He Is Sun Wenzhu?

Morbas was dead, killed by poison. "After Hero Duan and his companions left, my master returned to his bedchamber. Not long after, we discovered he had been poisoned and had already passed away quite some time ago." The young man speaking was the very same one who had stood atop the fortress wall earlier. Not only was he Morbas's disciple, but he was also a prince of the Cheshi Kingdom. Acquainted with members of the Tianshan Sect, he had heard the tale of the Seven Great Sword Sects ascending Mount Tianshan. The Prince of Cheshi led the group to the front hall. Morbas had only just been placed in his coffin, and the lid was not yet closed, allowing everyone to view his corpse. Morbas possessed a full beard. Though his eyes had been gently shut, the corners of his mouth curled slightly upward, and his expression carried a hint of disdain, indicating that when he died, he had not even realized death was upon him. Yet anyone could see he had died of poison, for his complexion was a dark, purplish black—scarcely resembling someone who had died of natural causes. "Poison..." Meng Wei smacked his lips and asked the Prince of Cheshi, "Does Liefeng Fort hold any rare spiritual herbs? A Tianshan snow lotus, for instance?" "None," the Prince of Cheshi replied, shaking his head. "A Tianshan snow lotus is a peerless treasure; even the Tianshan Sect possesses only a few. Moreover, my master did not know the Central Plains' arts of alchemy and compounding medicine, so he never gathered such herbs." Meng Wei nodded in understanding. "Then never mind." The Prince of Cheshi turned to Liu Wuchen. "I wonder if Hero Liu has deduced anything?" Liu Wuchen shook his head. "I cannot tell." Duan Wei leaned forward to glance at the coffin and let out a cold snort. He felt nothing but hatred for Morbas, and seeing him dead brought him immense satisfaction. "What are you snorting at!" Shapur snapped angrily from the side. Gongsun Yi snorted coldly as well. "Can we not snort if we please?" Hearing Duan Wei and Gongsun Yi snort, Liu Wuchen addressed the Prince of Cheshi, "Senior Morbas's passing is a matter of great regret. However, I wonder if Your Highness can make the decisions here now?" The Prince of Cheshi asked, "Are you inquiring about those sweat-blood horses?" Liu Wuchen nodded. "Indeed." The Prince of Cheshi gave a wry smile. "Unfortunately, even if I wished to return them to you, I could not produce them." Liu Wuchen asked, "Why is that?" The Prince of Cheshi answered, "Because after my master died, those four horses vanished as well." Duan Wei whipped his head around, while Gongsun Yi sneered sarcastically, "So there were quite a few culprits, were there? Four of them!" The Prince of Cheshi seemed on the verge of speaking, but held back. Shapur muttered under his breath, "It's all Surote's fault." The Prince of Cheshi's eyes shifted, and he said to Liu Wuchen, "If you can find the culprit who murdered my master, you will naturally find those horses as well." Xu Hao could hold back no longer. "Do you actually expect us to avenge your master?" The Prince of Cheshi smiled. "Yet you wish to recover those four sweat-blood horses, do you not?" Liu Wuchen shook his head. "Regrettably, none of us are adept in poisons, so we cannot track down the one who killed your master." Li Yunxiu pondered for a moment, then abruptly asked Duan Wei, "What time did you leave Liefeng Fort?" Duan Wei paused. "Around the hour of the Sheep, probably." Li Yunxiu then asked the Prince of Cheshi, "Why did Morbas return to his bedchamber at that hour?" The Prince of Cheshi fell silent, hesitating. Shapur, however, cared nothing for discretion. "Because Surote delivered a young girl to Master, and Master was going in to enjoy her." Disgust showed on every face. Meng Wei chuckled coldly. "Could it be that the girl poisoned your master? You must know that among the four kinds of people one should never cross in the jianghu, one is a pretty young maiden." "Impossible," Shapur replied, shaking his head. "That woman was merely an itinerant singing girl. She didn't know a single move of martial arts." Fang Shaobai now grasped what kind of person Surote was. "In other words, a band of sand