Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

Li Ping pressed his cuffs, not in a hurry to look again, but instead glanced at the nearly burnt-out ashes on the ground. The letter was from the Ministry of Personnel's Performance Evaluation Department; the writing was sparse but clear.

First, the imperial court was aware of the upheaval in Jiangning; second, it summoned Li Ping, the acting prefect, to the capital to report on his duties; third, the document was signed by the Ministry of Personnel's Performance Evaluation Department, without any praise or criticism, accountability or reward, simply ordering him to go.

Li Ping folded the letter and stuffed it into his sleeve, his face expressionless.

Su Wan glanced at him, but didn't ask why the ashes in the brazier hadn't cooled down yet, and that the capital had already reached out—it was unusually fast.

But there's something more urgent right now.

When the door to the side hall opened, Fang Cheng was already sitting behind the table, dressed in a clean gray robe, his hair tied up, and dark circles under his eyes. Last night, when Pei Xing picked him up from the ruins, he was soaking wet, still clutching a piece of the mother array's remains. When asked how he survived, he only said two words: "Tough luck."

Then he didn't sleep all night, carving out more than a dozen jade slips. Each jade slip had a faint wisp of light floating on it, like the remnants of a burnt spider web. The twelve mountain marks, the root furnace mark left by the mother array technique in the meridians, were shattered, the soul mark was cracked, but these wisps of light were still not completely removed. There were plenty of ways in the capital to find them by following the marks.

Pei Xing was the first to enter.

"Let me, this old bone, go first, so you young people don't have to be so clumsy." He sat down opposite Fang Cheng, rolled up his sleeves, revealing the ash-covered furnace mark on his forearm, the fine lines faintly translucent beneath the skin, like thin copper wires embedded in the flesh. "Jiangning will need someone to look after it from now on. If this old bone of mine is ruined, so be it."

Fang Cheng didn't reply. He picked up a jade piece and placed it on Pei Xing's wrist. The spirit-guiding needle caught the remaining thread, and with a slight tremor, it seemed to burrow into Pei Xing's skin like a living thing. Sweat beaded on Pei Xing's forehead. Fang Cheng's fingers firmly pressed down on the jade piece, and an extremely thin strand of soul energy was pulled out from his meridian. The moment it broke, Pei Xing's body stiffened for a moment, then he let out a long breath.

"It's over."

Pei Xing flicked his wrist and grinned, "That was mild. It didn't hurt as much as the beating I got back in the prefect's mansion."

Qin Shoushan hesitated for a moment as he sat down, still clutching the mother array copper piece in his robes, his collar slightly bulging. Fang Cheng saw this but said nothing. His mark was much deeper than Pei Xing's; as someone who guarded the furnace underground, the mother array's techniques had seeped into his bones. When Fang Cheng pulled out the remaining threads, one didn't break, two didn't break, but the third one was finally clean. Qin Shoushan stood up, his back completely wet. He touched the copper piece in his robes, his lips moved, but ultimately he asked nothing.

Ren Jun's third soul imprint on his left arm had just scabbed over, leaving a scab half the width of his palm that ran across his forearm.

Fang Cheng glanced at it: "Your mark is not in the Twelve Mountain System."

"This thing can come with me to Yunze?" Ren Jun frowned.

"The soul imprint has cracked, and the residual energy of the mother array may still be inside, constantly being cleansed, leaving hidden injuries in the future." Fang Cheng placed the jade slip on his shoulder. "If an old injury recurs halfway through the path of cultivation, it's more troublesome than being stabbed."

Ren Jun didn't ask any more questions. He closed his eyes and let the soul-drawing silk break. The wound let out a muffled groan, and a crack appeared on the scab, from which fresh blood seeped out. He pressed it with his sleeve, retreated to the corner of the wall, and stared blankly at his wound.

When Su Wan sat down opposite Fang Cheng, the light in the side hall dimmed for a moment.

She turned her right wrist up; the injury on her right shoulder hadn't fully healed, but the mark was still on her wrist.

Fang Cheng picked up the jade slip, then paused for a moment.

Su Wan looked at him: "Why are you shaking? If your hand is unsteady, switch to your left hand."

