Moonlight like gauze.

A broad-shouldered figure stood on the roof tiles, watching in silence as more than a hundred demon-horses filed out of Qingzhou city in orderly formation.

“Someone actually followed him out.”

Jiang Chengyun looked away from the gate and toward Aqian, sitting cross-legged beside him, bare feet dangling off the eave.

Both of them were demon-hunters. The messages that had come through the silver bell had reached this roof too.

With Grandmother recalled to temporarily stand in for the General, a disturbance this large couldn’t be entirely ignored.

Aqian stretched and settled back with visible tiredness. “Spending so much time outside made me forget about this whole crowd of great families and sects.”

“You’ve been shadowing the Howling Moon Demon King for several centuries,” Jiang Chengyun said after a pause. “It’s hard to attend to much else.”

Whether a core-nurturing practitioner was strong or not depended on the comparison.

No matter how you divided the cultivation stage — the nurturing phase, the shattering phase, the divine emergence — it was still Condensate Realm. Against a demon king equivalent to a Mixed Origin Grandmaster, these practitioners were infants.

But Qingzhou needed eyes on the demon king’s movements at all times, and the General had to stay anchored in the main city. That left the three gold-bell demon-hunters.

“The old Howling Moon has stood off against the General for all these years. Twelve prefectures as the boundary — mutual non-interference, like two wells that don’t share water.”

“What concerns me is that small demon that’s coming up. Growth rate that makes no sense. Ambition so naked it’s embarrassing. Once it claims a throne—” she paused, “—it’s already calling itself a junior demon king. Arrogant and cunning. Every attempt to ambush it has failed. When it matures fully, two demon kings in one place—Qingzhou would be in serious danger.”

“The General has petitioned for reinforcements three times and been turned away each time. It seems every other region is dealing with its own problems.”

Tracking the demon king through the shadows for so many years, under that constant weight — every time Aqian came back to the ordinary world, she made a deliberate effort to release everything built up inside her. Cry when she needed to. Laugh when she felt like it. Playing the actual child the face suggested.

Right now her expression was nothing but gravity.

“They have their junior demon king,” Jiang Chengyun offered. “Qingzhou has Jiang Qiulan.”

Something in Aqian’s eyes shifted at the name — the rare quality of genuine acknowledgment.

“Jiang Qiulan. She actually came back recently, as it happens. Looked at Lin Baixi’s letter. Went through the Baiyun County records. Left two instructions and didn’t rest for a moment — was already on her way back to Linjiang Prefecture.”

Of the twelve Demon Suppression Generals, all of them had taken the shortcut — cultivating on the prayers and devotion of common people, the Martial Immortal path, suited to holding ground rather than striking out.

The one exception was the woman who had gone to Yushan Prefecture after its General died and taken the position through force. She walked the true Mixed Origin path.

A state’s people could sustain only one Martial Immortal.

The General gathered Qingzhou’s faith and will, and through that became what he was — methods inscrutable, power anchored in the devotion of millions.

But the body was fragile. Someone had to stand in front of him. Someone to hold back one demon king, or two, while he worked.

Late autumn gives way to hard winter.

The one who stands in the hard winter and holds the line—

From the moment the General accepted her as a disciple and gave her a new name, she had been destined to become that figure. The solitary barrier keeping the demon horde from the twelve prefectures of Qingzhou.

“…”

Jiang Chengyun set the admiration aside and looked back toward the gate. “Should I move directly?”

“You cannot stop being competitive for even one moment. The man is doing Qingzhou a service. There are two rules. Follow them.” Aqian’s voice was mild.

“Rules.” He raised an eyebrow, unchanged. “Whose rules? The Division’s? Those have nothing to do with me. If we’re talking demon-hunter rules — he didn’t signal for help, didn’t report anything. He clearly intends to handle it himself. We’re both silver-bell holders. How could I take his quarry?”

He looked over, honest face showing genuine uncertainty. “The real question, Grandmother — does he have what it takes?”

Among demon-hunters, convention was clear.

Unless one party voluntarily offered up part of the reward and requested support, or acknowledged they were outmatched and stepped aside, no outside interference was acceptable.

Whether life or reward mattered more — that judgment had to be made in advance. If you couldn’t even manage that, you should return the bell.

“You’re too kind. You’re my grandmother.”

