The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 365: Another Hidden Path

"When the Church was under surprise attack by the devils 18 years ago, this was the path where Aldrey and Irene passed. The devils ambushed them, forcing them to escape further south toward the Everlasting Silent Forest."

"Why were they in the southern region of the church? Their territory is in the northern direction," Aldrian asked.

"From our investigation, it seems their envoys were meeting here, though we don’t know the reason. The devils somehow found out, allowing them to intercept the meeting," Arthur said as they continued inspecting the room.

Aldrian pondered for a moment before a he thought something.

"Did Father and Mother choose this place just to meet because it’s remote from the north?" He facepalmed inwardly. That was the only reason that popped into his mind when he heard about their envoy’s meeting. He could only imagine his parents coming up with some fabricated excuse just to move here and meet each other.

How did the devils sniff them out? He suspected it must have been from his mother’s side, when her own retainer fell under the control of one of the Seven Devils of Annihilation.

"And we also found out why the devils managed to infiltrate the Church’s territory so easily and it was because of Cardinal Carsius’ help. That’s how thousands of devils were able to enter without much problem. All this time, they blended in with civilians using their own methods, making it impossible for us to detect them."

Aldrian nodded. That was the same method the devils had used to infiltrate other territories.

"I already know how they infiltrate. They’ve been using the same method all along, and it’s true that Cardinal Carsius has been helping them," Aldrian said.

Arthur nodded. "Yes, we’ve gathered information from both the Doria Empire and the Vindas Empire, and they confirmed the same thing."

Aldrian only smiled inwardly. Of course, they had the same information, because they got it from him.

Cardinal Carsius was one of the key figures involved in creating the artifact that allowed the devils to infiltrate other territories. He was the last person Aldrian had yet to deal with, the others had already died by his hand.

After a few minutes, they left the room and inspected the others before finally finishing their observations.

"This is all we found in this place. So, what do you think, young master?" Arthur asked.

"You’re saying this is everything the Church has discovered? They didn’t miss anything?"

"Yes."

Aldrian nodded before walking to the far end of the corridor. He placed his hand on the wall, and a few seconds later, strange glowing symbols appeared. Suddenly, the wall split open, revealing another hidden path.

The others were shocked—they hadn’t detected anything!

"What?! Another hidden path? How did we miss this?!" Arthur exclaimed. "We even had cultivators specialized in the earth element check for hollow spaces!"

Aldrian looked at Arthur and the others.

"There’s a high-level formation here, one that even low Emperor-stage cultivators can’t detect. The one who created it must be a formation master. That’s why no one could find the entrance—even earth-element cultivators wouldn’t sense it if they were much weaker than the low Emperor stage," he explained.

Aldrian already knew the entire layout of the area. Nothing could be hidden from his sight and senses within his domain. This hidden path was quite long, and he already knew what lay at its end.

"Let’s go. We need to check this place—there might be another clue."

Arthur wanted to warn Aldrian not to rush, but remembering who he was, he only sighed and warily eyed the hidden path. Taking their stances, they carefully stepped inside.

The knights instinctively gripped the hilts of their swords, ready for any situation. The passage was narrow, just wide enough for two people to stand side by side. If a battle broke out here, they would be at a disadvantage.

Aldrian walked leisurely in front, with Arthur right behind him. After another minute, they reached a door, and Aldrian opened it without hesitation.

The moment the door swung open, the Paladins’ eyes widened. Before them lay a vast underground hall, with a massive formation at its center. A sinister aura radiated from it and still fresh, making it clear that someone had either attempted to use the formation or had already done so not long ago.

When Aldrian had scanned the underground hideout, he had detected the movements of a few devils in this area. They had fled in a direction no one would have expected when he opened the hidden path. He chose to let them go for now. They seemed to believe they had already escaped from him and the Paladins, unaware that they were still within his grasp.

