Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 26

The long snake was brilliantly colored, its body gleaming emerald like a stretch of clear green water. It was unmistakably venomous, coiled and waiting to strike.

Lou Jing’s senses were keen. The instant she heard the faint movement and turned around, the snake launched itself at her.

A sinister streak of green lightning shot directly toward her face.

Lou Jing’s hand flashed out. Three fingers curved like an eagle’s talons, swift and powerful, seizing the snake by the head.

Outside, the two people from Caoliu Manor were still talking.

The woman laughed mockingly.

“Shen Zhongyin comes and goes like a ghost. The manor master previously dispatched all the experts of Caoliu Manor to capture him, yet so many people failed to catch one man. Instead, he slipped silently into your home and made a laughingstock of you.

“This time, Shen Zhongyin killed Lou Xuanzhi and provoked the fury of countless heroes. Do you think he would not hide until the storm passes? Trying to capture him now, I fear you will not even touch his shadow.”

Lou Jing crouched inside the hollow beneath the half-collapsed eastern corner of the inn.

When she heard the woman speak of Lou Xuanzhi’s death, her gaze dimmed. Her fingers unconsciously tightened, crushing the snake’s head into a bloody pulp.

Its emerald body continued twisting and struggling, winding itself around her arm.

The man said, “According to the rumors, this is where Shen Zhongyin fought Lou Xuanzhi. Shen escaped with severe injuries. In his panic, he must have left some clue behind. We will surely find the fox’s tail he failed to hide—”

The woman lightly raised one pale, delicate hand, cutting him off.

The man questioned her with his eyes.

She lifted her eyelids and glanced toward the eastern corner.

“There is a rat.”

The moment she finished speaking, the man abruptly drew his sword.

Sword qi swept outward, cutting the dilapidated wall at the eastern corner into pieces.

Lou Jing did not know how she had exposed herself. To avoid the sword qi, she had no choice but to roll out through the cloud of dust.

The moment she appeared, the people of Caoliu Manor surrounded her, trapping her against the eastern corner.

One attendant shouted, “Who are you? Why are you skulking around?”

The tall, bamboo-thin man had a long face and five wisps of beard. He narrowed his eyes at Lou Jing, who was half-kneeling upon the ground.

“Who might you be, and why were you hiding in the shadows?”

Lou Jing lowered her voice until it sounded dull and muffled.

“This young man was merely passing by and wanted to find somewhere to stay.”

“If so, why did you hide instead of showing yourself? Why were you eavesdropping upon our conversation?”

Lou Jing secretly swept her gaze around the room and noticed a man standing near the distant counter.

Her luck was truly wretched.

The leading man and woman from Caoliu Manor were strangers whom she had never seen before. She had thought she might deceive them.

Yet enemies inevitably crossed paths.

The attendant by the counter had once followed Cao Ruxu. He was the man who had escaped from the abandoned garden on the night of Zhongwu Hall’s wedding to report what had happened.

They had met two or three times. Though they were hardly acquainted, they could at least remember each other’s faces.

Cold sweat appeared across Lou Jing’s back.

Knowing she could not panic now, she forcibly calmed herself.

“This young man left home without informing his family. I mistook you for elders who had pursued me, so I hid.”

The alluring woman looked Lou Jing up and down, folded her arms, and smiled.

“You are clearly a young woman. Why pretend to be some stinking man?”

Lou Jing knew the martial world contained many extraordinary people, yet she was still startled that the woman had seen through her disguise at a glance.

Fortunately, years of arguing had given her a quick tongue.

“Men’s clothing is more convenient when traveling through the martial world.”

That was indeed reasonable and difficult to dispute.

But the man and woman before her had spent decades in the martial world. How could they be deceived so easily?

The bearded man lifted his chin.

“Why conceal yourself? Remove the bamboo hat.”

Lou Jing did not move.

The man stepped forward as though intending to remove it for her.

Only then did Lou Jing lower her head slightly and raise one hand to the hat.

Her movements were as slow as a snail climbing a road, while countless thoughts passed through her mind.

If she removed the hat and the attendant recognized her, the people of Caoliu Manor would never let her go.

But if she refused, their suspicions would only deepen, and they would hardly allow the matter to end.

Perhaps it would be better to strike first.

Yet the cultivation of this man and woman was unfathomable. Escaping them would be extremely difficult.

