Rulleus felt a chill as he thought that Aldrian might kill him based on this question alone! The problem was that he did not know the right answer to this question. That was because the intent of the question itself was unknown to him.

Did Aldrian ask this to know how his father would react if he killed him now? Did he want to bait his father to come here by killing him? Or did he want to avoid attracting his father by not killing him? However, without asking that question, Aldrian should know that killing him would be a challenge to the vampire king.

From the way Rulleus saw it, Aldrian asked this question to bait his father into coming here by killing him. Aldrian wanted to know if he was useful in that way.

"Please spare me," he suddenly said without much thinking. He felt that any answer would lead him to his death.

Aldrian did not change his expression.

"That is not the answer I want to hear, so let's repeat once again: will your father come here if I kill you?" he said in a deliberately slow, threatening tone.

Rulleus gritted his teeth. He was afraid of everything in that moment. He was afraid of the pain he had just experienced, afraid of giving the wrong answer, afraid of being killed by the man in front of him. His mind was in chaos and he could not think straight.

Xarz, who watched the prince almost break down, could not help but feel pity because he knew Aldrian was torturing this man with that method. Aldrian must already know the answer to the question because it was obvious. There was no way the vampire king would sit back if his successor were killed by someone.

Even if the vampire king had no fatherly love, killing Rulleus would be the same as mocking him and challenging his authority. For an overlord who had never been mocked and who inspired fear in others, such a challenge would not be taken lightly. He might move personally if necessary, once he heard what had happened in this star cluster.

Aldrian's intent seemed to have shaken Rulleus's mentality with that question, pushing him toward a breakdown. This would surely leave a deep trauma in his subconscious for the rest of his life. Well, if he lived long enough.

Rulleus's body trembled and his lips quivered. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, wanting to answer but unable to. Aldrian's eyes stayed fixed on him without moving, as if he had all day to wait for a reply. That calm gaze made it feel like the moment he gave his answer, Aldrian might kill him instantly.

After a few moments of hesitation, Rulleus finally forced himself to speak.

"Yes. He will most likely move personally if I am dead, BUT I'm sure you will find me more useful if you keep me alive. You could use me to talk to my father. My father will not act as long as I am alive… yes, if you keep me alive then you will have more leverage against my father." Rulleus replied in a rush, trying to show the advantages of keeping him alive.

He would take any chance and say whatever he thought might keep him breathing and might catch Aldrian's interest.

Silence followed, and with each passing second Rulleus grew more tense. He waited for the judgment that would decide whether he lived or died.

After a few seconds, Aldrian finally opened his lips.

"Your reasoning sounds good," he said. He stood up from his seat and walked toward Rulleus.

Rulleus was stunned, then his face fell into relief and a happy expression.

"Your Excellency, your decision to keep me alive will prove to bring you extreme benefit—" Rulleus rushed to say.

"But I still believe killing you is far more profitable for me." Aldrian interrupted with a chilling smile, cutting Rulleus short as he suddenly grabbed his head.

The words and that chilling smile struck Rulleus at once. His eyes widened in shock, and even Xarz was astonished.

"Wait, Your Excellency!—" Before Rulleus could say anything, Aldrian was already intruding into his memories, forcing him to stop speaking. His body spasmed as Aldrian harshly sifted through the memories he deemed important. Xarz could only watch the process with a tense expression, and after more than twenty minutes—

Splat!

Suddenly Aldrian's hand, which was gripping Rulleus's head, tightened, and Rulleus's skull exploded instantly. Brain matter and chunks of flesh splattered across the surroundings, with some landing on Xarz's face. His expression shifted from shock to horror as his eyes trembled, feeling the remnants of Rulleus's head clinging to his skin.

Aldrian, still holding his stance, let out a sigh.

"Ah, what a relief. This bastard is more irritating than—" Aldrian said, but his words were cut off when a sudden pressure enveloped the entire room. The pressure itself was actually strong enough to cover the entire floating land, but Aldrian had already blocked the room with a spatial barrier so that anything inside would not affect the outside.

