Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 15

For a moment, Lou Jing could not figure out any further details; Cao Ruxu’s body revealed no other information. She laid him back as he was, closed the coffin, and refilled the grave with soil.

She leaped out of the cemetery and left quietly.

It was mid-spring. The sky was deep blue, and the mountain night was filled with the faint sound of insects as darkness enveloped the wilderness.

Lou Jing moved through the sea of bamboo. As the night wind blew, the bamboo tops rolled like waves of grain, rustling with a sound like rain in the quiet night. Coupled with the chirping of insects, it made it difficult to detect subtle movements.

A sharp wind grazed her ear before Lou Jing suddenly sensed danger. Two emerald bamboo leaves drifted down beside her, but like willow-leaf daggers, they brushed past her ear, cutting a slit and causing a bead of crimson blood to well up.

Lou Jing looked up; leaves were falling like drifting rain. She drew her sword, and a violent wind rose, shattering the descending bamboo leaves to pieces.

Holding her sword, Lou Jing could not help but frown.

Xue Po (Snow Spirit) was a weapon Lou Xuanzhi had custom-made for her, with its length and weight carefully considered. After Xue Po was shattered by Lou Xuanzhi, she had taken a sword from the sect’s armory as a replacement, but it was naturally not as handy.

A flexible stalk of green bamboo bent toward Lou Jing. At the top of the bamboo stood a person with hands behind his back, his robes fluttering under the silver moon.

With the moonlight at his back, Lou Jing could not clearly see his face, but his silhouette and flowing long hair felt familiar.

Fearing it was a master from Caoliu Mountain Manor, Lou Jing did not wish for a long battle. She glanced sideways, looking for a way to withdraw.

The green bamboo was pressed down as the newcomer took flight, landing gracefully in front of Lou Jing. He laughed, “We meet again.”

Lou Jing was confused for a moment, then her eyes suddenly brightened.

It turned out this person was the same strange man from the Feihua Alliance who had snatched the infant in the derelict garden that night.

Even knowing he was not from Caoliu Mountain Manor, Lou Jing did not relax, for this man was truly eccentric.

That night, the attendants of Caoliu Mountain Manor had all died at his hands. This man was inextricably tangled in the matter of Cao Ruxu’s death. To show up at Caoliu Mountain Manor in the middle of the night was highly unusual.

Lou Jing said, “Why are you here?”

The stranger scrutinized Lou Jing from head to toe, then glanced back at the hoe she had tossed aside when drawing her sword. “I am here for the same reason you are. I just didn’t expect you to beat me to it.”

Lou Jing played dumb. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

The stranger was quite amused and shook his head. “Rumors are spreading through the martial world that Young Master Cao Ruxu died by a single sword strike from Lou Xuanzhi’s daughter, Lou Jing. Is it true or false…?”

The stranger’s eyelids lowered slightly as he tilted his head to look at Lou Jing’s side, pointing a finger. “You are carrying a hoe and your clothes are stained with mud; you certainly didn’t come to plow the fields for Caoliu Mountain Manor. The direction you came from is the back mountain, and there is only a cemetery there. You have been digging up a grave. Because the rumors in the martial world are lies and the killer is someone else, you wanted to find the answer on Cao Ruxu’s body to prove your innocence, didn’t you?”

Lou Jing’s heart jolted. she hadn’t expected this stranger to see through her so thoroughly with just a few glances.

A breeze brushed her face, and in the blink of an eye, the stranger was standing right in front of her. “Digging a grave and opening a coffin—to be able to do such a thing so decisively, haha! You, a disciple of a righteous sect, actually have a bit of rebellious, heterodox flair. Jing’er, you are becoming more and more to my liking.”

Startled, Lou Jing hurriedly dodged backward, a sharp glint in her eyes. “You say your purpose is the same as mine, that you also came for Cao Ruxu’s body. But you are from the Feihua Alliance; do you also need to find the truth to prove your innocence? You have so many lives on your hands already—do you fear adding one more in Cao Ruxu? Or are you here to destroy the evidence!”

