Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 21

For over a decade, although Lou Jing frequently talked back to Lou Xuanzhi, a close examination revealed that—aside from the still-unclear incident with Cao Ruxu—she had never actually committed any major transgressions. On the contrary, she was diligent and hardworking, a dedicated and progressive student; few disciples in the sect could match her. While her relationship with Lou Xuanzhi was not particularly close, it had certainly never reached a state of dire hostility.

To say that Lou Jing harbored such resentment for her father that she would personally murder him was something others found difficult to believe, even with a shred of evidence.

However, the past matter brought up by Li Changhong provided a rational explanation for Lou Jing’s abnormal behavior.

If Shen Zhongyin truly told Lou Jing that he was her biological father and enticed her to believe that the Qian Yuan Sect and Lou Xuanzhi had caused Jiao Lan’s death, then Lou Jing would seem to have sufficient motive to strike at Lou Xuanzhi.

Years ago, Lou Xuanzhi had clearly stated that Lou Jing was his daughter. He had commanded that no one in the sect mention her parentage again, even punishing those who questioned it to her face. Consequently, the masses kept their mouths shut, but that did not mean everyone stopped doubting her origins.

Li Changhong was one of them.

Now that Lou Xuanzhi was gone and Lou Jing was under heavy suspicion, Li Changhong had no qualms about bringing up the old matter once more.

Li Changhong gestured toward the ground and said to Wu Qingtian: “Last time in Xuzhou City during the Zhongwu Hall wedding, the subordinates Cao Ruxu took to chase the Jade Buddha Hand all died under Shen Zhongyin’s Dan Yan Palm. That wicked disciple was also there. I fear that Shen Zhongyin met with her then and made a pact. Look at her after she returned to the mountain—she showed no remorse, acted defiantly, talked back to the Sect Leader, and even made him cough up blood from anger. The heart of betrayal was already showing its first signs. Her subsequent descent from the mountain was likely a pretense to investigate Cao Ruxu’s death while actually meeting Shen Zhongyin privately. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that she met him? It was clearly premeditated!”

One by one, piece by piece, Li Changhong actually linked these events into a chain of cause and effect.

Yun Yao was not very clear on the grievances of the previous generation, but seeing Wu Qingtian’s expression, she knew that the past was not just a story made up by Li Changhong; she feared the waters there were very deep.

Currently, all signs were unfavorable to Lou Jing, and even her murky parentage had become a fatal weakness—a motive for her alleged crime. Even though Yun Yao wanted to defend Lou Jing, she was left speechless until other evidence could be found.

After Yun Yao left, Li Changhong and Wu Qingtian went to the Black Jail.

Lou Jing sat with her back to the cell door, facing the wall with the single stone window. Even when the door opened, she did not turn around.

Wu Qingtian said coldly: “Your elders have arrived, yet you remain with your back turned and do not rise to greet us. Have you discarded even the most basic etiquette entirely?”

Lou Jing lowered her head from gazing at the sky outside the window and said: “Did Martial Uncle Li not say he has no such niece?”

“You!” Li Changhong flicked his sleeve, his goatee trembling.

Ultimately, Lou Jing rose and bowed to Wu Qingtian, driven by her inner needs. “Martial Uncle Wu.”

Because of her stubborn nature, having been insulted, she refused to bow to Li Changhong and simply ignored him.

Lou Jing said: “Martial Uncle Wu, I want to keep vigil for my father.”

Before Wu Qingtian could speak, Li Changhong barked: “Impossible!”

“He is my father!” Lou Jing gritted her teeth. “Even if I am a death-row prisoner, I should at least be allowed to see my father off on his final journey!”

Wu Qingtian’s thick brows sank as if he were hesitating. Lou Jing seized the opportunity and said: “Even if I don’t keep vigil, just let me see him one last time.”

“What kind of place is the ancestral hall? To let you in would be to insult the threshold of the Qian Yuan Sect! You are not worthy of paying respects to the Sect Leader. To have a murderer keep vigil—what a massive joke!”

Lou Jing’s fists clenched tightly, veins bulging on her hands. “Did Martial Uncle Li personally see me kill my father? Is my guilt already set in stone? If not, by what right do you stop me from paying respects to my father?”

“There is little difference now,” Li Changhong said. “We are here to have you state your actions after descending the mountain. Today, do not think you can muddle through again!”

Lou Jing glanced at Wu Qingtian. Seeing that he remained silent, she knew there was largely no hope. She laughed hollowly and repeated the account she had already given to Yun Yao once more.

