Xu Hongde had his clansmen tidy up a clean wooden cabin.

He was just about to lead Shen Yi over there.

Aqing hurriedly stopped her father, and seeing no one else around, put on a pleading look again. "Since you've already agreed to let Big Brother Shen stay and recuperate, why don't we go ahead and set up a Four-Symbols Demon-Subduing Formation for him too, hmm?"

"..."

Xu Hongde was silent for a long while.

As clan head, considering that the Xu family and Great Qian had no grievances between them, and adding in the pleas of his own daughter and sister, he had agreed to let Shen Yi lodge here and shelter from danger for a time.

As for the so-called recompense the young man had promised, he hadn't actually taken it seriously.

But receiving no thanks was one thing — how had it turned, from the very outset, into him having to pay out of his own pocket?

The Four-Symbols Demon-Subduing Formation was quite costly to run.

In the Xu family's current situation, every venture out in search of rare treasures and materials was fraught with peril; their reserves were a matter of every bit spent being a bit less to spend.

"Papa."

Aqing hugged her father's arm and gave it a gentle shake, and before she'd even finished speaking she suddenly broke into violent coughing, as if about to hack up her own internal organs.

Xu Hongde's face tightened. "You'd best first—"

"First go tend to your wounds," Shen Yi said, glancing sideways at her.

"Oh." Aqing, pale-faced, rubbed at her stomach, obediently let go of her father, and turned to follow her aunt away.

"..."

At this, Xu Hongde felt something oddly off in his heart, a sort of stifled discomfort he couldn't place.

He returned his gaze to Shen Yi's arm — beneath the blue sleeve, the black scales lay dark and vicious.

"Lord Shen, what exactly happened here?"

Shen Yi made no attempt to conceal it, drawing the chilling long spear straight out from his storage treasure. "It wants to seize my body."

The…