One step nearer the Spirit-Transformation realm.

The pressure that had weighed on Shen Yi's heart earlier finally eased somewhat. So long as he could break through to Spirit-Transformation, with the golden body besides, he alone could command two battlefields at once; the two converged, he could even challenge demons of higher cultivation.

"Congratulations to my lord on a great advance in cultivation! The day of overawing the four directions is close at hand!" Lady Qinghua offered her felicitations right on cue.

"..."

Shen Yi shot her a look, at a loss for words. He'd figured it out. Every time he grew a little full of himself, this woman would leap out and pour a basin of cold water. A cultivation like mid-tier Mixed Origin would certainly make one a domineering overlord swaggering about anywhere else, but where powers like Wutong Mountain and the Thousand Demon Den were concerned, it wasn't worth a look at all.

He mused an instant, then took out a golden booklet — the token of a Temple Custodian's identity. "Take this. Go back to Great Qian and repair the golden body."

"Qinghua..."

Lady Qinghua blanked for a moment, her face full of dread, not knowing where she'd misspoken to be transferred from her master's side. His lord had, after all, only just slain a White-Feather Demon Emperor — this was precisely the time to be swapping people in. But she had no intention of arguing, and lowered her head obediently. "Qinghua will go back at once... does my lord need Qinghua to guard Great Qian?"

At this, Shen Yi was silent a moment. Then he said softly, "No need. Go quickly and return quickly."

Somehow, without his knowing when, he'd become a figure much like those War Temple disciples — the greater good above all, a temporary setback... Shen Yi didn't believe in any "greater good above all." He knew only that were he dragged by the Thousand Demon Den into a situation of slow death, then Great Qian would become a ruin strewn with corpses, the Nine Provinces occupied by demons. And by then, going…