Tingyang Prefecture. The Demon Suppression General’s residence.

Someone came to remove Liu Bin’s body. The Black Stone Deep Commanders were escorted out of the side courtyard.

Three figures remained.

You Longtao’s eyes went to Xiao Qiangwei’s wrist, his voice shifting into something quieter.

“That’s from the Black Stone Deep demon lord?”

Back when he was still a Commander in the Division, his adoptive mother had no one to look after her. Xiao Qiangwei had been recovering from a wound at the time and had simply stayed alongside her for a while — through circumstances no one had planned, they’d become sworn sisters, and he’d found himself with an extra elder. Now the adoptive mother had been gone for many years, and it was only when he saw this aunt that he could feel, clearly and concretely, the weight of having been raised by her.

Which was why You Longtao’s care for her had never wavered or been performed.

“A moment of carelessness.” Xiao Qiangwei shook her head without much concern. Injuries came with demon-hunting.

You Longtao rubbed his brow with visible tiredness. “Rest and recover here for now. Once I’ve dealt with what I have in front of me, I’ll go to Black Stone Deep and remind it of its limits.”

What he didn’t expect was Xiao Qiangwei suddenly looking away.

“That won’t be necessary. It — it’s already dead.”

The composed elder he knew had lost her footing twice today.

You Longtao paused and looked instinctively at the young man beside her.

Nobody who reached this position was slow to see.

Something moved in his eyes. “Surely not — could it have been Shen Yi—”

“Who else would it be.”

Before Shen Yi could respond, Xiao Qiangwei’s expression had shifted into something lit with a pride she couldn’t quite suppress. She launched into the account — dark robe catching the movement, fists falling like rain, a lone figure suspended between water and air, fighting a four-thousand-year toad demon alone — growing more vivid with every sentence.

Shen Yi’s brow was pulling together. This woman had omitted her own role entirely and was making the whole thing sound progressively more unhinged.

“I genuinely thought he was dead.” She finished and still had the remnants of the experience in her face. “When he asked me to get the blade — I was just standing there blank.”

“…”

You Longtao caught the elder’s expression and let his gaze pass quietly between the two of them. Something faint appeared in it.

After so many years, what hadn’t demon-hunters seen.

For something to have left this kind of impression — it must have genuinely been worth watching.

Even accounting for emotional exaggeration — killing the toad lord at the edge of Black Stone Deep was already enough to surprise him on its own merits.

He’d been away from Qingzhou too long. He hadn’t known the demon-hunters had gained someone like this.

You Longtao shook his head, respect entering his voice.

“On behalf of the Division — thank you for clearing another great threat from Qingzhou.”

Xiao Qiangwei started to say that speaking on the Division’s behalf wasn’t quite necessary—

“Demon-hunting is the work. The General is too generous.”

Shen Yi gave a small bow.

Division credit required grinding through ranks before it could be exchanged for anything useful. Not worth it. Better recorded on the demon-hunter side.

“No need for modesty.” You Longtao seemed to genuinely disagree. “Qingzhou is approaching serious trouble. Every person of Shen Yi’s caliber means one more chance for this province to survive what’s coming.”

At that, Shen Yi looked over with some puzzlement.

What he’d heard from Jiang Chengyun had suggested Qingzhou was somewhat thinly staffed, but holding the twelve prefectures was manageable.

In the words of this Demon Suppression General — there was a quality he heard that felt more like something about to give way.

Xiao Qiangwei’s expression had gone serious.

“Is it actually going to break?”

Qingzhou’s years of stability had rested on one precondition. There was only one thing that could set the surrounding demons moving again.

The junior demon king breaking through.

You Longtao rose slowly, the tiredness in his expression deepening.

“I’ve received my teacher’s reply. The court has declined to send reinforcements to Qingzhou again. Every Mixed Origin Grandmaster has something more pressing to attend to. Even if Qingzhou falls to the demons, they’ll consider helping reclaim it once they’ve finished what they’re doing.”

The scholarly face held something resolute beneath the weariness.

