The still pool was like green jade near the surface, darkening to absolute black the deeper it went.

The toad lord’s enormous body moved with surprising agility, legs driving once more to push another hundred zhang down.

When its feet found a great smooth stone at the bottom, it settled into a crouch. Both bulging eyes filled with irritation.

It should never have gotten comfortable. Leaving Liu Bin alive had been a mistake.

If it had known — better to have eaten him and risked being hunted by a Demon Suppression General. It was already hiding in its den. A few centuries more was hardly a problem.

Thinking back to the dark-robed figure, something fierce rose in it.

Four thousand years of life, sheltered by this cold pool — and it had never taken a loss like this before.

A pity the wounded full-core practitioner had been providing cover above. Otherwise it would have ended the young man’s life today and used that body-refined flesh to stock its own stores.

“Enough. I’ve survived all these years by knowing when not to push. Rest for a while, then go back to Qingzhou for a proper meal.”

The toad lord’s composure was genuine — which was how it had accumulated four thousand years of cultivation in the first place.

It lowered itself fully against the stone, ready to rest.

Then both large eyes moved upward in surprise.

And the surprise became boundless fury.

“Very good. Very good indeed. I’ve seen people rush to bring gifts. I’ve never seen anyone rush to bring themselves.”

The anger wasn’t purely from the damage taken in the fight above. More of it came from something else — the dignity of a demon lord being trampled.

It was the master of Black Stone Deep. It didn’t matter anywhere else — but in this pool, even a Demon Suppression General would have to kneel.

The enormous body surged upward in an instant, condensing into a dark shape that moved silently behind the slight figure.

“You have a body-refinement foundation and think that means the whole world is open to you?”

The low voice went directly into Shen Yi’s ear. The toad lord hadn’t even bothered with an ambush — as master of Black Stone Deep, it knew exactly what this bone-deep cold did to practitioners.

“This lord will show you how the characters for humility are written.”

The thick, round forelimb came down with vicious force, aimed at taking back every bit of what it had lost above — with interest.

Dark water erupted and surged.

The massive foot descended like a sky-blotting hand, covering everything.

In the next instant — the dark blade came up and split precisely into the cleft between the toes, drove the full length of the limb, and carried through.

Green blood dissolved into the current.

The toad lord let out a more savage cry than anything above, hurling itself backward dozens of zhang. Both forelimbs had been split open along their length by the same blade.

It reflexively discharged poison arrows from every cavity across its body, driving them outward in a storm—

Before it could properly look — something came from ahead. Sharp. Carrying demonic force that wasn’t far below its own.

Driving down from above.

Two huge eyes exploded outward like burst bubbles.

Three feet of blade took a large piece of flesh off its face and then drove straight into the skull laterally.

In the span of a few breaths — the toad lord wasn’t entirely sure what had happened — and it was already losing strength and sinking.

Through dimming vision: the dark-robed young man’s expression was entirely calm. The poison-laced water hadn’t come near him. He was moving along the deep current — unhurried, steady — like a ruler walking through his own hall.

He extended his hand slightly, and the bone-cold undercurrent simply parted around it. The gesture was casual, as if it had always been his to command.

“This lord is the master of Black Stone Deep!”

The toad lord let out a sharp howl. The crimson tongue shot out like a blade, driving hard—

Shen Yi looked at it without particular expression. Dark-red mist rose in both eyes. One hand closed slightly.

The raging undercurrent wrapped around the toad’s tongue. Then its limbs. Then the entire body.

Endless force pressed inward as if to simply grind it apart.

The Black Stone Deep that the toad lord had relied on for all these years was now showing it a different face.

The enormous body thrashed and struggled.

Shen Yi came forward through the waves. Clean-knuckled fingers closed on the tongue. Demonic force detonated at the point of contact — the entire thick tongue exploded into pieces.

Successive waves of agonizing pain hit the toad lord’s mind until the sensation had gone mostly numb.

One thought remained.

Run. Get out of Black Stone Deep.

What was in front of it was not a practitioner. This was a water-clan demon.

It threw everything into breaking free of the current’s hold and drove upward with everything it had.

Shen Yi watched the enormous black shape flee and felt a faint reluctance to leave.

He’d actually been quite comfortable in here. Like coming home.

A thought — and a cold current lifted him into pursuit.

On the slope above Black Stone Deep.

Xiao Qiangwei shoved Liu Bin’s head down into the mud.

The white-bearded old fighter got a mouthful of black earth. His throat still produced a continuous low laugh, muffled and indistinct.

“What are you waiting for — for him to crawl out of the pool? Or for the toad lord to finish digesting him and come up to eat the rest of us?”

“Heh hah— bring General You Longtao — I want to see if he comes out—”

Xiao Qiangwei’s expression was blank. She turned sideways.

“Give me a short blade.”

Several Deputy Commanders hesitated forward, and one produced a sharp short knife.

She took it, wrenched Liu Bin’s head up from the mud, and drove the blade into his mouth. She twisted it.

Black earth and tongue were ground together instantly.

She dropped the blade, gripped the old man’s hair, pressed her hand over his mouth, and forced him to swallow.

A long exhale.

She pulled Liu Bin upright, then couldn’t help one more look at the cold pool.

She had no idea how to explain the confusion she felt.

She had told Shen Yi clearly — the demons at personal attendant posts were ones even Demon Suppression Generals couldn’t easily handle. She’d agreed to try ambushing the toad lord outside the pool together.

They’d done well. The conditions simply weren’t there. Shen Yi had still walked into a place where death was considered certain.

“If you show that expression again — I guarantee you don’t survive to see General You.”

She pulled her attention back and glanced at Liu Bin.

The old man — demon-suppression chains through his shoulder blades and qi sea, tongue now destroyed — still looked quietly satisfied.

He was already a dead man. Having that young man go down with him — that was heaven’s grace. Why wouldn’t he be pleased.

More than a hundred Commanders kept their eyes down. Liu Bin was unhinged, but what he’d said wasn’t without basis. Extreme cold. Corrosive poison. A demon lord that had taken heavy damage but was still formidably powerful—

Not wanting to risk the tongue treatment, they kept their expressions controlled and followed Xiao Qiangwei in silence toward the other side.

Then — a wave erupted dozens of zhang into the air. The stench of demon qi swept everything. Endless shadow blotted out the sky above.

They spun around in alarm.

What came into view — who else could it be but the mountain-high toad lord itself.

(End of Chapter)