Lou Jing grasped the edge of the bamboo hat and removed it, revealing the face she had smeared waxen yellow.

She decided to gamble.

Her gaze involuntarily shifted toward the attendant beside the counter.

Perhaps because of her guilty conscience, she began imagining things. It seemed to her that he was also staring constantly at her face, as though he had recognized something.

She grew even more anxious about his reaction.

Lou Jing failed to notice that the woman’s eyes were as bright as torches and had already captured every subtle movement of her gaze.

Smiling, she ordered the attendant near the counter, “You. Come here.”

The man immediately obeyed and walked to her side.

Receiving no further instruction, he stood behind her.

Now that he was closer, he could see Lou Jing more clearly.

She became even more nervous.

She also understood that her gaze had been too obvious, allowing the woman to notice something unusual and summon the attendant.

Lou Jing gritted her teeth and forced herself not to look at him.

The bearded man asked, “Which sect are you a disciple of?”

Lou Jing replied, “My family taught me a few random methods merely to strengthen my body. They possess no reputation.”

The man pondered for a moment, then looked at her sideways. A restrained gleam shone within his dark pupils.

“Judging from your accent… you appear to come from the north.”

Lou Jing’s heart jumped violently.

“My ancestral home is in the north…”

Her gaze flicked toward the woman.

The attendant behind her seemed to gain sudden inspiration from the man’s question. His eyes fixed directly upon Lou Jing, clearly different from before.

The light within them resembled the breaking dawn, sweeping away every disguise of the night.

Lou Jing’s heart sank.

He had recognized her.

The attendant parted his lips, preparing to speak.

Lou Jing could no longer remain calm.

She abruptly drew her sword.

If she waited until the attendant revealed her identity, it would be too late to act. Although she could not defeat the man and woman, seizing the initiative might at least grant her some advantage.

Her sword qi surged, forcing those before her to defend themselves.

She immediately withdrew and attempted to escape.

The bearded man followed like a shadow.

His sword techniques were fierce and ruthless. He also practiced the Zhengyang Sword Art, but his skill was far beyond anything Cao Ruxu had possessed, and his cultivation was deep and refined.

Lou Jing knew that if she confronted him directly, she would certainly lose.

She could not use the Qian Formula. Instead, she had to employ the Kun Formula, using softness to overcome strength and relying upon ingenuity.

Fortunately, the sword she had taken was specifically suited to practicing the Kun Formula.

The man’s heavy sword pressed downward.

Lou Jing raised her blade to block it. Her long sword bent like a willow branch, its edge circling around the heavy weapon and stabbing toward the man’s chin.

The sword’s trajectory was unpredictable, attacking where he was unprepared.

Startled, the man tilted his head backward and evaded the strike.

However, Lou Jing sliced off one lock of his beard.

The woman giggled.

“Second Master Cao, at your age, you allowed a little girl to cut off part of your beard. Are you not ashamed?”

The man touched his chin, his expression darkening.

“The Qianyuan Sword Art.”

“Lou Jing! It truly is Lou Jing!”

The attendant’s eyes lit up as he shouted, “Second Master, Miss Snake Lady, she is Lou Jing!”

Everyone’s expression changed.

Snake Lady said, “Oh? Was this little girl not imprisoned in the Qianyuan Sect’s black prison? How did she escape?”

Second Master Cao scoffed.

“Judging from her appearance, she probably fled in secret.

“If she had nothing on her conscience, why would she run?

“This girl may truly be colluding with Shen Zhongyin. Perhaps she knows where he is hiding.

“Snake Lady, capture her first.”

“If she knew, why would she come here?” Snake Lady replied lazily.

“You mean…”

After learning Lou Jing’s identity, Second Master Cao stopped holding back.

He swung his heavy sword, whose blade vibrated with a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees.

He used the full extent of his strength.

Lou Jing merely blocked once, yet her internal organs shook as though an iron hammer had struck her chest.

Snake Lady turned her pale hand and fired an iron lotus seed.

Lou Jing had only just escaped from beneath Second Master Cao’s sword when the concealed weapon blocked her path.

She swept her sword around and split the iron lotus seed in two.

Lou Jing was still new to the martial world and lacked experience.

The moment the iron lotus seed was cut open, seven or eight tiny iron pellets burst from within and shot outward.