Fang Cheng didn't answer the question about the copper core entering her wrist; he pulled it out faster than the previous ones. Her mark wasn't deep. After the mark broke, Su Wan lowered her head and moved her fingers, her knuckles cracking softly.

"that's all?"

Fang Cheng nodded, and Su Wan stood up and stood next to Li Ping.

Finally, it was Li Ping's turn.

He sat down opposite Fang Cheng, across a table piled high with tattered bamboo slips. Broken threads lay scattered on the tabletop like extinguished candle wicks.

Fang Cheng picked up the last intact jade slip and looked at Li Ping.

"Your mark is hidden deepest. When the fragment of the mother array passed through your brow, the power of the earth element bit into your sea of ​​consciousness, and the array line of the Twelve Mountains took root in your sea of ​​qi."

"If he loses his mind, those people in the capital will probably have to hire an idiot to give him a report."

"It might hurt."

"Go ahead and do it, as long as you don't die."

Fang Cheng nodded, his fingertip lightly tracing the jade slip: "Bear with it, don't use your spiritual power to resist." As soon as he finished speaking, the jade slip was already pressed against his brow.

The moment the copper needle touched the skin, a jolt ran through my mind—not from pain, but from the sensation of something being uprooted.

The Earthly Seal appeared in the sea of ​​consciousness as a cluster of dark golden lines, like an old, burned scar, its edges deeply embedded in the bottom layer of the sea of ​​consciousness. Fang Cheng's spiritual power probed in along the jade slip, not pulling, but unraveling, dismantling the array lines binding the edges of the sea of ​​consciousness, one by one.

Li Ping gritted his teeth, feeling as if dozens of needles were simultaneously piercing deep into his brain, and his vision blurred in waves.

Pei Xing had also appeared by the door at some point, his knife still in his hand, as if to prevent Fang Cheng from shaking his hand. Qin Shoushan stared at the copper core, his Adam's apple bobbing, but ultimately remained silent.

Su Wan's hand was on his shoulder at some point, and she could feel the strength of his knuckles even through his clothes.

Sweat beaded on Fang Cheng's forehead. The copper core lingered between his brows for a long time. This mark was deeper than anyone else's; it wasn't branded on, but rather a fragment of the array core had actively drilled in and become part of his sea of ​​consciousness.

The last line of defense broke.

The dark golden patterns shattered in the sea of ​​consciousness, like ice being smashed open with a hammer. The fragments didn't dissipate but broke into extremely fine points of light, which melted into the bottom of the sea of ​​consciousness and sank down.

Li Ping opened his eyes. The dark gold in his sea of ​​consciousness was completely shattered, leaving only a thin layer of warmth underneath, as if an invisible hand had smoothed through every strand of spiritual energy in his dantian.

Fang Cheng put down the jade slip and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "The broken seal only means the tracking technique is still intact; it has recognized its master."

Li Ping stood up, moved his wrists, and found that the flow of spiritual energy within his body was smoother. The lumps that had been congested in his dantian disappeared, and his breathing became lighter.

Su Wan waited for him at the door.

"How are you feeling?"

Li Ping thought for a moment and then spoke the truth: "It's like emptying all the water out of my head."

Footsteps sounded at the door, and Qin Shoushan walked in, holding a letter in his hand.

"Sir, this is the second letter from the capital."

Li Ping took the document, which wasn't from the Ministry of Personnel, but from the Ministry of Justice's Arrest and Capture Division. The seal was stamped with a scarlet "arrest" character. He opened it, scanned two lines, and raised an eyebrow.

Qin Shoushan asked, "Has the Shangguan family's debt still not been completely burned?"

"The Shangguan family's accounts," Li Ping folded the letter and held it in his hand. "The Ministry of Justice is investigating an old case. The destination of the spirit stones that the Shangguan family sends to the capital every year doesn't match up. They heard that the accounts in Jiangning were burned by me."

Su Wan turned around at the doorway: "In the capital, is there anyone who can withstand a single sword strike from me?"

"They want me to go to the capital to settle accounts," Li Ping said, pressing the letter under the paperweight and sneering. "I can go, but the rules in Jiangning are my rules."