Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 17

Shen Zhongyin had attacked too swiftly. The leading man had not even had time to defend himself.

The other riders were still reeling in shock, uncertain who this stranger was or what grievance he held against their brother. Before they could even speak, they heard Shen Zhongyin say, “I wanted to kill him, so I did.”

Fury immediately filled their chests, and hot blood rushed to their heads. Their eyes widened as they shouted, “You villain! You murdered our brother without cause—we will not let you die easily!”

A man on the front left urged his horse forward and pulled sharply on the reins, making the fine steed rear up in an attempt to trample Shen Zhongyin beneath its hooves.

Shen Zhongyin moved strangely, drifting like a violent wind. In an instant, he shifted to the horse’s side and raised one hand.

The palm possessed heaven-shaking power.

It rose lightly but fell with crushing weight, killing the horse with a single strike.

The rider fell from the saddle, rolled across the ground, and narrowly avoided being crushed beneath the dead animal.

The remaining men exchanged glances, drew their swords and sabers, and charged together.

Shen Zhongyin closed his eyes and concentrated his breathing. The inner force within his Qihai circulated throughout his body.

He suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a chilling killing intent.

The first attacker swung a goose-feather saber down toward his head.

Shen Zhongyin’s figure blurred. He shifted his foot barely an inch and tapped the side of the blade with one finger.

The force of his true qi directly snapped the saber.

The impact traveled through the weapon into the wielder’s hand. Not only was the man unable to retain his grip, but the web between his thumb and forefinger split open, leaving his hand covered in blood.

Shen Zhongyin moved so quickly that the eye could scarcely follow him.

Lou Jing’s cultivation was originally insufficient to distinguish his techniques. However, he had used the same move against her in the abandoned garden that night, so she could understand it now.

Wind and thunder accompanied Shen Zhongyin’s palms. Every strike descended like Mount Tai.

At first, one man who did not understand the depth of Shen Zhongyin’s skill tried to receive a palm directly.

The bone-devouring heat pressed down upon him. His inner force was insufficient to suppress it, and Shen Zhongyin’s true qi invaded his arm.

The qi moved like blades, shredding the veins and flesh throughout the limb before surging toward his heart.

The man was forced to sever his own arm to save his life.

Only then did he understand how terrifying Shen Zhongyin was.

Covered in cold sweat, he withdrew from the battle and struck several acupoints to stop the bleeding.

Shen Zhongyin used ghostlike footwork and heaven-shaking palms.

Of the seven or eight riders, only one remained alive within the blink of an eye—the man who had severed his own arm.

The survivor was drenched in cold sweat.

From the corpse of a companion whose entire body had turned red, he finally recognized the signs.

When he looked up at Shen Zhongyin, terror filled his eyes. His body shook like a sieve, and his bloodless lips trembled.

He could only stammer, “Sh-Shen…”

He had recognized this merciless killer, the omen of great fire—the Bifang Bird.

The man was so terrified that it seemed his three souls and seven spirits had fled.

He scrambled to his feet and stumbled away.

Shen Zhongyin stepped forward, apparently intending to eliminate the last survivor.

A long sword still resting inside its scabbard pressed against his chest and halted him.

Lou Jing said, “That is enough.”

Lou Jing knew she was no match for Shen Zhongyin.

Yet with her temperament, she could not pretend she had seen nothing.

These people were pitiful. They had merely passed Shen Zhongyin on the road. Lou Jing did not know how they had offended him, yet they had suffered this unexpected disaster and lost their lives.

Unable to bear it, she still intervened.

While Lou Jing blocked him, the fleeing man caught a stray horse, mounted it, and galloped away.

Shen Zhongyin glanced coldly in that direction, then turned back to Lou Jing.

Her heart jumped.

She swept backward, and Shen Zhongyin’s palm struck where she had just stood.

Because she had anticipated the attack, she managed to evade it in time.

Shen Zhongyin’s palm hit empty air. He withdrew the force, gathered his qi, and attacked again.

His palms flowed without interruption, one strike following another.

Lou Jing’s cultivation was far inferior to his. However, after watching him demonstrate his techniques over the past several days and repeatedly hearing him recite the cultivation method, she had gained some understanding of his palm art.

That was the only reason she did not lose the moment they exchanged moves.

Shen Zhongyin seemed displeased that she had disturbed his enjoyment.

Perhaps he had not fought enough, so he turned his attention to her and used her as a punching bag.

Lou Jing understood that she had drawn the calamity toward herself.

Shen Zhongyin’s moods were unpredictable. She did not know whether he would kill her as he had killed those martial artists.

