I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Not right.

The little girl's aura was off.

Ji Tian turned around, his gaze falling once again on that thin figure.

The little girl was still standing there, her hands hanging at her sides, her braids swaying slightly in the wind.

She looked like an ordinary, terrified little girl.

The five senses may deceive, but the divine sense will not.

That aura... wasn't human.

A normal girl's Qi (vital energy) should be weak, scattered, and easily overlooked.

But her energy was too "dense," like a compressed ball of cotton soaked in water—small in appearance but heavy in weight.

He squinted, walked back, and squatted down to look at the face up close.

Big eyes, long eyelashes, fair skin—too perfect a fair complexion for a child wearing a patched dress.

Ji Tian sighed expressionlessly, "There are truly countless heroes in this world. I can't believe I didn't realize you weren't human at first glance."

The little girl's expression froze for a moment, then she tilted her head, her voice still timid: "Big brother, what are you saying? I don't understand..."

Ji Tian didn't waste any words.

He reached out, clenched his fist, and punched her in the stomach.

He held back 99% of his strength; not enough to kill, but certainly not gentle.

The little girl's body flew through the air like a kicked ball, tracing an arc before crashing heavily onto the grass. She rolled twice before finally lying down next to a pit scorched by acid.

There were no screams, he just lay there motionless.

Ji Tian walked over and said, "Stop pretending. I held back my strength in that punch. With your physique, you shouldn't have passed out."

The "little girl" lying on the ground was silent for two seconds. Then her body began to change—like ripples on the surface of water, her outline began to blur and recombine.

Her braids came undone, transforming into long, silvery-white hair; her coarse cloth skirt split open in the middle like a cicada's shell, revealing a deep purple dress underneath, the hem of which reached her knees, with dark silver patterns embroidered on the cuffs; her facial features were subtly adjusted, transforming her from a tender child into a face somewhere between a young girl and an adult, with a hint of innate languor in her eyes and brows.

She got up from the ground, patted the grass clippings and dirt off her skirt, her movements as natural as if she often played dead.

Her face changed—no, this should be said to be her real face.

Her features were incredibly delicate, and her eyes were a very pale purple, like amethyst that had been washed many times.

But her expression changed. She was no longer the timid little girl, but rather like a small animal cornered against a wall, struggling to keep herself from trembling.

She spoke, her voice a slightly husky, girlish tone, "How did you find out?"

"Your disguise is perfect, but your energy is off."

"Aura?" She frowned, subconsciously touching the silver ring on her ring finger. "I used a concealment ring, so theoretically, the demonic aura shouldn't leak out—"

Ji Tian raised his hand to interrupt her, "I'm not talking about the demonic aura, I'm talking about your 'presence'."

She paused for a moment, looked down at her hand, and then at the silver ring.

"External things are ultimately external things; they are not as reliable as one's own cultivation."

Her expression changed from fear to confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Ji Tian did not answer.

He extended his right hand and made a fist.

"Wait, wait, wait—" she hurriedly waved her hands, took two steps back, "Don't hit me! I surrender! I give up! I—"

Ji Tian's second punch had already been thrown.

This punch was a bit heavier than the previous one. It wasn't because he wanted to kill her, but because he wanted to see where this thing's limits were.

The "little girl's" body flew out again.

This time she flew even further, crashing into a dead tree. The tree trunk made a dull thud, and cracks spread outwards from the point of impact.

She slid down from the tree trunk, squatted on the ground, clutching her stomach with both hands, her long, silvery-white hair hanging down to cover her face.

"Cough cough cough..." She coughed violently a few times, then raised her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

This demon was beaten to tears.

Her voice was choked with sobs, "You...you barbarian...I already said I surrendered, but you still attacked..."

Ji Tian walked over again, squatted down in front of her, and looked at the ring on her index finger.

The silver ring had lost its luster and was covered with fine cracks, like a piece of porcelain that had been shattered and barely glued back together.

Her voice trembled, filled with disbelief and indignation, "Two punches, the first punch was to me, and the second punch was to me too. But my ring... it's broken."

She looked up, her purple eyes filled with accusation.

"This is a keepsake left to me by my father! You know that when I was fleeing, I could give up even small cakes, egg tarts, egg rolls, puddings, and cream puffs, but I always kept this ring close to my body, right? Two punches from you, and it's gone."

Ji Tian remained expressionless. "You're still alive."

She took a deep breath and looked at him with an expression that said, "I give up." "Well, consider these two punches a greeting gift. But could you give me a heads-up next time? So I can be mentally prepared."

There will be no next time.

"real?"

"Next time, just kill him."

Lilith's lips twitched, and she chuckled awkwardly, "Hahaha... I've noticed you're really serious about things, that's not good..."

Seeing that the other party had no intention of attacking again, he muttered to himself, "I clearly surrendered, why did they punch me again?"

"To prevent you from lying to me next."

Lilith opened her mouth, then closed it again. She squatted there, hugging her knees, looking up at Ji Tian with an expression that said, "I am completely convinced."

"Fine, I guess I'm out of luck. Ask away, I'll tell you everything." She paused, then added, "Oh, by the way, can I keep that broken ring? I'd like to keep it as a keepsake. Even though it's only worth a piece of broken glass now."

Ji Tian didn't respond to that question. "Who are you?"

She raised her head, her purple eyes filled with a sense of relief, as if she could finally reveal her secret to an outsider. "My name is Lilith, the daughter of the former Demon King. The current Demon King is my uncle; he destroyed my father and is now hunting me. I fled for over half a year, from the Demon Realm to the human kingdoms, from the western border to the northern border, but it was just too cold there, so I ran back—do you know how much damage such a long journey does to the skin of a beautiful demon girl who has just turned 30?"

