Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 15

For the moment, Lou Jing could make no sense of the matter.

Cao Ruxu’s body offered no further clues, so she returned him to his original position, closed the coffin, and replaced the earth over the grave.

Then she vaulted out of the cemetery and quietly departed.

It was mid-spring. The sky was deep blue, and the faint chirping of insects could be heard in the mountains at night. Darkness enveloped the wilderness.

Lou Jing moved through the sea of bamboo.

When the night wind blew, the bamboo tops rolled like waves across a field of wheat. Their soft rustling resembled rain in the still night. Mixed with the quiet insect calls, it made subtle movements difficult to detect.

Only when a sharp gust swept past her ear did Lou Jing suddenly sense danger.

Two green bamboo leaves drifted lightly beside her, yet they were as sharp as willow-blade knives. One brushed her ear and sliced open a cut, from which a dark red bead of blood appeared.

Lou Jing looked up.

Leaves were falling like rain.

She drew her sword, and a violent wind surged around her, shredding the descending bamboo leaves into fragments.

Holding the sword, Lou Jing could not help frowning.

Snow Soul had been forged specifically for her by Lou Xuanzhi. Its length, weight, and balance had all been carefully considered.

After Lou Xuanzhi shattered Snow Soul, she took another sword from the sect’s armory as a replacement.

Naturally, it was nowhere near as comfortable in her hand.

A flexible stalk of green bamboo bent toward her.

A person stood atop its tip with his hands clasped behind his back, his robes fluttering beneath the silver moon.

The moonlight shone from behind him, preventing Lou Jing from seeing his face clearly.

Yet his build and flowing long hair seemed familiar.

Fearing that he might be an expert from Caoliu Manor, Lou Jing had no desire to remain and fight. She glanced sideways, searching for a path of escape.

The bamboo bent lower.

The newcomer rose into the air and landed gracefully before her.

He laughed.

“We meet again.”

Lou Jing looked confused for a moment before recognition suddenly dawned in her eyes.

It was the strange man from the Feihua Alliance who had taken the infant from the abandoned garden that night.

Even after realizing he was not from Caoliu Manor, Lou Jing did not relax.

This man was far too peculiar.

All of Caoliu Manor’s attendants in the abandoned garden had died at his hands, and his involvement in Cao Ruxu’s death remained unclear.

For him to appear at Caoliu Manor in the middle of the night was highly unusual.

Lou Jing asked, “Why are you here?”

The strange man studied her from head to toe, then glanced at the hoe she had tossed aside when drawing her sword.

“I am here for the same reason you are. I simply did not expect you to arrive first.”

Lou Jing pretended not to understand.

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

The man appeared greatly amused and shook his head.

“Rumors are spreading throughout the martial world that Cao Ruxu, the young master of Caoliu Manor, was killed with a single sword strike by Lou Jing, daughter of Lou Xuanzhi. As for whether that is true…”

He lowered his eyes, tilted his head, and glanced beside Lou Jing before pointing.

“You carried a hoe, and there is soil on your clothing. Surely you did not come to plow Caoliu Manor’s fields.

“You approached from the direction of the rear mountain, and the only place there is a cemetery.

“You dug up a grave because the rumors circulating through the martial world are false and someone else killed him. You hoped to find answers upon Cao Ruxu’s corpse and prove your innocence. Am I correct?”

Lou Jing’s heart shook.

She had not expected this strange man to see through her intentions with only a few glances.

A light breeze swept over her face.

In the blink of an eye, the man was already standing directly before her.

“To dig up a grave and open a coffin—and to make such a decision without hesitation…”

He laughed.

“You may be a disciple of a prestigious righteous sect, but you possess a rather unconventional and wicked boldness.

“Jing’er, you suit my temperament more and more.”

Startled, Lou Jing immediately retreated and fixed him with a fierce, vigilant gaze.

“You said you came for the same reason as I did, meaning you also came to examine Cao Ruxu’s corpse.

“But you belong to the Feihua Alliance. Do you also need to uncover the truth and prove your innocence?

“You have taken many lives already. Would you truly fear being blamed for one more Cao Ruxu?

“Or did you come to destroy the corpse and erase the evidence?”

A lone bird cried clearly in the distance.

The wind and insects fell silent, leaving the bamboo forest utterly still.

