Rain trickled down the ruined Chiwen Seal of the Xiaoling Guard, splashing into blood-tinged puddles of varying depths on the blue bricks. Shen Xitang's plain skirt brushed across the water traces, and the copper plates concealed in the soles of her embroidered shoes scraped away the moss, revealing floor bricks inscribed with the characters "Jiashen." These were fragments that had splattered here three days ago when the Armillary Sphere exploded, and indigo silk threads from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau officials' robes still adhered to their jagged edges.
"Lord Thousand-Householder, take a look." She dipped the copper piece into the rainwater. As the rust faded, half a star chart emerged. "The astronomical phenomenon of the winter solstice in the Jiashen year aligns precisely with the direction of the Kui Pattern on Commander Xiao's back."
Xiao Heng's Broken Blade was stabbed between the roots of a cypress tree, the blade reflecting his tightly set jawline. Blood seeped through the gauze beneath his Flying Fish Garment once more—just last night, a poisoned arrow from the New Emperor's personal guards had grazed his old wound, and the arrow was tipped with nothing less than the Return to Void Gu. FINGERING the Chiwen Seal that Shen Xitang had shoved into his hand, he suddenly pressed the copper fragment against the scar over his heart. "The Jiashen year... is precisely the year Emperor Jianwen disappeared."
Chapter 115