Chapter Fourteen: Two Sword Wounds
Pan Ruoye suddenly felt cold for no reason. She did not come from Jiaodong Commandery, but she was an orphan of war.
“Zheng Xiu was never those carefree noble misses who came to Changling just to see the sights.”
The man on the carriage looked bleakly at Pan Ruoye and the middle-aged woman. He said, “She came to Changling representing the interests of all of Jiaodong Commandery. She represents the ambitions of the whole of Jiaodong Commandery to be above those old nobility. And she did it.”
“All that you are saying I can listen to as stories, but stories are just stories.” The middle-aged woman looked at the man. Her gaze fell onto the closed carriage door behind him. “Since you know that my emotions are wild, if you have anything that can make me believe, then show me quickly.”
The man nodded. He stopped speaking and turned to open the door. To allow the middle aged woman to see more clearly, he got off the carriage, and moved aside so the sunlight would reach the cabin.
There was a woman sitting in the cabin. The woman was dressed simply. She was calm to start, but when the sunlight fell on her, she started to tremble. She looked up. She also had a disfigured face. She also had a sword scar.
The middle-aged woman frowned. The woman in the carriage was about the same age as her. She looked at the woman in the carriage and felt some familiarity. Even more importantly, the woman looked at her with flashing eyes that seemed to contain many unspeakable emotions as though she was an old acquaintance.
“Do I know you?” The middle aged woman was slightly lost and unconsciously said, “Who are you?”
The woman in the carriage did not dare to look at her and trembled even more, unable to make a sound.
The middle aged woman’s presence grew more violent, as though it was going out of control.
“Ji Qingqing, Lady of Chen. You did not have many friends in Changling. To you, Zheng Xiu who came later from Jiaodong counts as one, and your junior sect sister Xu Rouxin is naturally another.”
The man next to the carriage said respectfully, “I did not expect that you will not recognize even your junior sect sister.”
The wind suddenly stopped. The air on the path seemed to be imprisoned by a terrifying power, and stilled. It was absolutely silent. Because this lady from the former Chen needed absolute quiet.
“Junior Sect Sister?” she said.
Her voice was a bit hesitant, slightly conflicted, but with a thrilling power that passed through the years, and pulled her and the woman in front of her to Changling many years ago.
“Why does your face also have such a sword scar?”
“Who slashed you on the face?”
She continued to speak, her voice sounding empty to her own ears.
The woman in the carriage looked up, her emotions in even more turmoil. The other looked at her, her lips trembling, but she could not speak.
“You should be able to see what sword essence formed the sword scar on her face.” The man next to the carriage spoke at this moment.
The middle aged woman outside the carriage, the famed Lady of Chen, Ji Qingqing, unconsciously looked at the scar on the face of the other woman in the carriage.
Her pupils contracted. “Sever Love?”
The man slowly said, “Back then in Changling, only you and your junior sect sister had comprehended this sword essence.”
Pan Ruoye, who had been listening from the side, felt increasingly cold. At these words, she suddenly stopped breathing!
“Back then, Master had already passed. Only me and my junior sect sister would have known the sword essence. If I did not do this, then, Junior Sect Sister, you did this yourself.” Ji Qingqing’s voice suddenly grew cold, and cruel. “Then, Junior Sect Sister, why did you slash yourself in the face?”
The man by the carriage wanted to speak but a vicious presence pressed on his throat and lips. “If you do not want to die, then let her speak, let her tell me.”
“Senior Sect Sister.”
The woman in the carriage trembled for a long time before she finally spoke.
Ji Qingqing turned her face to the side to look away from her. She said coldly, “And then?”
“The Chen King Sword Manual.” The woman in the carriage suddenly started to cry, her strength disappeared and she collapsed, sobbing. “For the Chen King Sword Manual.”
Ji Qingqing still did not look at her and said coldly, “And then?”
“The Chen King Sword Manual was in Jiaodong’s hands. Zheng Xiu used the sword manual as a trade. If I slashed myself on my face, have some people see me, and then left Changling, she would give the Chen King Sword Manual to me.”
“And then? You really slashed yourself in the face?” Ji Qingqing smiled, one so cold people would feel there was no smile colder in the world. “Then you let people from the Ba Mountain Sword Field see the wound on your face, and then let Ba Mountain Sword Field, and especially Wang Jingmeng, assumed that I made the wound on your face?”
The woman in the carriage could not speak due to her sobs, but she nodded.
Ji Qingqing’s smile grew stronger. “Then she send news to Wang Jingmeng, make him think that I was jealous of my junior sect sister’s beauty and talent, so I forced you out of Changling … adding on that my temper was already bad in the rumors, he believed the words of others, and thought it true?”
Her voice lingered on the path. No one answered.
“Was it worth it for a sect sword manual?” She laughed louder, and looked scornfully at the woman in the carriage. “The Chen King Sword Manual is powerful, but it is not the legendary Nine Death Silkworm or the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard. Even if you obtain it, you would not become invincible. At most, you could just suppress me. Junior Sect Sister, what were you fighting for?”
Still no one answered.
The woman in the carriage did not know what to say. The man next to the carriage knew if he answered for her, then he would die in the next moment.
“Junior Sect Sister.” Her smile grew more vicious and scornful. “Since you and her completed such a trade, and you got the treasure of the sect, then why did you come here for a subordinate of hers, and cry in front of me like a dog?”
After saying things, the throat of the man next to the carriage was released. The vicious killing intent disappeared, falling instead on the woman in the carriage.
The woman in the carriage froze, and then spoke, “She wanted it to be foolproof. She did not want people to know of this, so she wanted me to disappear along with the Chen King Sword Manual, rather than leave Changling.”
“In the end, she did not die. I had her survive,” the man next to the carriage said simply, “she owes me a life, so she came here with me.”
“Wang Jingmeng was not stupid. He came to slash my face just because of some words?” Ji Qingqing snarled viciously.
“Because it was not just one person who gave him such an illusion,” the man next to the carriage slowly said, “back then, he had not yet met Zheng Xiu, but Gu Huai and Zheng Xiu knew each other … and Gu Huai was his trusted friend.”
“But Gu Huai is dead, dead means there is no evidence.” Ji Qingqing took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Then she put away her smile and looked icily at the man. “A servant who worked for Zheng Xiu for many years like a dog, a junior sect sister who looks lesser than a dog … if she could betray me for a secret sect manual, then why can you not lie to me because of other temptations?”
The man next to the carriage did not change expression. He only looked up at the powerful and violent woman. He said, “Because there is still one person who can prove this, and you will absolutely believe them.”
Ji Qingqing looked coldly. “Who?”
The man next to the carriage said seriously, “Baili Suxue.”
