"Perhaps when the previous dynasty fell, everyone was too focused on holding onto their own piece of land. No one noticed that some people didn't go where the history books now say they did. In fact, how trustworthy are these history books? To what extent can they explain the chaotic situation at the time, rather than being influenced by the opinions of the various splintered states and what they wanted the common people to know? How much can we avoid being drawn into a world constructed by politicians and court literati, formed by selectively chosen events? That's a real problem."

Tan Weixin didn't know much about the construction of this underground palace and gardens, but she could roughly estimate the cost. Even with the financial revenue of a vast, unified country, such a project could not be covered by one or two years' worth of revenue. Moreover, given the situation at the time, the finances were unlikely to be in good shape; whether there was a surplus each year was a big question. And constantly diverting large amounts of funds, manpower, and resources, causing the national treasury to become increasingly depleted and fueling popular discontent, has always been the surest way to accelerate the downfall of a country.

After briefly mentioning this point, Tan Weixin quickly began with the complete story they had obtained from Chen Kai. Starting with the story of a capable, if not exactly upright, last prime minister, she narrated the formation and rise of the Daoming Sect, the petty schemes of the previous dynasty's descendants, and the role the Chen family played in it.

When it came to the Chen family's story, no one knew more than Tan Weixin. Although Ye Tao had brought Chen Kai to Yunzhou to work, he only knew what kind of person Chen Kai was and then just asked Chen Kai for work performance. But Tan Weixin had much more contact with Chen Kai. At first, it was to train Chen Kai in financial knowledge, and later, it was to constantly negotiate with Chen Kai on various data checks for Yunzhou's finances and the handling of certain offenders. Chen Kai told Tan Weixin, this "Madam," everything she asked without hiding anything. And Tan Weixin, from Chen Kai's narratives and many other sources, pieced together a detailed picture.

The Third Princess of Xiling, Commander Qin, and those young masters and misses had never heard such things. While captivated by the story, they were also shocked by the depth of the Chen family, the Daoming Sect, and the previous dynasty's descendants' concealment and their painstaking efforts. And after so many years of sedimentation, it was true that the anger, dissatisfaction, and hatred of the past might settle down and become gentle and refined, but it was also possible that families who regarded the whole world as their private property would deepen and expand this hatred generation after generation. It would be fine if the previous dynasty's descendants never had a chance to restore their kingdom, but if they did have a chance, they really could reunify the world. In that case, the person sitting on that throne would likely be someone that no one could control or influence.

And now, speaking of opportunity, this trinity of economic, spiritual, and political power, although it had lost the important corner of the Chen family, the accumulated power was not to be underestimated. The Daoming Sect's influence in the court and among the people had reached the point where the Xiling ruler had to consider the Daoming Sect's thoughts and feelings to a great extent when making many decisions. The Xiling ruler somewhat regretted transferring Sun Boping from Taizhou to the central government. Indeed, after Sun Boping took office as the Minister of Revenue, his diligence and willingness to work had streamlined the court's financial processes in just a few months, cutting millions of taels of redundant expenses each year. This kind of capable person who wasn't afraid of offending people had indeed made things much easier for the Xiling ruler. But the problem was that, without Sun Boping's direct support in Taizhou, the neutral Taizhou governor, although an old friend of Sun Boping, couldn't help the Leiyin Demon Sect as much as before. The Leiyin Demon Sect seemed less intense and direct in its struggle with the Daoming Sect than before. The Xiling ruler had summoned Lei Huang and others this time, which was considered a certain degree of recognition and a fairly clear indication, but Lei Huang and others, on the front lines of the open and secret struggles between the two sects in Taizhou and Zhongzhou, obviously couldn't fully commit just because the ruler said a few words.

What if the Leiyin Demon Sect couldn't withstand the Daoming Sect? What if the Daoming Sect could quickly recover from Ye Tao's harsh measures? What if the Daoming Sect's very successful upper-level and military strategy continued to expand its influence? The Xiling ruler had been worrying about these issues. And in Xiling, where powerful families stood tall, such things were actually very helpless.

Tan Weixin's story left everyone silent for a long time, constantly thinking about various issues. Although Tan Weixin's narrative had many details, these people wouldn't be so naive as to take everything Tan Weixin said as fact. After all, they were from Xiling's aristocratic families, and who Lu Zhen and his wife were, where they came from, and what their purpose was in saying these things were still questions.

