From the moment Lilith and Stirling dashed into the mansion until the battle ended, it seemed long. But it only lasted ten minutes.

  Stirling held the yellow cloth around the statue's fragments. He then wrapped it again with a tattered cloth he found in the side room. Finally, he got ready to leave.

  Stirling had not picked bedding or a cushion. He'd used a cushion to wrap the statue at Romeo's place. He was worried Lilith might see this and get suspicious, which could make a rod for his own back.

  "Even as a samurai, spending over ten minutes by this malice will sap your strength and blood. Are you sure you want to carry it like this?" Lilith, watching Stirling's actions, reminded him.

  "These are just fragments of the statue; it shouldn't be a big issue, right?" Stirling continued carrying the statue.

  He was not joking; how could he let Lilith carry it? What if he couldn't get it back later? That would be an immense loss.

  "Find a wooden box to wrap it up, especially willow wood; it can prevent the malice from escaping." Lilith said.

  "Really?" Stirling felt a bit surprised. But since Lilith was a worshiper at the Yearning Palace, she knew more about statues. So, Stirling found a food box in the side room that was just the right size. He put the package inside and carried it by hand.

  Lilith nodded. Then, they both left the mansion, walking towards Stirling's house.

  On the way, a few Night Watchmen rushed by. Without saying, they had got a message from Lilith and were coming to handle The Gray Spector's issue.

  Back in the courtyard, Stirling placed the wooden box on the table. Then Lilith said, "I need to go to the inner city to report to Lady Alena face-to-face. If all goes well, I should be back before sunset, but before I return, you must not open this box."

  "Yes, my lady!" Stirling replied.

  "Haha, look how nervous you are. But if I find out you're disobeying, don't blame me." Lilith is grinning like a Cheshire cat in Stirling.

  Right now, Lilith looked like the girl next door. But Stirling knew that if he opened the food box too soon, and was found out by the enchantress. The pretty girl in front would then kill him, like killing a chicken.

  "As you command, my lady." Stirling said, bowing his head.

  Lilith hummed in agreement, then pushed open the door and stepped out. Her figure blurred, and she disappeared from Stirling's sight in a few steps. Stirling stood still in the inner room. A few minutes passed, but Lilith still hadn't returned. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and slump hard onto the bench.

  "The air of freedom is so sweet."

  Heaven knows how stifled Stirling had been these past few days. He couldn't even urinate too loudly at night, fearing the witch would hear and use it as an excuse to kill him.

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  Even the Malice-Refining Technique was done cautiously, without daring to make a sound. It felt no different from jail.

  Thinking of his current brief freedom, Stirling stretched and spat out into the outside.

  Stirling grumbled as he closed the wooden door, then returned to the table and opened the food box on it a crack.

  Instantly, the rich malice within the food box surged forth from the crack. Stirling was thrilled. He put his palm over the crack and activated the Malice-Refining Technique.

  Aether moved through Stirling's meridians like a gurgling stream and flowed to his skin.

  The skin barrier seemed even more difficult than Stirling had expected.

  Even with a slight loosening, Stirling sensed his skin as a sponge, endlessly soaking up the malice.

  And so it went, for an unknown amount of time. Seeing the sky darken over time, Stirling was reluctant to part with his hand and closed the box.

  Stirling stood by the table, then turned around in a circle, checking the food box. He made sure nothing had shifted or left marks. Then, he sat down to wait for the demoness to come back.

  As the sun was setting, a knock at the gate.

  "Master, I'm back!"

  Hearing that familiar voice, Stirling cursed the vixen in secret. He then put a smile on his face and hurried to the gate.

  He opened the wooden door, and standing behind it was Lilith.

  Stirling hurried to step aside, gesturing for Lilith to come in.

  Once Lilith entered the courtyard, Stirling closed the door straight away and followed her into the house.

  "How is it? Is everything all right?" Upon entering, Lilith glanced at the food box on the table and asked in a breezy tone.

  "Of course." Stirling replied with a straight face.

  "My lady, shall I open it now?" Stirling said, preparing to open the food box.

  "What's the rush? Once you open it, who wouldn't know this is Seven Extreme malice when the worshipper approaches?" Lilith frowned.

  "Huh?" Stirling's outstretched hand froze in mid-air.

  "My lady, what do you mean?" Stirling asked.

  "I specifically brought back some Soul-Dispelling Incense from Lady Alena this time." Lilith said, taking out an item wrapped in a handkerchief from her bosom.

  Lilith unfolded the handkerchief and showed a piece of incense lying inside. It looked like it had just been broken, with some fine ash still clinging to it.

  "With this Soul-Dispelling Incense, others cannot tell what malice this is." Lilith said. Then, she took out an incense tray from her bosom, placed the incense on it, and told Stirling to light it.

  "My lady, since the worshippers can sense the categories of malice, why not bring a statue of the Pathos?" Stirling lit the incense with a tinderbox, asking with some confusion.

  "Do you think a statue is so easy to get? To the worshippers, the statue is more important than life itself. If danger arises unless an accident occurs, they will destroy it at all costs."

  "I heard from Lady Alena that my palace fought a great battle with the Pathos Shrine near the Lost Swamp. The Pathos couldn't compete with us. They smashed all the statues and formed a malice domain that reached a hundred miles!"

  Lilith spoke as she watched the smoke rise from the incense. Then, she reached out and opened the food box.

  "As the controller of the Monterey Kingdom, our Yearning Palace only has a hundred or so statues of the outer deity. Let alone in this tiny Farfield City!"

  Lilith spoke, her small hand gently fanning the food box above her. Smoke wisps floated out of the window and vanished into the air outside the house.

  ...

  In the small house by Stirling's, Elias sat on the floor tiles, meditating. In a flash, his brow furrowed, as if he had made a discovery, and his eyes opened a tad.

  Elias murmured. Then, his lower body straightened up, as if someone were supporting him from behind.

  He walked out of the inner room. A golden light flashed in his eyes as he looked out of the window of the house.

  His gaze traced a path, slowly settling on the sky above the small house next door.