A faint scent drifted into Stirling's nose, teasing his nerves, but he did not dare to move.

  "Reporting to my lady, this is what I use for martial arts practice."

  Stirling said.

  "Oh?"

  Lilith seemed intrigued, circling Stirling and saying,

  "Tell me about it."

  "My lady, when I practice martial arts, I'm used to simulating real-world environments."

  "I tie these bottles to the rafters, letting them hang down, then push them swaying one by one, moving through them. The best result is to avoid touching none of them. Touching one is excellent. Touching three is average, and touching five is poor."

  Stirling spoke eloquently and almost convinced himself of his own words.

  "Is this some kind of movement technique?"

  Lilith felt astonished.

  "Exactly."

  Lilith nodded somewhat, saying, "No wonder Lady Alena said she wanted to get out more. Your martial arts training methods are quite interesting."

  Stirling inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

  As is well known, the greatest suspicious point is the absence of any suspicious points.

  He left the bottles in the woodpile to catch the witch's eye. He will be safe if these trivial oddities distract her.

  Thank goodness, the witch was a noob at her craft. She believed Stirling's words without asking about his live performance.

  "Alright, you can continue resting in the kitchen tonight."

  Lilith glanced at Stirling, said this, and went back to her bedroom.

  Stirling squinted at the closed wooden bedroom door. Then, he sighed with relief and straightened up.

  Stirling thought to himself, shaking his head as he went into the kitchen.

  The pots and pans in the kitchen were all cold. Stirling could tell at a glance that the vixen hadn't cooked dinner. It made sense. How could a female companion of the Yearning Palace's special envoy, someone a city magistrate would respect, cook for him?

  Although Stirling didn't know how the vixen dealt with her daily needs, she couldn't go hungry. He grabbed a piece of black bread from the kitchen and ate it with water.

  Stirling hadn't eaten bread in a long time, so tonight's bread tasted especially bad. For the past few days, he had been enjoying hot meals from roadside stalls. They tasted much better than this hard, dry bread.

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  If he had more lifespan, he wouldn't mind using fortified bread to boost the taste. But after his big gamble last time, he had just over two years left.

  Also, he had to get ready for tomorrow's reconnaissance tonight. It would cost an unknown lifespan. So, Stirling had to save wherever he could.

  The sky darkened over time.

  Stirling got up and took the empty bottles from the woodpile, hanging them back on the doorframe with ropes.

  Since Lilith had found the bottle, there was no need to hide it anymore. Stirling planned to explain that he had forgotten to take it down after practicing. Since the bottle was used for movement practice, it made sense to keep it hanging for easy access.

  Stirling smiled and clapped his hands as he saw the packed bottles by the door.

  After his busy work, Stirling leaned back against the wall, planning tomorrow's actions.

  Stirling found that, since the Gray Spector added more guards, the chance of finding statue fragments in the mansion rose to seven or eight-tenths.

  He had to move fast. If he delayed too long, they could shift the fragments. This would complicate finding them again by repeating old tricks.

  Stirling didn't care if taking other people's things was against the law.

  As the saying said, the fish rots from the head down. Judging from the three thugs, the Gray Spector was definitely an evil group.

  Stirling chuckled.

  At this moment, Stirling has only three options.

  First, a brute-force attack—Stirling wouldn't try that. He didn't even know how strong the guards in the mansion were.

  Second, a ranged attack—this was also unsuitable. Stirling knew he would not afford the lifespan to make a cannon out of the air. If he had, he could have shown the true meaning of overwhelming firepower to those in the mansion.

  The third option was to outsmart them.

  Stirling's mind raced.

  He'd locked the target location today, but he'd also startled the snake in the grass. The guards in the mansion will be very alert over the coming few days. This makes a clever takeover much harder.

  Stirling sat by the wall, racking his brains. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. He had an idea. After several deductions, his brow eased.

  Having determined his approach, Stirling relaxed. He took out the book "Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Malice Manual" from his thigh. Then, he started studying it in the dim light.

  That night, Stirling kept working on his Skin Extreme Realm with Yearning Malice. It seemed the Aether within his acupoints had increased again tonight. Stirling felt he was making better progress in reaching the Extreme Realm of Skin than yesterday. He felt overjoyed. The cultivation technique he had spent seventy years of lifespan on was extraordinary.

  ...

  The next morning, Stirling got up early.

  He tidied up the bottle hanging by the door, then went to the hall and whispered towards the bedroom, "Morning, my lady."

  After a while, a groggy voice sounded: "What is up?"

  "Ah, it's like this, my lady. Yesterday, while patrolling the outer city, I found a spot that shows signs of external malice."

  As soon as Stirling stopped talking, the wooden door swung open. Lilith stepped out, fastening her belt. She frowned, clearly just waking up. "What do you mean?"

  Stirling dared not look at Lilith again, but bowed and said:

  "I've seen my lady increasing exhausted, and I hoped to share your burdens. So, yesterday during my shift, I used some methods to find a place that might have malice. I am not quite sure if it's what my lady needs..."

  Stirling bowed as he spoke, yet his eyes subtly tracked Lilith's movements.

  After a moment, Stirling heard Lilith giggle.

  "You little rascal, Luis! Always so glib. Is your news indeed reliable?"

  Upon hearing this, Stirling immediately took several steps back and complained of injustice.

  "My lady! I wish only to share your burdens. If the news is false, I will surely shorten my lifespan, leaving me with only five years! No, three years!"

  Hearing such a solemn oath, Lilith narrowed her gigantic eyes and looked at Stirling, saying:

  "I'll believe you this time. If you lie to me, you know what will happen to you!"

  "Of course, my lady, please let me change my clothes. We'll set off immediately!" Stirling's gaze was resolute, his words righteous. A ray of sunlight came in from outside and fell on his clean face. This made his look even more radiant and holy.