After the battle, the castle seemed particularly quiet.
Natsu is dragging the unconscious black-robed Mage and tying him into a rice dumpling with a rope found from nowhere.
"This guy is quite heavy."
Natsu complained and threw the man in black robe into the corner.
"Stop complaining and search it quickly."
Lu Chongwei ordered.
"Since this guy has set up a base here, he must be hiding something important."
Everyone started to act separately.
Lucy carefully walked around the gravel on the ground and walked to the dusty desk. The desk was filled with messy parchments and a black-covered notebook.
She picked up the notebook, gently blew away the dust, and opened the first page.
As the reading progressed, Lucy's face became more and more solemn.
"Everyone, come and see this!"
Lucy's voice broke the silence.
Everyone gathered around.
"This is the guy's diary."
Lucy pointed to a piece of text and read:
"The collection of dark magic power is coming to an end. As long as a few more living people with powerful magic power are sacrificed, the dark beast sleeping underground in the castle can be awakened. By then, the entire border will surrender under the feet of Phantom Lord..."
"Awakening the dark beast?"
Gray frowned and glanced at the magic circle that had been burned to ashes by Lu Chongwei.
"It seems that we arrived just in time, the ceremony has not been completed yet."
"More than that."
Lucy Turned to the last few pages of the diary, his tone suddenly became excited, and even his eyes began to shine.
"Look here! In addition to awakening the giant beast, this castle also hides clues about the ancient treasure. It is said that the treasure is closely related to Celestial Spirit Mage, and only the legendary Celestial Spirit Key can open it..."
"Celestial Spirit Key?!"
At the mention of these four words, Lucy's tone suddenly rose an octave higher.
She held her face in her hands, twisted her body into a twist, and pink bubbles appeared around her.
"Is it a rare key other than the legendary Zodiac? Or a super-powerful key that can summon Spirit King? Make a fortune, make a fortune! This trip has made a lot of money!"
Watching Lucy and Happy falling into delusions flying in the air, they complained mercilessly:
"Lucy is daydreaming again."
Lu Chongwei leaned against a stone pillar, playing with the handle of Ryujin Jakka's knife in his hand. He looked at the excited Lucy and shook his head helplessly.
"Since it's mentioned in the diary, let's look for it."
Lu Chongwei Stand up straight and close your eyes.
When he opened it again, his eyes lit up with golden light.
Shen Tong·Heavenly Eye.
In his field of vision, all the structures of the castle were analyzed layer by layer. Walls, floors, rocks, all materials became transparent. The flow of magic power was clearly visible, distributed in every corner of the castle like blood vessels.
Lu Chongwei's gaze penetrated the thick floor and extended deep underground.
There, there was a faint but pure magical light.
"Found it."
Lu Chongwei's golden light dissipated and he pointed at the huge stone floor in the center of the hall.
"Down below, about ten meters deep, there is a secret room."
"Really or not?"
Natsu immediately ran over, lay on the ground and knocked on the stone slab.
"The sound sounds very real, it doesn't sound hollow at all."
"Get out of the way."
Lu Chongwei stepped forward and signaled Natsu to step back.
He didn't draw his sword, he just raised his foot, concentrated the magic power on the sole of his foot, and then stamped it hard.
Boom!
The seemingly extremely hard stone floor instantly cracked, and countless rubbles flew into the air.
A large hole with a diameter of two meters appeared on the ground, and a dark stone staircase snaked downwards, leading into the bottomless darkness.
"So violent..."
Lucy was dumbfounded.
"Let's go down and have a look."
Lu Chongwei took the lead and walked down the stone steps.
Everyone followed closely behind.
The secret room was not big, and the surrounding walls were inlaid with glowing moss, illuminating the space in a green light. There was an old musty smell in the air, and it was obvious that no one had been there for a long time.
In the center of the secret room, there was a stone box placed alone.
The box is engraved with complex magic lines, faintly emitting a star-like light.
"This is...Celestial Spirit Magic array!"
Lucy recognized those lines at a glance and rushed forward immediately.
She squatted in front of the stone box and carefully observed the patterns on it.
"This is the ancient Celestial Spirit text, which is a sealing technique."
Lucy's fingers gently stroked those lines, feeling the magic flowing within them.
"As long as you inject magic power in a specific sequence of stars, you can unlock it."
She took a deep breath, mobilized the magic power in her body, her fingertips glowed with golden light, and began to move quickly on the stone box.
"Sirius...Polaris...Orion..."
As Lucy operates, the lines on the stone box begin to light up one by one.
Click.
A clear mechanical sound sounded.
The lid of the stone box slowly popped open, and a soft light overflowed from inside.
Everyone held their breath and looked around.
"Key! Key! Key!"
Lucy prayed crazily in his heart.
However, when the light dissipated, what lay quietly in the stone box was not the golden key she expected.
There is only a yellowed sheepskin map and a line of text engraved on the bottom of the stone box.
"Huh? What's the map?"
Lucy dropped his shoulders in disappointment, and his whole body turned gray.
"Don't be discouraged. Let's take a look at what's written first."
Natsu came over curiously and picked up the map.
The map is drawn very carefully, with various mountains and rivers marked on it. One of the red marks is particularly eye-catching, located in the border area of the Fiore Kingdom.
Lu Chongwei looked at the line of text at the bottom of the stone box.
"The power of Celestial Spirit unlocks the secret of the ruins."
He read it softly.
Lucy Hearing these words, his originally depressed expression suddenly regained its vitality.