The sect probably had not yet received her message, and her elders could not arrive in time. No one was present to help her.

She could only avoid confronting him directly and search for an opportunity to escape.

Yet after a dozen or so exchanges, Shen Zhongyin suddenly stopped and retreated several steps.

Lou Jing could not understand the man.

His temperament was far too strange.

She did not dare relax and remained tense in a defensive stance.

Shen Zhongyin tucked both hands into his wide sleeves and shook his head at her.

“I have witnessed Lü Keji’s Qianyuan Sword Art. Jing’er, your sword techniques are too restrained. They are not sharp enough or ruthless enough.

“You lack the magnificent force of one sword holding back a million soldiers, much less the chilling killing intent that can drive three thousand enemies away before the blade is even drawn.”

Seeing him hide his hands inside his sleeves, Lou Jing understood that he intended to stop fighting and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she frowned at his criticism of her swordsmanship.

Lü Keji was her grandmaster.

The martial world respectfully called him the Sword Saint.

Although Lou Jing had never met him, she had heard people within the sect speak about him.

Among everyone since the sect’s founding, his martial achievements were the greatest. His comprehension of the sword path was nearly unmatched throughout the martial world.

Naturally, Lou Jing remained far beneath him.

A gloomy feeling arose in her heart.

After witnessing someone too extraordinary, one inevitably became painfully aware of one’s own insignificance and suffered a sense of defeat.

“My father said that cultivating the sword begins with cultivating the heart,” Lou Jing said. “One must possess benevolence and righteousness and never exterminate an enemy completely.

“Strength must never be used to its absolute limit, and a sword must never be driven entirely to the end. One should always leave three parts of room for recovery.”

Lou Jing possessed a fierce temperament and, as a young person, cared deeply about victory. Her sharpness was fully exposed.

Still, she had listened to some of her father’s words.

She had compromised: instead of leaving three parts of room, she fought for two and left only one.

The moment Lou Jing mentioned Lou Xuanzhi, Shen Zhongyin’s expression changed again.

First, he raised his head and laughed coldly.

Then, moving like a ghost, he abruptly appeared directly before Lou Jing.

Because he had shown no sign of attacking, Lou Jing was caught unprepared, and Shen Zhongyin seized both her shoulders.

“The sword path you cultivate should be a technique for killing.

“It should be like a fierce tiger descending from the forest or a venomous snake coiled and gathering strength. Once it strikes, it bites directly into a vital point.

“What it requires is not a benevolent heart but the determination to capture and kill its prey with a single blow.

“Showing mercy to an enemy is the act of a fool.

“Your father? Your father is nothing but a cowardly, incompetent, ignorant, and useless man! If you follow his teachings, how much can you possibly accomplish?”

Lou Jing’s expression immediately darkened.

“Do not speak about my father that way.”

Shen Zhongyin sneered.

“Do not? Your father is faithless and shameless, indifferent to love and obsessed with power. He is among the worst men in the world.

“What? Am I not permitted to say so?”

A spark of anger in Lou Jing’s chest instantly spread throughout her body.

In her fury, she no longer cared whether she could defeat him, whether he might kill her with a single palm, or whether she had yet to clear herself of suspicion.

She simply could not tolerate him slandering her father.

She drew her sword.

The cold point flashed like a shooting star, filled with a killing intent that chilled the entire body.

“My father is perceptive and wise, loyal and righteous!

“More than ten years ago, he raised his arm and called out, and the sects of the martial world answered him. He drove your Feihua Alliance back three thousand li and forced all of you to cower in Jiangnan and Jiangbei for over a decade without daring to emerge!

“He eliminates traitors and destroys evil. The entire world respects him.

“He is a hero! Someone like you is not worthy to speak of him!”

The sword actually cut Shen Zhongyin’s cheek.

His body drifted aside like a swallow.

He touched the painful line of blood with one finger, and the corner of his eye twitched twice.

“Oh, a hero. He is a hero.”

Shen Zhongyin laughed coldly.

“He trampled the Feihua Alliance beneath his feet. How magnificent.

“If he was truly so magnificent, why could he not even protect his own wife and daughter?

“Loyal and righteous? He was heartless and faithless! For the sake of becoming sect master, he did not even care whether his own wife lived or died.

“And you call that loyalty and righteousness?”

Lou Jing gritted her teeth.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

Shen Zhongyin began laughing wildly, unable to restrain himself.

“Excellent, Jing’er. So you still do not know.”

Lou Jing’s brows drew tightly together.

