The emperor was utterly stunned. He suddenly recalled what had happened during the dawn sacrifice to Heaven, and the people in the ranks of mages at the Temple of Heaven who had left behind nothing but their clothes.
When the dead ape was finally revealed in full before him, that astonishment turned into fear.
Of course, the emperor was not the only one whose face showed fear. Everyone present who was human-or rather, an ordinary human-looked terrified, especially some of the commoners.
Murmurs filled the gathering, and the streets outside Sky Void Temple were no different.
It was indeed a very powerfully built ape. The imperial physicians were suppressing their fear as they examined it on the Magic Appraisal Platform. Sima Xiao and several officials from the Directorate of Celestial Observations watched in alarm, while Xiao Yuzhi approached with the facial skin pinched between his fingers.
At the sight of the Ministry of Justice's chief instructor approaching, the physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
"Here. I tore this off his face."
"Ah, thank you, Chief Instructor."
An elderly imperial physician took the facial skin from Xiao Yuzhi. Beside him, others were carefully inspecting the places where skin had been pasted onto the monster.
"How strange. It was attached so crudely, so why did no one notice before?" "Exactly, and this... this is human skin."
"Someone must have been murdered..."
"And the skin came from more than one person. The face and hands are different!"
The imperial physicians were pale as they spoke, but the surrounding hubbub was so loud that only the nearby Imperial Guards, Xiao Yuzhi, and the people from the Directorate of Celestial Observations could hear them.
Sima Xiao could not help nodding at their words.
"Yes. When we examined him at