacup. Everyone turned to see him staring at a line of text with a pale face: "In the five hundred and twenty-third year, the Emperor Star in the Ziwei Palace was dim. The Taixuan Real Person entered the palace and never came out again..."

Outside the window, a thunderclap exploded, and heavy rain poured down. Su Mu stroked the golden scale fragment and suddenly said, "I need to go back to the Taishen Palace."

Jiang Wen looked at the line in the book, the word 'Taixuan' written on it. His expression was serious, knowing that this matter was related to Su Mu. He had always been concerned about the death of the Taixuan Real Person, and now that he saw something about Taixuan, he naturally held it in his heart.

......

The night was as dark as ink, and dewdrops condensed on the glazed tiles of the Taishen Palace's library. Jiang Wen's fingertips brushed across the yellowed ancient books, and the green jade lamp cast a swaying halo on the desk. He was looking up the records of 'Heaven's Mandate' in the 'Great Qian Annals of Destiny'.

"The Mandate of Humanity is not bestowed by Heaven, but inherited from all living beings." The tiny characters flickered in the candlelight, "The Emperor is favored by the will of the people, but the seven emotions and six desires are like a bone-deep disease." A corner of the page had been torn off here, and the remaining bloodstains were now dark brown.

Squeak—

A slight sound came from the wooden ladder. Jiang Wen turned to look and saw Xuan Ming, Su Mu's junior brother. This usually taciturn cultivator of the Taishen Palace had mud stains on the hem of his Daoist robe.

Previously, in the You residence, Su Mu had said that the Taishen Palace's library contained books about the Emperor's Mandate of Heaven. If Jiang Wen wanted to see them, he could go with him, so Jiang Wen came to the Taishen Palace with Su Mu.

"Abbot Jiang." Xuan Ming's voice was tight, "This is what you wanted."

He handed over a roll of silk, on which was clearly the dragon claw pattern that Jiang Wen had seen in the altar passage the night before.

In the lower right corner of the silk was a vermilion inscription: "Year Gui Mao, seventh day of the seventh month, old case of the Eastern Palace."

Jiang Wen squinted and looked closely. It was written that the Crown Prince had died suddenly fifty years ago, precisely on the seventh day of the seventh month.

"This was found in the secret room of a Divine Envoy of the God-Worshipping Society." Xuan Ming's Adam's apple bobbed, "A few days ago, a Divine Envoy of the God-Worshipping Society took twelve disciples into the Zihuan Palace."

The Zihuan Palace, where the Emperor was in seclusion. Jiang Wen remembered that Yu Shiqie had said that the Emperor would disappear for the whole day on the seventh day of every month.

Suddenly, a firefly streaked past the window, and Xuan Ming took half a step back like a startled crane: "I've said everything I need to say, Abbot Jiang, take care." As he turned around, Jiang Wen caught a glimpse of a dark red mark on his neck, shaped like an inverted scale.

The next day, Yu Shiqie brought new clues. She had found something in the main altar of the Taiping Dao. 'Taiyi Divine Calculation'—a fragment recorded the art of transferring the Mandate of Heaven: "...Requires eight thousand one hundred drops of blood essence from the closest relatives as a guide, supplemented by the earth energy of the Dragon Vein, to shift the stars and change the destiny, transform into a True Dragon, and defy the heavens to change fate."

"Blood essence from the closest relatives?" Bai Jing's fox ears twitched, "Could it be those infants..."

"Not necessarily." Jiang Wen unfolded the layout map of the Imperial City, "Look here."

His fingertip pointed to the location of the Imperial Palace in the Imperial City, and a faint lotus pattern of ink stains overlapped the vermilion-marked Dragon Vein node—precisely the mark of the God-Worshipping Society.

"If the blood of the closest relatives is used as a sacrifice, then..." Jiang Wen didn't finish his sentence, and Li Xiangyue's face turned pale beside him.

She stared blankly outside, and whispered to herself: "My father, my elder brother and sisters, are they in mortal danger?"

Li Xiangyue came to the Imperial City with Jiang Wen, still hoping to save her parents. But now, seeing all kinds of secrets, perhaps the truth is more terrifying than she thought.

The Emperor—eating his own kin.

"Don't worry, the time has not yet come." Jiang Wen comforted. "The Emperor's actions take time."

