Twenty years.

Not a lifetime — but for Shen Yi, it was an extraordinary gift.

When he’d first arrived in this body, the predecessor had left him roughly thirty years of lifespan to work with. All told, the man would have been dead before sixty. A genuinely short-lived wretch.

That was fate. The fixed limit of a mortal span.

With the Thunder-Wind Scripture, he’d managed to push his body to the peak of what mortal flesh could become — but he was still, at the end of it, a mortal. Nudging that fixed limit even slightly was no small thing.

Shen Yi settled his thoughts and found himself looking forward to the Demon Suppression Division’s inspection more than ever.

Before that, though, two things needed to be in order.

The first was strength.

The Daqian Dynasty had established the Demon Suppression Division as a body that stood outside the regular court hierarchy. Its lowest-ranking members held the title of Commander — equivalent in standing to a county magistrate, even without soldiers under them.

A single ordinary Commander had casually handed Chen Ji the Thunder-Wind Scripture — a technique of genuine transcendence — simply because the young man showed talent.

To earn a place among people like that, he’d need to show something worth noticing.

The Threshold Realm… or beyond?

He wasn’t sure exactly what the bar was, but higher cultivation was never a disadvantage.

He had no complete technique and no rare medicines — but he’d already derived a Threshold-level move from the Demon-Subduing Bladework once, and now he had half of the Thunder-Wind Scripture. As long as he was willing to keep spending demon lifespan, there was still ground to cover.

The thought made him glance at the panel with a wince.

I felt rich going into dinner. Now I’m broke again.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 17 years】

Killing demons wasn’t easy — not under normal circumstances. He’d only had access to them at all because of the predecessor’s network of backroom arrangements. But with each demon that disappeared, years of carefully cultivated trust would collapse faster than it had been built.

He needed to be strong enough to handle the blowback before the demons figured out he’d turned on them.

The second thing was reputation.

The way things currently stood, if the yamen’s cover started to crack before the inspection — the first thing the Demon Suppression Commander would likely want to do upon arriving in Baiyun County wasn’t slay demons. It was drag the infamous Constable Shen to the execution ground and give the crowd something to cheer about.

That was less urgent, though. Kill enough demons, and the reputation would sort itself out on its own.

Shen Yi stood in the doorway of the woodshed, rolling his shoulders and working through the strange new awareness of his body.

Without the threat of dying next year hanging over him, he could feel the tension bleeding out of his chest.

Then two constables came jogging up from the far end of the street, winded and red-faced. “Sir — we’ve been looking everywhere! Chief Song wants you back to report in immediately.”

“Report in?”

Chen Ji looked up from the dishes at the sound.

The Chief Song they were referring to was Song Changfeng, head of the criminal division.

Under normal circumstances, a subordinate reporting to their superior was completely unremarkable. In Baiyun County’s yamen, it was anything but.

Song Changfeng was in his mid-forties — what should have been the prime of his career. Instead, he’d backed the wrong position on the demon question years ago and been systematically undermined ever since, losing all real authority over his own subordinate. He was an upright man by nature, but not a hard one. He’d watched the county sink deeper and deeper into corruption, fuming internally while never quite finding the spine to openly challenge it.

After enough humiliation, the fire went out. These days he floated through his shifts with a teacup in hand, and made a point of avoiding Shen Yi entirely to save what little face he had left.

So why is he summoning me now?

“I’m heading to the yamen. Get some rest — don’t wait up.”

Chen Ji reached for his saber. Chen Jinyu nodded obediently. She’d spent years worrying about her brother — his temper, his standards, his inability to let injustice slide without making enemies of everyone around him. Watching today’s events had eased some of that worry. He seemed to have found a superior worth following.

The thought made her steal one more glance at the tall figure in the doorway.

Whoever you are, to earn a man like my brother’s trust…

Shen Yi turned around, brow raised. “What are you doing? Put the saber down. Wash the bowls.”

“…” Chen Ji silently set down the saber.

Shen Yi turned back to the two constables waiting in the street. Both of them were avoiding his eyes, clearly sitting on something they didn’t want to say.

Whatever had spooked them this badly — the odds were good it wasn’t Song Changfeng doing the summoning.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t push for details. He stepped out onto the street and let them lead him back to the yamen, the two men walking just ahead of him without making a sound the entire way.

At the duty room, the slightly heavier one finally turned around, face pinched with worry, and whispered: “Watch yourself, sir.”

Then he snapped back to facing forward immediately.

Both of them stopped in front of the closed door and announced in loud, stilted voices: “Chief Song — Constable Shen is here!”

Shen Yi paused.

So it really is Song Changfeng?

The hesitation lasted barely a breath — but before any reply came from inside, something else did.

BANG. BANG.

Two holes exploded through the wooden door. Dark shapes punched through both — and straight through the chests of the two constables standing in front of it.

Shen Yi watched the shapes retract. Two wrinkled, dark-furred palms withdrew slowly through the holes in the door, each one closing around a heart that was still feebly twitching. The fingers tightened, claws punching inward.

“Brother Shen. Why so hesitant?”

Shen Yi closed his eyes.

He drew one slow breath of warm, iron-thick air.

Then he drove his foot into the door with everything he had.

The wood exploded inward. A sharp cry rang out from somewhere inside, and a dark shape launched itself backward with startling speed.

Shen Yi walked through the wreckage, gaze moving steadily around the room.

Song Changfeng was the first thing he saw. The middle-aged man was on his knees in front of a rattan chair, shaking like a leaf in a storm — though not entirely from fear. The more immediate cause was the thick, fur-covered leg resting casually on his shoulder.

One leg, placed without particular effort, and the man’s bones were on the edge of giving out. Sweat poured down his face.

The owner of the leg was reclining in the chair with the unhurried ease of someone who had nowhere else to be. A wide scholar’s robe hung open off its frame in a slovenly drape. It pushed itself up on one elbow, turned a grotesque ape’s face toward the door, and showed its teeth in something approximating a smile.

“Brother. Have a seat.”

There were two more ape demons in the room besides it.

One crouched with its long arms hanging nearly to the floor, its face pulled tight with barely contained aggression. Its fingertips were still dripping. That one had delivered the welcome.

“Where have you been…” Song Changfeng’s face was twitching, emotion cresting toward collapse. “Look at what you’ve done — you’ve been managing the demons so well that now they’re managing themselves right into the yamen—“

Whatever had happened before Shen Yi arrived, it had apparently been enough to reduce the man to something between a complaint and a sob, tears and snot in equal measure.

Shen Yi looked at the table.

Three dog heads, neatly arranged in a row. Still fresh.

He looked back at the doorway behind him. Two constables, cooling on the floor.

The scholar-robed ape smacked its lips and reached out to give Song Changfeng a pat on the head, the way you might pat a dog.

“And there’s one more,” it said pleasantly, “right here.”

Behind Shen Yi, the other two ape demons had already drifted into position on either side of the door.

(End of Chapter)