Chapter 535: Passing Away in Meditation

Su Qing sneered, "You should be more concerned with how you’re going to apologize to the innocent souls you’ve murdered when you get down below."

The moment the words left her mouth, the vines wrapped around Little Master Wen suddenly tightened.

"You... you..." Little Master Wen couldn’t break free. He glared at Su Qing, unwilling to accept his fate, and managed to squeeze out only a couple of words before he stopped breathing and died.

Su Qing gazed coldly at Little Master Wen’s lifeless body. She methodically destroyed everything in the stone cave and disposed of the corpse. Afterward, she went to the wooden cabin in Youmu Forest, where she also took care of everything that needed to be destroyed, before silently returning to her hotel room.

From start to finish, Su Qing hadn’t alerted a single soul. The moonlight, like flowing water, shone down on Kongkan Prefecture, as it did on every other corner of the world.

Meanwhile, far away in Xiangcheng, Master Wen suddenly startled awake from a dream. He shot upright and turned to look at the watery moonlight outside his window, a sense of unease growing within him.

Frowning, Master Wen pinched his fingers to perform a quick divination. He then took out a Copper Coin and cast a hexagram. Staring at the final result, Master Wen was silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh. "Retribution!"

Afterward, Master Wen bathed and changed his clothes. He solemnly arranged all the items he had ever used on the table in his meditation room. Finally, he sat cross-legged on a prayer mat. Not long after, his breathing ceased entirely.

Su Qing didn’t leave Kongkan Prefecture right away. She spent two days sightseeing and bought quite a few local souvenirs.

For two or three days, no one noticed that Little Master Wen and his group were missing. It wasn’t until after Su Qing had left Kongkan Prefecture on a small train that one of Little Master Wen’s disciples went to report to Master Zhang, only to find him gone. Along with him, Master Zhang’s three junior martial brothers had also vanished.

After searching several times, they finally discovered the cave where Little Master Wen had been in seclusion. Not only was the stone door open, but everything inside had been destroyed. Realizing something was wrong, the disciples quickly reported it to the police.

In Kongkan Prefecture, Little Master Wen held immense prestige and a transcendent status. Many people worshiped him with an almost fanatical devotion. Upon learning that he and his group had vanished without a reason, many urged the police department to solve the case quickly and find them.

As a result, the disappearance of Little Master Wen and his group was classified as a major case in Kongkan Prefecture. With no leads, they eventually requested help from higher-ups. As it happened, Hua Zifeng was visiting a friend when he heard the news. And so, five days after Su Qing left Kongkan Prefecture, Hua Zifeng also arrived.

Su Qing was completely unaware of this. She took a leisurely ride on the small train to Pusun Port, where she bought a cruise ticket to Xiangcheng. The journey was smooth. Su Qing spent her days enjoying the scenery and catching fish, arriving at the Xiangcheng docks a week later.

Upon arriving in Xiangcheng, Su Qing’s original plan was to find Master Wen directly. She had killed his disciple and grand-disciples, and she intended to destroy those plantations in the future. The situation between them had become a fight to the death. Besides, Master Wen was far from innocent in this affair. He appeared sanctimonious, but in reality, he had committed many harmful acts. If only for the future safety of her friends and family, she was determined to nip this potential threat in the bud.

However, Su Qing never expected that upon arriving in Xiangcheng, she would hear the news that Master Wen had passed away in meditation.

Because of Master Wen’s fame in Xiangcheng, his death sent shockwaves through the entire city. Many people mourned his passing, and some even spontaneously organized memorial services for him.

"Hey, you guys think Master Wen was killed by an enemy?"

In a teahouse on a Xiangcheng street, Su Qing sat by the window, leisurely eating pastries. Not far away, three men were discussing the news of Master Wen’s death. One of them, a man in a leather jacket, spoke up.

"Huh? Didn’t he pass away in meditation?" a man with a tuft of bleached-blond hair asked upon hearing the man in the leather jacket. "How’d we get to talking about enemies? Master Wen was so respected and so powerful. Even if he had enemies, they wouldn’t be able to beat him, right?"

"Whoa, it’s hard to say. I heard something... but don’t you dare tell anyone." The man in the leather jacket lowered his voice, but Su Qing could hear him perfectly clearly.

"Spill it, spill it! What did you hear?" the other two men eagerly pressed.

"I heard... you know how Master Wen passed away, right?" said the man in the leather jacket. "Well, his disciples would obviously have to come back to pay their respects. Someone contacted A Tai’s side, and guess what? That disciple of Master Wen’s, plus several of his grand-disciples, are all missing! It happened a few days ago, and they still haven’t found them."

"Whoa, for real?" The blond man and the other man were shocked. "What a coincidence."

"Right? It’s a coincidence," the man in the leather jacket said. "But don’t you think it’s *too much* of a coincidence? Master Wen passes away in meditation, and his disciple and grand-disciples also disappear without a trace. You tell me, you think there’s a connection?"

"Yeah, that’s way too coincidental," the other two men remarked. "You don’t think he was really killed by an enemy, do you?"

"But," the blond man frowned, "Master Wen was in Xiangcheng, and I heard his disciple and a bunch of his grand-disciples are over with A Tai. Those two places are super far apart. It takes seven or eight days just by boat. What kind of grudge would lead to a chase across two different places like that?"

"Hah, who knows?" the man in the leather jacket said. "We common folk can’t figure out the affairs of these big shots. Who knows what kind of feuds and grudges are involved? Sigh... even someone with money, fame, and power ends up like this. We little people should just be careful, or we might get burned one day."

"You’re not wrong. Just look at those gangs. When they have beef, they’re fighting in the streets every other day. If you’re unlucky enough to run into them, you’ve hit some seriously bad luck."

"Shh, keep your voice down. Be careful they don’t hear you."

"Whoa, let’s not talk about this stuff. Just casual chat, casual chat. Come on, have some pastries. This place has some really good ones."

"Mmm, mmm, mmm, they are good."

The men chatted a bit more about Master Wen before moving on to other topics.

Su Qing raised an eyebrow slightly as she gazed out the window. ’It seems A Tai’s side has already discovered that Little Master Wen’s group is missing,’ she thought. ’But Master Wen’s death... it’s too much of a coincidence. Is there a connection?’

Su Qing couldn’t figure it out. She wasn’t even sure if Master Wen had truly passed away in meditation. But since she had no way to investigate it right now, she could only give up on the idea of finding him.

’Checking the time, it’s about time I headed back to Beijing for school.’