Where is the file hidden?
"It's hidden in a secret room on the third basement floor of the old archives building of the Spirit Vein Bureau," Pei Yuan said. "After the files were lost, the Imperial City Bureau searched the entire Spirit Vein Bureau but couldn't find them. Because the files never left the Spirit Vein Bureau. Yun Su had already made a copy and hidden it in the underground secret room before it was stolen. The door to the secret room uses a variant of the Cloud Tracing Formation. Without the complete twelve-hour cycle, that door can't be opened."
Yin Wujou stood there, going through all this information in his mind. The dossier copy, the underground chamber, the complete driving mechanism of the Cloud Tracing Formation —every link in the chain was clearly engaged. Only two things remained: first, to clear all the branches of his Spirit Vision; second, to find a suitable metal surface to walk on the array. The completion time for these two tasks was unknown, but he could feel that the distance between them was getting closer and closer.
" Pei Yuan," Yin Wujou said, "Are you still planning to stay here? Once the case files are brought up again, you'll be the first one questioned."
Pei Yuan leaned back on the low stool and smiled slightly. A faint, fleeting smile appeared on his wrinkled face, like a ripple on the surface of water that quickly subsided. "I've been here for ten years," he said, his voice as calm as if he were remarking on the weather. "I've swept the dust from the warehouse for ten years, I've studied the remnants of spiritual energy on the walls for ten years, I've waited ten years for that chart. What difference will a few more days make?"
He pulled a new sheet of paper from a half-open old book on the corner of the table, tore off half of it, and took a worn-out old brush from the pen holder on the table. He dipped it in ink and wrote a line on it. After finishing, he blew on the ink and handed it to Yin Wujiu. Yin Wujou took it and saw an address written on the paper—a blacksmith shop in the East Third Lane of Capital City, followed by the name " Old Zhou ".
"Go find Old Zhou after you enter the city," Pei Yuan said. "He has a ready-made iron plate there, the size of which matches Cloud Tracing Formation diagram perfectly. Yun Su asked him to prepare it in advance back then. Go get it, find a quiet inn to stay in, and try out the array on it."
Yin Wujou folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket, placing it alongside the memorized time and direction chart. "And you? How will I find you later?"
Pei Yuan didn't speak. He reached out and flicked the oil lamp on the corner of the table, the flame leaping up an inch, illuminating his gaunt face and cloudy eyes. He stared at Yin Wujou for a long while, then turned his gaze back to the open old book in front of him. "Don't look for me," he said. "Just finish what you need to do, and what's meant to come will come."
Yin Wujou knew this meant he was being asked to leave. He stood there for a moment, bowed slightly to Pei Yuan, and then turned and walked back the way he came. After walking past a few rows of wooden shelves, he looked back— Pei Yuan was now facing away from him again, sitting hunched over under the oil lamp, his silhouette blending into the silhouettes of the hundreds of dusty old objects in the storeroom, making it impossible to distinguish between the person and the object.
He hurried back to the warehouse entrance. Snow Empress was leaning against the wall of the narrow alley outside, waiting for him. Seeing him come out, she immediately straightened up, her gaze sweeping across his face as if to check on his condition. "How are you?"
"I've asked them all," Yin Wujou said. "Let's talk on the way."
Snow Empress didn't press the matter. He closed the iron plate on the side door again, took out the bronze plaque, and put it in his pocket. The two quickly walked through the narrow alley. When they returned to the guardhouse through the tin-covered side door, the dark-faced middle-aged man was squatting on the threshold eating a bowl of noodles. Seeing them come out, he mumbled, with a mouthful of noodles in his mouth, "Finished the investigation?" Snow Empress nodded, flashed the wooden plaque again, and the two mounted their horses and retreated along the way they had come towards the western outskirts of the village.
The sun was already beginning to set. The afternoon sunlight lengthened the shadows of people, and the shadows of two horses overlapped and separated on the dry earth, like two dark Yezi blown away by the wind. Yin Wujou rode on his horse, going through the time and direction chart he had seen in the storeroom in his mind from beginning to end, comparing it with the lines of the array diagram in Daoist Yun, making sure that the position and time mark of each node were perfectly embedded in the corresponding position.
" Pei Yuan said the copy of the dossier is hidden in a secret room on the third basement floor of the old archives building of the Spirit Vein Bureau." Yin Wujou briefly relayed this to Snow Empress. "The entrance to the secret room uses a variant of the Cloud Tracing Formation, which requires the complete activation of all twelve nodes to open. He gave me an address, a blacksmith shop in the East Third Lane of the city, saying there's a ready-made iron plate there that can be used."
After listening, Snow Empress nodded. "Then let's go into the city first. East Third Lane is on the east side of the old city, not too far from the old archives building of the Spirit Vein Bureau. We can find an inn nearby to stay. You test the formation tonight, and go to Old Zhou to get the iron plate tomorrow."
The two riders galloped along the dirt road in the western suburbs toward the gates of Capital. Yin Wujou's gaze passed over the withered fields and landed on the increasingly close outline of the city wall—completely different from the blurry shadow he had seen at dawn. The afternoon sunlight illuminated the blue bricks of the city wall, making them bright and serene. The shadows of the battlements and arrow towers cast neat, dark stripes on the wall. Above the city gate hung a huge wooden plaque with a few faded old characters painted on it. The wind had peeled off most of the paint, leaving only a layer of grayish-white paint hanging there forlornly.
Not many people entered the city. Inside the city gate, two old soldiers in worn leather armor leaned against the wall, dozing in the sun, barely glancing at those coming and going. As Yin Wujou and Snow Empress led their horses through the gate, one of them opened one eye, glanced at them, then closed it again, muttering something indistinctly, sounding like "Here we go again."
The moment Yin Wujou passed through the city gate, he suddenly felt the air was different—not in terms of temperature or humidity, but in a more subtle change related to the spiritual veins. He felt countless branches of Spiritual Power converging from all directions deep within the earth beneath his feet, forming a dense network beneath the city's foundation, like countless roots intertwining and growing underground. The density of spiritual energy was several times higher than outside the city, and even the air he breathed had an indescribable, slightly tingling texture, like drinking a breath of finely brewed water.
"The underground spiritual veins of Capital are the lifeblood of the entire city." Snow Empress noticed the slight change in his expression and said in a low voice, "All government offices are situated on this network, and the headquarters of the Spirit Vein Bureau of the Imperial City Bureau is located directly above the largest spiritual vein in the city center. You'll get used to this density after staying underground for a while; at first, you'll feel a little short of breath."
Yin Wujou adjusted his breathing a few times, slowly getting used to the slightly tingling sensation in the air.