Xarz was shocked by the sudden pressure, but he immediately understood where it came from. From Rulleus's dead body, a transparent figure emerged. It expanded into a massive silhouette before gradually becoming clearer, revealing the head of a middle-aged man with two fangs on his lips.

The moment Xarz saw that face, his eyes trembled in fear and his heart turned cold. That head was the manifestation of a cultivator's spiritual sense. A cultivator capable of manifesting and shaping their own spiritual sense, then storing it inside another, was certainly at least at peak pseudo-immortal stage.

At that stage, the soul had already begun to transform into a much stronger and more solid form in preparation for immortality, making it possible to manifest spiritual sense in the shape of one's own figure. Basically, the spiritual sense manifestation was created by cutting off a small part of the cultivator's own spiritual sense and power, then transferring it to the chosen person.

There were benefits to having this ability, but its primary use was to protect those chosen to carry the manifestation.

In essence, the cultivator would put their spiritual manifestation into another's soul as a safeguard. When triggered, that spiritual sense could materialize and release a portion of the peak pseudo-immortal's power once, to protect the bearer's life.

One of the fatal weakness was that the manifestation had to be activated manually by the host cultivator. They needed to trigger the spiritual sense within their soul the moment they believed their life was in danger. If there was no time to activate it, the result would be just like Rulleus—he had no chance to trigger the spiritual sense embedded in his soul.

And what if the host cultivator died? Then the very thing happening now in Rulleus's case.

The spiritual sense, having lost its host, instantly manifested. Xarz, watching this unfold, felt as though his own soul would leave his body. For the spiritual sense inside Rulleus's body belonged to none other than his father, the Vampire King!

The pressure that exuded from the manifestation was truly suffocating, and it was only a small fraction of his true power. Xarz could not imagine the full strength of the Vampire King, but looking at Aldrian he knew Aldrian was a monster on another level. He did not know who would win if the two fought, but he knew there would be vast destruction.

The manifestation's expression twisted in fury. His eyes locked on Aldrian, then shifted briefly to Xarz. After that, he looked at the headless body of Rulleus, and at last he lost control. Veins bulged on its forehead and the pressure around them grew heavier, but Aldrian's expression remained calm. It was as if the force from the manifestation did not affect him at all.

"Who are you? How dare you kill my son!" the manifestation's voice boomed, making Xarz feel as though his ears would burst.

Aldrian, still calm, replied to the Vampire King. "You should teach your son some manners. He has become a bad boy and spread destruction everywhere. This is merely the consequence of his attack on my world. You and your entire devil troop will suffer the same fate." He pointed at the headless corpse as he spoke.

Hearing Aldrian's answer, Xarz almost lost his mind. To ask a Vampire King—a devil cultivator—to teach his son some manners because he spread destruction? They were devil cultivators, for fuck's sake! Spreading destruction and corruption was what they did. And on top of that, Aldrian even dared to threaten him.

But then Xarz realized Aldrian was deliberately provoking the Vampire King. It was insane, yet this man truly had the strength to back it up. Xarz glanced at the Vampire King, and as expected, he could no longer hold back.

"Courting death!" the manifestation roared, his eyes turning red as he prepared to unleash his blood law technique.

However, before he could fully execute it, Aldrian teleported behind the manifestation's head and grabbed it, leaving the vampire king stunned.

"This is my gift for you. Enjoy it." Aldrian tightened his grip around the manifestation's head and then—

Crash!

A shattering sound rang out as the manifestation was destroyed. The pressure instantly vanished, and the atmosphere returned to stillness.

Xarz, still reeling from the manifestation's appearance, could only stare blankly at the scene. But then a chill ran through his soul as Aldrian's gaze shifted in his direction.

Panic surged in his heart.

'No… is he going to kill me next?'