111: Chapter 112 Old Files with Rippling Light

Deep within the Mirror Repository, a fragment of light from a Key Seal trembled without warning, like a silver needle pulled by invisible threads, silently piercing toward the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal.

Ning Yanqiu had just withdrawn her hand into her sleeve when that faint, chilling light seemed to be gently flicked from the distant void, slowly seeping out along the cracked Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal at her cuff, like a drop of frost that had been frozen for a hundred years, attempting to melt into her bloodline.

Master Crow suddenly raised its head behind her shoulder, a ring of faint light shimmering along its frost-white feather edges; the two Auxiliary Ravens also turned their eyes from the side of the Cold Mirror Workshop stele, six gazes simultaneously locking onto that anomaly.

Lu Jin's gaze, however, fell upon Ning Yanqiu's fingertips a step earlier.

There, the red frost left behind when stabilizing Duan Jun's residual shadow still remained, not yet fully dissipated.

For every fraction the Key Seal fragment brightened, the red frost retreated an inch deeper into the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal, like a nest of snakes encountering their natural predator, fleeing in panic.

Wu Fu, holding the ash material box, her expression darkened instantly; she looked up and glared at the fragment of light, her voice suppressing anger: "I just said I was going to prepare cold ash for her, who is still stuffing things into her wound?"

Ning Yanqiu did not answer.

She only lowered her eyes to watch the silver-white fragment of light at her cuff, her gaze sinking bit by bit, like a thousand-pound boulder falling into a deep pool; the surface remained calm, but underneath, turbulent undercurrents were already surging.

"It is not a wound."

Lu Jin turned his head, his voice low: "Ning Huaixue?"

From within the fragment of light, a very faint sound of paper turning suddenly emerged, as if someone in a distant library had opened some long-dusty old volume.

Subsequently, a narrow mirror image rose from the edge of the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal, much fainter than the last time; Ning Huaixue's figure did not fully manifest, revealing only half a mirror volume and a hand pressed against the edge of the book.

The knuckles of that hand were white and distinct, as if, from across the distant Mirror Repository, it was tightly pressing shut a cabinet door that should not be opened.

"Yanqiu."

Ning Huaixue's voice was lower than before, as if coming from the bottom of the water, carrying a heavy echo.

"Do not seal the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal shut."

Ning Yanqiu raised her eyes, her gaze cold and clear: "Internal Affairs Officer Ning."

Ning Huaixue paused for a breath, her tone revealing neither joy nor anger: "Still remembering to use my title shows you haven't been burned senseless by Duan Jun's living record."

Qiao Ye, listening on the Lock Bridge, was taken aback and subconsciously muttered: "They're still testing forms of address at a time like this?"

Wen Zhao nudged him with his arm and whispered an explanation: "When the Ning Family internal affairs speaks, the form of address settles the account first."

"No wonder it sounds like flipping through an account book." Qiao Ye realized.

Instructor Han Tiecheng's iron fire order hung outside the door; he looked at the mirror image and spoke in a deep voice: "Ning Huaixue, what are you passing this time?"

Ning Huaixue did not beat around the bush and was straightforward: "Cold Mirror Old Records."

The Temple Inspector immediately frowned, his tone severe: "The initial survey of the No. 7 Rift Zone inner ring is still under the control of the Military Court; the Ning Family is not permitted to arbitrarily call upon family old records!"

Ning Huaixue opened the mirror volume, a page of cold white light pressed into the mirror image, as if cutting a piece of moonlight into a page: "I am calling upon the Ning Family's old battle evaluation auxiliary pages, not the Military Court's battle service records."

The Temple Inspector was about to speak again, but Instructor Han Tiecheng scolded first: "Let her speak."

The Temple Inspector's expression stiffened, and he said no more.

Pei Chengxu stood on the other side, the communication fire at his cuff flickering slightly. He looked at the mirror image, his eyes deeper than the Temple Inspector's, like two bottomless ancient wells, swallowing all emotions within them.

