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It was not easy to locate the body of the Second Order mutated spider.

The land was practically unrecognizable with a large crater whose depth was difficult to describe in simple words but whose darkness seemed to have the capacity to attract the soul of anyone who tried to look inside was right where the blood trident containing the skill Crimson Blood Judgment hit.

Craters of varying sizes but with depths of at least ten meters could be seen everywhere around a kilometer from the impact. If the distant surroundings were like this, one could imagine how terrifying the depth at the center of the crater would be.

Bai Zemin could only hope that the explosion had sent the body or what was left of the body of the Second Order mutated spider flying or otherwise he would have to jump into that hole that looked more like an abyss than a crater.

They both searched for more than ten minutes until after a great effort they finally found a burnt area with a slightly nauseating smell and some green marks. Although there was nothing left of the spider's body, at least they managed to find a Second Order Soul Stone.

Both, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, were ecstatic when they found the soul stone that had formed inside the mutated spider's body.

This was a Second Order Soul Stone!

Until now, Bai Zemin only had 1 of those! The only one in his entire faction!

"Now only 998 more to go before we can fulfill one of the power generator's requirements." He joked.

Shangguan Bing Xue actually felt like laughing at how bad his joke was, but fortunately, she managed to restrain herself and just looked at him with a completely speechless expression.

"I wonder where the treasures fell." He finally sighed as he looked around the surroundings.

No matter where he looked, all he could see was destruction.

Giant trees crushed beyond all recognition, thick branches shattered, large rocks flattened, small pools of lava that still burned under the constant harassment of the storm, scorched earth, and so on.

Regardless of where he looked, he couldn't see any treasure orbs, skill scrolls, or old sheepskin scrolls.

"I'm sure there will definitely be a treasure..." Shangguan Bing Xue also looked at the surroundings before saying with a bitter smile, "But with that explosion, only god knows where the orbs and scrolls flew off to."

"Hahaha..." Bai Zemin couldn't help but laugh as he saw the expression on Shangguan Bing Xue's face. Seeing how she looked at him puzzled, he noted, "I must say, you really do look much more human now."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" She said as she folded her arms and looked at him seemingly offended.

Bai Zemin quickly added, "No, well... What I mean is that you look more.... Accessible? Something like that."

Although he thought her smiles were incredibly beautiful to appreciate, he didn't say it out loud. He didn't think there was any need for such a thing and probably a beautiful woman like Shangguan Bing Xue had already received countless compliments like that in the past; besides, Bai Zemin didn't want her to think he was flirting or anything similar as that might put the good friendly relationship they had formed after more than a month of countless battles, hardships, and trust built after countless trials into a complicated situation.

"I was only joking. I understood what you meant." Shangguan Bing Xue relaxed and smiled bitterly, "As you can understand now that you know about my past, it's not easy for a young woman like me to casually relax in front of others."

Bai Zemin sighed in his heart and looked at her with a little pity.

Her father threw her on the side of the road like a trash bag, many people with political power somehow tried to use her, men started to look at her with desire from a young age, one of her best friends suddenly fell in love with her and didn't understand when she told him that she was only looking for his friendship, etc.

Having only her mother in her life, Shangguan Bing Xue's past had forced her to become who she was today.

Not wishing to dwell on past issues that could only bring pain, Bai Zemin quickly thought of something and calmly said, "By the way... I don't know about you but I don't plan to leave behind valuable treasures."

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at him gratefully as she naturally understood what he wanted to do. She pointed out, "Well, I don't have any intention of leaving anything here as well."

"Since that's so, how about you search on the right rise and I'll go on the left." Bai Zemin proposed after deep contemplation.

Hearing this, Shangguan Bing Xue stared at him with deep eyes and said nothing for a long time.

"What's wrong?" he asked dumbfounded.

Had he said something wrong? Why was she looking at him like that? Bai Zemin was really at a loss about this.

She finally sighed and said in a soft voice, "How about you look left and I'll go right?"

After saying that, she stared at him to see his reaction and, just as she expected, Bai Zemin's expression changed slightly.

In the end, Shangguan Bing Xue did not give him time to say anything and silently walked to the left.

Bai Zemin stared at her slender back until she disappeared further into the darkness. For a moment he thought he saw a faint smile on her face, but then shook his head as he rushed to the left. Countless raindrops fell on his face and on his body covered by his Rank 2 armor drenching him completely wet.

"I bet I look like a wet rat right now." He muttered to himself as he imagined what he would look like with his hair stuck to his head and completely flattened.

