A light wind moved through the forest.

A tall dark-robed figure appeared for a moment, dissolved into the night, standing still on a branch.

Shen Yi’s expression was level. Inside, something faintly wrong had been stirring.

Not from being alone in demon territory for the first time since leaving Qingzhou — he genuinely preferred working alone.

His gaze moved across the broad forest below.

Like surveying his own territory.

But right now he felt an intrusion. Something had entered what felt, on some deeper level, like his ground. That instinctive displeasure was quietly affecting his mood.

Two tigers, one mountain?

He identified the feeling and filed it away. Turtle-Breath Method at full capacity. Unfettered Wind-Riding Art at full capacity. His form dissolved into the air again.

Combined with the mountain lord’s divine ability.

Within Xitai Mountain, nothing sensed his passage. No living thing caught even a trace.

Even deliberately concealed, he covered the distance toward the deep interior Xiao Qiangwei had indicated at a speed that would have been difficult to explain.

Then the silver bell gave a small, quiet tremor.

A woman’s voice came through, unusually serious.

“Stop. I’ve found something wrong. Give me a moment.”

Shen Yi’s brow tightened slightly, but he stopped immediately. The position vanished from where it stood.

He took colleagues’ warnings seriously. Particularly a colleague who understood his capabilities better than most.

No long wait. The bell spoke again.

“I’ve found a second Condensate Perfection demon lord’s trace!”

He raised an eyebrow. He thought of the strange mood from earlier.

“Third—”

That message came out half-finished, with wind noise behind it.

His expression had gone serious when the next one finally arrived.

“Pull back from Xitai Mountain. Something has me in its sights. I’ll explain more in a moment.” Even fighting to sound calm, the disruption in her breathing came through.

Shen Yi’s face went flat. Three words.

“Location.”

Three Condensate Perfection demon lords — he couldn’t promise to kill them all. Getting Xiao Qiangwei out first was manageable.

He drew Erhei.

No hesitation. He activated the Heavenly Demon external pill and ran the Unfettered Wind-Riding Art off it — speed surging several times over, carrying a faint crimson edge as he moved back toward where he’d come from.

The bell went silent for a long time.

When it finally spoke again, the voice had nearly nothing left in it. The message came in fragments.

And it made him pause.

“Trap — come back — I’m safe — top of the mountain — old temple—”

The woman sounded like she was running on a last breath, the messages barely holding together. But that one piece — I’m safe — carried absolute certainty. Enough certainty to be puzzling.

Shen Yi had already returned to where they’d parted. He slid the blade home, and looked up toward the mountain’s peak with a raised eyebrow.

He wasn’t there yet, and she was already safe?

He noted the oddness and moved on. If the person on the other end of that bell wasn’t Xiao Qiangwei, he’d genuinely wonder if this was a demon luring him in.

But in the middle of demon territory this vast, even he wouldn’t casually call anything safe.

She should be trustworthy.

He checked his qi quickly, confirmed nothing was leaking, made sure the external pill was positioned to be triggered at the first instant of need — so that even if something went wrong, full power was immediately available.

Then he moved toward the summit.

At the top of the mountain. A ruined old temple.

It was a remnant from when Xitai Mountain still fell within Qingzhou’s administration. Now it was falling apart, wind coming through from every side, a melancholy emptiness to it.

Half a stone statue stood tilted against a cracked offering platform — thick with dust, no incense, no offerings, only a pile of dried branches and dead leaves.

A dark-robed figure leaned quietly against one wall.

Smooth hair tied simply behind her. Cold bearing. Dense lashes over eyes as still as deep water.

Delicate features unmarked by any cosmetics. Skin like fine jade. In the firelight — a faint, unusual pallor.

One hand rested lightly on her knee. The pale, long fingers held a wine jug. The other hand moved gently across Xiao Qiangwei’s forehead, smoothing the disordered hair.

Under that clean, jade-pale hand—

Xiao Qiangwei’s disrupted qi gradually steadied. Something peaceful had settled into her expression. In the middle of Xitai Mountain with demons everywhere, she’d fallen into sleep as deep and easy as an infant’s.

As though simply being near this person was safer than sitting in the Qingzhou Division compound.

Once Xiao Qiangwei had fully settled, the dark-robed woman raised her eyes and looked toward the broken temple’s entrance. Her voice was quiet, without any quality that would suggest offense.

“Come in.”

Only wind outside.

After a long pause, the young man took shape, stepped in, and sat against the wall across the fire from her. He’d instinctively chosen the spot farthest from her.

Shen Yi genuinely didn’t like being close to people who made him uneasy. But she’d found his hidden position in a single glance — that probably wasn’t coincidence.

Continuing to hold ground made no sense.

The ruined temple was completely quiet. Only the fire’s crackling.

Neither of them seemed to be in the habit of speaking first. The young man closed his eyes to regulate qi. The young woman drank in silence.

The sharp smell of the liquor was strong enough to reach outside the temple walls.

Clear wine touched her lips — and nothing in her expression moved. Only the unusual pallor in her skin began to ease slightly.

When the jug was empty she set it down, and finally let her gaze move toward the young man across the fire. It paused for one instant on the dark blade at his side.

No prolonged attention. Something like reaching back into memory moved in her eyes. She pulled the hand slowly from Xiao Qiangwei’s forehead and stood.

She asked, with the courtesy of someone who genuinely meant it as a question:

“I’m going to kill some demons. Would you like to come?”

“What kind?” Something relevant had finally been mentioned. Shen Yi opened his eyes.

“The White Deer. And whatever demon lords it invited to ambush me. I don’t know exactly how many — probably quite a few.” She stood with her hands at her sides.

“That’s very little information.” Shen Yi stood too. The strangeness from earlier finally had an explanation.

He’d come intending to hunt the mountain lord. He’d apparently walked into something else entirely.

Though whatever it was — as long as demons were involved, it wasn’t really different.

The only thing that needed to be established was whether he had any business being part of it.

“No information.” She shook her head and explained in four words. “They should have run. They didn’t.”

Should have run and didn’t. That meant ambush.

Simple logic.

“You know it’s a trap and you’re still going?” He looked at her. Something genuinely surprised.

“I know the Howling Moon Demon King’s location.” She extended her palm. A fine, long silver needle appeared in it, and she released it into the air.

The needle hovered, keeping watch over Xiao Qiangwei.

The moment it appeared — the temperature across the entire mountain summit dropped sharply. A thin layer of frost covered the stone statue in an instant. Xiao Qiangwei, right next to it, wasn’t touched.

With that done, she walked toward the temple’s entrance, and left behind the half of the sentence she hadn’t finished.

“As long as it’s not here, everything else is the same.”

She had apparently only asked out of courtesy. Whether the young man came or not — she didn’t seem to particularly care either way.

(End of Chapter)