Ning Huaixue did not avoid his gaze this time, but instead met it: "The Pei Family should listen as well. Just now, the Sun Gold adjudication internal affairs office appeared in Duan Jun's living record. If the Ning Family continues to pretend not to see it, the next time old accounts burn to the door of the Mirror Repository, it will not just be a matter for Yanqiu alone."

Pei Chengxu did not answer, but the communication fire in his sleeve dimmed, like a candle wick extinguished by the wind.

Lu Jin looked at Ning Yanqiu, his gaze carrying a question: "Can you take it?"

Ning Yanqiu lowered her head to look at her Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal. There were three fine cracks on the edge of the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal, each sealed by red frost, like three unhealed scars.

Master Crow chirped lowly behind her shoulder, its throat rolling with resistance, unwilling for her to use it again.

She raised her hand and lightly touched the edge of Master Crow's feathers with her fingertips. Master Crow still suppressed a throaty sound, refusing to yield. Ning Yanqiu's voice was very flat, as if stating something unrelated to herself: "I can take a section."

Wu Fu immediately pressed: "How much is a section?"

Ning Yanqiu glanced at her, her tone indifferent: "Enough to reveal the record number."

"And after you reveal it?"

"It will hurt."

Wu Fu's brows arched, her voice rising a few degrees: "What does pain count for?"

Ning Yanqiu thought for a moment and actually answered seriously: "Three portions of cold ash."

Wu Fu was stumped by her; after two breaths, she coldly placed the ash material box at Lu Jin's feet and asked testily: "Put it on her account or your account?"

Lu Jin said: "Put it on mine."

Ning Yanqiu said: "Put it on mine."

Both spoke almost simultaneously.

Wu Fu looked at them, the corners of her mouth twitching: "Fine, double portions."

Qiao Ye just wanted to laugh, but was nudged by Wen Zhao's arm and had to swallow the laughter back into his stomach.

The well wind beneath the bridge was still turning; the anchor of Duan Jun's living record had just settled, and the small grey fire nail beneath the old copper rail flickered on and off, like the breathing of some ancient creature. On the other side of the Lock Bridge, the sound of the wind deep within the Grey Fire Well did not stop; the new anchor could only give them three breaths, and the extra Cold Mirror Old Records now were like another key, about to probe the same door.

Ning Huaixue's voice came from the mirror image: "Yanqiu, first press the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal onto the workshop tooth marks."

Ning Yanqiu did not do so immediately. She asked: "Does Patriarch Ning Zhenyue know?"

Ning Huaixue's fingers paused on the edge of the mirror volume, and after a moment, she replied: "He knows half."

"Which half?"

"He knows I passed the auxiliary key mark, and he also knows Duan Jun's living record has been dug up by you."

"He does not know you are now passing the Cold Mirror Old Records."

"He should know soon."

After hearing this, Ning Yanqiu did not speak. She only turned her cuff out a little, and the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal slid out from under her sleeve.

This time, the cold white light did not go upward, nor did it suppress the well wind; it hugged the edge of the Cold Mirror Workshop's rear slot, slowly shining downward along those few old Royal Court craft tooth marks.

When it shone to the third tooth mark, the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal suddenly paused.

Nail Bone's grey copper fire poked out from the broken axle of the old cart frame, its fire tip tapping the side of the Cold Mirror Workshop stele, its voice hoarse: "Don't shine it directly. The teeth of the Cold Mirror Workshop, don't look at the front. The front is for registering outsiders; the back teeth are the true process."

Ning Huaixue also said: "Listen to him."

Ning Yanqiu shifted the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal by half an inch, moving the cold light from the front to the back of the tooth marks. Beneath the Cold Mirror Workshop stele, a row of almost invisible fine teeth was revealed. Those fine teeth were different from the copper teeth of the Rat-folk craftsmen; they were thinner, colder, like a row of broken mirrors pressed into a copper beam, each one refracting light that did not belong to this era.

