The following morning.

Elder Chunyang had been planning to stop by and say goodbye. He walked out of his courtyard and found the whole compound’s Commanders moving with unusual urgency.

He wandered around curiously for a few turns before finding Xiao Qiangwei — and discovering she was the source of the serious atmosphere.

Orders were going out. Commanders and Deputy Commanders turned and left the compound immediately.

“Every two hundred li, station two people good at fast travel, day and night rotation, responsible for relaying messages.”

“Tell General You — within the constraints of the larger situation, get as close to Xitai Mountain as possible.”

“If anything unexpected happens, I’ll notify the demon-hunters through the bell.”

Elder Chunyang listened with some confusion, walked over, and asked: “Senior Xiao, has something happened in Tingyang Prefecture? Do you need help?”

By convention, jianghu people stepped back when the Division was working — but after everything they’d just gone through together, asking one question wasn’t out of place.

Xiao Qiangwei waved the others off and turned. “Not Tingyang. We’ve located a mountain lord’s qi trace. Commander Shen intends to try killing it before he leaves.”

Elder Chunyang was visibly surprised. He thought back to what he’d just overheard.

Xitai Mountain. The Condensate Perfection tiger lord.

Elder Qingjing had said last night that Qingzhou was heading toward chaos and that Commander Shen was the General’s hidden reserve. He’d half-believed it. Looking at this now, there was something to it after all.

They’d barely returned from Peacock Valley and he was already moving to take on another major demon.

The Division’s way had always been to hold steady — protect the twelve prefectures, keep demons from crossing in, and as long as the demons withdrew on their own, avoid the risk of leaving familiar territory to chase them into the wilderness.

“Commander Shen is killing the chicken to warn the monkeys,” Elder Chunyang said, with some feeling.

And even a mountain lord with its fearsome reputation had become the chicken in that phrase.

She’d promised Shen Yi a Demon Suppression General to run point. In practice — even using personal connections, getting General You to spare a fraction of his attention this way, staying as close to Xitai Mountain as possible so that if something went wrong he could move fastest to the scene — that was the absolute limit of what she could arrange.

An operation this deliberate — actively hunting a demon lord — had the potential to affect the whole of Tingyang Prefecture if it went wrong. A Demon Suppression General nurturing a divine spirit who left Qingzhou was at his most vulnerable the moment he did.

So it had to be her and Shen Yi, prepared to accept responsibility for whatever followed. If they ran into something they hadn’t accounted for and needed to hold on until General You arrived — that was a question of luck.

“I have things to attend to. The two Elders are free to go.”

She gave a polite nod and walked toward the gate.

Shen Yi was standing beside two demon-horses. He heard the footsteps and looked back.

“You’re coming too?”

Xiao Qiangwei swung into the saddle. “I can’t contribute much directly, but years of tracking demons have taught me things that could save you considerable time. With concealment like yours — the idea is to hide in the shadows, strike from ambush, and withdraw immediately. You handled that pretty naturally on the way to Black Stone Deep. Just do the same.”

With Shen Yi’s strength, killing the mountain lord wasn’t the question. How to kill it, and how quickly — that was.

Getting drawn in was the real danger.

Shen Yi mounted his own horse. “I’ll do my best to protect your life.”

Anything she offered about tracking demons had been written in other people’s deaths.

“Thank you in advance, Commander Shen.” She pulled the reins. The demon-horse brought its front hooves up sharply, and with the ring of hooves they broke out of Tingyang City.

Outside Tingyang Prefecture.

A low slope, roughly three hundred li from Xitai Mountain.

Both horses were tied to a tree. The normally proud, spirited half-demons were now alert and unsettled, shifting their front hooves nervously.

Xiao Qiangwei took out the silver bell and passed along the information.

The demon-hunters she’d arranged came back quickly.

“Everything’s ready.” She looked sideways. “Honest answer — what’s the maximum distance you can cover in a single ambush strike? The kind where the demon has no time to react.”

Shen Yi considered briefly, taking the conservative side.

“Three hundred zhang.”

She paused in the motion of putting the bell away. A moment to confirm she’d heard that correctly.

Was a body-refinement practitioner’s burst that strong?

She steadied herself and didn’t question it. Her life was tied to this answer. If he said it, that was what it was.

You trusted your colleague without condition when you were working together.

“Three hundred zhang then. Far enough that you won’t expose yourself being near me.”

She checked everything she was carrying one more time, then set off toward Xitai Mountain at a run.

An endless range of mountains, no edge in sight — this was the tiger lord’s territory. It had held this ground for years. Several demon-hunters who’d ventured in recklessly had died without even collecting a trace of its qi.

Walking into this now—

Xiao Qiangwei wasn’t panicking. Even though the young man’s presence had vanished completely from her senses, she knew he was behind her. Every time she thought of how he dealt with demons, the mind settled another degree.

Dense canopy. Dark forest.

Layers of rot and blood smell mixing through the air.

She kept the tracking implement working continuously, reading the mountain lord’s traces from everything around her, eyes moving over each detail, recording it all.

Time passed slowly. The mountain grew denser as she moved deeper.

The sun’s arc was fading, a thin grey haze beginning to seep across the sky.

Finally, something lifted in Xiao Qiangwei’s expression.

She passed a message through the bell.

“It was here recently. Based on the instrument’s reading — southeast, about seventy li, deep in the rear mountain—”

A pause.

“Be careful.”

An unnecessary addition. She’d added it without thinking.

Her part was done. Following any further would only be a liability. A executioner hidden without sound in the deep mountain didn’t need an ally who would give away the position.

Leaving Xitai Mountain and waiting for Shen Yi’s signal — that was what she should do next.

The surrounding forest was still. Only the message from the silver bell announced the young man’s departure.

“Thank you for your work.”

(End of Chapter)