Step. Step.

  Walking toward the wooden door, Yuan's mind raced, analyzing everything he knew about the spoiled girl and the scheming elder.

  Emilia,the spoiled girl.

  She likely knew nothing about any hidden schemes. Probably.

  After all, she was foolish,so foolish that she would guaranteed die a dog's death if left to her own devices.

  But the real problem was her grandfather.

  Elder Viktor.

  An old man, nearly a hundred years old, already with one foot in the grave.

  He had no hope of advang to the Meridian Awakening Stage,he was simply too old.

  Without miraedie or rare elixirs, his cultivation had long siagnated.

  But his experience made him dangerous.

  He had once been an outer disciple in a low-ranki, ohat had long since ceased to exist.

  Acc to his own words, the sect had been at war,a war they were doomed to lose.

  The enemy was far stronger, and when his sect was destroyed, the surviving leaders were sughtered.

  The victors did not stop there,they hunted down every st disciple, turning the remnants of the seto a massacre.

  At least two thousand died.

  Only the stro survived.

  Only those who could run escaped.

  Just from that story alone, Yuan uood the kind of man Elder Viktor was.

  ing. Ruthless. A survivor.

  To survive the annihition of a sect was a feat few could cim.

  Even the most talented cultivators often fell in such battles.

  Yet Elder Viktor had fled the bloodbath, evaded pursuit, and stayed alive to this day.

  That meant ohing.

  He was an expert at esg death.

  But so was Yuan.

  Elder Viktor had plenty of experience, but he would never suspect what kind of monster Yuan truly was.

  After all,who would ever believe that a twelve-year-old child could fight a Meridian Awakening cultivator?

  No one.

  If Yuan made such a cim, he would be ughed at and called a fool.

  A was the truth.

  Yuan could kill a Meridian Awakening cultivator.

  He could even fight a Bone F cultivator.

  But there was a limit.

  He couldn't defeat them irike.

  Against a Blood Purification cultivator, his Azure Basilisk Fmes were instah.

  But against a Meridian Awakening cultivator?

  His attacks were slow,too slow.

  But once his fmes nded…

  They wouldn't survive.

  A Meridian Awakening cultivator could ehe fmes for only a few seds before perishing.

  Only a Bone F cultivator could withstand the Azure Basilisk Fmes,but even they would suffer.

  The fmes would burn them tinuously, inflig pain with every passing sed.

  It wouldn't kill them, but it would torment them.

  With all these thoughts running through his mind, Yuan could only hope that Elder Viktor didn't have a powerful protective artifact.

  Taking a deep breath, he opehe wooden door.

  The m sun shone against his outstretched hand, its warmth pleasa meanio him.

  Above, the sky was clear,a perfect day for travel.

  His gaze swept across the surroundings, searg for the carriage.

  After a brief moment of sing, he found it.

  Elder Viktor was already seated, fully prepared to depart.

  And beside him,Emilia.

  The spoiled girl sat impatiently, shifting in her seat, clearly eager to leave.

  Yuan exhaled softly.

  It was time.

  Yuan wore a smile and casually waved his hand toward Elder Viktor.

  The elder returhe gesture, waving back.

  Meanwhile, the spoiled brat, Emilia, turo look at Yuan, her expression impatient.

  "e here already!" she yelled. "We want to reach the capital on time, not in a year!"

  Yuan could swear to the heavens,if he wasn't being so cautious around the elder, he would have tortured that arrogant girl to death using every si the Basilisk had ever mastered.

  But he restrained himself.

  Instead, he simply chuckled, brushing off Emilia's attitude, and responded with a feigned cheerfulness:

  "Yes, yes, I'm ing now!"

  With that, Yuan ran toward the carriage like a carefree child, his steps light and foolish-looking.

  Upon reag it, he chose to sit at the back, away from the elder and Emilia.

  Now that everyone was ready, Elder Vikthed heartily.

  "Hahaha! Now we finally begin our jouro the capital! Here we e!"

  With those words, the elder tugged the reins, anding the horses to move.

  The carriage lurched forward, beginning its long jouroward the mortal kingdom's capital,Wolven.

  Now, there was n back.

  The game of schemes had begun.

  Plots aions would slowly unravel, step by step, until the moment he would either be trapped, used, or killed.

  Who could predict what truly lurked in the mind of a human?

  Ohing was certain,something would happen.

  And when it did, Yuan had to be ready.

  At all times.

  Even though he had no desire to fight or plot against others, this opportunity was simply too valuable to waste.

  He had already starved once,he would never allow himself to gh that again.

  But this time…

  He repared.

  For the challenges.

  For the dangers.

  Even for the food problem,he had already solved that himself.

  Now, all he had to do was wait… and survive.

  Yuan had already sidered running away.

  After all, he khe capital's location.

  But to join a sect, one had to either be nobility from a mortal kingdom or be reended by a noble.

  Although Yuan could kill the baron and force him to grant a reendation, that would only lead to disastrous sequences.

  He would end up offending the sects,making it impossible to join them.

  So, unfortunately, that option was not viable.

  However, this realization gave him an important clue about the sects themselves.

  They were all righteous sects.

  After all, for demonic or evil sects, it didn't matter where their recruits came from.

  Righteous sects cared deeply about reputation and face.

  They followed strict moral codes, maintained prestige, and upheld the so-called justice of the cultivation world.

  Evil sects, oher hand, had no such restris.

  They operated under a different rule,strength above all.

  But while bhteous and evil sects were fually different, they had one on enemy

  The Demonic Sects.

