On the next day, Aldrian and all the troops from the Aster Empire gathered outside of the headquarters. Near them stood their interstellar vessel, and from the looks of their attire, they were ready for another battlefield.

Only the forces from the Aster Empire were gather here, since the others already had their own targets. From the outside, the composition of the Aster Empire's troops was not impressive and could even be considered pathetic.

The strongest beside Aldrian was Pope Claudius and Venerable Karma Seeker, who was at low pseudo immortal foundation stage. The others were below that, and even the number of emperor stage cultivators was below fifty. With this kind of force in a war of the current scale, they would certainly face death the moment they reached the battlefield.

Some of their opponents would already be at the pseudo immortal establishment stage, and even at the pseudo immortal stage.

However, despite their pathetic average level of cultivation, there was no trace of inferiority on their faces. There was also no one who dared to mock or underestimate them.

All of their expressions instead held confidence. Even at this moment, they showed pride as their gazes were all directed toward Aldrian, who was standing on the small boulder. He was the main source of their pride and confidence.

"Let's go, there are many battles that we need to win," Aldrian said as he then walked toward the vessel, followed by the others.

Today, they would expand more of their territories to kill the devils. The Aster Empire got a share to attack a town in the far east. From the information they had, that town had a peak pseudo immortal establishment stage devil residing there.

After they entered the vessel, it floated and flew toward their destination. Their journey using the vessel was not long, only thirty minutes before they stopped not far from the town.

From the control room, Aldrian could see many devils guarding the town, stationed on the town's defensive wall. They saw the vessel's arrival, so they immediately became busier, and Aldrian noticed that they did not even try to actively attack. The devils instantly raised the barrier formation that protected the town.

It was as if they were trying to preserve their strength as much as possible by using a defensive mode. They used the same tactic as the other places, as if they were trying to stall for time in the face of their fall.

Aldrian smiled when he saw this, and he left the control room, heading toward the hall where his troops had gathered. As he arrived in front of them, all of their attention returned to him.

"Alright, be careful out there. Watch your friends, watch whoever is nearest to you, protect each other. You can battle to your heart's content, but be careful with friendlies. You don't have to worry about enemy cultivators at the immortal transition realm, you only need to fight what is in front of you," Aldrian said. He showed his smile.

"Happy hunting, ladies and gentlemen."

"UWOOO!" the others shouted in unison before the hatch beside them slowly opened. Aldrian looked at the opened hatch. For him, this battle was nothing more than a little sport. He could kill all the devils in this town easily on his own.

However, for these people, this battle was an experience. It would be different from the battles in the past week. They would fight with their own strength, the strength of the Aster Empire alone without support from outside powers. They would face opponents much stronger than them with only their power.

This battle would be good "training" for them, and Aldrian would help them grow stronger. He had already helped his troops by distributing cultivation resources so they could grow much quicker. Now he could provide them with the chance to train without worrying about opponents that were outside of their league.

As the hatch fully opened, all of them stepped out and instantly formed their formation. After they were done disembarking, the vessel began to float again and flew higher and higher until they could no longer see it.

The vessel continued rising until it reached the upper atmosphere, where it stopped and waited in case the ground troops needed support, and from there they could attack using the beam cannon.

Aldrian and his troops observed the town. Aldrian could see the devils looking at them with confusion, and he even noticed many devils showing relief. He couldn't help but smile, because he knew exactly what they were thinking at this moment.

They must have underestimated his troops the moment they sensed the average cultivation of his people. With this level of strength, there was no other purpose except becoming cannon fodder. The only thing that still held the devils' attention was the interstellar vessel.

However, with only one interstellar vessel, that was still not enough if they wanted to break the town's barrier. The conclusion in the devils' minds was simple. Even if they did nothing, they would undoubtedly be safe. They only needed to take care of the many weaklings who seemed suicidal enough to attack them with only such power.

Aldrian did not care about the gazes the devils directed at them as he gave his order.

"Move forward."

All troops moved in a disciplined manner and quite fast. In no time, they would likely reach the wall.

The devils who saw the troops approaching finally reacted. The strongest devil cultivator here, at peak pseudo immortal establishment stage, looked at the incoming troops with a mocking expression from the wall before giving his order.

"Send two middle pseudo immortal establishment stage to take care of the lone pseudo immortal establishment from the enemy. Send another six pseudo immortal foundation to take care of the rest of them."

"Yes, my lord," one of the devils replied before he ran off to execute the order. The leader kept watching the approaching troops.

But then his sight caught Aldrian unsheathing his sword. The sword in Aldrian's grasp was not his Sword of the End, but another divine-grade sword. Aldrian lifted the sword and pointed it at the sky. The devil leader did not change his expression. Although Aldrian held a divine-grade sword, that still did not change the outcome. He would not be able to shatter the barrier.

That man might be able to resist the incoming devils for a moment, but that was it. He was only a low pseudo immortal establishment cultivator. The two devils he had sent were more than enough to take care of him.

He saw that a few of his men had already stepped out of the town's barrier to carry out his orders. They were approaching the incoming troops.

His gaze returned to Aldrian, but then froze as a sudden blinding light shone from the sword. The blinding light shaped itself into a pillar that reached the heaven, piercing through the clouds and sweeping them aside. Every devil's expression froze the moment they saw the golden pillar of light forming from Aldrian's sword.

Their expressions changed from mocking or indifferent to shock. Their shock then shifted to horror as they sensed the power contained within the golden pillar. It was as if they were standing before a peak pseudo immortal stage cultivator unleashing his technique.

The devils who were already outside the barrier stopped their advance as their heads lifted toward the sky, instinctively wanting to see the tip of the golden pillar.

Their gazes then lowered again, looking at Aldrian, who at this moment showed his smile to them. Without any warning, Aldrian swung his sword downward, causing all of them to try to escape to both sides. The golden pillar struck the town's barrier and created a dull sound.

The barrier received the direct impact from the pillar, and it instantly created a giant ripple that spread across its surface. The devils saw that the town's barrier had already begun to be overwhelmed by just one strike. From the point of impact, a giant crack formed and spread across the barrier that protected the town until—

Crash!

With the crashing sound, the barrier shattered under the sword strike, making the devils' hearts tremble and their eyes widen in shock. The moment the barrier shattered, the golden pillar continued downward and finally struck the town's defensive wall as well.

Rumble! Whoozh!

The wall that was hit by the pillar was instantly destroyed, and the town at this moment split into two sides. The golden pillar created a long crater that cut through the town and killed many devils who were caught in its path.

The devils who finally snapped out of their shock immediately arranged themselves to prepare for battle. They knew they had underestimated the enemy far too much. There was actually a cultivator at the pseudo immortal stage!

They had been fooled into thinking there were no strong cultivators among the enemy, yet the enemy had someone who could unleash something like that. They had already heard news that someone on the enemy's side was strong enough to destroy a city's barrier with ease.

The story of the rain of swords was already known among them.

Now, seeing a technique that could destroy the barrier so easily, they wondered if the figure they had heard about had actually appeared here.

After striking the town, the golden pillar disappeared. Aldrian sheathed his sword and finally gave his order.

"Attack!"