Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Looking at the dozen or so simple weapons (wooden sticks, hoes, shovels) gathered outside the reception room, the five men felt a headache coming on. They figured that no matter what they said now, they would be treated as murderers, and they would never be able to clear their names.

Standing at the other end of the reception room were Ruxiang, Huiming, and another second-generation monk, Huiguang. Abbot Ruzhen's body was still sitting quietly on the meditation seat.

"I'm telling you all, we really didn't kill the abbot. We didn't know him at all, and we had no reason to kill him." Qin Xiaochuan could only explain helplessly as he listened to the relentless questioning from the other side.

"You say you don't know the abbot, so why are you showing him a picture of him?" Huiming immediately retorted as soon as he finished speaking.

"That's why I brought the photo—because I don't know him. Otherwise, I would have specifically asked for his name." Qin Xiaochuan said speechlessly. Isn't that obvious?

"How could you have the abbot's photo if you don't know him?" Hearing his words, Ru Xiang, who was standing at the front, couldn't help but sneer. "Your excuse is too weak." He was short and stout, with a round head, thicker lips than most people, and a rather loud voice.

"That's right, that's right." A chorus of agreement immediately came from outside the door.

Seeing this, Guo Shiyi frowned and looked at him: "Why do I feel like you're making things worse?"

"Really?" he said innocently, feeling that he was simply stating a fact.

"Speak quickly, how did you kill the abbot?" Ru Xiang roared, his round eyes wide with fury. It was like a lion's roar in Buddhism, which not only shocked the five people, but also silenced the monks of Changsheng Temple outside the door.

Qin Xiaochuan glanced at Han Kexin beside him and saw that she was frowning and deep in thought, completely oblivious to what was happening in the reception room.

"It seems I'll have to deal with those people myself," he thought helplessly, and could only say to Ruxiang, "We've already said we didn't kill the abbot. But to be honest, I think the abbot died suddenly from some kind of acute illness."

"Nonsense, the abbot's health has always been excellent. He doesn't even catch a cold or cough normally, so how could he have an acute illness?" As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of objections came from outside the door.

"That's right. When we had our morning prayers this morning, the abbot was just like usual. We couldn't tell he had any illness at all. I think they're the culprits. Otherwise, they wouldn't be spouting nonsense here." Another person added.

Hearing their words, Qin Xiaochuan frowned. If what they said was true, it meant that the abbot had not yet fallen ill in the early morning. The abbot's illness seemed to be very tormenting. He had shown signs of pain earlier because of his emotional outburst. So if he had fallen ill during the morning prayers, the other monks would have noticed.

"Could it be that he just happened to have a relapse when he was seeing us? That's too much of a coincidence, and the illness developed so rapidly." Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Speak quickly, why did you kill the abbot?" Ruxiang shouted again.

"I told you, it wasn't us. We came to the abbot with important questions for him. We haven't even gotten those questions yet, so how could we possibly harm him..."

Just as he was struggling to explain, someone patted him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Han Kexin. "Don't bother explaining to them. They're so emotional right now, you can't explain it to them."

"So what do we do?"

"Let's wait for the police to arrive," Han Kexin said casually, seemingly unconcerned about the matter.

"Are we just going to wait like this?" he said helplessly. Although Han Kexin's method was passive, it seemed to be the only option given the current situation.

"Of course not," Han Kexin said coldly. "We need to find out exactly how the abbot died before the police arrive. We don't have much time to waste here."

He nodded. Seeing that the five men were no longer paying attention to them and had no intention of running away, the monks outside the door stopped bothering them. They simply sent a few men to watch over them at the door, while the others went to prepare for the abbot's funeral.

Remembering that one of their classmates was studying medicine, Qin Xiaochuan asked Guo Shiyi, "Does the abbot look like he died suddenly from some acute illness?"

Guo Shiyi shook her head and said, "It doesn't seem like it. Diseases that cause sudden death usually have a stage, usually between a few minutes and an hour. I've never heard of a disease that can kill someone in just a few seconds, like the abbot's."

"But the abbot seemed to be feeling unwell before he died, you should have noticed that too."

Guo Shiyi nodded, "But his reaction doesn't seem to be a symptom of an illness; it looks more like he's being tormented by the pain of a chronic disease."

"What about poisoning?"

"If it were a highly toxic poison, it could kill someone in seconds. For example, a large dose of meth could cause a lightning-fast death. But we were right in front of the abbot at the time. He was sitting there the whole time and didn't touch anything. It couldn't have been poisoning that caused his death."

"Could it be one of those delayed-acting poisons?" Qin Xiaochuan asked again, unwilling to give up.

"Delayed-acting poisons, like acute illnesses, have a time to take effect. It's impossible for one to die in just a few seconds. Moreover, people who die from poisoning usually show some signs of poisoning, but the abbot showed none." Guo Shiyi immediately refuted his guess. She frowned, clearly unable to understand why this was the case.

"That means poisoning is impossible. Besides, we were all with the abbot at the time, so it's impossible for anyone else to directly attack him. In that case, the abbot's death in this way is impossible," Qin Xiaochuan said speechlessly.

"Judging from the current situation, that's indeed the case." Guo Shiyi sighed helplessly.

After listening to their conversation, Han Kexin concluded, "No matter what, the abbot was definitely murdered, and the cause of his death is the biggest mystery in this matter. If we can find out exactly how the abbot died, it will be easier to find the murderer."

Upon hearing her words, Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but look at the abbot's corpse beside him. The abbot sat quietly on the meditation seat, his head bowed, his face contorted with pain, his pupils dilated, and his eyes wide open, looking as if he had died with his eyes wide open.

What is the connection between prolonged pain and sudden death? What was the killer's motive? Could it be related to the purpose of everyone's trip?

He shared his doubts with the others, and Han Kexin frowned and said, "This is what I've been thinking about too. If that's the case, there are two possibilities. One is that we're being followed, and the person who killed the abbot is the one who's following us; the other is that there are informants in Changsheng Temple who, after learning our purpose, decided to kill the abbot. No matter which possibility it is, their goal is to prevent us from obtaining clues about the Witch Origin Land."

"Now that you put it that way, we can analyze it point by point." He continued Han Kexin's words, "If we were being followed, we arrived at this place last night after dark, and it's impossible for anyone else to have arrived here by boat after us. So the only one who followed us into the village was that boatman."

"Do you think that boatman looks like someone who's following us?" he asked.

"I think it's impossible," Guo Shiyi replied decisively.

"I also think it's impossible," Qin Xiaochuan said.

"Me too." Xiaoying's sweet voice rang out from the side. The other four glanced at her, but she just smiled and rolled her eyes. Judging from her expression, she didn't understand at all what kind of problem they were facing.

Han Kexin and Zhou Bin both kept their eyes down and remained silent. It seemed that they would not easily trust anyone before the truth came out. Qin Xiaochuan did not say much about this and continued to analyze: "Let's talk about the second possibility."

"If there really are informants here, are they from inside or outside the temple?" he asked.