“We’ll have to manage on our own.”

As if the presence of familiar people had let something loosen slightly, he walked back toward the table.

“One person holding three core-nurturing demon lords in check — I’m genuinely stretched thin—” he stopped himself. “Never mind that. Say something cheerful instead.”

You Longtao poured tea for both of them, with a smile entering his voice.

“Junior Martial Sister failed the War Temple Condensate attempt. According to teacher, someone saw her wiping tears when she thought no one was looking.”

“…”

Xiao Qiangwei wasn’t entirely sure how that counted as cheerful.

Shen Yi had drawn his own conclusions. When the words teacher and War Temple Condensate attempt came up together, he’d had it at about ninety percent certainty.

The man in front of him was the General’s second disciple — the one Hong Lei had described as second among Qingzhou’s Generals.

The junior martial sister was almost certainly Lin Baixi.

“I gave up one of my War Temple refinement allocations for her. About three more months. I just hope she doesn’t come back looking like she’s been wronged by the world.” You Longtao poured for himself last.

“And you?” Xiao Qiangwei’s brow pulled together. As a core-nurturing practitioner nurturing a divine spirit, he needed the War Temple just as much.

“Qingzhou can only sustain one Martial Immortal. However much I take, the ceiling doesn’t move. And I don’t have time to go to the capital anyway.”

He settled back in the chair and let the tea settle his throat.

“There are only two martial sisters. Can’t help the older one, at least I can help the younger. The accumulated credit is enough for three shares — one for each of them. As for the youngest martial brother — I haven’t had the chance to meet him yet. I don’t know how things stand with him, or whether Bai Ziming’s been giving him trouble.”

The middle-aged man was smiling, but there was something quieter behind it.

“The entire province, including your teacher, can’t do anything to help your martial sister. Stop blaming yourself.” Xiao Qiangwei was stirring absently. “And could you possibly serve better tea. You’re a Demon Suppression General.”

She pushed the cup over to Shen Yi after picking out the floating leaves.

“…”

Shen Yi was starting to regret helping her escort people here. The woman had seemed perfectly composed until recently, and now she was acting strangely — she was this man’s elder and she was serving Shen Yi tea?

“Let’s come back to the actual matter.” You Longtao looked at Shen Yi with a pleasant expression. “I’d originally planned to ask Auntie Xiao to handle this, but she’s wounded. I wanted to ask whether Shen Yi might have time for a small favor. I understand the terms, of course.”

He nodded toward Xiao Qiangwei. “Rough-core stage will do. I’ll owe you one next time.”

“General You, do you have to be this frugal.” Xiao Qiangwei rolled her eyes and took a thread of heart blood qi from the bell.

You Longtao continued.

“Someone took the Heaven-Piercing Solar-Splitting Bow from my residence. It’s a treasured implement my teacher left for me to use in holding Tingyang Prefecture. I don’t carry it with me because I’m so rarely in the city — I kept it here in case Tingyang needed protection while I was away.”

Xiao Qiangwei went entirely still.

What followed surprised her even more.

“A few days ago, the bow’s Solar-Splitting arrow destroyed the ancestral shrine of the Baiyu Daoist Monastery, and someone used the confusion to steal their Sword Intent True Method. They’ve sent someone to ask whether it was done on my orders.” He looked genuinely put-upon.

“You want him to go after Yan Xingkong — while the man is carrying the Solar-Splitting Bow?” Xiao Qiangwei was on her feet.

“No.” You Longtao shook his head calmly, watching her reaction. “I want to ask Shen Yi to go to the Baiyu Monastery. Bring two hundred silver taels as compensation for the ancestral shrine. Tell them the Division has no present intention of moving against the Monastery. That’s all.”

He paused.

“As for the Heaven-Piercing Solar-Splitting Bow — that would need Auntie Xiao personally. But she’s injured. If Shen Yi were willing to accompany her and help recover the bow — it can stay with him for personal protection in the meantime. When I’m back in Qingzhou and you happen to be there as well, I’ll take it back then.”

(End of Chapter)