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The room was very dim. Illuminated only by the swaying flame of a lone candle on the wooden table in the middle, every corner of the room was draped in shadow.

Yet the dimness was not a hindrance to Lilith. She could still clearly see in the darkness.

There was a normal-looking bed. Lilith could vaguely make out a hunched figure lying on his side with the limited light the candle offered. It took her only a look to know how thin and frail the person on the bed was. Not to mention, he was also the source of the strong decaying stench.

“This is…”

Although there was already an answer in her heart, Lilith still could not stop the question from escaping her mouth.

Diana remained silent. She had not said a word since she entered the room, even when Lilith was rude enough to follow her into the wooden house uninvited.

She merely silently emptied the remains in the pot, then added new herbs into it and slowly boiled it on low heat, occasionally fanning the flame with an old hand fan.

Her face glowed in the light of the flame. Under her focused gaze, the pot started making gurgling sounds.

Lilith took a deep whiff. For someone with a keen sense of smell like her, the strong smell of herbs and decay were overwhelming. By doing so, she could clear the haze in her brain for a good while.

She approached the bed and gently lifted the last obstacle that obstructed her view. With the mosquito net out of her way, the clear view on the bed entered Lilith’s field of vision.

A familiar-looking old man laid quietly on the bed. His eyes were tightly closed, as if he was sound asleep. His pale and emaciated face showed how weak he was feeling.

Elder White, Lilith’s martial brother who taught her the White Jade Style, was now lying in front of her eyes like a dying man. It all felt so surreal to Lilith.

The man was clearly alive and kicking not long ago. It had only been a few days since she last saw him. What could possibly weaken such a powerful person who specialises in physical martial arts?

A trace of rare anger appeared on Lilith’s face.

“Who did this?”

Every word that came out of her mouth was dripping with killing intent.

Although the time they spent together was short, Elder White was still her martial brother. How dare someone reduce him into such a state?! Did they really think that she, the Dragon Princess, was only a cute mascot?

Whoever the culprit was, she would make him pay for it!

Lilith hissed with determination in her heart.

However…

“You.”

Diana, who was concentrating on boiling the herbs at the side, replied coldly to Lilith’s question.

“What…?”

Lilith could not wrap her head around Diana’s answer.

“What does ‘you’… mean?”

“Literally.” Diana raised her head. For the first time in Lilith’s memory, a hostile expression appeared on her usually happy-go-lucky face.

“The one who turned the old man into this is you, Lilith… Or rather, Golden Demon Htilil.”
“Htilil…? How could it be… I didn’t…”

I didn’t do anything bad…

That was what Lilith was going to say, but some otherwise irrelevant memories suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

When she was mistaken for the most wanted criminal of mankind, it seemed like Elder White actually battled against her back then.

No, that could not be called a battle. It was merely a one-sided attack by Elder White. She never fought back.

Then how did Elder White end up becoming like this?

Lilith’s gaze returned to Elder White’s body. As time passed, the stench of decay grew even stronger. Yet from the outside, Lilith could not see any trace of wound. It was almost as if…

He was decaying from the inside out.

A glint flashed across Lilith’s eyes.

Decaying from the inside…

Inside…

Lilith lifted her hand. Her slender arm glowed faintly in the dim light. Its translucence made it look like an exquisite masterpiece. And she was all too familiar with the prerequisites to achieve this state: the user’s entire body must be in White Jade Style state.

Since Lilith destroyed her own meridians, she was forced to separately store her magical power and battle qi in her dantian and flesh respectively. This was how she managed to keep her White Jade Style activated at all times.

However, only Lilith herself knew what she had to go through to achieve this.

Her flesh was constantly rotting from being constantly flushed by battle qi. It was regenerated, then rotted, and then regenerated again until her body adapted itself to the compressed battle qi that would explode like gunpowder at any time.

Her internal organs weakened to the point that it could not withstand the infusion of battle qi. No one would want to experience vomiting blood mixed with bits of damaged internal organs a second time.

The reason why Lilith was able to succeed was not because she was the protagonist of any novel like the Chosen One. Everyone knew that even if the probability of succeeding a task was extremely low, the success rate would always be a hundred percent for the Chosen One.

Lilith succeeded for only one reason⁠—she was a dragon.

Dragons were known for their powerful physical body and ability to recover.

Therefore, her flesh and internal organs that were damaged by battle qi could quickly regenerate.

However, this kind of thing was not possible for a human.

When recovery speed could not keep up with destructive power, the so-called flesh would become a consumable when the body was fully in White Jade Style state.

“Is it fun?” Diana suddenly asked.

