The Heavenly Wandering Sword

Chapter 32

He placed the book down and nodded, standing up. They chained him up again in a strong silver steel cuff and walked him down the hall. He looked at the various cells that he passed by and noticed that they were all just as luxurious as his.

He was walked into a room where there was a witch elf man seated, as well as seats for four other witch elves. The witch elf at the desk, who seemed to be the magistrate read over the scroll that contained his arrest and looked up at him. “I hope the prisoner is ready to account for his actions.” Li Jian smiled and bowed at the magistrate. “Your Lordship, I am truly grateful for my stay here.” Noting that many of his guards were indeed female witch elves, he grinned as he continued. “I have to say that with so many beauties serving as my jailers, and the comfort of the cell, I am grateful for the mercy and generosity of the magistrate.” The Magistrate looked like his face was turning a deeper shade of purple in annoyance when one of the guards spoke up. “Sir, the prisoner is not mocking you. The past few days, he truly seems to have enjoyed the cell.” Now the Magistrate just looked at Li Jian as if he was simple.

“Tell me how you were able to heal the injured guard at the dock. Also how were you able to stop the thief? It turned out that the thief was a well-known sell sword who had killed four of the guards before robbing the noble in the auction house.” Li Jian could feel that in particular, there was one witch elf woman who was staring at him with interest. She also did not look like she was a jailer, dressed in a finer cut of clothing more suited for someone of nobility.

Li Jian looked back at the Magistrate and paused for a moment. “Well, the thief was stopped because I sealed his meridians. I didn’t want to really hurt someone the first time I stepped into this fine city. As for the guard, I just gave her a spiritual essence pill and then detoxified her body from the toxin used by the thief with spiritual force.” He said it casually and raised an eyebrow at the Magistrate. What was so interesting about that? The Magistrate looked at the other witch elves in the room and nodded. The noble witch elf woman seemed to be more interested in him, leaning forward in her hair and gazing at him quizzically. “Then please tell me how a human like yourself is able to detoxify a demonic poison and stop a thief that was in the Immortal Realm.”

Li Jian blanched at the question. “Is it that hard to stop an Immortal Realm thief? I don’t know how to answer that question. Clearly I am just more skilled than him.” The Magistrate jotted down some notes and nodded. “Please return the prisoner back to his cell.” Li Jian was pushed out of the magistrates office by the guards. “Young miss, do you know what the dinner menu will be tonight?” He asked absentmindedly as they walked down the hall. The two guards looked at each other and shook their head. They have never had a more cooperative prisoner than the human now but they did feel a bit bad for having to jail someone who was clearly simple.

Later that evening, Li Jian had finished the “History of the Yao Kingdom” book and rested in his bed, stretching out rather comfortably. Oddly enough, they had not taken his storage ring but perhaps they did not realize what it was. He sipped at the mug of cold water and was contemplating a nice relaxing sleep when he was disturbed by the sound of a prisoner cursing. “You goddamn guards, think you’re so mighty because I’m behind this cell? Wait until I get out of here, see what I do to you all. Death will be too good for you.”

The guards yelled at him to stop but the prisoner continued. “You think just because you are all armoured and armed you stand a chance? Open this damn cell door now and we will see who your grandfather is.” Li Jian was quite annoyed by this. He found that the loud yelling of the stupid prisoner was ruining his tranquility. He sighed and got up, injecting a tiny bit of spiritual force into the lock and opening it before walking past the wide-eyed guards who weren’t expecting the cell door to open from the inside.

“Hey you stupid asshole, you wake up today wanting to ruin everyone’s sleep?” He yelled out as he walked to in front of a cell with a large heavily muscled demon inside before the guards could react. The demon had a bull head with wicked horns and furiously red eyes who roared. “Open this cell then if you’re so damn brave.”

Li Jian popped the cell door open and stepped into the bull demon’s cell. “You goddamn imbecile, you dare yell out like a rooster this late at night? What are you, broken?” Before the bull demon could respond, Li Jian punched him in his skull, sending him flying into the wall of his cell. “You want them to send manly muscled guards here instead of the young beauties here now? What are you trying to do? If you want to yell out because you hate being ugly then let me beat you until you’re beautiful.” The guards stood outside the cell looking at each other as Li Jian slapped the bull demon furiously, not stopping for a solid half an hour.

Of course, Li Jian didn’t use an ounce of spiritual essence or his fighting strength. He used just enough strength for each of his slaps to feel like a punch to the face. When he finally dropped the bull demon to the ground, he gave the bull demon a solid kick between his legs. “I hear your ugly voice again I’m going to cut off your damn horns and then stew you in the kitchen.” Li Jian walked out indignantly, locking the cell door behind him and then walked back into his own cell door, locking the door from the inside before laying down with an irritated sigh. The guards just looked at each other. They reached a consensus to be more reasonable with the human prisoner.

