Aldrian had already arrived in the region where he found himself facing a canyon. The canyon stretched as far as he could see toward the horizon. This place was truly terrifying—the concentration of devil energy here was far higher than anywhere else he had encountered until now.
As Aldrian stopped at the top of the deep gorge, he looked down at the base, where a river flowed, and he could sense many presences within the canyon. Although the terrain was dark due to the absence of light, it did not hinder his sight; he could view the landscape as clearly as if it were a normal day.
From what he sensed for a split second just now, he detected a few powerful auras belonging to beasts at the emperor stage.
He needed to pass through this region if he did not want to take a detour. Looking at this region, he recalled sothing from the mories of the devils he had killed in the past. He rembered that a few devils had spoken about a forbidden zone hidden within the devil territory.
Inside the devil territory, there is a grand canyon region even the devils themselves avoid, a place so dangerous that even the Seven Deadly Sins must remain wary of it.
This forbidden region is called the Grand Canyon of Offering Souls.
It is called that because anyone who enters this area is no different from offering their life to the canyon. A dangerous place filled with ominous things—beasts and strange plants that thrive in the harsh environnt of the devil territory, especially in this region.
He created his domain here and recklessly extended his senses to the limit, as if announcing his arrival. The mont he spread his sense without restraint, the roar of a beast echoed across the canyon. In an instant, the auras and senses of the powerful beasts surged toward him, as if trying to see who was arrogant enough to behave so pompously in their ho.
Aldrian let them examine him, and after a few monts, they seed to lose interest and withdrew their senses. He smiled. Perhaps they thought he was just a re Grand Duke-level cultivator, but that was fine. He didn’t care about them. All he wanted was to uncover the information hidden in this place, a region said to contain mysteries still unresolved to this day.
Aldrian sensed the strongest beast within his domain, and decided to teleport directly beside it. The beast turned out to be a massive mountain goat, its horns sharp like thorns. It stood casually on a cliff wall, appearing to be at rest.
But the mont it sensed a sudden presence beside it, the beast opened its eyes and found Aldrian floating at eye level. Its eyes widened in shock, but before it could react, Aldrian reached out, touching its head and injecting golden energy into its body.
The high emperor-stage beast finally responded, swinging its head to strike Aldrian with its horns. But it was already too late. The golden energy had already seeped into its head and soul. The beast’s body trembled, and a sudden surge of pain struck deep within.
"Roargh!" it roared in agony as it fell from the cliff wall, crashing into the depths of the gorge. When its massive body hit the ground, the impact sent a tremor through the area.
Aldrian then stepped onto the head of the fallen beast and looked into its eyes, which still reflected its pain. The energy he injected through the head was always the most effective—it reached the soul faster than if delivered through any other part of the body.
He altered the properties of his energy, turning it into poison that directly attacked the soul. The pain it caused was unimaginable for anyone unfortunate enough to beco his target.
After more than fifteen seconds of agony, Aldrian finally stopped, allowing the beast to breathe. The giant goat wasted no ti, drawing in deep breaths to calm itself, its eyes still fixed on Aldrian—whose figure was barely larger than the beast’s eye.
It couldn’t understand what had just happened. This human, who appeared to be nothing more than a weak Grand Duke-stage cultivator, possessed an energy like that?
Its soul and mind were still shaken, and inwardly, it was truly shocked by the energy it had felt invading its body. The beast’s eye trembled as it stared at Aldrian, who stood calmly on its face.
"I know you can communicate with ," Aldrian said calmly. "I only want information about this place. So it would be better for you to answer—unless you want to experience that pain again."
He continued, "So let’s get to the point. Tell —what is truly hidden in this region? Because the ones who—"
"You... are you the one many have said was prophesied?" the beast interrupted.
Aldrian fell silent for a mont, then gave a slight nod.
"I am. So what?" he replied.
"I see," the beast said, its tone strained as it gasped lightly from the lingering pain. "Your energy... actually, it feels familiar to . I sensed the sa sensation deep within the core area of this place."
Aldrian’s eyes widened slightly. The sa sensation as his golden energy? His thoughts imdiately turned to Long Shentian and Feng Xuanyan. This forbidden region must have been built by them as well, because there had to be sothing here capable of storing or emitting an energy similar to his.
He did not know whether the energy the beast ntioned was divine energy or his golden energy, since the beast might not be able to tell the difference between the two. But the fact that sothing here could emit a presence similar to either divine energy or his golden energy was reason enough for him to investigate thoroughly.
"The sa sensation as my energy, huh?" Aldrian said. "Explain it more clearly—what exactly do you an by that ’sensation’? And what does being the prophesied one have to do with it?"
The beast’s body suddenly shone with a red light, and Aldrian knew that it wanted to change into its human form. He stepped aside from its face and allowed the transformation to take place. Soon, the shape of a human appeared, a silhouette of a man gradually becoming clear before Aldrian’s eyes.
The beast transford into a middle-aged man with a short white beard, his eyes fixed steadily on Aldrian.
"Before I answer your question, let introduce myself," he said with a slight courtesy.
"My na is Dureus, and I am the one who controls this area."
"As for your question, as I said before, I can sense the sa sensation coming from the core area of this region of the Grand Canyon. What lies inside is difficult to explain, so you should visit it yourself. As the prophesized one, you will understand more."
Aldrian narrowed his eyes at the answer. He could sense that Dureus was telling the truth and held no ill intent, which was strange considering he had just caused the beast considerable pain. Seeing that made Aldrian feel a bit guilty, yet he could not afford to lower his guard. After all, this was still devil territory, and everything here could be a dangerous and hostile entity.
It would be a lie to say he was not interested in what lay within this Grand Canyon—after all, even the devils avoided it.
His gaze shifted upward to the sky, focusing on the black pillar that was still forming as the portal opened. Judging by the speed of its growth and comparing it to the size of the Tarius eye he had seen in his vision, Aldrian estimated it would take a little more than a month for the portal to reach that scale.
He might as well visit the core area of the Grand Canyon to see it for himself.
Dureus then transford back into his goat form and lowered his body."I will take you there. Hop on my back," he said.
Aldrian narrowed his eyes but still climbed onto his back. Without hesitation, Dureus leapt into the air and flew high into the sky. As a high emperor-stage beast, his speed was truly fast, although not as fast as an emperor stage avian beast.
Aldrian sat calmly on his back, observing the beast. He was genuinely curious about the Dureus’s deanor when he sensed his energy.
Aldrian could tell this beast was a devil cultivator, the thick devil energy stored within his body made that clear, but why didn’t he seem as fanatical as other devil cultivators? As an emperor-stage beast and a devil cultivator, shouldn’t he be much more violent, fueled by pride and anger at having his strength trampled by him?
Aldrian did not believe that pain in the soul alone could change his character or remove any ill intent toward him. The beast should hold so grudge, yet he sensed none.
Dureus seed much more level-headed—
Then Aldrian’s thoughts stopped. He suddenly rembered two beings like Dureus: two powerful entities with strong devil energy who beca obedient once they sensed his golden energy. Who else could they be if not the Golden Phoenix and the Great Peng?
They are beings he summoned through the summoning formation. But as far as he knew, they never showed any devilish traits beyond their devil energy. Their behavior was like that of normal cultivators, without any ill intentions.
These beings chose him wholeheartedly as their true master, as if they had abandoned their devil origins.
Now Aldrian was truly curious about the true effect of his golden energy on these devil beasts.
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