I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The carriage traveled north along the coastline for three days. The sea breeze gradually changed from salty and damp to dry, and the vegetation on both sides gradually transitioned from palm trees and shrubs to poplars and wild roses.

Marcus Aurelius had two carriages.

The first car, loaded with their belongings, was driven by Aurelius himself, with his wife sitting beside him.

The second truck, originally a spare cargo van, was emptied and covered with thick hay and blankets, serving as a temporary vehicle for Ji Tian and the others.

Marcus Aurelius's daughter was in charge of driving.

Her name was Lila, and she was at an age when she longed for heroic legends.

Ever since Ji Tian descended from the sky that night and the Holy Mountain crashed down to save her, her gaze toward Ji Tian changed from "gratitude" to "admiration," and then gradually fermented into an awkward, inexpressible affection.

"Hero, are you thirsty? I brought a water pouch."

"I'm not thirsty."

"Are you hungry? The salted meat that my mother makes is delicious."

I'm not hungry.

"Would you like to switch to the carriage in front? The view is better there, and you can see more of the scenery."

"No, thank you for your kindness, but I'd rather stay with my loved one."

In Ji Tian's eyes, Lila was just a girl who had just escaped danger and wanted to repay them out of gratitude, nothing more.

To avoid unintentionally attracting unnecessary trouble, he made it clear during his self-introduction that he was a married man.

Although it's not very useful in a human kingdom where nobles and wealthy merchants commonly have multiple wives.

The church in this world does not use its doctrines to restrict the marriage of its believers. In their words, God does not care about these things; in other words, "I don't know, it's not mentioned in the oracle."

Of course, the fact that God doesn't care doesn't mean the church doesn't care.

This brings us to the debate that has raged in the church for thousands of years: what is God's attitude toward marriage?

Some priests believe that the Triune God is one and that the concept of the unity of all things should be promoted to the world. Therefore, monogamy is the orthodox practice.

But opponents scoffed at this, arguing that since they were all three types of gods, they must have their own wills, and how could gods care about such mundane matters?

The debate ended inconclusively.

Elena leaned on Ji Tian's shoulder, flipping through a travelogue she had bought from Lion Fang City, while Ophelia sat opposite Ji Tian, ​​playing chess. Neither of them seemed to care about the little girl's attitude.

So Lilith couldn't sit still any longer.

Putting aside Mira, her former opponent with whom she had debated and lost (Lilith believed this to be the case), this wasn't the first time she had encountered something like this.

In the Demon King's castle, young maids always try to get close to the father; at the banquet in the Demon King's court, noble ladies also try to get close to the father under various pretexts.

She was too young to understand then, but she does now.

"Master, are you thirsty?" Lilith repeated in a breathy tone, mimicking Lila's voice, then shuddered, "Ew—how cheesy."

Ji Tian had just placed a chess piece down when he heard this, and without even looking up, said, "Your imitation isn't very good."

"I'm just reminding you!"

"What reminder?"

"Just a reminder..." Lilith paused, hesitated for a moment, and then pointed to Lila's swaying braids in front of her.

Ji Tian understood what she meant, patted her head, and said helplessly:

"Don't overthink it. Instead of wasting time, focus on training and improving your strength. No matter what, having enough strength is the only true principle."

"I wasn't overthinking it!"

"Okay, I believe you."

You're lying! You're clearly just trying to fool me!

Lilith pouted, sullenly leaned against the carriage wall, and hung her head without saying a word.

However, she quickly forgot her troubles and suddenly sat up straight as if she remembered something:

"Oh, right! I went to the North when I was in exile! It was so cold there! I was shivering from the cold, and even the fire didn't help. Luckily, I eventually returned to the West..."

"Of course you're cold wearing a skirt."

"I didn't have money to buy clothes! And I didn't dare go near the church at the time. Although their refugee camp distributed supplies, everyone entering the camp had to register their identity. My identity was suspicious, what if I was found out?"

Then Lilith reminisced about those glorious days, a hint of pride creeping into her voice. "Of course, I also learned quite a few survival skills along the way: climbing trees to pick fruit, digging for wild vegetables, catching fish—none of those were a problem for me!"

"Looks like you were pretty smart back then."

"Hmph~ Of course!"

Of course, what Lilith didn't say was that most wild fruits were sour and astringent, wild vegetables were easy to pick and eat by mistake and get poisoned, and catching fish was also very difficult, but she was lucky to get through them all.

As the journey entered its second week, gravel began to appear on the road, the poplars along the official road gradually thinned out, and the air became drier.

During this peaceful period, Ji Tian resumed his training guidance to Lilith and Elena.

This lesson explains the difference between magical power and spiritual power:

"The various magical elements in nature are scattered; fire is fire, water is water, and wind is wind. Magicians absorb them directly into the magical energy circuit, mobilizing whichever attribute they need. Spiritual energy, on the other hand, aggregates and condenses these magical elements together, forming a purer form of power."

In short, it involves compressing and purifying the magic element, leading to a qualitative change from a quantitative one.

Elena nodded thoughtfully: "So that's why you always came back covered in dust after causing explosions in the back hills of the manor? I thought you were using explosion magic."

Upon hearing this, Ji Tian's lips twitched, and he coughed twice: "How did you know?"

"You forgot? Every time you come back, your hair is a complete mess, and your clothes are covered in black ash. I ask you where you've been, and you say 'taking a walk.' Who takes a walk and ends up looking like that?"

"...Okay, I was indeed researching the aggregation of spiritual energy at that time, but compressing magic essence wasn't particularly difficult for me. What was really difficult was fusing magic essence of all attributes together."

After all, all-attribute spiritual power is the key to condensing the golden pill.

Only when all attributes are integrated can a true "Golden Core" be condensed. Accordingly, Ji Tian also called this wisp of spiritual power the "prototype of the Golden Core".

The carriage suddenly stopped.

Ji Tian lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside, just in time to see Lila, who was driving the carriage, frantically trying to stop it, picking up the whip that had fallen, her ears bright red.

"I'm sorry, hero. I was distracted for a moment and accidentally dropped my riding whip."

After she finished speaking, she quickly turned back, her back ramrod straight, not daring to look back at him.

Lilith sat in the carriage, arms crossed, her purple eyes fixed on the back of Lila's head: "Hmph~ woman."

Elena couldn't help but laugh out loud, then quickly covered her mouth with the book.

Ophelia glanced at Lilith with her eyes half-closed, then closed them again.

Ji Tian ignored him and continued explaining.

The carriage traveled north along the road, its wheels making a rhythmic sound as they rolled over the dirt and stones.

Lilith wrapped herself in the thick cloak that Ji Tian had handed her, curled up into a ball, and soon fell asleep against the carriage wall.

Her long, silvery-white hair gently brushed against Ji Tian's sleeves as the carriage swayed.

Elena closed the book, looked out the window at the gradually thinning tree shadows, and gently exhaled, the breath condensing into white mist in the air:

"Finally, we're almost at the North."