Nail Bone took one look, its curse suppressed in its throat: "Sure enough, the Cold Mirror Workshop had a hand in it."

Ning Huaixue's mirror volume opened, and a string of old record numbers floated out from the pages, like fish surfacing from the water. Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal caught the record number, the cold light falling along the Cold Mirror Workshop stele, shining a blank mirror surface beside the old rails at the bottom of the bridge.

The mirror surface was very small, only a palm's width. But the moment it appeared, that short mark of the Well Heart Line beside the anchor of Duan Jun's living record also lit up.

Lu Jin's eyes narrowed. The two lines aligned.

Ning Huaixue's voice was unhurried, every word like a strike on a jade chime: "Cold Mirror Old Records, Royal Court Inner Ring Sealing Auxiliary Item. Old record number, North Mirror Front Standard Battalion Seventy-Nine. Associated workstation, Grey Fire Well outer ring Cold Mirror Workshop. Associated matter, Ruptured Furnace Seat Sealing Fire Mirror Tooth Verification."

With every sentence that fell, the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal at Ning Yanqiu's cuff brightened by an inch. By the end, a layer of thin red frost had formed on the edges of Master Crow's feathers, like frost flowers of late autumn morning climbing up a window lattice.

Wu Fu watched from the side, feeling both distressed and angry, unable to help complaining: "Why do your Ning Family old records all like to bite people?"

Ning Huaixue's voice remained unchanged, but there was a hint of an indescribable flavor in her tone: "Old records don't bite people. The people who seal the records do."

Grey Pupil pressed his cane to the ground and asked in a deep voice: "The Cold Mirror Workshop participated in the sealing of the Ruptured Furnace Seat?"

"The auxiliary item only writes verification, it does not write the main responsibility for sealing."

"Who had the main responsibility?"

"It was burned away." Ning Huaixue looked at Lu Jin, "But there is a Sun Gold internal affairs office in Duan Jun's living record. Looking at both sides together, at least three parties had a hand in that sealing."

Instructor Han Tiecheng said coldly: "Military Court, Sun Gold, Ning Family Cold Mirror."

Ning Huaixue corrected: "And the Royal Court Workshop."

Nail Bone's little flame flickered, his tone unfriendly: "Don't put us and them in the same rotten account."

"That's why we need to flip the account board over."

Nail Bone was quiet for half a breath, rarely not retorting: "That sentence actually sounds human."

Ning Yanqiu did not interject. She stared at the small mirror surface, and a segment of an old shadow slowly emerged from within.

It was not a human shadow, but an extremely narrow Cold Mirror Workshop, hanging deep within the inner wall of the Grey Fire Well, surrounded by inverted mirror teeth.

The mirror teeth were interlocked with the Royal Court's bronze beams, as if someone had installed a ring of teeth around the Fire Well using Cold Mirrors.

Between those mirror teeth, an old war order was pressed. Only a corner of the war order was visible; there were no complete characters on it, only half of a Northern Border Cold Mirror military crest.

Ning Yanqiu's fingertips tightened slightly, and the frost-white feather patterns behind Master Crow's shoulders lit up, as if responding to her emotions.

Ning Huaixue said: "This is the first layer of the old records. Further down is the war evaluation where your father's line was suppressed."

Ning Yanqiu finally spoke, her voice soft but clear: "Why hand it over now?"

In the mirror reflection, Ning Huaixue's hand pressed onto the mirror album, her knuckles turning whiter, as if she were using all her strength to suppress something: "Because the Duan Jun Living Registry Anchor has already fallen. Because the Pei Family's return buckle has been seized by you. Because if we wait any longer, Patriarch Ning Zhenyue will seal the Mirror Repository entrance first."

Qiao Ye frowned upon hearing this: "Isn't the head of the Ning Family protecting her?"

Wen Zhao whispered: "Protecting her also means controlling her."

