Demon Suppression Division. Side courtyard.

The golden-eagle Commanders set the ceremonial garments on the bed, briskly filled water for washing and tidied the room, then clasped their hands.

“Commander Shen — anything further you need?”

The General was not in Qingzhou. The Demon Suppression Generals held their respective prefectures.

Within the compound, a personal attendant Deputy Commander who hadn’t yet departed occupied a position that invited immediate response from almost anyone. Outside the walls, it was equivalent to an elder of a first-tier sect or great family.

“That’s all.”

He waved them off, watched them leave, and sat on the edge of the bed.

He reached over for the gilt openwork wolf-pattern hair crown. His fingers moved toward it — and he stopped himself.

With his current strength, fine gold wasn’t the concern. He could close his hand around refined iron.

He set the crown down and picked up the ceremonial robe instead, running his fingers over the yin-yang fish emblem. He held it for a long while before setting it aside.

“Too fast.”

He lay back, arms behind his head, and let himself appreciate the rare softness.

If the promotion had been earned purely on ability, he could have sat with it more easily. But he knew better than anyone how much the credit for killing that Condensate Realm flood dragon was and wasn’t his.

Was the predecessor actually the illegitimate son of some Demon Suppression General, abandoned in Baiyun County?

He’d always operated with a generally clear conscience. The unease right now was unfamiliar.

“Pathetic.” He pressed his lips together. What, do you need to be on the receiving end of resentment before it feels earned.

On the road back, Hong Lei had shared a great deal about the Division’s structure and the cultivation hierarchy. Personal attendants, for instance — each General had perhaps four or five, some had none at all. Among them were often Deputy Commanders who had served for a century or two, people who had climbed through countless Commanders on accumulated credits. Jade Liquid Perfection was merely the entry requirement.

Among the twelve Generals, Old General Chen was the closest to his natural limit.

The divine spirit nurturing inside his core was developing — it had added a thread of vitality to a candle already guttering in the wind.

If he genuinely had the talent being attributed to him — Threshold Realm to Jade Liquid Perfection in two months, plus a Condensate Realm flood dragon lord’s cultivation riding in an external pill — on the day the General could no longer lift that iron halberd, that position would be very difficult to give to anyone else.

Overseeing several million people across an entire prefecture. That had been genuinely difficult to imagine from Baiyun County.

The unfortunate part was that this talent required enormous quantities of demon lifespan to sustain.

“…”

At the thought of demon lifespan, something stirred behind his otherwise calm eyes.

At Jade Liquid Perfection now, the next step required a genuine Condensate Realm method.

He understood the Division’s preference for stability. It still felt rigid and slow when it landed on him personally — everything measured in years.

He could wait. He just had no intention of waiting passively.

Outside the Division, sources existed. With the personal attendant title, certain avenues had opened. If something could be acquired earlier, that was better than later.

But before any of that — enough strength to back the action. Catching hold of an exposed tail and surrounding a target was one thing. Not being able to win the fight afterward would be genuinely embarrassing.

He imagined the scene and couldn’t help a quiet expression of distaste.

Plenty of directions still available.

Since the young flood dragon in Shuiyun Township, his body-refinement method had been obviously insufficient. The Bodhi Vajra Sacred Body about to arrive should address that.

Beyond that—

He looked inward at the Heavenly Demon external pill held in check by the Solar-Fusion Furnace.

The demonic force within it had only reached about half capacity.

If he could fill it entirely — that was twice the flood dragon lord’s cultivation. Below the Condensate Realm, as long as there was no divine spirit or Mixed Origin technique in play, he could do largely as he pleased.

The problem was the Furnace had reached its limit. Suppressing more powerful demonic force would likely require connecting more apertures. At current count, two hundred and seventy-five — the full three hundred and sixty-two was still a long way off.

No rush. Take it one step at a time.

He climbed off the bed without particular urgency and poured himself some cooled boiled water.

The lifespan gap was enormous and wasn’t closing quickly, but there was at least a direction now. Better than the blind groping of the Baiyun County days.

“Is plain water how you usually quench your thirst, Commander Shen?”

A voice from the courtyard, lightly teasing. Shen Yi glanced over.

A young man in white with handsome features stood holding two wine jugs, the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Bai Ziming. I work in the medical hall.”

He’d heard that name from Hong Lei — mentioned alongside Fang Heng and Lin Baixi, and listed last.

Shen Yi glanced at Fang Heng behind him, took a sip of warm water, and said mildly: “Tea is too bitter. I haven’t really taken to anything else.”

The previous life had offered enough difficulty without adding an acquired taste for bitterness.

“I have a proprietary restorative tea — nourishes yin and yang, benefits the qi, bracing and naturally sweet. I’ll bring you a couple of packets next time.”

Bai Ziming made himself at home, came inside, placed the wine jugs on the table, took the food box from Fang Heng’s dangling hands, and while quietly observing Shen Yi, said: “My junior martial brother here has a hasty temperament — he gave you offense earlier. I brought him along specially to apologize.”

Shen Yi looked at the powerfully built figure.

Fang Heng said straightforwardly: “That’s not it. He doesn’t believe there’s anyone in the younger generation who can beat him at close quarters. He came to find your weaknesses so he can ambush you the next time.”

“…”

Bai Ziming’s eye twitched. The smile had gone somewhat wooden.

“Don’t listen to nonsense. Commander Shen’s ability far exceeds mine — I’m a physician, hardly in a position to speak of exchanging pointers.”

Shen Yi looked at Fang Heng again.

The big man raised his head. “That’s not true either. Martial Elder Sister Jiang is at the peak of the core-nurturing stage, and last time she came back, he tested a newly developed poison needle on her from behind. She put him on the ground with a sword and he was bedridden for two months.”

“You two carry on.” Bai Ziming set the food box down without expression and turned toward the door. “I just remembered I have something to attend to.”

When Teacher comes back, this matter gets reported. This ungrateful backstabber should be expelled from the sect.

“Senior Brother Bai.”

Fang Heng called after him, both arms hanging at his sides, faint apology in his voice. “Could you pour the wine for me.”

“I’m suddenly neither hungry nor thirsty.” Bai Ziming said it with a cold face, and then — said it while taking the three small cups out of the food box and filling each of them with the wine.

He pushed one toward each of them, then lifted his own.

“Senior Brother — could you close the door on the way out.” Fang Heng drew a slow breath.

The hand holding the wine cup developed a faint tremor. Bai Ziming turned a deeply sinister look back. “Surname Fang — I don’t prey on the disabled. Wait until you’ve healed.”

He swung his sleeve, stepped out, and shut the wooden door behind him with a bang.

“…”

Shen Yi sat with the two of them in silence for a moment.

“What did you actually come to say?”

Fang Heng set his jaw. Using hands that had almost no feeling in them, he made the trembling effort to pick up the wine cup, managed to get it to his mouth, and drank it in one go.

Whatever he’d been working through, he’d clearly been working through it for a while.

When it finally came out, his voice was not particularly loud.

“I want to ask you — not to go to Linjiang Prefecture. At least not for the next few months.”

Outside the courtyard gate, two sets of footsteps slowed and stopped.

The broad-shouldered middle-aged man looked in without a word. The small girl on his shoulder went cold-faced and still, and the two pale little feet stopped swinging.

Bai Ziming stood just outside the door. He’d caught the words from inside, hadn’t fully registered their implications yet — and then he caught the figures at the edge of his peripheral vision.

The sweat appeared on his forehead immediately.

This idiot junior martial brother brought him here without a word of warning — so that they could cheat?!

(End of Chapter)