"Yes." The man glanced at her again. "This shows that the person who made the knot wasn't skilled enough. Or—he had another reason, perhaps he modified something on the basis of the Flood Dragon Suppression Weave- Suppressing Weaving, leaving a small gap so the knot wasn't completely tight. The spiritual energy that leaked out from that gap was enough to sustain your life, but not enough to restore you." He paused. "Last night, someone untied the knot for you. The technique was very precise; not a single fragment remained on the knot. Even I might not have been able to do it so cleanly myself."
As he spoke, his light-colored eyes turned and glanced at Yin Wujou. There was no emotion in that glance, only a pure, calm assessment, like leveling the scale before weighing something. Yin Wujou met his gaze without moving, his fingers lightly tapping the side of the teacup—the fingertips striking the rough pottery produced a dull sound.
"You've activated your Spirit Vision," the man said. "How long has it been?"
"Two days."
The man paused for a moment. "To achieve this level of precision in just two days." He turned back to look at Snow Empress, "Where did you pick this up from?"
"He came on his own," Snow Empress said. "Don't even think about taking him. He's my sword, I'm not selling him."
The man chuckled softly, the sound coming from his nose like wind squeezing through the narrow mouth of a bottle. "Not for sale. Fine. Then don't even think about trying to sell it to me—I've seen what you wanted to see, I've said what I wanted to say, we're even. You can leave now."
Snow Empress didn't move. She sat on the bamboo chair, took another sip of the dark tea, and slowly swallowed it before speaking, "You didn't finish. The Flood Dragon Suppression Weave of the Imperial City Bureau's Spirit Vein Bureau isn't something that can be leaked to outsiders. Even if I offended someone from their faction ten years ago, the method by which that person planted this thread in my heart meridian must have been handled by the Spirit Vein Bureau —at least they would have had access to the secret files. Tell me that person's name."
The man stared at her, the light in his light-colored eyes completely still. The courtyard was quiet for a moment, then the distant sounds of haggling in the market drifted from outside the alley, turning into a muffled low-frequency hum after passing through several walls, like countless strings being plucked and then simultaneously silenced.
"I can't tell you your name," the man said. "But I can tell you one thing—ten years ago, the Spirit Vein Bureau lost a file. The complete diagrams, operating principles, and key techniques of the Third Form of the Flood Dragon Suppression Weave were all in that file. That autumn, a registrar named Pei from the Spirit Vein Bureau was dismissed. The reason given for his dismissal was negligence, but the real reason was said to be that he disappeared along with the file. Go find that Pei man; once you find him, you'll know your name."
"Your surname is Pei. What's your given name?"
" Pei Yuan." After saying those two words, the man suddenly stood up. His movements were incredibly fast; his thin body sprang up from the threshold like a startled stick insect. "The matter is settled. You can leave now; I have to close up shop. What I've said today is enough for me to hide for another five years. If you come back, I'll find another place."
He had already reached the door while he was speaking, placing his hands on the peeling black lacquer of the door, gesturing to see them off. Snow Empress stood up from the bamboo chair, finished the last sip of tea in her cup, placed it on the table, and turned to leave. Yin Wujou followed behind her, glancing back as he stepped across the threshold—the man had already sat back down among the scrolls, his back to the door, his hand on the inkstone, holding a brush, his posture exactly the same as when they had entered, like a clay statue placed back in its original position.
The black lacquered wooden door closed behind them. The hinges made a dry, grinding sound, and then the bolt was inserted from the inside with a click.
They stood in the narrow alley and looked at each other. Sunlight filtered through the gaps at the top of the alley, illuminating Snow Empress's shoulders and the top of her head, casting a small, warm, circular glow on the spot where she tucked the jade box into her bosom. She reached up and straightened her collar, then took a step towards the alley entrance.
" Pei Yuan," she said, "The registrar of the Spirit Vein Bureau who was dismissed ten years ago."
"How do you plan to find her?" Yin Wujou followed her and walked alongside her.
"I don't know where he is." Snow Empress walked quickly, and as she walked out of the narrow alley, the sunlight suddenly shone down on her, illuminating her for a moment. "But I know someone who specializes in checking old government records. Pei Yuan's dismissal record must have a record of his whereabouts in the Ministry of Ministry of Personnel's archives—where he was finally assigned, or which government office he went to after leaving the Spirit Vein Bureau."
Where is that person?
"In Capital," Snow Empress said. "It takes four hours to walk from here to the nearest post station on the main road. Fast horses can be rented there. Let's go back and tell Daoist Yun, then pack our things and leave."
Yin Wujou paused for a moment. He stood in the sunlight at the intersection of the alley and the main street, looking up at the sky above the town, a patchwork of smoke and clouds. He had only crawled out of a pit last night; the scent of the cinnabar from the array diagram still lingered on his clothes, and the chilling edge of the short blade in his sleeve was still seeping through. All he carried was a leather tube, an inkwell, a knife, and a roll of parchment.
"Okay." He said that and then followed her.
The two walked back through the town at twice the speed they had come. The market was busier now, with people carrying loads, baskets, and squatting by the roadside shelling beans. The cacophony of voices, chickens and ducks, and the clanging of hammers from the blacksmith's shop surrounded them from all sides. Snow Empress walked through the crowd with ease and speed, her shoulders slightly turned and her steps nimble, like a dagger held in her hand slicing through layers of cloth, leaving only a thin slit that closed in the blink of an eye.
Yin Wujou followed behind her, his Spirit Vision half-open. He could see the various auras on the pedestrians around him—most people only had a hazy, almost invisible gray background, the life energy emanating from ordinary people; occasionally, one or two people had a distinct color on them. A vegetable vendor had a thin, yellowish-brown aura wrapped around his right arm, as if worn down from years of carrying heavy objects; an old woman squatting by the wall basking in the sun had a very thin golden membrane floating on her chest, the origin of which was unknown. He withdrew his Spirit Vision and focused his gaze back on Snow Empress's back—the aura on her was the most complex he had ever seen. The water elemental energy flowing through her meridians resembled a net that was constantly being reassembled and dismantled. The bluish-white light gathered and dispersed erratically between her shoulder blades, flowing quickly and dynamically, but without any sense of disorder, like a river that had just been dredged and was finding its way back to its course.
After leaving the town and onto the mountain path, the number of pedestrians gradually decreased. Snow Empress slowed her pace, waiting for Yin Wujou to catch up with her. The forest on both sides of the mountain path was particularly dense on this section, with the tree canopy almost completely obscuring the path, making walking through it feel like passing through a green tunnel. The ground was covered with a thick layer of pine needles, which felt soft and yielding underfoot, requiring one to lower their center of gravity to maintain stability.