Caught completely unprepared, Lou Jing hurriedly defended herself, but two pellets still struck her right shoulder.

She almost lost her grip upon the sword.

She could defend against the left but not the right.

Second Master Cao was also waiting beside her for an opening.

He seized the opportunity and struck her back with his palm.

Lou Jing could not turn in time to defend herself.

She spat out blood and collapsed to her knees, her vision turning black. She no longer possessed the strength to fight.

Blood streamed from the corner of her mouth, while the yellow mud concealed her deathly pale complexion.

Second Master Cao ordered, “Take her away.”

Two Caoliu Manor attendants approached from either side and bound her.

Second Master Cao said to Snake Lady, “Whether she knows Shen Zhongyin’s whereabouts or not, if we cannot capture him, capturing Lou Jing means this journey was not wasted.”

He left several people at the inn to continue searching for traces of Shen Zhongyin.

Then he and Snake Lady escorted Lou Jing back to Caoliu Manor.

The moment they entered its gates, Lou Jing was taken directly before Cao Bo.

This was not the first time Lou Jing had seen Cao Bo.

Yet this time, his appearance seemed different.

A dark and sinister light gleamed through the narrow openings of his swollen eyes. He stood before her as silent and immovable as a deep abyss or towering mountain.

For a long while, he looked down at Lou Jing kneeling upon the ground.

The skin at the corners of his eyes wrinkled as he wore a smile that was not quite a smile.

“Back then, Lou Xuanzhi refused to admit that you killed my son.

“He was willing to sever relations with my Caoliu Manor and even guarantee your innocence with his own head.”

Cao Bo raised his face and laughed coldly.

“Who would have imagined that he would eventually reap what he sowed and be murdered through the combined efforts of his own daughter and an outsider?

“The man who raises a snake is eventually bitten by it.

“And now, you have fallen into my hands.”

“Cao Ruxu was not killed by me,” Lou Jing said.

Cao Bo replied, “What criminal thrown into prison does not cry, ‘My lord, I have been wronged’?

“Naturally, you did not accomplish it alone. Shen Zhongyin probably contributed far more.”

From his tone, Lou Jing knew he had already decided she was guilty.

She also understood that falling into the Cao family’s hands would not end well.

She did not fear death.

But she had only just escaped from the Qianyuan Sect and had not yet uncovered anything. Dying now would leave her bitterly unwilling.

Yet she would rather die than kneel and beg for mercy.

“If you wish to kill me, then do it.

“It is only laughable that you remain so confused. Even now, you are being kept entirely in the dark and have not discovered the true murderer of your son!”

Someone suddenly approached from the side and slapped her across the face.

Lou Jing’s ears rang, and her cheek immediately swelled.

She ran the tip of her tongue across her rear teeth and raised her head.

Her gaze resembled that of an eagle or wolf, cold and filled with killing intent.

The man who struck her looked somewhat familiar.

After thinking for a moment, she remembered seeing him at Zhongwu Hall’s wedding banquet.

He had stood near the very end of the Cao family’s wedding procession, apparently possessing little status and receiving no attention.

Lou Jing remembered him only because he bore some resemblance to Cao Ruxu.

This man appeared more like a frail scholar, but his hand had been merciless when delivering the slap.

He pointed at Lou Jing.

“You wretched thing! You betrayed your sect and repaid kindness with treachery.

“You are nothing but a homeless dog hunted by everyone in the martial world. How dare you speak to my father that way?”

So this man was also Cao Bo’s son.

Cao Bo glanced at him.

Only then did the man retreat.

“Father, forgive me. This woman spoke insultingly to you, and your son could not bear to hear it.”

Cao Bo swept his sleeve, clasped his hands behind his back, and turned away.

His distant voice drifted toward them.

“Whether or not you killed him, you opposed my son. Therefore, I will not allow you to live comfortably.”

Cao Bo stopped beside the folding screen and looked back at Lou Jing.

His gaze carried the obsessive cruelty of a middle-aged man who had lost his son.

“You possess strong bones and do not fear death. Grind them down long enough, and they will eventually soften.

“Snake Lady, I leave her to you. Treat her well.”

Someone following Cao Bo asked quietly, “Manor Master, what about the Qianyuan Sect?”

Cao Bo sneered.

“I am helping them dispose of a traitor. What could they possibly say?”