Bamboo Case Chapter 23: Sword, Come!

Qianjing City was plunged into a storm of blood and gore. Yuan Bai stood beneath the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, laughing heartily. Before him stood more than thirty city lords.

"Gentlemen, your ancestors have all been slain by Dong Sangeng's blade. Do you still think this tournament to crown a king can continue?"

Every one of them was brimming with murderous intent.

"Your Highness, tell us where Dong Sangeng is."

"We will go and kill him! I refuse to believe that even an Ascension Realm expert, battered to this state and surrounded by the thirty of us, can escape death!"

"If this grudge is not avenged, I shall willingly go to the Great Wall of Sword Qi to die!"

Watching the raw, impassioned fervor of the young city lords, Yuan Bai smiled faintly. "I told you already, today is the Grand Crimson Banquet, and the main course of this banquet is none other than Dong Sangeng."

With that, Yuan Bai gently tossed a compass into the air. It began to spin of its own accord, hovering in the void as the needle, formed by a blade of light, whirled rapidly before finally locking onto a direction.

In the distance, across Qianjing City, a single point of light glowed with striking intensity.

"Go, my city lords. Whoever kills Dong Sangeng first shall be crowned king!"

Yuan Bai spread his arms wide, laughing wildly.

At the top of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, the old man sat, withered and frail, nearing his end. He had first gifted his entire cultivation to Yuan Feng, and then fought a grueling battle against Dong Sangeng.

The old man suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Ignoring the terror in the eyes of the girl, Deyue, behind him, he muttered, "A pure sword cultivator at the Ascension Realm is truly unreasonable. No wonder Zhou Mi went to such lengths to scheme..."

The old man turned his head toward Deyue and beckoned her over.

"Come here. The demons of Qianjing City have been mostly wiped out; it is enough for you to ascend to immortality."

Deyue stood there, blank-faced. The old man frowned, then roared, "Deyue, wake up!"

Deyue froze in place, utterly stunned.

...

Outside a courtyard, Dong Sangeng leaned heavily on his sword, watching as one by one, the young city lords of the White Plains Kingdom emerged from the alleys, surrounding him.

"Dong Sangeng, we will use your blood to pay tribute to our ancestors!"

Dong Sangeng burst into belly-aching laughter upon hearing this. "There are so many fools in the Wilderness, yet they still haven't gone extinct!"

Humiliated, the city lords darkened, yet none dared to step forward. Even a severely wounded Ascension Realm sword cultivator was someone they dared not recklessly provoke, choosing instead to wait for him to reveal a flaw.

"What? Used as blades by others, yet you still hesitate? Aren't you eager for revenge? Come on, I am right here." Dong Sangeng said with a mocking smile.

Finally, one man stepped forward, his expression twisted with malice. But before he could reach Dong Sangeng, the entire courtyard, along with the thirty-plus city lords, vanished.

Water and sky merged into one.

A young man with a cold gaze walked across the surface of the water, slowly raising his hand before bringing it down.

A full moon crashed down, sending countless splashes into the air. When the city lords regained their senses, Dong Sangeng was nowhere to be seen.

"What just happened? I felt like I was struck by a moon! And Dong Sangeng, where did he go?!"

"There!" Someone pointed into the distance, where a bright point of light was moving rapidly through Qianjing City.

...

"Hey, are you really a demon from the Wilderness?" Dong Sangeng asked with a strange expression, slumped over Lu Yun's back.

"Of course!" Lu Yun looked up at the bright point of light, deeply annoyed.

"What is that light?"

"It's that old man's final trick. He's locked onto my location." Dong Sangeng sighed. "What a pity. I failed to see the schemes hidden within the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. The White Plains Kingdom is about to gain another immortal."

Lu Yun gritted his teeth, sensing that pursuers were closing in. He darted into another alley, running at full speed.

"Hey, why save me?" Dong Sangeng asked suddenly.

The youth took another turn and replied, "I was counting on you, Senior, to take my sister and me to the Great Wall of Sword Qi!"

"If it weren't for the dense demonic aura you carry, I would have truly mistaken you for a seed of the Great Wall of Sword Qi abandoned in the Wilderness," Dong Sangeng said.

"If only that were true."

Lu Yun stopped in his tracks. There was no road left ahead. If it were just a wall, he could have kicked it down, but standing there were over a dozen mid-tier cultivators, and the same was true behind him.

Lu Yun never imagined he would be hunted down by the younger generation of the White Plains Kingdom.

"Is this my retribution for always trying to trick you all?" Lu Yun muttered, looking at the city lords. He remembered the promises he had made to An Luo and Yuan Mo. It seemed none of them would be fulfilled.

"Indeed, one should not make vows lightly." The youth sighed, then patted Dong Sangeng on his back. "Senior, if we die here, will anyone remember us?"

Dong Sangeng laughed and cursed, "You brat, no one will miss me, that's for sure!"

"I will," the youth said, his eyes shining brilliantly. "My sister is waiting for me to return. Senior, do you remember the bamboo basket she made for you? She was worried that you were always fighting and that the basket would inevitably break, so she made me carry another one, saying it was prepared specifically for you."

Dong Sangeng suddenly recalled that bamboo basket; unfortunately, it had been shattered during his battle with Zhou Mi.

"My sister said you were our benefactor. No matter what your original intentions were, that is how it is—at least, that is what she believes."

The youth paused, then smiled. "I said all that just to tell you, Senior, that my sister and I are truly grateful to you."

Dong Sangeng was stunned. The youth took a deep breath and muttered, "Then... shall we?"

In the seamless expanse of water and sky, a full moon rose abruptly. A peerless woman in a white dress appeared beside the youth, nodding with a smile.

"Let's go."

Liu Cha had once seen that the youth possessed a fine sword, and Shan Cong had also said that Lu Yun was a natural-born sword immortal. So, where was that sword? It wasn't until recently that Lu Yun discovered the truth: Sheng Ge was that sword—a blade with an ancient flood dragon as its spirit.

"Sword!" the youth roared. "Come!"

The thirty-plus city lords were consumed by the brilliance of the blade. Between heaven and earth, the moonlight shone clear, and the sword light shone clearer still.

In Qianjing City, a streak of sword light ignited, resembling the moon in the sky.

The dying old man in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion sat before the wooden window, staring blankly at the scene. Below the pavilion, Yuan Bai gulped, stepping back as his Dao heart shattered into pieces.

"How is this possible? How can this be..."

...

Shumenzi looked up at the streak of sword light and smiled with relief. As expected of his junior brother, a natural sword immortal—with the immortal sword in hand, the world was his.

Exhaling, the scholar slowly turned and bowed.

"Master, you have come."

Xiao Zhai—or Zhou Mi, or perhaps Jasheng—folded his sleeves, glanced at the lifeless man in red on the ground, and then looked at Shumenzi.

"I had thought that, apart from a very small few, only you understood me in the Wilderness."

Shumenzi shook his head, his expression earnest.

"Master, you are wrong. Your words, your principles—they are all wrong."