When Yu Sui was putting things away, Sheng Zui went back to his room to wash up. When he came out, he saw Yu Sui pick up a sheet of paper from the floor and look it over. At last, she frowned in frustration and looked up at him. "I can't make heads or tails of it."
"It'd be strange if you could." Sheng Zui chuckled, stepped forward, and took the paper from her hand. After glancing at it, he said, "This is Bird-Worm Script, one of the scripts closest to the inscription."
"What does it say?" Yu Sui straightened and leaned over to look.
Sheng Zui held the paper out to her again. "Heavenly Thunder Enters Earth, Crimson Fire Brightness."
Yu Sui looked surprised, then a little confused.
But inwardly, she thought, That matches the information Yue Shu gave Elder Zong. Yue Shu held something back and refused to reveal everything, telling Elder Zong only half a line: "Heavenly Thunder Enters Earth, Crimson Fire Brightness."
When Mei Chengyu had made the inscription public, he hadn't mentioned a single word of that line.
Sheng Zui's ability to decipher it really did make Yu Sui see him in a new light.
"But what does it mean?" Yu Sui put on an expression that showed she knew nothing about the School of Names.
Sheng Zui said, "It should refer to thunderfire. Heavenly thunder is usually associated with the School of Daoists. Draw the thunder into the earth, and the earth's energy surges. When the two collide, they produce thunderfire."
"Does that mean the fragments are hidden in the Daoist Academy?" Yu Sui asked.
"Not necessarily." Sheng Zui shook his head. "This line sounds more like a description of some phenomenon than a location."
"Then what about the second half?"
Sheng Zui let