Chapter 54
By the first lunar month, Shao Yan’s injuries had almost completely healed, and only then did Zhan Sanxiao return.
Just as she had predicted, no snow fell that winter, though the weather was bitterly cold.
While Zhan Sanxiao was away, Lou Jing waited at Fengyu Tower. She exchanged moves with Yan Bumei every morning and evening, and time passed swiftly. Before she knew it, Zhan Sanxiao had returned.
Zhan Sanxiao entered the room with cold clinging to her entire body.
Lou Jing had not seen her for a year and vaguely felt that she had grown thinner. Zhan Sanxiao’s brows were faintly furrowed, concealing some worry.
The words Lou Jing wished to say circled repeatedly inside her head. After hesitating, she failed to speak.
Zhan Sanxiao glanced at her.
“I heard you returned last month. Since you waited an entire month for me, you must have something to discuss. Speak.”
Since Zhan Sanxiao had brought it up directly, Lou Jing no longer held back.
“Do you have anyone stationed near the Qianyuan Sect?”
Lou Jing’s gaze sharpened when she saw Zhan Sanxiao’s brows shift slightly. Understanding the answer, she continued before Zhan Sanxiao could reply.
“I want you to contact someone for me.”
“Who?”
“My senior sister, Yun Yao.”
Lou Jing’s expression darkened, and viciousness rose in her eyes.
“I only recently learned that my senior brother and senior sister were harmed, but I do not know the full circumstances. The person behind it may be the same one who killed my father.
“Since he dared to do it, he should not expect an easy death!”
After speaking, the murderous aura around Lou Jing gradually dispersed. She lowered her eyes and said sorrowfully, “Now, only she and Third Senior Brother remain upon our peak.”
Zhan Sanxiao’s expression changed slightly, becoming as cold as winter snow.
“More than two years have passed. Even if you contact your senior sister and learn every detail of what happened, the culprit has probably destroyed all the evidence long ago. What could you possibly uncover?”
“You already knew?”
“I did.”
“…”
Displeasure arose in Lou Jing, but she quickly remembered that she was merely a subordinate. A master had no obligation to report every matter to her.
Zhan Sanxiao leaned lazily against her chair and idly played with the red jade bracelet around her wrist.
After calculating silently for a moment, she said, “I can contact her for you. But if she is to believe the message truly came from you, you must provide one or two personal tokens and write a letter.”
“Very well.”
Lou Jing did not trust Zhan Sanxiao with her entire heart.
However, compared with the other members of the Feihua Alliance, Zhan Sanxiao was more trustworthy.
Lou Jing could sense that Zhan Sanxiao was deliberately training her. Although she could not understand the woman’s purpose, she vaguely felt it might be because they shared the same enemies.
Furthermore, Zhan Sanxiao always gave her an inexplicable feeling of familiarity.
Even if Zhan Sanxiao had some ulterior motive, Lou Jing instinctively believed that she would not harm her.
Lou Jing returned to her residence and removed a small wooden box from a cabinet.
When she opened it, daylight slanting through the doorway illuminated the object within until it appeared snow-white.
It was a fragment of iron, sharpened along both sides and broken unevenly at the top and bottom. Two characters were engraved upon its surface:
Snow Soul.
This was the only object Lou Jing had brought down from Tiger Roar Mountain.
It was the fragment bearing the sword’s name from the weapon Lou Xuanzhi had shattered years ago.
Lou Jing also wrote a letter.
As she lifted her brush, countless thoughts surged through her mind.
She had been away from the mountain for over two years and did not know what Xiangri Peak looked like now.
She remained distracted for a long time.
Yet when her brush finally touched the paper, she wrote scarcely any greetings and directly asked about Lang Ye’s death.
Lou Jing handed the letter and token to Zhan Sanxiao.
When Zhan Sanxiao accepted the sword fragment, her fingers stroked its engraved surface, and her expression dimmed slightly.
She opened the letter in front of Lou Jing and scanned it from top to bottom.
Then she pointed to its final line:
By now, you should believe that someone within the sect harbors treacherous and malicious intentions. Be cautious in everything, remain vigilant at all times, and do not repeat the same mistake.
Zhan Sanxiao instructed Lou Jing to change it to:
Someone within the sect harbors malicious intentions. I hope you will secretly watch those you find suspicious, search for evidence, and help me identify the true murderer.
Lou Jing did not wish to involve Yun Yao in the matter as well.
But one sentence from Zhan Sanxiao awakened her.