A lone bird chirped. The wind and insects went silent, leaving the bamboo forest in stillness. The stranger squinted toward the direction of Caoliu Mountain Manor. “I am a person who has never liked others owing me a debt. Those attendants were killed by me; the palm prints are clear. That old man Cao Bo knows it was my doing, so—hmph—he assumes his son’s death is also half my responsibility. He has sent every man in the manor out to intercept and hunt me down.”

The stranger’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “He is certain I killed him. In truth, I didn’t lift a finger. Isn’t that a loss? I want to see who killed the man and dared to make me take the blame. While I’m at it, I’ll add a palm strike to this Cao Ruxu so that I won’t be chased by the dogs of Caoliu Mountain Manor for nothing.”

Lou Jing realized that Caoliu Mountain Manor had indeed dispatched its masters to hunt this man, leaving their internal defenses empty. That was why it had been so easy for her to scout and enter the back mountain.

Lou Jing gazed at the stranger for a moment. Though she had many questions she wanted to ask him, this was clearly not the place for conversation.

Just then, voices drifted from the stairs near the bamboo forest.

Lou Jing tensed. She glanced at the stranger and pushed off with her toes, leaping into the depths of the bamboo sea. The stranger had so many “debts” that he likely didn’t fear discovery by Caoliu Mountain Manor, but she could not be caught trespassing there at night.

After traveling a distance, Lou Jing found that the man had not followed her; he had likely proceeded toward the cemetery as planned.

Clues to Cao Ruxu’s death could surely be found through him. After all, the only two known living people involved in this matter, besides herself, was that stranger.

There were many paths down the mountain; she wondered if she would encounter him again.

By the time she left Youqu Mountain, it was dawn, and the sky was a clear, vivid blue.

Lou Jing changed out of her night clothes into a sharp, spirited outfit. She wore a sun hat with a veil draped down to hide her face. She sat down at a roadside teahouse to rest. After two cups of tea, she mounted her horse and prepared to return to Xinyang first.

As she entered the city, she spotted a familiar figure—it was the stranger.

He was just about to enter the city. She didn’t know if he had “achieved his wish” and added a palm strike to Cao Ruxu’s corpse, but seeing his leisurely posture, he likely hadn’t been discovered by the people of Caoliu Mountain Manor.

The manor had great influence and many masters. To be hunted by them with full force would usually mean having one foot in the grave for an ordinary person, ending in a desperate flight for life. Yet this stranger not only shook them off but appeared relaxed, showing no signs of a panicked escape. He had even quietly circled back to the manor. This showed how high his cultivation was.

As for the stranger’s skills, Lou Jing had already caught a glimpse during their two brief encounters.

Lou Jing understood in her heart that she could not handle this man alone.

After thinking for a long time, she followed him at a distance and saw him enter a restaurant.

Lou Jing finally made up her mind. She left for a moment and asked passersby for directions until she found a residence in the southern part of the city.

She needed to notify the sect and ask them to send elders. The murder of Cao Ruxu could be solved through this stranger, but since she couldn’t handle him, she had to ask the elders to capture him for interrogation.

The residence she was currently at was the Lang Residence.

Lang Ye’s home was in Xinyang. All the junior disciples knew this. Though she had never visited, she had heard Lang Ye mention the location, and Lang Ye’s parents had met them a few times.

The matter of sending a message was of great importance. Lou Jing did not trust ordinary couriers. This was still within the sphere of influence of Caoliu Mountain Manor, and with the tension between them and the Qian Yuan Sect, she worried a courier’s journey to the sect would attract unwanted attention.

As luck would have it, the Lang family was in Xinyang. Lang Ye was of the Qian Yuan Sect, so the Lang family was essentially half-Qian Yuan Sect themselves. Compared to a common courier, Lou Jing naturally felt the Lang family was more reliable.

Lou Jing informed the gatekeeper, who went inside to report. A moment later, the boy came out and led her in.

She met Lang Ye’s father, Lang Quan. Lang Quan recognized her. As the saying goes, “A teacher for a day is a father for life.” Since Lang Ye studied under Lou Xuanzhi, he and Lou Jing were like brother and sister, so Lang Quan treated her with great warmth.

