Qingzhou city.

At the imposing city gate, two rows of soldiers stood at attention with long spears, perfectly upright.

In the distance, on the wide flat official road outside the gate, hundreds of black-robed riders came on horseback — like a dense black cloud, the hoof-thunder arriving before they did.

Qingzhou’s residents had seen things in their time, but an outpouring from the Division of this scale was rare.

“This many?” Eyes wide, they pressed together along the main street.

“Please — this is nothing. The main transport column is still behind them.” A young man from some minor family stood with his arms folded, looking down at the crowd’s naivety. Compared to first-tier forces, their middling kind would almost certainly end up in the Division eventually — so there was no particular sense of kinship with Qingfeng Mountain’s destruction, no reason to feel it viscerally. First-tier sect or Demon Suppression Division — both were equally beyond reach.

The Li siblings stood in the crowd with expressions that were not comfortable.

Li Xinhan had not remotely anticipated that during his few days of injury, his sister would send Shen Yi to Qingfeng Mountain. That kind of place — Deputy Commanders couldn’t guarantee their own survival, let alone Shen Yi.

He knew Shen Yi had killed a late-stage Jade Liquid Realm river deity. Even with the demon depleted at the time, it wasn’t something he himself could have finished — that part was genuinely impressive.

But he’d also heard what reward Shen Yi had taken when he returned: the Thunder-Wind Solar-Fusion Scripture. If there had been a true grinding battle at Qingfeng Mountain, a Threshold Realm practitioner with a few killing techniques would have had far worse odds of surviving than someone at a higher cultivation level with deeper reserves. On that kind of field, you needed tough flesh and fast legs and qi that lasted — not sharp weapons.

“…”

Li Muqing made no attempt to explain what had happened that night. She simply stared in silence at the city gate.

The hand beneath her wide sleeve closed slightly.

The people returning first would be the temporarily-reassigned Commanders and Deputy Commanders — they wouldn’t be involved in the aftermath work. If Shen Yi was alive, he was almost certainly among them.

Li Muqing wasn’t sure what she was actually watching for.

A badly injured Shen Yi?

Proof that his choice had been stupid, that pushing the document back had been reckless?

She bit her lip. Coming back safely would be better. Holding onto a moment of dignity wasn’t worth more than the life he’d saved.

But the odds were very small.

When the entire mountain gate was gone, the scale of what that implied needed no imagination. A two-band Commander who’d been forcibly reassigned would almost certainly have been used to wear down sect members’ strength.

“Whoa!“

As the reins were pulled simultaneously, hundreds of demon-horses came to a stop in unison.

A continuous line of black-robed figures swung down.

The rule the General herself had established — barring urgent circumstances, no Commander or Deputy Commander was to ride within Qingzhou city. Violators were docked pay and flogged.

Li Xinhan knew it better than most. He’d been on the wrong end of it recently.

The crowd pressed toward the gate again. Even the young people from great families and sects couldn’t help the excitement.

“Can we see General Chen?”

“There! General Chen Qiankun!”

Someone called out with a pointing hand, and countless eyes converged like a tide on that spot.

With hundreds of black-robed figures now on foot, one shape stood out conspicuously.

A group of golden-eagle Commanders walked into the city with cold eyes, clearing a path smoothly.

Several cloaked Deputy Commanders moved in a cluster around a demon-horse.

On the tall, powerfully built horse’s back: a sharp-featured young man holding the reins, black-robed and lean but straight, robes moving with the motion of the horse.

Pale face. A pair of clear eyes looking directly forward. High nose bridge, lips pressed together. The dark blade at his hip gave the whole image an edge of severity.

With each beat of hooves on the road, the watching crowd stepped back involuntarily — even without the golden-eagle Commanders’ presence.

“God, General Chen doesn’t look anything like that — or that — young.”

The young men in the crowd deflated and pushed back the person who’d shouted. The young women kept looking regardless. Whether or not it was the General seemed not particularly relevant.

Commanders clearing the path ahead. Deputy Commanders escorting and holding the horse. What kind of person received treatment like that?

In the crowd, the Li siblings’ breath started coming faster.

Li Xinhan stared at the two cloud-bands at the figure’s cuff, then at the familiar face, then slapped himself twice and looked at his sister with blank confusion. “I’m not seeing things?”

