Want to Seize Power? Did You Ask My Copper Hammer?

The Law Enforcement Grand Array spread out along the mountain paths.

Once the three array eyes closed, every disciple below the Main Peak would have to answer to the Law Enforcement Hall.

Qi Shouxuan was trapped in the depths of the Sealing Archive.

Gu Changyue was suspended from duty.

Gu Qinghe was still locked in the Quiet Room.

Xu Zhenchuan had chosen his moment with lethal precision.

Xiong Baichuan rushed out of the Archive Room and produced the Zhen Yue Peak token. "I am going to the array eyes; you go to the Bell Tower!"

"Don't be hasty."

Li Sanshun picked up the Law Enforcement Array Tablet from under the table and flipped it over.

The tablet bore only Xu Zhenchuan's Vice Hall Master seal; it lacked the Sect Master's seal and Qi Shouxuan's Supreme Elder Order.

Sealing the sect was no small matter.

Even if there were a genuine foreign invasion, the Law Enforcement Hall could only issue a warning first. To seal the mountain paths of every peak required the joint signed order of at least two elders.

The night-duty recorder who dared to activate the array had clearly received a forged order.

Footsteps echoed outside the room.

Over twenty Law Enforcement disciples blocked the doors and windows, and the deacon in the lead held up a blood-red document.

"Foreign enemies have infiltrated the sect. Vice Hall Master Xu has temporarily taken command of the Law Enforcement Grand Array. Peak Master Xiong, please surrender the Zhen Yue Peak token!"

Xiong Baichuan raised his hand and punched through the wall.

Bricks and stones slammed into the crowd, forcing the disciples blocking the door to scatter.

"Does Xu Zhenchuan even deserve to take my token?"

The lead deacon pressed the document into an array disk.

Dozens of Spirit-Locking Chains erupted from the ground, surging toward the two men.

Li Sanshun channeled power into his feet, driving earth-elemental energy into the floor tiles. Two stone slabs stood upright, pinning the array disk between them.

The Spirit-Locking Chains had barely extended halfway before they retracted back into the ground.

Xiong Baichuan stepped over the broken wall, grabbed the lead deacon by the collar, and threw him into the Archive Room.

The remaining Law Enforcement disciples dared not advance further.

They were only following orders to seal the road; they weren't stupid enough to risk their lives against a Peak Master.

Li Sanshun snatched the blood-red document.

The document claimed that the Imperial Envoy Group had colluded with foreign enemies to infiltrate the Sealing Archive and steal old case files. Xu Zhenchuan, acting on a secret order from the Council of Elders, was temporarily in charge of the sect-protection array.

Three seals were stamped at the bottom.

The Law Enforcement Vice Hall Master seal.

The Medicine Peak Elder seal.

The Main Peak Array Guard Seal.

Xiong Baichuan scanned the document. "Luo Qinghe wasn't even at Medicine Peak tonight. Where did her seal come from?"

"It's a fake."

Li Sanshun brought the paper to his nose.

Pine resin, sealing powder, and the metallic tang left behind by Blood-Vein Black Iron.

It was another imitation from the Ding-Character Furnace.

"Go to the Bell Tower first. The person ringing the bell has another one."

The two men took the Zhen Yue Peak disciples and headed straight for the Main Peak Bell Tower.

The path was already in chaos.

Law Enforcement disciples had sealed the junctions to every peak, and outer-sect disciples were crammed onto the mountain paths, none of them knowing where the enemy was. Some wanted to return to their quarters, others wanted to go to the Main Peak to investigate, but all were blocked by the Law Enforcement array.

Two rows of caltrop barriers had been set up below the Bell Tower.

Sixteen Dark Patrol Guards stood before the steps, each with half a Black Mountain Seal embroidered on their cuffs.

The leader raised his blade to block their path.

"During the sect-sealing period, anyone who forces their way into the Bell Tower will be treated as a traitor!"

Xiong Baichuan unslung his copper hammer.

"Try treating me like one and see what happens."

The copper hammer smashed into the steps.

Half the stone staircase collapsed on the spot, and the caltrop barriers tumbled into the pit.

The Zhen Yue Peak disciples charged through the gap and collided with the Dark Patrol Guards.

Li Sanshun did not push toward the main entrance.

He circled to the back of the Bell Tower, stepped onto the drainage gutter, and climbed to the second floor. Two Law Enforcement disciples were guarding the window; one of them held an array box and was stuffing several talismans into a brazier.

Seeing Li Sanshun climb through the window, the man immediately kicked over the brazier.

The array box hit the floor.

Several tokens spilled out.

Li Sanshun unleashed a water-elemental technique, extinguishing the flames the moment they touched the talismans.

The other disciple drew his sword and rushed over.

