Chapter 43
Chapter 43: Inspecting the Bones: The Rapist
Inside the coffin lay a small girl’s naked and headless carcass. Her body was covered with knife wounds and whip lacerations and had turned white from soaking in water. It emitted a rotten odor.
The human head placed beside the corpse was even more hideous to look at. The facial features had been chopped off, and the spiritual root behind the brain extracted, leaving only messy hair behind. It was impossible to determine the girl’s former appearance.
“Lord Wan, where was this small girl’s corpse found, and what was the situation?” Ye Jiuge asked solemnly.
“A San Dao Wan villager found the body next to the river. We were able to identify your Ye Residence by the words’ Ye Ruyi’ engraved on the longevity lock in the corpse’s possession.” After speaking, Wan Ziyang took out a wooden tray. Inside, there were five exquisite accessories, all of which belonged to a girl.
Among them was a longevity lock made from antique silver engraved with a design of two flowers growing from the same base. On the back of the lock were the words: Ye Ruyi.
“This longevity lock is indeed from our Ye Residence,” Ye Yuxuan frowned and said.
He had commissioned an artisan to design the longevity lock for the female descendants in his house. Although he had not cherished Ye Ruyi, she was still his daughter, so she had received one of these longevity locks.
Ye Jiuge did not question further. She opened her Spiritual Eye and scrutinized the girl’s corpse before saying, “The estimated time of death of this seven-year-old girl is between three and five o’clock yesterday morning. Before she died, she was abused and raped. After her death, she was beheaded and immersed in water…”
The more Wan Ziyang heard, the more surprised he became. Initially, when he permitted Ye Jiuge to enter, he had just wanted to give her a chance. He had not expected her to be able to determine so much; the analysis she had provided was more complete than the coroner’s.
“Is the corpse Ruyi or not?” This question was Ye Yuxuan’s only concern.
“I am not certain; I have to inspect the bones first to see if it’s a Wood Fire Spiritual Root!” Ye Jiuge did not dare voice her opinions easily at this moment.
“How do you plan to inspect the bones? Do you need the coroner’s help?” Wan Ziyang wanted to let the coroner secretly observe so he could learn from her.
“Alright. On the way, please ask him to help me prepare some Withered Glory Herb, White Tassel…” Ye Jiuge listed five different herbs in a single breath. These herbs were the materials required for inspecting the bones.
Wan Ziyang nodded. He exited the morgue, signaled for a bailiff, and instructed him to ask Bai Songling to prepare the herbs that Ye Jiuge had requested.
Shortly after that, Bai Songling arrived with the herbs.
Ye Jiuge had thought that all coroners were eccentric old men; she had not expected that this Bai Songling would be rather young. He looked to be slightly over twenty and wore a gown of green cloth. His skin was jade-like, and he was handsome. He had a bashful smile and the appearance of a vulnerable and delicate scholar. However, Ye Jiuge felt that Bai Songling was not as weak as his appearance suggested, but she was unable to pinpoint why she felt this way.
Bai Songling was also surprised to see Ye Jiuge standing beside the coffin. He looked at Ye Yuxuan, who was positioned some distance away, unsure who to give the bag of herbs to.
“Give it to me!” Ye Jiuge took the initiative and received the bag of herbs. When she opened it, she found the herbs to be mature and of a superior grade. She could tell that they had been chosen meticulously.
Bai Songling walked over to Wan Ziyang and asked softly, “What is happening?”
He had thought that Ye Yuxuan would personally conduct the autopsy. Why was it Ye Jiuge? He knew about Ye Jiuge’s bad reputation in the capital. Anyone who mentioned her called her “stupid,””useless,” and “ugly.”
“Wait and see.”
Wan Ziyang did not press any further. Although what Ye Jiuge had said after she inspected the corpse had surprised him, Wan Ziyang wanted to reserve his opinions until after the results of her autopsy.
“Lord Wan, is there a place for me to configure the potion?” These days, people were careful to keep their secret recipes secret. Ye Jiuge’s request was reasonable.
“Yes!”
There was a small room in the morgue used for storing items required for autopsies. Ye Jiuge used it to quickly crush and mix the herbs together to produce an ink-black solution. She poured the solution into a small ceramic bottle and exited the room. Then, she borrowed an eviscerating knife from Bai Songling and nimbly removed the hair, skin, and muscle from the corpse’s Baihui acupoint to reveal the clean, white skull.
Both Wan Ziyang’s and Bai Songling’s eyes twitched as they watched her. Ye Jiuge’s technique was even more expert than the most seasoned coroner’s.
“The solution that I mixed is used for inspecting bones. By applying it to the Baihui acupoint, this corpse’s spiritual root and bone quality can be determined. If it is a Wood Fire Spiritual Root, it will turn both red and green.” As Ye Jiuge spoke, she poured a few drops of the ink-black solution onto the small girl’s head. Immediately, the white skull turned black.
Even after a short while, there was no change in the skull: it remained pitch-black.
“What does that mean?” Bai Songling could not contain his curiosity and asked.
“It means that the small girl was just an ordinary person and did not have a spiritual root.” Although Ye Jiuge had guessed that the small girl was not Ye Ruyi, she could not control herself and sighed in relief.
“Are you sure?” Wan Ziyang frowned and asked.
He felt that Ye Jiuge was not treating this seriously and had casually determined the small girl’s identity just by using a bottle of solution.
“Of course!” Ye Jiuge said, “If you do not believe me, you can test it out on someone with a spiritual root.”
“Fine!” Wan Ziyang extended his hand towards Ye Jiuge. He wanted to test it personally.
Ye Jiuge graciously handed over the bottle and followed him to the morgue next door.
This morgue was even more enormous than the previous one and was said to contain the corpses of spiritual practitioners.
Wan Ziyang randomly opened a nearby coffin. Inside lay a perverted-looking middle-aged man. A hole in his chest was clearly the cause of his death. The hole indicated that a fire spiritual power had injured him, and the wound was charred black.
Ye Yuxuan craned his neck and peered around curiously, before asking, “Could this person be the rapist who recently committed his crimes in Mianyang County?”
“Indeed!” Wan Ziyang roughly removed the rapist’s scalp and poured some of the bone inspecting solution on it. Immediately, the black liquid turned a vibrant green.
“I heard that the rapist possessed a Wood Spiritual Root and specialized in hiding; it seems that it was indeed true. Indeed, Lord Wan, you are a powerful man to have captured him.” Ye Yuxuan looked at Wan Ziyang with some admiration.
The rapist had been on a rampage for many years, and the spiritual inspectors from the various regions were helpless against him. Later, when Wan Ziyang had undertaken the task, he had immediately returned with the criminal’s dead body.
“Great Master Ye is too kind!” Wan Ziyang may have been arrogant, but he was no fool.
After all, Ye Yuxuan was an Elixir Alchemist, and he would not object to forging a good relationship with him.
“Lord Wan…” Ye Yuxuan began.
He wanted to win the friendship of the new appointee at the Justice Department, but Ye Jiuge interrupted him: “Lord Wan, although the small girl is not my Fourth Sister, she died a tragic death and must be given justice. Lord Wan, please arrest the culprit and close the case.”
“Naturally. In fact, we have discovered that many small girls have disappeared from nearby villages. However, their family members did not come forward to report the incidents, so we are finding it difficult to investigate.” Having said that, Wan Ziyang looked sharply at Ye Yuxuan, “When did the Fourth Miss of the Ye Residence go missing?”