The wind of the卯 hour had just swept across the trial grounds of the Wan Jing鏢局, sending a flurry of sand flying, stinging the skin and causing fine particles to seep into the collar, irritating the back of the neck. Yue Tingzhou wore faded blue cotton shorts, his fingertips resting on the hilt of a chilled, venomous blade hidden at his waist. The coldness of the blade seeped through the thin fabric, causing his fingertips to stiffen. His boots sank into the half-inch of floating sand, the rough grains grinding against the coarse cotton socks, causing a throbbing pain in his ankles. He suppressed his internal energy, the 静潭诀 technique, to the twelfth level, his aura barely flickering, like a dying candle. The breaths, pulses, and flow of qi from the more than thirty people in the arena instantly flooded his senses through the vibrations in the sand—three of the qi fluctuations were particularly noticeable: one was hidden among the porters carrying grain sacks, half-hidden behind a young boy, his clothes smelling faintly of pine smoke, a common scent used by those on the periphery of the Tianming 书. The other two leaned against the western side of the鏢旗 pole, their fingertips unconsciously stroking the copper ornaments on their waists. The Tianming纹 carvings on those ornaments were polished to a shine, reflecting the light and creating a shimmering effect. The air was filled with the smell of freshly painted鏢旗, mixed with the rust of iron from the knives used in trials the previous day, and the scent of hay from the stables next to the courtyard. The combination was overwhelming, causing him to wrinkle his nose and sneeze twice before he could suppress the urge. His gaze fell on 祝寒梨 in the center of the arena. The woman wore a dark-colored, close-fitting outfit, her sleeves rolled up to her forearms, revealing three pale, old scars on her wrists from鏢 injuries. Her heirloom spirit mirror was deliberately displayed outside her clothes, the fine cloud patterns on the mirror's surface embedded with shallow marks, left by her father when he deflected an iron arrow during his travels. The mirror's cold, white reflection flashed across the viewing platform, forcing those in the front row to squint. She seemed to have interrupted her qi circulation, and she coughed, supporting herself on the shaft of her silver spear. Her earlobes were flushed red, like they were dipped in cinnabar, and her fingertips secretly brushed against the silver abacus hanging at her waist, sliding three ebony beads backward. This was her usual way of calculating risk. Yue Tingzhou had a small pouch at his waist containing a seven-day deadline message written on thin paper, the rough edges of the paper pressed against the soft flesh of his lower abdomen, constantly reminding him that he was running out of time. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and, using the motion of raising his arm, subtly curled three fingers towards the center of the arena. This was the prearranged signal: all three informants were in place, and the plan was to proceed as originally intended. 祝寒梨 caught the movement with her peripheral vision and subtly tightened her grip on the non-slip wrapping on the shaft of her spear. She deliberately plunged her spear into the sand, releasing some of her qi, and the impact sent a spray of sand rising nearly a person's height. The surrounding鏢师 cheered, and no one noticed the slight tremor in her spear as she deliberately revealed a flaw. The two informants leaning against the flagpole exchanged glances and simultaneously darted forward, the sharp sound of their short swords being drawn was piercing, the cold light of the blades aimed directly at 祝寒梨's spirit mirror. The third informant, hidden among the porters, also moved, his fingertips, coated with a sleeping drug, aimed at the back of the neck of the young boy in front of him, clearly intending to use the boy as a hostage to slow down the two attackers. Yue Tingzhou kicked off the ground and flew forward, not using the standard擒拿 technique of the Heng律司, but instead using the most common劈空掌 technique from the江湖. His palm first deflected the blade of the attacker in front, the blade grazing his cheek, the wind causing a stinging sensation on his skin, and the smell of old blood lingered on the blade. He pivoted, kicking at the knee of the second attacker, the crisp sound of bone cracking mixed with the attacker's groan as he fell to the ground. At the same time, he reached out and pulled back on the collar of the young boy, flinging him backward into the pile of porters, the smell of grain and straw clinging to the boy, before he could reach out to grab the back of the third attacker's neck, he accidentally brushed against the spirit mirror that was exposed on 祝寒梨's waist. The icy coldness instantly surged up his fingertips and into his meridians He casually tucked the spirit mirror into 祝寒梨's embrace, deliberately grumbling, "You little brat, what kind of wild kung fu are you practicing? You're causing all sorts of strange phenomena with our family heirloom. Why don't you put it away quickly!" 