Randolf kept his smile and nodded.
"This makes curious, Your Majesty, to bring up this person's story. If this person could leave such an impression even on Your Majesty, then he must be remarkable. If Your Majesty wishes to tell the story about this person, I would like to hear it," he said.
Although inwardly he was confused as to why Aldrian suddenly brought up this unknown person in their conversation. Why did he want to tell the story of another? He wondered where their conversation was heading.
Aldrian smiled as he looked at the garden.
"Remarkable? Well, you could say that. This is the story of a mortal who was saved by a god and decided to beco the god's follower, spreading his faith and influence. This was the person who later brought a 'great change' to the entire continent." Aldrian then started walking slowly toward one side of the garden.
"Let's just na this person Zhang. He was rely an unnoticeable mortal among countless mortals. There was nothing remarkable about him. He simply lived the life offered to him, doing his job and so on."
"One day, a series of unfortunate events befell him. He lost his only family mber at the hands of his enemy, and then he was trapped inside a realm filled with powerful beasts. As a mortal, normally he would have died in that place, right? Wrong. He survived because of his determination and his desire for revenge." Aldrian then touched one of the leaves of the plants.
"As ti passed, one god took notice of him, and because he was impressed by his determination and luck, he decided to grant him power, which then allowed him to accomplish extraordinary things compared to other common cultivators."
"From that mont, he, once a re mortal, finally gained the power for his revenge. But before doing that, he needed to fulfill what his god had ordered of him before he could return to claim it. The order was simple." Aldrian then looked in another direction, where two small birds were flying as if playing with each other.
At this point, Randolf could no longer maintain only a smile. He slightly narrowed his eyes as mories of a past he thought he had already forgotten resurfaced. Hearing Aldrian's words brought the past back to him, and his frown deepened. He forced himself to remain calm. He did not want Aldrian to notice anything unusual about him.
Fortunately, Aldrian seed not to notice and continued telling the story.
"The pure destruction, filled with death and devastation. The world had to be saturated with negative energy so his god could fulfill his plan. There was not even a fragnt of peace like the scenery before us, where the continent basked in calm surroundings."
"And so his journey of destruction began. He used both his mind and his strength to achieve what his god desired. He truly spread destruction, corruption, death, and every form of negativity across the continent. Many people suffered because of his machinations, and his god's plan drew ever closer to success…"
Aldrian continued his story, but Randolf was no longer fully listening. His hand trembled slightly, though he managed to stop it in ti.
Randolf realized what Aldrian was speaking about, and his heart shaken before he narrowed his eyes. He knew that Aldrian was actually telling the story of a devil cultivator, with all that destruction and ruin. What made his heart shaken, however, was he could guess who the person in this story truly was.
A servant of a god, carrying out his mission, spreading his faith—was that not the very definition of an apostle? That was exactly what apostles had always done. And who else could be called the apostle of the devils nad Zhang, if not Zhang Haoran? He did not know if Aldrian's story about Zhang Haoran was entirely true, but everything said so far matched Zhang Haoran's image.
He did not care nor wish to know whether Zhang Haoran was still alive or not. The point was that, at this mont, he realized Aldrian already seed aware of the apostle's existence, and this only made him more certain that Aldrian himself might also be an apostle.
Although Randolf continued walking behind Aldrian and listening to his story, his mind was already turning toward a possible plan B for the current situation. He thought that Aldrian suddenly bringing up the devils and Zhang Haoran had to hold so hidden intent directed at him.
He considered that, if Aldrian sohow discovered he was also an apostle, then there would be no choice but to eliminate him at this mont. Yet in his heart, doubt lingered. What was Aldrian's true purpose in telling the story of Zhang Haoran?
Randolf convinced himself that Aldrian was speaking without knowing his own identity as an apostle of another god. Even the devil god had no idea he was here, so there was no way the other gods would know, much less Aldrian, who was still mortal.
If he made a wrong move and exposed himself because of a foolish misjudgnt of the situation, it would be the gravest mistake, one that could cost him his life. Just because Aldrian knew of the existence of an apostle like Zhang Haoran, it did not an he knew about him.
Finally, he decided to wait and see, while staying wary of Aldrian's next move after this.
"And then, fortunately, I was able to prevent the disaster from happening. Thanks to my fortunate fate, I could stop the worst from befalling the continent. I heard this story from his own mouth after I defeated him, and I could not help but lant the fate that had led him down that path. If we had t under different circumstances, we might have beco friends." Aldrian sighed before looking at Randolf.
"I am not only telling this story to you, young master, but also to others who have visited . Why am I telling it? Because I fear there may be more people like him out there. I suspect this is the reason the devils are able to slowly encroach upon our territory, and why both orthodox and unorthodox cultivators have suffered defeat. They have many such figures as their leaders, each with strange abilities, which makes the devils a truly formidable force."
Hearing this, Randolf once again narrowed his eyes in doubt. Was that really the case? He did not know Zhang Haoran's true character, but would he truly have told Aldrian about his past and all of that?
From the looks of it, Aldrian knew there were many existences like Zhang Haoran, but he did not seem certain how many were out there. His knowledge might have been limited to what Zhang Haoran had told him. Perhaps he had tried to peer into Zhang Haoran's mories, but the system would have prevented it.
An apostle's soul and mories were protected by the system itself, with safeguards to stop any entity from peering into them, even other apostles. If Aldrian's consciousness had entered Zhang Haoran in an attempt to see his mories, the system within Zhang Haoran would have retaliated, which could have badly damaged Aldrian's soul.
At worst, if Aldrian had forced his way in, he might have ended up crippled in mind, his soul so heavily injured that he would be reduced to a retard. The system was not sothing that could be bypassed easily, and he had never heard of anyone who managed to break through another's system.
But what left him confused was Aldrian's information. Wasn't Aldrian himself an apostle? If he was, then he should already know that apostles were rare, and none of them resided in the sa area, or even the sa heavens. So why was he acting as if many apostles could be out there? Was he simply putting on an act, hiding his true intent?
There were many contradictions in Aldrian's words compared to his own understanding, which left him confused. His conclusion was that Aldrian was indeed an apostle, but he did not seem to know the extent of how many apostles from the alliance existed. This struck him as strange, since Aldrian's god should have already told him such information.
Even if his god belonged to the side of the rebels, he should still have been inford about his enemies and given the knowledge he needed as an apostle.
"I see. If that is the case, then it will indeed be troubleso if higher beings, such as divine beings, were to intervene in the affairs of the lower realm. This is truly a serious matter that should be given attention in the future," Randolf said, appearing to agree.
Aldrian nodded. "Yes. I share this information so that others can realize that such existences do exist, and I hope all of you will plan with this in mind. They are truly cunning, and with their unwavering loyalty to their god, they will not easily yield and will continue to bring destruction according to their god's will."
Randolf nodded. "I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty."
After that, they spoke about other matters for nearly thirty minutes before Randolf and his group excused themselves. Once Aldrian finally saw Randolf leaving the floating land, he smirked and walked back to the throne hall.
'That man must be confused by now. Let his mind keep turning, forcing him to chase after a conclusion of his own—a wrong conclusion that will only confuse him further,' he thought.
What he had told Randolf was a mixture of truth and lies, carefully woven to leave him in confusion.
This was the long ga he intended to play. If he succeeded, then once he ascended to the Second Heaven, those invaders would see each other as enemies. In the end, that would only make his path to reclaim this universe far easier.
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