On the staircase where neither advancing nor retreating was allowed, Xue Ji walked along the endlessly extending steps, curiously examining the intricate spatial structure.
Was this some kind of “between a rock and a hard place” effect?
Walking forward made the staircase extend further, walking backward kept her treading in place—so what about walking backward intentionally?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, Xue Ji decided to test it out.
When she regrouped with the old knight, he stared at her with eyes full of disbelief.
“Miss Mage, you’re really amazing.”
“You’re praising me a bit too soon.” Xue Ji sensed a dull rumble coming from the staircase and used a large spirit energy hand to grab the old knight.
Boom! A massive boulder tumbled down from above. With nowhere to run, disaster seemed inevitable.
“Miss Mage, something seems to be coming from up ahead!” the old knight pointed frantically.
“I know, I know. Just stay back,” Xue Ji said calmly.
Without even using her staff, she directly caught the rolling boulder with her spirit energy hand.
“Take this.” She hurled the boulder, smashing through the left wall, and guided the old knight as they floated backward all the way.
Along the path, Xue Ji triggered every single trap—volleys of arrows, bursts of flame, freezing frost, and waves of skeletons came one after another—but none of it had any effect.
The spirit energy shield around her body didn’t even crack. She even managed to collect a variety of skeleton soldiers along the way.
“Miss Mage, have we ended up in some kind of wasteland? Why is it hot one moment and cold the next?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just focus on cheering ‘way to go,'” Xue Ji said leisurely as she floated in the air.
“You’re a guard of the castle, aren’t you? How can you be so unfamiliar with all this?”
“Well, I… I’m just old and a bit forgetful,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Oh, right! I remember now what’s on the second floor!”
“What is it?”
“There’s a crazy…”
ROAR!
A dragon’s roar echoed throughout the second floor, and the unique pressure of dragonkind bore down on Xue Ji.
The oppressive feeling reminded Xue Ji of her time with that hero’s party.
“Dragonslayer” was the first title that hero’s party had earned.
Back then, the party had only three members: the Sage, the Hero, and the Elf Ranger. One was perpetually grumpy, one was an airhead, and one was a walking bundle of complaints and bad luck.
A team of only three people looked like a very unreliable combination.
“How nostalgic.”
They had been so inexperienced back then, messing up countless things along the way.
Xue Ji had still struggled to control her power properly. Even though her mana control far exceeded that of ordinary people, her spells would always get inexplicably amplified, causing no end of trouble.
Once, her fireball spell nearly burned down the home of the Elven tribe. The young Hero was just a novice warrior who had started late, and they could only take on simple quests to keep their adventure funds going.
Until that day, when a dragon attacked the remote border town where they were staying.
That was their first truly heart-pounding battle since they’d met. They honed their skills in the heat of combat, pushing their limits and unlocking their potential. Even their previously incompatible fighting styles began to mesh and complement each other through that fight.
The memory was interrupted by an oncoming dragon breath attack. A searing purple dragon breath swallowed Xue Ji’s figure.
The dark purple flames carried a poison not to be underestimated.
This toxin could contaminate spirit energy, even wearing down Leaf Vein Protection.
‘What’s the source of this poison? Interesting.’
Xue Ji sealed the flames and stored them away in her storage space.
When the dragon breath finally dissipated, Xue Ji stood there completely unharmed, brushing her hands together as if in challenge.
The dragon coiled within the castle’s second floor had scales gleaming with bright purple light—a nearly hundred-meter-long venomous dragon.
“It’s been a while since I stretched my limbs. Let’s have some fun.” Xue Ji set the old knight down in a corner.
“Come on, let’s fight to our hearts’ content!” With a wave of her hand, Xue Ji sent hundreds upon thousands of magic arrows raining down on the venomous dragon like a downpour.
Dragon scales grant dragons extremely high magic resistance; most spells that hit them are heavily mitigated.
Even so, Xue Ji’s magic arrows drew blood from the venomous dragon.
Dragons are generally arrogant—thanks to those scales, thanks to bodies born at the very top of the food chain, thanks to the immense magical power they possess from birth. They indeed have reason to be proud.
But precisely because of that, the arrogance accumulated since birth becomes the sharpest blade aimed straight at their hearts, in a place they cannot see.
And this venomous dragon, without a single scar on its body, had clearly been raised in captivity—it had never even experienced pain.
Xue Ji looked straight at the venomous dragon and smiled confidently.
“Are you afraid of pain, big lizard?”
ROOOAAR!
Fear flickered for the first time in the venomous dragon’s eyes. Xue Ji always enjoyed observing the reactions of powerful magical beasts when they sensed a real threat.
Emotions like fear, rage, numbness, and madness playing across their faces were endlessly fascinating to her.
“Run. Try to run.” A dark aura coiled around Xue Ji as Lilith’s spirit merged with her once more.
A long black robe draped over her, a black scythe in her grip, her eyes glowing red—like the Grim Reaper.
The enormous beast blocking the path found itself utterly unable to muster even a shred of resistance against this tiny figure. With each step Xue Ji took, the dragon’s pride was crushed further into dust.
“Get down.” The venomous dragon, cherishing its life above all else, immediately lay flat on the ground, all arrogance gone.
Xue Ji did not kill it. Instead, she took it as a summoned beast.
The venomous dragon still seemed uneasy, deliberately acting docile just to ensure Xue Ji would spare its life.
“Alright, off you go. I won’t kill you. When I call for you later, you’d better come obediently.”
Growl, growl, growl.
It rumbled lowly in reply.
Having dealt with the venomous dragon, Xue Ji picked up the old knight and headed to the third floor.
The third floor appeared to be the castle lord’s workshop for magical research, filled with all sorts of magical tools and materials. Although they were mostly common items, the sheer quantity piled up like small mountains made Xue Ji’s eyes sparkle with greed.
“This guy’s loaded. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I took just a little.” Xue Ji rubbed her hands together eagerly, wanting to replenish some of the materials that were hard to find substitutes for.
Upon arriving here, the old knight’s movements became much more nimble, and even his eyesight seemed sharper.
He hurriedly led Xue Ji past the piles of magical materials, weaving through a maze of hidden passages, finally stopping before an invisible mana barrier.
“Miss Mage, please, save the young lady.”
Xue Ji followed his gaze. Using her spirit energy vision, she pierced through the illusion of the barrier and met a pair of cold, indifferent eyes.
Within the barrier, inside a massive magical crystal, a splash of blue entered Xue Ji’s sight.
In those azure eyes, there was almost no trace of emotion whatsoever.
Xue Ji placed her hand on the mana barrier and forcefully pried open a gap using her own magical power.
Inside the crystal, the flawless, blue-haired young woman slowly pressed her hand against the crystal from the other side.
“Should I press mine up against it too?”
Xue Ji followed her instinct and did just that, placing her hand to match the girl’s.
When the two hands aligned through the magical crystal, Xue Ji’s hand suddenly slipped inside the crystal, intertwining fingers with the blue-haired girl.
In that moment, a slight ripple of emotion appeared in the girl’s indifferent eyes.
She spoke without making a sound.
“I… want to go… outside.”
Xue Ji was sure she had heard the other’s inner voice. Gently pulling, she drew the girl out from the crystal.
Xue Ji took off her robe and wrapped it around the girl’s bare body, but the girl simply stretched out both hands and spread her fingers wide.
From that utterly expressionless face, Xue Ji somehow sensed a feeling of pleasant surprise.
Almost as if possessed, Xue Ji clasped both hands tightly with hers.