祝寒梨 reacted extremely quickly and immediately tucked the spirit mirror into the innermost layer of her clothing. The fine cotton fabric brushed against 岳停舟's fingertips, which were still cold, and she lowered her head, apologizing repeatedly, and then turned to instruct the鏢头 who had followed her, her tone as cold as ice: "Tie these three troublemakers to the柴房 and lock them up. I'll personally interrogate them after I'm done. Anyone who saw what happened here today, if they dare to spread even a single word, they'll have their tongues cut off according to the镖局's rules. The rules of the鏢局, especially the rules of the 三刀六洞, are not just for show." The鏢师 replied in unison, not daring to ask any questions, and quickly retreated, dragging the three unconscious people. Only the yellow sand and scattered scabbards remained at the scene. The wind whipped the sand grains against the copper fittings on the scabbards, making a faint tinkling sound. 岳停舟 brushed the sand off his clothes, and the fine sand sifted down from between his fingers. He followed 祝寒梨 towards the back courtyard of the镖局, deliberately complaining about how unlucky he felt after witnessing the commotion and how he had picked up a bad omen. 祝寒梨 walked beside him, smiling apologetically. When they turned into a corridor without any attendants, the copper bells hanging on the wall were blown by the wind, making a tinkling sound. Both of them subconsciously lightened their steps, and the wooden floorboards creaked slightly under their feet. After passing through two hidden doors, the subordinates had already reported: the abnormal phenomena in the trial range had been suppressed, and only the outer copper talisman of the 天命书 was found among the belongings of those three low-level spies, with no trace left that could link the two of them together. 祝寒梨 pushed open the wooden door at the innermost end, which was decorated with plum blossom patterns. A warm rush of pine wood charcoal and a sweet, delicate fragrance of plum blossoms wafted out, enveloping her in warmth. She stepped aside to let 岳停舟 enter first, and in a hushed voice, she said only four words: "Come in and talk." The moment he stepped inside, the yellow sand on the soles of his shoes brushed against the plum wood floor, making a faint rustling sound. 祝寒梨 quickly secured the three hidden locks with a click, click, click, and the sound of the copper bells in the corridor instantly faded into the distance. The warmth of the pine wood charcoal and the sweet, delicate fragrance of plum blossoms rushed in again, dispelling the chill that had been clinging to him. The cheeks that had been tingling from the long knife and the wind finally began to regain their warmth. A divan by the window was covered with three layers of snow fox fur, so soft that it felt like sinking into it. She handed him a cup of warm pear soup, the sweet fragrance mixing with the warmth of the porcelain cup. 岳停舟's fingertips just touched the rim of the cup, and he instinctively turned it three times before sitting down. His fingertips still felt the lingering coldness, like touching a piece of millennium玄冰, that he had felt when he touched the spirit mirror earlier. "Take it out," 岳停舟 said, tapping the table with his fingertips, his voice lowered, with the gritty feeling of the sand he had swallowed in his throat. 祝寒梨 nodded and took out the heirloom spirit mirror from the innermost layer of her clothing. The cold surface of the mirror brushed against her dark-colored, close-fitting clothes, and as soon as it was placed on the table, a faint golden light radiated from it, so bright that it made his eyes squint. A half-丈 tall illusory image floated out from the mirror, with rows of names neatly arranged, marked with different colors: crimson, orange, and light green. Each name was followed by a string of numbers, which faded away every three breaths, descending downwards. The coldness spread from the tabletop to his palm, numbing his fingertips. 