When Ji Yunshu regained consciousness and awoke—

Her vision remained pitch black.

Someone had blindfolded her.

She tried to move, but her body was bound to a chair, unable to budge. Even her mouth was stuffed with a cloth bundle, preventing her from speaking.

She could only hear the sounds of wind, trees, and faint water sounds by her ears.

Where was she?

She struggled with all her might, but her wrists only grew tighter.

The rope seemed to cut into her flesh.

Suddenly—

“That’s a dead knot. The more you struggle, the tighter it becomes.”

A woman’s voice.

It came from a direction less than three meters directly ahead.

Ji Yunshu couldn’t see who was before her, but that female voice felt somewhat familiar.

“Mmm mmm mmm…”

“Master Ji, no… I should call you Minister Ji instead. I never imagined we would meet in such a manner.” The woman spoke while walking toward her.

As the woman drew near, a faint fragrance simultaneously rushed into her nostrils—it was the scent of jasmine mixed with milk, the same one she had smelled in Jiao Shiniang’s room and when leaving the Longfu Inn.

So… the woman before her was the murderer behind the series of killings?

“Mmm mmm mmm…” She couldn’t make a sound.

The woman seemed to perceive her meaning: “Minister Ji is very familiar with this fragrance, aren’t you? It’s the spice that Jiao Shiniang brought into the capital, and also the fragrance you smelled when leaving the Longfu Inn. Because at that time… I was watching you from within the crowd. Actually, from the moment I entered the capital, I continuously gave you hints, telling you my killing times, locations, and methods. I even used masks and rope knots to tell you about my identity. I thought you were so clever, but even though you obtained so many clues, you still couldn’t catch me. Instead, you’ve become the target I now hunt. Minister Ji, oh Minister Ji, you’re nothing special after all.”

Having finished speaking!

The woman pulled out the cloth bundle stuffed in Ji Yunshu’s mouth. At the same time, she also tore off the black cloth strip over her eyes.

Despite it being nighttime, the dim light still made her instinctively blink several times before adjusting. As her vision grew clearer, she discovered she was bound to a chair with a large stone tied beneath her feet. She was positioned in a pavilion surrounded by lake water, encircled by tall trees and forest. The wind moved through the large trees with a rustling sound, conveying a somewhat eerie feeling. At the four corners of the pavilion hung four lanterns each, their faint light clearly illuminating the face of the woman standing before her.

It was a beautiful face with delicate features and snow-white skin.

She…

“Mujin?”

Impossible!

Wasn’t she already dead?

Ji Yunshu was shocked.

However, Mujin laughed at her shocked expression, eyebrows raised provocatively as she said, “Never expected… that I’m still alive, did you?”

“Aren’t you already dead?”

“Yes! I am already dead. But don’t forget—since I could use disguise techniques to impersonate Jiao Shiniang and enter the capital, I also have the ability to make someone… die in my place!”

“Why?” Ji Yunshu stared at her in shock and confusion, unable to sort out the threads of this matter!

A murderous glint shone through Mujin’s dark eyes: “Why? You ask why?”

“…”

“Don’t you love telling stories? Then today I’ll tell you one too.” Mujin moved around behind Ji Yunshu. Her pale, slender fingers lifted Ji Yunshu’s long hair, winding it around her fingers as she spoke: “Twenty-one years ago, a newly born infant was abandoned in deep snow. The cold turned the baby’s entire body purple. She cried incessantly, cried until her throat was hoarse, cried until she almost had no voice left. Several hungry wolves around her opened their bloody maws, revealing their bloodthirsty fangs as they lunged forward. At that moment, arrows shot forth, killing all those hungry wolves. The child was saved, but the person who saved her couldn’t keep her by their side, so they could only place her in a small farming household in Anfu County.”

After speaking, Mujin suddenly grabbed Ji Yunshu’s shoulders with her hands, bending down with her lips close to her ear, continuing: “The girl was both literary and martial, called a talented woman by people. But when one day she learned that her benefactor’s entire family had perished in flames, she felt death would be better than life. However, heaven still took pity on her. Just a year ago, the benefactor who escaped from the great fire found her. To repay her debt of gratitude, she would do anything at any cost. But in the end… the benefactor still died. She vowed she would definitely take revenge!”

Speaking to this point, Mujin’s voice choked slightly, but the murderous intent in her eyes grew even more intense.

She laughed coldly: “How about it? Is my story touching enough?”

The hands gripping Ji Yunshu’s shoulders also used exceptional force, as if wanting to dig out her shoulder bones.

Ji Yunshu endured the pain, her brow tightly furrowed: “If you wanted revenge, why did you kill Jiao Shiniang and Xing Xiyang?”

“They died because of you.”

“…”

“I just wanted to see how clever that Minister Ji praised by everyone truly was.”

“Those people were innocent.”

“Then the Duke deserved to die?” Mujin grabbed Ji Yunshu’s hair and yanked it downward forcefully.

Ji Yunshu was forced to tilt her head back, waves of pain transmitting from her scalp.

“It was that dog Emperor who caused the death of over seventy people from Duke Yuguo’s household. The one who deserves to die is that dog Emperor.” Mujin released her hair and walked before her, immediately reaching out to pinch Ji Yunshu’s jaw, as if wanting to crush it, eyes wide open as she said, “Ji Yunshu, everything, everything happened because of you. If you hadn’t opened the coffin, nothing the Duke arranged would have changed. It’s you, it’s you, it’s all because of you.”

That refined and elegant woman called a “talented woman” by the people of Anfu County had now gone mad.

Ji Yunshu met her fierce gaze: “Duke Yuguo failed in his rebellion back then. Fifteen years later, he again committed regicide and rebellion at Mount Ji. The various crimes he committed were all deserved. The lives on his hands number more than one.”

“Shut up!”

“Smack!”

Mujin slapped Ji Yunshu across the face.

As hard as possible!

This slap nearly stunned Ji Yunshu. Her head turned to the side, her left ear and head buzzing and ringing, as if all consciousness had left her.

Mujin pinched both her cheeks, forcing her to look at herself, saying viciously: “You people harmed the Duke. You people killed him. Today, I want you to pay with your life.”

“Give… give up.”

“Hmph!” Mujin dragged the chair, pulling her along with it to the edge of the pavilion where there was no railing, revealing an extremely savage face: “Ji Yunshu, do you remember that tune? ‘At the first watch, candles fall; at the second watch, buried in earth; at the third watch… still wandering in water.’ That last line… I prepared it for you.”

As expected—Zhao Zhiwen who died in the pond wasn’t killed by Mujin!