The man glanced toward Caoliu Manor.

“I have never liked others owing me debts.

“I killed Caoliu Manor’s attendants, and my palm marks were perfectly clear. That old fellow Cao Bo knows I was responsible.

“Yet he assumed his son’s death must also have been partly connected to me and sent nearly every expert in the manor to intercept and hunt me down.”

The corner of his mouth curved into a wicked smile.

“He insists that I killed his son when I never even touched the boy. Am I not suffering an unjust loss?

“I came to see who dared kill someone and make me shoulder the blame.

“While I was here, I also intended to add one of my palm strikes to Cao Ruxu’s corpse. At least then I would not be chased by Caoliu Manor’s dogs for nothing.”

Lou Jing finally understood.

Caoliu Manor had dispatched its experts to hunt this man, leaving its interior defenses weakened.

That was why it had been so easy for her to scout the area and enter the rear mountain.

Lou Jing stared at him for a moment.

Although she still had many questions and hoped to obtain answers from him, this was clearly not the proper place to speak.

At that moment, voices drifted from the stone steps beside the bamboo forest.

Lou Jing’s heart tightened.

She glanced at the strange man, tapped her toes against the ground, and swept deeper into the sea of bamboo.

The man already carried so many blood debts that another discovery would hardly matter to him. He probably did not fear being found by Caoliu Manor.

Lou Jing, however, could not allow anyone to discover that she had secretly entered the manor at night.

After traveling some distance, she realized that the man had not followed her.

He had probably continued toward the cemetery.

There had to be clues concerning Cao Ruxu’s death on that man.

After all, of the two known survivors involved in the incident, one was Lou Jing and the other was him.

There were many paths leading down the mountain.

She did not know whether she would encounter him again.

By the time Lou Jing left Youqu Mountain, dawn had arrived, and the sky was a brilliant blue.

She changed out of her night clothes and put on a neat, heroic traveling outfit. A veiled sun hat concealed her face.

She stopped at a roadside teahouse to rest. After drinking two cups of tea, she mounted her horse and prepared to return to Xinyang City.

As she entered the city, she spotted a familiar figure.

It was the strange man.

He was also entering the city.

Lou Jing did not know whether he had fulfilled his wish and added a palm strike to Cao Ruxu’s corpse.

However, judging from his leisurely manner, the people of Caoliu Manor had not discovered him.

Caoliu Manor was powerful and possessed numerous experts.

For an ordinary person, being hunted with the manor’s full strength would be equivalent to placing one foot inside the gates of the underworld. They would be forced to flee constantly in exhaustion.

Yet this man had not only escaped them but remained entirely composed, showing no trace of someone fleeing for his life.

He had even secretly returned to the manor itself.

His cultivation was clearly extraordinary.

Lou Jing had already experienced his abilities during their two exchanges.

She understood that she could not deal with him alone.

After a long period of thought, Lou Jing continued following him.

She watched him enter a restaurant.

Only then did she make her decision.

She temporarily left and asked people for directions until she reached a residence in the southern part of the city.

She intended to notify the sect and ask them to send an elder.

A breakthrough in the investigation of Cao Ruxu’s murder might be found through this strange man.

Since she could not defeat him, she could only request that her elders come, capture him, and bring him back for questioning.

The residence before her was the Lang family home.

Lang Ye’s family lived in Xinyang, and all his junior brothers and sisters knew this.

Although they had never visited, they had heard Lang Ye describe its location. They had also met his parents several times.

The delivery of this message was extremely important, and Lou Jing did not trust an ordinary courier.

They were still within Caoliu Manor’s sphere of influence. Now that relations between Caoliu Manor and the Qianyuan Sect were tense, she feared that hiring a courier to deliver a letter to the sect would attract attention.

Fortunately, the Lang family lived in Xinyang.

Since Lang Ye belonged to the Qianyuan Sect, the Lang family could also be considered half a part of the sect.

Compared with an ordinary messenger, Lou Jing naturally trusted them more.

She informed the gatekeeper of her identity and asked him to announce her arrival.

Before long, he returned and escorted her inside.

She met Lang Ye’s father, Lang Quan.

Lang Quan recognized her.

As the saying went, a teacher for a day was a father for life. Since Lang Ye studied under Lou Xuanzhi, he and Lou Jing were almost like siblings.

