Midnight Fire Order

Gu Qinghe put away the Internal Affairs notice and summoned her flying sword.

"Get on!"

Li Sanshun stepped onto the sword, and the two of them headed straight for North Mountain.

The moment the flying sword left Law Enforcement Peak, Gu Qinghe sent out three Message Talismans. Two flew toward Law Enforcement Hall, while the third went to Medicine Peak, notifying the Incineration Team to stop using the Fire Array.

North Mountain was not far from the main peak. The flying sword could reach it in less than half a quarter of an hour. But as the two of them passed the mountainside, a vast blaze already glimmered ahead.

The Herb Garden was on fire!

"There's still half an hour until midnight."

Gu Qinghe urged the flying sword onward, soaring over the Stone Wall enclosing the Herb Garden.

Below, piles of Corpse-Bone Vine lay stacked in rows. Dozens of Medicine Peak laborers surrounded the area, continually dumping discarded medicinal dregs into the Fire Trench. Four Fire Pillars stood at the corners of the Herb Garden, and the Array Pattern on the ground had already lit up.

The fire fed by the Array surged along the channels, pressing deeper into the Herb Garden.

The Medicine Peak Deacon in charge shouted, urging everyone on. "Move faster! We have to burn everything clean tonight. We still need to turn the soil tomorrow morning!"

Gu Qinghe leaped off the flying sword and held up the Law Enforcement Token.

"Put out the fire! Everyone, get out of the Herb Garden!"

The Medicine Peak Deacon froze for a moment, then came forward with the Fire Order in his arms.

"Senior Sister Gu, Medicine Peak was told to start at the sixth hour of the Hai period. The Fire Array is already active. If we stop now, the poison gas buried in the soil could flow back up."

"The original order from Internal Affairs Hall said midnight."

"That isn't what we received."

The Medicine Peak Deacon spread out the Fire Order. The Medicine Peak Seal and Internal Affairs Seal were both in place, and beside the changed time was a Law Enforcement Hall Approval Seal.

Gu Qinghe took the Fire Order. Her fingertip stopped on the approval seal.

The mark belonged to Gu Changyue.

Her adoptive father's authority again.

"Who delivered it?"

"A disciple from Internal Affairs Hall. He wore his waist token, and we verified his identity."

"Where is he?"

"He left after delivering the Fire Order."

Gu Qinghe put the Fire Order in the Evidence Bag and raised the Law Enforcement Token.

"This place is connected to a major Law Enforcement Hall case. Shut down all four Array Pillars and seal off North Mountain. No one here is allowed to leave!"

The Medicine Peak Deacon stood in front of the Array Disk.

"The fire has already spread through the Array. Stopping it abruptly will damage the ley lines. Who'll take responsibility if something goes wrong?"

"I will."

"You're only a law enforcement disciple now. You can't take responsibility for the entire Herb Garden!"

Gu Qinghe drew her short sword and severed the Fire Fuse beside the Array Disk with one strike.

The eastern Fire Pillar went dark.

"Anyone else who gets in the way will be charged with obstructing the investigation."

The Medicine Peak Deacon didn't dare block her again. He led his people in shutting down the other three Fire Pillars. Without the Array to feed it, the fire on the ground still didn't die down. The Corpse-Bone Vine had accumulated over many years, with medicinal dregs buried beneath it. The moment it caught fire, it burned.

The laborers brought sand and tamped down the flames along the perimeter.

Li Sanshun covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and walked to the edge of the Herb Garden. The smoke reeked of rotten medicine. Just one breath left his throat bitter and burning.

[You have inhaled one mouthful of inferior toxic smoke.]

[Air quality: Poor.]

[Life energy increased by 0.01 points.]

[Detected components in the air: Corpse-Bone Vine, discarded medicinal dregs, Red Saltpeter Powder.]

No Breath-Closing Powder.

He walked more than twenty paces east along the Fire Trench, shifted to another spot, and took a deep breath.

[Detected components in the air: Corpse-Bone Vine, Sulfur Stone Powder, Corpse-Bone Water.]

Still nothing.

Gu Qinghe came over with four law enforcement disciples and handed him a Smoke-Avoiding Scarf.

"You're still relying on your nose to find it?"

"The corpse cart came through here. The smell won't wash away. When Breath-Closing Powder burns, it gives off a bitter almond scent."

"They're burning hundreds of kinds of discarded herbs in the Herb Garden. Can you tell them apart?"

"Trying is better than waiting for the fire to burn out."

Li Sanshun took the Smoke-Avoiding Scarf, but covered only half his mouth and nose. The system needed him to inhale it himself. If he covered up too tightly, it couldn't detect the components.

