Ji Yunshu supported herself to stand and walked before him.

“During the autopsy, I discovered a burn mark on the back of Zhao Zhiwen’s hand, as if injured by a scalding iron object. So I thought, the place where he was killed must have had some hot iron object within reach. I had Ziran search the Wenlai Pavilion from top to bottom, and sure enough, he found that place—right behind the Wenlai Pavilion’s kitchen. There’s a very large iron pot there, normally used specifically for warming food, so the pot’s temperature is very high. On the surrounding ground, we indeed found some bloodstains that had been washed away. As long as we test them, we can confirm it’s Zhao Zhiwen’s blood. This shows he was killed inside the Wenlai Pavilion.”

Someone asked, “Was he killed when he returned from outside?”

“Impossible!” Ji Yunshu rejected this. “That night, a night watchman was too tired, so he rested near the back door of the Wenlai Pavilion for a long time, not leaving until after the hour of xu. During that entire period, he didn’t see anyone come out from inside. Even people passing by on the street didn’t see Zhao Zhiwen. Combined with the location of his death, the only explanation… is that he never went out at all that night.”

Huh?

She looked at Liu Zhinan and continued, “You said you personally saw Zhao Zhiwen leave the Wenlai Pavilion at the hour of xu. You were clearly lying.”

What?

Liu Zhinan froze, then said in panic, “I… didn’t. I truly saw with my own eyes that he went out. Perhaps that watchman remembered the time wrong, or saw incorrectly. After all, it was already late. The watchman couldn’t possibly keep staring at that door the whole time, could he?” Liu Zhinan argued unreasonably.

These words weren’t without merit.

Ji Yunshu smiled slightly and said, “You killed someone, yet you still won’t admit it?”

“Lord Ji, you keep saying Zhao Zhiwen was killed by me. Is it solely based on your claim that I’m lying?”

“Of course not just that.” Ji Yunshu stepped closer to him, her expression cold and ruthless. “Although you copied the murderer’s methods used to kill Jiao Shiniang and Xing Xiyang—peeling off Zhao Zhiwen’s facial skin and putting a mask on him, thinking this would be flawless and no one would suspect you—precisely because you made the surface too perfect, you overlooked many details within, causing you to make numerous mistakes.”

Her words struck like a hammer!

At this moment, the Minister of Justice descended from his elevated seat and stood to the side.

Liu Zhinan’s eyes widened. Due to Ji Yunshu’s every word, his face turned deathly pale, no longer able to maintain composure. He said agitatedly, “In any case… I didn’t kill anyone. Zhao Zhiwen wasn’t killed by me. It has nothing to do with me.”

“I haven’t finished speaking. You needn’t rush to deny it!” Ji Yunshu’s voice was low and heavy. “Let me first explain where your mistakes lie! Starting with the murderer peeling facial skin—Mujin’s killing method was to only peel the facial skin, but Zhao Zhiwen’s facial skin was peeled together with the skin from behind the ears. This is the first difference. The second… are those masks.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Jingrong gave Lang Bo a meaningful glance.

A moment later, Lang Bo brought out those three masks.

Ox demon.

Horse demon.

Snake demon.

Among them, the snake demon and ox demon masks had become somewhat blurred from being in water.

When he saw those masks, Liu Zhinan stepped back slightly, a trace of guilt clearly flashing in his eyes.

Ji Yunshu secretly took in all his expressions. She pointed at those three masks and said, “These three masks seem to have nothing unusual about them, but the snake demon mask worn on Zhao Zhiwen’s face is different from the other two.”

Different?

How are they different?

Everyone in the court looked at those three masks. Apart from one being an ox, one a horse, and one a snake, there didn’t seem to be any other differences!

The Minister of Justice asked, “Lord Ji, what’s different about these masks?”

“Of course there is!” she said. “It’s the pigment used to paint the masks. In ancient times, the most commonly used pigment for painting masks was mineral-based. Very few places would use colors extracted from plants. These two different types of pigments show different phenomena after being exposed to water.”

Hmm?

Everyone waited quietly.

She picked up the ox demon and horse demon masks and displayed them to Liu Zhinan.

“These are the two masks worn on Jiao Shiniang and Xing Xiyang’s faces. After these two masks got wet, the pigment on them, when it spread, formed many fine particles. However…” As she spoke, she picked up the snake demon mask. “This is the mask worn on Zhao Zhiwen’s face. After the mask touched water, the spread pigment was very viscous with no fine particles. That’s because the pigment on the ox demon and horse demon masks was extracted from plants, while the pigment on the snake demon mask was extracted from minerals. These types of demon ghost masks come from the pastoral tribes of the far north, and the pigments they use all come from plants, not minerals. All of this is sufficient to prove that the murderer who killed Zhao Zhiwen and the murderer who killed Jiao Shiniang and Xing Xiyang are two different people. So I sent people to secretly inquire at all the major mask shops in the capital, one by one. In the end, at a mask shop in the northern part of the city, I found the answer I wanted. The owner of that mask shop has already admitted that on that night, a man wearing a conical hat asked him to paint a demon ghost type mask, then gave him a sum of silver and forbade him from telling anyone about this matter. But with a blade at one’s throat, some people will still be afraid.”

Liu Zhinan let out a cold laugh. “What does this prove? Based on this alone, can you determine that the person who commissioned the mask was me? That the person who killed Zhao Zhiwen was also me?”

Ridiculous.

At this moment—

A voice came from the doorway: “Go in.”

Shi Ziran was seen dragging a man inside. The man cowered timidly.

When he saw this man, Liu Zhinan completely panicked.

“Lord Ji, the person has been brought.” Shi Ziran said.

Seeing so many bailiffs present, the man was frightened into trembling all over. He immediately knelt down, crying and wailing, “Benevolent lord, this humble one has committed no crime!”

Ji Yunshu directly asked him, “Take a look—is the person who came to you that day to paint the demon ghost mask here?”

“Yes.” The man raised his head, his eyes searching intently throughout the hall. Finally, they landed on Liu Zhinan. He pointed with his hand. “It’s him. The person who came to find me to paint a mask that night was him. He even gave me a sum of silver and forbade me to tell anyone. Benevolent lord, this humble one truly hasn’t done anything bad!”

“Don’t you dare slander me!” Liu Zhinan shouted in rebuke.

“I… I’m not lying. My eyes aren’t blind either. Although you were wearing a conical hat that day, I’ve been observing people for most of my life. I wouldn’t remember your height and build incorrectly. And your voice—they’re exactly the same. The person who came to me to paint the mask was definitely you.” Absolutely certain.

“You…” Liu Zhinan was struck speechless, covered in sweat.

Ji Yunshu glanced at his feet, then continued, “At that time, around the abandoned pond grew a ring of algae, including a type called black moss. If one stepped on it…”