Exit platform above Tier Five, misty jade ledges and a glowing ranking obelisk at the center. Mei has just survived Han's attack and is coughing blood while prisoners gather around the scoreboard.

The public ranking updates. Han Yue's name passes Mei's in gold script, changing the mood of the platform instantly.

Tier Six opens into an enormous suspended ledger hall: jade abacuses hang from chains, stalls float on carved platforms, and oath seals burn above every trade counter.

Mei watches how oath seals enforce transactions in Tier Six before making any bargain herself.

Mei diagnoses her injuries and inventories what she needs to brew more lichen tincture.

Qiu Shisan observes Mei from a safe corner before approaching, already knowing what she is trying to hide.

Qiu approaches Mei, making it clear he knows about the forbidden tincture without saying it loudly enough for the hall to hear.

Mei and Qiu move to a screened alcove where Qiu proposes a trade: information for a future diagnosis.

Mei refuses vague terms until Qiu makes the bargain precise enough for the oath seal to accept.

Qiu explains that Han's clean speed does not match the normal arithmetic of the pagoda.

Qiu reveals the Sealing Stone at Tier One Hundred and what it can erase.

Qiu tells Mei that the empress saw something on the night Prince Zhao Rui died, connecting Han's goal to Mei's false conviction.

Mei questions Qiu's information, and he explains how the ledger market gathers secrets from failed climbers and court criminals.

Qiu explains the Sealing Stone's access conditions in plain terms: blood, rank, voice, confession, and recognition.

Mei realizes Han's interest in keeping her alive may serve the Sealing Stone's conditions, though the exact trap remains unclear.

The ranking obelisk announces that Han has cleared another threshold while Mei remains delayed in Tier Six.

The market's attitude shifts against Mei after Han's rise, making her more isolated and more expensive to help.

Mei brews and takes the forbidden lichen tincture in a hidden corner, stabilizing her injuries while the pagoda marks the cost.

Qiu gives Mei the last useful part of the bargain: the fastest route out of Tier Six and a warning not to challenge Han on his chosen ground.

Mei understands that the race is not only for freedom but for whether proof and memory will exist at all.

Mei clears Tier Six and steps toward the next ascent, carrying the cost of the tincture and the knowledge of Han's real goal.