The two men did not respond to her words.

After a moment, Wu Qingtian called out, “Lou Jing…”

Li Changhong grabbed Wu Qingtian and pulled him out of the cell. As they were about to leave, Lou Jing suddenly looked up and asked Li Changhong: “Elder Li, if it is eventually discovered that the killer was not I, yet you caused me to lose the chance to see my father one last time, how do you plan to make amends?”

When Li Changhong turned back, he met Lou Jing’s gaze directly. Those eyes coiled around him like a venomous snake, covered in a layer of frost—cold and devoid of emotion. Even though Li Changhong had weathered many storms, he couldn’t help but feel a jolt in his heart. He said in a deep voice: “That day will never come.”

After Li Changhong and Wu Qingtian left, Wu Qingtian stood in the dim corridor and pondered for a moment. “What she said has merit. Regardless of whose daughter she actually is, the Sect Leader raised her for over a decade. Even if there is no biological bond, there should be a bond of affection. Letting her pay her respects once wouldn’t hurt anything.”

Li Changhong was unimpressed. “Look at that brat. From the moment she learned of the Sect Leader’s passing, has she shed a single tear? She is cold-blooded to this degree! Furthermore, she was able to strike the Sect Leader—what ‘bond of affection’ is there to speak of? Who has such a bond?”

Wu Qingtian said: “There are still points of doubt in this matter. Much of it is deduction. Though there is physical evidence, there is no eyewitness.”

“Even so, what is Lou Jing’s temperament?” Li Changhong lowered his voice and cupped his hands toward the void. “The ancestral hall is such a solemn and majestic place. If she were to cause a scene as she did two days ago and offend the spirits of our ancestors, what then?”

Wu Qingtian considered for a moment, nodded, let out a sigh, and walked away. Li Changhong looked back at the cell once before following him out.

Lou Jing sat withered in the cell, completely unaware of the wind and rain outside. All was quiet within and without. She emptied her thoughts, somewhat avoidantly, refusing to think of anything.

The next day, the weather cleared slightly. When someone came again, Lou Jing was lying on the bed with her eyes fixed on the ceiling, her face wooden.

The cell door was opened, and someone barked coldly: “Lou Jing, get up.”

It was Jia Yu, followed by two disciples who looked familiar, though she couldn’t remember who they were.

Lou Jing sat up. Jia Yu stood over her, looking down at her. “From today onward, I shall be the one to interrogate you.”

Lou Jing said coldly: “Elder Li and Martial Uncle Wu already asked yesterday. Everything I know, I have already said.”

“Who knows if you’ve hidden anything!”

Jia Yu had a long, lean face with prominent cheekbones, thin lips, and drooping eyes. A gleam of excitement flickered in his gaze. With a cold and harsh expression, he stepped closer to Lou Jing. “Lou Jing, you had better confess honestly. The longer you stall, the more embarrassing you will make it for yourself.”

Lou Jing moved closer to him. “I am embarrassed right now—embarrassed by your incompetence.”

Jia Yu’s face turned ashen. He stepped back, straightened his body, and barked in a sharp tone: “Traitor Lou Jing, did you conspire with Shen Zhongyin the very first time you went down the mountain?”

Lou Jing raised her eyelids to look at him. “I don’t know him. What conspiracy? He nearly killed me. You would conspire with such a person?”

But Jia Yu acted as if he hadn’t heard and continued: “Was your unauthorized descent this time for the purpose of meeting Shen Zhongyin to plot the murder of the Sect Leader?”

“I went down the mountain to investigate the cause of Cao Ruxu’s death.”

“You pretended to be captured by Shen Zhongyin to lure the Sect Leader there—” Lou Jing said in a deep voice, “I did not!”

“Taking advantage of the Sect Leader’s lack of defense against you—” Even though she didn’t want to engage Jia Yu, she couldn’t help talking back when hearing others’ slanders, “I did no such thing!”

“With one move of ‘Dragon Hibernation,’ you slit the Sect Leader’s throat!”

“Jia Yu! If you are deaf, then send someone here who understands human speech!”

“You ignored over a decade of upbringing, you heartless wolf! You killed the Sect Leader, didn’t you? Speak!” Jia Yu’s voice grew louder and louder, barking sharply like a dense, airtight black wall closing in, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.

He paid no heed to Lou Jing’s words; he didn’t seem to be there for an interrogation, but rather to assign guilt to a criminal.

“Lou Jing, why don’t you speak? Is it a guilty conscience?”