A few days went by and Li Jian found that his meals were steadily improved. “Brother prisoner, you should try this fruit pastry. I baked it myself.” One of the guards handed a pastry shaped like a lotus blossom to him. He bit into it and sighed with delight. “Young miss you are too talented and beautiful to be a jailer. Your husband must miss you so much at nighttime.” The witch elf guard giggled before walking away with a friendly wave. Li Jian was enjoying himself, he had a luxurious place to stay in and plenty of interesting exotic meals. The night before, he had received a fragrant rice dish that had sauteed flower petals in it that tasted of a cool herbal flavour served with a braised stew with meat that was cooked with fine wine.

The Magistrate had visited him once, perhaps to confirm his suspicions about the human prisoner who was enjoying himself. He had found Li Jian reading a book written about the tourist attractions of Murk and drinking an herbal tea made from fresh peach juice and strawberry leaves. When the Magistrate had enquired who had given the prisoner peach tea, some of the guards giggled to themselves, leaving him to walk away shaking his head. Who the hell would’ve thought that such a well behaved inmate would have reduced the guards of his prison to giggling school girls?

Later that night as Li Jian sat on his bed doing some casual stretched to work away the feeling of laying down for too long when the cell door opened. He looked up to see the woman in noble clothing from his hearing a few days ago. A chair was brought in for her as she walked in, looking at him with quite an interest. “Good evening, my name is Fu Rong the Principal of the Triparte Academy.” Li Jian looked at him and blanched slightly. “Nice to meet you Principal Fu. I think I am a bit too old to enlist in your academy though.” He had read about the Academy, a school where all three races were admitted in after they reached the age of 18. It was a way of ensuring future cooperation as well as taking cultivation to another level, as all three races shared their cultivation techniques together to create students that would graduate and be capable of taking on important roles in society.

Fu Rong leaned her head back and chuckled charmingly. “I am not here to try and enroll you. I think you are far too qualified to be a student. I am here to offer you a deal Master Li.” Li Jian leaned forward with a frown. “How much are you paying the Magistrate?” She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Paying the Magistrate?” Li Jian nodded. “I saw you staring at me. You must be a Madam in a gigolo brothel? I am sorry, you cannot take advantage of my body just with some money.” The guards outside the cell blushed slightly at his remarks. Fu Rong looked at him before breaking into a giggle. “Master Li, you misunderstand me. I am here to offer you a position as a professor at the Triparte Academy. You are a remarkable human, able to overpower an assassin one moment and then heal a heavily injured and poisoned guard the next. I also heard about your ability to just walk in and out of the cells at your own leisure. I have a small test for you. If you can resist my ability, then you will gain a job as our new Professor. The position is that of an Advanced Tutor.”

Li Jian waved his hand towards her. “Go ahead, we will see if I am capable of passing your test.” Fu Rong nodded and her eyes lit up with spiritual force. Her eyes shot a pair of bright red beams into him, his body freezing. He felt her trying to pry into his soul, but he could only chuckle at the attempt. It was meant to be a soul attack, to see if he had the strength to resist. He opened his soul to her and let her in, just a bit.

Fu Rong used one of her more powerful attacks, the soul strike. A force created from the strength of her own soul attacked his, piercing through his soul defenses to arrive inside his inner sea. However, something was wrong. Instead of the usual form of an inner sea of spiritual energy, his soul contained what looked like the stars themselves. She felt herself abruptly and suddenly pulled back at the sharp pain on her face. Li Jian grinned at her as he pinched her cheeks a few times. “Principal, that is a very cute trick but very impolite. Is the Principal a fan of rudeness?” Fu Rong blushed slightly before brushing his hand away. “Well Master Li, you are clearly qualified for the position.”

Li Jian smiled lightly. “Sure sure, but why do I want to teach a bunch of spoiled brats about how to use their spiritual energy to beat up poor people in the future?” Fu Rong frowned slightly. “Master Li, the status and backing of many of our students cannot be underestimated.” Li Jian shrugged. “How high is your status then Sister Fu?” Fu Rong stuttered slightly at the overly familiar usage of her name. “I am one of the nieces of the Empress Suyan.” Li Jian just waved his hand nonchalantly. “Did your status save your cheeks from being pinched?” Her face reddening, she had to concede that he had a point. “If you accept a job, you will be granted your freedom.” Li Jian just gestured towards a small plate of desserts that laid on his bed. “Does Sister Fu truly see my suffering?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Fu Rong however coughed slightly. “Master Li, aren’t you being overly familiar?” He shrugged. “How many men have pinched your cheeks then?”

Fu Rong gave up on that arguement and instead focused on bringing him over to the Academy’s side. “I will guarantee you a place much more luxurious than this and a salary of 500 thousand spirit stones per year paid on a monthly basis.” Li Jian thought about it before nodding. “Very well then. When do I start?”