I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

He carried four stacked food boxes as he walked along the cobblestone streets of Kold, his pace neither hurried nor slow, but his gaze fixed on a point in the void ahead.

"The Emperor's Banner has collected over five hundred souls, still far from ten thousand. The Ash Forest has too few monsters; perhaps we could try our luck in the nearby Western Ridge Mountains, but..."

He turned his head and glanced at Lilith, who was following behind him.

A few strands of long, silvery-white hair peeked out from the edge of the hood, fluttering gently in the wind.

She was kicking a pebble with her head down, humming an unknown tune, as relaxed as a cat basking in the afternoon sun.

"She's a demon, and I kill demons. In the demon language, 'demons' and 'demons' share the same origin. Even if she doesn't say it, what might she be thinking...?"

Ji Tian shook his head inwardly.

"Those who cultivate immortality value cause and effect most. If she harbors resentment because I killed a demon, she will develop inner demons in her future cultivation. Once inner demons arise, at best her cultivation will stagnate, and at worst she will suffer a cultivation deviation."

"Now that I have accepted her as my disciple, I must be responsible for her faith in the Dao."

He stopped in his tracks.

Lilith was kicking pebbles with her head down when she nearly bumped into his back. She slammed on the brakes, and her shoes squeaked on the cobblestones.

"Master? We've arrived?"

"no."

"Then why did you suddenly stop? Were you contemplating something? Or is there an ambush ahead? Let me see—" She stood on tiptoe and peered behind his shoulder like a groundhog peeking out of its hole.

"I have something to ask you."

Lilith immediately withdrew, placing her hands neatly in front of her, her back ramrod straight, her expression switching from "curious child" to "well-behaved disciple" mode.

"Master, please ask. I will answer everything I know, without holding back, without leaving anything out... basically, I'll tell you everything."

Ji Tian looked at her.

"I'm going to the Western Mountains to hunt monsters. You're coming with me."

"Oh, okay." Lilith nodded, then tilted her head. "Wait, Master, the tone you used just now didn't sound like you were giving a notification; it sounded more like... you were doing some kind of major mental preparation? You're not worried that I'll be sad because you killed monsters, are you?"

Ji Tian was silent for a moment.

"……yes."

Lilith blinked.

"Master, are you afraid that if I see you killing goblins, it will remind me of my demon brethren, and I'll be overcome with grief and faint on the spot, affecting your hunting efficiency?"

"almost."

Lilith took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

Her expression was complex—a mix of emotion, helplessness, and a sense of bewilderment, as if wondering, "Does my master really have some kind of mental problem?"

"Master, do you know the difference between monsters and demons?"

Tell me about it.

Lilith held up three fingers.

"First, monsters have no intelligence. Goblins, kobolds, slimes—they live only to eat, to defecate, and to breed more little monsters. They can't speak, they can't write poetry, they can't play music under the moon. From birth to death, a goblin only has three things on its mind—'hunger,' 'kill,' and 'gobble.'"

Ji Tian nodded slightly.

"Second," she retracted a finger, "monsters don't make cupcakes. If a race can't even make cupcakes, what's the difference between it and a stone?"

"..."

"Master, don't make that face. I'm telling the truth. Demons have pastry chefs, bakeries, and cake recipes passed down for three hundred years. Have you ever seen goblins bake bread? They can't even start a fire!"

"Third," Ji Tian reminded her.

Lilith retracted her last finger, clenched her fist, and waved it in the air.

"Third, my father once said—'Demons and monsters are actually creations of the Demon God, but their status is similar to that of humans and animals in the human world.'"

Her voice suddenly became very soft, but every word was clear.

"Just like people kill chickens, pigs, and fish... would you think someone is cold-hearted just because they ate a chicken leg?"

"Won't."

"That's it." Lilith clapped her hands, as if she had just given a brilliant speech. "So Master, you don't need to think so much. You kill your monsters, I'll eat my little cake. We'll each do our own thing, and no one will get in anyone's way."

She paused, then added:

"and--"

"And what?"

"I don't like monsters either. When I was a wanderer, they often stole food that other people had left behind..."

Ji Tian looked at her.

"This woman... is insightful."

It's not the kind of clarity that comes from "seeing through the illusions of the world," but rather the kind of clarity that comes from "knowing by nature what should be cared about and what shouldn't be cared about."

"In the cultivation world, this is called 'a pure heart.' It's one in ten thousand."

He turned around and continued walking forward.

"Hurry up. We need to get into the Xiling Mountains before dark."

Lilith jogged after her, her footsteps making a crisp clattering sound on the stone pavement.

"Master!"

"What's wrong?"

"You asked me if I would be sad—were you worried I'd mess up my training?"

"Yes."

That's what care is.

"No. It's because I'm afraid you'll hold me back."

"Master, you're such an awkward person."

"Um."

Do you know what you looked like just now?

"What?"

"Like a mother hen sheltering her chicks under her wings, then sternly saying, 'I'm not protecting you, I'm just testing the weight-bearing capacity of my wings.'"

Ji Tian paused for a moment.

"...Where did you learn metaphors?"

"I taught myself. When I was fleeing, I had nothing to do, so I made up stories in my head. I told myself jokes, otherwise I would have gone crazy long ago."

She ran to Ji Tian's side, looked up at him, her hood slipped off her head, and her long, silvery-white hair fluttered in the wind.

"Master, let me tell you, you're a good person in every way, except you overthink things. Even when you're killing a demon, you still have to consider your disciple's feelings, and after considering them, you still have to stubbornly say that it's not out of concern. If you continue like this, sooner or later you'll develop a problem—a problem called 'Master's Unique Awkwardness'."

"This disease does not exist in the cultivation world."

"Now I have it. I invented it. The symptoms are: clearly you care, but you insist on saying you don't; clearly you want to be good to others, but you insist on finding a reason like 'for cultivation'."

Ji Tian remained silent.

Lilith tilted her head to look at him, her lips curled up in a wide smile.

"Master, you're not secretly praising me in your heart, are you?"

"no."

"You were definitely complimenting me. The way you looked at me just now was like you were looking at a fine cake—that 'I want this one' look."

"...You have good observation skills."

"Of course! After running away for half a year, if I didn't know how to read people, I would have been sold out long ago." She shook her head smugly, then jogged back behind him, stepping on the shadows elongated by the sunlight.

"Master."

"What's wrong now?"

"Thank you for taking me as your apprentice."

"You're welcome."

"Although you're quiet, expressionless, and clueless about romance, you can stuff people to bursting at the seams when you treat them, and your words can drive people crazy..."

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I wanted to say—" she jumped up and stepped on the head of his shadow, "It's good to be with you."

……