"Let's go, let's go."

Liu Qianyun hurriedly brought out the treasure ship, skating past the subject.

She caught Zheng Qian by the sleeve and pulled her aboard.

Once Shen Yi and Yan Wencheng had boarded as well, she stirred her aura, and the party vanished into the sky.

"……"

Shen Yi did not quite understand where the strange woman's abrupt ill-will came from.

Nor was he much interested.

Killing demons was killing demons. No need to make it complicated.

"I wanted to ask, Steward Liu — is there any word on the phoenix-demon blood essence?" He came up beside her.

He had taken a certain amount out of Lingyun Cave, and had asked Li Xuanqing to sort through it for him before leaving.

The surplus, the Azure-Yang branch included, could be traded for things he urgently needed.

But he had to know what phoenix-demon blood essence actually cost before he could prepare for it.

"……"

Liu Qianyun's face fell.

Sure enough: hearing "phoenix-demon blood essence", Zheng Qian had no trouble connecting it to the errand.

She glanced sideways at Liu Qianyun and quietly shook the hand off her sleeve,

and went on staring at the horizon without a word.

"Let's leave that for now."

Liu Qianyun waved both hands at Shen Yi. "The sect has had word of a fire-natured bird-demon. Let's go and look first. If it suits, there'll be no need to approach the Heaven-Sword Sect at all."

"My thanks."

Shen Yi felt the strangeness in the air, nodded his assent, and withdrew into the cabin again.

Once there was nobody beside them,

Liu Qianyun sent by voice transmission. "My dear lady, do stop sulking. That is the Nanyang Sect Master, and my own father acknowledges him. Besides, stewards going out on errands is perfectly reasonable in itself. Just pretend he isn't there."

"Isn't there?"

Zheng Qian rolled her eyes at her. "Fine. As it happens I'm short a portion of fire-bird blood essence myself, so this time—"

Liu Qianyun pinched her hard at the waist. "Go on and make trouble, then!"

"Hmph."

Zheng Qian mastered her displeasure…