Her words left everyone sighing with emotion.

Ji Yunshu took small steps forward, walking beside Zhang Daqi as she spoke. “Among those who died, the killer also lost his beloved son. He was heartbroken and grief-stricken, spending his days in melancholy and nearly seeking death himself, until one day…” She raised the yellowed paper in her hand that looked like it might crumble at the slightest breeze. “He discovered this paper left by his ancestors and saw these thirty-two characters on it. Only then did he learn that beneath the Buddha statue’s base was a dried-up well. So, to prevent the Zhang Family Village’s strange occurrences from continuing, he began the ritual… that the Zhang family ancestors had left unfinished years ago.”

Eh!

It was as if a gust of sinister wind slowly crept in.

Making everyone shudder all over.

Their arms wrapped around themselves, trembling!

Hearing this, Jing Yi coldly rebuked, “Stop spreading such alarmist nonsense here. What ritual? What thirty-two characters? This is clearly something you fabricated to deliberately exonerate Zhang Daqi.”

Jingrong immediately retorted, “This is genuine evidence, absolutely true. How is it alarmist talk? This is far more substantiated than you coming empty-handed with no evidence and declaring Zhang Daqi the murderer.”

“You…”

“Why doesn’t Prince Yi have the patience to continue listening?”

“…”

Jing Yi’s face turned livid.

He let out a cold snort.

An invisible raging fire seemed to burn between the two of them.

Seeing this, Magistrate Li hastily intervened, asking Ji Yunshu, “Master Ji, may I ask where you obtained this paper in your hand?”

Ji Yunshu replied, “I obtained it from Zhang Daqi’s home.”

“Then does this mean the killer is Zhang Daqi?”

“No, the killer is not him.”

“Then who is it?”

Ji Yunshu stared at Zhang Daqi, who was kneeling on the ground trembling, and said, “It’s his father, Zhang Yicheng.”

Conclusive!

Zhang Yicheng.

Hearing these three words, Village Chief Zhang looked utterly astonished, as if struck on the head.

Zhang Yicheng—he knew him!

“No… impossible! How could it be Old Man Zhang? How could he kill anyone?”

Zhang Daqi was also extremely agitated, opening his mouth with “Ah, ah, ah” sounds repeatedly, but couldn’t form words.

Magistrate Li asked, “Master Ji, do you have evidence?”

“Of course I do!”

She took out a handkerchief and displayed the small black object wrapped inside before everyone, then produced the square silver piece she had removed from Old Man Zhang’s wheelchair.

Then, she recounted all the conclusions she had previously reached in the Ministry of Justice’s main hall.

The killer suffered from dry bone disease.

When killing, some medicine rubbed onto Gao Meng’s ear.

When Silly Four witnessed this, the killer rolled out in his wheelchair when the lights went out in the Zhang family ancestral hall and killed Silly Four with a silver needle.

“As long as we find Old Man Zhang, we’ll know whether he applied this kind of medicine to his hands. Most importantly, his ability to so precisely insert the silver needle into Silly Four’s skull in the darkness shows his eyes are different from ordinary people’s. If we have Divine Physician Master Mo from Yuhua Pavilion examine him, we’ll naturally know.” After saying this, she looked at Jing Yi again. “As for Prince Yi writing in his case report that he considers Zhang Daqi the killer because Zhang Daqi’s blood was on that stone—this is an even more ridiculous claim, completely without logical evidence.”

Ha ha!

Jing Yi said, “Master Ji, you personally verified the blood on that stone. Are you saying it was false?”

“Of course not false.”

“Since it’s not false, then explain this: if the killer wasn’t Zhang Daqi, why was there both the victim’s blood and Zhang Daqi’s blood on the stone?”

Ji Yunshu wore a contemptuous smile. “It seems Prince Yi didn’t listen carefully to those thirty-two characters just now.”

“…”

“‘Mix with blood, beneath the Buddha in the well’—this means that to complete the ritual, one must mix fresh blood with the dead person’s blood and place it in the well. So every time Old Man Zhang killed someone, he would draw blood from his son’s face, because the cleanest, freshest blood in the human body is facial blood.”

Hmm?

Jing Yi refuted, “But if there were eight people, why are there only seven scars on Zhang Daqi’s face?”

He seemed to have caught Ji Yunshu’s oversight and planned to trample on it ruthlessly.

But instead—

“Not only did Prince Yi fail to listen carefully to those thirty-two characters, apparently his eyes don’t observe carefully either.” Ji Yunshu stepped forward and swept back Zhang Daqi’s hair with one motion, revealing the eighth scar from his ear root to his jawbone.

The truth revealed!

Zhang Daqi made “Eh, eh, eh” sounds.

Tears streaming down.

And Jing Yi was like someone pushed to the edge of a cliff, with rocks tumbling around his feet—one careless moment and he would fall into the bottomless abyss.

Unwilling to concede, he grasped at one last straw and demanded, “Then how do you explain why Gao Meng went to that ruined temple at the hour of the dog? Where did the tiger skin scent on his hands come from? If you can’t explain this clearly, then all of this is something you fabricated.”

Ji Yunshu remained silent.

Jingrong, however, calmly and unhurriedly snapped his fingers.

Immediately, someone carried in a tiger skin.

And threw it on the ground.

The tiger skin had a very strong smell.

Hmm?

He explained, “This is a fine tiger skin Old Man Zhang treasured, not yet completely deodorized. Like the tiger skin Gao Meng brought to the capital, it came from South Forest. This prince has already investigated—Old Man Zhang went to Anlang in South Forest six years ago. Presumably, he and Gao Meng were acquainted. That’s why he knew Gao Meng was born in a yin year and yin month. When Gao Meng came to the capital on business a few days ago, he knew about it early on. In this prince’s estimation, he probably used the pretext that he had a tiger skin to sell to lure him to that ruined temple at the hour of the dog. When the two discussed the transaction, naturally the tiger skin scent remained on their hands.”

“Utter nonsense,” Jing Yi rebuked.

“Since Prince Yi thinks it’s utter nonsense, then how do you explain the bizarre deaths of those victims and what Master Ji just described?”

“This…” He was left speechless and looked at Wen Shisan beside him.

Wen Shisan understood his meaning—clearly he wanted him to salvage the situation.

However—

Wen Shisan stepped forward and actually said, “The manner of death of those victims was indeed bizarre. Before this, I too was utterly perplexed. But having just heard Master Ji’s and Prince Rong’s explanations, the doubts in my heart are finally resolved. It appears Zhang Daqi was indeed wrongly accused, and the killer is actually his father, Zhang Yicheng.”

Eh!

What?

Jing Yi was utterly shocked, his face darkening to the extreme.

He never expected to be bitten by his own dog.

“Shisan, you…”

“Your Highness, I am merely discussing the facts. What Master Ji said truly has evidence and proof.”

Veins bulged on Jing Yi’s forehead, his fists clenched tight.

A flash of murderous intent burst from his eyes.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Just then, someone in the crowd of onlooking common people began coughing violently.

A man wearing a conical hat, with a hunched form, struggled to push through the crowd and walked in step by step. His shoes were extremely tattered, still dripping with muddy, turbid water.

As he entered, he removed the conical hat from his head, revealing a weathered face covered in wrinkles.

Old Man Zhang!