I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Dusk is approaching in the Xiling Mountains.

When Ji Tian emerged from the third kobold's lair, the Emperor's Banner trembled slightly at his waist, and the green patterns on its surface brightened a bit more, as if it were burping after a full meal.

Behind her, Lilith was crouching at the cave entrance, finishing off a kobold that wasn't quite dead yet.

She was poking it with a twig she'd picked up somewhere, muttering, "Serves you right for stealing my food, serves you right for stealing my food..."

Ji Tian didn't even turn his head. "I'm leaving."

Lilith threw away the branch and jogged to catch up, her cloak fluttering in the wind.

"Master, how many did you kill today?"

"Three nests of goblins, two nests of kobolds, one rock spider, plus a few scattered monsters. The total number of souls is over three hundred."

Lilith counted on her fingers for a moment, then looked up at the sky.

The sun had already sunk below the ridgeline, the clouds on the horizon were tinged with a dark red, the forest began to darken, the shadows of the trees stretched long, and the wind was cool, carrying a hint of dampness on the face.

She yawned, looking genuinely sleepy.

After fleeing for more than half a year, she developed the habit of "finding a place to hide when it gets dark" because monsters are afraid of light.

There are ten times more monsters active at night than during the day, and all she can do is hypnotize herself.

Although I now have a master, my body's biological clock hasn't been adjusted yet.

She rubbed her eyes. "Master, where shall we stay tonight? Are there any caves in the mountains that are clean, draft-free, and without cobwebs? I'm not picky, really, as long as I can lie down, that's fine."

Ji Tian stopped and looked back at her.

Her eyelids were drooping, her eyelashes were fluttering, and she was already drowsy.

But she was still forcing herself to stay upright, her back ramrod straight, her chin held high, trying to use an expression that said "I'm very energetic" to cover up the fact that "I'm as sleepy as a dog."

Ji Tian replied, "Back to the inn."

Lilith paused for a moment. "Back to the inn? The one in Kolde? It's dozens of miles away. By the time we walk back, it'll be dawn..."

Ji Tian raised his right hand, joined his index and middle fingers together, and gently drew a line in the air in front of him, as if tearing an invisible piece of silk.

A crack appeared in the air.

The crack extended outward from his palm in an irregular V-shape, its edges gleaming with a faint blue light.

Inside the crack was a deep darkness.

It was a darkness that was purer and more absolute than the night, as if someone had used a knife to carve out a piece of space, revealing the nothingness beneath.

A cold wind rushed out from the crack, carrying an indescribable smell.

The wind wasn't biting, but it instinctively inspired awe.

Lilith stopped yawning halfway through; her mouth was still open, but her eyes were wide open, and she looked like she had been frozen in place.

"What is this?! You tore the sky apart with your bare hands?!"

Ji Tian's tone was calm: "A spatial rift leads to Kolde City."

He stepped into the crack.

The gray figure cast a long shadow under the blue light before being swallowed by absolute darkness.

Lilith stood outside the crevice, her lips pale, her fingers gripping the cloak's straps, her knuckles cracking.

She stared at the crack for three seconds, a heated debate raging in her mind:

Reason told her: Go in, your master is inside, how could he possibly harm you?

Instinct told her: Run! That's a spatial rift. Even the high priest of the demon realm wouldn't dare touch it lightly. If you go in, you'll be torn to pieces.

Fear tells her: You've already peed your pants, but you're in a solid state right now, so it's not very noticeable.

"Hurry up." Ji Tian's voice came from the crack, with a slight echo, as if he was speaking from a far away place, or as if he was whispering in someone's ear.

Lilith took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and plunged into the crevice.

The moment her body passed through the crack, she felt a strange compression, as if she were being folded.

It was as if someone treated her body like a piece of paper, folded it in half, then folded it in half again, and then stuffed it into an envelope.

That feeling lasted only a moment.

Then she stepped onto solid ground.

Open your eyes.

The cheap hotel, her room, the bed, the wall, the window.

Outside the window are the streets of Kold, the cobblestones gleaming with a bluish-gray light in the twilight, and wisps of smoke rising in the distance.

She stood in the center of the room, her foot on the chipped wooden plank on the floor—she had stepped on it when she left that morning and remembered that it would creak when her left foot touched the ground.

"Squeak."

really.

She turned around.

Ji Tian stood behind her, closing the crack back together.

