第42章 老子是皇族

The grey-clad man raised his sword and lunged.

Wei Tiesheng dodged to the side, but the wound at his waist tore open, blood dripping from his hem onto the stone tiles.

He grabbed a scroll rack from the wall and smashed it toward the man.

The wooden frame shattered across the floor.

The grey-clad man cleaved through the obstructing boards, his Scroll-Sealing Sword aiming straight for Wei Tiesheng's throat.

Clang!

An array tablet flew into the narrow passage, deflecting the blade.

Li Sanshun charged through the stone gate, kicking hard at the grey-clad man's waist.

The man withdrew his sword to block, retreating three steps.

Zhao Rui arrived with the main peak disciples, blocking the entrance.

"Xu Zhenchuan told you to seal the registry, but you really think you're the King of Hell now?"

The grey-clad man turned to flee, driving his Scroll-Sealing Sword into an array hole in the wall.

The seventh level shuddered.

Large chunks of lime fell from the ceiling, and several stone walls of the sealing vault began to sink.

"He's trying to seal this level shut!"

Wei Tiesheng steadied himself against the wall and pointed toward the western passage.

"There's an old escape route over there—don't let him get in!"

Li Sanshun chased after him, but the grey-clad man had already retreated into the passage. He pulled out his sword and slashed the wall three times in rapid succession.

The stone wall fractured.

Massive boulders blocked the passage, burying even the final gap.

Zhao Rui slashed at it several times with his blade, but only chipped off a few shards of rock.

"That dog runs fast!"

"He has the Scroll-Sealing Sword; he can activate the old arrays here."

Li Sanshun returned to Wei Tiesheng's side and pressed down on his wound.

It was not deep, but he had lost a significant amount of blood.

Wei Tiesheng took out some hemostatic powder and poured it onto his waist.

"He snatched the Scroll-Sealing Sword Rubbing from my home and forced me to lead the way. If I hadn't opened the vault, he would have slaughtered everyone in Blacksmith Alley."

"Do you know who he is?"

"I've never seen him. But he used the Sword-Forging Steps I once taught."

Wei Tiesheng coughed twice.

"Over twenty years ago, I trained a batch of sword-casting apprentices for the Law Enforcement Peak. There were at least thirty of them."

Investigating thirty people based on a set of footwork was too slow.

The grey-clad man had already escaped with the sword and could reopen other sealing vaults at any moment.

Li Sanshun looked at the west wall.

The rubbing was clear.

Seven levels of the inner vault, fifteen slots in the west wall.

Xu Zhenchuan hadn't sent someone to break in just to kill Wei Tiesheng. Something was hidden here that he was desperate to destroy.

"Where is the fifteenth slot?"

Wei Tiesheng pointed to the area beside the collapse.

"This row of scroll cabinets only has fourteen slots. The fifteenth is a hollow wall; you can't see it from the outside."

Zhao Rui walked over and tapped the wall bricks.

The sound was uniform throughout.

The stone wall was inscribed with a sound-dampening array; it was impossible to tell by ear if it was hollow.

Li Sanshun walked a circle along the wall, then leaned down and inhaled.

Dust filled his nose and throat, making him cough twice.

[Detected residual aura of an Imperial Sealing Array.]

[A sealed space exists within the west wall.]

[Residual infant blood: fifteen portions.]

Fifteen portions.

Li Sanshun stared at the bricks near the floor.

A faint trace of blood remained in the cracks.

"Dig here."

Two main peak disciples pulled out array-breaking awls. The moment they touched the wall, dark red array patterns emerged from the brick seams.

The patterns coiled around the tips of the awls, dragging the artifacts into the wall.

The disciples hurriedly let go.

The awls sank halfway in before snapping into two pieces.

Wei Tiesheng watched for a moment.

"This is an Imperial Blood Lock. Forcing it will incinerate the records inside the hollow wall."

Zhao Rui cursed.

"That man took the Scroll-Sealing Sword—what are we supposed to use to open it?"

Li Sanshun did not answer.

He crouched at the base of the wall and picked up a drop of blood from the rubble that had not yet dried.

It was from when Wei Tiesheng had been wounded.

