Song of Everlasting Regret - Chapter 9

Cao Ruxu rolled across the ground, picked up his sword that had been flicked away, and without bothering to defend, charged toward Lou Jing’s long sword. Having lost to her repeatedly, the more he lost, the more he yearned to win, making his sword strikes appear even more urgent and reckless.

The sword qi surged, cutting through the wild grass; as the night wind billowed, the debris swirled in the air, dazzling the eyes.

Among Cao Ruxu’s subordinates, there was one who was very good at reading the situation. He saw Lou Jing and Cao Ruxu locked in combat; meanwhile, the trusted subordinate of Long Chou—the black-robed man—had turned desperate, fighting for his life and gradually gaining the upper hand. If they were to trouble the pregnant woman again to threaten the subordinate, he feared Lou Jing would be provoked into siding even more with the woman. Continuing the fight like this would be highly unfavorable for them. Letting the demon of the Feihua Alliance escape was a minor matter compared to the risk of their young master being injured. The urgent priority was to bring reinforcements to stabilize the situation.

The subordinate thought to himself: Although sending a signal would attract our own people, we came here chasing the thief who stole the Jade Buddha Hand. If our comrades see the signal, they might think it is just a common thief and might be negligent, not realizing the gravity. How could they know we have encountered a high-ranking demon of the Feihua Alliance and that the situation is critical?

After a brief consideration, the subordinate retreated from the circle of combat. With a leap and a bound, he jumped over the wall and personally headed back to the Zhongwu Hall to report. To deal with people from the Feihua Alliance, it was necessary to quickly invite someone who could command the scene.

Just as the subordinate left, Lou Jing’s sword pierced through like a long rainbow. With majestic true qi, she wielded the Qian Character Sword Formula with incomparable dominance. Cao Ruxu’s heart was filled with jealousy, causing his Zhengyang Sword Technique to become even more violent. In a head-on collision, one was bound to break.

With a resounding clang, Cao Ruxu’s personal sword snapped in the middle. Lou Jing’s sword momentum did not stop, piercing through Cao Ruxu’s left shoulder. She followed up with a palm strike to his chest. Cao Ruxu spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying, landing in a heap of wild grass.

“Young Master!”

Those engaged in the group fight on the left had been keeping an eye on the battle between the two. Seeing Cao Ruxu defeated and Lou Jing still showing no sign of stopping, two men pulled out of the melee. One went to support Cao Ruxu and check his injuries, while the other blocked Lou Jing, meeting her Qian Yuan Sword Technique.

With Lou Jing’s fiery personality, after being provoked like this, there was no possibility of her enduring in silence. Even though she had struck Cao Ruxu down, the stifling air in her chest remained difficult to dissipate, and the cool night wind could not reduce the heat radiating from her body. Since Cao Ruxu’s subordinate had blocked her sword, she simply continued to fight, striking even harder. It felt as if those mocking faces were coming at her in groups; she only wanted to tear those faces apart and wipe away every word they had spoken.

Until a woman’s groan came from behind. This time, the groan was not intermittent like before; the woman’s cries of pain were continuous and lingering. The ordeal of childbirth had arrived, and it would not wait. The woman no longer had the strength to stand; she knelt on the grass, clutching her belly, her hair already drenched in sweat.

Lou Jing pushed away Cao Ruxu’s subordinate with her sword. Extreme anger made her face burn hot. She took two light breaths, and her trembling heart finally slowed its beat. On the other side, Cao Ruxu seemed to have fainted, and his subordinate was busy stopping the bleeding from his shoulder wound.

Lou Jing glanced back, walked to the woman’s side, and helped her up. The woman’s legs were trembling, and walking was difficult. As soon as she stood up, a dark stain could be seen on her skirt.

“Are you bleeding?”

The woman’s water had broken long ago, and she had since suffered impacts and repeated scares. Her face was deathly pale. “Miss, I beg you…”

She could not even finish her sentence. Lou Jing intended to carry her to a medical clinic, but she noticed that there were hardly any households in the vicinity, let alone a clinic. When Long Chou’s subordinate had fled with the woman, he was focused on reaching a quiet, hidden spot near the meeting point; he never imagined the woman would give birth right then.

The woman could no longer handle the jolting of being carried. She feared that if she were exposed to the night wind any longer, she would catch a chill, and her life would slip away.

Lou Jing had no choice but to carry her into the ruined house. There was a hole in the roof, and the silvery moonlight poured through, illuminating the interior. There were spiderwebs inside, broken clay jars in the corners, and a dust-covered bed-frame by the wall. Aside from that, there was nothing else. Lou Jing had no other option; she could only place the woman on the bed.

