The morning bell from the back mountain of Lingyin Temple pierced through the mist. Xin Jiuwei clutched the tattered letter, her fingertips tracing the four characters "Yunzhou, please open to you" over and over again.

The scorch marks on the paper's edge, like the tongue of a venomous snake, mockingly meandered into the vermilion ink.

"Look at this, young lady."

Jueming suddenly looked up from the pile of scriptures. His white jade mask, illuminated by the morning light, revealed every detail of the incense ash on the table.

His injured little finger was still unnaturally bent, yet he steadily picked up a piece of iridescent ash. "The incense ash from Lingyin Temple is mixed with pearl powder from the South China Sea, while Master Ye's study uses ordinary pine soot."

Xin Jiuwei's pupils contracted sharply, and memories of her past life flashed through her mind like lightning—after each crime, Qi Huaiyu would deliberately leave some contradictory traces, enjoying the pleasure of being discovered and helpless, like a cat playing with a mouse.

"He deliberately gave himself away..." She suddenly stood up, her skirt swaying as she flipped through a stack of case files. "That forged letter of severance! Mr. Ye is known for his fastidiousness; how could he touch such an important document with hands covered in incense ash?"

Jueming caught the scattered papers with a flourish of his wide sleeves, the subtle embroidery on the cuffs of his monk's robe barely visible. "I've already sent the warrior monks to investigate who took the temple's incense ash yesterday." He suddenly lowered his voice, "But the most crucial evidence, I'm afraid, lies in..."

"On Qi Huaiyu's body." Xin Jiuwei said in unison with him. She looked down at the tattered note in her palm and suddenly noticed a strange, curved notch at the edge of the scorch mark. "This looks like... a seal mark?"

Jueming's eyes sharpened, and he took out half a fragment of the seal from his robes. The seal's knob, crafted from black iron, was decorated with half a dragon, and the broken part perfectly matched the tear in the corner of the paper: "Found this morning in the ruins of the Ye residence; it must have been left behind by the murderer when they burned down the study."

Xin Jiuwei's breath hitched. This was clearly the private seal of a staff member of the Prince's residence!

In his previous life, when the Second Prince recruited Qi Huaiyu, he bestowed upon him precisely such a seal.

Just as she was about to speak, a fluttering sound of wings suddenly came from outside the window—a pure white homing pigeon landed on the window frame, with blood-stained strips of cloth tied to its claws.

Jueming untied the strip of cloth and unfolded it, revealing a crookedly drawn wine pot pattern: "Yunzhou pretended to be drunk in prison and managed to get information out of the jailer." He wiped the wine stains with his fingertips. "Interesting. The jailer said that after Governor Zhou met with Qi Huaiyu last night, the study light stayed on until the third watch."

Xin Jiuwei suddenly grabbed the window frame, the wooden splinter piercing her palm without her noticing. In her past life, Qi Huaiyu always chose the Zhou family's villa as the venue for his secret plots with the Second Prince—there was a study by the water, with rare night-blooming cereus growing outside the window.

"I know where the evidence is." She turned and took down the bamboo hat hanging on the wall. "The night-blooming cereus in the Zhou family's villa only blooms on the night of the murder."

---

Beneath the west wall of the Zhou family's villa, Xin Jiuwei listened intently to the sound of the night watchman's drum.

As the night deepened, the moonlight illuminated the night-blooming cereus buds, making them appear like jade carvings, and the air was filled with a cloyingly sweet fragrance.

"The flowers are about to bloom." Jueming's voice came from the banyan tree behind him, unusually tense. "Qi Huaiyu is indeed inside."

Xin Jiuwei looked through the window in the moonlight—Qi Huaiyu was talking to Zhou Zhuo with his back to the window, a dark red stain on the back of his moon-white robe. She suddenly widened her eyes: the man was wearing Ye Qingzheng's jade brush washer at his waist! It was the old scholar's most treasured possession, which he had jokingly said he would pass on to his most prized student.

"...Old Ye was really tough; he even scratched my hand before he died." Qi Huaiyu's voice drifted out amidst the rustling of the first blooming night-blooming cereus. "Fortunately, that idiot Xin Yunzhou's jade pendant landed in the right place."

