Before the morning mist had fully dispersed, Shen Xitang’s silver needle discovered a hair-thin engraving on the back of the evidence stele.
Xiao Heng pressed the tip of his sword against the groove and gave a gentle flick. The stele bloomed open like a lotus flower, revealing a scroll wrapped in sharkskin silk: a "Coastal Navigation Map." Beside the islands marked in cinnabar, the tide schedules were recorded in dense, fine script.
Shen Xitang’s fingertips trembled slightly; the handwriting was identical to the blood-written letter her father had left before he died.
Chapter 85