The Herb Garden covered a vast area, and the fire was closing in toward the center. At this rate, the underground entrance wouldn't hold out much longer.

He followed the perimeter, changing spots five times in a row.

The system detected different components each time, but there was still no Breath-Closing Powder.

Had the corpse cart merely passed through the Herb Garden without leaving Zhao Chong here?

Li Sanshun turned to look at the fire.

The southern and western sides were burning fiercely, but only a few small fires remained on the northern side. Medicine Peak laborers were carrying discarded soil over there, preparing to burn it too.

There was noticeably less Corpse-Bone Vine on the northern side of the same Herb Garden.

"Stop the people on the north side first!"

Gu Qinghe didn't ask why. She turned and detained several laborers.

Li Sanshun crossed the Fire Trench and went to the northern side of the Herb Garden. A thick layer of White Sand Soil covered the ground, and fresh marks showed that it had recently been turned over.

A laborer holding an iron shovel explained, "The poison had built up deepest here. We turned the soil yesterday afternoon. The manager was afraid it wouldn't burn through, so he told us to add a few more cartloads of medicinal dregs."

"Who turned it over?"

"Sun Erhe and his men. He used to be a laborer at Medicine Peak, so he knows North Mountain well."

The missing cart driver had indeed been here.

Li Sanshun crouched and brushed away the top layer of White Sand Soil. Beneath it lay several charred black hemp ropes, with hardened dark-red medicinal residue still stuck to them.

Gu Qinghe scraped off a little with a wooden chip.

"Corpse-Bone Water, the same kind as in the Corpse Room's ventilation passage."

Li Sanshun kept brushing the dirt away around it. Soon, a round stone slab appeared in the ground. Broken medicinal roots were wedged along its edge, and several fresh scrape marks circled its rim.

The fire was already three zhang away.

A law enforcement disciple brought over two buckets of water. The moment he poured them into the Fire Trench, gray smoke rose from underground. Several laborers inhaled it and dropped to their knees, vomiting on the spot.

The Medicine Peak Deacon hurriedly took out Detoxification Pills.

"Rotten poison has built up underground. We can't pour on any more water. We can only smother it with sand!"

Everyone switched to White Sand Soil and sealed the Fire Trench.

Li Sanshun lay beside the stone slab and inhaled through a crack.

Bitterness seeped into his nose.

[You have inhaled one mouthful of mixed medicinal fumes.]

[Life energy increased by 0.01 points.]

[Detected components in the air: Breath-Closing Powder, Corpse-Bone Water, Hemostatic Medicine, residual traces of a living person's breath.]

Found it!

"Someone was under that stone slab."

Gu Qinghe took out the North Mountain Old Map. It marked an Abandoned Well just north of the Herb Garden.

"The well was sealed twelve years ago. It connects to Medicine Peak's old Drainage Channel below and leads to the western slope."

Four law enforcement disciples worked together to pry up the stone slab.

It rose barely half a foot before a red-hot Ignition Fuse sprang through the crack. The fuse led underground and had already burned through most of the way.

"Get back!"

Gu Qinghe pressed the Fire Fuse down with her sword and cut off the burning section in one stroke. Li Sanshun snatched up some damp mud nearby and covered the remaining flame.

A few dozen breaths later, the fire would have traveled down the rope and into the Abandoned Well.

They pushed the stone slab all the way open.

A Rope Ladder hung from the well wall, with damp mud clinging to its top few rungs. An old Drainage Channel crossed the bottom of the well. Black cartwheel tracks ran along it and curved toward the western slope.

Reinforcements from Law Enforcement Hall arrived at the Herb Garden. A disciple leading the team followed the well passage to investigate. Before long, he returned with news.

"Senior Sister Gu, there are cart tracks in the old Drainage Channel. The cart left through the western slope, and the tracks go all the way to the cliff!"

Gu Qinghe was about to climb down the well, but Li Sanshun picked up a gray-white clod of soil from a crack at its entrance.

There wasn't a single broken medicinal root in it.

The mud in the corpse cart's wheel hubs was clearly mixed with the black broken roots unique to the North Mountain Herb Garden. Yet the well entrance and Drainage Channel were suspiciously clean, with only two clear sets of cart tracks left behind.

Someone had been waiting for them to chase after the cart toward the western slope.

Li Sanshun dropped the clod and stopped the law enforcement disciples who were preparing to climb down.

"Don't chase them yet."

The team leader pointed to the bottom of the well. "The tracks lead straight to the cliff. If we delay any longer, they'll get away!"

Li Sanshun planted a foot on the well's edge and pointed down at the cartwheel tracks inside the Drainage Channel.

"Who told you those tracks were real?"