You're the First!

The night-watch disciple spread the second weapon register on the table.

"Armory B, Rack Seven. One Mystic-15 Sealing Sword is missing. It was stored here twenty-one years ago and has never been checked out."

Zhao Rui flipped to the corresponding page.

The Scroll-Sealing Sword was three feet and two inches long, with a blunt blade. It was used exclusively to seal royal case files. On the day it entered the vault, a disciple from the Archives Room named Xu Zhenchuan recorded it.

Xu Zhenchuan again.

The fragments from Gu Qinghe's broken sword were merely planted evidence that he'd handed Fang Shao. What had really been taken from Armory B was the Mystic-15 Sealing Sword.

Li Sanshun turned over the wooden tag.

A line of tiny writing had been left on the back.

Smith: Wei Tiesheng.

"Is he still alive?"

The vault-guard disciple nodded.

"Master Wei left Law Enforcement Peak ten years ago. He lives at the foot of East Mountain now. Quite a few of Armory B's old weapons came from his forge."

Li Sanshun tucked the wooden tag into his robes.

"Don't seal the vault yet. If anyone asks tonight, say the only thing missing was that sword fragment of Gu Qinghe's."

Zhao Rui understood what he meant.

The sword thief didn't yet know that Armory B had identified the entire Sealing Sword. If they kept the news quiet, they'd have a chance to follow the sword's serial number.

The disciples shut the vault doors again.

Before leaving, Li Sanshun paused beside Rack Seven and drew a breath.

[Residual aura of blood-patterned iron detected.]

[Time since item left vault: within the last three hours.]

[Two residual auras detected.]

[One of them was in contact with Fang Shao for over half an hour.]

The person who took the sword had met Fang Shao.

Before Fang Shao entered Cold Prison, someone had sewn the fragments of the old sword into his belt and taken the Sealing Sword away.

That person was most likely still in Tai Xuan Sect.

West of Law Enforcement Peak, inside an abandoned medicine hut.

Bai Chongshan sat in the cellar, a shattered Blood Mirror set before him.

Several hairline cracks ran across the center of the Verification Disk. The blood sample in the gift the Bai family had sent to the imperial capital had turned to black water.

Xu Zhenchuan stood beside the table, holding the results of the examination returned from the capital.

"Blood Guide Fifteen failed. The royal inner vault didn't recognize the blood. The Gift Registry Department has also held on to the Delivery Order we sent."

Bai Chongshan crushed the examination results in his fist.

"Where's Bai Cheng?"

"He went to the West Mountain Old Mine and hasn't returned. We've lost contact with Cold Prison, too."

"Something happened at the Ding-Character Furnace."

Xu Zhenchuan placed a black-covered registry on the table.

It contained only fifteen pages.

Each page listed a name, followed by the person's residence, cultivation level, and the matters they'd handled back then.

Chen Jiumu, Yuan Fu, and Luo Dashan were listed in the middle.

Zhao Chong was seventh.

Gu Changyue and Gu Qinghe were also on the list.

Wei Tiesheng was on the first page.

Bai Chongshan finished flipping through the registry.

"Activate the Sealing Registry. All fifteen have to be silenced by nightfall."

"Gu Changyue is at the main peak, and Gu Qinghe has entered the Quiet Room. We can't touch either of them tonight."

"Then kill whoever we can."

Bai Chongshan tore out the first page and tossed it into the brazier.

"Wei Tiesheng repaired the Mystic-15 Sealing Sword, and he knows where the old royal files are hidden. Take the old files first, then silence him."

Xu Zhenchuan picked up a half-piece of black iron from the table.

"The Sealing Sword has already been sent."

"Who's handling it?"

"A disciple trained by Wei Tiesheng."

The paper burned down to its last few inches. The name Wei Tiesheng turned to ash.

Outside Armory B, Li Sanshun and Zhao Rui hurried to the Old Archives Room.

The records for Mystic-grade weapons were ancient, and the ordinary weapon registers preserved only their names. To find out what they'd been used for, they had to consult the Sealing Supplementary Record.

The steward brought out five thick books and flipped through them for a long while before finding Mystic-15.

The corresponding entry was only two lines long.

Used to seal the files of the Old Infant Case involving the royal family.

