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The City Lord’s Manor had several towering watchtowers. They were normally manned by guards keeping watch over the surroundings. Now, however, every one of them stood deserted.

Lilith stood atop one of the towers, overlooking the entire City Lord’s Manor. The manor was still brightly illuminated, but it was not lamplight that drove back the darkness. It was fire.

Some overturned lanterns had ignited the buildings, though no one knew who had knocked them over. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, while the dry, frigid autumn wind fanned the flames, which quickly engulfed every residential building within the City Lord’s Manor.

The earlier clamor had long since faded away, leaving behind nothing but dead silence. The wind carried the heavy stench of blood. It seemed she had arrived too late.

Lilith raised her head and looked toward the tower opposite her. A figure cloaked in black robes stood there. Thick, sticky blood had soaked the hem of the robe, yet even as the breeze swept past, the figure remained utterly motionless, like an icy statue carved from darkness.

A pair of sinister eyes peered out from beneath the oversized hood, slowly sweeping over Lilith from head to toe.

Looking at the black-robed figure, Lilith asked curiously, “So you’re the Moon Demon?”

“That’s right. I am the Moon Demon.” The reply came in a harsh, grating voice, like two iron plates scraping against each other, making it impossible to tell whether the speaker was male or female.

Lilith glanced at the ground before asking, “Did you do all this?”
“I did.”
“How cruel. You slaughtered everyone.”
“You can’t blame me for that. All I did was set a few fires.”
“The fire certainly burned well.” A faint, mocking smile appeared on Lilith’s lips, though it was impossible to tell who exactly she was ridiculing.

“But wasn’t the Moon Demon only supposed to appear during a full moon?” she continued.

“I can emerge whenever I wish. Without a full moon, I simply can’t fight at my full strength.”

“I see.” Lilith nodded before sighing softly. “As expected of a demon. That’s only natural.”

The instant the word *demon* left her lips, Lilith clearly sensed the black-robed figure’s killing intent surge explosively. Yet he ultimately restrained himself, merely asking in an even colder voice, “How did you figure it out?”

“Figure it out?” Lilith shrugged indifferently. “Did I even need to? Becoming vastly stronger whenever there’s a full moon? No matter how you think about it, that doesn’t sound like a human.”

“It certainly doesn’t sound human. However, this city lies within the protection of the Immortal Cloud Pavilion’s Boundary Marker. Demons cannot enter.”

“Huh? Really?” Lilith froze. She instinctively scratched her head. Now that he mentioned it… that did seem to be the case. She had simply forgotten.

The Moon Demon was momentarily taken aback as well. He had never expected this so-called Immortal from the Immortal Cloud Pavilion to have completely overlooked something so obvious.

‘Wasn’t that damned Boundary Marker created by your own people?’ His tone immediately became tinged with irritation. “Are you mocking me?”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m still new around here, so I haven’t completely memorized all the settings yet.” Lilith pulled out a small notebook and quickly flipped through its pages. “Ah, found it.”

She stopped on the page she was looking for.

“Blood Demon. Cunning by nature, bloodthirsty, fond of cold environments, and delights in drinking human blood. Its strength increases greatly by borrowing the power of moonlight.

“The Blood Demon possesses the ability to beguile the human mind. Its combat ability is mediocre, but when faced with mortal danger, it can escape independently in the form of its Demon Core. The Demon Core itself possesses no combat ability and is extremely fragile, but it can survive by attaching itself to a human host.

“The Blood Demon can also transform humans into demons. It is one of humanity’s greatest hidden threats. All fellow cultivators are advised to kill one on sight.”

Lilith read aloud the passage from the Bestiary of Hundred Demons she had picked up from the old Daoist before looking up at the black-robed figure with a teasing smile. “So you’re a Blood Demon. And not just any Blood Demon. Five years ago, the reason you managed to slip inside the Boundary Marker was because you weren’t a demon back then. You were a pill. You’re the very Blood Demon Pill that sparked the conflict among the major families five years ago!”

“That’s right. I am the Blood Demon. And I am that Blood Demon Pill.” After Lilith exposed his true identity, the Moon Demon displayed none of the panic one might have expected. Instead, he became remarkably calm.

“So, whose body in the Ye family have you been attached to?” Lilith narrowed her eyes as she asked. “Five years ago, when you suddenly disappeared, it was Landon who hid you away, wasn’t it?”

Inside the small room within the Ye family’s Grand Library, Lilith had learned the truth about what had happened five years ago from Landon’s notes. The pill said to allow one to break through into the Saint Realm, Liana’s abandoned mother, and how the three great families ultimately came away empty-handed.

But now that she thought about it, those records had merely been another layer of deception carefully arranged by Landon. They resembled the truth, yet were nothing more than a mixture of truth and lies, with just enough authenticity to mislead anyone reading them.

A man as cautious as Landon would never have recorded the complete truth in his notes. To someone like him, the only truly safe place for the truth was inside his own mind.

“I didn’t expect you to figure out my connection with the Ye family as well.” The Moon Demon remained as calm as ever, as though Lilith had merely mentioned something utterly insignificant. Or perhaps, after tonight, it really would become insignificant.

“As for whose body within the Ye family I’ve attached myself to…” he continued. “Why don’t you take a guess?” The Moon Demon let out a strange, giggling laugh that sounded like that of a coquettish young woman. “It might even be someone you know.”

“I have no interest in playing guessing games,” Lilith replied.

“What a pity. I thought it would’ve been quite entertaining.”

“No need to pity it. I’ll confirm it myself.” Lilith tucked the Bestiary of Hundred Demons back into her skirt before continuing. “Still, there’s one thing I don’t understand. Blood Demon… Blood Demon Pill… The connection couldn’t be more obvious. Why didn’t the three great families realize it? How could they mistake you for a pill capable of helping someone break through to the Saint Realm?”

“Heh… because…” The Moon Demon chuckled. “The Blood Demon race went extinct five hundred years ago.”

“What?”

“Five hundred years ago, the Blood Demon race enraged one of the Immortal Cloud Pavilion’s founding ancestors. That ancestor advanced a long distance into the Northern Domain and slaughtered every last Blood Demon. I am the final Blood Demon left in this world.”

For the first time, a trace of desolation seeped into the Moon Demon’s voice, though it was still laced with a grating note of mockery.

“The Bestiary of Hundred Demons you’re holding is an old edition, isn’t it? The current editions no longer contain any records of the Blood Demon race. Aside from a handful of old monsters who’ve survived from five hundred years ago, almost no one in this world even remembers that Blood Demons ever existed.

“And Maplefall Town doesn’t even have a single Saint Realm expert, so how could anyone there possibly know about Blood Demons?

“So with just a tiny bit of my innate ability to manipulate people’s minds, it was perfectly natural for them to mistake me for something else.”

“I see.” Lilith nodded, though the revelation didn’t surprise her all that much. “Then what was your objective?”

Looking directly at the Moon Demon, Lilith asked seriously, “You risked infiltrating human territory and spent five years preparing for this. I doubt your goal was simply to turn the Ye family against humanity.”

“Of course not. I’m afraid only that self-righteous fool Landon believed we stood on equal footing. The insignificant Ye family was nothing more than a tool for achieving my true objective!”

The Moon Demon’s tone suddenly became impassioned. He raised both hands as though trying to embrace something. Yet there was no moon in the sky. “I have only one objective. Revenge. Revenge against the Immortal Cloud Pavilion. Revenge against humanity. And for that… I am willing to pay any price.”