Chapter 1229: Information Gathering 1
Aldrian and the twins flew for another five minutes before they finally saw a large city in the distance. The city was not much different from the cities in the First Heaven.
The city in front of them had eastern-style buildings, and they could see many towering structures rising into the sky. They could also sense the invisible barrier surrounding the city, one capable of detecting anything that passed through the skies above it.
With that barrier, anything flying through the air, even while invisible, would instantly be discovered by the city officials.
They stopped before the barrier and observed the city for a few moments. They could sense many powerful cultivators at Immortal Lord stage and even several at Immortal Overlord stage.
After observing the city for a moment, they shifted their attention toward the barrier itself.
"The barrier could detect disturbances in the different layers of space. Even a powerful Immortal Saint cannot evade this," Zarven said.
"Those invaders truly take their defense seriously. It looks like we have to enter through another way," Zervan added.
"No, we do not need that," Aldrian said after he created his domain.
"Let’s enter."
The moment he spoke, their bodies suddenly appeared inside the city. They appeared in a deserted alleyway not far from one of the main roads.
The twins were stunned that they were already inside the city.
They were surprised and truly amazed by Aldrian’s ability. Even they could not understand how he managed to teleport them inside without them sensing anything at all.
They then saw Aldrian cancel his concealment, and they also canceled theirs.
"Let’s go explore the city first. I want both of you to look for information beyond the seven-thousand-kilometer area centered around this place. For now, we will see if we can learn the entire situation of the Second Heaven here," Aldrian said.
"We will learn everything about those invaders’ powers in the Second Heaven and all the things happening recently. We will use any information we get to our advantage for our future counterattack."
Aldrian then gave two storage rings to the twins.
"Inside the rings are energy stones for both of you, and for the expenses of gathering information. And—"
Aldrian then touched both twins on their foreheads.
They felt something enter their souls, and after a few seconds, Aldrian lowered his hand.
"I also left my seal on your souls. Now we can communicate through voice transmission directly no matter the distance without anyone knowing, not even Immortal Saint cultivators. We will also know each other’s locations through it."
The twins nodded.
"Alright, we will gather again before sunset. For now, spread out."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the twins answered before their bodies disappeared.
Aldrian could sense that they had moved separately according to his orders. As assassins, information gathering was also one of their fortes, especially assassins of their caliber.
He was not worried that something would happen to the twins.
After they left, Aldrian also looked toward one direction before walking toward the nearby main road. While slowly walking toward the road, he also used his domain sense to listen to every conversation within it.
Inside his domain, there were more than a billion people, and he filtered through every conversation. Among them, he found several interesting topics.
Many of them were about how Avergis’ followers were still fighting against Tarius’ followers.
Because this city was inside a realm that had become the base of Avergis’ followers, most people here disliked Tarius’ followers. Aldrian could hear how they loathed them and only viewed them as untrustworthy savages.
They were not worthy of becoming allies, especially after the rumors that they had killed many of Avergis’ followers without provocation.
Aldrian also learned about an important event that would soon be held in the city and how many important figures would attend them.
However, the most interesting conversation for him was about two people. Both were men, and they seemed to work in a restaurant. From their activities, it looked like they were taking a break inside the kitchen.
What caught Aldrian’s attention was their discussion about someone who had been captured by the city officials.
Why did Aldrian pay attention to it?
"Will he be okay? He was found possessing an object used to pray to one of the evil gods," one of the men wearing a waiter’s robe said in a low voice.
Aldrian continued listening to their conversation.
"Well, it doesn’t look promising. Even though he is still a kid, he was already keeping taboo stuff. I don’t think the City Lord will pardon him," the man wearing a cook’s robe said. His face then turned irritated.
"To think he had something like that. How could he possess taboo stuff? This restaurant will surely be affected in the future. Even the owner has already been called by the officials. Bastard, if we had known he possessed something like that, we would have chased him away, or better yet, handed him over to the officials ourselves so we would not fall under suspicion."
"But don’t you think they are being too excessive? Although all this time we have been told about the evil gods, they never seemed to do anything to—"
"Shhh, don’t say something like that! What if someone from the city officials or the temple hears you? You will end up hanged to death in front of everyone," the cook quickly said with a grim expression while covering his friend’s mouth.
However, his friend pushed his hand aside and frowned.
"What I said is not wrong though. We have already lived for so long, yet all this time we only hear about the evil gods doing this and that, and all those stories come from the officials and the people from the temple. I really don’t like them because of their arrogant attitude."
The cook gritted his teeth.
"You..."
But then he released a sigh.
"Look, I also agree with you, but what could we do? They are at the top of the pyramid while we are at the very bottom. We can only obey and swallow whatever those people throw at us. At least we can stay alive, you know?"
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
"Uwah!"
A foreign voice suddenly sounded right beside them as a stranger abruptly appeared. They were almost shocked to death because this figure’s appearance was too sudden.
It was as if this figure had appeared out of thin air.
"Y-You, who are you? How could you enter here?" the cook asked angrily but also warily. He had not sensed this person’s presence at all. Did he hear what they had just talked about?
His friend also became tense and wary.
Aldrian, who had just teleported beside them, showed an amicable smile.
"I’m not here to hurt you, gentlemen. Instead, I want to know more about what you were just talking about. I heard your discussion, and I am quite interested in it. Could you tell me more?"
The cook and his friend instantly felt panic and tension rise inside them. This man had actually heard their conversation!
"What are you talking about? We did not discuss anything," the cook replied. He tried to act naturally, but the tension in his body and the lack of conviction in his voice betrayed him.
Aldrian did not stop smiling.
"I see. It couldn’t be helped then. In that case, please tell me more about the things both of you were just discussing."
After Aldrian spoke, both of their eyes suddenly turned blank for a moment before regaining clarity.
Their expressions immediately changed into amicable smiles.
"So, what does sir want to know more about? There were a few things we discussed," the cook asked.
"Let’s start with the evil gods. What are these evil gods?" Aldrian asked his first question.
"The Evil Gods is the title given by the rulers across the Second Heaven to the so-called gods that bring destruction and disorder to the universe. It is said that they are gods who rebelled against our god. They are beings with nothing but evil intentions, wanting to throw the universe into chaos to fulfill their ambition of dominating it," the cook answered.
Aldrian instantly understood who these evil gods were.
’Those invaders smeared my followers’ name with this Evil Gods nonsense,’ he thought.
This only increased his fury toward those invaders and their followers.
"I see. Then who is the kid you mentioned being captured by the city officials? What did he do to get caught?" Aldrian asked.
"Oh, that kid worked here. His name is Wei Lang. He is an orphan living at the outer area of the southern district. I don’t know exactly how, but yesterday someone from the temple discovered that he possessed a praying artifact said to be connected to the Evil Gods," the cook answered.
"The Evil Gods are branded as taboo to the point that anyone with even the smallest connection to them will be executed. All this time, everyone merely suspected of having connections to the Evil Gods has met death, and they could also drag down the people around them."
The cook then sighed.
"That’s why it’s truly irritating for me that because of him, we could also be affected. Even the owner of this restaurant has already been taken away by the officials for investigation."
Aldrian nodded.
"So where is this kid being held now?"
"He was brought to the highest-security prison on the northern side of the city. It is located not far from the City Lord’s Manor and surrounded by a small forest," the cook replied.
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