Li Sanshun dodged the blade, grabbed the disciple's sleeve, and shoved him against the window frame. Half the man's body hung out the window, and he dared not move again.

The disciple holding the array box turned and ran upstairs.

Li Sanshun grabbed a token and gave chase.

A bronze array platform stood on the top floor of the Bell Tower.

In front of the platform, a white-haired deacon was about to strike the sect-sealing bell for the fourth time.

According to Tai Xuan Sect rules, three strikes sealed the roads, and four strikes seized control of the arrays.

Once the fourth strike rang out, the three array eyes would be severed from the control of the individual peaks and fall entirely under the Law Enforcement Hall.

Li Sanshun flung the token in his hand.

The token struck the bell pestle.

The white-haired deacon turned to draw his blade, only to be smashed into the wall by Xiong Baichuan, who had caught up.

Li Sanshun walked to the side of the array platform and lowered his head to inhale.

[Detected residual energy of Blood-Vein Black Iron.]
[Source: Imitation sealing order.]
[Number: Four.]
[Time of use: Within one quarter-hour.]

A black iron token was inserted into the base of the bronze array platform.

Most of the token had already sunk into the array slot, with only the character "four" visible.

Li Sanshun took out the No. 7 Imitation Order and placed it beside it.

The patterns, the thickness, and the blood grooves all matched perfectly.

"The Ding-Character Furnace released fourteen imitation orders in total. No. 7 opened the armory, and No. 4 opened the Bell Tower."

Xiong Baichuan pulled out the No. 4 Order.

The Law Enforcement Vice Hall Master seal on the array platform flickered and died.

The white-haired deacon tried to reach for the bell pestle, but Xiong Baichuan stepped on his arm.

"Who told you to ring the bell early?"

The white-haired deacon gritted his teeth.

Li Sanshun fished a timing hourglass from his robes.

A line of small text was carved on the back of the hourglass.

Qi Shouxuan enters the depths, the sect-sealing bell rings.

Xu Zhenchuan had been keeping people watching the Sealing Archive.

The moment Qi Shouxuan went underground, they had seized the bell and the array.

"They trapped the Supreme Elder underground, then used the Law Enforcement array to cut off the peaks."

Li Sanshun put away the hourglass. "Xu Zhenchuan wants to take over all the storehouses while the sect has no one in charge."

Xiong Baichuan walked to the edge of the Bell Tower and raised the Zhen Yue Peak token.

A beam of earth-yellow array light shot into the sky.

Dozens of identical tokens lit up all over the mountainside.

Zhen Yue Peak disciples had already arrived outside the three array eyes.

"Mountain-Moving Array, cut the path!"

Stone walls rose simultaneously along the three mountain paths.

As the outer-sect array eyes were about to close, the underground array foundations were pried open by the stone walls. The Dark Patrol Guards guarding the arrays lost their power, and the Zhen Yue Peak disciples charged onto the platforms, pulling out all the Law Enforcement array tablets.

The Medicine Peak array eye released a massive cloud of medicinal smoke.

When Li Sanshun arrived, he only needed one whiff to identify the contents.

[Detected Soul-Calming Powder.]
[Mixed with fire oil.]

The person guarding the array intended to burn the platform and then pin the arson charge on Zhen Yue Peak.

Li Sanshun channeled water from the mountain stream, washing the medicinal smoke and fire oil into the drainage ditch. Xiong Baichuan smashed the array gate open with a hammer; the six people inside hadn't even managed to use their fire talismans.

The final array eye was located at the foot of Zhen Yue Peak.

Xu Zhenchuan had brought thirty Law Enforcement disciples, along with the Vice Hall Master's written order.

Just as both sides were about to clash, Xiong Baichuan threw the No. 4 imitation order onto the array platform.

"The sect-sealing order is a fake. Whoever continues to help Xu Zhenchuan seize the array will be treated as a traitor!"

Several Law Enforcement disciples lowered their weapons.

The lead Dark Patrol Guard turned to run, but Zhen Yue Peak disciples blocked his retreat and pinned him under an array pillar.

The three array eyes were restored to their original state.

The array patterns stretching across the mountain paths faded away section by section.

The first step of Xu Zhenchuan's power grab had failed.

Li Sanshun searched the Dark Patrol Guard's waist and found half a deployment order.

It listed the sequence of operations after the sect was sealed.

Control the three array eyes.

Seal the Main Peak tunnels.

Take over the Law Enforcement Peak archives.

The last line had been half-burned by fire, leaving only a few words visible.

Xuan-character old files, infant case, mining ledger.

In the distance, an Archive Room disciple came charging on horseback, his clothes covered in black ash.

He tumbled off the horse and collapsed at Xiong Baichuan's feet.

"Peak Master Xiong, the archive is on fire! The flames are heading straight for the Imperial Old Infant Case and the West Mountain Mining Ledger!"