"Seal the wooden case."
Li Sanshun blocked the imperial family's long table, keeping the Alchemy Alliance alchemists from approaching.
Bai Chongshan pressed down on the wooden case.
"The Blood Appraisal Disk has been unsealed. Why can't we touch it?"
"Because there's medicine inside."
Below the Questioning Dao Platform, hundreds of disciples all turned to look.
Ji Jingyao walked over to the long table.
"Li Sanshun, the Imperial Blood Appraisal Disk has been guarded personally by Elder Bai. It's never been opened since entering the sect. You say there's medicine inside, and you expect us to halt the blood test?"
"Whether we halt it or not, let's check first."
Li Sanshun bent over and drew in a breath over the Ancestral Blood Slot.
The medicinal scent was faint, buried deep in the slot. Most of it had been sealed in by pine resin; an ordinary apothecary standing beside it might not even smell it.
[Residual scent of Blood-Changing Pill detected.]
[The medicinal scent contains old blood.]
[Time since residue was left: no more than twelve hours.]
You old bastard.
You only smeared it in last night, and you still dare claim it's never been opened.
Li Sanshun straightened.
"Blood-Changing Pill mixed with old blood. No more than twelve hours ago."
Bai Chongshan withdrew his gloved right hand into his sleeve.
"The Blood Appraisal Disk hasn't been used in years. Before we set out, it was cleaned with an instrument-nourishing medicine. It's perfectly normal for some medicinal scent to remain."
The Alchemy Alliance alchemist frowned.
"Spirit-Fixing Liquid is used to maintain a Blood Appraisal Disk, not Blood-Changing Pill. That medicine is specifically used to dissolve the spiritual essence in blood, allowing two different samples to mix for a short time."
Talk broke out below the platform.
The threefold blood appraisal existed precisely to prevent the delegation from tampering with the process. Yet before anyone had even drawn blood, old blood had been found in the Imperial Verification Disk. Everyone knew something was wrong.
Ji Jingyao looked at Bai Chongshan.
"Explain yourself."
Bai Chongshan removed his glove, revealing his burned right hand.
"When the Blood Appraisal Disk was handed to me, it was already sealed inside the wooden case. Four clerks kept the records along the way, and eight guards took turns watching over it. If someone really tampered with it, I want to investigate too."
With just one sentence, he tried to shift the blame onto the guards and clerks.
Gu Qinghe took out the blood-testing regulations.
"From the moment the instruments are unsealed until the test is complete, the whole process must be recorded. According to the rules of attestation, if an Imperial Verification Disk is found to be abnormal, it must be sealed away and replaced with another set."
"The delegation brought only one Blood Appraisal Disk."
Bai Chongshan closed the lid.
"If Tai Xuan Sect doesn't trust the imperial instruments, then the blood appraisal ends here today."
"You think you can leave?"
Li Sanshun planted a hand on the lid.
"We've only just found old blood, and now you want to take the disk away. Once you get back to the Reception Courtyard, you can wash off the medicine and scrape out the blood, then claim I slandered you?"
Two imperial guards stepped forward.
Disciples from Law Enforcement Peak also gathered around the Questioning Dao Platform.
Ji Jingyao raised a hand to stop the guards.
"Leave the case on the platform. The Alchemy Alliance will test it."
Bai Chongshan tried to object, but Gu Qinghe had already taken out a major-case seal and stuck it over all four corners of the wooden case.
The two alchemists put on thin leather gloves and scraped a layer of dark-red medicinal residue from the edge of the Ancestral Blood Slot. They placed it in a jade dish, added a drop of Spirit-Fixing Liquid, then put in a blade of Blood-Testing Grass.
The blade quickly turned dark purple.
The older alchemist raised the jade dish.
"It's definitely Blood-Changing Pill. There's human blood in it too, over ten years old."
"What would someone do with old blood that's more than ten years old, mixed into the disk?"
A Medicine Peak Deacon stood below the platform.
"As long as the old blood came from the Ji clan, whoever dripped their blood into the disk would have their bloodline identified as imperial, wouldn't they?"
"It's not that simple."
The alchemist set the Blood-Testing Grass back on the table.
"Blood-Changing Pill can only disrupt the Ancestral Blood Slot's response. To make the disk identify someone as belonging to a particular bloodline, the old blood must also match the Genealogy Seal in the Blood Appraisal Disk."
Li Sanshun understood.
Bai Chongshan had put old imperial blood into the Ancestral Blood Slot in advance. Once his blood was added, the two samples would mix.
The disk wouldn't reveal his origins at all.
It would reveal the identity of whoever the old blood belonged to.
"Elder Bai, you came well prepared."
Li Sanshun pointed to the Ancestral Blood Slot.
