Probably only Song Qingshu knew the truth. Even Tianshan Tonglao might not have understood it, since she did not know that Murong Fu was already aware of her current condition.
As for why Duanmuyuan had suddenly died, Song Qingshu had naturally been responsible. He had used his inner energy to silently shoot a pine needle into the back of the man's head. It was nighttime, visibility was poor, and the tiny blood spot on the scalp was difficult to notice in the first place. Thus, even after examining him for a long while, the crowd could not figure out how he had died.
Song Qingshu usually showed restraint when he acted. Even when he had broken into imperial palaces to question eunuchs and palace maids, he had merely knocked them unconscious and rarely taken lives. But there was no need to hold back against someone like Duanmuyuan.
When Duanmuyuan had fought Murong Fu just now, that glob of phlegm had curved in midair in an exceedingly sinister fashion. He had clearly cultivated some wicked art. Based on what Song Qingshu knew from the original work, he must have cultivated the Five Pecks of Rice Divine Skill. This technique was vicious beyond measure; to reach such a level, who knew how many lives he had slaughtered? Song Qingshu had therefore shown no mercy when he struck, eliminating a scourge from the martial world.
The people from the Thirty-Six Caves and Seventy-Two Islands noisily searched for quite some time. When they found no one else, someone raised an objection. "Could Island Master Duanmu have had some hidden illness that caused him to suddenly die?"
"Exactly. With Tonglao's temperament, if she had come, she would never hide herself."
"That Duanmuyuan cultivated some truly bizarre martial art. He had trained until not a single