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“Both father and daughter are truly pitiful.” Lilith let out a soft sigh, yet soon afterward a troubled look crept across her face. She had more or less uncovered the truth of what happened five years ago, but in reality it did nothing to help treat Liana’s mental illness.

The knot in her heart was simply impossible to untangle.

“Perhaps… I should try a different approach?” Lilith rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe I could try moving her with love?”

When she pictured Liana’s somewhat foolish, innocent demeanor, Lilith suddenly felt that the idea might actually work.

“But before that happens, Landon would probably try to fight me to the death first.”

……

Lilith returned to the first floor. During this time, the several hundred clones she had sent out had already finished sweeping through the books on the other floors. One after another, they dissolved back into pools of black liquid and vanished.

Meanwhile, a general outline of this world’s structure gradually unfolded within Lilith’s mind. The world itself did not differ in the slightest from what she had originally expected. It was a cultivation world where spiritual power reigned supreme.

The Northern Domain, the Aurelion Empire, Skysouth Dominion, and…

Maplefall Town. This was the place where Lilith currently found herself. Not far from Maplefall Town stood the greatest sect of the Aurelion Empire, the Immortal Cloud Pavilion.

Strictly speaking, Maplefall Town lay within the territory of the Immortal Cloud Pavilion and was therefore under its jurisdiction. However, the members of the pavilion rarely involved themselves in mundane affairs. On top of that, they had the demon clans of the neighboring Southern Domain to contend with. Because of this, they simply allowed the city to be jointly governed by the City Lord’s Manor representing the Aurelion Empire, together with the three great local families of Maplefall Town.

Even so, the annual tribute that had to be submitted each year could not fall short by even the smallest amount.

As the old City Lord grew increasingly advanced in age, the authority of the City Lord’s Manor steadily weakened. Anyone with clear eyes could see that the true power in Maplefall Town had already fallen entirely into the hands of the three great families: the Ye family, the Wang family, and the Gongsun family.

Even though the three families had suffered heavy losses five years earlier, the old City Lord alone was ultimately incapable of supporting the entire City Lord’s Manor. Worse still, his son was nothing more than a debauched wastrel who spent his days drinking, indulging in pleasure, and preying on young girls.

The old City Lord had no worthy successor.

The three great families had long been sharpening their knives in anticipation, simply waiting for the day the old City Lord passed away. When that time came, they would step forward with their utensils in hand and carve up his remains until not a single scrap was left.

If they left behind even an urn of ashes for the old man, that alone would already count as an act of remarkable mercy.

Yet Lilith also discovered a piece of information that nearly made her eyes bulge out of their sockets. Liana was actually engaged to the old City Lord’s son.

This engagement had been arranged five years ago. In other words, at that time Landon had already become so obsessed with obtaining the Blood Demon Pill that he was willing to sell off even his own daughter.

Meanwhile, it had also been five years ago that the old City Lord’s illness had suddenly worsened. Even now, he still relied on rare heavenly treasures to prolong his life.

Most likely, when Landon fought for the Blood Demon Pill back then, the old City Lord had played no small role in it.

“He sacrificed so much, yet gained nothing in return. I wonder whether Landon regrets it now.” Lilith shook her head and quickly tossed aside the information, which was little more than gossip worthy of idle amusement.

Next came the real focus: the matter of those technological products. Without exception, all of them originated from the Immortal Cloud Pavilion.

To explain their origin, one had to go back twenty years. The pavilion’s founding ancestor, who had ascended over a century ago, suddenly returned. Along with his return, he also opened a passage leading to other worlds.

Those technological products had been brought from those other worlds.

However, such technology, which could have been extremely useful to ordinary people, had never been allowed to spread among them. Instead, it was tightly controlled by the Immortal Cloud Pavilion and the various cultivation sects and great families. Their control over these items was even stricter than that placed upon the artifacts, and they were almost never allowed to circulate outside.

Naturally, the idea of widespread adoption was therefore impossible. To ordinary people, those items were probably no different from artifacts, tools reserved exclusively for the *immortals.*

As for why the sects and great families chose to do this… Wasn’t the answer obvious? When you raised a flock of sheep that were gentle, obedient, and capable of producing a little wool from time to time, why would you ever give them sharp fangs?

Lilith, however, was not particularly concerned about any of that. What truly caught her attention was something else. “The Immortal Cloud Pavilion… passage… hm?” At last, she had found her target.

***

“Hey, what are you spacing out for?”

It was a bright afternoon. The weather today was exceptionally clear. Under the dazzling sunlight, Old Huang snapped out of his daze and realized that the young girl the family head had told him to look after had been calling out to him for quite some time.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Lilith waved her hand in front of Old Huang’s eyes.

“Stop messing around. I heard you.” Old Huang frowned and pushed Lilith’s hand aside. Then he shook his head. Perhaps he had been too busy recently and had not rested well, because his head felt strangely foggy. Especially the back of his head. It throbbed as if someone had struck him with a heavy club, leaving his mind drifting in and out of clarity.

“Since you heard me, let’s go.” Lilith shrugged, paying no mind to Old Huang’s rudeness.

“Go?” Old Huang glanced at the Grand Library standing right before them and asked in confusion, “You… aren’t going in?”

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything worth seeing. I’m not going.” With that, Lilith turned and walked back the way they had come, not bothering to check whether Old Huang would follow.

Old Huang looked at Lilith’s departing figure, then glanced back at the Grand Library that appeared unchanged. He could not help but shake his head in puzzlement. “Strange… something about this feels off.”

……

When they returned to the room belonging to Liana’s *mother,* Lilith discovered that Liana had not come back yet. “That’s strange. Does fetching medicine really take this long?”

Liana was not someone who procrastinated, especially when it concerned matters related to her *mother*. A faint sense of unease stirred in Lilith’s heart. She stepped out of the small courtyard and stopped a hurried maid in the corridor.

“Have you seen your Third Lady?”
“Th-Third Lady… she’s in the front hall.”
“What is she doing there?”
“She…” The maid hesitated, her words faltering.
“Forget it.” Lilith had no intention of wasting time pressuring a maid. She let the girl go and turned to look at Old Huang, who had followed behind her. “You take me there.”

Old Huang glanced at the maid hurrying away. A strange glint briefly flashed across his cloudy single eye. He slowly nodded. “Very well.”

……

Following Old Huang through the maze-like corridors once again, Lilith noticed that things grew unusually lively even before they reached the front hall. A large group of maids and servants crowded together there, craning their necks as if watching some spectacle. From time to time, muffled laughter could be heard.

“Ah, Master Huang.”

When they noticed Old Huang, the onlookers immediately suppressed their laughter, lowered their heads, and stepped aside to clear a path. Lilith was finally able to see what was happening in the front hall.

Landon sat in the chair at the head of the room, his expression dark and stormy. Liana stood nearby, clearly holding back a surge of emotion. She looked as though she wanted to speak but was being restrained by Landon’s warning gaze, and instead glared indignantly at something ahead of her.

At the focus of her gaze sat a young man dressed in luxurious clothing. His complexion was pale and hollow, the unmistakable look of someone whose body had been drained by excessive indulgence in wine and women. Lazily fanning himself with a folding fan, he lounged in a grand chair while speaking confidently to Landon.

“So, Uncle Ye, are you satisfied with the sincerity of my proposal to cancel the engagement?”