After the case was closed, the sword was returned to Armory B and sealed away for twenty-five years.

Zhao Rui tapped the listed term.

"Four years until it's due to be unsealed. Why would Xu Zhenchuan steal it now?"

"The Sealing Sword itself is a key."

The steward looked up at him.

"Who told you that?"

"I guessed."

Li Sanshun pulled the old register closer.

Royal case files were protected by a Blood Array, and ordinary Array Tablets couldn't get past it. Weapons used to seal the files retained the Array Patterns, allowing someone to reopen the old archive without alerting the main peak.

Xu Zhenchuan's target was obvious.

The original files from the Old Infant Case, twenty-one years ago.

Zhao Rui turned to the next page and found that half of it had been torn away.

The tear was fresh, and flecks of ink still clung to the ragged edge.

The steward searched every drawer and cabinet, sweating with worry.

"The supplementary records have always been locked up here. Only Du An and I have keys."

Du An again.

The Authentic Transfer Order had passed through his hands, and the Dharma Seal had been copied.

He also kept the register of entries and exits at Armory B.

Du An must have helped Fang Shao learn Cold Prison's guard rotations.

Zhao Rui turned to go arrest him, but two Law Enforcement disciples rushed in from outside.

"Du An is gone. His quarters have been cleared out, and there's a tunnel under his bed leading to the ravine."

"Go after him!"

"We found blood at the tunnel's exit and one of Du An's coats. We can't tell which way he went yet."

Li Sanshun picked up the wooden tag for Mystic-15.

Du An had only opened the door. Now that the Sealing Sword was out of the vault, Wei Tiesheng was the one in real danger.

"Split up. You go after Du An. I'm heading to East Mountain."

Zhao Rui led a group toward the ravine.

Li Sanshun brought over two fast horses, called in the Zhen Yue Peak disciples sent by Xiong Baichuan, and took a shortcut down the mountain.

Wei Tiesheng lived in Blacksmith Alley, at the foot of East Mountain.

When they arrived, the courtyard gate stood open.

The forge fire still burned. A half-bowl of cold porridge sat beside the anvil. A few broken nails lay scattered on the ground, and a fresh sword mark scored the wall.

Li Sanshun stamped out the coals beside the forge and found a few drops of blood by the back door.

The trail of blood led all the way to the alley entrance.

A Zhen Yue Peak disciple crouched and examined it.

"The blood's still wet. He left less than half an hour ago."

Li Sanshun pushed open the inner room door.

The room had been ransacked, but no one had touched the wooden chest where the money was kept. A few carving knives were missing from the table, and a square patch on the wall had been left bare.

An old weapons rubbing lay pinned beneath a corner of the room.

It showed the Mystic-15 Sealing Sword, with a string of tiny characters engraved along its spine.

Old Infant Case. Inner Vault, Seventh Level, West Wall, Fifteen Slots.

Zhao Rui's Message Talisman lit up.

"Du An's been found. He's dead at the tunnel exit. He was struck in the back with the Sealing Sword, and there are traces of a royal sealing formation in the wound."

Li Sanshun put the rubbing away.

The killer had used Mystic-15 to kill Du An, then gone after Wei Tiesheng.

Take the old files, kill the witnesses, and use the corpse to throw the investigation off the trail.

The old bastard was planning to tie up every loose end tonight.

Hoofbeats sounded outside the courtyard.

A disciple from the main peak swung down from his horse and handed over an urgent order from Qi Shouxuan.

"The Imperial Sealing Vault was opened just now. The guarding formation didn't sound an alarm. Whoever went in had the old-case Sealing Sword."

Li Sanshun grabbed the rubbing and mounted his horse.

"To the Imperial Sealing Vault!"

Inside the Imperial Sealing Vault, Wei Tiesheng clutched the wound at his waist and retreated into a narrow passage on the seventh level.

A gray-clad man entered through the stone door, carrying the Mystic-15 Sealing Sword.

Du An's blood still stained its tip.

Wei Tiesheng recognized him.

"Did Xu Zhenchuan send you?"

The gray-clad man closed the stone door and opened the Black-Covered Registry to the first page.

"Master, the Sealing Registry has been activated. You're the first name on it."