Gu Qinghe picked up the packet of Breath-Closing Powder, then looked over the sealed old prescription.
"The news can't spread too quickly, and it can't reach just one person."
Li Sanshun leaned against the table. "The right people need to hear it—and they have to believe it."
Gu Qinghe took out an inspection notice and wrote that the Breath-Closing Powder found in Ding Sancang's possession had come from the outer sect dispensary. The medicine inventory records would be delivered to the Law Enforcement Hall tomorrow morning and checked against the infant-nourishing prescription from twenty-one years ago.
She added one sentence at the end.
Related old records are sealed in the Wu-Character Warehouse of the outer sect dispensary.
She stamped the notice with the Major Case Seal. One copy went to the outer sect dispensary, and another was posted in the Law Enforcement Hall's duty office. Seven people handled it, and Yan Song could see it too.
Before nightfall, two dispensary stewards arrived.
Both said that Breath-Closing Powder wasn't a forbidden drug; outer sect disciples occasionally received it when they went on missions. As for where the packet in Ding Sancang's possession had come from, the books would have to be checked.
Gu Qinghe gave them just one answer.
"We'll open the warehouse tomorrow morning."
After the two stewards left, Zhao Rui shut the side hall's doors.
"If we spread the news this way, will the mole come?"
Li Sanshun picked up the empty packet on the table. "Breath-Closing Powder can make Zhao Chong look dead, and it can also help switch out Ma Quan's corpse. Once the books are open, we can trace who drew the medicine and who altered the numbers."
"If he doesn't come, he'll be waiting to die tomorrow."
"If he does, we'll catch him tonight."
The outer sect dispensary stood on the eastern side of Medicine Peak. The Wu-Character Warehouse held old records that hadn't been used for years. Dust lay thick inside, and the lock had rusted.
Before nightfall, Gu Qinghe sent the disciples guarding the warehouse to the front courtyard under the pretext of checking the old records. Two patrol teams still remained outside, passing by every quarter hour.
The ledger in the warehouse was fake too.
Gu Qinghe copied a dozen pages in the old ledger's format, then deliberately left half a name in the Breath-Closing Powder column. Anyone who turned to that page would be sure to act.
She set up an alert array near the bookshelves.
Li Sanshun looked it over several times. "It's too obvious."
"The mole knows how the Law Enforcement Hall investigates. Give him something he can dismantle first."
Gu Qinghe buried four array stones in the cracks between the bricks, then hid the Image-Recording Array inside an empty medicine jar. Even if the intruder destroyed the alert array, everything he did would still be recorded.
Four law enforcement disciples hid in the adjacent storeroom.
Li Sanshun squeezed behind a ledger cabinet, his nose full of the smell of moldy paper and old medicine. Gu Qinghe lay hidden in a recess between the rafters, with a clear view of the entire storeroom.
The first patrol team passed by.
The second patrol team didn't stop either.
Almost half an hour later, three bird calls came from beyond the back window.
It was the dispensary disciples' signal for changing shifts at night.
A thin piece of iron slipped through the window crack and nudged aside the wooden latch. The window opened half a foot, and a gray-clad figure climbed inside.
He wasn't wearing a mask, and a brass token from the outer sect dispensary hung at his waist.
After landing, he didn't touch the ledger cabinet. First, he took out a short black awl and probed the floor tiles several times.
The awl struck an array stone, and the alert array failed on the spot.
Li Sanshun didn't move.
The man knew where the array would be laid and how deep the stones were buried. He was either an old hand at the dispensary or someone had taught him in advance.
The gray-clad man put away the awl and walked to the Wu-Character shelves. He didn't look anywhere else. The ledger he pulled out was the fake one Gu Qinghe had prepared.
He'd come straight to it.
He turned to the Breath-Closing Powder page, took a small bottle from his sleeve, and dripped its contents onto the half-name. The ink quickly spread, and the paper yellowed along with it.
Destroying one page wasn't enough.
The gray-clad man kept turning pages, trying to erase every record of medicine issued over the past five years.
Li Sanshun stepped out from behind the ledger cabinet.
"Brother, erasing records in the middle of the night? That's some serious dedication."
The gray-clad man tossed away the bottle and kicked over the oil lamp.
The flame fell toward the old papers on the floor.
Li Sanshun raised a hand and drew water. A stream swept across the floor, extinguishing the flame just as it touched the edge of a page.