Lou Jing asked him to send an express letter back to the Qian Yuan Sect on her behalf. Lang Quan did not refuse; he even called for his eldest son to prepare a fast horse and deliver the letter personally.

Having settled this, Lou Jing declined Lang Quan’s invitation to stay and quickly returned to the restaurant. Before the elders arrived, she needed to secretly monitor the stranger so he wouldn’t slip away.

Lou Jing asked the shopkeeper about the man’s room and checked into the room next door.

The stranger did not move all night. By the next day, the door next door creaked open.

Lou Jing, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, snapped her eyes open. She put on her sun hat, leaped from the window, and entered the main street from the side to tail the stranger.

The stranger bought two jars of wine and continued forward.

Gradually, Lou Jing alertly realized the stranger was heading toward a secluded area. She didn’t know if this was intentional or accidental.

He followed him all the way to a cloth-dyeing workshop.

Lou Jing entered a few steps late and lost sight of him. In the courtyard, dyed fabrics were hanging from drying poles, draping down long and maze-like.

Lou Jing stepped forward, her feet silent. She tilted her ear to listen for movement.

Suddenly, her hair stood on end.

The fabric beside Lou Jing seemed to billow as if blown by wind, and a vibrating force—like the sound of a drum skin being struck—rushed toward her. She drew her sword, intending to pierce the fabric, but the cloth swirled rapidly in the opposite direction. A vortex appeared in the center as the fabric twisted into a long rope. The center of the vortex produced a suction force directed at the tip of Lou Jing’s sword. The power was so fierce it nearly wrenched the sword from her hand.

Lou Jing used a burst of raw grit to break free. Her sword moved like a swimming dragon, and the surging sword light shredded the dyed cloth, sending multi-colored scraps fluttering down from the sky.

The stranger was right behind the fabric. He struck with a palm, and Lou Jing felt a blast of searing, fierce heat—like a tongue of flame licking her cheek, unbearably hot. Lou Jing executed three swift stabs to seal his vital points, but he dodged them all effortlessly.

The stranger’s initial palm strike had been aimed at her life, but upon seeing Lou Jing’s sword style, he recognized her and restrained his momentum. However, he did not stop. With a smile, he exchanged over a dozen moves with Lou Jing. He found a flaw in her defense, closed the distance, and struck a finger against her elbow acupoint to make her arm go weak and drop the sword.

Lou Jing was on full alert facing this man. When his first palm strike aimed at her vitals, she assumed he intended to kill her. She was a person who never admitted defeat; even knowing she was outmatched, she refused to let the opponent gain any advantage. Seeing herself about to be restrained, and holding the mindset of “better to be a shattered piece of jade than an intact tile,” she actually discarded her sword. She used her fingers as a blade, condensing qi into a sharp edge, and lunged at the stranger’s Qihai (Sea of Qi) acupoint.

This move greatly astonished the stranger. He had been keeping one hand behind his back while facing Lou Jing, but now he hurriedly moved that hand forward to protect his Qihai, while his other palm struck Lou Jing’s shoulder.

The stranger held back his strength, but Lou Jing still couldn’t withstand the internal power. She was sent flying backward, crashing into a dye vat. The vat shattered, splashing dye all over her.

Lou Jing turned her head and spat out a mouthful of blood. She looked back and fixed her gaze on the stranger, her eyes appearing to be covered in a layer of frost.

The stranger stared at her, his gaze burning with delight. “Better to be shattered jade than an intact tile. Sharp and peerless, a heart like the blazing sun. Jing’er, you should learn palm techniques from me.”

Lou Jing frowned. The stranger kept calling her “Jing’er, Jing’er.” “You are not my elder, do not call me that!”

The stranger laughed, “How am I not? You ought to call me Uncle Shen. You used to call me that once, but you have forgotten.”

In an instant, Lou Jing felt as if her heart had been struck by a heavy hammer. Her face went deathly pale as she stared at the stranger.

She gripped the edge of the dye vat, her hand turning white with the force.

Shen?