As the stone manor's door shut tight, the light inside dimmed a little.

The flames on several jade candlesticks wavered faintly.

Shadow and light shifted uncertainly across Shen Yi's pale, fine-featured face, and the demons could only stare, uncomprehending.

What was this rogue cultivator doing?

The Bihai toad sat on the table and looked at the great black-backed yellow dog that had appeared out of nowhere.

Its coat was lifelike enough, and light spilled from its eyes.

But on closer inspection one could tell it was not a living thing. Its flesh had the look of stone, like a puppet made by some art or other.

"Is it this stone puppet that gives you your nerve?"

The Bihai toad laughed coldly again. In Hongze there was no shortage of cultivators with outlandish arts of every kind.

But in the end the water-kin were sovereign.

Set against true strength, any clever trick was a petty art and nothing more.

Still, it was rather a surprise that this rogue cultivator would actually dare fall out with the water-kin.

"I'll give you one last chance."

The Bihai toad glanced at the bead curtain on the second floor. In truth this was Nanhong Seven ground, and it had never meant to make much of the business — only to work off its temper.

Otherwise it would not have passed over Shen Yi at Return-to-Void and picked out the tender boy with the lowest cultivation of the lot.

But that did not mean it actually feared a mere Clear-Moon steward.

"Hand the boy over to This Seat and the matter ends."

The Bihai toad stood, its vast bulk like a small hill, and took one unsteady step forward.

Kind of it, really, to be willing to give the young man a way down.

"Otherwise."

It looked at Shen Yi. Before it had finished, the demons — including the old ox just picking itself up off the floor — hesitated a moment, and then closed around him anyway.

Had it been Liu Qianyun, they would never have dared meddle in a matter between Hongze's water-kin and…