"Since there are clues about the former Crown Prince, perhaps we can go and take a look at the former Crown Prince's Palace." Yu Shiqie suggested. "When the Taiping Dao attacked the Imperial Palace, although they failed to leave behind a map of the Imperial Palace, there is still a map of the Eastern Palace. Why not go and take a look at this Eastern Palace, perhaps we can gain something."

Jiang Wen thought it was feasible after hearing Yu Shiqie's words. The actions of this God-Worshipping Society must be related to the Emperor, perhaps there would be clues in the Eastern Palace.

As night fell, all was silent.

The three of them sneaked into the Eastern Palace.

Spiderwebs were densely scattered among the dilapidated palace buildings. Behind a half-faded gauze curtain, Jiang Wen's divine sense swept across the abandoned Eastern Palace and discovered a gilded dagger hidden in a secret compartment. He took it out, and the blade was covered with black-purple stains. A familiar, strange smell could be detected when brought close.

"This should be the Seven Stars Dagger that the Emperor personally bestowed upon the former Crown Prince during his coming-of-age ceremony." Yu Shiqie wrapped the dagger in a silk handkerchief. "Rumor has it that on the night the Crown Prince died suddenly, this dagger pierced his heart."

Suddenly, Bai Jing looked at the roof of the abandoned palace. She stared at the overlapping old and new claw marks on the beams: "These marks... look like they were left by dragon claws."

Jiang Wen raised his hand and stroked the charred beams, his fingertips picking up some black energy. Just as he was about to take a closer look, the sound of tinkling jade pendants came from afar.

An old man led several cultivators wearing the Taishen Palace star-patterned robes in a single file. The leader was actually an elder from the Taishen Palace.

"What a refined interest you have, Your Excellency." The Taishen Palace elder wore a smile on his face, and the treasure gourd in his hand glowed slightly, causing dust to fall from the beams.

"Exploring the forbidden palace at night, could it be that you want to窥探天机?"

At this moment, a person walked out of the shadows. His face was cold as he said, "Bringing the disciples of the Taishen Palace here, could it be that Fourth Elder is also here to enjoy the moon?"

The person who came was Su Mu, he seemed to understand what was happening in front of him.

The air suddenly froze. The cultivators of the Taishen Palace formed a formation, and the seven stars on their robes glowed with a faint light. Jiang Wen noticed that a faint black mist floated in the eyes of these cultivators, exactly the same as the black mist in the jade coffin that day.

The confrontation was broken by a sudden scream. A eunuch covered in flames rushed out of the side hall in the northwest corner, waving his charred arms crazily: "Ghost! There's a ghost!!"

（无一错 一首 一发 一内 一容 一 在 一一看 ！This line seems to be gibberish or some kind of placeholder, and I'm unable to translate it.)

The Taishen Palace elder's face changed drastically, and the gourd released thousands of silver threads. The eunuch was instantly twisted into a bloody mist, but the exploding blood beads actually condensed into a blood-colored mist in the air.

The mist formed a ferocious beast and pounced towards the elder.

"Presumptuous!" The elder waved his sleeve and dispersed the blood hex, but his robe was already stained with dark red when he turned around, and his face was slightly angry. "You will not be able to escape responsibility for what happened tonight."

"Elder might as well take a look at this." Jiang Wen suddenly threw the gilded dagger.

The moment the elder caught the dagger, dense incantations suddenly appeared on the blade. Those twisting characters, like snakes, were actually the 'Dragon Slaying Curse' recorded in the secret scriptures of the Taishen Palace.

The elder trembled slightly: "Where did Your Excellency get this thing?"

"Why not ask what exactly you send to the Zihuan Palace on the seventh day of every month?" Yu Shiqie suddenly opened her mouth, holding a golden scale in her palm, "This thing is mixed with the Taishen Palace's secret medicine, presumably it can temporarily suppress the backlash of the Mandate of Heaven."

"What is this place?" Everyone was surprised.

Jiang Wen just glanced at it, then took the lead and jumped into the underground passage, and everyone followed closely behind.

After winding for a hundred steps, the scene in front of them suddenly opened up—a vast underground palace appeared.

There were nine bronze cauldrons in the underground palace, and a crystal coffin was placed behind each cauldron.

Everyone approached and discovered that a young man was lying in the coffin.

A Seven Stars Dagger was inserted into his heart. Countless golden threads extended from his body, and the other end was connected to a curled-up dragon-shaped black shadow.