  Unlike evil sects, which pursued power and ambition, demonic sects were in a league of their own.

  They thrived on sughter, blood rituals, and dark pacts with demons.

  By flesh and blood, they gained cultivation iurn.

  Because of this, bhteous and evil sects hunted demonic sects, creating what could even be sidered an unspoken alliance.

  But despite this, demonic sects still existed.

  And the reason for their survival was frighteningly simple.

  They were repceable.

  A demonic sect could easily transform a mortal into a Bone F cultivator, as long as suffit s were made.

  And why did demons support humans in this way?

  The answer was clear to Yuan.

  Basilisk had entered many demons in the past, having fought and killed them tless times.

  His flesh and blood were highly prized, being the only Basilisk alive.

  For years, demolessly hunted him, craving his unique body for their dark rituals.

  But one day,they simply stopped.

  At first, Basilisk was fused.

  Why had they suddenly lost i?

  Curiosity drove him to iigate, and what he discovered shocked him.

  Demons weren't chasing him anymore because the ones who had pursued him in the past were not true demons.

  The beings he had sughtered had merely been demonically ied cultivators.

  Real demons,true demons,didn't wahe world freely.

  Instead, they resided in the Demoniti, a massive ndmass protected by an a, powerful rune formation.

  This formation required endless blood and tless souls to sustain itself.

  It was a barrier, ohat prevented a demons from stepping foot on their nds.

  This knowledge deeply uled Basilisk at the time.

  If true demons never left their ti…

  Then who or what were the ones he had been fighting all those years?

  And that's when he deduced the horrifying truth.

  Demons didn't just exist separately from humans.

  They ied them.

  Corrupted them.

  Turhem into puppets.

  And the beings Basilisk had fought in the past?

  They weren't demons.

  They were humans who had already fallen under demonifluence.

  After learning the truth, Basilisk no longer cared about demons.

  They had only ever sent puppets to kill him,heir true forces.

  So, as far as he was ed, they weren't worth his attention anymore.

  Although evil and demonic sects were often described as bd gray, the so-called righteous sects and s were by no means saints or Buddhas.

  If anything, they were the worst hypocrites of all.

  They masked their cruelty behind noble words, yet iy, they were often more ruthless than even evil sects.

  Basilisk's own ,the Azure Dragon ,was one such 'righteous' .

  But through his experience, he had learned how to navigate their endless schemes and politics.

  If he had to pretend to be a pig so he could one day swallow the tiger of the mountain, then so be it.

  It would be annoying, but he would gdly e if it meant reag his goals.

  And so, the carriage departed the vilge, traveling across various ndscapes, cities, and vilges.

  But as the journey tinued, nothing happened.

  Nothing out of the ordinary.

  Nothing suspicious.

  And that fused Yuan.

  Had he been too cautious?

  Had Elder Viktor never been scheming against him at all?

  Was the old man truly just a foolish but kied person?

  These thoughts lingered in his mind as time passed.

  No matter how closely he observed them, her Elder Viktor nor Emilia acted any differently.

  They were exactly the same as before.

  Eventually, the carriage arrived at the mortal capital, Wolven.

  And by then, with tless thoughts running through his mind, something strange had begun to happen.

  His perception of the grandfather and granddaughter pair… slowly began to ge.

  Over the course of the jourhere were moments when he no longer o act.

  Moments whe his guard down, even slightly.

  Moments when he even ehe time he spent with Elder Viktor.

  Even so, deep within his heart, he remained cautious.

  No matter how fortable he became, he was alrepared for danger.

  But still, a hought emerged.

  Maybe…

  Just maybe…

  Could he actually bee friends with the spoiled brat?

  After all, she was just a child, not an adult.

  With a little guidance, a little effort, perhaps he could reeducate this rotten, spoiled child.

  Perhaps, instead of seeing her as a nuisance, he could turn her into someone useful.

  Time would tell.

  As the capital of Wolven finally came into view, the spoiled child, Emilia, could barely tain her excitement.

  Her eyes sparkled like shining stars, pletely captivated by the sight of the grand city.

  Seeing her childlike wonder, Yuan couldn't help but be amused.

  A small chuckle escaped him.

  But the sound of his ughter snapped Emilia out of her daze.

  She turoward him, pouting in annoyance.

  "What's so funny?" she demanded.

  Yuan simply shook his head, his expression calm.

  "Nothing. It's just a beautiful se… looking at the capital."

  Of course, the capital wasn't special at all.

  To a cultivator, it was no more than a primitive vilge.

  pared to the grand, t structures of the powerful sects and s Basilisk had seen in his past life, mortal buildings held no i for him.

  As they approached the capital, Elder Viktor spoke up.

  "We'll stop here for the night aer the capital by lunchtime tomorrow."

  It wasn't a request,it was a decision.

  Yuan, having no say iter, simply nodded without care.

  After all, the area around the capital was safe.

  There were no monsters, no unintelligent demonic beasts lurking nearby.

  The only possible threat was bandits.

  But no powerful bandit group would be foolish enough to operate he capital.

  That would be suicide.

  So, with no real danger present, they set up camp for the night.

  As night fell, they ate as usual, sharing a meal prepared by Elder Viktor.

  Yuan took his portioing without suspi.

  But the momeook a bite, somethi… off.

  A faint, familiar spice coated his tongue.

  It wasn't present in any of their previous meals.

  The realization hit him like a hammer.

  This wasn't just an ordinary spice.

  It was the spice of betrayal.