bandits abducted a singing girl and presented her to Morbas. And after injuring Brother Duan, Morbas retreated to his bedchamber to indulge himself?" Leng Jiangzhu said coldly, "Liefeng Fort is famed throughout the Western Regions, yet it turns out to be nothing more than a den of thieves." Shapur glared. "Where did you say is a den of thieves?" Clang! Shapur felt his vision blur before a flash of sword light. When his sight cleared, Leng Jiangzhu was still standing coldly a short distance away, while the people of Liefeng Fort around him were staring at him in utter shock. Then Shapur felt a searing pain at both sides of his head. Reaching up, his hands found not his ears, but two handfuls of blood. Leng Jiangzhu looked at Shapur. "I said Liefeng Fort is a den of thieves. Deny it once more, and I will gouge out your eyes." Shapur's blood ran cold in an instant; he did not dare utter another sound. Leng Jiangzhu asked coldly, "Where is the girl?" Shapur mumbled sullenly, "She's gone too. Taken by the killer." Leng Jiangzhu fell silent. Wang Yu, however, spoke up. "Are there any other captives imprisoned within Liefeng Fort?" The Prince of Cheshi waved his hands frantically. "No! Truly, none at all!" Although Wang Yu had remained standing toward the rear, his bearing was noble, flanked by two strikingly beautiful women; one look showed he was no ordinary figure. The Prince of Cheshi did not dare treat him lightly: "In truth, my master never permitted kidnapping. This was an isolated incident. Surote had previously angered my master, so he brought her specifically as an apology." Though the Prince of Cheshi did not flaunt his arrogance openly as Shapur did, and was somewhat ashamed to speak of Morbas's conduct, deep down he still did not regard ordinary people as human beings. Morbas was dead, and the four sweat-blood horses were nowhere to be found. With the man dead, the debt was wiped clean. Mindful of their standing, the group did not take action against Liefeng Fort. On the way back, Shen Zhijun suddenly asked, "Was it him?" "Probably not, right?" Meng Wei shook his head. "Doesn't he usually treat injuries and cure illnesses in exchange for spiritual herbs? Besides, he isn't bloodthirsty." Fang Shaobai mused, "I think it likely is. Where in the Western Regions would you find so many masters of poison—let alone one capable of poisoning a Xiantian expert to death?" Li Yunxiu suddenly said, "It is him." Fang Shaobai asked curiously, "Why?" Li Yunxiu replied, "Do you remember back at the Bailong Fair, when he saved a young singing girl?" Meng Wei was unconvinced. "They only crossed paths by chance, didn't they? Could that singing father and daughter have followed him all this way? They wouldn't even be able to keep up!" Li Yunxiu said, "Whether the father and daughter followed him, I do not know. But the maiden Morbas intended to violate was that very same singing girl." Meng Wei asked, "How do you know?" Li Yunxiu said, "Because the ones who shrouded Morbas's corpse at Liefeng Fort were careless. In his hand, he was still clutching a torn scrap of red gauze—the exact veil worn by that singing girl that day." Meng Wei's mouth fell open. "Your observation is remarkably keen." Fang Shaobai realized. "Morbas had that singing girl captured, so Medicine Master Sun came to rescue her, taking those sweat-blood horses with him when he departed." Shen Zhijun added, "And happening to see him forcing himself upon the girl, he dealt a fatal blow." Fang Shaobai nodded. "Morbas was a Xiantian expert, after all. Had he not struck to kill, he would have been the one dead." Xu Qingquan could not help asking, "Who are you talking about?" Meng Wei said, "Someone we encountered at the Bailong Fair. Quite young, yet his poison arts are unfathomable. Flying Eagle Pang Qingyun was brought down before he could even get close." Meng Wei recounted the events of that day, leaving the others greatly astonished. Gongsun Yi gave a wry chuckle. "Put that way, having my horses ridden off by him could almost be considered an honor." The group could not help laughing, and before sunset, they made it back to the small courtyard where they had started. "It's getting late, and we won't make it back