Aqian rolled her eyes and rose unhurriedly.

Jiang Chengyun recognized the displeasure and turned away. “Fine. Gold bells don’t command silver bells, but elders can direct their grandchildren. I’ll follow your arrangement.”

She stretched. “I only just arrived in Qingzhou. Substituting for the General isn’t something I’m suited for. But this happened right under my watch, and I’d rather not have the General blame me for it. Consider it a personal favor.” She hopped off the roof, her voice drifting back clearly.

“Just this once. If he’s misjudged the situation — it’ll be enough of a lesson.”

“…”

Jiang Chengyun stood alone on the roof tiles and clasped his hands behind his back.

The General wasn’t going to blame Grandmother over something like this. And demon-hunters weren’t under the Division’s authority anyway. An excuse, nothing more.

Hesitation. Hesitation. Breaking precedent. Breaking precedent.

Age caught up with everyone. No different from Chen Qiankun.

What this place needs is that sharpest sword — her and this new generation of ours, finally replacing this entire crowd of old ones.

The image of a cool, level face surfaced. Something moved in Jiang Chengyun’s eyes — admiration shading into something closer to fervor.

Qingzhou. Pingkang Mountain.

More than a hundred black-robed figures hauled their reins simultaneously. Powerful demon-horses reared, front hooves cutting the air — a genuinely imposing arrival.

Hong Lei swung down from his horse and walked to Shen Yi’s side with the two other Deputy Commanders.

The people assembled here were all elite. The two Inner Division Deputy Commanders had more years in service than Hong Lei himself — both at late Jade Liquid Realm.

A hundred and twenty Commanders, every one of them three-band.

Not even Hong Lei had anticipated being able to assemble this close to Qingzhou’s most capable personal-attendant squad on short notice.

This wasn’t something that ran on General Chen’s reputation.

The old man’s name carried weight, but he was in Linjiang Prefecture. He didn’t normally involve himself in Qingzhou city’s affairs.

These people had all come of their own will.

A significant part of that was Shen Yi himself.

The private stories, combined with what had just happened at the Jingang School, made the title of personal attendant Deputy Commander increasingly believable on its own merits.

“Seal the mountain immediately. No one leaves.”

A Deputy Commander’s quick order, and the Commanders — drawn from multiple different units — spread into position with quiet efficiency. One glance, and the routes were distributed.

Shen Yi looked up at the mountain ahead.

White cloud, dark pine, green cypress.

It did look like a place of genuine beauty and spiritual quality.

He let the golden light fill his eyes and activated the Qi-Gazing Method. The world shifted to a grey indistinctness. White qi clustered in concentrations, occasional gold flecks moving through it.

No demonic qi. Not even a trace.

“…”

He closed the technique without surprise.

If the demonic taint were visible from the base of the mountain, the Jingang School couldn’t have hidden it this long.

Quickly, only thirty or so Inner Division Commanders assigned to the actual demon-subduing task remained at the base. The rest moved up the mountain in formation.

Steep mountain paths were nothing to a group of practitioners. They were at the summit in short order. A plain, unadorned main hall came into view.

Before they reached the entrance, sound arrived first.

Low, steady chanting.

“Dissolve my countless-kalpa delusion — attain the Dharma body without crossing the kalpas.”

“May I now achieve the fruit and become Jewel King — return to guide the numberless sand-grain multitudes.”

Two inner-disciple novices stood at the hall entrance with prayer beads. Their peripheral vision caught the black-robed figures moving up the mountain path. A thumb paused on a bead—

They turned instinctively, hadn’t yet acted, when two chains arrived through the air and wrapped around their necks, pulling them hard to the ground.

“Stay still.”

Two Inner Division Deputy Commanders pressed them flat. Hong Lei moved forward and kicked the hall doors open.

Bang.

What Shen Yi had been imagining was not what he found.

The interior was dim. Incense smoke drifted thick through the air. No guards. Only a clay Buddha statue nodding serenely at the far end.

Across the floor, covering every meditation cushion: lay followers. Elderly, most of them. Gaunt faces. Expressions of profound stillness. The chanting continued without pause.

Every few moments, a nose would twitch. And in the clouded eyes — a thread of pleasure would rise.

“Mercy… mercy…”

(End of Chapter)