Regarding Valentine's attack on the academy, Li Ming was actually quite looking forward to it. After all, he still wanted to ask Valentine about the Holy Grail's functions.
As for the subordinates Valentine brought, they were just premium desserts for the Dementors. Li Ming wished Valentine would summon more Demons to feed the Dementors until they were stuffed.
After signaling to Erik and the others that he still needed to transcribe the 'Rune' Inscriptions knowledge, Li Ming returned to the library whistling amidst their profuse thanks.
Back in the library with the door closed, Li Ming couldn't help but curl his lips slightly: this feeling of being treated as a benefactor when he was actually the villain was quite nice.
Too bad these people wouldn't be praising his kindness for much longer.
Rubbing his forehead, Li Ming said softly, "Kreacher, come out."
As soon as Li Ming spoke, Kreacher's figure suddenly appeared in the previously empty library.
Kreacher walked up to Li Ming and asked with wide blinking eyes, "Boss, what are your orders?"
Li Ming turned to look at the books on the shelves, greedily licking his lips as he asked, "How many books are left to transcribe?"
Kreacher tilted his head in thought before answering, "Boss, all materials related to 'Rune' script have been fully transcribed. The remaining books are all about herbal potions and alchemy."
"Already finished transcribing?" Li Ming said in surprise, but immediately realized it was a stupid question.
First, Kreacher would never deceive him.
Second, the reason hundreds of books could be transcribed in just a few days wasn't just because of Kreacher working day and night—it was also because the library's collection definitely wasn't "all the 'Rune' knowledge" as Hodge had claimed.
Li Ming simply didn't believe a thousand-year-old Shadowhunter tradition would have so few books on 'Rune' knowledge.
That said, the books he'd recorded so far would keep him busy studying for years. As a person, one shouldn't be too greedy—after all, the kindly old man upstairs had once given Li Ming a stern lesson about being content, lest he be corrupted by darkness.
Now that the 'Rune' Inscriptions knowledge was secured, Li Ming felt his appetite would be satisfied once he obtained the Holy Grail and Valentine's memories.
As for the remaining knowledge on potions and alchemy, it wasn't that Li Ming looked down on the Shadowhunters—he was genuinely concerned for them.
What era was this? Their forged weapons were still just swords and knives—would it kill them to incorporate some firearms?
A bunch of fossils with completely rigid thinking.
"Since the transcription is done, pack your things," Li Ming grinned silently and whispered, "We'll probably be kicked out of here soon."
With that, Li Ming entered stealth mode, transforming into black mist as he drifted toward the center of the academy—the room housing the Teleportation Door that could take one anywhere.
When Li Ming floated into the room, he found not only Clary and Hodge but also a drenched Valentine inside.
At that moment, Valentine was forcing Clary to drink from a Holy Grail filled with blood.
Of course, Clary refused vehemently. To her, Valentine was a stranger, and her mother had taught her since childhood never to accept food from strangers, lest she risk being kidnapped.
This attitude greatly displeased Valentine, who insisted he was Clary's biological father—how could he be a stranger? So she should just obediently drink the blood from the Holy Grail.
Baffled by suddenly being declared Valentine's daughter, Clary grew flustered and furious. She snatched the Holy Grail and, in a fit of anger, stuffed it back into the Tarot Cards before leaping into the Teleportation Door to find her mother—ignoring Valentine's frustrated cry of "No!"
Staring helplessly at the Holy Grail now trapped inside the Tarot Cards, Valentine stood before the Teleportation Door on the verge of tears: Damn it, after all the bounties I've racked up to find this thing, is this how it ends?
All I wanted was to verify the Holy Grail's authenticity—how did it end up back in the Tarot Cards?
Li Ming had no interest in Valentine's inner turmoil. He simply glanced around the room.
Seeing only Hodge and Valentine inside, with the Holy Grail brazenly placed on the table as if taunting him, Li Ming immediately cast a time-stopping spell.
Under the combined tactics of stealth and ambush, Valentine and Hodge—already weaker than Li Ming—barely had time to sense an intruder before being frozen in time.
With the ambush successful, Li Ming remained invisible. He first pocketed the Tarot Cards, then swiftly extracted Valentine's memories.
Next, he altered both men's memories, making them believe the Holy Grail was still inside the Tarot Cards—which, of course, they'd have to search for somewhere in the room.
After finishing this, Li Ming flew to the academy's rooftop, releasing Dementors to await a feast of Demons while he reviewed Valentine's memories.
After a long while, Li Ming learned the Holy Grail had two primary functions.
First, as Rosie had said, it could separate the latent consciousness within angel blood, ensuring those who drank from it wouldn't be driven mad.
