NOVPUB
Chapter 250: Found Them
After moving for another ten seconds, Aldrian discovered another room, this one filled with powder—more precisely, explosive powder. While the explosive powder might not pose much threat to high-level cultivators, it remained deadly for mortals and low-level cultivators below the Baron stage.
Because of how dangerous this powder can be for the masses, all sovereigns on the continent heavily regulate explosive powder. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, it could lead to chaos.
Aldrian frowned at this. He couldn’t understand where they had obtained the explosive powder or how they had managed to gather such a large quantity—and this was only from one room. He knew it was bad news. If this powder were placed in crowded areas, it could cause significant harm. Not only could it be used for killing, but it could also destroy or weaken structures. However, its impact would be minimal against fortified structures with defensive formations.
However, it’s a different matter if this explosive powder is placed beneath a structure’s foundation. No matter how strong the structure, it will collapse. The quantity he saw here could spark another war and claim countless victims. n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
Aldrian walked into the room, and, as before, the devils were confused by the sudden appearance of a newcomer. As for Aldrian, he simply did what he was supposed to do: eliminate the devils. If anyone had watched him enter the room, they wouldn’t have heard a sound until Aldrian walked out again. By the time they looked inside, the devils would already be dead.
Aldrian kept repeating this process, but he was genuinely shocked by how vast and complex the underground tunnels were. Calling them "tunnels" felt like an understatement—they were more akin to an underground base. To think that no one aboveground had detected the activity happening beneath them.
"No... perhaps some do know but choose to ignore it because of their cooperation with the devils."
He stopped pondering. Now was not the time for thoughts—only action. He needed to kill, kill, and kill.
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In one room of the underground base, a table stood surrounded by a few chairs. At the moment, five people were seated around it. All of them wore black robes that concealed their features, but their impressive cultivation levels were unmistakable: three were at the King stage, and two had reached the Emperor stage.
"Can we really trust you this time? What if this plan also fails and exposes our cooperation? I’ll be dead before that old man meets his end," said one of the men.
"I’ve already given that ’thing’ to him inside the imperial palace. If this fails, they’ll trace it back to me," he added.
"You sure are noisy. You’re the one who agreed to our cooperation, yet now you’re whining about the consequences," one of the men said with a sneering tone.
"You—" The man wanted to refute, but he couldn’t. He gritted his teeth and chose to remain silent.
"Hehehe, I created that poison myself, and it’s the most potent poison I’ve ever made. If the emperor drinks it, he’ll be absolutely dead by tonight—there’s no way around it. The only problem is, can that man deliver it to the emperor?" the pale-skinned man said, small creatures wriggling beneath his skin, visible to others.
"He better be able to, or all this preparation will be for nothing. Lord Envy has already prepared for this moment, and I don’t want to face his wrath because of a failed operation," said the last man.
All of them fell silent. The Lord Envy he was talking about was someone they’d better not meet at all. None of them wanted to become his next target.
A few moments later, one of them suddenly frowned.
"Do you feel that?" the pale-skinned man asked.
"Feel what?"
"There’s a disturbance in the air. The surrounding air seems fresher with each passing minute."
"Aren’t you glad? More fresh air in this detestable place!" said the man beside him jokingly.
"No, this rate of freshness isn’t normal. What do you think is causing the air to feel so tight, despite the circulation here?"
"The existence of many people."
"That’s right. There are too many people breathing in this underground base, and with limited air circulation from the outside, the only possible explanation for the sudden increase in air freshness is a rapid reduction in the number of people here."
The others fell silent, but soon all of them sensed something was wrong. They sniffed the air, catching a smell that shouldn’t be there, despite the distance.
"The smell of blood!"
Not waiting too long, one of them moved to check outside. However, before he could open the door, they heard footsteps approaching from the other side. The steps paused briefly before continuing forward. The atmosphere grew tense and silent as they sensed the person stopping directly in front of the door, standing motionless.
The man who intended to check outside glanced at the others, signaling them to prepare for an attack. A sense of foreboding gripped them, and their instincts flared with danger. They readied themselves to strike the moment the person entered the room. Finally, the door began to move, and as soon as they saw half of the figure’s body, they launched their attack without hesitation.
Rumble!
The door exploded into smithereens, and the surrounding wall collapsed, creating a massive hole. They stared into the smoke and rubble, trying to sense if the intruder was still alive. However, they couldn’t detect any signs of life amidst the debris and assumed their combined attack had worked.
"To think we worried for nothing. With our combined attack just now, there’s no way that person could have survived," said the pale-skinned man confidently.
"That’s right," a voice suddenly interrupted. "To think I’d find all of you here. Rest assured, none of you will survive."
All of them were stunned by the unfamiliar voice. They turned around and saw a young man standing beside one of the robed figures, the one furthest from the door. Despite being an Emperor-stage cultivator, the robed man hadn’t sensed the sudden appearance of this stranger near him. Without hesitation, he unleashed his fire technique to create some distance, and the others wasted no time, launching their own attacks at the intruder.
However, the young man simply stood there, unmoving. Just as their attacks were about to reach him, a spatial crack appeared and swallowed them whole. At the same moment, high above the capital, a similar crack opened in the sky, spewing forth a torrent of elemental attacks into the firmament.
"What is that?"
"Is someone fighting?"
The people below were startled by the sudden rumbling in the sky, their gazes instinctively drawn upward. The city guardians also sensed the unexpected disturbance and immediately moved toward the area. The spatial crack was noticeable even from the imperial palace, and Emperor Durand, sensing it, furrowed his brow as he looked in the direction of the anomaly.
"Space laws?" he thought.
Beneath the city, Aldrian redirected the attacks to the sky, where his domain was already established. Spanning seamlessly up to 400 kilometers above the ground and unrestricted by any obstacles, his domain allowed him to safely divert the attacks. He deliberately avoided releasing them underground, aware that doing so could collapse the underground base.
"To think you’re here. I expected it would take some time to find you, Alchemist Association Master, Master Dan, and Grand Duke Gouvard. Well, this makes my job easier."
Two of the emperor-stage individuals here were actually Master Dan and Grand Duke Gouvard! As for the other three, they were devils, and one of them was the very person Aldrian wanted to find most.
"And what a surprise that Wei Zhi, one of the Seven Devils of Annihilation, is here. I’m truly grateful for you all gathering here," Aldrian said with a warm smile. He spoke as though he were expressing gratitude for his favorite dinner laid out before him. However, beneath his joking demeanor, a deep rage brewed inside him, especially toward Wei Zhi. This was the man who, although indirectly, had caused his mother to suffer.
"Aldrian, why are you here? Don’t you have something else to do? This is not something you should be interfering with," Master Dan said.
"So, he’s the one who concocted the Six Stripes Pills? What’s he doing here instead of playing with his cauldron?" Grand Duke Gouvard remarked. He was an elderly man with a brown beard and white hair. His middle Emperor-stage cultivation radiated pressure towards Aldrian, but he stood tall, unaffected in the slightest.
Suddenly, a man appeared behind Aldrian, holding a dagger. His movements were like shadows themselves—there was no sound, no disturbance, nothing at all. He blended seamlessly with the room’s shadows. However, Aldrian merely tilted his head to dodge the dagger and reached to grab the attacker’s wrist. But the man didn’t allow it. In an instant, he melted back into the shadows, reappearing at a distance.
"Distraction? Not so easy, gentlemen. My mood has suddenly plummeted seeing that all the people I wanted to find are here. So, you’d better prepare yourselves," Aldrian said with a smile.
