Deng Xiangjun knew Junior Sister Jingxi must be full of questions, but so was he.

He quickly put away the Clear-Moon treasure ship and came down with Su Hongxiu near the young man, who reeked of demon blood.

"Are you all right?"

"Well enough."

Shen Yi opened his eyes and turned to look at them.

He had stayed here partly to wait for the Peerless Sect Master anyway, so that they would not start imagining things and cause some trouble.

Seeing that Shen Yi looked the same as ever, he was probably fine.

Deng Xiangjun let out a quiet breath of relief, then tried to ease the mood, smiling helplessly. "It seems every time I see you, it's like this."

Under their feet was long-dried blood. Before this, the Yue family junior had died at his hands in the Immortal's Cave. At the assembly of the Seven, too, he had slain the Heaven-Sword Sect's Liu Xingshan personally.

This Sect Master Shen seemed born to kill. Wherever he went, his hands were covered in blood.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Deng Xiangjun walked over with Su Hongxiu to Sect Master Shen's side and crouched halfway down, level with him.

"I'd call it a small private grudge."

Shen Yi thought for a moment and did not spell it out.

After all, this involved An Yi, and this Anchor-Stone had appeared before as the Myriad Demon Hall's Hall Master. She would probably use that identity again. The dharma-robe hid her face, but that was not entirely safe.

Unless it was necessary, Shen Yi did not want to tie the Nanhong Seven to the Myriad Demon Hall.

The cultivators and demons who had made names for themselves in Hongze were not all fools. Even a lowly immortal sect like the Ten Thousand Forms Pavilion could piece together plenty from the faintest clues.

The business with An Tingfeng had been a lesson for Shen Yi.

"A small grudge?"

Deng Xiangjun smelled the blood on Sect Master Shen, and his smile grew a little strained.

What kind of small grudge ended in life and…