Bone Painting Coroner

The crow on the roof fluttered its wings and flew away.

"Ah! Help!" People in the room flocked to the door, but the door seemed to be locked and could not be opened. The screams still continued.

Marquis Kang's cheeks trembled and he was confused.

Fortunately, Ji Yunshu was still calm at this point and quickly called out, "Quickly, break down the doors." This shout of hers called back the souls of the crowd.

Marquis Kang was so shocked that his eyes went straight, but he also came back to his senses and waved his hand, "Hurry! Quickly open the door!"

As a result, several servants rushed forward and rammed into the door with their shoulders. However, because the people inside were all pressing on the door, they couldn't open it at all.

"Help..." Some people were still shouting, while others fell down slowly.

Boom! The door finally opened.

Instantly, a wave of fire and smoke rushed out the door, and people came running out, wreathed in fire. Some fell to the ground and turned into charred corpses while others had already died inside the room. Those who were fortunate enough to escape were still seriously injured and perished. Still others had the fire on their bodies extinguished, but the damage already wrought meant that they were as good as dead.

The fire burned too fast and too quickly. It grew bigger and bigger until its glow filled the pitch-black sky, illuminating half the night sky.

Ji Yunshu did not expect this to happen! The light of the fire reflected in her clear eyes, lending them a reddish tinge. The lantern in her hand also fell to the ground, started a fire, and immediately burned out.

Shi Zijin rushed out of nowhere and pulled her to a safe place nearby.

But Marquis Kang was still standing in the same place, looking at the house in flames, completely bewildered. What the hell was going on? He shouted, "Put out the fire, put out the fire!"

The servants ran to fetch the water. The estate soldiers also joined in, carrying away the corpses on the ground and putting out the fire. But in the room, things kept falling down from the roof beams, sending out tongues of flames.

"Those are my precious treasures!" Marquis Kang's sharp eyes saw clearly that one of the items was his Eight-treasure Clock, and he slapped his hands heavily on his thighs, "Quickly, put out the fire, go get water, hurry!" He couldn't bear it! His treasures. They were really hidden on the beams inside, but the room is filled with fire and he can't rush in!

The steward saw the situation and quickly pulled him away, "Marquis, the fire is too big, let's go."

"But my treasures are still inside."

"Even then, the fire is so big that the items inside have already burnt into ashes now."

Finally, he dragged the Marquis to a safe place, next to Ji Yunshu.

Marquis sighed with tears in his eyes, "Teacher Ji, what's going on...? Why is it on fire? And so many people died, along with my treasures too..." Ah! He hung his head in despair.

Ji Yunshu looked at the fire in the Marquis' estate, and then at the charred bodies on the ground. These are all human lives! She sighed. "That, is perhaps the price."

Hmm? The price? Marquis Kang was in no mood to listen to her, too busy grieving over his treasures.

Suddenly... "Marquis, there's one person left alive."

When they looked over, they saw the soldiers dragging the man over. The man was dying, leaning against a pillar, but still breathing.

Ji Yunshu quickly squatted down and asked, "Tell me, who started the fire?"

The man opened his mouth, raised his hand, pointed in a direction, and gasped, "It's... it's..." Before he could finish his sentence, an arrow shot out of the darkness and hit the man right in the heart. He died instantly! Ugh!

Shi Zijin's first reaction was to pull Ji Yunshu behind herself in a protective stance. Immediately, a sharp arrow was shot towards Ji Yunshu again, aiming at her, but it was blocked by Shi Zijin's sword.

Immediately after that, two more arrows came out. One was directed at Ji Yunshu and the other was directed at Marquis Kang. Ji Yunshu had Shi Zijin to protect her, but Marquis Kang was not as lucky. Now that the Marquis' estate was in chaos, even the nearest soldiers wouldn't be fast enough to intercept the arrow for him no matter how fast they were, and neither his steward nor the few servants around him knew any martial arts. Seeing the arrow, Marquis Kang retreated several steps in a row.

At the critical moment, a silver whip swung out, intercepted the sharp arrow, and flicked it heavily to the ground and broke in two.

Tang Si came just in time. She stood protectively in front of Marquis Kang, with a haughty face, "Marquis, the grace of life-saving should be repaid many times over."

Marquis Kang calmed down and said, "Yes, yes, yes, I will definitely repay Miss Tang." Then, he shouted, "There's an assassin, catch the assassin!"

At this very moment, both Jing Rong and Mo Ruo appeared and leaped toward the roof. Each of them pulled out one person and threw them directly onto the ground. One of them was one of the estate soldiers, Wu Weiwen, while the the other was Zhou Wen, who had been with Marquis Kang for many years! The two men were lying on the ground, their crossbows falling out of their hands. They had been caught red-handed!

Marquis Kang was shocked, "Zhou Wen? This..." What's going on? Zhou Wen someone who had accompanied him for many years!

Zhou Wen's originally gentle face was now filled with murderous anger as he stared at Marquis Kang.

Jing Rong's expression was serious and ruthless, "Marquis, this is the ghost in your house."

"The ghost?" Marquis Kang shook his head, walked over, and looked down at Zhou Wen, "Why would it be you?"

Zhou Wen laughed out loud, "Why can't it be me?"

"Impossible... Impossible..."

Two hours later, the fire was finally extinguished. However, inside the hall, there was only silence. Zhou Wen and Wu Weiwen knelt down in the center of the hall.

Marquis Kang sat on the main seat of the hall. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

The disappointment in his tone was obvious. After all, it was a man who had been with him for so many years, and the only one he could trust, but now he wanted his life.

Zhou Wen hung his head. Now with his hands and feet tied, he was just a prisoner waiting to be pushed to the guillotine, without the slightest desire to struggle for survival. When he looked up slowly, his calm face suddenly took on a smile, gloomy and strange. He turned to Ji Yunshu, "How did you know that those things were hidden on the beams?"

"Do you really think it was that hard to guess?"

"You guessed it?"

"I already said that it was Daoist Crow who helped me find them."

"Nonsense. What can a crow possibly do?" This was truly too ridiculous to believe.

Ji Yunshu narrowed her eyes slightly. "Your plan really was flawless. If it weren't for the crow, I... might not have been able to figure out where you hid the items. I would have never found out the culprit at all either."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean was that you walked into the trap yourself." Zhou Wen was still confused at this, staring at Ji Yunshu.

"I merely lured the snake out of its lair. As expected, you walked right into my trap."