A week later, Aldrian was still in his meditative position. For the past week, he had not moved a bit, and his aura kept getting stronger. The city had also completely changed, with the rubble of the buildings gone. Now, it was only a flat land filled with large tents for the troops to stay in.

The only ancient buildings still standing were the ruins of the destroyed palace complex. Since Aldrian was still cultivating, no one dared to disturb him to clean up the rubble there.

At this moment, Baek Jimin was talking with Angelica as they discussed something. For the past week, she, Xin Haotian, and Angelica had taken turns guarding Aldrian here.

As they continued their conversation, they suddenly sensed something and turned their heads toward Aldrian. They could feel that the energy surrounding him had stopped reacting to him, which was a sign that Aldrian had finished his cultivation.

The energy around Aldrian returned to its normal flow after a few moments. He slowly opened his eyes, and a golden hue flashed across them before disappearing. He took a deep breath and looked at his own body's information through the system.

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Aldrian Aster

Domain : Ancient Blue Gate World, Akares Star

Age : 17 years

Cultivation : Low Pseudo Immortal Establishment

Current energy : 17,978,123 (+14 /10m)

Energy needed for the next stage : 18,000,001

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He was quite surprised that his cultivation had increased so much, with him almost reaching the middle pseudo-immortal establishment stage. His cultivation speed had also improved.

This was a welcome surprise because he thought he would still need a long time before he could raise his cultivation this significantly. He had believed he would have to invade the central region of heaven to achieve such progress.

The unexpected comprehension regarding himself truly brought great benefits to him. He just did not expect that his attempt to comprehend that strange faith energy would instead lead him to glimpse into the universe's history.

Although he did not fully understand the true meaning of what he saw in his vision, at least he understood that the world had its own faith, and it was connected to that blinding light. That light was the beginning of everything. He could sense everything from it.

The mysterious man who was undoubtedly connected to him also had something to do with the blinding light. Because of that, he understood more about his domain ability—how the domain could possess such power as it did now. He grasped it more clearly.

If that mysterious man was connected to the creation of the cosmos, to the primordial era when nothing became something, then it made sense that his domain encompassed all things. It was starting to make more sense, the domain that could control the universe and everything within it.

Just thinking about it already gave him goosebumps.

It was no wonder that when he saw his past life, he saw his past self controlling the universe's order at will. He could create stars, worlds, galaxies, even the heavenly laws, he could create anything with ease.

But this made him think more about the origin of that mysterious man, his past self, and the connection between them.

From what he understood so far, that mysterious man and his past self, when he was still the revered Great Emperor of All Heavens, seemed like two different people.

From his visions up to this point, the oldest one he had received was from the time when he was the Great Emperor. All of his different past lives always traced back to that era.

As for the visions regarding that mysterious man, they felt more like that person was trying to reveal something to him or share advice and wisdom. He never saw from that man's point of view as he did with his own past life as the Great Emperor.

He once thought that the mysterious man was also one of his past lives, but he was not sure. All of his abilities indeed came from that man, as confirmed by him. It was the same ability that his past self as the Emperor also possessed, which made it clear that they originated from the same source.

However, since the oldest vision he had came from when he was still the Great Emperor, he was not certain about his guess that the mysterious man was one of his past lives. The origin of that man seemed to reach back to a much more ancient era, even before his time as the Great Emperor.

The connection between his past self and that mysterious man, which allowed his past self to use that man's ability, was still uncertain. Maybe his past self had been a person with great luck who obtained that mysterious man's power through a fortunate encounter.

Perhaps that mysterious man had bestowed his power upon his past self personally. Who knew?

'Forget it, I won't have any answer for now,' he thought as he put those thoughts aside and looked around. He did not know how long he had been cultivating, but seeing Baek Jimin and Angelica made him smile. He stood up as they approached him.

"For how long did I cultivate?" he asked.

"You were already cultivating for a week," Baek Jimin replied, which left Aldrian stunned. He sighed.

"A week? To think I cultivated that long in this situation. How is the war going?"

Baek Jimin then told him everything that had happened during the past week. The alliance troops had already expanded their territory of operation and attacked any devils in the surrounding regions. There were several cities, and those were their main targets according to the plan.

The alliance troops had already captured some of those cities, while others were still in the process of being taken, as the devils chose to defend themselves within them. Some places needed more time to break through because of the devils' defenses, and the troops also remained cautious of possible traps.

However, it was only a matter of time before all of them fell. In other far regions, they were also showing good progress as their operations continued to expand. The devils were being pushed back further and further into the remaining territories not yet occupied by the alliance.

The only bad news was that there had finally been some casualties, though this was already expected by many. It was too optimistic to hope for no losses in a war of this scale. Moreover, they were fighting the devils on their own turf, which gave the enemy a certain advantage over the alliance troops.

Aldrian sighed once again. Although he had expected it, he still felt bad for those who had fallen.

"Where is Emperor Rozwald?" he asked.

"He's in the far north at the moment. There's one city there that hasn't been conquered yet. He'll return only after that city falls. Oh, and some of the forces from our empire have also joined in the north," Baek Jimin answered.

"What about that guy Xarz? Has he done anything while we've been here?" he asked again.

"No, Xarz is still acting cooperative. He answers whenever we ask him something, and his information has been accurate so far," Baek Jimin replied.

Aldrian nodded. "Alright then, I'll go to the north to support the alliance."

Baek Jimin nodded. "I thought so."

Aldrian then looked toward Angelica and smiled at her. "Thank you for accompanying Jimin all this time."

Angelica smiled back at him. "Ah, it's nothing. I also like accompanying Jimin. I have a friend I can talk to here, so I don't feel bored."

Aldrian nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. Then, I'll go first. I feel bad for them going to battle without me."

His figure suddenly disappeared as he teleported high into the sky, reaching the limit of his domain. He appeared in the upper atmosphere before teleporting again toward the northern direction.

Even from where he was, he could see several interstellar vessels from the alliance forces floating in the distant upper atmosphere. One of them fired a beam cannon toward the surface of the world, which he assumed was the battlefield.

Without hesitation, he continued teleporting toward that direction.

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In the far north, a city was currently under attack by the alliance forces. The city had already raised its barrier, and many devils could be seen inside, watching as the attacks struck against it.

Duung!

Rumble!

The beam cannon's blast hit the barrier, creating ripples across its surface. The ground trembled slightly, but the barrier still held firm until the beam attack finally stopped.

The alliance troops, led by Emperor Rozwald, were not far from the city walls as they formed their battle formation. Emperor Rozwald stood at the forefront, his gaze locked on the city.

He couldn't help but snort at the sight of the devils, who could now only hide within their city. They had been pushed back again and again until they were finally forced to shelter behind the barrier.

He mocked them, knowing it was only a matter of time before the barrier broke. They only needed to keep attacking. Although it would take some time to destroy a barrier capable of withstanding multiple attacks from peak pseudo-immortal stage cultivators, he did not mind. He had all the time he needed until it shattered.

"Keep attacking! Let them stay trapped inside the city!" he ordered the operators of the interstellar vessels through the communication artifact.

He was about to store the communication artifact in his storage ring when a sudden voice resounded.

"Your Majesty, we've detected movement coming from the rear lines!" a report came abruptly from one of the interstellar vessels floating in the upper atmosphere.