Bamboo Case Chapter Three: A Schoolteacher Comes to Zhicui City

In a single day, the sky over Zhicui City changed. The young brother and sister from the south of the city moved into the City Lord's estate, and in a city of such immense size, filled with so many demons, not a soul dared to voice a word of dissent.

Atop the city walls, Lu Cui and Lu Yun stood side by side, watching Dong Sangeng, with his ten-foot-tall sword strapped to his waist, gradually fade into the distance.

The skies of the Wilderness were rarely this clear, so Lu Cui took it as a good omen. She had specially prepared sugar cakes for Dong Sangeng to take with him.

Dong Sangeng had not intended to accept them, but the young girl’s enthusiasm was such that the man, who was never very good with words, was forced to take them. He stowed them in the bamboo basket Lu Cui had prepared and slung it over his shoulder.

Lu Cui was truly grateful to Dong Sangeng, but she did not know he hailed from the Sword Qi Long Wall. She assumed he was some great throne-level demon, and she had spent the entire day gathering the courage to offer him the cakes.

After all, such a powerful figure could have crushed her with a flick of his finger. Yet, the young girl inexplicably felt that the man seemed to be a good person. Had it been anyone else, Lu Cui would have knelt down, not daring to make a sound.

"Yun'er, do you think we will ever see the senior again?" Lu Cui asked, leaning against the city wall with her chin in her hands.

Lu Yun shook his head. "Probably not."

"What if you turn out to be a genius, little brother? Since we are both in the Wilderness, we are bound to run into each other eventually!" Lu Cui said with a smile, patting Lu Yun on the shoulder. "So, do your best, my brother. I’ll be counting on you in the future."

"It is you who should be doing your best, sister. Although the Sword Immortal senior left us two strands of sword qi, they can only serve as a deterrent for a while. If a major demon tries to seize Zhicui City in the future, we will be helpless." Lu Yun felt a sense of unease. He knew he had to cultivate diligently. In truth, he hadn't told Lu Cui that the best option would have been to leave Zhicui City altogether.

But Lu Cui seemed deeply attached to the city, so Lu Yun could only wait and see. If they truly faced danger, he figured there would still be time to release those two strands of sword qi and flee.

"Alright, let's go. By the way, now that we are the City Lords, what should we actually do?" Lu Cui had pinned her hair up today and was wearing a black ru-skirt, which made her look more mature and composed. As the young girl walked, the red ribbon on the wooden hairpin in her hair swayed back and forth.

Lu Yun followed behind her, pondering for a moment before saying, "We need to make Zhicui City act as one cohesive unit."

"And how do we do that?" Lu Cui squinted at the few soldiers guarding the gate below. "A carrot and a stick?"

Lu Yun nodded. "The stick must be painful, and the carrot must be sweet enough."

"City Lord!" Someone who saw the siblings descend from the tower hurried over and knelt before Lu Cui, refusing to rise. "Someone is teaching books in Zhicui City, and no matter how we try to drive him away, he won't leave!"

Lu Yun chuckled. In the Wilderness, "driving someone away" surely implied that force had already been used. It seemed that no one could defeat this tutor. It was strange, though; the only tutors in the Wilderness should be those sent by Zhou Mi. Memories remained clear in Lu Yun's mind: he remembered that Zhou Mi had once tried to implement education across the Wilderness, though the results were less than ideal.

"Shall we go take a look?" Lu Cui looked back at Lu Yun.

Lu Yun nodded. "Naturally."

The person who had come to complain felt a bit strange; why did the City Lord's brother speak in such a scholarly tone, just like those people from the Vast Heaven? But since the boy was the City Lord's brother, it wasn't his place to comment, so he simply led the way.

...

The Jade璞 and Ascension-realm demons of Zhicui City had all been slain by Dong Sangeng. The remaining top-tier figures hadn't even reached the Upper Five Realms; the highest were merely at the Ninth Realm, and there were only two of them.

However, a Golden Core is still a Golden Core, and even in the Wilderness, they were rare existences. If everyone in the world were an Immortal, how could anyone survive?

Outside a small wine shop, a youth dressed like a Confucian scholar had his foot pressed firmly on the chest of a well-known Golden Core demon of Zhicui City. The youth squinted into the distance. "What? Waiting for your brother to intervene? It seems he doesn't care much whether you live or die."

The Golden Core demon spat blood and cursed, "You sour scholar, you had better be backed by Tuoyue Mountain, otherwise, teaching in the Wilderness will be the end of you!"

The youth tucked his hands into his sleeves and applied a little more pressure. The Golden Core demon sank into the ground, his crimson hands clawing desperately at the soil.

"Teaching, teaching... if there were so many rules, what would be the point of teaching?" The youth moved his foot away, leaned down slightly, and asked, "Do you understand?"

The Golden Core demon’s voice was muffled and garbled, but he was certainly spewing filth. The youth sighed and stomped again; the demon, who had just managed to break free from the soil, was immediately trampled back into the dirt, getting a mouthful of mud. It was a pathetic sight—the poor demon had likely never suffered such humiliation in his life.

"Sir, I hear you wish to teach in Zhicui City?" A youthful voice rang out.

The youth looked up and saw a young man and woman walking toward him. He curled the corners of his mouth, rose, and bowed. "That is indeed the case."

"What is your name, and where do you come from?" Lu Yun returned the bow.

"You may call me Xiao Zhai. As for where I come from..." Xiao Zhai paused, then pointed to the north.

Lu Yun was stunned. Xiao Zhai was certainly a pseudonym—after all, no demon would tell you its real name—but why did the name sound so familiar?

Xiao Zhai looked at Lu Yun and smiled. "I wish to open a private school in Zhicui City. May I?"

Lu Cui asked in return, "Are you not afraid, sir?"

Xiao Zhai smiled but said nothing.

"You may."

Lu Yun added, "But you must protect Zhicui City."

"Very well." Xiao Zhai tucked his hands into his sleeves, signifying his agreement.

"Just because you've learned a few characters, you think you're one of those hypocrites from the Confucian Temple in the Vast Heaven? Bah! The Wilderness and Zhicui City do not welcome you!" The Golden Core demon was still pinned in the ground by Xiao Zhai, but his voice carried clearly.

*A perfect opportunity!*

Lu Yun immediately stepped in front of Xiao Zhai and said with a smile, "Sir, my sister and I are naturally very welcoming, but it is not just the two of us who decide the fate of Zhicui City..."

"Easily done." Xiao Zhai pointed toward several directions in Zhicui City. "If I beat them all once, that should suffice, right?"

"Good, very good!" Lu Yun beamed as brightly as a flower.

"Hypocrite!" The Golden Core demon cursed again, but his voice was soon cut off, for this time, Xiao Zhai had applied a little more force.

...

Dong Sangeng stopped in his tracks and gripped the hilt of his sword. Standing before him was a man in a Confucian robe, who seemed to have been waiting for him for quite some time.

"The weather is quite nice today. It has been a long time since the Wilderness saw such fine weather," the man said, looking up casually. The sky was clear, without a single cloud.

Dong Sangeng did not speak. The ten-foot-tall sword slid slightly from its sheath. The blade was etched with faint cracks, yet the cold light it emitted remained piercing.

"As long as Old Man Bai does not make a move, none of the demon race dare to act. But I never said that I wouldn't." The man glanced at the ten-foot-tall sword and nodded to himself. *Ten feet high—truly a fine sword.*

Dong Sangeng finally spoke, spitting out three words:

"Son of a bitch."