"Then we'll settle it that way. I'll send you all back first, and we depart tomorrow at noon."

Liu Qianyun took them out of the inner gate, out through the Guest-Greeting Hall, and back onto the Clear-Moon relief outside.

She called out that black treasure ship again and delivered them back to the Nanyang Sect.

"Sect Master, please."

Liu Qianyun watched them off the ship, and did not leave at once. She stood smiling and saw them into the sect.

Li Qingfeng rubbed his chin again at that.

Sect Master Shen indeed. One walk around the Clear-Moon Sect, and this lofty allied-sect steward's manner had changed completely from before.

"The steward should go back. We'll look around a little more."

Shen Yi inclined his chin, and waited until Liu Qianyun had cupped her hands in farewell and vanished into the cloud and mist.

Only then did he sigh, take out the Dao token, set it on the Nanyang relief, sit down cross-legged, and begin pouring the qi of heaven and earth into it.

"……"

Tong Xinchuan and the other two blinked, then exchanged a rather helpless look.

The Sect Master had certainly kept up appearances to the full.

It was only that they, as disciples, were simply too weak — even a matter of opening and shutting the door had to be done by Shen Yi himself.

About half an hour later.

A curtain of light finally rose from the Nanyang relief.

Shen Yi rose, his face somewhat pale, and brought them back to the main hall of the Thousand Demon Den… no, the main hall of the inner gate, rather.

With the old dog dead, calling it the Thousand Demon Den was no longer quite fitting.

Their sudden appearance did not move Li Xuanqing at all. He was exactly as he had been when Shen Yi left — kneeling in the same silence.

"He can't just go on like this."

Li Qingfeng lowered his voice. "He's that strong. Letting him waste away like this is a terrible waste."

The wooden man had put himself at three or four storeys,…