I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Lilith froze, her movement of lunging at Ji Tian halting, before casually withdrawing herself.

"Remove the soundproofing magic. I'll handle the rest."

She turned and walked towards the door, cleared her throat, and spoke with just the right amount of alertness and a moderate level of tension:

"Who is it?"

The knocking on the door paused for a moment, then resumed, in the same rhythm.

Lilith frowned, raised her voice, and asked again, "Who's outside?"

no answer.

The knocking continued, like a fixed rhythm, sounding particularly clear in the night.

Lilith's brow furrowed even more deeply.

She glanced back at Ji Tian, ​​only to see him smiling and gesturing for her to continue.

Lilith raised her voice slightly, feigning impatience, and said:

"I'm not opening the door if you don't speak. I'm warning you, my husband has a bad temper. If you piss him off, he might come out and beat you up!"

There was a moment of silence outside the door, then the knocking stopped.

Then, the sound of footsteps gradually faded away.

"Huh? They're gone already? Was it a prank by the villagers?"

Lilith pressed her ear against the door for a while, listening intently until the footsteps had truly faded away. Then she turned back and gave Ji Tian a smug smile.

"See, I handled it well, now it's Lilith's turn to investigate!"

Then she grasped the latch and gently pulled it open—

A pale figure floated straight outside the door.

The creature wore an old robe whose original color was indistinguishable, its long, wet hair hanging down its side, revealing an empty eye socket, while some kind of dark red liquid was seeping from its other eye.

Her mouth slowly opened, emitting an extremely weak sob that sounded as if it came from a very far place.

"Croak—!"

Lilith's pupils dilated suddenly, and she bounced back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instinctively hiding in Ji Tian's arms, who was with her.

"What is that?!"

Fortunately, her "daughter" reacted much faster than she did.

Mia quickly appeared at the door and delivered a side kick.

Before arriving at the village, Mia knew that the strange creatures here were not afraid of holy light and most magic, so she did not enchant her feet, but fortunately the effect was good.

The female ghost was kicked in the chest, her body seemed to be torn apart by something, emitting a sharp screech, and then quickly dissipated in the night wind, leaving no trace like water vapor evaporating.

The night outside the door returned to calm.

Mia remained in the kicking position for a moment, making sure the thing wouldn't reappear, before slowly retracting her leg and turning to look at Lilith:

"It's all over now."

Lilith jumped into Ji Tian's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck: "You, your kick just now... was so fast."

"She's not fast and doesn't have much strength; she'll probably just float there and scare people."

Lilith looked annoyed upon hearing this:

"Next time I encounter this situation, I should use my spiritual power to check the outside before deciding whether to open the door or not."

Ji Tian patted Lilith's back gently, but his words were somewhat harsh:

"...I thought you did this on purpose, but it seems I overestimated you."

"Oh! Don't say that."

Lilith silenced Ji Tian with a kiss.

Well, Ji Tian was still a little unsure whether Lilith was deliberately being sweet, but to be fair, it was indeed quite sweet.

Mia had closed the door again, bolted it, and checked the windows one last time.

When she finished and returned to the table, Lilith had already composed herself. She sniffed, sat up straight from Ji Tian's embrace, and began to think seriously:

"What should we do next? Should we go out and investigate tonight, or stay home and pretend to be a frightened, ordinary family?"

Ji Tian asked Tolilis to prevent her from falling, leaned back in his chair, and gestured for her to continue.

Lilith had clearly already considered this matter in her mind, and analyzed it carefully:

"Normally, after a wife is frightened, the husband should comfort her."

Ji Tian nodded. "That makes sense."

"Since they're a married couple, and it was nighttime, and they were frightened..."

Lilith leaned closer, lowering her voice even further, "Then shouldn't we do some... things that couples do?"

Ji Tian looked at her: "For example?"

Lilith blinked. "For example... we can discuss a plan together. Look, there are monsters outside, something's wrong in the village, and we're trapped here. What should we do next? Should we escape tonight, or stay and continue investigating? Such a big matter should be discussed carefully by the couple."

She paused, as if remembering something, "Of course, it's best to discuss this in a warm and safe environment. For example—"

Her gaze shifted to the bed covered with hay and coarse cloth sheets.

Ji Tian followed her gaze, then looked away and looked back at Lilith's face. After a long while, he sighed.

"Are you sure you want to discuss a solution?"

Lilith looked innocent and tilted her head. "Of course! What else could I be doing? I'm a respectable person, don't get the wrong idea."

"You're a demon, or more accurately, not even human, right? And didn't I say before that I wasn't participating in this mission?"

Ji Tian inwardly scoffed, but also wanted to see what tricks Lilith was up to, so he said:

"Then you should make arrangements for Mia first."

Lilith then remembered that there was a third person in the room. She turned to look at Mia and found her standing by the windowsill, meeting her gaze calmly. Mia had clearly seen everything that had just happened.

Mia nodded slightly. "I'm going back to my room."

After she finished speaking, she walked to the door, opened it, squeezed out to the side, and then gently closed the door behind her with a clean and efficient motion.

Only Ji Tian and Lilith remained in the room.

Lilith turned her head and looked at Ji Tian again, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"Alright, now that no one's bothering us, let's 'discuss' what to do next."

Ji Tian looked at her purple eyes that gleamed under the oil lamp, but ultimately did not expose her little scheme.

"Then let's discuss it. I wonder what your thoughts are?"

Lilith's eyes crinkled into a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled up a little more. Her slender figure pressed against Ji Tian's body without feeling heavy, and she breathed softly into his ear:

"A long night, a man and a woman alone... don't you want to do something?"

Ji Tian looked up at her, and she looked down at him; they could both smell each other's breathing.

Outside the window, the night was thick and dark, and a few unknown birdsongs came from afar, as if something was spying on this deliberately forgotten village from the darkness.

"You're right," Ji Tian said.