The man who was still selling food at his stall saw the robed man, and he couldn't help but feel nervous inside. He did not know what he would say if this man asked about his task or anything related to the spiritual beast group.

But then, suddenly, the robed man disappeared, which left him stunned. He looked around but did not see the robed man anywhere. He wondered if this was what Emperor Aldrian meant by taking care of the robed man.

Unknown to him, in the dungeon beneath Aldrian's palace, the man was already there, with Aldrian standing in front of him. The robed man stood motionless or rather, he couldn't do anything at all because of Aldrian's spatial lock. Aldrian had instantly sealed his cultivation the moment they appeared here, both to weaken him and to prevent him from committing suicide by exploding his dantian.

Under the shadow of his hood, the man's eyes revealed not only his shock but also his panic. Yet because of the spatial lock, he couldn't move and could only shift his gaze as Aldrian allowed it.

The man still could not comprehend how he had suddenly appeared in this unknown place, already trapped under someone's technique. He couldn't do anything, and his cultivation had been sealed. Because of the dim room that shrouded the figure in front of him, he still couldn't catch even a glimpse of the face before him.

He, a pseudo-immortal foundation stage cultivator, had been abducted by someone against whom he could not even put up the slightest resistance!

There was only silence after that, and the atmosphere grew eerie in the dimly lit room, where a single small candle burned at the edge. The light from the candle was not enough to illuminate the entire space, and Aldrian's upper body remained hidden in the darkness, adding an even greater sense of intimidation to him.

Only the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat could be heard, which made the tension heavier.

After a few moments of silence, Aldrian finally took a step closer. At that instant, the light from the candle reached his face, allowing the robed man to see it. The moment he laid eyes on that face, his heart trembled and his heartbeat quickened. Cold sweat instantly rolled down his forehead, yet his body felt cold.

His mind cursed everything he could think of, for the person standing before him was the very one he wished to avoid the most.

Aldrian suddenly smiled, his expression adding to his charm as he sensed the man's chaotic emotions. Shock, panic, and fear were all mixed within him the moment he saw Aldrian's face. From those emotions alone, Aldrian could already tell that this man was hiding something he did not want to be discovered.

Aldrian then lifted the hood of the man's robe, revealing his face at last. He was a middle-aged man with short orange hair.

To confirm his suspicion, Aldrian released the spatial lock on the man's face only. Still wearing his smile, Aldrian asked,

"Are you working alone, or are you working in a group when you spread the information about the Spirit Ancestor?"

The moment the man heard the question, his heart skipped a beat, and a chill spread through him. Still, he tried to calm himself outwardly and answered Aldrian, ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFɪre.net

"Your Majesty, Emperor Aldrian, what is the meaning of this?! Why do you treat me this way? Why am I here? Also, what is the question you asked about? What do you mean, Spirit Ancestor?"

His tone and expression truly showed ignorance, even giving the impression of being wronged. Aldrian kept smiling and thought to himself that this man's acting skill was indeed perfect. It would certainly fool anyone who could not read his inner emotions or detect the subtle signs within his organs.

"You talked too much without answering my question. Your desperate effort is good, but unfortunately you are too panicked to control the signs from your inner organs. I have to admit, your acting is good and believable—it's as if you were already trained in this regard. It reminds me of someone like… an assassin," Aldrian said leisurely.

The man's heart skipped a beat again, but he did not show it on his face. Instead, his expression shifted to one of greater displeasure.

"Your Majesty, are you suspecting me of being some kind of assassin from a certain organization? I am from one of the famous merchant groups in the Akares Star, here to visit this continent and build relationships. How could you treat me like this? Are you not afraid of the backlash for treating a guest of your empire in such a way?"

Aldrian kept his gaze fixed directly on the man's eyes, never looking away while he spoke. That stare filled the man with an ominous feeling, making him deeply uncomfortable. The blue eyes, which seemed to shine faintly in the dim light of the room, were like eyes that pierced into his very soul—eyes that could uncover even his most hidden secrets.

"You are good with your words, Mister Hurz. What you said would make sense if it came from someone innocent. But from someone who wanted to harm the Spirit Ancestor? Ck, ck, ck… I don't think so. Even most of your elemental techniques point to the path of an assassin—shadow laws, darkness laws, illusion laws. Quite impressive."

The man's heart turned cold, as if he had fallen into an abyss. How did Aldrian know his real name?! That was a name known only to his colleagues in the assassin group. No one outside of them should have known, because all of them were already dead!

And everything Aldrian had just said was true. It made him realize that this man already knew about his identity and movements. Aldrian must have laid a trap for him, and he had stepped right into it!

His thoughts immediately turned to the food vendor he had ordered to observe the Spirit Ancestor's group.

'Was that man actually an agent planted by him beforehand?' he thought.

Aldrian allowed the man's mind to remain chaotic, full of doubt and questions, shaping his own scenarios. But then Aldrian caught something from his thoughts.

"So, you truly are an assassin, huh? But this makes me confused. If you are part of an assassin group targeting the Spirit Ancestor, why would you spread information about the target to the other powers? If the target were killed by someone else, I doubt your employer would be generous enough to keep using your group's services in the future. Instead, they would likely turn to others who are more capable than your group."

This thought came to Aldrian after confirming the man's identity as an assassin. Such a method was unusual for an assassin group and carried enormous risk. Perhaps it was part of their strategy this time, since their target was not ordinary.

With the Spirit Ancestor protected by the Dragon King and Phoenix Queen, killing her would be a true challenge. Maybe they deliberately spread the information to other powers so those forces would act as distractions, creating the chance for the assassin group to strike.

When the other powers attacked the Spirit Ancestor's group, this assassin group would strike their main target—like the scenario of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. In this case, the assassins would become the oriole. That was the only scenario Aldrian could think of with all the information at hand.

Still, the main problem had not been resolved: how did they know the Spirit Ancestor's location?

This was the true issue, and something that had to be dealt with. As long as it remained unsolved, they would never know how the Spirit Ancestor's whereabouts had been leaked. That hidden danger could one day truly cost the Spirit Ancestor his life.

Aldrian's mood for playing with the man's psychology faded, and he decided to uncover the truth himself. He touched the man's forehead, and the man instantly understood what Aldrian intended to do. A grin suddenly spread across his face.

"It's useless. Even if you try to look into my memories, there is a seal that even someone at peak—"

Clank!

Before he could finish his words, he felt something in his brain, and suddenly his mind felt… freer. He stopped mid-sentence, shocked that Aldrian had actually succeeded in breaking the mind seal!

That special seal inside his mind was connected to his soul and was so fragile that if anyone tried to break it by force even slightly, or even attempted to open it, the seal would instantly kill the assassin by destroying both his brain and soul.

Throughout his group's history, any assassin who had ever been captured ultimately died to this seal when their captors tried to look into their memories.

There had never been a single case of success. That was the reason their assassin group had been able to grow into the most feared in the Akares Star.

So how could Aldrian possibly break the seal?!

"Wait!—" He tried to say something, but Aldrian did not want to hear it. He instantly delved into his memories, not caring about the man's condition and rudely searching through them as much as he could.

The man, feeling the searing pain in his brain, stopped speaking as his eyes rolled back. If not for the spatial lock, his body would have been trembling violently while Aldrian probed through his memories.

As time passed, Aldrian's expression began to change. At first, he narrowed his eyes, then raised his eyebrows as if he had found something interesting. After nearly two minutes, he finally finished and withdrew his hand from the man's forehead.

Aldrian looked at the now unconscious man and couldn't help but sigh to himself.

'To think that the Spirit Ancestor is not their target, and the actual target is me.'