Second, it could continuously purify angel blood. It was also due to the power of pure blood that the Holy Grail had been able to continuously produce Shadowhunters over the centuries. One must understand that over these countless years, innumerable people had poured their own blood into the cup. Without the purifying ability, the angelic blood within the grail would have long been tainted by human blood. In that case, forget about creating Shadowhunters—it would be fortunate if ordinary people could even gain extraordinary powers.
Similarly, as Li Ming sifted through Valentine's memories, he couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the man.
The Holy Grail, as a vessel containing angelic blood, inherently represented sanctity and possessed a certain lethality against demons.
And yet, Valentine had actually managed to pour demon blood—antagonistic to angelic blood—into the grail, relying on its ability to separate will and purify blood.
Afterward, Valentine drank this blood, which contained demonic power but lacked demonic consciousness, thereby gaining the ability to control demons without causing conflict between the angelic and demonic bloodlines within his body.
At this point, Li Ming couldn't help but hold back a burning question: "Dude, with your mixed heritage of angel, demon, and human, you don't even seem as strong as Wangcai. Any thoughts on that?"
Simultaneously, a bold idea arose in Li Ming's mind: If he drained the angelic blood from the Holy Grail and replaced it with Odin's blood, would anyone who drank from it automatically become Odin's child? Would that give them the right to compete with Thor for the throne?
What if it were Mephisto's blood instead? Before he could finish the thought, Li Ming shook his head vigorously, banishing Mephisto's name from his mind.
Although Mephisto's blood might better suit Li Ming's constitution, Earth had the Ancient One. A life-loving guy like Li Ming wouldn't dare drink Mephisto's blood—what if it attracted the Ancient One's wrath? How should he grovel to save his own skin if he ended up half-demon, half-human?
Just as Li Ming was pondering how to drain the Holy Grail of its angelic blood and replace it with something more suitable, he suddenly caught the stench of demons wafting through the air.
Scratching his head, Li Ming snapped out of his wandering thoughts and watched with amusement as the Dementors hunted down the demons.
Whether it was because Valentine had failed to find the Holy Grail in the room and was now enraged, or because his "kingly aura" had erupted, the number of summoned demons had grown overwhelming—so much so that the Dementors couldn't intercept all of them.
Li Ming saw many demons slip past the Dementors' net and wreak havoc within the academy.
Out of gratitude for Hodge's hospitality, Li Ming called out in the language of the undead, "Wangcai, lead a group of Dementors into the academy and eliminate all the demons."
"Yes, Master," Wangcai replied respectfully, immediately taking a portion of his kin and charging into the academy.
As the Dementors surged into the academy, a dramatic scene unfolded: Shadowhunters like Eric were being chased in disarray by demons, while the demons themselves were being mercilessly hunted by the Dementors. Later, Erik and the others discovered that the Dementors, despite being dark creatures, showed no interest in humans, completely ignoring them as they focused solely on hunting down Demons. This led Erik and his companions to bundle up in more layers, enduring the bone-chilling cold as they followed the Dementors, watching one Demon after another being devoured.
Within the academy, perhaps no one was more bewildered than Valentine.
First, the Holy Grail had inexplicably vanished. Then, despite his painstaking efforts to summon an army of Demons, more than half had failed to appear—he could chalk that up to the Demons being too busy to answer his summons. But why were the remaining Demons rapidly dwindling in number?
Did his dignity as a human with both angel and Demon blood mean nothing anymore?
Yet he couldn't leave his room to investigate what was happening. The hexagram summoning circle for the Demons was inside his room, and the moment he stepped out, someone would immediately destroy it. If that happened, forget about having a few Demons infiltrate the academy to aid him—he'd be lucky if even a single Demon managed to appear.
The more Valentine brooded, the more frustrated he became. Just as he was about to smash something to vent his anger, Lance barged into the room.
Spotting the summoning circle formed from weapons on the floor, Lance wasted no time pulling out a spear, ready to dismantle the array.
"Don't move!" Valentine barked instantly.
Only then did Lance notice the presence of another person in the room. Following the voice, he froze in shock. "Valentine?"
Valentine gazed at him with deep affection, smiling as he called out, "Jonathan."
Lance stiffened, frowning. "How do you know my real name?"
Of course I know your real name, you little brat. Valentine smirked faintly. "Because I'm your father."
As he spoke, Valentine revealed that Lance's memories had also been sealed and proceeded to undo the memory block.
From a factual standpoint, Lance now believed Valentine's claims.
But emotionally? He would rather die than acknowledge Valentine as his father—because doing so would mean that Clary, whom he had loved dearly, was now his sister.
That was absolute nonsense. Falling in love with his own sister wasn't just legally and socially unacceptable—it would invite scorn and condemnation from the world.
In short, to ensure he could one day marry Clary, Lance refused to admit Valentine was his father.
To that end, he decided to beat Valentine into a brain-damaged, bedridden idiot—just to vent his own unease and resentment.
And if possible, he'd prefer to kill Valentine outright, burying the secret of lovers-turned-siblings forever.