The General’s rule — he knew it better than anyone. He’d had a fresh reminder recently.

“I don’t think — you are.”

Li Muqing held the slight trembling out of her voice and watched the tall horse cross in front of her and move away.

He hadn’t even looked over.

There was no smirk, either — no knowing look at how she’d placed that document on the table assuming she had him, confident of her own position.

He just — passed by. Calmly.

“…”

“Why are you walking around with that expression?” Hong Lei said, not understanding, keeping his voice low beside the horse. “We’re the Division. Not tax collectors.”

“I have an image to maintain.”

Shen Yi stared expressionlessly at nothing in particular. A certain rigidity at the edges.

He quietly wiped his palm on the horse’s mane.

Hong Lei caught the small gesture and pressed his lips together. If it were me up on that horse, I’d be waving both hands at every turn, soaking up every sound of the crowd. What a waste.

They made it through the excited civilians eventually.

The Division compound at last. Shen Yi moved immediately to dismount.

The moment he started, Hong Lei’s shoulder came down hard on his calf, teeth set. “The General said — if you come down before we’re at the compound, legs broken.”

“…”

At the same time.

Demon Suppression Division Medical Hall. The bamboo cottage.

Bai Ziming pressed a needle into Fang Heng’s arm with mild irritation, listened to the muffled sound through clenched teeth, and said pleasantly: “Keep up the nonsense and next time I’ll show you what the Condensate Realm acupuncture technique looks like. The court gave it to me specifically as a personal favor to our teacher.”

“It’s been days. How much longer.”

Fang Heng lay on the bed, feeling the numbness in both arms. His patience was wearing.

“Interesting — you drain my pay keeping you in treatment, and now you’ve stopped saying senior brother.”

Bai Ziming smiled warmly and put in ten more needles at once.

Fang Heng’s entire body arched like a carp, veins standing out on his forehead, jaw nearly cracking, and he managed a strangled: “Senior Brother Bai — I’m genuinely — I need to get to Qingfeng Mountain—”

“Imagine if our teacher knew she’d accepted a disciple like you. A full-realized Martial Immortal, and he never even got to meet her. Rejected twice in a row. And you want to go chase someone who’s been giving you the cold shoulder. How undignified.”

Bai Ziming shook his head and withdrew the needles one by one.

He stood and smoothed his robe. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Fang Heng looked up, confused.

“To meet this Commander who hits so hard. See how much of it is real.”

Bai Ziming’s eyes were calm as he tucked the flat needle case into his front.

“You got put in this condition with the senior siblings out of town, and I’d like to know what I’m dealing with. If Martial Elder Sister Jiang hears about it, she’ll think that a few years of medicine-making has made me forget how to actually do anything.”

He’s back? Already?

Fang Heng scrambled up despite himself, lips moving — and then finally let the air out of his chest.

“Senior Brother — I moved first.”

“How bad was it?” Bai Ziming glanced over with the expression of someone who’d already guessed.

“Ten to one.” A pause. Under the questioning look, a sigh. “I put in everything I had. He knocked me down with one palm.”

“…”

Bai Ziming made a deliberate move toward the needle case. “I nearly forgot — physicians are bound by compassion, no room for competitive spirits. I’ll leave that kind of thing to Martial Elder Sister Jiang.”

Fang Heng knew he was being mocked and accepted it with resignation. “If it were you against him, you would obviously win, Senior Brother. Your methods are entirely underhanded. He has some body-refinement cultivation, but nowhere near enough to cover for that.”

Both of them could put him in the ground in one move, but the approaches were completely different. Shen Yi needed to close range. The senior brother’s poisoned flying needles were extracted from Jade Liquid venomous demons — even the protective medicine their teacher had given him was a rare variety that killed ordinary practitioners on contact. Difficult to guard against in any case, and he had a fondness for smiling warmly while setting up the throw.

One moment you were exchanging pleasantries. Next moment the needles were already in the air.

By comparison, Shen Yi looked more like someone with a strong practitioner’s bearing — always letting the opponent move first — which also meant he was somewhat more exposed in the opening exchange.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Bai Ziming stepped out of the bamboo cottage without minding it at all. He was genuinely curious now about this new Commander.

The two of them walked quickly toward the External Affairs Hall.

They arrived to find a solid mass of Commanders blocking the compound entrance.

(End of Chapter)