Record of the Missing Sect Master

Chapter 6

After Wenren Heng left the inn, carrying his umbrella, he went to another inn on the same street.

Compared to the other inn, this one hadn’t lit the lanterns outside and even upstairs was pitch black. If there hadn’t been a small, sad candle lighting the lobby, the whole inn would’ve appeared as if it’d been swallowed by the night. Standing amidst the falling rain, the building seemed to exude an aura of lonely suffering.

He looked at it for a moment and then went inside.

All his subordinates were waiting and immediately came out to welcome him. The one leading them was a man around thirty, with extremely ordinary features. Ordinarily, he would’ve been the kind of person who was immediately forgotten after introducing himself, if not for the scar lining the left side of his face, adding a somewhat fierce air, allowing him to be easily remembered.

When the scarred man reached Wenren Heng’s side, he said in a quiet voice, “Sect Master, that room that had been set on fire has long since been repaired. When we went upstairs, we didn’t find anything that was left behind.”

To Wenren Heng, this was not unexpected. Even if they had searched for clues on the day of the incident, there was a high chance everything would’ve already been burned away.

He put away his umbrella and looked at the people in the lobby.

He had brought only five men with him when he left, two of whom he had left with his Junior Brother, with the remainder having been sent here. Although the men were few, they were all from Jianghu, bodies full of killing intent. The moment the innkeeper saw them, he was so scared he lost control of his bladder.

The innkeeper had been woken up in the middle of the night by the men and had hastily put on only his inner robes. His face deathly pale with legs trembling, he sat on the bench in fearful anticipation as he looked outside. But who could’ve guessed that who should come but a cultured and refined young sir. He stared foolishly for a moment before calling out, “Noble sir, please spare my life. This lowly creature really doesn’t know who set the fire!”

“There’s no need to be afraid. I have only a few things I want to ask, and I’ll leave after I’m done,” Wenren Heng said. “I should’ve come in the morning, but there were some things I couldn’t put off, so I could only come and disturb you at night.”

The way he spoke wasn’t bad, and he was refined and courteous. The innkeeper’s heart which had been high up in his throat slowly calmed back down, and he stood up after conversing for a while. Wenren Heng delicately asked the other about that day’s events. Unfortunately, much to his dismay, the innkeeper had not seen any suspicious people or occurrences at the time.

Seeing the other becoming silent, the innkeeper swore, “It’s true! The room suddenly caught on fire! And other than that injured young sir, I saw no one else ever enter or leave that room. Besides, my inn has been burned so badly that I can’t even do any business. If I knew who had actually set the fire, I wouldn’t let them off!”

Wenren Heng rubbed his head and walked around the inn once before deciding that there was no need to stay any longer. Leaving some coin, he took his men and left.

In the past few days, the rain had been falling in long and continuous bursts and the pavements had already accumulated some water. From the rainfall came soft and light ripples in the water. Since it was already very late at night, there was not another soul in sight on the streets other than them. Listening to the sound of rain pattering on his umbrella, Wenren Heng asked, “These past few days, there hasn’t been anyone following?”