In the intermediate chamber of Entry hall 202. Meanwhile, the two students sat huddled upon a dry stone bench with their heads in their hands, Qiao Ming examined the taken away bronze signal-case.
The case was a heavy eight-sided metal tube, six inches long and two inches in width, forged from an unfamiliar, pale copper-alloy that lacked the warm reddish tones of deep-sea bronze. Its surface was engraved with the dense, militaristic survey grid of the Void-Cleaving Sect. Its cap was sealed with a thick button of red vermilion wax bearing the personal seal of Zhu Heling: a flying crane holding a star compass in its talons.
Qiao Ming sat upon a three-foot cut stone block, his horn lantern set between his bare feet.
He drew his bone scraper, carefully paring away the vermilion wax without damaging the impression of the crane. When the seal was cleared, he unscrewed the threaded bronze cap with a firm twist of his calloused thumbs.
Inside the metal tube, wrapped in oiled silk to protect it from moisture, lay a thin strip of white semi-clear jade four inches long—an Imperial Memory Slip.
He unrolled the silk, holding the jade slip before the yellow flame of the lantern.