“Know what?”

Shen Zhongyin’s voice became low and hoarse, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

“Ha! Lou Xuanzhi does not dare tell you. He does not dare speak of it because he fears you will learn the truth!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Jing’er.”

Shen Zhongyin stared at her with a terrifying gaze.

“Your mother was driven to her death by the Qianyuan Sect.”

“You are lying.”

Lou Jing’s beautiful face abruptly turned deathly pale.

“My mother died from illness.”

“Died from illness?”

Shen Zhongyin scoffed.

“Is that Lou Xuanzhi’s explanation?

“He does not dare tell you that your mother was forced by her elders and fellow disciples to cut her own throat with a sword.

“And your wonderful father—your heroic father—was probably standing nearby and watching!”

“You are lying!”

Lou Jing shook her head and retreated. Her heart trembled so violently that it hurt.

“I do not believe you.

“You belong to the Feihua Alliance. How could a single truthful word leave your mouth?

“You only wish to drive a wedge between my father and me.

“No wonder you never killed me and deliberately tried to become close to me. So this was what you were waiting for!”

“You do not believe me? Then why are you panicking?”

Shen Zhongyin studied her features with an expression of longing.

“Jing’er, I approached you only because you resemble your mother.

“If you resembled your father, you would have died beneath my palm long ago.

“If you do not believe me, summon your father. The two of us can confront each other face-to-face!

“Then we will see who has been concealing the truth!”

Lou Jing’s breathing became disordered.

She truly was panicking, but she continued shaking her head.

“No. This is your scheme.

“You want to use me to lure my father here. You have laid a trap and intend to invite him into it.”

At that moment, a fast horse approached from the direction of Xinyang City.

As it drew closer, Lou Jing heard the rider call, “Jing’er!”

Lou Jing raised her head.

For an instant, she mistook the newcomer for her father.

Perhaps deep inside, she desperately hoped Lou Xuanzhi would appear at that very moment and personally shatter all of Shen Zhongyin’s lies.

But the person who arrived was not Lou Xuanzhi.

It was Lou Yan.

Before his horse had even reached them, Lou Yan impatiently used qinggong to leap from its back.

He landed beside Lou Jing, pulled her behind him, and faced Shen Zhongyin in full vigilance.

Lou Jing asked, “Second Uncle, why are you here? Did you receive my letter?”

A round trip between here and Tiger Roar Mountain required seven or eight days. How could her second uncle have arrived so quickly?

“You truly never let anyone stop worrying about you!”

Lou Yan turned and struck Lou Jing sharply on the forehead with his folded fan.

“You secretly ran down the mountain. Your senior sister feared your father would reprimand you, so she told only me.

“I sent them down the mountain to search, but after several days without finding you, we could no longer conceal it from your father.

“Your father has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He claimed he would no longer concern himself with you, yet he still sent your senior sister and the others to Xuzhou to search for you. At the same time, he instructed them to investigate the scene of Cao Ruxu’s death for clues.

“He sent me to Caoliu Manor in the hope of temporarily easing relations between the two factions.

“By coincidence, I encountered Lang Ye’s elder brother on the road. He mistook me for your father and handed your letter to me.

“Only after reading it did I learn that you had encountered…”

Lou Yan cast a sideways glance at Shen Zhongyin, then struck Lou Jing again with the fan.

“I learned that you had encountered him.

“I could not spare the time to return to the sect and hurried here instead.

“Along the road, I saw the marks you left and followed them. I also encountered a one-armed man who told me you were here.”

Lou Yan glanced at Shen Zhongyin several more times.

Shen Zhongyin stood calmly, waiting for him to finish speaking.

Then Shen Zhongyin said, “Why not ask your second uncle?”

Lou Yan asked warily, “Ask me what?”

“Second Uncle.”

Lou Jing’s hands trembled.

Unable to bear the anxiety in her heart any longer, she asked, “How did my mother die?”

Lou Yan’s face turned pale.

His mouth opened, but no words emerged for a long while.

Seeing his reaction, half of Lou Jing’s heart turned cold.

“She killed herself.”

Lou Yan hurriedly said, “Jing’er, who told you such nonsense? Your mother died from illness.”

“What an excellent death from illness.”

Shen Zhongyin spoke with contempt.

“You had the courage to do it but not the courage to admit it?”

“Second Uncle, tell me. I beg you—please tell me!”

“Jing’er…”

Lou Yan pressed his lips together.

After a long silence, he said, “Within the sect… your mother had an intense temperament. Once she made a decision, no one could stop her.”