Naturally, Tan Weixin wasn't naive enough to think that they would believe everything she said. In fact, Tan Weixin was just bored. This was also a backup plan. They were prepared to take all five of them, including Commander Qin, with them, but what if something went wrong? What if one or several of them escaped? After all, they were now in Xiling territory, and anything could happen. And if such a thing really happened, spreading this story through them would be quite good.

Tan Weixin gently stroked Ye Tao's head, softly smoothing his hair. Ye Tao slept soundly, not waking up until an hour and a half later. After washing his face and rinsing his mouth, Ye Tao continued to tinker with the cipher disk. Watching Ye Tao shake his head slightly after waking up and immediately display a confident expression, Tan Weixin secretly shook her head. Although Ye Tao was as high-ranking and powerful, he was still a big boy who liked toys at heart. He was much more skilled and happier dealing with this kind of technical problem than handling government affairs. Although he had slept for an hour and a half, Ye Tao must have spent most of the time simulating cracking the cipher disk in his dreams.

Putting on the cherry wood earmuffs, Ye Tao began to crack the cipher disk again. After the rest, both the strength and stability of his hands and his concentration were much better. And the simulation in his dreams also had many benefits. Although Ye Tao still didn't know the structural configuration of the outermost few rings, based on the structure and settings of the previous rings, he also had a much better understanding of the craftsman's technical style. And he also realized one thing: this cipher disk, which used the heavens, earth, and stars as symbols and was made up of rings within rings, was, after all, a piece of imperial ancestral ritual ware. The password must be from the inside out, and the entire twelve-ring setting must be a fairly auspicious combination, not some kind of vicious curse. Once he understood this point, many permutations and combinations were immediately eliminated. With more understanding and fewer possibilities, Ye Tao's progress in cracking the cipher disk was much faster.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the eighth and ninth rings were cracked in succession, leaving only the last three rings. Ye Tao took a deep breath and began to challenge the three outermost rings with the most choices. And as Ye Tao's cracking of the cipher reached the final moment, Liu Yong also braced himself and prepared for anything unexpected that might happen the moment the mechanism was cracked. In this kind of imperial tomb-shaped underground palace, anything treacherous and insidious could happen.

However, this danger ultimately did not occur. When Ye Tao carefully turned the outermost cipher ring to the correct position, the entire cipher disk made a cracking sound, and they began to hear the internal parts turning, nothing dangerous happened. There were no arrows shooting out from the surrounding area, nor were there any sprayed poisonous mists or anything like that. The entire platform where the cipher disk was located slowly rose about a foot and then moved to the side. In front of them, stones sank to different heights, and a downward staircase passage appeared.

Seeing Ye Tao just about to go down, Liu Yong grabbed him. He grinned and said, "Take it easy, let me go first."

Ye Tao scratched his head; he really didn't think they would encounter any danger. Liu Yong held the torch and slowly went down, stepping down step by step, and nothing happened until he stepped onto the flat ground. Liu Yong took a few steps forward and looked at the lamps protruding from the walls on both sides. He casually lit one. What he didn't expect was that he lit one lamp, but the two rows of copper tallow palace lamps on both sides lit up one after another, automatically, and a bright tunnel immediately appeared before them.

Ye Tao's eyes lit up. He went up to study it and didn't find anything too unusual. It turned out that there was a reed in the lamp holder of each tallow lamp, and the tallow lamp was not suspended from a solid copper rod but from a copper tube. After the convection of hot air blew into the copper tube, there should be a mechanical or other ignition device in the wall. Although it was indeed ingenious and complex and had a good visual effect, Ye Tao felt that it wasn't too difficult. In particular, Ye Tao now completely looked down on things like tallow lamps.

Walking through this tunnel, they came to a circular hall. The hall was not as vast as the super-large palace just now, but it was even more magnificent. The walls were covered with exquisite murals painted with various colors. Although they might not be as detailed as the gold-traced paintings outside, insiders could discover more content from these seemingly simple murals... These mineral pigments were actually as good as new, still bright and brilliant after so many years. And the ventilation in this underground palace had always been very good.

Twelve stone coffins were placed in the circular hall, with their head ends facing the center, forming a radiating shape, but the stone coffins were all without lids, and there was nothing inside except dust. At the other end of the circular hall, there was another hall, which was piled with various documents and scrolls. And there were many stone doors in the hall, each with a small room behind it. After that, there was another sloping downward tunnel. Ye Tao knew that after walking through this tunnel, they should be in a place they were very familiar with: a place to store treasures. They were about to be able to leave here.