“Disguising yourself and walking amongst the mortal races, enjoying what the world can offer to you, punishing the evil and rewarding the good, killing those you don’t see eye to eye with and bestowing favors upon those that you favor. This world is nothing but a game where you play the most dazzling role while you neglect the weaker pawns that you may unintentionally crush to dust due to your own actions.”

Diana gazed into Lilith’s eyes and repeated her question. “Is it fun, Dragon Princess?”

Lilith’s vermilion lips parted slightly as if wanting to say something, but nothing came out.

She could only taste bitterness on the tip of her tongue.

She felt like she was doused by a large bucket of cold water in winter. Yet she could not get mad at anyone, because she was the one who asked for it.

It was funny. The reason why Elder White had used the White Jade Style on his entire body and ended up in this pitiful state was so that he could save her, the real culprit.

“I will save the Elder White.”
“With what?”
“I’m sure there’s a way.”
“There’s a way?”

Diana sneered.

“By relying on that almighty daughter of yours again? Don’t joke around. I admit that the little girl named Cornelia is very powerful, but I don’t think she can help the old man to regenerate those internal organs that have completely rotten inside his body with such weak control over her own power.”

Lilith was rendered speechless.

She also understood that with Cornelia’s current control over her own power, she could only infuse life force at most, just like what she did to those old people before.

On top of that, those old people’s bodies were still in perfectly fine condition, so it did not require too much of her power.

It was different for Elder White’s case. He was no different than a sieve now. No matter how much water was poured in, it would leak out in an instant.

Everything they did would be futile until they found a way to plug those holes.

“Have you tried healing magic?”

“Of course, I’ve tried it long ago.” Diana lowered her eyes and concealed her emotions. “But the battle qi is still inside the old man’s body. The old man has lost consciousness and his body has gone completely berserk right now. Even if the healing magic can restore the damaged internal organs, they will immediately be torn apart by the battle qi in his body. This can further worsen his condition.”

Diana turned her gaze to the pungent herbs that were boiling at the side.

“We can only rely on these herbs to keep him alive for now. Other than that, we’re all out of options.”
“……”

Although Diana’s voice was extremely calm, one could hear the exhaustion and despair in her words.

She must have tried countless ways to save Elder White during this period of time. Anyone would feel despair to see the person who raised them from childhood lying in the bed like a dead person despite their efforts. Truth be told, the fact that Diana did not hit Lilith as soon as she saw her just now was proof that Diana was mentally stronger than an average person.

Too bad, being mentally strong was not of any use in a situation like this.

After a moment of silence, Lilith spoke up again. “I will save Elder White.”

“Are you stupid or did you not hear what I said just now? We’re already out of options. He’s done for. It’s over. The old man is breathing his last. So please, can your highness, the esteemed Dragon Princess, allow the old man to spend the final moments of his life in peace? He has already suffered enough because of you!”

Diana’s eyes reddened as she roared at Lilith. Her grip tightened around the handle of the hand fan so hard that it cracked. It was evident that she was now finally on the verge of an outburst.

It was as expected, her heart was not as calm as she tried to appear.

Lilith turned her gaze back to the Elder White. A memory flashed through her mind and overlapped with the figure in front of her.

The old man was the one who handed over his things to her, yet he was as happy as a child. Now, his breathing was so shallow at this time that it was difficult to even detect the rise and fall of his chest. Every breath he took was accompanied by a weak but unpleasant noise that sounded like a broken bellow.

One could only imagine how many holes were in Elder White’s body and how much pain he was in.

“What’s the matter? Why are you still here, dear Martial Aunt? Are you waiting for your Martial Niece to do something disrespectful to you?”

Lilith looked at Diana. When Diana met her ancient dragon eyes, a sudden chill grew in her heart.

All of a sudden, stars exploded in Diana’s eyes and then everything around her started spiraling out of control.

“Ouch!”

A sharp pain shot up from the back of her head. It was so intense that Diana’s vision went black.

By the time she came back to her senses, she found herself lying on the cold ground.

Lilith was straddling her and had planted her hands above her shoulders. Her molten gold pupils stared right into hers, exuding an absolute dominance.

“I said I will save Elder White. Just because you don’t have the means, doesn’t mean I don’t.”
“You…”
“You don’t have to do anything….”

Lilith lifted Diana’s chin. The corners of her mouth curled into a contemptuous smile that could make anyone’s heart race with excitement.

“I, Artemis Niger Lilith, swear in the name of Dragon Princess, I will definitely return Elder White who is alive and kicking to you soon. So just stay here and look forward to it, my dear martial niece.”