to the Cheshi royal capital today. We might as well stay—eh? Fine steeds!" Liu Wuchen suddenly pointed toward several horses in the stables outside the courtyard. Gongsun Yi looked over, his eyes lighting up. "It's those four horses!" Meng Wei laughed heartily. "Wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only to find it without any effort at all! Had we known he would come here, why did we bother running all the way over there?" The group dismounted and walked into the inn's common room. Liu Wuchen's party of four and Duan Wei's trio were especially curious about this master of poisons. Wang Yu followed them inside. There, seated in a corner of the hall, were Medicine Master Sun and the singing father and daughter. The girl still had tear streaks on her cheeks, while the man bore visible injuries. At the sound of footsteps, Medicine Master Sun glanced at the newcomers. Initially indifferent, he suddenly froze upon spotting Xu Hao, instinctively turning his face away. Yet the group had entered specifically to see him. Just as he saw Xu Hao, Xu Hao spotted him as well. "Sun Wenzhu?" Xu Hao blurted out, before adding, "Senior Brother Sun!" Duan Wei and Gongsun Yi were stunned. They had not expected Xu Hao to know this man, and the name sounded familiar—as though they had heard Xu Hao mention it before. Wang Yu, however, recalled it in an instant. Back when Duan Wei and Ma Yinglong had dined together after their duel, Gongsun Yi had praised the Valley Master of Huichun Valley for refining a Three Sages Pill and advancing to martial arts Grandmaster. At the time, Xu Hao had remarked that his senior martial brother, Sun Wenzhu, had stolen a stalk of nine-leaf purple perilla; otherwise, two pills could have been formed. Wang Yu had been entirely preoccupied with seeking spiritual herbs to nourish his turtle shell at the time, and had made a conscious effort to commit the name to memory. Seeing that he could not avoid the encounter, Sun Wenzhu could only nod. "Junior Brother Xu." The two addressed each other as martial brothers, yet their expressions were clearly strained, something everyone immediately picked up on. Liu Wuchen first arranged for his companions to sit at two tables near Sun Wenzhu before asking, "Brother Sun also belongs to Huichun Valley?" Sun Wenzhu shook his head and said coldly, "I have already broken away from Huichun Valley." Liu Wuchen was taken aback, but promptly offered, "Brother Sun has a kind heart and a chivalrous spirit. I wonder if there is some misunderstanding? I would be willing to mediate." Liu Wuchen was the chief disciple of the new generation of the Bashan Sect, a figure of eminent standing. If there truly were a misunderstanding behind Sun Wenzhu leaving Huichun Valley, he possessed more than enough clout to mediate. Yet Sun Wenzhu shook his head again. "There is no misunderstanding." Seeing that friction seemed to exist between Sun Wenzhu and this band of sword-bearing martial artists, the singing father and daughter looked alarmed. Li Yunxiu and Qianqian stepped forward to comfort them in soft voices; after watching for a moment, Leng Jiangzhu joined them as well. Xu Hao thought for a moment. "Senior Brother, did you just rescue this young lady from Liefeng Fort? And did you ride four horses out of the fortress as well?" "Yes, yes!" the girl's father answered hurriedly. It turned out that the father and daughter had traveled from Bailong Fair toward the Cheshi Kingdom, performing along the way, when sand bandits ambushed them on the road, abducting the girl and injuring her father. Weeping in grief, he had run desperately along the way, happening upon Sun Wenzhu as the latter was traveling. Sun Wenzhu had thus led him along the tracks, pursuing the bandits all the way to the outskirts of Liefeng Fort. Sun Wenzhu slipped inside, killed Morbas, rescued the maiden, and conveniently took four horses with him. The three of them had ridden back together, stopping here to rest after also failing to reach their lodging before curfew. Everyone was left speechless: Wait, you barged into Liefeng Fort all on your own, slew a Xiantian expert, and got away completely unscathed—why does it sound so effortless when you say it?