The Law Enforcement Grand Array spread across the mountain paths.
Once its three array nodes closed, every disciple below the main peak would have to answer to the Law Enforcement Hall.
Qi Shouxuan was trapped beneath the Sealing Archive.
Gu Changyue had been suspended.
Gu Qinghe was still locked in the Quiet Room.
Xu Zhenchuan had chosen a viciously opportune moment.
Xiong Baichuan charged out of the Archive Room and took out the Zhen Yue Peak command token. "I'll go to the array node. You go to the Bell Tower!"
"Don't rush."
Li Sanshun picked up the Law Enforcement Array Tablet from beneath the table and turned it over.
The tablet bore only Xu Zhenchuan's deputy hall master seal. There was no sect master seal, nor Qi Shouxuan's Supreme Order.
Sealing the sect was no small matter.
Even if enemies were truly attacking the mountain, the Law Enforcement Hall could only issue an alert first. Sealing the mountain paths to every peak required orders jointly signed by at least two elders.
The night-duty registrar who'd dared to activate the array had already received a false order.
Footsteps sounded outside.
More than twenty Law Enforcement disciples blocked the doors and windows. The steward leading them raised a blood-red document.
"Enemies have infiltrated the sect. Deputy Hall Master Xu is temporarily taking charge of the Law Enforcement Grand Array. Peak Master Xiong, please surrender your Zhen Yue Peak command token!"
Xiong Baichuan punched through the wall.
Bricks and stones crashed into the crowd, and the disciples blocking the door scattered.
"Xu Zhenchuan thinks he can take my command token?"
The steward pressed the document against an Array Disk.
Dozens of Spirit-Locking Chains burst from the ground and shot toward the two men.
Li Sanshun planted his feet. Earth-Element Qi surged into the floor tiles, and two slabs of stone thrust upward, trapping the Array Disk between them.
The Spirit-Locking Chains had barely extended halfway before they retracted underground.
Xiong Baichuan stepped over the broken wall, grabbed the steward by the collar, and hurled him into the Archive Room.
The remaining Law Enforcement disciples didn't dare advance.
They'd only been ordered to seal the roads. They weren't stupid enough to throw their lives away against a peak master.
Li Sanshun snatched the blood-red document.
It claimed that the Imperial Envoy Group had colluded with enemies, infiltrated the Sealing Archive, and tried to seize an old case file. Under secret orders from the Council of Elders, Xu Zhenchuan had supposedly taken temporary command of the protective array.
Three seals were stamped at the bottom.
The Law Enforcement deputy hall master seal.
The Medicine Peak Elder Seal.
The Main Peak Array Guard Seal.
Xiong Baichuan glanced over the document. "Luo Qinghe wasn't even at Medicine Peak tonight. Where'd they get her seal?"
"Forged."
Li Sanshun held the paper beneath his nose.
Pine resin, sealing powder, and the metallic tang of Blood-Vein Black Iron.
Another forged order from the Ding-Character Furnace.
"First, the Bell Tower. Whoever's ringing the bell has another one."
The two men gathered the Zhen Yue Peak disciples and raced toward the Bell Tower on the main peak.
The place was already in chaos.
Law Enforcement disciples had sealed the entrances to every peak. Outer sect disciples crowded the mountain paths, none of them knowing where the enemy was. Some tried to return to their quarters; others wanted to go to the main peak and demand answers. The Law Enforcement Array stopped them all.
Two rows of Caltrop Barriers had been set up beneath the Bell Tower.
Sixteen Old Dark Patrol Guards held the steps, half of a Black Mountain Seal embroidered on each of their sleeves.
Their leader raised his saber to block the way.
"During the sect lockdown, anyone who trespasses into the Bell Tower will be treated as a traitor!"
Xiong Baichuan took the Copper Hammer from his back.
"Go on, then. Try treating me as one."
The Copper Hammer smashed into the steps.
Half the stone staircase collapsed on the spot, and the Caltrop Barriers toppled into the pit.
The Zhen Yue Peak disciples charged through the breach and clashed with the Dark Patrol Guards.
Li Sanshun didn't force his way through the front entrance.
He circled around to the back of the Bell Tower, climbed the drainage channel, and reached the second floor. Two Law Enforcement disciples stood guard inside the window. One clutched an Array Case and was stuffing talisman papers into a brazier.
When he saw Li Sanshun climb through the window, the man kicked the brazier over.
The Array Case hit the floor.
Several command tokens spilled out.
Li Sanshun unleashed the Water-Element Technique. Water doused the flames just as they touched the talisman papers.
The other disciple drew his sword and rushed over.
Li Sanshun dodged the blade, grabbed his sleeve, and shoved him toward the window frame. Half the man's body hung outside the window, and he didn't dare move.
