Two letters lay spread across the Nine-Patterned Stone Platform.
The Tang Sect's letter filled only half a page, written in Bai He's hand. Agility Hall disciples had spotted more than three hundred Soul Masters north of the Star Dou Great Forest. Their party had twelve heavy wagons clad in iron, and they had bought antidotes, chains, and large numbers of live animals along the way. Bai He had followed them for half a day and seen their leader present a six-pattern Pope Token. The Spirit Hall Deacon guarding the forest's edge had let them through at once.
The other letter came from that border Deacon.
While checking the Token's serial number, he had discovered that the order had been issued five years ago, so he had asked them to wait for a reply. The Soul Hunting Team had ignored him. That night, they wounded two sentries and forced their way into the forest. The Deacon had sent back a rubbing of the Token along with a description of their leader. Blood that had not been wiped clean still stained the end of his letter.
After examining the rubbing, Bibi Dong immediately ordered someone to fetch the Soul Hunting Bureau's old files.
Yue Guan soon returned to the mountaintop carrying three thick volumes. The six-pattern Token's serial number did exist, and the original order was genuine. The target column read "Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beast, Soft Bone Rabbit." It had been issued on the very day her identity was exposed at the Final Tournament, but the next page bore a bright-red cancellation stamp.
The order had been void ever since the five-year ceasefire order was issued.
Qian Renxue looked at Bibi Dong. "You signed the original order?"
"I did." Bibi Dong did not evade the question. "After the Lovesick Heartbreak Red fell,