The room wasn’t particularly large.

Three Deputy Commanders stood nervously at the entrance. One came to the desk and placed the badge in front of the young man with both hands.

“Commander Shen.”

Liu Bin had been stripped of his robe and was kneeling in the center, bound thoroughly. Xiao Qiangwei stood to one side, keeping watch over him.

Her only real curiosity at the moment was what Shen Yi intended to do. He’d already taken Liu Bin — why not move him to Tingyang Prefecture immediately.

“Reporting to Commander Shen — the demon lord of Black Stone Deep is a venomous toad with over four thousand years of life and Condensate Realm cultivation. It specializes in poison, and occupies a deep pool that has no visible bottom. Even General You has found no effective approach, which is why Deputy Commander Liu and the rest of us were assigned to watch this location.”

The Deputy Commander’s voice got quieter as he went.

It was obvious enough — after Liu Bin’s injury, they’d long since lost the actual capacity to guard anything. They’d been watching the demon lord move through Qingzhou as if the place were empty, with a trusted personal attendant Deputy Commander concealing it and running interference for it.

“The locations assigned to personal attendant Deputy Commanders tend to be like this — either the terrain is treacherous, or the demon’s abilities are extraordinary. Not something that can be dealt with outright, but too close to the twelve prefectures to simply ignore—”

Xiao Qiangwei was explaining without thinking about it, then caught herself. Shen Yi had managed to become a personal attendant Deputy Commander — and one who apparently had the freedom to wander around as he pleased — which suggested Old General Chen treated him almost like family. The relationship was probably close in ways she didn’t know.

She didn’t need to explain things to him.

Stick to what demon-hunters understood. She shook her head.

“To be precise — it’s at the full core stage. Not far from Condensate Perfection at this point.”

At that, Liu Bin slowly raised his head. He stared at the young man behind the desk with contempt written plainly across the pale face.

“Precisely. Once it finishes consuming this deputy commander, it should have just about enough. So tell me, Commander Shen — what exactly can you do about any of this?”

Everything he’d done for Qingzhou — and even this injury was the toad lord’s doing.

All he’d wanted was five more years. He’d been willing to risk his life for it. He refused to accept a declining cultivation level — to spend the rest of his years as a personal attendant with no path forward.

And now this was how it ended. The hound cooked when the rabbits were gone.

“Was Old General Chen’s camp getting too crowded for you? Is that why you came to Tingyang Prefecture to find new backing? What if we swap — you take my post and I take yours?” He laughed roughly. “Heh!“

A teacup came off the desk and broke across his face. Tea splattered across him.

Shen Yi withdrew his hand.

“When I need your opinion, I’ll ask for it. Until then, close your mouth.”

Xiao Qiangwei pressed her lips together and felt a genuine flash of admiration for his composure.

General You’s letter was sitting on the desk untouched. But once Shen Yi had settled into that seat — no one in the room, including Liu Bin, had found themselves with any inclination to open it or question it.

From presence alone, the Deputy Commanders had almost convinced themselves General You had granted Shen Yi the authority to act first and report after.

Liu Bin buried his head. He’d watch and see what tricks the arrogant young man tried.

“Is it still in Black Stone Deep?”

Shen Yi turned to the others.

A full-core stage demon was already uncommon enough. This situation — with him in complete operational control, and a silver-bell demon-hunter available to assist — was something he wouldn’t find easily again.

From Jiang Chengyun’s manner, Xiao Qiangwei appeared to have a real relationship with General You.

Black Stone Deep’s demon lord was technically Division business — but eliminating it was also serving General You’s interests. She wasn’t going to watch passively.

And if the demon was removed, he was the personal attendant Deputy Commander on record. The credit belonged to the Division — and he’d owe it to the Division’s interests to properly express gratitude to a demon-hunter who had assisted in the matter.

“By the timing, it should return within the next day or two—” The Deputy Commanders kept their eyes lowered in shame.

Xiao Qiangwei’s frown had been tightening. A demon moving freely in and out of Qingzhou on a predictable schedule — and Liu Bin had decided not to mention it to General You.

Then Shen Yi stood. His next words stopped everyone in place.

“Lead the way.”

Xiao Qiangwei stared at him. Then understood what he was planning to do.

Her mouth opened, something forming — and then she let out a quiet, resigned laugh.

Forget it. He probably didn’t fully understand the situation at Black Stone Deep. Didn’t understand why a full-core stage demon had given even General You no good options.

Once he actually saw it, he’d stop spending time on this.

Three Deputy Commanders in front. More than a hundred Commanders opening the path.

They followed the row of wooden structures around the slope. The ground underfoot immediately went damp and muddy, cold seeping up through the dark.

Ahead — a circular depression.

At the center: a deep pool, roughly a hundred zhang across. The surface was still. Even at a distance the cold reached out to meet them. A strange green mist drifted above the water.

Xiao Qiangwei pulled Liu Bin forward by the chain.

“In a direct confrontation — the toad might not have the better of him. But because of this pool, the demon has lived right on the edge of Qingzhou’s twelve prefectures for all these years without incident.”

The innate abilities of demons were something practitioners genuinely envied.

