Once it was clear there was nothing left worth claiming in Yongan City, the remaining demon-hunters cleared out quickly.

Five days of recovery had brought Jiang Chengyun back to something approaching working condition.

Deng Jianyuan prepared a carriage and, with the household gathered behind him, respectfully saw him off onto the road back to Qingzhou.

Watching the carriage go, the old man turned with a quiet feeling he couldn’t quite name.

Compared to Jiang Chengyun, who had made his contempt fairly obvious, the person he’d actually wanted to spend time with was the young man. But he’d moved too fast — by the calendar, he was probably already out of Tingyang Prefecture.

The boundary between Qingzhou’s twelve prefectures and demon territory wasn’t a clean line.

It was full of stretches where neither side formally claimed anything.

In one such stretch — a dim, lightless forest — something dropped from the canopy.

A three-foot blade swept through without ceremony, throwing a small scatter of blood.

Shen Yi sheathed the blade, stepped over the head, and moved on. One small demon that had developed awareness — sixty-odd more years of demon lifespan.

“You don’t actually need to do this. I already feel the mountain lord’s qi was worth it.”

Xiao Qiangwei had changed into a plain blue jacket, washed off the heavy cosmetics. The worldly air was gone. The fine features remained, along with a quality that couldn’t quite be called ordinary.

She looked at the young man with mild exasperation. This was the third time on the road.

She was wounded and moving carefully, doing her best to conceal the disrupted qi — but it was leaking anyway.

What she couldn’t understand was why he wasn’t wounded, and yet was keeping his own qi suppressed just as tightly. He was deliberately walking behind her too. Who found that kind of thing worthwhile—

Shen Yi glanced at her and kept the Turtle-Breath Method running without any sign of lifting it.

Small mosquito, still meat. If something with a good eye came along, there was always the chance of a larger return.

Idle anyway. And he’d learned the approach from this crowd of demon-hunters in the first place.

“Almost there.”

Xiao Qiangwei had no interest in picking up more blood-smell, so she moved to walk beside him instead.

“You may not have spent much time in the Division — but a location guarded by a personal attendant Deputy Commander almost never has major demons nearby. Not because they fear the guard. It’s that whatever demon is being watched there is already a local power in its own right. No other demon dares set foot in its territory.”

“Liu Bin’s temper isn’t good. When we arrive, don’t involve yourself — I’ll handle the conversation.”

“Understood.”

Shen Yi gave a small nod. Between the personal attendant and the demon being watched — he was considerably more curious about the demon.

Xiao Qiangwei led them out of the dense forest. A row of wooden structures appeared. Several Commanders in cloud-band black were gathered around a fire.

She stopped walking and addressed them.

“By order of General You, I’ve come to deliver a letter to Deputy Commander Liu. Please inform him.”

Shen Yi had assumed this was almost done. What surprised him was that the Commanders didn’t even look up — their voices came back in unhurried unison:

“Demon-hunters? Deputy Commander Liu has given standing orders. Black Stone Deep does not receive demon-hunters. He is unavailable.”

The coordination of the response made clear this wasn’t the first time.

Cold entered Xiao Qiangwei’s eyes.

“One illness. One away-trip. Now it’s unavailable to demon-hunters. Please pass a message to your Deputy Commander Liu — using seniority as a shield has limits.”

The sharpness in her voice came out clearly.

“General You respects his years and has treated him with courtesy. He would do well not to forget the proper order of things.”

Shen Yi stood at her side with his hands loose, quietly puzzled.

Even if the Division and the demon-hunters operated under different structures — Commanders with no Jade Liquid cultivation at all, this cold toward a Condensate Realm demon-hunter? The Commanders in Qingzhou city hadn’t carried themselves like this.

“Deputy Commander Liu’s orders stand. No demon-hunters.”

The Commanders rose slowly and drew their sabers.

“Of course, if your cultivation is sufficient, you’re welcome to try forcing your way into Black Stone Deep. Please go ahead.”

As the words landed, three Deputy Commanders led more than a hundred armed Commanders out of the buildings, eyes flat, blocking the path.

“Black Stone Deep is a restricted zone. Without General You’s personal written order, any unauthorized entry will be treated as demonic intrusion.”

Looking at the raised blades, Xiao Qiangwei finally smiled.

She walked forward.

“A written order I don’t have — only a letter addressed to Deputy Commander Liu. But I would quite like to see how exactly you plan to treat me as a demon.”

This was clearly where demon-hunters, who spent their lives alongside demons, had a line that didn’t bend.

The most senior practitioners here were at Jade Liquid Perfection. And yet watching her approach, their faces showed nothing — the blades came up without a moment of hesitation.

This was the difference between a personal attendant’s unit and ordinary Division constables.

They answered one person only. The man who held this post.

A long steel spear split the air in the same instant — driving into the ground precisely three inches in front of Xiao Qiangwei’s next step.

A rough voice came from inside one of the buildings.

“In all the years I’ve held this post, you’re the first one to actually try coming in.”

“When General You has business for me, his other personal attendants carry the message. What gives a demon-hunter standing to involve herself in my Division’s affairs?”

A tall figure pushed the door open and came out.

White hair. Beard reaching the chest. A gold swimming-dragon pattern at the collar. The wolf-devouring-moon cloak across his shoulders. The look of someone who had fought through more than could be easily counted.

He walked without hurry to stand in front of her, pulled the steel spear from the ground, and looked down at the woman.

“At your peak, you might have had grounds to face me. You’re here wounded. Don’t leave having lost something more.”

Xiao Qiangwei’s teeth came together. She took the envelope from her bell.

“By regulation, you’ve missed three required reports. General You has given you face — declined to suspect collusion with demons. The least you can do is look at what this letter says.”

“Old eyes. Not interested in reading anything brought by someone of uncertain identity. No way to verify it’s genuine.”

Liu Bin turned slowly, voice going cold.

“Take your people and leave.”

The cold dismissal had torn through any remaining pretense. A hundred-odd Division Commanders raised their blades toward Xiao Qiangwei simultaneously.

The woman drew a slow breath.

She looked sideways at the young man behind her.

“You agreed to escort me and get this letter into his hands. Does that still stand?”

Shen Yi looked at the assembled Division constables with a calm expression.

Liu Bin didn’t interest him. The letter didn’t interest him either.

Collusion with demons, on the other hand — that was very interesting.

The unexpected windfall he’d been vaguely hoping for had apparently landed in the middle of his own colleagues.

He stepped forward unhurriedly.

“It stands.”

The two brief words sent visible alarm through the assembled Commanders. They hadn’t remotely considered that two demon-hunters would actually try it — forcing entry into a personal attendant Deputy Commander’s post?

In this location, Liu Bin bore all responsibility and held all authority. He spoke for the Qingzhou Division here.

“Nerve!”

The collective shout came. Liu Bin turned in the same instant — the steel spear drove upward in a fierce thrust. Xiao Qiangwei held through the pain, moved without slowing, sidestepped the tip cleanly, and slammed both palms against the shaft with concentrated force.

Both of them had committed to full strength — court people on both sides, and they’d opened with killing intent.

The two forces met on the steel spear. Liu Bin rode the deflection and turned the momentum — redirecting the shifted tip straight at the young man standing behind them.

Silver light like a white dragon leaving a gorge. It struck the eye. The scream of steel through air hit the ear.

(End of Chapter)