Outside Yongan City. Muddy countryside.

The broad-shouldered middle-aged man stood with his arms at his sides, wisps of cloud-mist still coiling around him, fingertips faintly trembling — he’d been pushing hard.

“Hm. The Cloud Crane True Intent.”

Across from him, the great beast with its slightly patchy fur stood with its neck raised. Perhaps a zhang in length — looking, on the surface, like a simply elderly ordinary tiger.

It paced in a slow circle, unhurried. “I just wanted to eat a few ordinary Condensate Realm practitioners. Like this one here. Why is my luck so terrible — running into the two of you.”

Xiao Qiangwei glanced sideways with visible reluctance.

The small thin old man was sitting on the ground, wheezing with each breath, face covered in injuries, one arm fractured, half a foot missing.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have assumed he was the one who’d been doing the real work.

“How did you actually break through to the Condensate Realm.”

Jiang Chengyun looked back, brow tight.

“Not every practitioner has the background you two had, or the full commitment of a demon-hunter’s cultivation.”

The mountain lord’s pace slowed slightly. Despite the effort to hide it, the front leg was visibly favoring. A Condensate Perfection demon lord — driven out of Yongan City by two rough-core stage juniors. The comment sounded like making up for Deng Jianyuan; in reality the mockery was pointed both outward and inward.

The mountain lord shook its head. An entire night and no decisive outcome. The desire to retreat had already formed.

“That’s enough. Keep going and you’ll both die here.”

“You say that like you can actually leave.” Xiao Qiangwei gave a cold smile.

“Exactly the point.” The mountain lord didn’t argue. A demon that had lived three or four thousand years didn’t throw its life away carelessly. Even with considerably better odds on its side, this was still inside Qingzhou’s twelve prefectures — reinforcements could arrive at any time.

“Take that qi you pulled from me and stored in your bell — nullify it. Then we call this done.”

Seeing continued hesitation—

The mountain lord showed its fangs. “Demon-hunters are court people. If you two keep this going, my three worthless cubs will clean out what’s left of Yongan City.” A pause. “I know you’re not after it to exchange for credit.”

Something shifted in Xiao Qiangwei’s expression.

“You want to hand it to your honorary nephew, get the famous General You to come exterminate me? Fine, I’ll tell you openly — I came here because I have somewhere to recover. My sworn brother the White Deer has the drinks ready and waiting.”

The mountain lord licked its paw with arrogant ease. “If you want Qingzhou to lose another Demon Suppression General — go ahead and try.”

At the name White Deer, the grip Jiang Chengyun had been losing strength in tightened again.

Among the seventeen core-nurturing demon lords whose traces he currently carried, the White Deer had a place. But its reputation wasn’t built on cultivation.

It was built on coordinating with Yushan Prefecture’s sects to ambush and kill a Demon Suppression General. And then escaping from Jiang Qiulan.

“…”

Jiang Chengyun was quiet for a long moment. “Nullify it.”

Just holding this demon lord in place had pushed them to the edge. Actually killing it was essentially impossible — the gap between rough-core and Condensate Perfection was simply too large. Even being among the strongest in their stage, this was the limit.

And even if two more people of equal strength arrived, the mountain lord could still escape.

It wasn’t wrong about Yongan City either. Go back any later and there would be nothing left.

“You don’t need to tell me.”

Xiao Qiangwei drew out a thread of gold qi, and in the mountain lord’s full view, crushed it with cold deliberateness.

The demon-hunters had formally accepted this loss.

Not only nothing gained — a major city left in ruins with heavy casualties—

“Can you leave now?”

Jiang Chengyun’s eyes narrowed, force of will pressing down on the fury underneath.

“Oh no — one of the cubs is going back to Qingzhou to find its grandmother! Whatever shall I do.”

The mountain lord hadn’t gotten its Condensate Realm medicine — an entirely wasted trip in that respect — but compared to the group in front of it who had come away with the worst of it, its mood was reasonable.

One last parting shot, watching Jiang Chengyun’s expression, and it turned and walked away, disappearing into the forest quickly.

Joking aside — actually waiting here for General You Longtao or that old woman to arrive would mean something had gone seriously wrong with its thinking.

From the mountain peak, it raised its head and let out a long howl. “RRHHR!“

Then scratched at the dirt with some impatience. The feast it had prepared for itself — and instead its three cubs had been the ones eating.

No response came.

The extended paw went still. Then a second howl, considerably louder. “RRHHR!!“

Birds lurched from the branches. Animals across the hillside flattened themselves to the ground.

The mountain lord turned, a suspicion forming that it was fighting against believing.

Fury rose in its eyes. It took one step toward Yongan City — then pulled back slowly.

A low sound left it, carrying something close to grief.

The mountain lord launched forward and ran toward its sworn brother’s den.

Whoever had done it — that person was going to die.

“Hmm?”

Jiang Chengyun’s step halted. He looked back with a faint frown.

Three howls in sequence. The feeling behind each one entirely different.

“Move.” Xiao Qiangwei’s brow creased slightly, the words coming with some urgency. Faint red had appeared at the corner of her mouth.

She wiped it immediately.

Showing weakness right now might bring the mountain lord straight back.

No prompt needed for Deng Jianyuan. The old man was already moving on his remaining half-foot, injured body lurching, making his way back to Yongan City.

Jiang Chengyun’s regard for him might not be high.

But Deng Jianyuan had fought through the night with everything he had. Weak among Condensate Realm practitioners as he was, to everyone in Yongan City he was the only pillar left standing.

Without demon-hunters with the broader perspective to see things clearly, the old man had been what he’d always been in his younger days — easygoing, unconcerned with Qingzhou’s larger situation, content to keep Yongan City as lively as it had been when he was young.

Right now he just wanted to get back to the Deng compound and not find a field of bodies.

Through the city gate.

The long street had yamen constables moving through it with busy purposefulness. Most residents had stayed inside.

Sounds of grief came from the large compounds with the brightest signboards.

“Still able to cry — means they’re not dead—”

Deng Jianyuan quietly let out a breath.

Yongan City had had centuries of peace. That was unusual luck. Demon attacks happened everywhere else. This wasn’t the first time.

He left a trail of blood on the stones, and finally the familiar gate came into view.

Two constables were just stepping out. They saw his condition, bowed shakily, hands clasped.

“Sir — your sacrifice—”

“Oh, go to hell.”

The old man’s voice was barely audible. He pushed past them and made it through the doors into the main hall.

More than a hundred familiar faces turned toward him at once, each still carrying traces of fear.

Deng Jianyuan leaned on his own knees and counted. Eyes moving across the room—

And gradually the look in them shifted to something bewildered.

“One— not one is missing?”

He stared at the young woman in the main seat.

“I mean—” Lin Rou stood with some awkwardness and waved a hand. “This genuinely had nothing to do with me.”

She’d just been sitting here all night. Mostly out of nerves, she’d drunk about seven or eight bowls of plain tea.

Just then, two figures came through the door together.

Jiang Chengyun looked around the room. “Why are you still here? Where’s Shen Yi?”

Lin Rou massaged her temple. “He said he was going — for a walk.”

Jiang Chengyun looked over in genuine puzzlement. “He just left?”

“Well—” Lin Rou counted quietly on her fingers, voice dropping, “—roughly four hours ago.”

Xiao Qiangwei let out a quiet laugh at that, found a seat, pressed a hand firmly against the wound hidden under the red jacket. She had told the young man not to concern himself with the Deng family — but she hadn’t expected him to leave Lin Rou behind as well.

This kind of person was genuinely cut out for demon-hunting.

Hard to kill.

(End of Chapter)