岳停舟's fingertips slid along the names, and the first name he saw was "祝见岚," marked with orange, and the number next to it had just changed from thirty-one to thirty. Further down, his family's elder, his close uncle, was also marked with orange, and the remaining lifespan was also thirty. He took a sip of the pear soup in the cup, and the sweetness suppressed the gritty taste in his throat. He looked up at In the days leading up to the coded message, when Shen Lichi was sitting on the judge's bench of the Heng Law Department, his right knee trembled subtly beneath his official robes, and he held in his hand an old wolf-hair brush that he never allowed anyone else to touch. The scent of pine smoke and old paper wafted over him. At that time, he thought it was just an old injury from Shen Zongji's time in the Northern Frontier, but now, that always stern and impartial "Shen Tie Law," likely already knew that he was on the reaping list of the "Heavenly Mandate Book." "According to the coded message I received three days ago, Shen Zongji requires me to obtain conclusive evidence of the Heavenly Mandate Book filtering process within seven days, otherwise, the Yue and Zhu clans will have their spiritual roots severed, and be placed on the list of traitors," Yue Tingzhou's voice was as cold as ice, and he tapped the crimson name with his fingertips. "Now it seems that this seven-day deadline, he probably set it himself with a knife at his own throat." Zhu Hanli stopped manipulating the abacus, and the beads rattled, making a "click" sound as they returned to their positions. "So, not only do we have to save the two clans, but we also have to handle a transaction for the Heng Law Department's Grand Inspector?" she said. "This is a loss for our镖局 (transport company) no matter how you calculate it." She paused, tapping the numbers next to the names of the two clan leaders, which had jumped to twenty-nine. "Thirty days of debt, and we need to leave five days to prepare for the 'Wanmen Gongyi' (a public matter), which means we have to obtain the main scroll within twenty-five days. Otherwise, we will lose everything in this doomed deal, and we'll be ruined." "According to the Heng Law Department's secret vault duty rules, there are three brief periods of vacancy during the shift change at the丑时 (eleventh hour, 11 PM - 1 AM)," Yue Tingzhou tapped the table with his fingertips. "Shen Zongji mentioned before that the Heng Law Department's underground secret vault contains all the data records of the Heavenly Mandate Book. I have the authority to access Heng Law Department's third-level confidential documents. The dark investigators from the three groups in the capital are listening to my orders. Tomorrow, I will enter the secret vault under the pretext of investigating an old case of the Wan Mirror镖局 (transport company) being wiped out three years ago. You disguise yourself as a杂役 (menial worker) delivering scrolls and sneak in. We will split up and look for the storage node of the main scroll." Just as he finished speaking, the tea cup he was about to turn suddenly stopped. His peripheral vision caught something gray on the windowsill, covered with fine white frost, which stood out against the warm, reddish glow of the charcoal in the room. Yue Tingzhou got up and walked over, and when his fingertips touched the object, a chilling coldness rushed up his fingers, carrying a faint scent of snow. It was a tail feather from a gray falcon, and the frost on the tip of the feather melted slightly upon contact with his fingertips, revealing a damp coolness. It was a mark of the "Frost Falcon Army" under the command of Huo Qingya. He used the "Jingtang" technique and pressed his palm against the window paper, which was slightly bulging from the wind. The cool window paper pressed against his cheek, and the sounds of breathing from outside the wall were audible, varying in intensity. At least five cultivators at the mid-foundation building stage were guarding the four sides of the镖局's outer wall, and even the dog hole in the back alley was blocked tightly. "We've been surrounded." Yue Tingzhou returned to the table, holding the feather, which he placed on the table. The dull color of the feather clashed with the faint golden image of the list, which was particularly striking. The pine wood charcoal suddenly sparked, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly. Zhu Hanli's expression immediately turned grim, and she reached for the handle of the short gun at her waist, biting her lower lip. "Did they see the anomaly in the镖场 (transport company's yard) earlier?" "Yes." Yue Tingzhou tapped the numbers on the list that were jumping. The remaining lifespan was thirty days, but it had now jumped to twenty-nine and a half days. "If they break in now, the list in our hands will be irrefutable evidence, which will give the Heavenly Mandate Book a pretext for early reaping, and we won't even have room to defend ourselves." Zhu Hanli glanced at the swaying shadows outside the window, manipulated the abacus three times,