During the nighttime, in the Wild Northern Forest, historical

Five people were sitting on the rocks while devouring large chunks of meats. Infront of them were the corpses of demon beasts radiating strong energy. If anybody would come here and see this then they would surely get shell-shocked.

All these demon beasts were rare and the strongest ones in the forest. But now they have all become food to these individuals here.

The burly one in the middle raised his right hand and it slowly turned into a sharp blade. Then he chopped off the tail of one of the demon beasts and swallowed it in an instant.

"The flesh of these beasts is really soft and vigorous compared to the devils in our world. Although it's already been a month of digesting them, I never seem to get tired," He said.

"Indeed. I think it is us being away from this world for a long period of time." A young man said from his side. He wasn't eating the meat like him but rather sucking their blood with his mouth.

"However, it would have been much better if it were a beast at the Nascent Soul Stage," He sighed.

"Humph, you are too greedy Jack. Don't you know that such beats could already transform into human beings and have no point in staying here?" A female voice ridiculed him.

"Haiz, I know it, Julia. I was just telling my inner desires," Jack replied.

"Hehe, your inner desire really pales in my comparison as I'm thirsting for human blood." She said while licking her lips.

"Speaking of humans, where did Aiden go? Didn't he say that he would bring something interesting for us?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I was also thinking the same. He even took that skull with him in case anything happened to him." Julia was confused why he went out suddenly. Especially when the elders in the Sect were in a high state of alert.

Due to this and the emperor's warning they were staying here for a whole month. According to the emperor, the reinforcements would come here in a few days' time and they could finally act. Thus, they reasoned and tried to persuade him to wait for a while but he was resolute and seemed to make up his mind. So, they could only let him go.

"Not only that, he is not acting as usual since the incident with that disciple." Jack smiled. He always felt good thinking about this as something similar happened to him.

"Humm, what you said makes sense. He even refused to take me with him." She had a cold look on her face.

"Do you think that he might have fallen into trouble?" Jack asked.

"I don't think so. After all, he has taken that skull.." Before she could finish her sentence, she saw that the burly man who was Jackson suddenly stood up and took out an orb from his spirit ring.

The orb darkened and a strong aura was released from it. Then slowly a phantom of a man emerged from it.

"Emperor" They immediately fell on their knees and greeted him.

The emperor didn't reply but gazed at them sharply. They started sweating when they saw that the emperor didn't seem to be happy.

"Emperor, did something happen?" Jackson was the first one to break the silence.

"Where is Aiden?" The emperor questioned.

"Eh! You already know about that?" Jackson was amazed by the abilities of the emperor.

"Humph, is there something that you all can hide from me?" The emperor scoffed.

"Please forgive me emperor for asking this silly question." Jackson bowed his head and apologized.

"I don't care about that. How dare you don't follow my orders?" The emperor was furious.

They felt a bad premonition when they heard this.

"Did Aiden fall into a mishap?" They had this similar thought but didn't dare to reply in fear of angering him more. So, they just lowered their heads in shame.

Seeing them acting guilty, he didn't scold them anymore and went straight to the point. "I found his soul locket broken."

"Sheesh.."

They sucked in a cold breath as they couldn't believe it. When they reached the Devil King stage, they had to swear and give away a part of their soul as an allegiance to their superior for their protection. Although they might not get their freedom back, it was safer than being eaten by someone outside. This was how things worked there and the cruelty of the devil world.

Since Aiden's soul locket was broken doesn't this mean that he had fallen already? They became a bit terrified when they thought about this.

"So, you all should know what this means." The emperor said while looking in a certain direction.

"Of course, emperor," They nodded.

"Does anyone know why he left and where he went?" he asked.

They shook their heads in response.

"Damn" He cursed in anger as they couldn't even answer a single question.

"Let's forget about it for now." He could only let it go for the time being.

He then set his sights on Julia and ordered, "Julia, I will give the task of investigating this to you. Although he was a failure, how could I let him die unjustly? I have to catch that culprit."

"But emperor, I don't know where to start," Julia replied.

"You don't need to worry about that. I have already sensed the location of my artifact." He felt some pain when talking about this. Even if he was an emperor, getting a higher-grade devil artifact was really difficult.

It was so precious that if someone had asked him to pick out between Aiden and the artifact then he would definitely choose the later one without any hesitation.

Julia's eyes lit up when she heard this as she had a chance to redeem herself. But his next words poured cold water over her head.

"I can sense it moving towards the direction of the Thunderbolt Sect. So, it is likely an elder or a core disciple who is behind this," He coldly said. This Sect was creating trouble and angering him frequently.

"So, what can I do?" Julia felt disappointed.

He took out another skull that looked similar to the previous one and passed it to her. Then he said, "I want you to enter the Thunderbolt Sect as a disciple and find that person. It would be even better if you could catch that disciple who invaded Aiden's territory a month ago."

Julia nodded and put it back.

"Don't loose this one. It's the last one I have." He reminded her.

"I understand, emperor. Yet, there is one thing that bothers me." She didn't have the confidence to enter the sect so boldly even though she was good at illusion techniques.

"I know what you want to say. So, I've prepared some things for you." The moment he said this, a small crack appeared on his side and the body of a young girl fell from it.

The young girl was wearing the robes of the Thunderbolt Sect and didn't seem to be breathing.

Seeing this she exclaimed, "Emperor! Do you want me to become her and enter the sect?"

"Yes. I have injected some part of my devil essence into her body. This will help you to disguise yourself properly and those old fogies in the sect will never be able to spot you unless you reveal yourself," He explained.

"Sorry to trouble you emperor," She respectfully said.

"Humm, it would be better if you can collect more information when you are on the way." He then glanced at the others and finally dissipated.

However, they heard a voice ringing in their heads.

"Don't trouble me any further. The reinforcements will come by next week and you all can finally begin."

***

The next day, many disciples gathered inside the mission hall and were looking at the rock where the names of disciples were already visible.

"As I thought, Senior Brother Liam is ranked at first. He deserves to be the strongest inner court disciple."

"Yeah, who could have thought that he would be able to slay five devil commanders in a single day. He deserves his reputation."

"I don't think he will be able to remain in this position today. Senior Sister Oliva is at the second and will soon be able to catch up."

"Oh! How could I forget about her? I heard that she also killed five yesterday. But Senior Brother Liam managed to kill stronger ones."

When the disciples were discussing, suddenly one of them exclaimed, "Why don't I see the name of the masked disciple?"

"Eh! Now you have said it. It's missing."

"With his strength, he should have easily taken the first place."

"Of course. But it seems like he hasn't slain a single one."

"Didn't he get the news?"

"Who knows? Maybe he will start today."

"Hehe, I think he is a faker and is scared to compete for the rankings." Suddenly one of them laughed.

Thus, he managed to catch everyone's attention. But they didn't say anything and rather looked behind him.

Seeing this the disciple also turned back and got shocked by what he saw.