The very second the Chiwen Seal fragment plummeted into the moat, Shen Xitang caught the distinct scent of gunpowder unique to the forty-eighth year of Wanli. Yet the river's surface reflected not the Forbidden City, but the Yuan capital's city walls from the thirtieth year of Zhizheng—where black blood seeping through the brick mortar was congealing into Star Sand, climbing her Silver Silk armor along the ripples.
"Lord Thousand-Householder, the hearth-keeper's fire you keep is hardly enough to ignite Guixu," she snapped the star-stained silver thread, the residual scar of the Chiwen Seal on her wrist suddenly burning with pain. "What's hidden in the Wanggongchang cellar is no mere gunpowder..."
Xiao Heng's Red Dragon Pattern rippled across his spine, his Xiuchun Saber cleaving open the starry curtain over the river. Within the phantom realm touched by his blade, Liu Bingzhong was burying a bronze casket underground, the seven-star nails on the lid arranged in the exact pattern as Shen Xitang's Dragon-Locking Mark: "It's Star Sand! They're using the Xuanji Manual to tamper with the Ley Lines!"
Chapter 129