* * *

After a couple of seconds, Bai Zemin arrived in the vicinity of the ground on which the three Second Order beasts were fighting just before he launched Crimson Blood Judgment five hundred meters away and destroyed everything in its path.

Because the area of effect of the shockwave and the fire sphere had destroyed everything, this area was also completely unrecognizable. If not for the unstable mana and the slight traces of active skills remaining in the atmosphere, Bai Zemin might not have recognized the area even if he wanted to.

However, when he arrived there, encountered a scene he never expected to see even in his wildest dreams

"Damn it..." He couldn't help but curse under his breath as he walked towards the place more on the edge of the destruction.

The area where whatever it was that the white tiger and the giant ape were fighting over was located and what probably also attracted the attention of the Second Order mutated spider.

Of course, whatever it was that was there had already been completely destroyed and not even a trace of its existence remained. However, that didn't mean that there wasn't anything in it.

What the hell is this thing? Bai Zemin was dumbfounded as he looked at the material in front of him.

Because in the past this area was covered by earth, this object was not visible from the outside. However, now that the area had been swept from left to right by the aftermath of Bai Zemin's attack, the earth had been destroyed and a large crater big enough to reveal what was previously hidden had been formed.

Swoosh!

An unnatural breeze hit Bai Zemin's face but just as his expression turned serious and he was about to launch his attack, that unmistakable scent of sweet, fresh roses flooded his senses all at once and his body automatically relaxed as if by reflex.

Hey, Lilith. Do you know what this is?" He asked curiously as he looked at the strange material in front of him.

Even though he already had a rough idea, Bai Zemin didn't dare to casually touch something he wasn't sure about. Who knows if a powerful monster would actually come out of there, or worse yet, maybe he would end up activating something like a natural bomb strong enough to blow his little body into a million pieces? Better safe than sorry.

Fortunately for him, next to him was an extremely powerful being who despite being young had a lot of knowledge about the universe and the Earth in general. If it were someone else perhaps that person could only take the risk.

However, even after several seconds of waiting, the seductive and sweet voice of the one and only existence he trusted with all his heart and was willing to put his hands in the fire for, did not come.

"Lilith?" Bai Zemin turned his face to look at the woman standing next to him and looked at her with a hint of doubt as he saw the look in her eyes.

Lilith was standing two meters away. Her ruby-colored eyes were fixed on him, but the look in them was extremely complicated. There was surprise, doubt, uncertainty, and many other emotions that alone had the capacity to make one's heart tremble not to mention now that they were joined. However, the most notable emotion would be the worry that practically seemed to overflow from her eyes. Her always sharp eyebrows had curved slightly and the normally playful shape of her eyes was slightly decayed, just like a crescent moon but completely opposite from that crescent moon that automatically formed when a person was very happy.

"You..." Lilith looked at him and seemed to want to say something but hesitated. After a moment, she finally could only utter a few words, "You are growing up too fast..."

Bai Zemin looked at her for a few seconds and blinked as a bitter smile formed on his face, "Don't even tell me... Look, even the Soul Record and Earth had to devise countermeasures for me."

After those words, he stretched one of his hands forward and with his gaze urged Lilith to take it.

Lilith looked at his hand for a second before extending her delicate arm forward and letting Bai Zemin take her small hand gently. Immediately after, she could see the records engraved in his soul that he allowed.

What Bai Zemin showed her was his newly acquired title.

"Irregular..." She mumbled softly and her gentle voice was like a tender whisper amidst the crackling of lightning and the dripping sound of rain falling from the clouds. Lilith looked at him with extremely complicated eyes to the point where Bai Zemin couldn't understand and said with mixed feelings, "Really... You are an irregularity."

Bai Zemin did not understand why she was acting like this. Although his title was indeed shocking, wasn't it a good thing to some extent? After all, the more irregular he was then the more the odds of him being able to help Lilith in whatever it was she needed from him.

"Lilith... Is something wrong?" He asked this time genuinely disturbed.

Even though there were no existences on the current Earth capable of threatening the safety of the woman in front of him, the complicated look in that beautiful pair of ruby eyes exposed just how heavy her heart felt.

With her being the only one who was there for him at all times and her being someone he owed so much to, how could Bai Zemin not care? Even if his heart were made of stone such a thing would not be possible unless he was truly emotionless.

Lilith smiled bitterly and while looking him in the eyes, replied in a low voice: "You are growing so, so fast, that slowly all my knowledge will start to become useless to you... Everything is getting out of hand faster than it originally should..."

