"Royal Clan Old Infant Case, Number Fifteen?"
Gu Qinghe crouched before the cast-iron floor and swept the mineral ash from the grooves.
Fifteen slots ran in a row, each with a number carved beside it. The first fourteen bore signs of being pried open, and blood rust still clung to their bottoms.
The last one was sealed beneath the furnace, its surface covered by three layers of iron sand.
Chen Jiumu pulled open his collar, revealing the red mark of the Fire Contract.
"Xu Zhenchuan brought an old ledger. It listed fifteen infants. He told us to carve the numbers from the ledger onto the pieces. Not a single one could be wrong."
"What was wrong with the last one?"
"The blood groove."
Chen Jiumu pointed to his right arm.
"Each blank had to have a blood groove carved into its back. We'd only carved halfway through the fifteenth when the furnace fire went out. Xu Zhenchuan was afraid that restarting the Earth Fire would alert Hall Master Gu, so he left it beneath the furnace and had the three of us guard it."
Yuan Fu spat a mouthful of blood-streaked saliva.
"Guard my ass! He branded us with Fire Contracts and locked us in a stone chamber. He clearly meant to let us die in here."
Gu Qinghe took out half a Blood Token and fitted it into the seventh empty slot.
It fit perfectly.
The black residue at the broken edge of the token also matched the blood rust at the bottom of the slot.
"The half Blood Token in the underground stone chamber beneath the North Mountain Herb Garden came from the Ding-Character Furnace."
At last, two leads they'd been pursuing for ages converged in one place.
Twenty-one years ago, fifteen royal infants had mysteriously vanished.
Six years ago, Xu Zhenchuan had stolen Blood-Vein Black Iron and used the numbers from the Old Infant Case to forge fifteen tokens.
Fourteen had already left the Tai Xuan Sect.
The fifteenth still lay beneath their feet.
Li Sanshun crouched and drew in a sharp breath.
[Blood-Vein Black Iron detected.] [Number: Royal Clan Old Infant Case, Number Fifteen.] [Fifteen types of Blood Guide auras remain.] [From the same batch of blanks as the half Blood Token.]
Fifteen types of Blood Guide?
Li Sanshun placed a hand on the edge of the groove.
"Did Xu Zhenchuan use blood when he forged the tokens?"
The three miners exchanged glances.
Chen Jiumu fished a crumpled furnace-materials slip from his tattered clothes.
"There were fifteen sealed jade bottles. Xu Zhenchuan wouldn't let us touch them. Whenever he opened a furnace, he poured one in himself."
"What was written on the bottles?"
"Names and birth dates."
Gu Qinghe took the furnace-materials slip.
It recorded the times of fifteen furnace firings, each half an hour apart. The final line was unfinished, and a dried drop of blood marked the page beside it.
She copied the Old Infant Case numbers onto the paper and compared them one by one with the firing order.
They all matched.
"He used blood samples from the infants in the case to forge the tokens."
Royal tokens recognized blood.
Ordinary black iron could be forged into the right shape, but it couldn't pass through a Blood Array. By adding the Blood Guides of the missing infants, the fake tokens could pass for those of the corresponding bloodlines.
Li Sanshun looked at the fourteen empty slots.
"Fourteen tokens, fourteen identities."
Bai Chongshan had forged a Verification Disk that could fool an inspection once.
But the tokens Xu Zhenchuan had forged could open the royal clan's array gates, retrieve old records, and even let someone impersonate another person.
The fake Blood Mirror they'd uncovered was probably only one of their uses.
Gu Qinghe took out the Major Case Bag and sealed the furnace-materials slip inside.
"Let's retrieve the fifteenth piece first."
Chen Jiumu hurriedly stopped her.
"We can't pry it out. The seal is connected to our Fire Contracts. If the blank moves, all three of our blood will flow into the bottom of the furnace."
Luo Dashan was already unconscious, and the red mark on his arm was crawling toward his shoulder. If they delayed much longer, even if the mine ceiling didn't collapse, he wouldn't last.
Li Sanshun walked around the cast-iron floor.
Beneath the fifteen grooves lay a ring of iron sand that locked in the fire. The three Fire Contracts converged at the center, right above the last blank.
Break the array directly, and the miners would die.
Leave the array intact, and they couldn't retrieve the evidence.