The disciple with the Array Case turned and ran upstairs.
Li Sanshun snatched up a command token and chased after him.
On the top floor of the Bell Tower stood a Bronze Array Platform.
In front of it, a white-haired steward was about to strike the Sect-Sealing Bell for the fourth time.
By Tai Xuan Sect's rules, three strikes sealed the roads; the fourth connected the arrays.
Once the fourth strike rang out, the three array nodes would break free from the control of the various peaks and fall entirely under the Law Enforcement Hall's command.
Li Sanshun hurled the command token in his hand.
It struck the Bell Pestle.
The white-haired steward spun around and drew his saber, but Xiong Baichuan caught up and hammered him into the wall.
Li Sanshun walked over to the array platform and bent down to sniff.
[Blood-Vein Black Iron residue detected.]
[Source: Forged sealing order.]
[Number: Four.]
[Time of use: Within the last quarter-hour.]
A Black Iron token was embedded in the base of the Bronze Array Platform.
Most of it had sunk into the array slot, with only the character "Four" still visible.
Li Sanshun took out the No. 7 Imitation Order and set it beside the other.
The patterns, thickness, and blood groove all matched.
"The Ding-Character Furnace produced fourteen imitation orders in total. No. 7 opened the Armory, and No. 4 activated the Bell Tower."
Xiong Baichuan pulled out the No. 4 Order.
The Law Enforcement deputy hall master seal on the array platform went dark.
The white-haired steward tried to reach for the Bell Pestle, but Xiong Baichuan planted his foot on the man's arm.
"Who told you to ring the bell early?"
The white-haired steward clenched his teeth.
Li Sanshun searched his robes and found a Timing Hourglass.
A line of small writing was carved on the back.
Qi Shouxuan enters the underground chamber; the Sect-Sealing Bell rings.
Xu Zhenchuan had been keeping watch over the Sealing Archive the whole time.
The moment Qi Shouxuan went underground, they'd seized the bell and taken the array.
"Keep the Grand Elder underground, then use the Law Enforcement Array to cut off the peaks."
Li Sanshun put away the hourglass. "Xu Zhenchuan wants to seize every storeroom while no one's at the helm."
Xiong Baichuan walked to the edge of the Bell Tower and raised the Zhen Yue Peak command token.
A beam of earthen-yellow array light shot into the sky.
Dozens of identical command tokens lit up across the mountainside.
The Zhen Yue Peak disciples had already reached the three array nodes.
"Mountain-Moving Array, break the roads!"
Stone walls surged upward across all three mountain paths.
Just as the outer sect array node was about to close, the stone walls shoved the array foundation loose from below. The Dark Patrol Guards lost their array power, and Zhen Yue Peak disciples charged into the platforms and pulled out every Law Enforcement Array Tablet.
The Medicine Peak array node released a vast cloud of medicinal smoke.
By the time Li Sanshun arrived, he recognized what it was after a single breath.
[ Removed: Soul-Calming Powder? ] [mixed with lamp oil.]
The guards planned to burn the array platform and pin the arson on Zhen Yue Peak.
Li Sanshun drew water from the mountain stream. The medicinal smoke and lamp oil were swept into the drainage ditch. Xiong Baichuan smashed open the array gate, and the six men inside hadn't even had time to use their Fire Talismans.
The last array node stood at the foot of Zhen Yue Peak.
Xu Zhenchuan brought thirty Law Enforcement disciples and a deputy hall master's warrant.
Just as the two sides were about to fight, Xiong Baichuan tossed the No. 4 Imitation Order onto the array platform.
"The sealing order is fake. Anyone who helps Xu Zhenchuan seize the array will be treated as a traitor by me!"
Several Law Enforcement disciples lowered their weapons.
The Dark Patrol Guard leading them turned to flee, but Zhen Yue Peak disciples blocked his escape and pinned him beneath an array pillar.
The three array nodes returned to their proper positions.
Array Patterns stretching across the mountain paths retreated segment by segment.
The first step in Xu Zhenchuan's bid to seize power had failed.
Li Sanshun searched the Dark Patrol Guard's waist and found half a transfer order.
It listed the sequence of actions after the sect lockdown.
Take control of the three array nodes.
Seal off the main peak's underground passages.
Take over the Law Enforcement Peak Archive.
Fire had eaten away half of the final line. Only a few characters remained visible.
Xuan-class old files, infant case, mining ledger.
In the distance, an Archive Room disciple came galloping over, his clothes covered in black ash.
He slid off his horse and fell at Xiong Baichuan's feet.
"Peak Master Xiong, the archive is on fire! The flames are heading for the Imperial Clan's old infant case and the West Mountain Mining Ledger!"
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