The evening wind had a faint chill, moving through the treetops along the old road.
Shen Yi stood with his arms folded, leaning against a red horse with lazy ease, looking into the distance.
This was the old General’s mount — known to everyone in Qingzhou. Specifically sent to carry him back to the city.
The city wall’s outline was faintly visible in the distance.
He patted the horse’s neck. “Go on back.”
He’d passed the stage where he needed to carry Chen Qiankun’s name like a banner. There was no need to make it so conspicuous anymore.
The red horse gave a light nod, then became a streak of light and vanished into the sky.
Shen Yi let his gaze rest on nothing in particular, watching the demon lifespan on the panel drop.
He went carefully back through the fight with the White Deer.
Even the body-refinement he’d relied on most had felt fragile against a genuine core-nurturing demon lord. The moment close-quarters contact happened — if not for the crimson feather’s divine ability, that first stomping hoof would have caved in half the body.
And the White Deer had been constantly wary of Jiang Qiulan arriving. He’d had the Unfettered Wind-Riding Art — he knew even losing didn’t mean getting caught — plus the Solar-Splitting Bow. Their mental states had been completely different.
Even in those conditions, the final outcome had been a close, exhausted win.
Killing the flood dragon before had involved Chen Qiankun absorbing all the pressure.
This time, the White Deer was dead. The Junior Demon King had escaped. Word would get out. He didn’t know whether they’d attribute this to Jiang Qiulan while incidentally noting his existence.
Before, he’d been using the court Division’s reputation as a shield while quietly developing his own strength.
But in a short time, he’d somehow become one of the tiles — the ones who deflect the wind and rain for everything below.
The more demons he killed, the stronger this tendency would become. Until eventually, the list of targets for ambush might include one more name.
To prevent that—
The best approach was to kill everything before it had time to work out what was happening.
To actually do that, his current strength was still far from enough.
“Hff.“
He settled his mind and brought his attention back to the panel.
Three flood dragon princes had given him four thousand six hundred years. The White Deer had contributed three thousand four hundred. The sixth transformation was comfortably within reach, with something left over.
As the golden eagle’s consciousness finished being erased, he reached into the bell for the White Deer’s core.
The radiance coming from it was remarkable. Not a flaw visible anywhere. As perfect as something made by forces that didn’t leave traces.
Something this precious — probably only a handful existed anywhere in Qingzhou.
He placed it in his mouth. To his surprise — no blood-smell. It felt less like a demon core and more like swallowing something rich and ancient from the world itself. A completely different sensation from anything before.
He felt the Heavenly Demon external pill stirring greedily inside, and directed the suppressive force to give it a firm reminder.
He had three flood dragon cores set aside as backup, and turned his attention back to the panel.
The familiar sequence of prompts passed quickly.
Thousands of years of lifespan disappearing like water.
Shen Yi’s brow gradually drew together. He raised an arm in silence. In the next moment — fine cracks appeared across that smooth pale skin, dense demon qi beginning to seep outward, white light rising across the whole body and barely, effortfully, repairing the damage.
【Year 1,920 — you realize suddenly that the body after the fifth transformation is not sufficient to confine a core-nurturing major demon. But there’s no turning back now. Aside from the life-force, you decisively activate the Southern Visitor Immortal’s crimson feather divine ability. With both working together, you finally stabilize the body’s collapse.】
There was a way back, of course.
He just needed to stop feeding demon lifespan in, spit out the remaining core, and let the Heavenly Demon external pill absorb the excess demonic force.
“The demonic force in a Condensate Perfection demon versus a core-nurturing stage demon — really that different?”
He pulled his attention from the panel, closed his eyes, and paid close attention to the changes in the body.
By normal progression, you’d confine a rough-core demon for the Novice level, a full-core demon for Minor Mastery, three Condensate Perfection demons for Major Mastery.
Core-nurturing stage — that was almost certainly what the final three transformations were built for.
“At least the White Deer was on the weaker side—”
When he found that the white light and the crimson radiance together were enough to keep pace with the body’s damage, he sat on the ground without ceremony and endured. When the pain became too much, he looked at the panel’s description of the suffering inside for comparison.
That helped considerably.
The same pain, stretched across thousands of years in the panel — it was easier to bear out here.
The immortal deer treads Jade Mountain. Hidden in white mist. It knows the hearts of people. It discerns good from evil. The millet-dream must end on waking. Mirror flowers and water moon — all of it empty.
【Immortal-Demon Nine Transformations: Major Mastery】
【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 2,713 years】
The deer-call rang through his mind, lingering, starting to overshadow everything else.
Shen Yi sat cross-legged and slowly opened his eyes.
The five major demons confined in the body — all of them without consciousness now, only instinct remaining — and even those instincts had been completely stilled by the White Deer’s presence. Not a flicker of movement.
He could almost vaguely see that proud immortal deer raising its crowned head, showing off the magnificent antlers.
Without hesitating, he fed the demon lifespan in again.
【Year 490 — you use the death-essence to extinguish the immortal deer’s consciousness.】
The long, lingering call had barely faded before it became a single cry of grief and was gone.
Shen Yi stood and settled into the new sensation through the body carefully.
Successfully confining the White Deer meant the physical body had formally crossed into the core-nurturing tier. The experience was entirely unlike anything before. His breathing came more slowly.
Only when he’d fully absorbed the feeling did he look at the panel description again. It apparently described the White Deer’s illusion divine ability — but the part about knowing human hearts and discerning good from evil left him with a question.
Could it really?
Three figures walking out of that bathing pool came back to him, and the unease hadn’t entirely gone.
About two thousand years of demon lifespan left. He could condense it into a Demon Crystal and work on deriving the Twin-Harmony True Intent further, or keep it for the Condensate method.
He thought about it, then chose the second. If there was a trip to the capital coming, there probably wouldn’t be much opportunity to kill demons on the way.
He shook his head and turned toward Qingzhou city.
The ancient stone wall rose before him, imposing and enduring.
Compared to other places, Qingzhou city had the Division compound, four first-tier forces, and any number of jianghu sects large and small.
Noise. Smiling faces. Life everywhere.
Naturally, no one noticed the dark-robed figure slipping quietly through the crowd.
In the large city, Shen Yi took several wrong turns, and eventually had to use the Qi-Gazing Method to find the Division compound’s location.
He walked back to the side courtyard.
It was emptier than when he’d left — noticeably fewer people in the rows of courtyards.
The silver bell trembled continuously. He tuned in briefly.
Most of the chatter was about credits earned and rewards being claimed. The one piece of actual news: Grandmother Aqian would be stopping in the Division compound for three days to compile all the demon-hunter credits and forward them to the capital together.
(End of Chapter)