There was half a candle at the head of the bed. Lou Jing took out a fire-starter and lit it. The bright yellow light illuminated only the small area of the bed. The woman looked like a ghost, and the blood from beneath her stained the bedding.

With tears shimmering in her eyes, the woman spoke intermittently: “Miss… when I arrive… in the underworld… I will… pray for you. I…”

Lou Jing said, “I will find a doctor and a midwife for you. Do not worry.”

Lou Jing had never seen a woman give birth and did not know how to respond.

The woman grabbed her wrist. “No… I cannot wait… Help me…”

“But… I don’t understand this.” She had studied literature and martial arts on Tiger Roar Mountain, but she had never learned how to deliver a baby.

As the woman groaned in pain, biting her lips until they bled, she continued to weep. “If there is a next life, I will surely repay you. I… help me, please help me…”

Initially, Lou Jing had felt a sliver of dislike because the woman was connected to the Feihua Alliance, but she had helped her this far simply because she was a mother. At this moment, the woman’s struggle to protect her child moved her deeply.

It was exactly as the woman said; she likely could not wait for a doctor to arrive. She would have to help as best she could.

Lou Jing was decisive; she was a woman of action. Having made up her mind, she grasped the woman’s wrist and transferred some true qi to her, giving her the strength needed for the delivery.

She followed the woman’s instructions. In truth, what she could do was far too little. This place was filled with dust and was unclean, which was bad for the mother. Moreover, the wind whistled through, and there was no place to boil hot water.

The sounds of fighting continued outside, and it was unclear who was winning.

To save her remaining strength, the woman did not even dare to cry out in pain, only suppressing her voice. After an unknown amount of time and effort, Lou Jing was also covered in sweat.

Finally, the cry of a baby rang out in the room.

There were no extra cloths in the house. Lou Jing had to take off her own outer garment to wrap the infant. Holding this new life that had just entered the world, her eyes lit up with a hint of curiosity as she gazed at the baby’s wrinkled face.

From now on, there is one more person in this world. Truly miraculous.

However, fate is cruel.

The woman began to hemorrhage; blood flowed uncontrollably.

Childbirth is a major ordeal for women. Even under the best conditions, some lose their lives, let alone in this broken, dilapidated house. This bleeding meant she had half a foot in the grave.

Although Lou Jing was not fully aware of the severity, she sensed something was wrong upon seeing the blood. Transferring true qi and striking acupoints proved useless.

“The child… let her see the child.”

Lou Jing brought the baby to her side and said, “It is a girl.”

The woman pulled back the swaddling, took one look at the child, and tears fell from the corners of her eyes. She pressed her cheek against the baby’s, filled with an inexpressible grief.

“Miss, I thank you deeply.” At this moment, the woman seemed to experience a final surge of clarity, and her speech was very fluent.

Leaning against the swaddling, she gently coaxed the child until she stopped crying. She whispered softly and tenderly: “Mother did not mean to leave you…”

These words made Lou Jing’s nose sting and her eyes burn.

The woman’s hand rested on the child. She closed her eyes as if falling asleep, and slowly, her voice faded away.

Lou Jing walked to the bedside and checked; the woman had already stopped breathing. Lou Jing picked up the oblivious child from beneath the woman’s hand. Her heart ached as if it were being wrung. Witnessing birth and death in such a short span left her mood exceptionally low.

Gazing at the child, a sudden wave of sorrow hit her. She choked out a single word: “Mother.”

She thought of her own mother. When her mother gave birth to her, it must have been just as difficult.

However, she did not dwell in her grief for long. At some point, the sounds of fighting outside had stopped, and the shouting of Cao Ruxu’s subordinates began to ring out, seemingly approaching the ruined house.

Long Chou’s subordinate had likely been defeated, perhaps even executed on the spot by Cao Ruxu’s men.

The shouting did not get closer; it suddenly turned into wails of agony, and after a moment, everything went silent.

This sudden stillness made Lou Jing’s hair stand on end.

In an instant, a gust of wind blew straight toward the door. Startled, Lou Jing drew her sword. Simultaneously, the two broken doors were slammed open by the wind. A cold draft hit her face, sharp as a knife.

Lou Jing used her sword in a circular defensive motion. When she collided with the incoming force, she felt a shock in her hand and a sharp pain in her palm. From this single contact, Lou Jing realized the newcomer’s internal power was profound, and she was secretly horrified.

