She put on the gloves she had prepared earlier and gently lifted Li Yuan’s chin.

Pointing at the layer of everted flesh on his neck, she said, “An ordinary sword or blade could not possibly cut a wound this cleanly. Therefore, the murder weapon must be extremely sharp.”

As she spoke, her fingers exerted force, lifting Li Yuan’s chin even higher!

The flesh that had already begun to stick together made soft tearing sounds, and the viscous blood that hadn’t completely dried seeped out bit by bit from within.

It flowed to the edge of her clean robe!

At the same time, it also revealed a small section of throat bone stained with blood.

She continued, “By rights, such a sharp blade should be able to cut through even a small section of throat bone. This shows that the murderer struck at very close range to the victim. Thus, even with such a sharp blade, only a third of its force was demonstrated—not enough to sever the entire head.”

Fang Mingsan asked, “But Young Master Ji, how does this identify the murderer?”

“Your Honor, don’t be impatient.”

She inserted her finger into Li Yuan’s throat, pressing on the joint where the throat bones connected. “On this throat bone, there are obvious traces of being cut by a blade. But what’s strange is that if the murder weapon were a blade sharpened to a keen edge with a smooth cutting surface, it would be impossible to leave such an uneven, rough cut on the throat bone—as if it had been gnawed by something small. But coincidentally, the trace on Li Yuan’s throat bone is exactly this type.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Mingsan’s bottom left his pear wood chair, half his body leaning over the desk, craning his neck to look into Li Yuan’s throat.

The crowd also looked curiously.

Sure enough, it was true.

If it were an ordinary blade, there was no way it could leave such uneven, gnaw-like traces on the throat bone.

“What does this prove?” Fang Mingsan asked.

“It proves that the murder weapon wasn’t a sword, but a blade—a blade with fine serrations on its edge and extremely sharp.”

As soon as this conclusion was drawn, everyone’s eyes shifted to Yun Tongyang.

Everyone knew that the blades of Dragon Yang Escort Agency were exactly this shape!

Yun Tongyang bristled, immediately sneering in rebuttal, “Although this Yun’s Dragon Yang Escort Agency customarily uses this type of serrated blade, the world is vast—my Dragon Yang Escort Agency is not the only one that uses them.”

There was nothing wrong with this statement!

Ji Yinshu wasn’t hurried either. Her fingers picked out several fine fibers from Li Yuan’s throat.

Those fibers were all stained red with blood!

Displaying them before everyone, “When I examined Li Yuan’s body earlier, I found this type of fiber in his mouth, throat, and under his fingernails. I also discovered traces on his pillow showing it had been grabbed. One can imagine that when the murderer entered the room, he originally intended to smother him with the pillow, but didn’t expect that Li Yuan had great strength. The murderer was worried he would break free, so in his panic, he used the blade to kill him. Killing at close range, thus unable to sever the head.”

Yun Tongyang’s eyes trembled!

Then, Ji Yinshu lifted Li Yuan’s curled fingers and extracted several more fibers from under his nails.

Slowly standing up, she said, “Perhaps Heaven was helping him too, letting him leave all the evidence pointing to the murderer in his hands before he died.”

Fang Mingsan: “Can these fibers be considered evidence?”

“Of course.” She turned toward Yun Tongyang. “These few fibers are different from those in Li Yuan’s mouth and on the pillow. They’re not even from his own clothes or from any objects in his room, but from you, Escort Leader Yun.”

“Mine? What nonsense are you spouting? I never had any contact with Li Yuan.”

“You can lie, but this evidence cannot.” She said, “These few fibers are from your clothes, Escort Leader Yun. If I’m not mistaken, the clothing on the back of your arm should have traces of being grabbed and torn.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Tongyang immediately stepped back two paces, deliberately trying to conceal it.

Chief Zhang had sharp eyes and walked around behind him to look.

He exclaimed, “Young Master Ji, the clothing on the back of his arm really does have traces of pulled threads—these fibers are his.”

Yun Tongyang’s face darkened, and murderous intent suddenly burst forth from his eyes.

He said, “So whoever has pulled threads on their clothing is the murderer?”