The blood landed on the array patterns, but there was no reaction.

The Imperial Blood Lock only recognized imperial blood.

Li Sanshun bit his finger and pressed it against the wall seam.

Hum!

The array patterns on the west wall flared to life.

Zhao Rui looked back at him.

"How can your blood open this?"

"I'd like to know that myself."

The wall bricks parted to the sides, revealing a dark door half a person's height.

Inside, there was no gold, silver, or artifacts.

Only an iron casket.

The casket was divided into fifteen layers, each holding a yellowed rubbing.

The papers bore the footprints of infants, along with their birth times, weights, and bloodline serial numbers.

From the first to the fourteenth, every name had been crossed out in vermilion ink.

The bottom layer had no marks.

Li Sanshun pulled out the fifteenth sheet.

Four characters were written on the top right of the rubbing.

Imperial Blood Fifteen.

Below it was a line of records.

Male infant, three-petaled red mark on left foot, bloodline sealed, sent out of the Imperial City.

Li Sanshun took off his left boot.

On the sole of his left foot was a three-petaled red birthmark.

Growing up, the Old Rascal had only ever told him it was a burn from a charcoal brazier.

But the size and position of the birthmark matched the rubbing on the paper exactly.

Zhao Rui held the rubbing, comparing it back and forth several times.

"Li Sanshun, you're number fifteen?"

"The paper has my own foot drawn on it—could it be anyone else?"

Li Sanshun retorted, but his hand did not let go of the rubbing.

Fifteen imperial infants.

Fifteen imitation tokens.

The "Obeying Heaven and Following Fate" on the stone lion.

These clues had come full circle, all landing on him.

He pressed his face to the rubbing, inhaling the residual blood aura.

[Detected ancient imperial blood.]

[Blood aura comparison complete.]

[Source match: 100%.]

[Host identity: Imperial Blood Number Fifteen.]

It really was him.

Xu Zhenchuan had gone to such lengths to destroy the old files and forge fifteen imitation tokens, all for the sake of the imperial blood identities left behind by these fifteen infants.

Zhao Rui flipped to the back of the paper.

"There's writing here, too."

On the back were eight characters.

Obeying Heaven and Following Fate, deliver to Li Jiu.

Li Sanshun knew Li Jiu.

When the Old Rascal got drunk, he would mention that in his youth, he had been the ninth-ranked master at the casting workshop. It was only after causing trouble that he changed his name and hid in the city.

Li Sanshun gripped the corner of the paper.

His foster father had never "found" him.

Twenty-one years ago, someone had personally handed him to Li Jiu.

Wei Tiesheng took the other rubbings and felt the edges of the paper.

"These rubbings aren't the original papers from the Imperial City. Someone copied them."

"Who copied them?"

"Using furnace ash to press the paper, then using fish glue to set the blood seal. This is the technique of an old master caster."

Li Sanshun smelled a scent of coal ash on the corner of the paper.

[Detected West Mountain Green-Pattern Coal Ash.]

[Time of adhesion: within seven days.]

[Residual caster aura, same source as Li Jiu.]

Within seven days.

Li Jiu was still alive, and he was still firing furnaces at West Mountain.

Since Xu Zhenchuan had obtained the registry of the fifteen, he would not have overlooked the man who had been keeping the rubbings for the imperial family.

Wei Tiesheng pulled half a sheet of black paper from the lining of the iron casket.

It listed the order of the registry.

The first page was Wei Tiesheng.

The second page contained only one name.

Li Jiu.

Li Sanshun grabbed the rubbing and turned to sprint toward the stone gate.

Zhao Rui followed close behind.

"Do you know where he lives?"

"I do."

"Do Xu Zhenchuan's men know, too?"

Li Sanshun vaulted onto his horse and pulled the reins tight.

"If the Old Rascal loses even a single hair, I'll take Xu Zhenchuan's head to pay for it!"

Wei Tiesheng leaned against the stone gate, chasing after them.

"Wait! You can't take the main road to West Mountain!"

Li Sanshun reined in his horse.

"Why?"

Wei Tiesheng held up the half-sheet of black paper.

"The registry also says: the one who kills Li Jiu has already entered the courtyard!"