“There is no prey that can remain unharmed forever. If the prey does not strike first and does nothing but retreat in the hope of surviving, it will eventually be hunted down and killed.”
Lou Jing fell silent.
After a long while, she rewrote the letter, changed the final sentence, and handed it to Zhan Sanxiao.
Once that matter was settled, Lou Jing told her about Sun Mang’s intention to absorb the Red Fragrance Society.
She concealed nothing. Even if she tried, it would be impossible to hide, and she trusted that Zhan Sanxiao already knew.
“Handle that matter as you see fit…”
Zhan Sanxiao spoke indifferently, but halfway through her sentence, her tone changed.
“The superficial peace of the martial world has already been broken. This year will not be tranquil, and every Central Plains sect will undoubtedly remain vigilant.
“Xuzhou City contains two major factions—Zhongwu Hall and the Salt Gang. Not the slightest disturbance can escape their ears.
“You should avoid attention for now. There is no need to return to Apricot Blossom Heaven this year.”
“Am I to serve as your guard again?”
Zhan Sanxiao smiled meaningfully.
“Do you not have other matters to keep you occupied?
“Qiu Zhaoyi is busy dealing with the great masters of the martial world and lacks the energy to discipline every minor movement beneath her.
“A few steps beyond Xifeng Pass lies Yujin Ferry, while a few steps in the opposite direction leads to Fengyu Tower.
“If Sun Mang opens that entire route, will it not become convenient for you to travel from here to the riverbank?”
Lou Jing found it amusing that a journey of several hundred li became only “a few steps” in Zhan Sanxiao’s mouth.
Still, the arrangement suited her perfectly.
In the blink of an eye, four months passed.
With Lou Jing’s assistance, the Azure Qilin Gang gained wings like a tiger. They beat the Red Fragrance Society until its backbone softened and its members submitted.
The two factions merged into one.
The Red Fragrance Society’s chief, Guan Yi—known among his followers as Guan Yidao—became the Azure Qilin Gang’s deputy leader, half willingly and half reluctantly.
The previous deputy, Qiu Qing, yielded his position and assumed the role of protector instead.
The next moment, though the bandages around their wounds were still stained with blood, they were already throwing their arms over one another’s shoulders, drinking and shouting over drinking games.
Apart from traveling between the Azure Qilin Gang and Fengyu Tower, Lou Jing lived much as she had before.
She practiced her sword and cultivated her martial arts, often forgetting both food and sleep.
The Qianyuan Sword Art and its internal cultivation method emphasized deep accumulation followed by explosive progress.
Advancement was slow during the initial stages, but the further one progressed, the faster the improvement became.
The central principles were to calm the heart, steady the qi, and guard against pride and impatience.
Lou Jing’s unchanging diligence over more than ten years had established an exceptionally solid foundation.
Now, after enduring so many hardships, she had also gained deeper insights into the sword art. Her progress could no longer be compared with that of the past.
Shen Zhongyin’s cultivation, by contrast, advanced quickly at first but slowed later. It was easy to begin yet difficult to master—the precise opposite of the Qianyuan Sword Art.
Even though Lou Jing had practiced it for only a little over two years, she had already achieved modest success.
Lou Jing’s cultivation entered a period of rapid ascent.
She grew stronger by the day, and the progress was visible to the naked eye.
She resembled green bamboo nourished by the spring rain, shooting upward segment by segment during the most vigorous period of its growth.
When Lou Jing first fought Sun Mang, he had been capable of matching ninety percent of her strength.
Now, he could contend with only seventy or eighty percent.
The weather grew warmer in May.
Fengyu Tower was surrounded by greenery that added a trace of coolness, though the cries of insects at night were genuinely irritating.
After waiting eagerly for many days, Lou Jing finally received Yun Yao’s reply.
She gripped the letter so tightly that the paper trembled like a delicate leaf beneath a storm.
Blood-red veins spread across her furious eyes.
“Li Changhong!”
With a sharp crack, the porcelain cup in Lou Jing’s hand shattered.
The jagged fragments cut into her palm, and crimson blood dripped from the back of her hand to the floor.
Her hatred was overwhelming.
Although she possessed no conclusive evidence, she had already decided that he was responsible.
She wished she could kill him immediately, but she had no suitable means of doing so.
Several dark marks stained the letter—perhaps new tearstains layered over old ones, all shed by Yun Yao.
In her reply, Yun Yao agreed to investigate Li Changhong’s movements and search for evidence.