That's not true." Bai Zemin shook his head and said firmly, "Look, just now didn't I need your help in identifying whether this thing in front of us is benign or malignant? This is just one of the countless future cases in which I will need your guidance. Without you, I would probably have died by now in some unknown corner without alarming anyone and without raising waves."

Lilith looked at him with complicated eyes and shook her head as she said, "You don't understand. It's not that simple."

"Then what's the problem?" Bai Zemin looked at her and took a step forward, "Lilith, I really want to help you... Even though my strength is still lacking and I can't do much for you, I'd at least like to be a person with whom you can vent your grievances, someone whom you can maybe ask for an advice or two."

Even though Lilith's life was more extensive than the years lived by Bai Zemin and probably had not only much more knowledge about the universe than him but must also have more knowledge about life itself, she was after all a considerably young person since even though Bai Zemin did not know her exact age she was not yet even 100 years old.

For someone so young, many times the advice or opinions of other trustworthy people could be of great help in freeing oneself from bonds that were actually not as powerful as one initially assumed.

Bai Zemin hoped that he could ease Lilith's worries even if it was just a small notch. It was the least he could do for her and, unfortunately, it was also the most the current him could do.

"You don't understand..." Lilith shook her head and a nostalgic but with a hint of unfamiliarity expression flickered across her face as she looked at him, "You diverted too much. My arrival on day 1 when the Soul Record reached this world might have been too rushed... Even though it's undoubtedly good that your strength is increasing so quickly, I don't like it when things get too out of my hands."

Bai Zemin looked at her silently, trying to process what he had just heard.

As the only two living beings in this clearing of land completely overwhelmed by the destruction of an off-scale attack looked at each other, the rain continued to fall like a seemingly unstoppable and inexhaustible waterfall.

Thunder roared beyond the clouds and roared across the skies illuminating the world with powerful flashes of blue and violet light for tiny flickers, shining on the handsome man's face and the beautiful woman's face for mere seconds before fading again and leaving the world in total darkness as it was before.

"Lilith." Bai Zemin finally broke the silence.

"Mm?" She looked up at him, and when she noticed that particularly serious look on his no longer so normal face, her blood-red lips curved imperceptibly upward as she waited for his next words.

After taking a deep breath, Bai Zemin's sea-deep black eyes filled with resolve and he finally asked a question that had been bothering him: "You... You ever met me in the past?"

A look of 'that's how it is' shone in Lilith's eyes as she nodded slightly to herself. She looked at Bai Zemin with a faint smile that intermixed with her still lingering worried look gave form to an extremely complicated expression and said in a clear voice, "No."

Bang!

A flash of lightning illuminated the area followed immediately after by a mighty thunder that shook the earth. As the natural light illuminated her face, Lilith's expression remained unchanged.

Although it was impossible to know whether she was lying to him or not, Bai Zemin for some reason felt that what she was saying was true. But that strange feeling simply made him feel even weirder inside.

No? As he looked at her in a daze, thousands of questions and doubts filled his mind.

Just then, however, Lilith continued:

"But... I do know someone named Bai Zemin from a long, long time ago."

The complicated expression on her face became even worse after saying this. Her slight smile turned into a slightly bitter one before it returned to normal and she asked, "Why? You think I came from the future?"

Bai Zemin jumped in surprise upon hearing the question she had just asked him. In fact, that was exactly what he was thinking. After all, every detail presented so far on Lilith was too strange and her words implied too much; therefore, he came to that conclusion naturally.

In the end, little did he expect that Lilith's answer would end up making him even more confused than he already was.

What did she mean by she knew Bai Zemin a long time ago but didn't know him?

With his mind in a mess, he awkwardly asked, "This Bai Zemin... Is he someone with my name?"

Even though somehow the answer was already there, he still asked.

And Lilith's answer only confused him even more.

"The Bai Zemin that I have known for a long time in a way is also you, but at the same time, you both are two completely different existences. You both look alike but at the same time, you are nothing alike... I knew that you existed somewhere, but I didn't know you. The first time I and you actually met was on day 1 when the Earth changed after the intervention of the Soul Record."

"You... Just, who are you?" Bai Zemin looked at her in a daze and with a blank mind unconsciously blurted out that question.

"Didn't I tell you already?" Lilith suddenly smiled sweetly and said as if it was obvious, "I am called Lilith, a Sixth Order existence belonging to the faction led by the Eighth Order existence called Lucifer, the Demonic Army. I am also a holder of two Firmament Fragments and my current race could be considered a succubus among the demon faction."

