After the envoy group's disciples left with their conditions, less than an hour passed before the Reception Courtyard sent over a reply.
There were only two lines on the purple stationery.
The Imperial Blood Appraisal has its own longstanding rules.
For outsiders to interfere would be an insult to the Ji clan.
Gu Qinghe read it and set the reply on the table.
"Ji Jingyao won't agree."
"He will."
Li Sanshun picked up the Imperial Envoy Group's roster and flipped to Bai Chongshan's page.
"They're in a hurry to test the blood. What are we in a hurry for?"
Gu Qinghe walked to the window. Quite a few disciples had already gathered outside the Law Enforcement Hall, and several Medicine Peak Deacons were also asking about the Old Infant Case.
There was no hiding the fact that the envoy group had sent a formal invitation.
The news had already spread that Li Sanshun might be the No. 15 infant who had gone missing twenty-one years ago. Some said he was a member of the Imperial Clan's bloodline who had been lost outside the palace; others said he had fabricated a rubbing to curry favor with the Imperial Clan.
If the Reception Courtyard pushed the matter any further, they could pin the crime of impersonating an imperial relative on him.
Gu Qinghe closed the window.
"Ji Jingyao can stall, waiting for the sect to force you to the Reception Courtyard first."
"Then we'll make it impossible for him to stall."
Li Sanshun picked up paper and brush and drafted a new set of blood appraisal procedures.
Three sets of blood appraisal equipment would be provided separately by Tai Xuan Sect, the Imperial Envoy Group, and the Alchemy Alliance.
During the blood draw, all three blood vials would be placed on the Questioning Dao Platform at once. Each blood sample would be divided between two vials, one for testing and one for reexamination, and the vial mouths would be sealed with the three parties' seals.
The equipment had to be unsealed and inspected before being brought onto the platform.
The entire process would be recorded by the Image-Recording Array.
If the results differed, all Verification Disks and remaining blood samples would be sealed on the spot, and no one would be allowed to take them away.
Gu Qinghe read it through.
"One more thing is missing."
She added several lines at the bottom of the page.
Each party would provide two witnesses. At every step—drawing blood, sealing the vials, opening the disks, and stamping the seals—all six witnesses would sign. Bai Chongshan would not be allowed to handle the blood samples alone.
Li Sanshun pointed to the final sentence.
"Delete this part for now."
"You're worried he'll use it as an excuse to refuse?"
"Let him come up on the platform. If he's hiding down below, how are we supposed to catch him with his hand in the cookie jar?"
The procedures were copied in triplicate.
One copy was sent to the Reception Courtyard, one to Tai Xuan Sect's Deliberation Hall, and the last to the Alchemy Pavilion the Alchemy Alliance had established at the foot of the mountain.
The Deliberation Hall sent someone first that afternoon.
The Second Elder of Law Enforcement Peak personally brought the sect's reply. Tai Xuan Sect could provide a Blood Appraisal Disk and open the Questioning Dao Platform, but it was unwilling to let the Alchemy Alliance get involved.
"The Imperial Envoy Group has already expressed its displeasure."
The Second Elder placed the official document on the table.
"The Sect Master hasn't emerged from seclusion, and several elders don't want this blown out of proportion. Go to the Reception Courtyard and complete the blood appraisal first. If there really is a problem with the equipment, the sect will investigate it for you afterward."
Li Sanshun picked up the document.
"If I go into the Reception Courtyard, the blood will be theirs, the disk will be theirs, and the results will be theirs too?"
"Ji Jingyao has vouched on behalf of the Imperial Clan. He won't tamper with the blood appraisal."
"And the private kin-seeking seal in Du Heng's medicine furnace—was that covered by the Imperial Clan's good name too?"
The Second Elder made no further attempt to persuade him.
The residual seal, Grey Feather Talisman Paper, and Bai Chongshan's name all matched. The envoy group now wanted to avoid suspicion; a mere promise was no use.
Li Sanshun returned the document to the table.
"If the sect is afraid of offending the Imperial Clan, I'll invite the Alchemy Alliance myself. If they won't lend us the Questioning Dao Platform, I'll conduct the appraisal at the entrance to Law Enforcement Peak. There are plenty of people who want to watch anyway."
The Second Elder glanced at Gu Qinghe.
"Has the news already reached the other peaks?"
"The envoy group spread it first."
Gu Qinghe took out the purple invitation.
"They claim Li Sanshun refused the Imperial Blood Appraisal and may be trying to pass himself off as an imperial relative. If we test him behind closed doors now, people will question the results no matter how genuine they are."
The Second Elder put away the official document.
"I'll return to the Deliberation Hall."
Before nightfall, a reply from the Alchemy Alliance arrived.
The Alchemy Pavilion was willing to provide a Blood Appraisal Disk and two alchemists, on the condition that all three parties' equipment undergo a medicinal-property inspection and that the Alchemy Alliance keep a copy of the recording after the blood appraisal.
