Chapter 255 – The Sob of the Zither Causes a Man to Die (2/2)

She needed to kill Xu Yourong. She wanted to kill Xu Yourong. She only thought about killing Xu Yourong. The other human cultivators were naught but trash in her eyes, not even worth a glance.

Awaking to the sound of water, Chen Changsheng felt his entire body ached. Last night, as he walked around saving lives, he had walked several hundred li at the very least. Even though his body was now incredibly valiant, he was barely holding on. The most crucial factor was that his mind was still exhausted. That rush of activity had been like a tide, and it had truly been difficult for his mind to bear.

The morning sun had risen long ago and five in the morning had long since passed.

Chen Changsheng got up and walked over to the river, using some of the chilly water to wash his face. Feeling somewhat more awake, he took the field rations that Zhexiu had brought over and began to eat silently.

Last night, the injured or solitary cultivators had, in accordance with Chen Changsheng's instructions, come one after another to gather at the riverbank. Now, as those people successively woke up, the scene suddenly grew much more lively.

After Chen Changsheng finished eating the rations, he drank some water, then sat back down so as to disperse the exhaustion that pervaded both his mind and body. Only then did he stand back up.

The wound on Senior Tong's shoulder had been treated by him last night, and at the present, she had mostly recovered. The Clear Void Monastery master's condition had also improved. Although he still could not walk, his life was no longer in any danger. As for the other cultivators, whether their wounds were heavy or light, they were all in an okay condition. After a night's rest, they could probably handle the journey towards the garden that sat right in front of the gate.

Chen Changsheng walked over to Senior Tong and softly relayed his plan for the day.

Senior Tong nodded her head.

Chen Changsheng seemed to hesitate, but was unable to suppress his question and asked, ”She……did she say anything about me? Or leave behind a message for me?”

Senior Tong thought about the frustrated monologue that Xu Yourong had delivered at the riverbank last night, and she could not help but smile as she replied, ”She didn't say anything that was particularly meant for you.”

For some reason, Chen Changsheng felt both at ease and disappointed.

At this moment, a cry of surprise arose from the forest by the river.

Upon hearing this cry, Chen Changsheng, Zhexiu, and a dozen other cultivators quickly rushed to its location.

An expert of the Heavenly Bestowal Sect stood there, his face pale. At his feet was a middle-aged man whose face was deathly green. He had long since stopped breathing.

Dead.

Somebody had died.

”What happened here?”

“Could it be that Sect Master Fei couldn't hold on?”

”Could it be that last night, some person snuck into the woods and took advantage of the wounds Sect Master Fei suffered to execute some evil scheme?”

The forest resounded with angry and somewhat panicked discussion. As cultivators that had roamed the world— even if no one present had faced a life or death situation— they would, at the very least, not have been so mentally affected by death. However, the closing of the Garden of Zhou had cast a shadow on their hearts, not to mention that the middle-aged man was the Sect Master of the Heavenly Bestowal Sect. Although the Heavenly Bestowal Sect was an obscure sect of the south, he was still a Sect Master, moreover......last night the wounds Sect Master Fei had were not serious. Relying on his cultivation at the middle level of Ethereal Opening, he should have been able to very easily make it through the night. How could he so noiselessly die?

Chen Changsheng squatted down by Sect Master Fei's body, put on the gloves that were handed over by Zhexiu, and opened the eyes of the deceased man. He examined the nose and mouth, then inserted a copper needle into the neck. Extracting the needle, he brought it up into the sunlight and closely examined it. His expression slowly grew grave as he delivered his conclusion, ”It was poison.”

With these words, the crowd grew even more nervous. Who had used poison? That person could sneak past so many people and stealthily poison Sect Master Fei to death. What did that imply? Did it mean that as long as the person was willing, he could fatally poison any person present? And the most important cause of their anxiety was: why did that person want to kill Sect Master Fei?

”It must be a shaman.” A southern cultivator said hatefully. ”Yesterday when entering the garden, I spied a few of their ilk. I don't know what the Li Palace and Holy Maiden Peak are thinking, to let these people that love to use such strange things as the shamanistic arts and poison into the Garden of Zhou.”

”Chen Changsheng shook his head, ”Although it's true that poisonous plants were used, the poison is nothing like the plants grown in the south.”

”Then whose poison was it?”

Out of grief and anger, the expert from the Heavenly Bestowal Sect did not care for Chen Changsheng's status. Staring at him, he shouted, ”Last night, senior said he didn't need your treatment, but you insisted and then had us come here. In the end, he died! Who knows if it wasn't because you did something while you were treating him!”

At these words, the entire forest suddenly became quiet.