In truth, Yun Yao had never stopped searching for the person who murdered their master and Lang Ye. Neither had she ever ceased seeking information about their eldest senior sister.
Lou Jing sat in the chair, her gaze cold and heavy.
She threw the bloodstained porcelain fragments from her hand.
Her heart felt unbearably stifled.
Suddenly, she thought that if a petty man like Li Changhong—ungrateful, treacherous, hypocritical, hateful, and vile—could receive his punishment, what would it matter if she used any means necessary?
The following day, cries of misery filled the Azure Qilin Gang.
Several of its best fighters rolled from the training platform covered in wounds.
Even Gang Leader Sun Mang had a bruised and swollen face.
Speaking indistinctly, he asked his protector, “Brother Qiu, do you think Sister Yuanfu has been eating gunpowder lately? Why is she striking so ruthlessly?”
Qiu Qing, the gang’s crafty adviser, considered the matter for a long time.
“Lady Yuanfu is in the prime of youth. Well, women…”
He hesitated.
“Gang Leader, consider it from your own perspective. If you were denied meat for several years and forced to live as a monk free of worldly desires, would you not possess a great deal of pent-up fire?”
Sun Mang repeatedly nodded, finding the explanation reasonable.
He genuinely believed him.
After searching throughout the gang, he found only large, rough-faced men.
Considering Lou Jing’s striking beauty, he assumed she must prefer a handsome young gentleman.
No one knew where he found and abducted a refined-looking young man, but he tied him securely and delivered him to Lou Jing’s room.
“…”
The moment Lou Jing saw the bound man, her face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
That night, she released him and sent him home.
Then she returned to Fengyu Tower in displeasure.
Zhan Sanxiao’s study was always bright, spotless, and orderly.
Green branches drooped outside, resting against the windowsill.
Sunlight passed through the leaves, becoming a fresh green glow that fell upon the slender, snow-white wrist beside the desk.
The moment Lou Jing entered, Zhan Sanxiao narrowed her eyes.
“You have not even entered the room, yet the smell of wine has already arrived.”
Lou Jing’s steps halted beneath the hanging-flower gate.
A thought suddenly appeared in her mind:
Her nose is as sharp as Senior Sister’s.
“If you possess so much spare time, you should train those men properly.
“If a gang has territory and manpower but scarcely any people with profound cultivation, then it is nothing more than a disorganized mob.”
“I understand.”
Lou Jing noticed the envelope in Zhan Sanxiao’s hand.
Held against the light, the inked characters upon the paper inside were faintly visible.
Her heart leaped.
“Has another letter arrived from the Qianyuan Sect?”
“It is not from there.”
Zhan Sanxiao folded the letter and released a silent sigh.
After a long while, she suddenly said, “Lou Jing…”
No further words followed.
Lou Jing asked voluntarily, “Does the Tower Master have an instruction for me?”
“You are already capable of standing on your own.”
Zhan Sanxiao’s tone carried quiet emotion.
Lou Jing did not understand what she meant.
Midsummer passed silently.
The conflict between the great Central Plains sects and the Feihua Alliance also gradually approached its conclusion.
Both sides seemed inclined to suspend the fighting temporarily and choose another day to resume it.
Then a piece of news exploded throughout the Central Plains martial world like thunder.
A force in Jiangnan was known as the Manor of the Dead.
The person in charge was the infamous Master Yao.
The manor abducted, captured, and deceived people who possessed no family or support, using them to refine and test medicines.
The human test subjects often suffered agony beyond endurance and waited for death in despair.
Rumor claimed that Qiu Zhaoyi’s stiffness had been cured only because Master Yao had repeatedly refined and altered medicinal formulas by testing them upon living people before finally producing a successful cure.
Having discovered the convenience of human test subjects, Master Yao continued the practice.
At first, he used only beggars.
Later, he became so brazen that he even abducted martial instructors.
In recent years, disciples from minor sects and factions had frequently disappeared without explanation, and the great sects had long since become suspicious.
Several years earlier, Lu Yuanding of the Qianyuan Sect had accepted an invitation from the Beggars’ Gang to travel to Jiangnan and investigate the disappearance of its disciples.
However, upheaval later occurred within the sect, forcing Lu Yuanding to return.
The investigation ended without a conclusion.
When the martial world heard of such deranged, cruel, and vicious acts, everyone was horrified.
The flames of war, which had only just begun to settle, instantly erupted once more.
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