He had always thought he had victory in his grasp!

His mouth kept muttering, “Impossible, it’s impossible!”

Liu Daren straightened his back. Having said everything that needed to be said, he cupped his hands toward Fang Mingsan. “Magistrate Fang, now that everyone is already in prison, I’ll trouble you to report this to the court.”

“Lord Liu can rest assured.”

“I still need to handle the follow-up matters with Dragon Yang Escort Agency, so I won’t stay any longer.”

Liu Daren hurriedly left again!

At this moment, facing this three-layer encirclement inside and out, Yun Tongyang’s heart had already turned to ashes!

He threw his head back and laughed loudly!

“To think that I, Yun Tongyang, have been clever all my life, yet foolish for a moment!”

Li Mingzhou, who had been choking back tears in silence, said to him, “Big Brother, things have already come to this point. No one can escape.”

Who would have known—

Yun Tongyang swayed his body, his face full of malice. “Fifth Brother, oh Fifth Brother, you can rest assured. If I cannot escape, neither can you. I won’t go on the road alone—I’m taking you with me to be buried alongside me.”

“What?”

“Did you think that cup of tea you drank earlier was just an ordinary cup of tea?”

“You…”

“The tea was poisoned. I specially prepared it for you. Fifth Brother, don’t blame me for being vicious. Everything was just a precaution.”

Having finished speaking, he laughed loudly.

Li Mingzhou clutched his chest, unable to believe it!

Then, his chest felt as if it were being corroded by something, churning and burning. A mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth.

His body went limp and collapsed to the ground!

The next moment, Muruo rushed out from the side. His index and middle fingers pressed together, he struck heavily at a point three inches below the back of Li Mingzhou’s neck, then grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse for a moment.

Then he took out a pill and stuffed it into his mouth.

“He won’t die!” Muruo said.

After taking the medicine, Li Mingzhou was helped by constables to sit to the side.

Yun Tongyang didn’t believe it. “Impossible! That was crane’s crest red. He can’t be fine.”

“The poison is indeed deadly, but you just had to brew a pot of good tea. Didn’t anyone tell you that when jasmine tea is mixed with crane’s crest red, the toxicity won’t travel from the throat to the heart until six hours later? As long as the antidote is administered within six hours, it will only harm the body but won’t be fatal.”

He didn’t know that!

No one had ever told him that!

His face was ashen, but in his heart—such hatred!

The Dragon Yang Escort Agency he had worked so hard to build was gone, and now he had fallen to such a state. Furious in his heart, he directed all his hatred toward Ji Yinshu.

Pointing angrily, “It’s you who caused me to be in such a wretched state! I, Yun Tongyang, in all my life, have actually fallen into the hands of a scholar like you! Even if I die, I’m taking you with me as my burial companion!”

Having finished speaking, he leaped up and sprang before Ji Yinshu, his five fingers curling into a claw. He was about to grasp at Ji Yinshu’s delicate neck.

If he really grabbed hold, with just three parts of his strength, Ji Yinshu’s neck would surely break.

But how could he know that Jingrong was nearby!

Before his hand could touch even a single hair on Ji Yinshu’s head, Jingrong drew the blade from a constable’s hand, aimed at his target, and fiercely hacked down.

It struck right on Yun Tongyang’s arm.

Afterward, Jingrong kicked out with one foot, kicking him to the ground, and constables firmly seized him.

His arm injured and his chest kicked, Yun Tongyang was like a tiger whose fangs had been pulled—no longer capable of striking back.

Jingrong’s gloomy eyes carried a cold light as he looked at Yun Tongyang struggling weakly on the ground and said, “Yun Tongyang, you’d best honestly confess your crimes. And if you dare harm even a single hair on Young Master Ji’s head, this prince will take your head on the spot.”

Fierce and severe!

Yun Tongyang pressed his bleeding arm and exclaimed in shock, “You’re Prince Rong?”

“Must this prince carve these two characters on his forehead?”

No need, thank you!

The corners of Yun Tongyang’s lips turned white, and he could no longer utter another word.

Fang Mingsan said, “Yun Tongyang, now the evidence is irrefutable—you killed Li Yuan without doubt. This official will memorialize the court to convict you. Men, escort him to the heavenly prison to await his sentence.”

“Wait!”

Ji Yinshu stopped them.

“Does Young Master Ji have other matters?”

She said, “Since Li Yuan’s death has already been investigated clearly, then we should also investigate clearly the other three murder cases where victims were claimed by vengeful spirits.”

“Does Young Master Ji mean that the murderer might also be Yun Tongyang?”

“No.” She directly denied it, then looked at Yun Tongyang, her expression grave, and asked, “I wonder if Escort Leader Yun still remembers an old matter that occurred twenty years ago?”

Yun Tongyang’s eyes widened, full of astonishment!

He didn’t answer.

“If you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you.” She said, “Twenty years ago, the late emperor passed away. That same year, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the various nations of Dalin all sent gifts to the capital. However, when passing through the northern border region, they were unexpectedly robbed clean. That batch of stolen treasures was priceless. At the time, officials from the Ministry of Rites secretly sent people to investigate for a long time, but found no leads. It was also that same year that the Flowing Gang disbanded, and all seven leaders completely disappeared. No one knew where they went, and no one knew what actually happened at the time. For the number one gang in the jianghu to disband—there must surely have been unspeakable secrets involved, right?”

Upon hearing this, everyone seemed to understand somewhat.

Fang Mingsan said, “Does the young master mean that the batch of treasures back then was the work of the Flowing Gang?”

“That depends on what Escort Leader Yun has to say.”

Yun Tongyang knelt gasping on the ground, raising his dark eyes. With death approaching, he no longer argued.

He laughed weakly, “That’s right, we robbed that batch of treasures. So what? I’m going to die anyway. What’s there to fear about adding another crime?”

“You’re wrong. I’m not trying to pin another crime on you, but rather want to know—among your seven men, did one person die twenty years ago?”

Uh!

Among the seven leaders, only six had appeared. Could it be that the seventh really died?

Yun Tongyang’s eyes darkened. “Why do you ask this?”

She said, “Lady Li told me that twenty years ago, after you seven robbed that batch of treasures, there was a very intense argument among you. The next day, the Second Leader disappeared. You also quickly disbanded the Flowing Gang. So he didn’t disappear at all—you killed him.”

These words were no longer a question, but a statement of certainty.

Yun Tongyang narrowed his eyes. “Hmph, Second was a person who feared death. He was worried the court would investigate, so he wanted us to return all those treasures. It was because he himself was so cowardly that the six of us joined together to kill him and fed his corpse to the dogs. With that money, we no longer had to live on the knife’s edge, so we divided the money and each went our separate ways. What, are you trying to say that Second’s ghost has come back to take revenge on us and killed Wu Lei and those other three?”

“There are no ghosts or spirits in this world.”

“Then why don’t you explain how those three died?”

Ji Yinshu’s expression was grave. She walked two steps closer to him, lowered her body, and looked directly into his eyes.

She said, “If what Lady Li said is correct, that Second Leader should have had a three-year-old son back then, right?”

In that instant, Yun Tongyang’s face froze.

His palms clenched tight.

After a delay, he gradually came to his senses, shaking his head, muttering, “Impossible, that child… also died back then.”

Suddenly—

“He didn’t die!”

The one speaking was Li Mingzhou!

He lowered his head, his eyes vacant as he stared at the ground, and softly repeated once more, “Big Brother, that child… didn’t die.”

“How is that possible? I personally watched you feed him that bowl of poison.”

“That wasn’t poison.”