In a certain corner of Demon-Suppression City.

Perfected Master Qingfeng hurriedly brought out pills and distributed them among his senior brothers and sisters.

His youthful face was full of lingering fright. "That was close! At least we got out alive."

As he spoke, he looked at Tong Xinchuan, slumped against the city wall, and guilt showed on his face. "It's all thanks to Senior Brother Tong..."

Had the man not staked his life to hold back that Gold-Winged Demon Emperor, what sliver of survival would any of them have had?

At this moment, that vivid crimson robe he prized above all was caked with mud, the skin across his whole body split open, spiritual qi pouring ceaselessly out through the cracks.

If this went on, he risked falling back a realm entirely.

But Tong Xinchuan merely sat there without a word, his eyes vacant, as though still steeped in the scene from before.

He hadn't even the presence of mind to swallow the pill held to his very lips.

"Senior Brother Tong?" Perfected Master Qingfeng blinked, then turned to the senior sister who had carried the man back. "What's the matter with him? Could the Gold-Winged Demon Emperor have used some method on him?"

"Junior Brother Tong has courage and cunning both, true — but that any of us left the Thousand Demon Den alive today was, in the end, simply good luck."

Miao Qinghui gave a bitter laugh, snatched the pill away, pinched Tong Xinchuan's cheeks, and forced it into his mouth. "And the state this boy's in has nothing to do with the Gold-Winged Demon Emperor."

"Luck..." Qingfeng looked up, dumbfounded.

"We saw Shen Yi."

Miao Qinghui let out a light breath, her pupils flickering unsteadily.

A formation capable of trapping the Gold-Winged Demon Emperor, witnessed with Junior Brother Tong's own eyes — how could his composure not be shaken?

And that formation had come from the hand of the very man he'd called a crude brute.

"That boy is still alive?!" Qingfeng cried out in shock.

"What do you mean, that boy — have you no sense…