Lou Jing suppressed the rage in her heart, veins appearing on her forehead. “If you want to ask questions, let Martial Uncle Wu come.”

Jia Yu let out a soft sneer. “Lou Jing, do you still think you’re the Sect Leader’s biological daughter, the future successor whom everyone has to yield to? Now it is Yu Jingqiu sitting on the Sect Leader’s throne, while you—a rebellious, parricidal prisoner—are nothing.”

Jia Yu continued to accuse her, speaking of those baseless crimes as if they were facts. His voice was sharp and high-pitched, interrogating her repeatedly until nightfall.

He came again the second day, repeatedly forcing questions that would make one’s blood boil, disturbing her the entire day. This continued for three consecutive days.

When Lou Jing closed her eyes, her ears were filled with Jia Yu’s piercing words, and her mind was filled with his mocking face, spinning around and around her.

At night, Lou Jing had a nightmare. In the dream, she held a long sword with blood dripping from the edge. Lou Xuanzhi was kneeling before her with a massive, hideous wound on his neck, blood gushing like a spring.

Lou Jing startled awake from the dream, drenched in cold sweat. Her heart was filled with apprehension, guilt, and self-reproach that lingered for a long time.

Lou Jing’s mental state began to deteriorate, and her mood became extremely unstable.

When Jia Yu came to interrogate her again that day—”It was you who killed the Sect Leader—” Lou Jing lashed out, “Shut up!”

Because she hadn’t slept at night, her eyes were bloodshot. “I see you are in a great hurry to assign guilt. It is you who has a guilty conscience and is eager to cast something off! I fear the killers are you people! It’s you, you! Or you! Or Elder Li, your master!”

Jia Yu pinched Lou Jing’s face, his eye twitching. “A cornered dog jumping over the wall, daring to slander my master!”

Unexpectedly, Lou Jing opened her mouth and bit down on the webbing of Jia Yu’s hand with all her might. Her teeth immediately sank deep into the flesh.

The sudden, heart-piercing pain caused Jia Yu to lose his breath. Before he could gather his internal energy, Lou Jing kicked the acupoint below his knee. Even without much force, Jia Yu’s leg went numb as if the strength had been drained. Unable to support himself, his body tilted, and he began to fall.

Lou Jing grabbed his hand and twisted it backward. Following the momentum of Jia Yu’s fall, she shoved him forward violently, pinning him to the ground.

Lou Jing half-knelt on Jia Yu’s back, twisting his hand and pressing the other hand against the back of his neck. Her face was dark and savage. “Even Li Changhong wouldn’t necessarily treat me this way standing here. What kind of thing are you!”

However, Lou Jing’s internal energy was sealed. Once Jia Yu regained his senses, he released power from his dantian. With a jolt of force, he threw Lou Jing off his body.

Jia Yu scrambled up, enraged by his humiliation. He snatched a disciple’s sword scabbard. “Lou Jing refuses to cooperate with the interrogation and even attacked a fellow sect member. You all saw it.”

The muscles on Jia Yu’s face twitched as his blood-drenched hand gripped the scabbard. “A person like you needs a harsh lesson! The Sect Leader never struck you and reaped the bitter fruit; today, I shall teach you properly!”

Jia Yu swung the scabbard violently at Lou Jing’s waist. Lou Jing blocked with her arm, and though she was quick, she had no internal energy to protect her. She felt a surge of pain as if the bone had cracked.

The two disciples came to stop him, whispering, “Senior Brother Jia, if you cause significant harm, it will be hard to explain to Martial Uncle Wu and Senior Sister Yu.”

Jia Yu didn’t care. “Never mind that Yu Jingqiu isn’t the Sect Leader yet. Even if she were, it was Lou Jing who committed the wrong first. If I give her a small lesson, what can Yu Jingqiu say?” In his eyes, there was truly nothing to fear from Yu Jingqiu.

As he was about to strike again, he paused. Thinking that if he went too far it would indeed attract attention, he began to strike places covered by clothing so it wouldn’t be seen.

At first, Lou Jing could dodge a few times, but without internal energy to sustain her, she wasn’t as fast as Jia Yu. Most of the blows landed on her body.

Jia Yu struck over ten times until Lou Jing stopped dodging. She didn’t say a word, her eyes fixed directly on him—like sharp wolf eyes lurking and watching in the cold light of the deep night.

Jia Yu felt a shiver in his heart. Feeling somewhat intimidated, he stayed his hand, muttered a few insults, and left with the two disciples.