Li Sanshun agreed on the spot.
Early the next morning, the Questioning Dao Platform was opened.
Several hundred disciples from Law Enforcement Peak, Medicine Peak, and the outer sect came. Chains were strung around the Questioning Dao Platform, six Image-Recording Arrays were set up at different points, and three long tables stood on the platform.
Tai Xuan Sect's Blood Appraisal Disk arrived first.
The equipment was sealed inside a wooden case and escorted by the Second Elder and an Artifact Storage Pavilion Deacon. The two unsealed it in front of everyone. The disk was clean, and the Ancestral Blood Slot showed no signs of use.
The Alchemy Alliance's people came up next.
The two alchemists had brought their Blood Appraisal Disk in a jade box, which was covered with seven seals. After inspecting it, one of the alchemists took six empty blood vials from his medicine chest.
"Each blood sample will be divided between two vials."
One of the alchemists lined up the vials.
"The numbers on the bottoms will be assigned by drawing lots among the three parties, so no one can identify a particular vial in advance."
Murmurs rose from below the platform.
The blood vials would be numbered at random, and the Blood Appraisal Disks had been unsealed in full view of everyone. It would be much harder for the Imperial Envoy Group to control the results now.
The Hour of the Dragon was nearly over, but no one from the Reception Courtyard had appeared.
A Medicine Peak Deacon grew impatient as he waited.
"If the envoy group doesn't accept the threefold blood appraisal, can we still go ahead today?"
Li Sanshun sat at the edge of the platform.
"We'll do it. If the Imperial Clan doesn't come, we'll consider that their choice to forfeit."
"How can you prove your identity without the Imperial Blood Appraisal Disk?"
"I never begged them to recognize me as a relative. They're the ones who came chasing after my blood."
Before long, many people below the platform nodded along.
The Imperial Envoy Group had sent the invitation of its own accord, yet now it refused a public examination. It really didn't make sense.
Another quarter of an hour passed before a line of imperial guards finally appeared on the mountain path.
Ji Jingyao walked at the front, followed by eight guards and four clerks. Bai Chongshan was among them as well, his right hand wearing a black leather glove and a long wooden case cradled in his arms.
This was the first time Li Sanshun had seen Elder Bai.
He was over sixty and not very tall. As he climbed the steps, his left hand stayed on the wooden case, while he used his right hand as little as possible.
Bai Chongshan walked onto the Questioning Dao Platform and set the wooden case on the Imperial Clan's table.
Ji Jingyao did not sit down.
"Li Sanshun, the Imperial Blood Appraisal has been passed down for hundreds of years and has never allowed outsiders to conduct a second examination. Inviting the Alchemy Alliance onto the platform today has already broken the rules."
Li Sanshun pointed below the platform.
"Twenty-one years ago, fifteen infants were carried off from different places. Who followed the rules then?"
"The Old Infant Case remains unsolved. You must not conflate it with a search for relatives."
"A private kin-seeking seal was burned in a medicine furnace, and Bai Chongshan is in charge of the complete private seal. You still want to keep the two matters separate?"
Several guards gripped their weapons.
The Law Enforcement Peak disciples also moved a few steps forward.
Ji Jingyao raised a hand, and the guards returned to their places.
"The envoy group agrees to the threefold blood appraisal."
The murmuring below the platform grew louder.
Ji Jingyao took out an Imperial Clan command token and pressed it against the blood appraisal procedures.
"If the results prove that you carry the Ji clan's bloodline, you must return to the Imperial Capital with the envoy group."
"Fine."
Gu Qinghe looked up at Li Sanshun.
This condition was harsher than before. If all three Blood Appraisal Disks gave the same result, the envoy group would be able to take him away in front of everyone.
Li Sanshun took another sheet of paper.
"I have a condition too."
Ji Jingyao looked down at it.
"If the results prove I have the Imperial Clan's bloodline, all three parties will jointly investigate the Old Infant Case. The fifteenth sealed file, the infant-nursing medicine ledger from twenty-one years ago, and the Imperial Clan's Kin-Seeking Documents will all be made public for cross-checking. No one may take away any witnesses."
"You're making demands of the Imperial Clan?"
"You're the ones who want to test my blood."
Ji Jingyao stared at him for a moment, then pressed his command token into the inkpad and stamped the procedures.
"Approved."
The six witnesses signed in turn.
All the Image-Recording Arrays were activated.
An alchemist from the Alchemy Alliance walked over to the Imperial Clan's table to inspect the final set of equipment.
Bai Chongshan undid the copper clasps on the wooden case, revealing the Blood Appraisal Disk inside.
The moment the lid opened, Li Sanshun's nose twitched.
A faint medicinal scent wafted from the Ancestral Blood Slot.
He stepped forward and stopped the Alchemy Alliance's alchemist.
"Wait. No one is allowed to touch this disk!"
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