I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was deep and even; she looked as if she were asleep.

But her eyelashes were trembling slightly, and her heartbeat was not as steady as when she was sleeping.

Ji Tian didn't move or speak, he just sat there quietly, letting her lean against him.

After a long while, Elena sighed softly.

Ji Tian turned his head to look at her. "What's wrong?"

She didn't open her eyes, but buried her face in his shoulder, her voice muffled, "It's nothing. I just think you can be really annoying sometimes."

Ji Tian asked, puzzled, "Why would I be angry with you?"

I'm so annoyed by you... I'm so annoyed by how dense you are.

Ji Tian fell silent.

He recalled Elena's behavior over the past few days: she took the initiative to teach him to dance at the dinner party, nudged him with her foot under the table, straightened his bow tie, waited for him until late at night, hooked her arm around his sleeve and said "Don't go," and today she specially made soup and cooked, and came up to keep him company with wet hair after taking a shower.

What if the usual generic responses like "um," "okay," and "I understand" no longer work?

Elena waited for a while, but received no response. She lifted her head from his shoulder, her gray-blue eyes shining brightly in the dim light of the meditation room.

She looked at him, a helpless smile playing on her lips. "Are you thinking 'hmm,' 'okay,' or 'I understand' again?"

Ji Tian nodded honestly.

Elena took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then reached out and gently pinched his cheek, with a hint of disappointment.

"You... you're just a block of wood. No, even wood can be split to make a fire, but you can't even get a fire going."

Ji Tian didn't dodge, letting her pinch him.

She pinched him a couple of times, then couldn't bear to let go, so she released her grip and gently rubbed her fingertips against his cheek.

"Fine, I won't pressure you anymore. You're the kind of person who'd rather solve things with your fists than with your words; I should have gotten used to it by now."

After she finished speaking, she leaned her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Her voice was so soft it was almost a whisper, "But I still want to hear you speak first, to say something."

"What did you say?"

"Think about it slowly yourself, and remember to tell me when you've figured it out."

Ji Tian pondered for a moment with his extraordinary wisdom but failed to reach a conclusion, and finally decided to continue cultivating.

……

For the next two months, Ji Tian's life became regular and peaceful.

Borrowing books, reading with them during class, and occasionally visiting the original cult's headquarters.

He had already read most of the manuscript on the third floor, from spatial magic to the theory of time, from the origin of elements to the essence of magic.

The conclusion was ultimately reached: 'It seems magic isn't entirely without merit.'

Elena gradually got used to his schedule and knew that he would come back every evening, so she would prepare meals early. Sometimes it was a few simple home-style dishes, and sometimes it was a time-consuming and laborious stew. Her cooking skills also improved.

As time went on, even the academy's cats got to know him.

The fat orange cat rolled off the stone bench, rubbed against his trouser leg, turned over to show its round belly, and purred. He would occasionally squat down and rub it a couple of times, and the cat would squint its eyes and look satisfied.

Elena squatted down beside him, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at him. "It seems to really like you."

"Perhaps it's because I possess spiritual energy."

"I've been rubbing against you for a long time too..."

"That's not called freeloading, that's called cheating."

Elena glared at him, then pinched his arm. It didn't hurt, and Ji Tian didn't flinch; he just considered it an unavoidable part of academy life.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people. The cat yawned, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Time passed quietly. The roses bred by magic in the academy garden bloomed and faded, bloomed and faded again. The sycamores by the roadside sprouted new buds, and the tender green leaves rustled in the wind.

Elena's magic studies became increasingly demanding, often requiring her to stay up late to do her homework. Ji Tian would leave an extra light on in the meditation room for her to come up.

She doesn't knock, she just pushes the door open and comes in, sometimes carrying two cups of hot tea, sometimes holding a plate of fruit, and sits down next to him, quietly reading a book.

They each went about their own business, occasionally glancing at each other before looking away, and finally falling asleep together.

Nobody found it boring.

In the afternoons, he would occasionally go to the factory to take a look.

The factory buildings south of the capital city had wisps of white smoke rising from their chimneys, and the roar of the machines never stopped from morning till night.

The ventilation and dust removal array installed in the workshop has a significant effect; the air quality is much better than before, and at least it no longer makes people cough.

When the steward saw Ji Tian arrive, he hurriedly came forward, carrying a thick ledger in his hands.

"Sir, last month's output increased by 20% compared to the month before, and the defect rate dropped by nearly half. The workers' wages were paid as you said, and overtime pay was not reduced at all. Everyone is very motivated, and many people are voluntarily asking to work overtime."

Ji Tian took the ledger and flipped through it. "Are there enough people for the night shift?"

"That's enough. A lot of people are pouring into the capital now, mostly landless farmers. With the implementation of the nobles' laws, a large number of people have lost their livelihoods and are coming to the capital with their families to find a way to make a living. Our factory offers good benefits, and as soon as the recruitment information was released, there was a long queue the next day."

The deacon paused, then lowered his voice, "Actually, other factory owners also sent people to inquire, wanting to know why we suddenly became so unruly. Later, somehow they found out that we used to be owned by the church, and reporting it to the church was useless, so no one dared to say a word."

Ji Tian hummed in response, without saying anything more.

It's highly likely that when the Shadow Apostles were infiltrating, the Church deliberately didn't respond in order to cooperate, but in their eyes, this was just "the darkening of the sky."

He walked out of the factory, stood on the steps, and looked at the skyline of the capital city in the distance.

As dusk fell, the city's silhouette was bathed in a warm orange hue, with church spires, college towers, and factory chimneys arranged in a pleasing, staggered pattern against the sky.

"It's been almost two months."

During this time, Ji Tian spent a few days sealing three of the five tattered pages in different places.

A document buried deep in the desolate mountains of the eastern border, suppressed by a five-element formation, with an illusionary barrier set up outside; mortals who approach it will get lost.

A document sank to the heart of a great lake in the western border, sealed with icy runes, its presence completely concealed by the lake's undercurrents and natural magnetic field.

The last one was hidden in an old drainage tunnel beneath the capital. It was an abandoned project from hundreds of years ago, not marked on any map, and even the capital's security personnel were unaware of its existence.

Each seal is equipped with multiple restrictions, so even if someone finds it by chance, they cannot take it without triggering an alarm.

Ji Tian memorized the location of the seal deep within his consciousness, without telling anyone.

One evening, a sudden gust of wind arose, and the sky over the western suburbs of the capital darkened abruptly. Lead-like clouds pressed down like lead blocks, swallowing the last rays of the setting sun.

The gale-force winds, carrying sand, stones, and withered branches, whistled like a mournful cry, while eerie green lightning silently tore through the sky, turning the earth a ghastly white.

Ji Tian sat cross-legged in the meditation room and suddenly opened his eyes.

Within his consciousness, a subtle, cold aura, carrying intense malice, quietly rose from the western outskirts of the capital.

curse.

A smile played on his lips.

"It's finally here."