The warehouse doors opened at once.
Four law enforcement disciples blocked both exits.
The gray-clad man spun and charged for the back window. Gu Qinghe leaped down from above, her short sword barring his way.
"Cao An, accounts clerk at the outer sect dispensary. Twelve years in the sect."
Cao An drew his saber. "I only came to alter my own private records!"
"Did altering your private records require an Array-Breaking Awl?"
"I stole and sold a few batches of medicine. I was afraid I'd end up in the Cold Prison, so I destroyed the records."
He yanked the brass token from his waist and hurled it at the medicine jar concealing the Image-Recording Array.
Gu Qinghe knocked the token aside with her sword.
Li Sanshun grinned.
The bastard even knew where the Image-Recording Array was hidden.
When Cao An saw that the token had missed the jar, he turned and charged toward the shelves. He bit down on a black pill hidden behind his teeth and was about to swallow it when Li Sanshun flicked out a gust of force.
The pill flew from Cao An's mouth and rolled to the corner.
Two law enforcement disciples pounced on him and pinned him to the floor.
Cao An still struggled. Li Sanshun planted a foot on his lower back.
"All six people on North Mountain were silenced with this trick. You want to join them?"
They sealed the pill in a porcelain bottle, and Gu Qinghe took out the Image-Recording Array.
The array revealed the whole sequence: Cao An breaking the array, taking the ledger, and dripping the liquid onto the page. It even captured him trying to smash the medicine jar.
Cao An lay facedown on the floor, still refusing to confess.
"I was erasing records of stolen medicine. It had nothing to do with Zhao Chong."
Li Sanshun crouched beside him and took a deep breath.
Mixed in with the smell of old paper were traces of Breath-Closing Powder and pine resin.
[Breath-Closing Powder residue detected.]
[Ink-Etching Liquid residue detected.]
[Small amount of pine resin detected.]
"You've prepared Breath-Closing Powder recently."
Cao An turned his head. "I work at a dispensary. What's strange about my clothes smelling of medicine?"
Li Sanshun pulled off his outer robe and felt inside the lining of its inner pocket. He found several pre-cut sheets of medicine paper.
The paper bore the dispensary's full seal.
Outer Sect Dispensary, No. 2 Dispensing Room.
The packet found on Ding Sancang had only half the character for "outer" left on it, but its thickness, cut, and folds were all exactly the same.
Gu Qinghe placed the two kinds of medicine paper side by side. "Who runs the No. 2 Dispensing Room?"
One of the disciples accompanying them opened the register.
"Cao An handles the medicine distribution records. At the start of every month, he also helps the apothecary take inventory."
It was now clear where the Breath-Closing Powder had come from.
Cao An was taken to the Law Enforcement Peak.
In the side hall, the recording jade, medicine paper, Ink-Etching Liquid, and Array-Breaking Awl were laid out one by one on the table. Gu Qinghe didn't send him to the dungeon. She questioned him directly, with disciples from North Mountain standing guard.
Cao An first insisted that he'd only stolen medicine.
Gu Qinghe placed the black poison pill in front of him.
"You stole a few packets of medicine. Why carry a Soul-Severing Pill?"
Cao An lowered his head and refused to speak.
Li Sanshun tossed the packet of Breath-Closing Powder seized from Ding Sancang onto the table.
"You can keep denying it. Tomorrow morning, we'll open the books to the public and show the Image-Recording Array to the outer sect disciples. The people who worked for Mr. Bai weren't killed by us, but now the whole Medicine Peak will know who they are. Think he'll let you live?"
Cao An's shoulders trembled.
"I've never met Mr. Bai."
"Then name someone you have met."
"The Breath-Closing Powder was prepared according to written instructions. I only handled its distribution."
Gu Qinghe pushed the confession paper toward him. "Who wrote the instructions?"
Cao An didn't touch the brush.
Li Sanshun picked up the Soul-Severing Pill. "Zhao Chong had people use Breath-Closing Powder to fake their deaths, and Ma Quan's corpse went missing after that. Someone had to examine the body and write up the results. Who wrote the report?"
Cao An raised his head. Sweat covered his forehead.
"I'll talk, but you have to arrest someone right now."
"A name."
"Coroner Du from the Law Enforcement Hall. He wrote the false report claiming Ma Quan was dead. If you wait until dawn, there won't be anything left in his medicine furnace!"
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