Ning Huaixue heard him and said indifferently: "Patriarch Ning Zhenyue is not a bad person. He is just the head of the Ning Family."

As soon as these words fell, the frost in Ning Yanqiu's eyes deepened.

She understood that Patriarch Ning Zhenyue would give her resources, protect her from being suppressed by outsiders, and would also pull her back to a position the family could control before the old accounts caught fire.

What he wanted was for the Ning Family not to lose again. But what she wanted was not to lock the old accounts back up; she wanted to know who had been the rearguard that year, who had altered the orders, and who had pinned the defeat on her father's lineage.

She raised her hand and pushed the Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal another inch into the small mirror surface.

Ning Huaixue immediately said: "Enough."

Ning Yanqiu did not withdraw, her gaze burning: "I haven't seen the signature yet."

Ning Huaixue's voice grew heavier, carrying an unquestionable warning: "Yanqiu."

"I know what I am doing."

"Do you know the consequences?"

"I do." Ning Yanqiu looked at the old war order in the mirror, enunciating every word: "Once this old record is hung in the front-line logs, the Ning Family won't be able to say I'm just using Lu Jin's path to stir up old cases. I will take responsibility myself. Whether it's the suppression of the war evaluation or the loss of the old line, if Patriarch Ning Zhenyue wants to ask, let him ask me."

Ning Huaixue was silent.

Outside the mirror reflection, Instructor Han Tiecheng did not speak. Qiao Ye also shut his mouth. Wen Zhao gripped the Line-Marking Nail, his fingertips tightening slightly. Lu Jin stood beside Ning Yanqiu, not answering for her; he simply pushed the half-gate fire line back a little, so the grey fire of the Duan Jun Living Registry Anchor would no longer disturb the surroundings. The back groove of the workshop quieted down.

This segment was Ning Yanqiu's own line. She had to illuminate it herself.

The Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal pierced into the small mirror surface, and several black cracks immediately emerged from beneath the mirror, as if trying to snap the cold light from within. Master Crow spread its wings abruptly, and two auxiliary ravens pressed against the left and right sides of the mirror, the frost-white feather patterns suppressing the edges of the cracks. Ning Yanqiu's wrist shook, and red frost rolled down from her sleeve.

Wu Fu grabbed a handful of cold ash, her tail tip curling in anxiety: "If you illuminate one more inch, I will wrap your hand into a cocoon of ash!"

Ning Yanqiu did not turn back, her voice steady: "Leave half an inch for now."

Wu Fu stamped her feet in anger: "This person knows how to haggle?"

Nail Bone snorted: "Vanguards are all like this; with only half a life left, they still say they can keep going."

Lu Jin's gaze shifted upon hearing this. Ning Yanqiu, however, seemed not to hear it. She pressed the Auxiliary Seal above the old war order, and the cold white light burrowed into the fissure of the war order. A line of old characters emerged—

Northern Border Vanguard Battalion. Ruptured Furnace outer seal. Rearguard review.

Below the old characters was another, smaller line of war evaluation annotations. Most of that line had been burned away, leaving only a few fragmented words, which were gradually revealed by the Cold Mirror light.

Vanguard line broken. Main evaluation downgraded. Excluded from major merits.

Ning Yanqiu's breathing lightened for a moment.

"Rearguard."

She kept these two words very low, as if talking to herself, or as if confirming with someone unseen. The charges of defeat and unauthorized departure from the vanguard could not be pinned on this sub-item. This sub-item recorded a rearguard review. Yet the result of the war evaluation was a broken line, a downgrade, and exclusion from major merits.

These lines of text were very short, so short it felt like the person writing the evaluation back then just wanted to cover it up quickly.

Ning Yanqiu looked at them, and the frost in her eyes gradually steadied. When she was young, she had heard such words many times—the old Royal Court battle line was broken, the Cold Mirror vanguard had failed to hold, and Ning Zhaochuan's lineage needed to be reined in. The Ning Family could provide resources and opportunities, but they must not push this line toward major war merits again. None of those words were insults; each one was like a stamp pressed onto a file.