"You even picked out my ancestors for me?"
Bai Chongshan looked at the Alchemy Alliance alchemist.
"Medicinal residue alone can only prove that the disk was improperly maintained. The delegation brought no second Blood Appraisal Disk. If we seal this one today, the threefold blood appraisal can't continue."
"We can continue."
The older alchemist took out a bottle of Spirit-Washing Water.
"The old blood is still on the surface of the Ancestral Blood Slot. It hasn't seeped into the Genealogy Seal. Scrape off the residue, then clean the disk three times with Spirit-Washing Water. It'll still be usable."
Bai Chongshan immediately spoke up.
"Spirit-Washing Water will damage the instrument."
"Are you worried about damaging the instrument, or worried the old blood inside will be washed away?"
Li Sanshun pushed the wooden case toward the alchemist.
Ji Jingyao didn't give Bai Chongshan another chance to argue.
"Wash it."
The witnesses from all three parties signed again.
The medicinal residue was divided between two bottles. One was handed to the Alchemy Alliance, and the other was sealed in Tai Xuan Sect's Major Case Cabinet. The alchemist scraped the slot clean with a silver knife, then poured in the Spirit-Washing Water.
The first rinse came out dark red.
The second was only pale red.
By the third, the water ran clear.
Each rinse was sealed separately, with a six-sided seal stamped onto each bottle's mouth.
Li Sanshun stood beside the table. While the alchemist cleaned the disk, he drew in two more breaths.
The smell of Blood-Changing Pill was gone.
The scent of old blood was gone too.
But there was still a faint smell of cinnabar at the bottom of the wooden case.
The imperial instruments were engraved with a Genealogy Seal, so using cinnabar wasn't unusual. He said nothing for now, but noted the spot where the smell was strongest.
Near the left side of the base.
When the cleaning was done, all three Verification Disks were set out again.
The bases of the Tai Xuan Sect and Alchemy Alliance disks were removed and inspected. When it was the Imperial Blood Appraisal Disk's turn, Bai Chongshan put a hand in the way.
"The face of the disk has been inspected. The base is engraved with the Ji clan's secret genealogical script, which cannot be shown to outsiders."
The Alchemy Alliance alchemist looked at Ji Jingyao.
Ji Jingyao turned over the blood appraisal regulations.
They stated that the instruments had to be taken apart and inspected, but said nothing about removing the base.
"The genealogical script concerns the imperial family's private affairs. There's no need to remove the base."
Gu Qinghe was about to object, but Li Sanshun held down the regulations first.
"Fine."
Bai Chongshan set the disk back on the long table.
He agreed far too readily. Ji Jingyao took another look at him.
Li Sanshun rolled up his sleeves.
The Alchemy Alliance alchemist drew blood with a silver needle and divided it among six vials. The vial numbers on the bottoms were drawn by lot among the three parties. Even Li Sanshun didn't know which vial would go to which disk.
The six witnesses checked every seal one by one.
Three vials were for testing, and three were kept for a retest.
When the blood draw was finished, the three people in charge of opening the disks each took a vial and walked to the long table at the same time.
The Tai Xuan Sect disk received the blood first.
The drop entered the Ancestral Blood Slot, and two red lines lit up along the rim.
The Alchemy Alliance disk followed right after. A ring of tiny characters rose inside the jade disk as it began checking the bloodline's age.
Bai Chongshan personally opened the imperial disk.
He picked up the last vial and dripped the blood into the slot.
The old blood and Blood-Changing Pill had been cleaned away. This time, no one could slip an ancestor in ahead of time.
But Li Sanshun didn't relax.
The smell of cinnabar was still inside the base.
After the blood drop fell, before the lines on the disk had changed, a point of red light first seeped out from the base's left side.
It was quick.
So quick that the people below the platform didn't notice at all.
Li Sanshun stared at that seam and memorized its position.
A few breaths later, the lines on the Tai Xuan Sect disk continued to spread. The Alchemy Alliance alchemist also began checking the characters that had appeared on the disk.
But the imperial disk first sent up three columns of blood-red light.
Bai Chongshan took out the Genealogy Jade Book and turned to a page with a bookmark already tucked inside.
The imperial clerk responsible for announcing the result took the book. But the moment he saw the characters displayed on the disk, he knocked over the inkstone in a panic.
Ji Jingyao took the blood appraisal result.
Everyone below the platform waited.
He checked it twice, then turned to Li Sanshun.
"The Imperial Blood Appraisal Disk has produced a result."
Li Sanshun was still staring at the base's left side.
Ji Jingyao placed the result before the six Image-Recording Arrays.
"Number fifteen—directly descended from the Third Prince!"
Before you continue