Elder Chen was the one remaining Inspector at the Demon Suppression Division's central offices.

Zhang Xuan had wanted it to be him more than anyone, but now had no choice but to shake his head. "The one I brought back this time is the newly appointed Inspector, Shen Yi."

Shen Yi?

Yang Qianxiang went quiet for a moment, searching his memory without finding even the faintest trace of that name.

"Commander Shen comes from Qingzhou, and is a War Temple disciple."

Zhang Xuan knew exactly what was on the man's mind, and pressed urgently ahead. "The Flower Leopard demon lord has already been killed by Commander Shen. General, please deploy your people at once, retake South Peak City, and then come with me to find the Inspector."

Yang Qianxiang listened, and the words hit him like a great hammer to the skull — his whole world went slightly off-kilter, and he said, dazed, "A War Temple disciple — that means a divine-spirit cultivator. Why didn't you discuss any of this with me before just going ahead and doing it?"

The War Temple's divine-spirit cultivators were all of profound cultivation, that much was true.

But even with a jade token in hand, even able to draw on any province's accumulated faith — don't forget that Song Prefecture had lost four prefectures, leaving only this much faith remaining. Whether that went to him, as General, or to some stranger named Shen — what difference would it make in the end?

Song Prefecture had paid in lives beyond counting to barely manage to hold the two demon kings in check.

Yes, collapse was imminent — but at least there had still been a little time left.

Every extra day, for them, meant one more day to hope Elder Chen might come back. And now someone had gone and shattered the balance outright — to what end?

"Discuss? An Inspector goes about his business — when has he ever needed to discuss anything with the likes of you and me?"

Zhang Xuan bit down hard, and reached into his chest to draw out the…