“Escort Leader Yun, you need not argue or dodge. Indeed, there are countless fabrics with this type of fiber—you’re not the only one who has them, so this alone cannot prove you’re the murderer. But what truly proves you’re the murderer is actually the scent on these fibers.”

Scent?

The scent of the fibers?

Everyone was puzzled!

Ji Yinshu rubbed the fibers between her fingers, lifting her chin slightly. “On the fibers, there’s a scent of flour.”

Flour?

“If it were just ordinary flour scent, that would be one thing, but this flour scent carries a fragrance of sandalwood. Recently, Dragon Yang Escort Agency has been transporting a batch of tribute flour from Liangcheng to the capital, hasn’t it? They say the flour from Liangcheng is soft but not loose, and even has a unique sandalwood fragrance. Since Escort Leader Yun has had contact with that batch of flour, his clothing naturally carries this scent.”

Chief Zhang sniffed with his nose. “It really is true.”

Ji Yinshu: “Escort Leader Yun, whether it’s the murder weapon or the fibers, and you even knew about the secret passage in Li Mingzhou’s study—all kinds of evidence are sufficient to prove that you killed Li Yuan. The evidence is irrefutable, and you cannot deny it.”

The conclusion drawn!

The next moment, Yun Tongyang finally revealed bloodthirsty eyes and that ferocious, terrifying face.

Like a fierce beast crouching in a dark forest!

He laughed coldly.

“I thought I had hidden it extremely well, but I didn’t expect you to still discover it.”

Ji Yinshu said mildly, “All murderers have foolishly thought the same thing at one time.”

He laughed again.

And Fang Mingsan immediately ordered, “Men, arrest the criminal Yun Tongyang.”

“Yes!”

The constables came forward.

But—

Before several constables could get close, they were struck back by a few of his palm strikes.

“Audacious Yun Tongyang! In the public court, you dare to strike and injure people! Men, arrest him and give him thirty heavy strokes with the paddle!”

How could the others be a match for Yun Tongyang!

Even when Chief Zhang and several constables rushed forward together, in the end they were no match.

Crash and clatter!

Blades fell to the ground one after another, and several constables fell to the floor.

Wounded and unable to rise.

Yun Tongyang roared, “A mere Yuzhou county yamen thinks it can put me to death? Delusional fantasy!”

He was still surrounded by some junior constables.

Ji Yinshu said, “Yun Tongyang, you cannot escape. From the moment you were brought in, everything outside has already been arranged. As soon as you walk out the yamen gates, the archers outside will pierce you with ten thousand arrows.”

He was not intimidated in the slightest!

“You all underestimate me far too much.”

“Are you still hoping for people from Dragon Yang Escort Agency to come rescue you?” Ji Yinshu curled her lips. “The moment you were arrested and brought into the yamen, all the people from your Dragon Yang Escort Agency were immediately locked up in prison.”

“You’re lying!”

Suddenly—

A voice came from the doorway!

“This Young Master Ji is not lying.”

Liu Daren walked in with measured steps.

Yun Tongyang was surprised. “Liu Daren?”

The official in charge of tribute transport in the Yuzhou area—Liu Daren?

Why would he appear here?

Liu Daren said, “Escort Leader Yun, regarding this matter of the Liangcheng flour, didn’t you ever think there might be something suspicious about it? For many years, your Dragon Yang Escort Agency has used its status as an official government agency to profit repeatedly, privately taking tribute goods, secretly altering the predetermined quantities of tribute. The court has been watching you for a long time. When Liangcheng transported tribute goods this time, the reason I didn’t tell you what was inside was flour was because I wanted to test whether your escort agency would tamper with it. The boxes transporting the flour were made of premium camphor wood, which absolutely could not leak when exposed to water, unless you privately opened the tribute boxes intending to take the tribute for yourselves. This is what caused the flour inside to become damp and clump together. The evidence is irrefutable—not one person from your Dragon Yang Escort Agency can escape. Right now, all the people from your agency have been locked in prison. No one will come to rescue you.”

So it was—

This was a massive conspiracy!

Yun Tongyang’s face filled with shock, and that earlier murderous aura gradually dissipated.