Jiang Qiulan walked away from the summit at a leisurely pace.

Shen Yi watched the direction she’d gone with a faint, genuine feeling.

Capable practitioners were capable practitioners. She made time look like it cost nothing — even walking carried that unhurried ease.

He didn’t know when he’d have that kind of strength himself. Enough to stop and actually rest for a while.

The thought formed and was immediately pressed back down.

The fight with the White Deer had drawn out everything Shen Yi had.

The Heavenly Demon external pill was nearly empty. The cyan and crimson light from the peacock demon needed time to recover. The Solar-Splitting Bow’s golden glow had dimmed by more than half.

Even the fifth transformation’s physical body was producing a weariness that reached inward.

Worthy of being one of the demon lords whose name carried weight across Qingzhou.

And even the White Deer, standing beside that bull demon, had still been all lowered head and servile posturing.

The road to standing unmoved in a world heading toward chaos was still long.

He pulled his thoughts back and remembered what Jiang Qiulan had said about the Heaven-Devouring Core-Consuming Art and the Solar-Fusion Furnace.

She clearly hadn’t identified the external pill as deriving from the fox clan’s technique — but she’d noticed he was drawing on some external force, using a demon’s cultivation.

Her attitude had surprised him.

She didn’t seem to think it was a problem at all. She’d simply pointed out that a Condensate method could be used to take that external force fully into himself.

He’d barely touched the ice sword and it had been nearly too much. If he remembered correctly — her body held thousands of identical silver needles, enough to fill the sky with a jade dragon made of ice.

By comparison, suppressing one external pill wasn’t anything to get alarmed about.

She meant — using the Solar-Fusion Furnace’s suppressive force, use the Heavenly Demon external pill to feed the inner core as it formed?

“…”

He settled his mind. Thinking about this too early was pointless — he didn’t even have the Condensate method yet, let alone the core-nurturing divine spirit cultivation that followed Condensate Perfection.

He should also find time to go back to Qingzhou and claim his demon-hunter rewards from the court.

The silver bell was packed with demon blood qi from a wide variety of sources.

The mountain lord family of four. The peacock family of three. The Black Stone Deep toad lord. Two Condensate Perfection demons — the golden eagle and the purple marten. The three aware small demons from the road to Black Stone Deep. The rough-core demon from delivering the letter to Baiyu Monastery.

And the most powerful of all — the White Deer’s.

The demon qi traces had all dissipated with death. Not a single one remaining. The most efficient approach would have been to bank the qi traces first, then come back to kill — but that was first-time demon-hunter inexperience. He’d wasted a lot of potential credit.

Shen Yi stretched slightly and looked back.

“Senior Xiao — how much longer are you planning to lie there?”

Both he and Jiang Qiulan were practitioners. Neither of them had missed that Xiao Qiangwei had been awake for some time. Neither of them were the type to involve themselves unnecessarily, and neither of them had disturbed her pretense.

“…”

Xiao Qiangwei’s eyelashes moved. She sat up from the floor with some embarrassment.

“You two were in the middle of something. I didn’t want to interrupt.” A pause. “I’m fine, I can get back on my own.”

She genuinely hadn’t expected the young man to decline Jiang Qiulan’s invitation. If Jiang Chengyun had been here, he’d already have drawn his blade and sworn something to the sky.

As for why she’d pretended to be asleep—

She genuinely could not imagine what expression she was supposed to wear sitting down between those two people without looking completely out of place.

Shen Yi shook his head.

“It’s fine. It’s not much time.”

If this woman hadn’t sent the warning through the bell, he’d most likely have walked straight into the trap set for Jiang Qiulan. Three demon lords at core-nurturing stage at minimum, plus three Condensate Perfection demon lords.

No matter how confident he was in his own ability, he wouldn’t claim to walk out of that easily.

“Thank you.” Xiao Qiangwei stood and said it quietly.

The two left the ruined temple, came down from Xitai Mountain, and walked toward the small grove where the demon-horses were tied.

Xiao Qiangwei sent word through the bell to the waiting demon-hunters, confirming they were safe, then calmed down the frightened horses.

“Are you going to Linjiang Prefecture?”

Both horses set off at a canter. She had been about to say take care of yourself and pulled it back.

After last night, he was someone who could accompany Jiang Qiulan hunting demons. What Shen Yi was doing now was no longer something she could be part of.

“Going to have a look.”

The errand felt slightly tedious, Shen Yi admitted to himself. But on the other hand — because of his inexperience handling the external pill, two Demon Suppression Generals had been put to unnecessary trouble on his account.

Running a message was a small thing.

And he was supposed to be the personal attendant Deputy Commander for Linjiang Prefecture, yet he still didn’t know which direction the General’s compound faced. That was genuinely odd when he thought about it.

“Can I ask — what did the demons that tried to ambush General Jiang look like last night?” Xiao Qiangwei seemed a little tense.

“A bull demon.” A slight, barely-noticeable flash of irritation crossed Shen Yi’s eyes. He’d been too rushed at the end — he’d forgotten to collect a thread of qi from the bull demon before it fled.

“The Junior Demon King?” Xiao Qiangwei pulled her reins sharply. “This is bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“No wonder General Jiang left immediately for Yushan Prefecture. Every time the Junior Demon King gets wounded and escapes, the Howling Moon has its subordinates stir up trouble in Qingzhou — keeping the Division too occupied to take the opportunity to hunt it down.” Worry had settled in her expression.

An old demon king — nurturing an outside competitor so carefully.

It had been coveting Qingzhou for a long time. It would rather foster a new demon king as a rival than allow the General and Jiang Qiulan to be dealt with first.

“This kind of deliberate chaos has no particular goal — just giving the Division work to do. Because there’s no real objective, there’s almost nothing to detect in advance. No way to prepare.”

Shen Yi looked ahead, expression unchanged.

A few months ago he’d been a constable in Baiyun County. Having someone discuss the broader situation of Qingzhou with him was more than a little premature.

He’d deal with it the way he dealt with everything. See a demon, kill a demon.

Back in Tingyang City, he didn’t linger.

A quick farewell to Xiao Qiangwei, and he took an ordinary-looking carriage — still demon-horses pulling it, but without the Deputy Commander driving it that had marked his arrival. Just as he and Jiang Chengyun had come to Tingyang Prefecture quietly, he left the same way.

Only Xiao Qiangwei stood at the street’s edge watching the carriage grow small and disappear.

She held her gaze there for a long time before looking away, staring at the tips of her shoes with distant eyes.

Both of them were Demon Suppression Generals. How had Old General Chen managed to cultivate a personal attendant this disorienting? General You’s strength was undeniable, and his attendants were well-regarded names — but held against Shen Yi, they faded considerably.

Ginger was always spicier when it was older.

(End of Chapter)