Dust suddenly fell from the furnace roof.
Then a glow of fire shone through the floor.
Chen Jiumu rushed to Luo Dashan's side.
"Someone's lit the Earth Fire!"
The Ding-Character Furnace had been sealed for years. The Earth Fire channel should have been blocked long ago. Whoever could restart the furnace fire from beyond the mine tunnels had to possess a control token.
Bai Cheng hadn't gone far!
The temperature beneath the furnace rose rapidly. The Fire Contracts on the three miners tightened, and Yuan Fu dropped to his knees in pain, clawing at the red mark.
Gu Qinghe drew her sword and stabbed at the Array Pattern.
The moment the blade touched the iron sand, blood began seeping from the three men's Fire Contracts.
"Stop."
Li Sanshun planted a foot on the furnace plate and took several deep breaths.
The mine's spiritual energy, mixed with ash from the Earth Fire, flowed into him.
[Absorbed low-grade mine spiritual energy.] [Life energy restored.] [Immortal art strength restored.] [Earth-Element Qi has reached its current limit.]
That was enough!
Li Sanshun pressed both hands against the floor. Earth-Element Qi burrowed beneath the furnace, separating the three Fire Contracts from the iron sand that locked in the fire.
"Gu Qinghe, cut the three lines on the left!"
Gu Qinghe swung her sword into the floor.
The first line snapped, and the red mark on Yuan Fu's arm stopped spreading.
The second line snapped, and Chen Jiumu could move again.
The third was hidden beneath the blank, beyond the sword's reach.
The furnace fire had already reached the seal. In a few more breaths, the evidence would melt into molten iron.
Li Sanshun hooked his fingers into a crack in the cast-iron plate and heaved upward with all his strength.
Crack!
Half the floor plate tore free from the furnace base.
Flames shot through the gap, scorching his sleeve. Li Sanshun didn't let go. Earth-Element Qi braced the furnace bottom and forced the seal—and the fifteenth blank with it—up and out.
Gu Qinghe drove her sword into the bottom of the seal.
The final array line snapped.
The Fire Contracts on the three miners' arms split apart.
The fifteenth blank fell to the ground, its edges glowing red-hot. On the front was carved Royal Clan Old Infant Case, Number Fifteen. The blood groove on the back was only half-finished.
Two small characters were carved beside the groove.
Obeying Heaven.
Li Sanshun took out his Broken Jade Bag.
The old markings on the bag came from the same set of molds as the words "Obeying Heaven" on the blank.
His surname was Li, and his given name was Sanshun.
The stone lion bore the words "Obeying Heaven and Following Fate."
Now the words "Obeying Heaven" had appeared on the fifteenth forged token.
Gu Qinghe put the blank into the Spirit-Sealing Box.
"Number Fifteen is probably you."
Li Sanshun stared at the Spirit-Sealing Box and said nothing.
Hurried footsteps sounded overhead. Bai Cheng dashed past the narrow path beside the furnace opening. Blood ran down his left arm, and he still clutched an Earth-Fire Control Token.
Gu Qinghe raised her sword to block his way.
Bai Cheng turned to flee, but the stone beneath his feet suddenly heaved, throwing him flat on the ground.
Li Sanshun planted a foot on his back and snatched away the control token.
The private seal of the Law Enforcement Hall's deputy hall master was carved into its base.
Xu Zhenchuan.
Gu Qinghe took out the mine's six-year-old inventory document and pressed the two seals together.
They were the same size, and the nicks were in the same places.
Bai Cheng spat out a mouthful of blood, then laughed.
"So what if you found the fifteenth token? Gu Changyue is still the ringleader of the Old Infant Case."
"Your master stole his old seal and now wants to pin the bill for what happened six years ago on the Gu family?"
"Old seal?"
Bai Cheng braced himself against the ground and turned to look at Gu Qinghe.
"You think Deputy Hall Master Xu only prepared a fake seal?"
A Northern Mountain disciple called out from beyond the mine tunnel.
"Steward Gu, an urgent message from the Law Enforcement Peak!"
Bai Cheng lay on the ground, laughing until he coughed.
"Go back. Deputy Hall Master Xu has already taken a confession bearing Gu Changyue's handwritten signature to see Qi Shouxuan."
He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"And the seal on that confession is the real one."
Before you continue