Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 612: Crafty Alice

“I wasn’t entirely lying before. This inheritance is far from the only one, and they were indeed left behind by the ancient practitioners to prepare for the Era’s eventual demise.”

Perhaps because she had witnessed part of Liora’s previous confrontation with “Elaouthr”, Alice didn’t hide such high-level secrets but mentioned them casually.

Just like the demon did, she also considered Liora a person of a past Era, albeit a slightly strange one.

“As for the part that… is not necessarily the truth, it’s that these cultivators never hoped that someone would rebuild the cultivation civilization.”

Alice shook her head with a faint smile.

“This is straight up nonsense.”

“Although I don’t know exactly what my creator’s plan was, I suspect that they left this inheritance behind to prepare for their eventual rebirth.”

“Perhaps someone obtaining this inheritance can help them recover. Or perhaps, this is part of a greater conspiracy and the inheritance is a tiny part of it.”

Despite the reverence Alice had previously displayed toward her creator, she didn’t hold back in her words in the slightest.

It was as though she was saying, “My creator left this inheritance with impure motives; be careful”.

To this, Liora was only briefly surprised.

She had already understood what was going on.

From Alice’s words, it was clear that she had been created shortly before the cultivator’s Era was destroyed.

As such, her creator did not have any time to spend with her and perhaps perished not long after her creation.

Although as a Spirit, she had some instinctive reverence toward them, that wouldn’t affect her very much.

Her situation was similar to Alpha.

When she had first been created back in the Crucible, if some powerful being had severed the connection between her and Liora, Alpha might very well have betrayed her.

But by now, having spent so much time together and developed their relationship, even if Alpha had not been Liora’s creation, she would act exactly the same.

Realizing this, Liora subtly nodded her head.

After asking a few more questions, mostly about Alice’s creator and the cultivation civilization as a whole, she shifted the conversation to what interested her the most.

“So… what’s the inheritance your creator left behind? Is it about the art of a puppet master?”, she questioned.

Alice nodded her head before shaking it repeatedly.

“Not exactly…”, she placed her finger on her lips, looking thoughtful.

“If you want to see it, I can take you to see it. Come on. Follow me.”, she said, wanting to turn around and lead the way toward the inheritance.

But halfway through that motion, she seemed to have discovered something.

The back of her neck… was still being held by Liora.

Not only did she fail to turn around, but the sudden movement made her situation even more awkward, causing her legs to dangle in the air.

Her face flushed with embarrassment.

Just as she was about to request that Liora put her down, though, Liora suddenly spoke up.

“Don’t worry. Just point the way. I can walk there on my own just fine.”, she waved her hand dismissively.

Alice was immediately deflated.

Disappointment washed over her face as she weakly raised her hand and pointed toward a deeper layer of space.

Seeing such a reaction, Liora was both amused and apprehensive.

Sure enough, this girl was quite crafty, unlike what her immature appearance would suggest.

Although every one of her actions seemed incidental, each could very well conceal an ulterior motive.

For example, it was highly likely that her embarrassment was just a ploy so she could escape.

“It’s truly difficult to communicate with these old monsters. Hey, someone as innocent as me is bound to get fooled sooner or later…”, Liora shook her head and softly exhaled, knowing that she was just too kind for her own good.

While that thought was taking root in her mind, Liora sidestepped the unconscious body of Elaouthr and the blood along the hall’s floor and dove into a deeper space layer.

–

The structure of space differed from world to world and place to place. In some worlds, the space’s structure was akin to a giant cake, with countless layers overlapping to create a whole.

The deeper one went, the more difficult it was to dive deeper, while one’s consciousness would also be suppressed.

This also happened to be the structure within the ancient city fragment, and the trial hall as well.

It was this structure that had allowed Alice to conceal herself before, preventing anyone from sensing her while waiting for the trial’s eventual completion.

More importantly, this exact structure was the thing hiding the final inheritance.

“Over there!”, Alice pointed, and Liora traced her finger in front of her, shattering the space in a single motion.

Then, she walked in while holding Alice by the neck, with Alpha following close behind.

They repeated this process several times. The inheritance was extremely well-concealed, which was why Liora had been unable to locate it with her consciousness before.

It was only after several minutes, and several shattered space layers later, that Alice finally motioned Liora to stop.

“This is it.”, she gestured once more.

But by now, they had long reached the deepest space layer, and it was impossible to go any deeper.

There was nothing left for Liora to shatter.

Obviously, Alice was not guiding the way, but was instead pointing to something else.

Indeed, just a moment later, she spoke again and confirmed that notion.

“This is where my creator’s inheritance is located. It’s just that they used special means to conceal it, afraid that intruders would arrive and seize it.”

“If you want the inheritance to show up, you’ll have to demonstrate expertise in the Myriad Dao Board.”

“It doesn’t have to be too deep. As long as you complete one-tenth of the puzzle, you will trigger the restrictions and the inheritance shall appear.”

A faint smile appeared on Alice’s face, allowing Liora to understand everything.

She had previously wondered why Alice had brought her here so easily, without requiring her to make any promises or oaths.

Now, she finally understood.