The person was incredibly fast—their figure was just a blur. With another move, Lou Jing felt as if Mount Tai were pressing down on her face. She used the Kun Character Formula, moving her sword with extraordinary speed to execute six consecutive strikes, but the person was faster than her. A single finger struck the flat of her blade, causing Lou Jing’s left arm to tilt uncontrollably, leaving her center wide open. The person struck with a palm; Lou Jing was unable to defend in time and was sent flying against the bed-frame.

Lou Jing’s hands felt empty. The person’s speed was so great that they had seized the chance to snatch the infant from her arms.

The newcomer’s internal power was far beyond what Cao Ruxu’s subordinates or Long Chou’s subordinate could possess.

Having succeeded in the strike, the person advanced, seemingly intending to kill Lou Jing. However, after taking a step, they stopped, looking at Lou Jing’s face under the light. A voice of surprise rang out: “You…”

The newcomer was hidden in the shadows, seemingly identifying her carefully. Lou Jing could only see a rough outline; from the voice, she could tell it was a man.

The man held the infant. “Was it you who helped deliver this child?”

Lou Jing watched him warily. The man murmured softly: “When she knits her brows, the expression is even more similar.”

This sentence was completely out of context and truly baffling.

The man said, “Do you not know she was the woman of the Feihua Alliance demon? And yet you still helped her.”

Lou Jing was unsure of the intruder’s background. “Who are you, sir?”

The man studied her for another moment and said, “You look very much like your mother.”

Lou Jing was stunned, her heart trembling. “You knew my mother? Who are you?”

The man had no time to answer her. He suddenly glanced outside the house, though it was unclear what he was looking at. He let out a disdainful snort, turned, and left.

“Don’t leave!”

When Lou Jing chased him outside, she froze.

The derelict garden was littered with corpses. Lou Jing walked forward quickly and recognized them as Cao Ruxu’s subordinates. The faces of the corpses were contorted, and their chests were sunken as if they had been struck by a palm. Their skin was bright red and hot to the touch, as if they had been scorched by fire.

Among these gruesome corpses was a headless body kneeling while leaning on a saber. Not far in front of it, in a pool of blood, was its head. This was Long Chou’s subordinate. Worn down by a battle of attrition and having lost nearly all his blood, he had exerted his final strength. When he heard the baby’s cry, his spirit relaxed, and Cao Ruxu’s servants took the opportunity to strike him down and behead him.

Fearing she would lose the strange man’s trail, Lou Jing had no time to check if Cao Ruxu was dead or alive. She hurriedly chased the man over the wall. Before she could get far, she suddenly heard a strange sound in the wind behind her.

Someone else had entered the derelict garden, though she did not know who.

Lou Jing thought that the strange man must have heard someone else coming, which was why he was in such a hurry to leave.

Lou Jing chased him all the way to the riverbank before catching sight of his figure. She rushed forward to seize him, but he shifted his weight and landed gracefully on a small boat in the river.

Lou Jing also flew onto the boat and asked, “Who on earth are you?”

The man stood at the other end of the boat. “A living man.”

Lou Jing frowned; this was a person who spoke in riddles and refused to talk straight. She asked, “Were you the one who killed those people in the garden?”

“And what if I was?”

Lou Jing glanced at the child in his arms and said, “Such a technique—you are certainly not one of the martial artists from the Zhongwu Hall side. Seeing how you protected that woman and this infant, you are someone from the Feihua Alliance.”

The man curled his lips into a smile. “Clever.”

Receiving this confirmation, Lou Jing’s heart pounded. “You and my mother… you… why do you know my mother…?”

They seemed to be very well acquainted.

The man looked into the night, silent for a long time, only reciting a poem that seemed completely unrelated to her question: “Thirsty, I drink the blood of wolves; I dare to laugh at men who are not truly brave!”

Suddenly, Lou Jing felt an upward force beneath her feet. It turned out the man had used a Thousand-Pound Drop technique, pressing down his side of the boat and causing Lou Jing’s side to rise. Lou Jing sank her qi to her dantian and exerted force with her feet, trying to press her end down. Unexpectedly, the man suddenly withdrew his force. Lou Jing’s side, now heavily weighted, plummeted while the other end tipped up. The momentum was even more violent than before. Lou Jing had no time to recover her balance or leap away, and she fell into the water.

When Lou Jing surfaced, she saw the man drifting away. From afar, a sentence floated back: “The next time we meet, if you want to know, there is no harm in telling you.”