Now, under the stamp, a line reading "Rearguard review" had been revealed.

Ning Huaixue's mirror album trembled slightly, and her voice carried a hint of imperceptible tension: "It only explains one segment. It still can't overturn the war evaluation."

Ning Yanqiu looked at that line, her gaze as if nailed to it: "One segment is enough."

Lu Jin spoke: "Wen Zhao."

Wen Zhao immediately stepped forward half a pace: "Here."

"In the public record, only write that a rearguard review appeared in the Cold Mirror old archive sub-item; do not write Ning Zhaochuan."

Ning Yanqiu turned to look at him. Lu Jin also looked at her, his gaze calm: "Leave the name as a secret mark. If you put the name out now, the Ning Family will be forced to take you down first."

Ning Yanqiu looked at him for two breaths, then nodded: "Good."

Wen Zhao separated the two Line-Marking Nails, placing one in the public record and pressing the other into the secret mark slot. As soon as the end of the spike lit up, the old war order in the small mirror suddenly flipped. When it flipped, the gear teeth of the Cold Mirror Workshop behind the mirror surface all lit up. Those cold teeth interlocked with the Royal Court's bronze teeth, and in a short breath, they strung the workshop's back groove, the Duan Jun Living Registry Anchor, and the old war order into a thin, cold-white line.

Ning Yanqiu's Cold Mirror Auxiliary Seal changed accordingly. Previously, she could only press the gear shadows and the well vents at the entrance, but now this Auxiliary Seal adhered to the back teeth of the inner ring's old workshop for the first time, illuminating the location of the old war order. The cold white light no longer just sealed a small empty segment; it followed the old teeth downward, briefly illuminating the inch where the workshop and the war order overlapped.

Only an inch.

But in that inch, the war order, the workshop, and the Well Heart Line were all present.

Grey Pupil whispered: "She has connected to the inner ring's back teeth."

Nail Bone said: "She only connected one bite."

Wu Fu immediately retorted: "One bite is still brighter than that pathetic fire you had when you just woke up."

Nail Bone sneered: "When the Nest Mother feels sorry for someone, her mouth is still not clean."

Wu Fu smeared cold ash onto Ning Yanqiu's sleeve, saying irritably: "Shut up, I'm marking your account."

Ning Yanqiu's fingertips trembled from the application of cold ash, and she finally withdrew the Auxiliary Seal by an inch. Master Crow also pressed its wings back behind her shoulders.

The small mirror did not dissipate immediately. Inside the mirror, more corners of the old war order were revealed. The war order was broken into two pieces; the left half was pressed by the Cold Mirror teeth, while the right half seemed to have been burned through by some kind of dark gold seal.

Ning Huaixue's voice came from the mirror reflection, carrying a hint of exhaustion: "Yanqiu, don't illuminate any more. You have already obtained enough."

Ning Yanqiu looked at the broken order, her gaze stubborn: "The signature is still missing."

"The signature is inside the break."

"I know."

"You cannot illuminate it right now."

Ning Yanqiu was silent. Her fingertips moved slightly in the cold ash, as if measuring something.

Lu Jin spoke: "Wait for next time."

Ning Yanqiu did not look at him, her voice very soft: "It might be sealed by next time."

"We already have the coordinates." Lu Jin raised his hand, and the Duan Jun Living Registry Anchor lit up on the second layer of the war map, "And we have the old archive number."

Wen Zhao added: "And the secret mark."

Qiao Ye patted his shield and grinned: "And the bridge."

Wu Fu said coldly: "And the cold ash. Although I don't want to use it again."

Ning Yanqiu looked at them. The sharpness in her eyes did not recede, but that tightly wound, rigid tension finally loosened a little.

"Good," she said.

"Next time."