Li Shimin tremblingly raised his hand to pull out a jade ring pendant from around his neck. Duan Zhihong was extremely surprised – how could this… the Second Young Master’s pendant look so similar to the one he had found on the corpse? “Second Young Master, this is…”

Li Shimin swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he said: “I, eldest brother, Xuanba, Zhiyun, and several of our sisters all wear a peace pendant around our necks. These were carved by master craftsmen that father commissioned, and later blessed by Venerable Hui’an. They have the power to ward off evil and disaster, ensuring safe passage wherever we go. From the moment father gave them to us, we have worn them close to our bodies at all times, never removing them.”

Hearing this, Duan Zhihong’s expression also changed. Could it be… that the corpse belonged to someone from the Li family? As far as he knew, the Li family’s young ladies had all married long ago, and the Fourth Young Master – they were all not in Honghua Commandery. As for the eldest son, he had gone to Hedong two months ago, and the Fifth Young Master was currently in the residence. This meant… this peace pendant most likely belonged to the missing Third Young Master. And since the peace pendant was taken from the corpse, then…

Before he could finish his thoughts, Li Shimin had already sternly demanded: “Where is that corpse? Take me to it immediately!”

Duan Zhihong came back to his senses and hurriedly said: “Because only this subordinate was present at the time, I didn’t bring the corpse back. It’s still…” He glanced at Li Shimin and struggled to utter two words: “Outside the city.”

Li Shimin urgently wanted to identify the corpse, but received such an answer. He was immediately furious, heavily slapping the table and saying coldly: “You’re doing your job better and better. Knowing that a murder had occurred, you didn’t even know to bring the corpse into the city. What, afraid of bad luck?”

“Because this subordinate truly couldn’t find any tools to transport the corpse at the time, so…” Duan Zhihong was also filled with regret. After a pause, he knelt on one knee: “This subordinate knows his error. Please punish me, Second Young Master!”

Li Shimin snorted coldly and left with a flick of his sleeve. After reaching the courtyard, he gazed at the star-filled sky and said worriedly: “Please, heaven, protect Xuanba’s safety. Please protect that corpse… please, please don’t let it be Xuanba!”

The three brothers were born of the same mother and had extremely deep feelings for each other. Among them, Xuanba was the youngest, and both he and his eldest brother took great care of this little brother. They could never accept such a thing happening under any circumstances.

This night was undoubtedly like a year for Li Shimin. He kept watching the sky, and as soon as a hint of dawn appeared on the horizon, he immediately took Duan Zhihong and others on horseback to rush to the city gate. When they arrived, the city gate was not yet open, so they waited a while longer before riding out of the city and heading straight to that empty village.

Under Duan Zhihong’s guidance, Li Shimin saw the corpse. Under the great fire’s burning, the entire corpse had been charred to coal. Not only was the face unrecognizable, but even the cause of death could not be determined. The only thing that could be seen was the height, which seemed similar to Li Xuanba’s.

Afterward, Li Shimin examined the corpse but found no other useful items. He could only order people to transport the corpse back to the city and then go to the yamen to request a coroner for examination.

Since the corpse was inconvenient to transport directly to the Governor’s residence, it was temporarily placed in the charity morgue. After examining the corpse, the coroner said: “Reporting to the Second Young Master, there is no smoke or dust in this person’s mouth and stomach, indicating he was already dead before the fire started. His cause of death was a single stab wound that entered from the lower jaw into the brain.”

“From the lower jaw into the brain?” Li Shimin asked puzzledly. He had seen quite a few dead people, but this was the first time he had encountered such a cause of death.

“Correct, the blade entered from the lower jaw, passed through the oral cavity and nasal cavity, and stabbed directly into the brain. It can be said to have killed him instantly.” The coroner thought for a moment and said: “Judging from the size of the wound, the weapon could be called a dagger rather than a knife.”

“Then do you know under what circumstances such a fatal wound would be inflicted?”

“This…” The coroner pondered for a long time and said with difficulty: “This humble one has been a coroner for over twenty years, and this is the first time I’ve seen a fatal wound in this location. In my humble opinion, it should have been deliberately inflicted by the murderer, otherwise the wound would never have been in this place.”

Li Shimin nodded slightly, glanced at the charred corpse, and said in a deep voice: “Is there any way to identify his identity?”

The coroner shook his head: “This person’s entire body was destroyed by the great fire, with not an inch of intact skin remaining. It’s truly difficult to identify him. We can only tell from his bones that he was a male, probably under twenty years old.”

Male… under twenty years old… all of this matched Xuanba. Combined with the peace pendant that Zhihong had found, could it really be Xuanba? No, it definitely couldn’t be Xuanba!

Li Shimin tightly gripped the peace pendant he had been holding in his hand all along, his voice trembling slightly as he said: “Is there truly no other way to identify him?”

Li Shimin’s unusually agitated state made the coroner feel somewhat strange, but he didn’t ask further. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then said: “There is one more method!”

Li Shimin’s spirits lifted, and he hurriedly said: “What is it? Speak quickly!”

“This humble one has seen in the ‘Kuaiji Xianxian Zhuan’ written by Xie Cheng of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, an example of using a younger brother’s blood dropped on an elder brother’s bones to identify the elder brother’s remains. If we could find this person’s relatives and drop their blood on his bones, we could determine his identity. However…” The coroner shook his head: “We know nothing about this person’s identity, so where would we find his relatives?”

Duan Zhihong glanced at the silent and contemplative Li Shimin and said: “I’ve only heard of blood drop paternity testing, but this is the first time I’ve heard of blood drop bone verification.”

The coroner replied: “Normally it would indeed be blood drop paternity testing, but this person’s entire body was burned by the great fire. Whether skin or internal organs, everything is like charcoal. There’s no blood to test at all. Only blood drop bone verification can be attempted. However…”

“Then do as you say – blood drop bone verification!” Li Shimin suddenly interrupted the coroner’s words. The latter tentatively asked: “Could it be that the Second Young Master knows where his relatives are?”

Li Shimin ignored his question and only ordered him to immediately extract a section of intact bone from the corpse. After the coroner extracted a section of shin bone, he took a dagger and cut a gash on his own arm. Dark red blood immediately surged forth from the wound, competing to flow out and drip onto that section of bone.

Under everyone’s gaze, the blood slowly seeped into the bone, becoming one with it. Duan Zhihong was somewhat better off, but the coroner and others were dumbfounded. This… how could the Second Young Master’s blood fuse with the corpse’s bones? Could it be… this corpse was the Second Young Master’s relative?

Just as they were puzzled, the coroner shuddered all over. That’s right – from the night before last, people from the Governor’s residence had been searching day and night in the city for the Third Young Master Li Xuanba, and they still hadn’t found him. Could it be… this corpse was the Third Young Master? If this were true, Honghua Commandery would be turned upside down – someone had actually murdered Governor Li’s son!

Seeing his blood seep into the bone, Li Shimin’s vision went dark and he staggered backward. Duan Zhihong quickly stepped forward to support him: “Second Young Master, be careful!”