Chapter 364: The Seven-Year-Old Clan Leader
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Lou Jin Tang bowed deeply before Lu Chao Chao.
She handed her elder brother’s broken sword to a maidservant, instructing her to keep it safe.
Elder Lou frowned slightly. “The Grand Competition values harmony; one must not take another’s life!”
“This is a sparring match; there is no shame in conceding.”
“The challenge begins.”
Lou Xu Yan wielded a Spirit Sword drawn from the Sword Tomb, a blade of great renown. When he first unsheathed it, the Sword Tomb itself trembled.
At this moment, nearly everyone doubted Lou Jin Tang.
After all, she was merely seven years old.
“Uncle Xu Yan, please guide me!” The little girl’s eyes burned with determination, her tone exceedingly polite.
“No need for such words. It’s just a friendly match,” Lou Xu Yan chuckled.
Unlike before, Lou Jin Tang was now fully prepared to take the offensive.
As soon as she lifted her sword, she sensed its extraordinary nature.
With merely a thought, the sword could carry her into the air.
“Huh? That’s not the Lou Family Swordsmanship!” A clan member watching from the sidelines was taken aback. This sword technique was entirely unfamiliar!
“I heard she learned it from the three-year-old princess of Northern Zhao.”
“Only in three days,” Lou Yue Ming confirmed, raising three fingers.
“The Lou Family Swordsmanship was passed down by the War God himself; it should be the pinnacle of all sword arts… How is it that…”
“Lou Xu Yan has mastered the Lou Family Swordsmanship to perfection. This little girl is in danger!”
“Besides, Lou Xu Yan wields a Spirit Sword from the Sword Tomb, known to be indestructible…”
As these words fell, a sharp clang resounded.
Lou Xu Yan’s so-called indestructible Spirit Sword was cleaved in two with a single strike.
The blade snapped at its center, shattering into two pieces and flying apart.
The tip of the sword grazed his cheek, leaving a striking red gash.
General Lou shot to his feet, his expression grave, his fists clenched. He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.
Thump. Thump. Thump…
[Tang’er’s swordsmanship is beyond extraordinary!]
“She… She just shattered Lou Xu Yan’s Spirit Sword!” The crowd gasped, their skin prickling with goosebumps.
Lou Jin Tang’s hands trembled violently.
In her mind, only the sword techniques Lu Chao Chao had taught her remained.
The first stance…
The second stance…
The third stance…
With every swing, the once-dismissive Lou Xu Yan found himself forced back, unable to underestimate her any longer.
Madness flashed in his eyes.
“Tang’er, be careful!” Lou Yun Zheng had been watching Lou Xu Yan closely and his expression turned to alarm.
He saw Lou Xu Yan pull out concealed weapons from his robe, his face paling in horror.
Countless Spirit Needles shot toward Lou Jin Tang from all directions, their tips gleaming coldly.
General Lou rushed forward.
But Lou Jin Tang showed no fear, swiftly unleashing the fourth stance.
A formless Sword Qi Barrier burst forth, forming an invisible wall that blocked every Spirit Needle outside its perimeter.
The needles hovered in midair, frozen.
“Sword Qi Barrier!”
“She has comprehended Sword Intent…” The Seventh Elder was stunned. This was beyond anything he had ever grasped.
Despite decades of training, he had never attained Sword Intent.
Lou Jin Tang swung the Sunshine Sword, a powerful aura surging around her. In the blink of an eye, the countless Spirit Needles exploded into dust.
“Uncle Xu Yan, receive my strike!” Lou Jin Tang tightened her grip on her sword, feeling a fiery force well up within her—a strength beyond her own comprehension.
She raised the Sunshine Sword high and slashed straight toward Lou Xu Yan.
With all her might!
Boom!!
A dazzling sword light flashed, followed by a deafening explosion. Before the crowd could retreat, they saw the elevated platform split apart in one clean cut!
Countless fragments of stone crumbled and fell, sending spectators scrambling in terror.
Lou Xu Yan was blasted away by the force of the attack, vomiting blood as he collapsed, his fate unknown.
“Run! The Training Grounds are collapsing!”
That final strike had drained Lou Jin Tang of all her energy. General Lou swiftly leaped forward, seizing her and escaping the crumbling platform.
Rumble…
Even as the elders called for evacuation, the Training Grounds collapsed entirely before their very eyes, reduced to ruins.
Lou Jin Tang’s face was deathly pale, her body completely drained of strength.
Her hands trembled as she clutched the Sunshine Sword.
The entire Lou Clan fell into stunned silence.
There was no sound, only wide-eyed stares fixed upon Lou Jin Tang.
“It’s gone… She split the Training Grounds in two with a single strike!” Lou Yue Ming murmured, dazed as if dreaming.
“She won! She defeated Lou Xu Yan!”
“She is the new Clan Leader! A seven-year-old Clan Leader?!” The shock in the voices of the Lou Clan members was unmistakable.
“The Lou Clan has existed for a thousand years, yet never has there been a seven-year-old Clan Leader! And a little girl, no less?!”
“What kind of swordsmanship is this? How is it so powerful? If I saw correctly, her final strike even stirred the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth.”
The entire venue erupted into frenzied discussion.
Yet Lou Jin Tang simply hugged her sword and wobbled toward Lu Chao Chao.
“Chao Chao, I didn’t disgrace you.”
With those words, she collapsed to the ground.
Lu Chao Chao retrieved the Sunshine Sword, lowering her gaze. “Mn, you didn’t disgrace me.”
Meanwhile, in the Lou Clan’s Main Courtyard.
Lou Mu, her hair completely white, held a one-and-a-half-year-old girl in her arms. The child was fair and chubby, her face filled with innocence.
The Lou Clan revered strength above all else, a reality both practical and cruel.
With the First Branch losing the Clan Leader position, they were forced to vacate the Main Courtyard.
“Madam, everything is packed,” a servant reported.
At the entrance, bundles of luggage lay scattered. Lou Mu held her granddaughter, her expression desolate.
Her son had died on the battlefield. Her daughter-in-law had taken her own life before her postpartum month had even ended, leaving behind only an infant.
Now, they had lost their home in the Main Courtyard as well.
Her heart was filled with sorrow.
Once a stunning beauty, grief had left Lou Mu with nothing but white hair overnight. Her eyes, once bright, now held only emptiness, like a wandering soul.
She refused to look at the courtyard, unwilling to part with every tree and stone. It wasn’t the Main Courtyard she grieved for.
It was the memories of her son that lingered here.
“Sister, still not leaving?” A luxurious-dressed woman smirked from the gate.
It was Madam Lin, Lou Xu Yan’s wife.
“Understandable, living here for decades must have created attachment. But rules are rules; best to let go.”
“You’ll have to get used to it.”
“Qing Mo died young, your daughter-in-law followed him, and now you’re left raising a seven-year-old girl and a baby. Falling from heaven into hell, must be hard, right?” Madam Lin sneered, dabbing her lips with a silk handkerchief.
Her maid lifted her chin arrogantly. “The Main Courtyard contains many valuables. Madam, you wouldn’t want to take anything by mistake.”
“Why not open the luggage and let us inspect it?”