He was intrigued by the giant formation, which bore the same pattern as those the devils had used in the past to summon powerful creatures. From his understanding and experience, this type of formation required sacrifices to summon an emperor-stage being. However, for creatures at the king stage like the Hydra he had fought in Balin, they could be summoned quickly as long as the formation was drawn correctly and a few devils activated it simultaneously.

From the ominous aura and the presence of death laws lingering around the formation, he knew this was another summoning formation designed to release an emperor-stage creature, similar to the Cerberus or the Black Rock Snake. Fortunately, it seemed the devils had not completed the activation. The moment they sensed him and the knights approaching the hideout, they had abandoned the summoning process and fled.

The devils seemed to treat him and the knights with caution, even though they were protected by a formation capable of concealing the entrance from low Emperor-stage cultivators. Yet, they had still chosen to flee to another location.

Aldrian dropped to one knee, placing his hand on the formation to feel it directly. He wanted to understand its details, how this summoning worked and whether there was anything useful he could learn from it.

Meanwhile, Arthur and the others spread out, carefully inspecting every corner for potential traps or ambushes. However, after thoroughly checking the entire hall, they found nothing dangerous. The only thing that concerned them was the formation itself.

They turned to Aldrian, who appeared focused as he examined the summoning circle.

After a few minutes, Aldrian stood up and looked at the others.

"This is a summoning formation capable of calling forth a powerful creature, one on par with the being that appeared in the Vindas Empire more than a year ago," Aldrian said. "How do I know? Because I saw the formation myself back then."

The others gasped, immediately realizing what he was referring to. That creature had been unlike anything they had ever seen. Even after it was slain by the mysterious swordsman, its corpse remained dangerous, radiating a terrifying energy and aura they couldn’t comprehend. If this formation could summon something similar, then—

Their expressions turn grim. Arthur looked at Aldrian solemnly.

"Young master, if this thing can summon a creature like that, we can’t afford to leave it intact. We should destroy it before someone else can use it," he said.

However, Aldrian didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked at Arthur in silence.

"Can you evacuate the entire population of Buran Village to a safe location?"

Arthur looked confused by Aldrian’s request, but after a few moments, something clicked in his mind. His eyes widened in realization.

"Young master... are you planning to summon the creature from this formation?"

The others also widened their eyes in shock. When Aldrian gave a simple nod, a shudder ran through them.

"Wait, Your Eminence, why would you do that? We don’t need to summon such a dangerous creature! If we can’t contain it, it could even threaten Oris Town!"

"Yes, Your Eminence, there’s no need to take such a risk. If this creature is anything like the one in the Vindas Empire, we would have no choice but to call upon His Holiness which we could still prevent now!"

The other knights voiced their concerns as well—this was far too dangerous. They couldn’t understand what Aldrian was trying to achieve by summoning such a creature.

Aldrian was well aware of their worries. He knew they likely thought he was being reckless, perhaps even unreasonable, for attempting to call forth an enemy. But he had his own reasons.

And it all came down to one thing.

Curiosity.

He wanted to know if he could hijack the summoning if he was the one to activate it. He wanted to see what kind of creature would emerge this time. He wanted to uncover the Devil Lord’s secrets, how he managed to have so many powerful beings as the summons?

There were many things he want to test.

And this was a rare opportunity—one where he had found an intact summoning formation before the devils could use it first.

He actually had another option and that is reverse summon. By modifying this formation, he could transform it into a teleportation formation, allowing him to teleport himself to the other end of the summoning connection.

He had done something similar before when he appeared at Boraz Fortress using the devils’s teleportation artifact. While this was a summoning formation rather than a teleportation formation, the core principles were the same, both involving spatial movement. And Aldrian was a master of both spatial techniques and formations.

However, there was a problem.

He had no idea what lay on the other side. Teleporting blindly could be reckless—if he ended up in an enemy stronghold, he might find himself surrounded by powerful creatures like the ones summoned in the past. If he carelessly teleported straight into the heart of the enemy’s lair, he could end up in a situation too dangerous to escape from, possibly even dying before he had the chance to regret his decision.

That’s why it was much safer to summon the creature here and observe it himself.