Ji Tian did not respond.

"Okay, you don't know," she said, resigning herself to her fate. "Anyway, I'm desperate now. If you're going to hand me over to the church, please let me know in advance so I can write a will... Never mind, I don't have any inheritance anyway."

"Was your disguise just now not an effect of the ring?"

Lilith blinked, as if she had heard an unbelievable question. "Of course not. The ring can only conceal one's aura; disguising one's appearance is my own ability. My mother is a member of the Nightmare Clan, and I was born with this skill. To transform into someone else's appearance, adjust one's age, and change one's body shape—this is our race's specialty."

She paused, then added, "However, I can only transform into forms smaller than myself; I can't transform into larger ones. And transforming for too long gets tiring. The little girl form I was just looking at is the form I can maintain for the longest time."

"Why not grow up?"

She tilted her head, gestured with her hand to her chest, and said with a hint of self-deprecation, "Adults have too big a frame, my magic can't support it, and I don't have the curves that an adult woman should have, so it would look unnatural and embarrassing."

Ji Tian was silent for a moment, then said, "So you're not lying to him, you just want to learn some common sense about humanity."

Lilith nodded vigorously. "Yes, I thought he really was a magician and wanted to learn a thing or two—who knew he couldn't even beat a slime. An old human mage, not even as good as me, a demon fleeing from war. What's wrong with this world?"

Her tone carried a genuine sense of bewilderment, which didn't sound like she was complaining at all.

Ji Tian didn't answer that question, but instead asked, "Have you ever harmed humanity?"

"No!" Lilith immediately gave a French military salute, like a suspect caught by the police. "Not a single one! I've never even killed a chicken. When my father was alive, I spent my days reading, drawing, and learning etiquette. I didn't even want to learn magic; I was forced to. Now I only know one spell: invisibility and one: illumination—and even that illumination spell often fails to light up."

She became more and more aggrieved as she spoke, her voice trembling with tears: "After my father's personal guards were wiped out, I've been on the run ever since. I've hardly ever left the Demon Realm; the first time I traveled far was to escape. Do you know how I felt when I first saw a human city? Excitement, then fear, then more excitement, then more fear—it went back and forth like that for more than half a year."

Ji Tian looked at her.

There was no comfort, no sympathy, and no impatience. It was simply a matter of gathering information.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

Lilith shook her head. "I don't know, but you're very strong, stronger than any human I've ever seen."

"Then why did you surrender to me? It's said that demons are known for their fierce nature; shouldn't you have just committed suicide?"

"Because you just saved me," she said matter-of-factly, then added after a moment's thought, "Even though the 'little girl' you saved was me, didn't you know that? From your perspective, you saved a complete stranger's child. Someone who would save a stranger's child wouldn't kill me for no reason, right?"

She paused, her voice lowering, "...And I can't beat you either."

Ji Tian stood up.

"stand up."

Lilith scrambled to her feet as fast as a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Will you let me go?" A glimmer of hope ignited in her eyes.

"I won't let go."

"and you--"

"Come with me."

"What do you want?" Lilith took a few steps back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Seeing that the other person didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, she tentatively asked, "Where are we going?"

"Cold City".

Lilith's face turned pale instantly. "No! There's a hero there! A holy sword! The kind that can kill me with one strike!"

"He won't."

How did you know?

Ji Tian glanced at her. "Because I know him."

Lilith opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her expression changed several times in just a few seconds—fear, hesitation, struggle, and then a kind of resigned relief.

She sighed, "...Fine, I have nowhere else to go anyway, so I might as well go. At worst, I'll get slashed by the hero's sword."

She looked down at her dark purple dress, then at Ji Tian's gray cloak.

"But could you lend me a piece of clothing first? If I enter the city dressed like this, the guards at the city gate will arrest me without the hero even having to lift a finger—'Suspicious demon woman, ornately dressed, recommended for immediate questioning.'"

Ji Tian was silent for two seconds, then took out a cloak from his Purple Mansion space and tossed it to her.

Lilith caught the cloak and paused for a moment.

The man opposite wasn't wearing a storage ring or other jewelry, so where did he take out that cloak?

But she dared not ask, fearing that the other party would send her to meet her father with a single punch.

It wasn't that Lilith was afraid of dying.

The main problem is that if the world knew that a demon princess was killed by a human with three punches without magic, it would be somewhat shameful.

She lives for the honor of the demon race!

Thinking of this, Lilith straightened her back again.

"Thank you." She draped the cloak over herself, wrapped it tightly around herself, and looked up at Ji Tian. "By the way, my name is Lilith. What's yours?"

"..."

"If you don't tell me, I'll guess myself. Mr. Silence? Lord Iron Fist? Two-Punch Man?"

"I will not change my name or surname, I am Li Feiyu."

"What a strange name... What are we going to do in Kolde City?"

"Something's up."

"What is it?"

"It's none of your business."

Lilith was momentarily speechless, but she quickly regained her composure and jogged after him, muttering, "Fine, fine, it's none of my business. I'm just a burden who even had my heirloom ring smashed by you. I have no right to know, no right to speak, not even the right to be warned before I'm beaten..."

Ji Tian did not turn around.

"This world is so unfriendly to demon girls..." Her voice drifted from behind, carrying a sense of resigned helplessness, yet also an inexplicable sense of relief.

As the sun set, the two walked one after the other toward the city gate of Kolde.