Lang Quan therefore treated her with great warmth.

Lou Jing asked him to send an urgent letter back to the Qianyuan Sect on her behalf.

Naturally, Lang Quan did not refuse.

He even summoned his eldest son and instructed him to prepare a fast horse and personally deliver the message.

After completing this matter, Lou Jing declined Lang Quan’s invitation to remain as a guest and quickly returned to the restaurant.

Until her elders arrived, she needed to watch the strange man secretly and prevent him from escaping.

Lou Jing asked the innkeeper where the man was staying and took the private room directly beside his.

The man made no movement throughout the night.

The next day, the neighboring door opened with a creak.

Lou Jing, who had been meditating cross-legged upon the bed, instantly opened her eyes.

She put on her veiled sun hat, leaped from the window, entered the street from the side, and followed him.

The man purchased two jars of wine before continuing onward.

Gradually, Lou Jing noticed warily that he was heading toward increasingly secluded places.

She did not know whether he was doing so deliberately.

She followed him all the way to a dye workshop.

Lou Jing entered only a few steps behind him, yet he had already disappeared.

Dyed fabrics hung from poles throughout the courtyard, their long lengths falling toward the ground and creating something resembling a maze.

Lou Jing stepped forward without making a sound.

She tilted her head and listened carefully for movement.

Suddenly, every hair on her body stood upright.

The cloth beside her swelled as though caught by the wind.

A vibrating force, like the impact produced by striking a drumhead, surged toward her.

Lou Jing drew her sword and attempted to pierce the fabric.

The cloth immediately floated in the opposite direction.

A vortex appeared at its center, twisting the fabric into a long cord. The vortex generated a powerful suction aimed directly at the tip of Lou Jing’s sword.

The force was so fierce that it nearly tore the weapon from her hand.

Relying upon sheer tenacity, Lou Jing broke free.

Her sword moved like dragons and serpents. Its rapidly expanding radiance shredded the dyed fabric, sending scraps of every color fluttering through the air.

The strange man stood behind it.

He struck with his palm.

Lou Jing felt a wave of scorching heat rush toward her face, like tongues of flame licking directly across her cheeks. The temperature was almost unbearable.

She thrust her sword three times in succession, sealing off his vital acupoints.

The man effortlessly drifted away from every strike.

His original palm attack had been aimed at taking her life.

After recognizing her swordsmanship and realizing who she was, he restrained some of its force.

However, he did not stop.

Smiling, he exchanged more than a dozen moves with Lou Jing before finding an opening.

He moved close and pressed one finger toward the acupoint at her elbow, intending to weaken her arm so that she could no longer hold her sword.

Lou Jing had remained completely vigilant while facing him.

When his first palm strike targeted a vital point, she assumed he intended to kill her.

She refused to admit defeat.

Even knowing that she could not overcome him, she would never allow him to gain an easy advantage.

Seeing that she was about to be restrained, she adopted the resolve to shatter like jade rather than remain intact like common clay.

She abandoned her sword.

Bringing two fingers together as a blade, she condensed her qi into a sharp edge and struck directly toward his Qihai.

The move greatly astonished the man.

Whenever he fought Lou Jing, he kept one hand behind his back.

This time, he hurriedly brought that hand forward to defend his Qihai while striking Lou Jing’s shoulder with the other palm.

The man had restrained his strength.

Even so, Lou Jing could not withstand his inner force.

She was sent flying backward and crashed into a dye vat, shattering it. The liquid inside splashed over her entire body.

Lou Jing turned her head and spat out a mouthful of blood.

When she looked back at the strange man, her gaze seemed covered in frost.

He stared at her with blazing eyes and exclaimed delightedly, “Better to shatter like jade than remain whole like clay—unmatched sharpness and a heart like the proud sun.

“Jing’er, you ought to learn palm techniques from me.”

Lou Jing frowned.

This strange man constantly called her Jing’er.

“You are not my elder. Do not address me that way!”

The man laughed.

“How am I not your elder? You should call me Uncle Shen.

“You called me that once before. You have merely forgotten.”

In that instant, Lou Jing felt as though her heart had been struck by a heavy hammer.

Her face turned deathly pale as she stared at him.

She gripped the edge of the dye vat so hard that her fingers turned white.

Shen?