Inside the wooden coffin was an empty space. No body, no anything. His wife's boy was not there, it was ..gone!?
Just to confirm that he was not seeing things, Ren Wei spread out his spiritual sense far and wide—covering the whole town of White Lake Town.
Only then did he accept the fact that his wife's body was gone.
Confusion hit Ren Wei's mind as he wreck his brain to try and come up with an explanation. Why, what, how and where?
That day, he saw his wife's body being put into that very coffin, in front of his very eyes. That scene was still living vividly in his mind.
Now, when he was about to bid goodbye for the last time, he found out that his wife's body was not there.
It was not that his wife's was decomposed into nothing. Because it would take several years for human body to decompose into skeleton. Even then, there would be remains to suggest that scene.
But, what was lying in front of his very eyes were a clean empty coffin.
And, one more weird thing was that the woods of the coffin were also in good condition like it was just made yesterday.
All of the things that were unfolding in front of his eyes were bizarre. And Ren Wei didn't even remember buying that kind of good coffin as he could not afford at that time.
After all that, one question remained in his mind. "What happened?" His mind could not process what was happening. So, he could only asked a simple yet complex question.
Using his spiritual Qi, he forcefully unearthed the coffin and brought it up from the underground.
Just to be sure, he ripped opened the coffin. As expected, his mind was not playing tricks on him. The inside was clean empty, with nothing.
The whole night, Ren Wei stood under the foot of the hill, in front of his wife's tombstone. With the ripped opened coffin laying in front his very eyes.
That night, the people of White Lake Town felt an unimaginable coldness. They could not explain why that was happening in the middle of the summer season.
Some even felt sick when rhey woke up the next morning.
When the sun came up the next morning, Ren Wei was still standing in front his wife's tombstone. By then, he already put everything back to where it was.
For a long time, he thought of his memories with his wife.
He remembered how it all started.
That time, Ren Wei was just turning 23, when he met her.
It was an spring season. When he went out for a evening stroll. Standing by the river was a lady. Even though she was not that devastating Beaty, she still had her own charm.
With the golden sun light hitting her, and the golden reflection on the river surface. Ren Wei fell in love, the moment he saw her.
From then on, he endlessly pursued her. At first, she didn't agree to it. But, eventually, she also fell for him.
And from Ren Wei's memory, he remembers his wife to be an orphan too. She was a war refugee, who came to the White Lake Town after her village was destroyed in the chaos and her parents too.
By the time, he turned 25, they were already married and had a twin Ren Chen and Ren Xiu.
But, the good times didn't last long. One day, Yin Yue fell sick with an unknown illness. With no money to bring her to a city, she eventually passed away after battling the illness for two years.
Ren Wei was 29 at the time.
When the first sunlight hit the foot of the hill, Ren Wei had already left the town.
Ridding the Moon Spirit Horse, he was heading for Hundred Flower City.
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After the Nan Brothers attended the Innate Qi Realm, they relocated their base to Hundred Flower City. And with the help of Ren Wei, they also relocated the spiritual garden too.
Even the Nan Brothers gained some reputation in the last couple of years.
Not only them, Wang Lin and Li Fei also left the Black Swan City after Wang Lin reached the Innate Qi Realm.
-----
From time to time, Ren Wei would stop on his way, helping people or catching fishes.
He was in no hurry when he started his journey.
------
After a long 2 days journey of crossing 100 miles, he finally arrived at the Hundred Flower City.
Only after seeing the Hundred Flower City, did he realized how backward was the Black Swan City.
Walking on the street, he checked the surrounding prosperous place. From time to time, he would see cultivators walking passed him. So different from the street of Black Swan City where the streets was full of mortals.
Like he was attracted to the beauty of the city, the attention of the people around him was also attracted to him or rather his horse walking beside him.
With a distinct and unique colour blue, the Moon Spirit Horse attracted the attention of many people, wherever he walked by.
And with just one glance, they discovered the extraordinary appearance of the horse.
Even though Ren Wei didn't care about the attention, he knew it would be too difficult to visit the base of South Wind Pavillion under the busy eyes of that many people.
So, he first decided to put away the horse somewhere. And he decided to do it at an inn.
Under the watchful eyes, he went towards an inn called the 'Lively Duck Inn'.
Seeing a potential customer coming, the inn keeper enthusiastically walked up to him and greeted. "This gentleman, are you here to rent a room."
Ren Wei shook his head and replied. "No. I am here to look for a place where I can let my horse rest for sometime when I am in the city."
The innkeeper was surprised upon hearing Ren Wei's word. He never met anyone like him, looking for a place for his horse.
But, when he turned to look at the horse, he realized the reason why Ren Wei doing it.
Walking that horse in the city would attracted too much attention.
"Anyone?" He turned around and called for his men.
Sometimes later, a servant came running. "Boss, what can I do?" He asked politely.
The innkeeper pointed at Ren Wei then to his horse and said. "This gentleman wants to rent a stable room for his horse."
"And remember, I want you to put more priority to that horse."
The servant was shocked when he saw the horse. "What a beautiful horse." He said mesmerized. But he quickly regained his sense before losing his face.
Nodding, he carefully took the lease and took away the Moon Spirit Horse.
Smiling, the innkeeper said. "Don't worry gentlemen, we will make sure your horse is well rested and well guarded."
"Humm.. Okey. How much?" Ren Wei asked the price after hearing all that.
"Well..., that depends on how long you want to keep him here." The innkeeper replied.
After thinking for a moment, Ren Wei could decide how long he was going to stay at Hundred Flower City.
So, he simply took out a storage pouch and tossed it to the innkeeper. "I don't know how long I want to keep him here. That is the advance. I will give you the rest later when I want to take him away."
The innkeeper caught the pouch and as soon as he probed inside, he smiled. "Haha, don't worry this gentleman. We will do our best."
Without delaying further, Ren Wei turned around and left the inn.
After he left the horse, he wandered around the vast city, checking every places.
Finally, he walked into a restaurant.
Looking at the busy first floor, Ren Wei walked up to the counter and asked for a private room. "Do you have any private room available at the moment?"
The clerk at the counter looked up when heard the voice. Standing in front of the counter, he saw a man with a round bamboo hat. But he could not see his face clearly.
For a moment, the clerk didn't say a word.
Seeing that, Ren Wei asked once again. "Do you have any private room available at the moment?"
His voice woke up the clerk. "Yes. Forgive me, I was rude." The clerk replied and bowed a little to apologize for his rudeness.
"Don't worry about it." Ren Wei waved his hand, brushing it off.
A minute later, a servant led Ren Wei to upstairs into a private room.
Before the servant left, Ren Wei ordered his dishes. And he specifically ordered something from the 'hidden menu'.
After receiving the orders, the servant left Ren Wei alone in the private room.
However, even after more than 10 minutes had passed, his orders never arrived.
But, Ren Wei didn't seem to mind that at all. He patiently waited in the private room.
About half and hour later, someone knocked on his door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Three times.
Then, beyond the door, someone asked in a voice full of respect. "May I come in, sir?"
A somewhat familiar voice.
"Yes." Ren Wei responded in a calm tone.