The Shining Star Above The Heaven

On the street, a few elves in their casual white and green clothes walked through the crowd. Their steps were a little rushed as they followed a human in front of them into a certain alley. When Eleine arrived at the mayor's mansion earlier, luckily, the mayor agreed to send his men; in fact, the mayor even came himself this time to see the evidence of the devils. Initially, he found her claims absurd—how could devils infiltrate Balin with all those checkpoints and guards? But he still remembered the words of Grand Duke Sylvaris before he departed for the capital.

"Give them the best service, they are important people and under the watch of the imperial family."

As the mayor of Balin, a city under the grand duchy of Sylvaris, he felt compelled to follow the Grand Duke's orders, especially since these people had the imperial family's attention. Without much delay, he ordered his men to follow Eleine. Due to the sensitivity of the information, the mayor decided to come himself to see the evidence of the devil cultivator. However, she mentioned that she only needed a small group of guards to accompany her in disguise to the location of the teleportation artifact, but the mayor insisted.

They finally arrived at the front of the house, and without hesitation, they rushed in. What they saw were a few corpses and two bodies of devils tied back-to-back using energy. A young man sat on a chair, looking at them. The mayor then looked at the young man.

"Are you Young Master Aldrian?" he asked.

Aldrian didn't immediately answer him. Instead, he checked his information.

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Livrin Sylvaris

Age : 50.730 years

Race  : Elf

Cultivation : Middle King

Cultivation technique  : The world tree encompassing the world

Attack techniques : The Forest of Doom, The Wrath of The Forest Spirit, Wooden Dragon, Earth spike, Silent Arrow, Homing Arrow.

Defence technique : Earth Wall, Root of Death

Movement technique : Wind Breeze

Supporting technique : Blessing of The Forest

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"Now this is the real one." Aldrian thought.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for coming, although it's surprising that the city mayor himself would come here."

Livrin was stunned.

"I haven't even introduced myself yet. How did you know?" he wondered but put it aside.

"I heard that you and Miss Eleine found evidence of the appearance of devils in the city. I will look into it myself seriously because it could cause widespread panic among the citizens if they find out." Livrin looked at the corpses and the tied bodies.

"Who are they?"

"They are the devils. We found this place, which hides the teleportation artifact inside one of the rooms. You can check it at the end of the last room from here." Aldrian explained.

Livrin then looked at his men behind him and nodded. They began checking each room, Livrin also inspected the bodies of the devils with his senses.

"They are really devil cultivators! Four Marquesses and two Earls—how did you defeat them?" Livrin asked.

"Well, we just defeated them. As for how, we fought them like any other cultivators." Aldrian answered. Livrin stared at Aldrian for a second.

"What do you mean by 'just fought them like any other cultivators'? They all have stronger cultivation than you—two realms higher! A Viscount and an Earl defeating Marquesses? Are you serious?" he thought but didn't show it on his face. Instead, he just saw Aldrian smile.

"This one succeeded, and he doesn't seem to detect my technique." Aldrian thought. He had used his mind and intent reading technique on Livrin to test it on a King stage cultivator. Now, he could confirm he could use it on King stage cultivators undetected, reaffirming that karma is something intangible and difficult to perceive.

The man who checked the inside of the house returned and started to report what he saw.

"Report, sir. It is indeed true that there is a devils teleportation artifact in the last room. It's surrounded by an illusion formation and barrier, so we couldn't detect or see the artifact from outside."

Among the people Livrin brought was an elf qualified as a formation master, so he recognized the formation when he checked the room. Livrin, hearing this, turned solemn and walked toward the room to see it for himself.

A few minutes later, he returned with an ugly expression on his face.

"They have been operating for who knows how long, and I didn't know about it!" He felt rage and humiliation inside him. But he didn't blame any of his men—at least not yet—because he still needed to investigate further.

"Actually, when I saw their memory i got some information. They have been operating for ten years and have more than a thousand teleportation artifacts across Balin. Because they never got checked and never used their devil energy, their devil characteristics remained unknown," Aldrian said.

 "They have more! Wait, you read their memories? Don't they have some kind of seals that need to be broken with a special method?"

"Well, I broke their seal."

"…." Livrin was speechless. He didn't know the full extent of this young man's abilities, but in the end, he sighed in defeat.

"No wonder the Grand Duke asked me to give him the best service and why he has the attention of the imperial family. He must have a noble background or something like that." he thought.

"I know all the locations of the teleportation artifacts and everyone connected to them. I don't know if they are devil cultivators or not, but let's expect there are traitors, just in case." Aldrian said.

"Yes but they already operated for ten years? that's quite a long time for infiltration. Damn it! Sigh, I'm sorry, Young Master, for my unsightly behavior. And I'm really sorry, but can you help us in this investigation and operation to catch all those rats? I already feel like an incompetent mayor."

"No problem, Mayor. I'll help you uproot them from this city. In fact, I'm determined to complete this hunt in three days at the latest."

"Three days? How?"

"I have my ways." Aldrian smiled.

Livrin looked at Aldrian and sighed again.

"Alright, Young Master, thank you for helping us."

With Aldrian's help, they started planning how to catch the devils, dead or alive. When the elves heard that there were Duke-stage cultivators among the infiltrators, their faces turned grim, and they felt the need to plan meticulously. There were still some parts of Aldrian's plan that confused them, but seeing his confident face and Livrin's belief in the Grand Duke, they decided to go along with it. The mayor himself cannot move recklessly, as it could arouse suspicion among the devils and cause anxiety among the citizens.

When they were done, Aldrian teleported the two surviving devils to the mayor's mansion as prisoners. When they saw him use teleportation, they were shocked that he could use spatial energy and space laws. Cultivators who could use spatial energy and space laws were rare on the continent, making them highly respected experts, so their respect and admiration for Aldrian only grew.

They took the teleportation artifact and eradicated all traces from the place. Aldrian also cast an illusion formation to elude anyone entering the building, confident that whoever did would be involved in this case. They all returned to the mansion, and as the sun started to peek over the eastern horizon, Aldrian and Eleine were already in their room to rest. Especially for Aldrian, he had gained many new experiences and insights the previous night and needed to rearrange it all.

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The sun was already 40 degrees up in the east, and the roads were more bustling than at night. Aldrian, however, paid no heed to all of this as he sat cross-legged on his bed. He was deeply immersed in integrating his imagination and concepts into his comprehension of energies, striving to create new techniques that would aid him in the future.

His encounter with the devils had provided him with numerous insights, and from the moment he returned to the mansion until now, he had been cultivating, sharpening his techniques, and devising new ones. It felt as if an unending stream of creativity flowed from within him, driving him to constantly improve.

At this moment, Aldrian feels the entire city through his domain, focusing on those connected to the teleportation artifacts. He planned to identify every single one of them today to move to the next phase of his plan. First, he would precisely locate every artifact and everyone connected to them.

"Just as in their memories, there are more than a thousand teleportation artifacts across Balin. I can sense all of them—the illusions, the formations are exactly the same, but the locations they picked are places rarely passed or visited by people. No wonder they managed to slip past the guards for so long. They must have surveyed the area thoroughly before launching their infiltration," he thought. Yet, one piece still felt missing.

"Who was the first to infiltrate Balin, survey the area, and smuggle in the first artifact? Is there someone from the devil territory who can elude the Ball of Origin and pass the guards? Or is there a traitor among the elves? Or someone else who can move through the city unhindered?" He kept pondering, but with too many variables, he decided to put that aside for now and start his plan for the day.

"Let's take my ability within my domain to the next level."