Same cultivation level — and yet demons could rise into the sky or plunge to the bottom of the deep water. This extreme cold, which would be devastating to a practitioner, didn’t touch the toad lord at all. For it, the pool was protection.

“You’ve seen it. Time to go.”

She exhaled. If this were simple to solve, it wouldn’t have been left this long.

“No rush. Wait two days.”

“You can rest and let the injury settle. No point making it worse.”

Shen Yi turned and walked toward the cluster of temporary tents where the Division personnel had been keeping watch.

“I’m so grateful.” Xiao Qiangwei’s eye twitched. After all these days on the road, this was the first time he’d said anything about her well-being — and the result was her staying in a bone-cold, poison-mist-drifting location to recover.

“You’re not actually planning to ambush the toad lord out here?”

As she said it, she caught herself.

The toad lord had never moved to kill Liu Bin outright — it had been slowly consuming and breaking him down with sinister poison methods. It hadn’t been showing mercy.

Most likely it hadn’t wanted a death struggle with Liu Bin. And hadn’t wanted General You to send a stronger replacement, either.

After all this time, the toad lord may have completely lowered its guard.

If an ambush were going to happen — right now was almost certainly the best moment.

“I just thought of something.”

Xiao Qiangwei looked over with dawning suspicion. If — if they actually succeeded in killing the toad demon — then its heart blood—

“What is it?”

Shen Yi turned back, casually adjusting the cloak.

Xiao Qiangwei stared at him in silence. Outwardly composed. Internally furious.

Beautifully done — somehow, in the space of a turn, she’d become the outsider, and this had become the Division’s private business.

Even more irritating: nominally, he was still helping her with her problem.

“I finally understand why you don’t like talking.”

She raised an eyebrow, privately exasperated. Playing the straightforward, blundering newcomer — but the calculations underneath were sharper than anyone’s.

Shen Yi glanced at her, saw she wasn’t going to pursue it further, and went into the tent.

Back at Yongan City — the whole offer of get me accurate intelligence and I’ll bring a Demon Suppression General to run point for you. Treating him like a child who needed coaxing.

Though to be fair — dealing with these demon-hunters was genuinely instructive.

Watching the two of them, Liu Bin kept his head down. The contempt on his face deepened quietly.

A wounded full-core stage practitioner. A young man with some body-refinement method. And they thought they could take the toad lord?

He’d thought this was an inevitable end. Apparently there was still a reversal available.

Once the toad consumed and finished off these two — it might just leave him in place to continue guarding the post.

About a day and night passed.

Xiao Qiangwei sat with her eyes closed, regulating her qi, letting the injury knit. Occasionally she opened her eyes and looked toward the dark-robed figure in the distance — he hadn’t moved, still as a carved figure, the Turtle-Breath Method running at full perfection without pause.

Though honestly, having the Turtle-Breath Method at that level was already extraordinary in its own right.

An ordinary Condensate Realm practitioner who brought two or three signature techniques to Major Mastery was already considered remarkable. This one had apparently been spending time on the Turtle-Breath Method.

Mildly curious, she said: “With talent like yours, you would have been noticed early. How did you end up with such a cautious temperament?”

Shen Yi didn’t turn.

Noticed early. Accurate enough. The dog demon in the western outskirts, the black ape on the eastern hills, the fox demon on the north cliff — Baiyun County had only so many demons, and every one of them had wanted him dead.

And now he could add to that list: the Yangchun River flood dragons, and the Xitai Mountain tiger lord.

He sat quietly against a cold tree, moved through the names, and felt his mind settle further.

Then a wave of cold, killing-tinged demon qi rolled in from a distance. Clearly the source wasn’t particularly tense. The effort to conceal it was perfunctory at best.

Across the depression, on a slope of black mud—

A fat, bald-headed man came patting his stomach down toward the cold pool, a belch coming out of him, looking satisfied.

He caught sight of the Division Commanders and waved cheerfully.

“Thank you all for your hard work. You can go rest — I need to get back and let everything settle. Give my regards to your Deputy Commander Liu.”

Several Deputy Commanders dropped their eyes involuntarily.

Their spines had been broken one by one under Liu Bin’s orders, until they no longer had the courage to even look directly at this demon lord.

Xiao Qiangwei rose in an instant — and found the black-robed figure in the distance had already launched into the air. No time to think further. She mobilized the inner core, both palms erupting with concentrated astral force.

If this was an ambush — the opening blow was the strongest blow.

Boom—

Shen Yi came down from the air and drove a boot into the bald man’s shoulder. The dark blade cleared the scabbard in the same motion.

After the second transformation of the Immortal-Demon Nine Transformations, the force in his body was no longer meaningfully below a full-core stage demon.

One foot drove the bald figure to its knees.

The blade tore through the cold air and opened the neck in a single stroke. Dark green blood sprayed outward.

The toad lord knelt on one knee, both hands gripping the blade.

Xiao Qiangwei arrived simultaneously, astral force surging as both palms drove down toward the demon.

Facing an ambush this savage—

The toad lord was visibly surprised. One hand still on the blade, it looked up at Xiao Qiangwei bearing down on it.

The wound in the neck was deep. Dark green blood welled steadily. The corners of its mouth had found a vicious smile.

“I’ve been perfectly civil with all of you. How is it that people keep taking that for weakness?”

(End of Chapter)