I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Ji Tian turned the letter over, and sure enough, a map was drawn on the back with extremely fine strokes.

The lines outline the coastline of the southern border of the human kingdom, marking several place names. The handwriting is the same as the front, neat yet casual.

In the lower right corner of the map, a line of small Chinese text reads: "The second highest island below the South China Sea. Dig five meters down from the mountaintop, and the door awaits you."

A sentence was added in English: "The door is waiting for you, but the key is in your head."

Ji Tian stared at the line of text for a few seconds, his lips twitching slightly.

"We're not in the same circle. I only watched Rainbow Cat and Pleasant Goat when I was a kid, and then I plunged headfirst into the vast ocean of cultivation web novels. How am I supposed to guess? Oh well, just knowing the location is enough."

Whether he can guess the password or not is not important; he has plenty of ways to open that door.

Ultimately, the so-called code puzzle left by the first hero is more like a secret code. If someone shares the same interests as him, they will naturally understand and smile. Even if not, they can probably unlock it in other ways.

Ji Tian folded the letter again, put it back in the wooden box, glanced at the sentence "Those who don't help me are gay," and shook his head.

"Tsk, they're quite good at manipulating people."

……

The following morning, the walls of the No. 3 border fortress gleamed with a cold, grayish-white light in the morning glow.

Ji Tian changed into the silver-white Warrior's Light Armor, with the Holy Sword hanging at his waist. The Holy Mountain, shrunken to the size of a fist, was embedded in the hilt, gleaming with a warm golden light.

When he left the room, Elena was already making tea in the living room.

"Good morning." She held out a cup of hot tea, "It's freshly brewed, drink it before you go."

Ji Tian took the teacup; the temperature was just right, and the tea had a refreshing aroma.

"Where is Lilith?"

Elena tilted her head. "She's still sleeping. I had Ophelia wake her up. Anna just told me that Legolas is waiting for you on the city walls, saying that the scouts have confirmed the movements of the Balrogs in the surrounding fortresses."

Ji Tian nodded, drank the tea in one gulp, handed the cup back to her, and walked towards the city wall.

Legolas stood by the crenellations of the eastern section of the city wall, his back to the morning light, the bowstring already adjusted in his hand. Seeing Ji Tian approach, he turned slightly to the side and pointed to the outlines of several fortresses hidden in the thin mist in the distance.

"The abandoned fortress of Shattered Stone Fortress, fifteen miles to the east; the area near Fortress No. 4, Mengshigang, twenty miles to the north; and the area near the old ferry crossing of Fortress No. 5, thirty miles to the southwest. All three fortresses reported the appearance of Flame Demons last night, about twenty or thirty of each."

"They haven't run away yet? Then we'll take them all out at once, starting with the nearest ones and then moving on to the farther ones."

As the morning light gradually spread across the city wall, it stretched the shadows of the crenellations into long, slanted stripes. Ji Tian took the Holy Sword from his waist, and the golden patterns on the blade gleamed warmly in the morning light.

Legolas was not surprised. He turned around and walked down the city wall, where he met up with a group of elven guards in front of the city gate.

Fifty elven archers and ten lightly armored swordsmen were ready to go. Their original duty was to hold their ground, but since the hero who had killed hundreds of fire demons with a single sword strike wanted to take the initiative, they naturally had no objections.

The charred outline of Shattered Stone Castle was revealed in the morning light.

This abandoned fortress is relatively small, built on the top of a gentle slope, with walls about two people high, constructed from locally quarried bluish-gray rocks.

The fire demons that appeared last night seem to have retreated into the fortress, with only a few wisps of black smoke drifting out of the broken tower windows and slowly dissipating in the morning breeze.

Ji Tian walked ahead, his footsteps treading over gravel and scorched earth, his boots crushing a few withered leaves.

He raised his hand to signal the elves and his teammates behind him to stop, and then walked alone toward the castle gate.

The iron gate was half-closed, its hinges warped by the intense heat, and dark red flames leaked through the cracks. The courtyard inside the fortress had been burned beyond recognition, the bluestone floor cracked like a spider web, and several blackened wooden beams lay across the wall.

The twelve fire demons were scattered throughout the courtyard, some standing and some sitting. One of the larger ones was squatting next to a pile of elf remains, fiddling with something with its claws.

They both looked up at the doorway, the orange-red flames dancing in their pupils.

Ji Tian did not give them more time to observe him.

He lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his figure shot out like an arrow. The soles of his boots scraped against the cracked stone surface with a short, sharp whistle, and the blade of his sword had already slashed across the neck of the nearest fire demon.

Before the fire demon could even open its mouth to roar, the blade had already sliced ​​through the flames on its shoulder, cut into the gaps between its scales, and severed the weakest joint in its neck.

Its body tilted forward and crashed to the ground with a dull thud.

The flames on his neck suddenly went out, as if extinguished by an invisible hand.

The temperature in the courtyard seemed to drop slightly, and the remaining fire demons finally reacted, letting out a roar that tore through the air.

Ji Tian neither retreated nor adjusted his posture. He sidestepped the claws of one of the attacking Flame Demons, and with a swift motion, his sword spun around, slashing horizontally at the waist of the second one.

The sword's edge sliced ​​into the edge of the scale armor, each strike landing on a weak point.

The elven garrison had already surged through the fortress gates, drawing their bows taut, and unleashing emerald green arrows at the furthest fire demons.

When the arrowheads pierced the shoulders, thighs, and ribs of the fire demons, they exploded into a ring of tiny magical energy, freezing the fire demons in place.

The chaos in the courtyard lasted for no more than ten breaths.

Ji Tian's movements did not stop. He cut from the front of the first fire demon to the back of the twelfth one, each sword strike landing precisely in the correct position, skillfully eliminating the enemy like a master butcher dissecting an ox.

When the last Balrog was pierced through the chest by the sword, its legs suddenly lost their support, and it collapsed forward into the pile of rubble. Flames leaked out from the gaps in its scales, burning a scorched patch on the ground.

Legolas walked in through the porch, his gaze sweeping over the Balrog corpse in the courtyard.

"Two places remain."

Ji Tian gently shook off the ashes from the holy sword. There were almost no burn marks on the silver-white light armor, and the blade of the holy sword still gleamed with a cold light.

Two and a half hours later, the horde of fire demons at Blackrock Hill was completely wiped out by Ji Tian and the elven guards.

The elves dragged the remains to a sheltered, low-lying area and buried them. Following elven custom, they planted a tree on the site. Ji Tian then had Ophelia perform divination to confirm that no fish had escaped.

The Balrog at the old ferry crossing seemed to have an anomaly; it had overcome its warlike nature and persuaded most of its companions to retreat to the Demon Realm. When the garrisoned elves saw that only a few Balrogs remained and it seemed they could pass the level without taking any damage, they immediately launched an attack. By the time Ji Tian arrived at the ferry crossing, the battle was already over.

Ji Tian stood on the stone steps at the edge of the ferry. The morning sun had fully risen, turning the calm water surface into a shimmering gold.

Behind me came the sounds of elves using magic to clear the battlefield, along with a few whispers in Elvish.

Ophelia had somehow appeared beside him, her short, silvery-white hair swaying slightly in the morning breeze. She handed him a water pouch.

Ji Tian took it and drank a sip.

"Are we heading to the royal court?" Elena caught up, her gaze falling on the cleared-out ferry crossing, her voice tinged with relief.

Ji Tian returned the water pouch to Ophelia, glanced at the sky, and said, "Well, the teleportation array is one-way. It will take about two days to walk there. Let's go now."