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Chapter 156: Meeting ‘Him’ Again
The moment the devils saw their attack and artifact swallowed by the space crack that appeared and vanished in an instant, they immediately realized it was the work of space laws. They had no time to react before Aldrian disappeared, only to reappear directly in front of their group leader, Xarz Raliath. Instantly, Xarz unleashed his devil energy to its fullest, channeling a fiery technique through his hand.
Flames spewed from his hand, trying to engulf everything in front of him. Yet Aldrian simply grabbed his hand as if it were nothing and crushed it. Before Xarz could scream from the pain, Aldrian delivered a punch to his abdomen, targeting the middle dantian. The peak heaven-grade armor that Xarz wore shattered upon contact with Aldrian’s punch, and his middle dantian was instantly destroyed, rendering him crippled.
"Arrgghhh!" Xarz screamed in agony from the consecutive blows.
Without stopping, Aldrian turned his attention to the other devils. With a mere thought, he altered the gravity beneath them. As they attempted to assume their devil forms, the sudden weight pinned them down, forcing them to crash to the ground and disrupting their transformations.
In that moment, Aldrian became an executioner, mercilessly dispatching his powerless foes. He killed every single devil present, using the overwhelming gravity to crush their bodies. The sound of splattering filled the air, leaving the ground bloodied and littered with scattered body parts, ensuring that none were left alive.
Watching his underlings slaughtered with ease, Xarz Raliath trembled, momentarily forgetting his pain. Now he was certain—this young man was the one who had triggered the heavenly tribulation. He couldn’t comprehend how someone at the mere peak of the Earl stage could invoke such a powerful tribulation, let alone withstand it. How was it possible for a cultivator of that level to endure such immense power?
He had no answer, but he didn’t have time to dwell on the question. In his pitiful state, all the cultivation he had amassed over his life was vanishing rapidly, leaving him a mere mortal without any trace of his former power. He gritted his teeth, glaring at Aldrian with eyes full of hatred, while Aldrian barely spared him a glance before turning his attention to the dwarves who were trembling in terror.
In under 15 seconds, the hundred devils in Xarz’s group had been slaughtered, leaving only Xarz alive. Vandal, the leader of the dwarves, felt his heart quiver as he watched the massacre, overwhelmed with fear, even forgetting that he wore middle divine-grade armor. In this moment, the gaze Aldrian cast upon him and his group was that of the Grim Reaper himself.
Yet, despite the dwarves’ terror, Aldrian’s mind was elsewhere.
"How am I going to handle these guys? Is it really okay to kill them?" Aldrian hesitated. These dwarves belonged to one of the largest noble factions in the kingdom, and he didn’t feel he had a solid reason to kill them. He wasn’t sure of the consequences if he were to recklessly eliminate so many cultivators who had only been following Duke Badin’s orders, unaware of the devils among them. If they had known about the devils’ presence and willingly worked with them, he wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter them.
He looked at Vandal, who stared back with a horrified expression. Since Aldrian had already erased Vandal’s memories about him, it was no wonder the dwarf couldn’t remember him. After weighing his options, Aldrian made his decision. Stretching out his hand, he focused intently and released his death energy toward the group of dwarves.
Unlike the faint energy he had shown to Xin Haotian and the others, this time he unleashed it fully, like a black flame enveloping his entire body. The black energy radiated an aura of death and an intense chill, sending waves of fear through the dwarves, who had never sensed anything like it.
The dwarves felt the very essence of death before them, an abyss of darkness threatening to consume them. The terrifying sensation struck them to their core, many collapsed instantly, unable to bear the horror. All of them are Earl and Marquess stage cultivators, while those at the Duke stage or higher remained conscious but they were paralyzed, their faces were pale as if drained of blood.
Their mental fortitude was already strong, but they were still affected by the death energy radiating from Aldrian. They felt as if they were losing their minds, yet they struggled to push their fear aside, trying to resist by releasing their own energy to dispel it. As they watched Aldrian approach, they attempted to form a defensive stance, but shock and fear had already gripped them. With that eerie black energy surrounding him, he seemed more like a devil himself.
