I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

He smashed it down with a stick.

With a "crack," the branch broke.

A crack appeared in the spider's carapace, green fluid seeped out, its eight legs suddenly straightened, then slowly curled up, rolled over, and remained motionless.

Lilith stood beside the spider, looking down at it, panting heavily.

Then she raised the broken branch in her hand, tilted her head back to the sky, and shouted her victory declaration:

"Operation Lilith has been a resounding success!"

The sound echoed through the valley, startling a flock of unidentified birds.

On a distant hillside, Ji Tian leaned against an old pine tree, arms crossed, his expression unchanged.

The red dragon lay beside him, its massive head resting on its front paws, its golden-red vertical pupils half-closed.

"Your apprentice... lay in ambush for most of the day, just to kill a few spiders."

"right."

"She seemed very engaged."

"As long as she's happy."

"Is this what you taught her?"

"Is there anything wrong with the teaching method that 'practice makes perfect'?"

The red dragon was silent for a moment, then exhaled two streams of air with sparks from its nostrils: "In the dragon race, a young dragon's first hunt is against prey that is not much weaker than itself. What you're doing... is more like making a young dragon step on ants."

"Stepping on ants makes your legs nimble."

"...Whatever makes you happy."

Lilith had already run over, her steps light as if she were walking on clouds, her long silver hair flowing behind her, and a bright smile on her face that seemed to say, "Praise me, praise me!"

"Master! Master! Master! I'm done! I've finished them all! Not a single one escaped!"

She ran up to Ji Tian, ​​put her hands on her knees, and gasped for breath, but her eyes shone like two purple stars.

Ji Tian glanced at her and asked casually:

"Are you injured?"

"No!"

"Are you tired?"

"Not tired! I can take on twenty more!"

Ji Tian reached out and plucked a withered leaf from her hair, then used his thumb to wipe away the grayish-white spiderweb mark on her face.

The movements were very gentle, like wiping a piece of porcelain.

"good."

Just two words.

Lilith then laughed triumphantly.

"Master! I knocked down twenty spiders today! Seventeen small ones, two medium ones, and one big one! The big one was longer than my leg! I hit it with the stick, and it flipped over without even making a sound!"

"Hmm, I see your nineteenth spider broke off a branch."

"...That was an accident. The branch was too brittle."

"You tapped it half an inch off-center, otherwise it wouldn't have broken."

Lilith pouted, but quickly smiled again. "And the twentieth one! I aimed carefully before smashing it down! One hit, one kill!"

"Yes, the location is correct."

"That's progress!" Lilith said, hands on her hips and chin held high. "Look, I went from not daring to go near spiders in the morning to now being able to kill a giant spider with a single blow. That's called talent!"

Red Dragon yawned beside him, the sound as loud as a mountain wind howling.

Lilith was startled and jumped back a step, then remembered that the red dragon was now "her own dragon," and straightened her chest.

A sect leader with extraordinary abilities, a red dragon guest elder who has lived for over two thousand years, and me, clever and adorable!

Our sect is truly amazing!

"Senior Long, what do you think of my performance today?"

The red dragon lowered its head and glanced at her with one of its huge vertical pupils.

"The ants were stepped on well."

Lilith's smile froze for a moment. She turned to look at Ji Tian. "Master, is it scolding me?"

"It's not an insult, it's an evaluation."

What's the difference between praise and criticism?

"Evaluations are objective, while criticisms are driven by emotion."

"So, objectively speaking, how well did I play?"

Ji Tian thought for a moment, "The ants were stepped on quite well."

She wanted to argue, but after glancing at the red dragon's enormous size, she realized that in the dragon's eyes, spiders were indeed similar to ants.

She decided not to argue with the dragon.

Lilith took a deep breath, squatted down somewhat pathetically, plucked a foxtail grass from the ground, and twirled it in her hand.

"Master, are we fighting again tomorrow?"

"It depends."

"Can't we hunt something different? Like... something that flies? Or something that makes noise? I've been hunting spiders all day, and now when I close my eyes, all I can see in my head are eight legs."

"Yes, there are flying ones, are you sure?"

Lilith thought for a moment and realized that she couldn't climb trees, let alone fly. "...I'll just fight those that can't fly."

Ji Tian straightened up from the tree trunk and patted off non-existent dust from his robes.

"I'm gone."

"Back to Koldeville?"

"Hmm. You did a good job today, I'll take you out for something nice to eat."

"Still the 'Golden Acorn'?"

"You said you wanted to eat roasted lamb chops last time."

Lilith paused for a moment.

The last time she said she wanted to eat roasted lamb chops was yesterday, in her hotel room, facing the wall. She thought her master was meditating and didn't hear her.

"Master, did you hear that?"

"Yes."

"Weren't you meditating?"

"Where divine sense covers, even the fluttering of mosquitoes and flies can be heard, let alone human speech."

Lilith was silent for a moment, and finally finished translating her master's words in her mind. She jumped up and grabbed Ji Tian's arm.

"Master, you're so kind! I want roasted lamb chops! I also want roasted chicken wings! I also want cream of mushroom soup! And—"

"Same as above."

"good!"

She released Ji Tian's arm, turned around and waved to Honglong: "Goodbye, Senior Long! I'll bring you a small cake next time! You might not eat it, but it's my way of showing my appreciation!"

She realized after she finished speaking that a dragon could not possibly eat a small cake; it wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth.

But having already spoken, she decided that next time she would really bring one and place it in front of the dragon as an offering.

Honglong glanced at her, then at Ji Tian, ​​and then closed his eyes.

"This human apprentice talks too much."

Lilith was already skipping and hopping down the mountain, her long, silvery-white hair like a small flag in the twilight.

