Blackstone Repository did not look important.
That was Song Jia's first thought when the carriages stopped near the old northern road.
No towers.
No walls large enough to suggest a military site.
No Imperial banners.
Only a neglected stone compound sitting between low hills, half swallowed by trees and decades of abandonment.
Ding Wu stared at it.
"This is where they kept living subjects?"
Liang, who had been brought under guard to identify the historical site, shook his head.
"That is what the old classification said."
"You've never been here?"
"No."
Song Jia stepped down from the carriage.
Her gaze moved across the compound.
The others saw an abandoned building.
She saw contradictions.
"Don't approach the front gate."
The Palace guards stopped.
Ding Wu turned.
"Why?"
Jia pointed toward the road.
"Look at the ground."
He did.
Nothing obvious.
Sun Xun smiled faintly.
"You saw it too?"
"Yes."
Ding Wu looked between them.
"Saw what?"
Jia crouched.