With a flick of his finger in the air, the crack closed like a zipper, the blue light went out, and the darkness vanished.

Then everything was gone.

It was as if that crack had never existed.

Lilith's knees buckled.

She slowly squatted down, holding onto the edge of the bed, her hands bracing against the bed frame, her head bowed, her long, silvery-white hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall hanging on a cliff edge.

Her lips were moving, but no sound came out.

It's not that I don't want to talk, it's that I don't know what to say.

Only one sentence kept playing in her mind:

"So strong!"

After a long while, she finally raised her head and looked at Ji Tian with an expression that said, "I have given up on understanding this world."

"Master, what was that... called?"

"The Minor Teleportation Technique allows one to travel within a hundred miles of a place they have already been."

Lilith's voice rose several octaves, as if someone had stepped on her tail, "Small!? You call tearing space apart with bare hands 'small'? Then what's 'big'? Moving an entire city away?"

Ji Tian thought for a moment, "Pretty much. The Great Teleportation Technique allows one to traverse cities and travel thousands of miles in a single step. However, it consumes too much energy, and with my current strength, I can't maintain it for long."

Lilith crouched on the ground, hugging her knees, looking up at him like a cat that had been taken out and brought back by its owner, her eyes filled with "This world is too crazy."

"Master, has your human magic... developed to this extent? When I was in the Demon Realm, I heard of spatial magic, but that required magic circles, magic crystals, and several archmages to cast spells together, chanting incantations until their mouths cramped, just to open a portal that was barely enough for a person to pass through. You, on the other hand..."

She stretched out her hand and gestured in the air as if she were tearing something.

"—With a 'sizzle,' it opened."

If that's the case, then the demon race is truly doomed!

Ji Tian corrected her, "It's not magic, it's sorcery, the sorcery of cultivation."

"Magic..." Lilith repeated the word. "Master, what exactly is this 'cultivation' you mentioned?"

Ji Tian glanced at her, walked to the window, and sat down cross-legged.

Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating his grey robes and giving them a silvery-white frost-like appearance.

"Cultivation is about 'cultivating truth.' It involves cultivating the physical body, cultivating the divine sense, and cultivating the Dao heart. The ultimate goal is to transcend the mortal realm, attain immortality, control the cycle of birth and death, and manipulate the universe. Magic is about 'borrowing,' borrowing the power of heaven and earth for my own use. Cultivation is about 'transformation,' transforming all things and creating my own Dao."

He stretched out his hand, palm facing up.

"Magicians cast spells using magic essence, like scooping water from a river. Cultivators cast spells using their own spiritual power, like drawing water from a well within their own bodies. The deeper the well is dug, the more water it accumulates. In the end, one becomes a river oneself."

Lilith squatted on the ground, tilting her head and listening intently. "So, when you tore open the space just now, you used your own spiritual power?"

"right."

"Wasn't it borrowed from heaven and earth?"

"no."

Lilith's eyes widened again. "How strong must your spiritual power be to tear space apart? Space! That's space! Not paper!"

"At the peak of the Golden Core stage, one can barely tear open a spatial rift within a mile. Beyond that, it's impossible, and external aids are needed."

Lilith began to think:

She had witnessed her father take action when she was in the Demon Realm.

The Demon King's full-force attack could destroy one-third of the Demon King's castle without using forbidden spells.

But torn space apart at will? She'd never seen that before.

She had never even heard of anyone in the demon realm who could do that.

Her voice suddenly softened, "Master, tell me the truth, what level are you at? Grand Magister? Or... even higher?"

Ji Tian thought for a moment and said:

"In this world's hierarchy, above Grand Magister is Holy Magister, above Holy Magister is Demigod, and beyond that, I don't know. I'm probably... somewhere between Grand Magister and Holy Magister."

"perhaps?"

"I haven't fought against the world's top experts, so I'm not sure."

Lilith took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She stood up from the ground, patted off non-existent dust from her dress, walked to the bedside and sat down, placing her hands on her knees, sitting upright as if she were attending a Demon King interview.

"Master, I have a very important question."

"explain."

"Besides your so-called karma, did you accept me as your disciple also because I'm good-looking?"

Ji Tian glanced at her.

There was no "yes" or "no" in his eyes, only a calm that seemed to say, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Lilith waited a moment, but still didn't get the response she wanted. She coughed and said, "Okay, no. Then what is it? Because of my talent? Because I'm a nightmare? Because of what I can do for you?"