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Chapter 257: Against the Envy Devil
The Envy Devil frowned at Aldrian’s sudden appearance. He had not sensed any disturbance in energy or space. It was as if Aldrian had simply popped into existence—something that should have been absolutely impossible, especially within the confines of his domain. Nothing ever escaped his senses, not even the slightest movement of an ant. Yet Aldrian had appeared inside his domain as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He then noticed Aldrian looking at him with those calm blue eyes. What he saw in those eyes was like staring into the gaze of a dead man. It was quite absurd, considering he could clearly sense that Aldrian’s cultivation was only at the Marquess stage. Yet his instincts and intuition screamed that this man was dangerous. His long-dormant danger sense now blared like an alarm, a warning he hadn’t felt in ages.
Xin Haotian, who felt relieved that Aldrian had returned, sent a voice transmission to him.
"While you were away, this mansion was attacked by a group of assassins. It seems something has also happened inside the imperial palace—the emperor and the first prince were poisoned. The emperor is good, but the first prince’s condition has worsened. His guardian knight is here, requesting your help."
Aldrian nodded while still looking at the Envy Devil. From the curse symbol on the Envy Devil’s palm, he sensed the same sensation as the one inside Emperor Durand. When he used his karma laws, he could finally confirm that there was indeed a connection between his own being and that curse symbol. This had happened because he had already comprehended the curse and, in doing so, established his karma with that symbol.
"Break," Aldrian suddenly said.
In an instant, the Envy Devil’s domain began to crumble. His domain, colorless and transparent, often left his opponents unaware they were already trapped within it. But as it shattered, the space breaking apart like glass.
The Envy Devil widened his eyes as he suddenly felt his soul tremble and a slight headache set in. His soul had been injured from his domain being forcefully broken. For the first time, shock appeared on his face—he had never imagined that his domain could be shattered so easily. The only explanation he knew for someone breaking another’s domain was that the person possessed a stronger domain.
However, Aldrian was still only at the Marquess stage! How could he possibly have a domain?
Then, suddenly, he remembered a message from the Devil Lord not long ago:
"Be careful of a man with lower cultivation, black hair, or a sword technique with strange abilities. However, this may not always be fixed, as it could simply be a disguise. The key is to watch for any cultivator with unusual abilities. If you happen to encounter that man, do not hesitate to retreat."
The Envy Devil couldn’t understand what the Devil Lord had said a few days ago, but it seemed that he finally understood now. This man was the one the Devil Lord had warned about. If even the Devil Lord had cautioned other devils to retreat upon encountering him, then he would have no choice but to do so, even though it still didn’t make any sense to him.
The Envy Devil instantly crushed his teleportation talisman, but suddenly, the space around him condensed, causing the teleportation to fail.
"I will visit the imperial palace after I take care of this man," Aldrian sent a voice transmission to Lorenzo, who looked at him with amazement. Aldrian then checked on the condition of the ladies inside the mansion for a moment. They seemed to finally be able to catch their breath and rest after he had broken the domain.
"Don’t think about escaping after intruding on my place. Let’s change locations first." With that, Aldrian and the Envy Devil disappeared.
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Aldrian and the Envy Devil then appeared in the Sazim Fortress. The Envy Devil, already shocked by Aldrian’s ability to break his domain, was stunned once again by the sudden teleportation. Since the appearance of this young man, he had felt like a powerless individual. His domain had collapsed with ease, and now his body was being dragged through the teleportation without him being able to do anything.
When he looked at his surroundings, he finally realized that he had been teleported to the Sazim Fortress. However, he frowned at the traces of battle here. He also sensed the many devil corpses outside the fortress, some even crucified beside the corpse of the successor of the Lust Devil.
Among the many traces of the battle, there were some familiar auras, but one stood out—an aura almost identical to his own. It was the aura of his successor.
He had sent his successor to oversee the underground base operation. A few minutes ago, he had suddenly felt the life connection with his successor vanish, which meant something had happened to him.
Does this mean the person in front of him is the one attacking their underground base?
"Envy Devil, so I heard you’ve been looking for me. Well, I’m here. What are you going to do about it?" Aldrian asked.
The Envy Devil raised his eyebrows.
"You are Aldrian?"
"What do you think?"
Hearing the teasing tone, the Envy Devil was certain that this was indeed Aldrian. But hadn’t they said he was an alchemist? So why was he such a powerful cultivator who had comprehended space laws? He didn’t dwell on it for long and instead asked Aldrian,
"Were you the one who killed my successor?"
Aldrian tilted his head. "Who? I don’t think I’ve met your successor. Maybe I have, but truthfully, I don’t remember things that aren’t important."
The Envy Devil frowned. He couldn’t tell if Aldrian was lying, but the most important thing was that he had finally met his target. Although the Devil Lord had already warned about a person with strange abilities, the Envy Devil still wanted to try to bring Aldrian to the devils’ side.
"Al—"
"Nope, I don’t want to. You all will be dead." Even before the Envy Devil could make his offer, Aldrian cut him off and denied him. A vein bulged on the Envy Devil’s forehead; he had never felt so humiliated.
"You will regret—"
Space condensed
Once again, before the Envy Devil finished speaking, Aldrian made his first move. Suddenly, the Envy Devil felt the space around him pressing in. The abrupt change in the space stunned him for a split second before he tried to defend himself. He stretched his hand outward and unleashed his purple flame.
He unleashed the purple flame without restraint, aiming to burn even the space itself. He condensed the flame to make it more powerful, and it seemed to work. The space began to wobble, and he seized the opportunity, sending a palm strike to break the space trap.
"Break."
The space condensation broke, and he flew toward Aldrian at full speed, already preparing his technique. A combination of his curse laws and fire laws, he called it the Cursed Flame. He imbued the concept of a seal within the curse. Once touched by this flame, as long as you couldn’t overwhelm the curse, you would be inflicted with great difficulty in activating your own techniques.
This curse essentially weakens the opponent, and if the Envy Devil uses his domain in conjunction with it, the effect is doubled, and it will even give another different effect, causing even more suffering for the opponent.
Unfortunately, what the Envy Devil did not know was that Aldrian, having already comprehended one of his curses through Emperor Durand, had discovered the weakness of the curse—or the curse laws in general. Aldrian’s golden energy was a bane to any kind of karmic attack, like a curse. His golden energy was a force capable of destroying any curse.
Even without relying on his golden energy, he could break the curse using his karma laws.
The Envy Devil then sent a palm strike toward Aldrian. A massive fire palm print, with a symbol in the center, flew toward him. The strike was large enough to flatten half of the Sazim Fortress.
Seeing this, Aldrian countered with his own palm strike. He sent forth a strike infused with his golden energy. When the two palm prints collided—
Whoozz
The two palm strikes canceling each other out, causing the purple and golden palm prints to disintegrate. The Envy Devil did not pause. Instead, he unleashed another technique: the Wave of Flame. This one was different from the one faced by Xin Haotian earlier. It was far more ominous and intimidating, amplified by the curse that accompanied it.
As the Envy Devil unleashed the technique, he continued moving toward Aldrian, intending to close the distance and bring the fight into close combat.
Seeing the wave of flame that could engulf the entire fortress, Aldrian created a massive space shield. It was as though he was constructing a giant sea wall using the fabric of space itself.
The flame crashed into the space wall, and in that instant, Aldrian realized that the curse’s effect was attempting to affect him, even though the flame hadn’t touched him. However, he simply ignored the curse and launched his counterattack. This time, it was even more powerful than before, aimed directly at the advancing Envy Devil!
