The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 470: Start the Pursuit

Aldrian opened his eyes as he left his mindscape and let out a quiet sigh. His heart felt heavy, but he tried not to let it distract him. He glanced at the ring for a moment.

"Although I don’t remember you yet, I’ve already received your plea. If something truly happened to the Silver Lightning Dragon Clan, I will avenge you."

He knew he had already acted recklessly by accepting Long Leiyun’s request without knowing the true condition of the clan or the identity of the parties he might have to face. Any group capable of endangering the Silver Lightning Dragon Clan was not to be underestimated. He suspected these were the same parties Long Leiyun had spoken of earlier.

But he still accepted Long Leiyun’s request because his heart told him to, and he also felt it was something he needed to do. A dragon’s will whose only purpose was to wait for his arrival for who knows how long and to pass on a few pieces of information showed just how much faith Long Leiyun truly had in him. That conviction was what had kept him holding on until today.

If someone could hold that kind of loyalty and faith in him, he couldn’t bring himself to reject the request outright.

His heart told him it wasn’t right. He would respond in kind, according to how people treated him.

Long Leiyun’s request made him wonder what had really happened to the Silver Lightning Dragon Clan. However, without enough information and with no one who could provide it, he decided to put that concern aside for now. There were other matters that needed his attention.

After glancing at the ring for a few more seconds, he turned his body and looked at Emperor Raymond. He was stunned to see the emperor already slumped to the ground, staring at him with a blank expression. Aldrian couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him acting this way. He wondered what had happened while he was inside his mindscape.

Aldrian then walked toward the emperor, the surrounding silence still unbroken as the lightning had yet to appear, even after he had finished checking the ring.

Once Aldrian was near Emperor Raymond, the emperor unconsciously blurted out the question that had been stuck in his mind since earlier.

"Who are you?" His voice trembled.

Aldrian smiled at the emperor and offered his hand to help him up.

"I’m just someone who happens to have great power and responsibility."

His answer still left the emperor staring at him with a blank expression, as if he wasn’t satisfied with it. Emperor Raymond reluctantly took Aldrian’s hand and stood up. Aldrian then walked past him, still smiling.

"Your Majesty, I’m already done here. Let’s go back. I’m finished with the sightseeing." Aldrian said.

Emperor Raymond turned his head to look at Aldrian’s back, then glanced at the ring again. He didn’t know why, but he felt something different about it. He sighed and decided to follow Aldrian. What he had just witnessed would be engraved in his mind, and he needed to ask Aldrian later about what had happened.

He followed Aldrian down from the platform and, just as he did, he finally heard the thunderclap again. He looked up and saw strands of lightning between the clouds. Finally, the lightning bolts struck the earth again, and the ring was struck by the lightning just like before. A few seconds later, the lightning returned to normal across the secret realm.

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A few moments later, Aldrian and Emperor Raymond were outside of the secret realm. The moment they stepped out, they were stunned to see that more troops had already arrived at the location.

Besides the four guardians, Aldrian noticed more than a dozen cultivators, ranging from marquess to king stage, all nervously watching their direction. However, as soon as they saw Emperor Raymond and Aldrian step out from the secret realm, they froze for a moment. Then, they quickly straightened their posture.

"Your Majesty, is everything alright?" one of the guardian knights asked, worry evident in his voice. He even stole a glance at Aldrian with a hint of suspicion.

At this time, their emotions were still in turmoil because of the roar from the unknown beast. The four guardians of the secret realm were the ones who had gathered everyone here after hearing the sound. Since they were the closest to the secret realm, they could clearly feel the overwhelming aura and the effects that radiated from within.

That was what made them shudder. The secret realm was a separate space that should have sealed everything inside. For the roar and aura to break through and spread outside, it could only mean that the beast which had appeared inside was powerful enough to overwhelm even the boundaries of the realm itself.

This was also what left them confused. As far as they knew, there were no beasts within the secret realm. That uncertainty caused the guardians to grow suspicious of Aldrian, who had entered the realm together with the emperor.

They had immediately raised the alarm and called for support from anyone nearby to come to the secret realm, even preparing to enter it themselves. At this moment, even more troops were still arriving in response to the emergency signal.

Emperor Raymond understood their panic. Even he had been affected by the appearance of the dragon.

"Stand down. There is no danger. The beast is not hostile and has already been taken care of, so there is no need to remain in a state of emergency. All of you are dismissed," Emperor Raymond said.

Hearing the emperor’s words, the troops felt a wave of relief and allowed their tense shoulders to relax. Although they were curious about what had happened inside the secret realm, none of them dared to question the emperor, let alone Aldrian.

Aldrian and the emperor approached the carriage, but Aldrian quickly noticed that four horned horses pulling it were in a state of distress. They were trembling, sitting on the ground, and barely moving. The coachman looked exhausted, as if he had already tried everything to calm them down, but their condition remained unchanged.

"What happened?" the emperor asked.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," the coachman replied apologetically, "but the horses became like this after hearing the roar of an unknown beast from the secret realm. They still seem terrified and refuse to move."

Emperor Raymond raised his eyebrows. Well, it was to be expected—there was no way normal beasts like horned horses could remain unaffected after hearing such a mighty roar.

Aldrian approached the horses and knelt beside them, then gently injected his golden energy into their bodies to help them feel warm and at ease. He wanted to ease their stress, and from the coachman’s explanation, he realized something must have happened while he was focused on the ring and creating his domain.

The coachman watched in amazement as Aldrian’s golden energy soothed the horses. After a few minutes, all four returned to normal. They even moved closer to Aldrian, as if they were drawn to him and wanted to stay near.

Aldrian smiled and gently patted their large bodies before turning to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, I think it’s time for me to go. I have something to take care of right now, and it concerns those traitors. Your Majesty can return to the imperial palace without needing to escort me."

Emperor Raymond was stunned, but then he asked,

"Do you need my help? I know you’re capable, but I believe they’ve already escaped far away, and it will be very difficult to find them if they put effort into hiding. I can announce a wide-scale search across the empire to make things easier for you."

Aldrian smiled and shook his head.

"No, that won’t be necessary, Your Majesty. I have a much simpler method that won’t waste any resources, and they’ll be caught in no time," he said.

Aldrian then focused and contacted the heavens. Now that the entire Atria Empire had become his domain, he could locate them with the help of the heavens.

After asking for their location and receiving the heavens’ response, Aldrian was stunned for a moment, but then his eyes flashed coldly.

"It seems he truly chose the most painful death possible."

He had already predicted that his targets might make a desperate move, but he hadn’t expected one of them to come straight to his nest!

However, Aldrian’s eyes turned serene again, with no trace of worry. In fact, he felt this was the best possible outcome. Did ’he’ truly believe ’he’ could leave his nest after entering it? The man would be in for a surprise when he encountered those who were there. Those people were more than enough to catch him.

With ’him’ there, Aldrian could then focus on pursuing the others.

"Your Majesty, I’ll go first. I’ll meet you again later, for now, I need to catch those rats," Aldrian said.

Emperor Raymond nodded.

"Alright."

With that, Aldrian disappeared, leaving the emperor and the capital behind.

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At Caritas, the situation had returned to normal. Many people resumed their daily activities. The outbreak, which had occurred more than a week ago, still left scars on many as they mourned the loss of loved ones. Yet, life had to go on, and so they continued with their routines, trying to numb the pain in their hearts. freёwebnoѵel.com

Amidst the bustling activities of the city’s people, there was someone who did not appear to have come with good intentions. His cold gaze was fixed in the direction of the mayor’s mansion.