Bai Zemin sighed when he heard this and slowly closed his eyes, allowing the pristine water to hit his face uncontrollably. It was too obvious to him that she would no longer say anything regardless of how much he inquired, and he did not wish to inconvenience her any further either.

However, it was not as if he had gotten nothing out of this conversation.

At least he managed to learn that Lilith had known about his existence for a long time but that they definitely did not know each other before she appeared in front of him when the apocalypse broke out. This completely left out the theory of her coming from the future, but while it cleared up one doubt, it left much more hanging.

Besides, another thing he managed to silently pick up on was that, perhaps, Lilith's race was not always a succubus.

They were small details, almost useless and if one didn't pay attention to them they could easily be overlooked. But since Bai Zemin really appreciated Lilith a lot and really wanted to help her in any way possible, those small details could not slip through his fingers and get lost.

Seeing him open his eyes once again and noticing how his mind finally stabilized, Lilith encouraged him a little by saying, "You don't need to overthink it. At your current growth rate, it won't take much more than a couple of years for you to know the answers to most of the questions you have today."

Bai Zemin chuckled and said in a joking tone, " I will probably have more doubts by that time than I do today though. As for whether I get answers to those questions by then, only destiny will tell."

Lilith shrugged with a smile.

Although the conversation she had with Bai Zemin was not relaxing and the topic they discussed was extremely serious and important, most of her worries were also swept away.

While Lilith did not know what was going to happen tomorrow, in the past she at least had a rough idea of the course things might take. However, the young man in front of her was an anomaly beyond what she originally estimated and every possible scenario was being destroyed one after another.

But even if that was so... Even if she didn't particularly like nor was she a fan of not having some control over what was or was about to happen around her, at least she knew she didn't have to worry so much about the young man in front of her.

The faster Bai Zemin grew up, the faster she could finish her reason for coming to this place. Besides, to begin with, the faster he grew up, the less chance there would be of disasters that no one wanted to see.

Therefore, her only latent concern was one.

"Just remember not to underestimate your enemies." She advised gently. "In the future, you will definitely meet countless existences that pretend to be weak but in reality hide terrific power. Not only humans but there are also many races in the universe that are extremely treacherous."

Bai Zemin gave a thumbs up and assured her, "You don't need to tell it to me. I've already been bitten once, I definitely won't easily trust others, let alone underestimate someone."

No one capable of advancing through the ranks of evolution was simple. Even the weakest were monsters who had slaughtered countless lives and forged their own paths with the bones of their enemies while bathing in the blood of the slain.

Someone who had managed to survive for an unknown amount of time until he encountered them definitely could not be someone simple. Because to get there, that existence would definitely have to undergo countless tribulations just like Bai Zemin himself.

Only an extremely arrogant idiot would ignore such beings and underestimate them.

Bai Zemin had read dozens of stories in which powerful characters were stupidly killed for overconfidence in themselves.

"As long as you're firmly clear on that, then it's fine." Lilith sighed and shook her head before changing the conversation, "By the way, what were you going to ask me earlier? Was it about this mental one?"

"Ah! Right." Bai Zemin quickly recalled the matter in question and turned his gaze to the ground in front of him.

Buried in the center of a crater, there was a pile of an amethyst-colored object that under the glare of lightning glowed with a faint metallic light. The pile was enough to forge several pieces of equipment and each metal fragment was the size of a grown man's fist.

However, the problem was that this object that seemed to be an unknown metal never seen on Earth before also had small blue flashes flickering on the surface occasionally; this was the main reason why Bai Zemin did not dare to carelessly touch it earlier.

Mmm..." Lilith stretched a hand forward and with exquisite control over her own Mana made a fragment float towards her.

Bai Zemin looked at her with glittering eyes and anticipation awaiting her verdict. If that metal was good and Lilith gave him the green light, then he could forge better equipment when he had free time!

"This is a slightly rare Rank 2 metal." Lilith analyzed as she casually touched the metal. She looked at him with a playful smile and joked, "Don't worry, it won't explode or anything."

Bai Zemin took the metal fragment from her hand and snorted, "Just to show you how cautious I am. I don't even underestimate metals!"

"Hehehehe..."

As Lilith's beautiful giggle rang around him like delicate silver bells, the information and details about the metal fragment flashed in Bai Zemin's retina. However, even before reading the information about the object, he couldn't help but be amazed by the weight.

[Lapiodite: An extremely strong and heavy Rank 2 metal. It needs a flame with a power comparable to a Second Order skill to melt it. The weight of this metal depends on the gravity of the world in which it is born and multiplies it x2 each piece used. It possesses electrical properties and is especially good for forging magical gear.]