Aldrian walked into the residential area where the line of damaged houses stood and entered one of them. Inside, the house was in a mess, with furniture scattered in disorder.

Aldrian ignored it and entered one of the bedrooms.

He quickly created his domain and formed a barrier that blocked any prying senses from outside. He made sure that nothing inside this room would leak out and that no one outside could sense or look inside.

After making sure everything was ready, he sat cross-legged and focused on sensing his domain within the Akares star.

His domain sense instantly swept toward the Valroy family, and he could sense many members of the family.

Most of them were cultivating the same cultivation technique. Aldrian knew that it must have been given by Randolf. As an apostle, Randolf would spread his god's influence, and the easiest way was naturally by spreading a cultivation technique that could bind others to his god.

Moreover, the irritating feeling Aldrian felt from these people confirmed it. They were cultivating something that came from outside this universe.

After scanning for a while, he finally chose one person from the family and teleported that person directly in front of him.

The person he brought was a woman. The moment she appeared, she froze in shock. Before she could understand what had happened, Aldrian placed her under an illusion.

She had no time to speak or process anything before the clarity in her eyes disappeared and her expression turned blank and calm.

After placing her under the illusion, Aldrian observed her for a moment.

The person he had brought here was Randolf's younger sister, Verine Valroy.

He chose her simply because she happened to be alone when he found her. She seemed to be in the middle of her training inside one of the Valroy family's training rooms. That was why she was wearing training attire that accentuated her body's curve.

After observing her for a moment, Aldrian finally spoke.

"Show me your energy."

Verine did not speak and did as he said. She lifted her palm and revealed her energy. A white-silver energy emerged from her palm.

For ordinary people, sensing this energy would bring a soothing yet powerful feeling. The people of Akares already knew that this energy was something special, produced by the new cultivation technique used by the Valroy family.

In their eyes, it was an extraordinary cultivation technique that further strengthened the Valroy family's power.

However, for Aldrian, he only felt irritation when he sensed the energy. There was nothing in it worth admiration.

Instead, the urge to kill anyone who carried this kind of energy rose within him.

Aldrian took a deep breath to calm himself and then touched Verine's forehead. After that, he looked through her memories. The memory he sought was one specific moment.

After more than a minute, Aldrian lifted his hand and nodded to himself. He remained still, as though pondering what he had just seen.

He did not move for more than two minutes before opening his eyes and raising his hand.

Suddenly, the same energy Verine had just shown him appeared in his palm.

Aldrian smiled as he looked at the energy resting on his palm and carefully inspected it.

However, a split second later, he sensed a stir within his soul and immediately knew what it was. The sensation of a karmic thread trying to connect him to the void. He had no doubt that it would lead to the god who had created this cultivation technique.

This was the same sensation he had felt when he comprehended the devils' cultivation technique, when a karmic thread had attempted to connect him to Tarius.

He instantly severed the karmic thread before it could form the connection. He had no intention of allowing that god to gain any link that could be taken advantage of. He remained wary of their power, as he was still too weak to face them for now.

After cutting the connection, Aldrian observed the energy on his palm again.

The purity of the energy was many times higher than Verine's. He also did not feel much aggravation or disgust toward it that he would normally feel.

It was far more tolerable.

It was different from the first time he created devil energy, when the sensation of disgust and aggravation had been extremely strong.

He thought the difference might come from the nature of devil energy itself. Not only did it originate from outside this universe, but its nature also did not sit well with him. The dense concentration of negative energy that formed devil energy was something that naturally invited disgust.

After confirming that there was no problem with the new energy, he retracted it and looked at Verine again. He smirked as he thought about Randolf.

'Oh Randolf, I have to thank you for your existence in the First Heaven, and your god for creating such a convenient situation for me.'

He then spoke to Verine.

"I want you to forget everything about this place. Absolutely everything. You are in the middle of your training, so continue doing what you were doing."

Verine nodded. Only after that did Aldrian teleport her back to the exact position inside her training room.

A few seconds later, clarity returned to her eyes and she blinked repeatedly. She looked confused as to why she was standing without any stance. Just a moment ago she had been training her palm technique, yet now she was standing in a completely different posture.

'Maybe I'm just too tired and didn't realize I went into a trance?' she thought.

She decided to rest for a while before continuing her training.

--------------------------------

When night came to the world Aldrian stayed in, he used his concealment technique and teleported into the sky. From there, he observed the city and searched for the strongest person within it. He soon found that it was a middle pseudo-immortal stage devil inside one of the buildings in the center of the city.

The devil seemed to be in the middle of cultivation, sitting cross-legged.

After identifying the strongest devil there, Aldrian began searching for another person. His domain sense swept through the area as he checked whether the man he had met earlier when writing the report was within his domain.

It did not take long before he found the person he was looking for. The man was inside his domain and walking through a large building located near the strongest devil. Aldrian decided to observe him for a while.

The man entered a room where another man at the low pseudo immortal stage was already waiting. Aldrian focused his senses on the two of them.

The man handed a scroll to the pseudo-immortal cultivator with a respectful gesture. From their conversation, Aldrian learned that the scroll contained the report for the day.

The pseudo immortal cultivator did not remain there for long. After receiving the scroll, he disappeared.

Aldrian did not know what the report contained, and he did not care. The pseudo immortal man quickly left the range of his domain toward an unknown location, while the man Aldrian knew left the building.

The man returned to the post where Aldrian had given his report.

At that moment, Aldrian decided to act.

He teleported directly behind the man, a dagger formed from energy appearing in his hand. Without hesitation, he drove the blade into the side of the man's throat.

It was quick and gave the man no chance to react. His eyes widened as pain struck his throat. He tried to resist by raising his hand to grab whoever stood behind him, but Aldrian moved the dagger in a slashing motion.

His neck was almost severed. His body fell with a thud, blood drenching the floor. The man did not move again, and his breathing stopped.

He was dead.

Aldrian did not waste any time and teleported to another place. His figure appeared directly behind the strongest devil in the city.

This devil, who did not expect any kind of attack, had no time to react before the dagger pierced his temple. The blade pierced his skull and destroyed his soul, giving him a quick death.

After confirming the kill, Aldrian released the dagger. The dagger he had created from the energy of the Valroy family's cultivation technique disappeared.

Aldrian teleported again, and his figure reappeared inside his home. A smirk formed on his face after completing the assassination.

At first, he had planned not to attract any devils and to remain hidden for as long as possible until he reached the center of heaven. But now, with his new plan, he would do the opposite.

He would leave many traces.

He would make sure that the higher-ups of these devils, such as the three overlords and the immortals who had descended to the First Heaven, would see those traces.

He would let them see for themselves what he had done.

And he would let them spread the news far and wide, even to the Highest Heaven!