Zhou Zhuo's cold laugh was like a dull knife scraping against a bluestone: "What the Second Prince wanted was the Xin family's salt permit, but you, instead, put on a show of framing someone for murder."

"The salt permit will belong to His Highness sooner or later." Qi Huaiyu suddenly turned around, and Xin Jiuwei outside the window almost cried out in surprise—the strip of cloth wrapped around the little finger of his left hand was the same cuff material that Jue had lost earlier that day! "But Xin Jiuwei must be dealt with by me." When he said this, the gentle smile on his face was exactly the same as the night he tortured and killed her in his previous life.

Jueming suddenly placed his hand on Xin Jiuwei's trembling shoulder.

He touched his fingertips with freshly collected night-blooming cereus pollen and gently blew on the window paper. Fine gold dust drifted into the room, landing on the bloodstains on Qi Huaiyu's clothes, instantly revealing a shimmering green light—the fluorescent ink unique to Ye Qingzheng's study!

"Who?" Qi Huaiyu turned his head sharply.

Jueming grabbed Xin Jiuwei's waist and leaped to the treetop. In the moonlight, she clearly saw Qi Huaiyu pull a familiar poison syringe from his sleeve—exactly the same one he used to kill her father in her past life!

"The evidence is complete." Back in the secret chamber of the temple, Jueming unfolded the blood-stained handkerchief, on which lay three items neatly arranged: a strip of cloth stained with fluorescent ink, half a fragment of a seal, and a few night-blooming cereus petals. "But the most crucial piece is still missing..."

"Eyewitness." Xin Jiuwei suddenly remembered the old servant's scream, "That person from the Ye family..."

"Here." The secret door to the chamber suddenly opened, and a martial monk led in a trembling servant—none other than Qi Huaiyu's trusted confidant! The man crawled on his knees, presenting a blood-stained letter: "I personally witnessed Young Master Qi kill someone and then slip this letter into Master Ye's sleeve..."

Xin Jiuwei's hands trembled so much as she unfolded the letter that she could barely hold the paper.

This was Ye Qingzheng's last letter! With his last breath, the old scholar wrote: "My disciple Yunzhou, seeing this letter is like seeing you in person. Qi Shenghuai harbors wolfish ambitions, forging a letter of severance to sow discord between us. This man is actually the Second Prince..."

The writing abruptly ended there, the last stroke drawn out extremely long, as if forcibly interrupted. Half a bloody handprint was imprinted on the back of the paper, the little finger missing—a characteristic of Qi Huaiyu's left hand!

Jueming suddenly blew out the candle. In the darkness, three pieces of evidence simultaneously glowed with an eerie light: fluorescent ink, night-blooming cereus powder, and pearl incense ash, weaving together into an invisible net.

"Tomorrow in court," the white jade mask gleamed coldly in the moonlight, "it's time to close the net."

At the Yingzhou government office, at 3:45 AM.

Outside the yamen, a clamor of voices had already gathered. The crowd jostled and pushed forward, eager to see for themselves what this beast who had murdered his teacher looked like. Several young men, dressed like scholars, held up banners proclaiming "A life for a life," their faces contorted with rage. An old woman selling vegetables, carrying a basket, spat on the ground: "What a tragedy! Mr. Ye was such a good man..."

Xin Jiuwei, wearing a plain white veil, stood at the edge of the crowd, her fingertips digging tightly into her palms. She could feel the chill emanating from Jueming beside her—this "holy monk" hadn't even touched his prayer beads today, his thin lips beneath the white jade mask pressed into a straight line.

"Don't rush," he said in a low voice, his tone laced with menace. "The net is cast; we just need to reel it in."

The judge slammed his gavel down, and Xin Yunzhou was dragged into the courtroom by two bailiffs, staggering along. His brocade robe was wrinkled and his wrists were blistered from the shackles, but his eyes shone with a frightening intensity: "Your Honor! I'm innocent! Mr. Ye treated me like a father, how could I..."

"Shut up!" Governor Zhou interrupted sharply, his goatee trembling with rage. "The evidence is irrefutable, yet you dare to deny it? Men, bring the murder weapon here!"

A bloodstained dagger was presented on the case. The Xin family cloud pattern carved on the hilt gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the blade was still stained with dark brown blood clots.