"D-Don’t come any closer!" Vandal stammered, his voice trembling. Aldrian ignored his plea, continuing forward until he stood directly in front of him. Helpless, Vandal collapsed to the ground, looking up in terror as Aldrian spoke.
"After all this is over, go back to Duke Badin and tell him that he will face retribution for collaborating with devils. Tell him everything I did here," Aldrian commanded, his voice carrying the weight of an underworld king, each word an order that couldn’t be defied.
"For now, sleep." With those words, Aldrian cast an illusion over the last ten dwarves still standing, making them faint. Their minds that already overwhelmed by the slaughter and the chilling aura of death, succumbed easily to his illusion—a technique he never used. After so many battles, he had realized the value of an illusion technique for situations like this, where he needed to incapacitate opponents without killing them. Merely striking their mental state was enough to render them unconscious.
After that, he looked at Xarz, who was trying to escape, a faint smile playing on Aldrian lips as he watched the attempt. Now that Xarz was crippled and reduced to a mere mortal, all he could do was run for his life. But for a mortal to flee from a cultivator was like a child trying to outrun an adult—especially against someone like Aldrian, who could teleport. With a flash, Aldrian appeared in front of Xarz, blocking his path. Xarz tried to punch Aldrian, but even at full strength, it couldn’t make Aldrian feel so much as a tingle.
Aldrian then touched Xarz’s forehead, attempting to read his memories. He recalled the existence of the lord, knowing that breaking the memory seal of devils at the duke stage and above would trigger his presence. When he finally shattered the seal and felt that existence loom over him, Aldrian faced it with a calm demeanor.
This moment was different from when he had first sensed it, back then, he had hesitated to confront it. Now, he was ready to meet this lord of the devils. He wanted to understand the adversary he would face in the future.
Inside the mindscape of the memory seal, Aldrian enveloped his entire body and face with death energy, ensuring the lord couldn’t see or sense his physical features. When that existence finally appeared as a giant black silhouette that engulfed the entire mindscape, its nonchalant eyes that looking Aldrian suddenly widened in surprise.
"Who are you?! How can you comprehend energy like this?!" the voice boomed, thunderous with disbelief. Aldrian ignored the question, his focus fixed on something else.
"Why do I feel something familiar yet irritating from this guy? What is this?" Aldrian tried to recall something and finally remembered that ’thing’ from when he encountered the Heavenly Demon—the ’thing’ that had instilled fear and rage in him at the time, an existence incomprehensible to him. Although this devil lord was not as strong as that ’thing,’ he exuded a quite similar aura and energy.
His eyes suddenly turned cold, when he looked at the black silhouette, there was no fear—only pent-up anger.
"So, you’re the Devil Lord, aren’t you? Mark my words—when the time comes and we meet again, I will crush that face of yours! I’ll tear apart every piece of your being, including your soul. The devils have no place before me—I’ll slaughter every last one of them. And if prophecy says darkness will cover the land, then I’ll shred that prophecy too. You will see me at every turn, and I will be your nightmare!" His voice, ice-cold and steeped in killing intent, caused the entire mindscape to tremble under his resolve.
Aldrian then channeled his death laws, merging them with golden energy to shatter the mindscape. Now free from interference, he could access Xarz’s memories at will. His declaration to the Devil Lord had been intentional, and he was fully aware of it. The mere thought of that ’thing’ ignited a fierce rage within him, if the Devil Lord was connected to it in any way, Aldrian would unleash his wrath on the Devil Lord and all devils alike.
After a while, he finally finished reading the crucial parts of Xarz’s memories. Without even glancing at him, Aldrian decapitated him with a swift slash of his hand. After reviewing his memories, Aldrian uncovered something interesting.
"So, the Greed Devil and his right hand are at the foot of the mountain."
The thought brought a smile to his face. Finally, he would encounter one of the Seven Deadly Sins. At least among these devils, he had found someone... interesting.