Ji Tian followed behind her, his pace neither too fast nor too slow, always maintaining a distance of three steps.

After taking a few steps, he turned his head and glanced at the red dragon.

"She's my apprentice, please take good care of her in the future."

The red dragon did not open its eyes, but the tip of its tail twitched slightly.

Ji Tian led Lilith for about five hundred steps before suddenly stopping.

"Master, what's wrong?" Lilith asked, her mouth still full of wild fruit she had picked from the mountain.

"This is about right." Ji Tian turned around and glanced at the dark red dragon lying on the hillside.

This is the optimal distance that the Red Dragon can perceive directly, yet cannot be instantly struck by it.

The red dragon was also watching him.

His golden-red vertical pupils were half-closed, as if saying to him, "Hurry up and leave, don't disturb my sleep."

Ji Tian withdrew his gaze and grasped Lilith's wrist.

This time, he didn't count down or give any warning.

The Minor Teleportation Technique activates instantly.

Space twisted and folded in front of him, like a piece of paper crumpled by an invisible hand.

The two figures flickered in the air for a moment, then vanished without a trace.

There were no magical fluctuations, no chanting, and no signs whatsoever.

It was as if they had never existed there.

The red dragon's pupils suddenly dilated, and with a mighty flick of its tail, it snapped half a row of pine trees, sending rubble and broken wood tumbling down the hillside.

It suddenly raised its head, its huge head lifting off its claws, its golden-red vertical pupils staring intently at the empty meadow.

"This is……"

It has lived for two thousand years and has seen countless magicians.

Spatial magic does exist, but any form of spatial teleportation requires magic circles, spells, and the continuous magical output of a powerful mage.

The human in white had nothing.

He simply grasped his apprentice's wrist and then disappeared.

It wasn't invisibility or high-speed movement; it was a true, seamless space jump.

The red dragon slowly stood up, its wings slightly spread, as if confirming something.

Its gaze swept across a radius of several miles, but it found no trace of anything.

"The laws of space..."

Red Dragon had always thought that the other party's sudden appearance around him was due to the use of a secret technique to conceal their form and aura, but now it seems that this is not the case.

The red dragon lowered its head and lay back down on the ground, but its tail twitched involuntarily, breaking a few more small trees. "Just how much more is this human hiding?"

It closed its eyes and stopped thinking.

Fortunately, we didn't continue fighting back then.

Dozens of miles away, near the city of Kold.

As soon as Lilith finished teleporting, she bent over and coughed twice to spit out the fruit pit from her throat, then glared at Ji Tian.

She put her hands on her hips, stomped her foot, and said, "Master, I'm getting angry! Didn't we agree to give you advance notice? Your clever, cute, and capable disciple almost choked to death on a wild fruit pit!"

"The reason I teleported directly this time was to demonstrate some spatial abilities to that dragon, so that it wouldn't bully the disciples of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect while I was away."

Ji Tian still harbored a sliver of wariness towards the Red Dragon, even though it had become a guest elder of the sect. After all, the original agreement was merely to save the sect from dire straits, with too few restrictions, making it easy to find loopholes.

He looked down at his apprentice, who was still deep in thought, and said, "Don't worry, with me here, you won't be killed by a single fruit pit."

"Ah?...Oh, so that's the deeper meaning?" Lilith wasn't angry anymore after hearing this. She blinked and then added fuel to the fire, "Well done, Master. It should see your strength. It dares to mock me today, and it will dare to ride roughshod over you tomorrow..."

Ji Tian walked along, listening to his apprentice's chatter, until he entered the city.

The main street of Cold City gradually lit up in the twilight.

One by one, the signs of taverns and inns were lit up, turning the cobblestone street a warm yellow.

The air was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread and stewed meat, mingled with the scent of hay from the distant stables, creating a hearty, comforting atmosphere that made your stomach rumble.

Ji Tian took the lead, walking at a leisurely pace, with Lilith following behind. She was still chewing on the last wild fruit she had picked from the mountain, which was so sour that she frowned, but she couldn't bear to spit it out.

"Master, are you sure there's still room for the 'Golden Acorn'? It's lunchtime right now."

"If not, then wait."

"How long will it take?"

"Wait until it's available."

Lilith thought about it and felt that this answer was no different from "I don't know," but she was already used to her master's thought process.

Turning the last street corner, a wooden sign carved with an acorn pattern comes into view, the sign for the "Golden Acorn" restaurant, gleaming warmly in the candlelight.

Several people were standing at the door.

Her golden hair stood out brightly in the lamplight, like a small flag.

Wearing light silver-white armor, with a long sword hanging at her waist, the holy runes on the scabbard swirling with faint golden patterns in the twilight.

Behind him followed a woman in a red robe, a dwarf carrying a greatsword, and a silver-haired priest holding a holy book.

The Brave Squad.

Alex was standing at the door talking to his teammates, Mason was yawning, Bruno was rubbing his stomach, and Anna was standing quietly to the side.

One player is missing from the five.

Ji Tian's gaze swept over the four figures, and his heart stirred slightly.

The elven archer is not here.

The sprite with keen senses, silent footsteps, and who had once lingered on him with her gaze, was gone.

"Has the reconnaissance team not returned yet? Or are they busy with something else?"

He didn't investigate further.

But an idea popped into my head.

He glanced at Lilith behind him, and an idea came to him.

Lilith was wiping the wild fruit juice and the saliva that involuntarily dripped from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve when she noticed her master's gaze and paused for a moment.

"Master? What's wrong?"

"See those people? Go over and say hello."

Lilith followed his gaze to the restaurant entrance, then suddenly shuddered, pointing incredulously at herself and asking:

"I?"

"right."

"Should I take the initiative to greet the hero?"

"right."