The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 1018: Their Past

"Village head, good evening," Aldrian greeted.

"Good evening, young master. It seems you are done with the sightseeing and entertaining those children?" the village head replied with smile.

"Yes," Aldrian paused slightly. He wanted to ask what was on the village head’s mind, but he decided not to.

The village head nodded with a smile. "I hope you like it here. Ugh, I just came back from the town, so I will take my leave first. I feel like I want to rest."

He then continued walking as Aldrian kept looking at the village head. Ella remained silent since earlier and only watched their interaction.

They then continued their walk until they finally reached Valuk’s home. Inside the house, Valuk had already prepared a meal, and it was the same menu as in the morning.

After the meal, Ella, who had been playing all day, felt tired and eventually fell asleep. Valuk brought her to her bed.

"It looks like young master truly entertained Ella all day. She seems very tired," Valuk said after placing Ella on the bed.

Aldrian smiled. "She is truly an energetic child, and I am glad I could give her a happy experience that she can always remember."

Valuk sighed. "Thank you, young master, for giving her good memories. She is a pitiful child, and seeing her happy gives me happiness and peace of mind." This made Aldrian fall silent for a moment.

"May I know what happened to her?" he finally asked.

Valuk smiled. "Would you like to accompany me for an evening talk?"

"Of course, Sir Valuk. I would like to," Aldrian answered. They then sat on the woven bench in front of the house. Aldrian then teleported a small table from his palace, along with two cups of tea.

Valuk was stunned when Aldrian suddenly made these things appear out of nowhere. He then watched as Aldrian brewed the tea for the two of them, and he could only remain silent while watching Aldrian do his thing.

After the tea was done, Aldrian served it to Valuk.

Valuk looked at the hot tea in his cup for a moment before taking a sip. The moment he tasted the tea and it entered his throat, his eyes widened. He instantly felt a refreshing sensation from the tea, and it even slightly propelled his cultivation.

He closed his eyes for a moment before sighing.

"What a good tea. The taste and the effect," he commented before opening his eyes and looking at Aldrian with a smile.

"As expected, young master’s background is not ordinary. For young master to have this kind of tea, you must be from a big noble family somewhere."

Aldrian just smiled and also sipped his tea. Valuk stayed silent for a moment before looking at the night scenery.

"Ella. Her parents died when she was still three years old because of the devils," Valuk said. "We actually came from a distant place. The devils that invaded this world unfortunately chose our region as the first place to be invaded. In that fateful event, I lost my son and daughter-in-law."

"My condolences," Aldrian said softly.

Valuk smiled slightly. "Thank you for your words, young master," he said before releasing a sigh.

"After the devils’ invasion, we kept escaping as refugees before we ended up in this place. I am truly grateful to the village head for letting us stay here, and I can also contribute to the society here as a physician."

"This place is far from the front line and is safe. But I do not think it will last for long, as the front line is getting nearer and the devils are pushing back our alliance forces."

"For Ella, living without her parents and seeing them get killed, I am afraid she will always carry that tragic event in her memories. I want to fill her life with good memories, but with our current situation, I cannot do much for her. That is why..." Valuk smiled toward Aldrian.

"I am truly thankful that young master could entertain her and give her happiness, even if it is only for a short time."

Aldrian looked at Valuk’s glad smile and then looked forward.

"She will live a happy life," he said.

Valuk also looked forward. "I hope so."

He and Valuk then talked about many things. Valuk gave a lot of information about this world as far as he knew. Even if it was only common knowledge, it was more than enough for Aldrian. He needed to learn many things.

They also touched on the situation of the devils in this world. Just like everywhere the devils invaded, the world was truly overwhelmed by their strength. Moreover, the ones that invaded this world came directly from the central region of the heaven.

The world’s condition was not good, with almost half of it already falling into the devils’ army.

The devils had only started their attack four years ago, yet they had already taken over almost half of the world. The alliance forces, which consisted of various empires, kingdoms, sects, and organizations of this world, did not seem enough to contain the invasion.

Initially, their world also received some help from nearby worlds. However, since the devils attacked other worlds as well, those worlds had to fight for their own survival, which meant they could no longer help each other.

Aldrian understood the situation, which made him decide that he had to solve the devils’ problem here first. If he wanted to continue his journey to the central region of the heaven, then he would need the help of the people of this world.

They continued to talk about many things until late into the night, and from their conversation, Aldrian gained a lot of knowledge about the place where he was staying.

--------------------------------

On the next day, Aldrian was strolling outside again, and this time, he was alone. As he walked, he met the village head, who was riding his horse. Aldrian smiled at him.

"Want to go to the town again, village head?" he asked.

"Yes, young master. I need to sell these spiritual herbs to the town until I empty all my storage," the village head said as he tapped a box on the back of the horse. There were several boxes, and when Aldrian looked inside using his domain sense, he saw many dried plants.

Aldrian had not been curious about the herbs the village head sold when they met for the first time yesterday. But after identifying the plants at this moment, he was surprised.

’Those are Crimson Flame Mushrooms.’

The name came from the shape of the mushroom, which looked like a burning crimson flame. If this mushroom was consumed raw, it could become poisonous.

However, this mushroom had the effect of enhancing energy if it was processed correctly. If it was used as one of the ingredients to make a pill, it would give great benefits to many cultivators.

It could become a pill to accelerate cultivation. It could become a pill to support breakthroughs. It could become a replenishment pill that even a cultivator at the pseudo-immortal establishment stage would desire, and many others.

With this kind of effect, this mushroom was sought after by many alchemists. The mushroom itself was quite rare, but not because it was difficult to grow. Instead, it only grew in special environments, which were rare themselves. It could grow overnight, but it would only grow in those specific places.

To harvest this mushroom, one could not simply pick it carelessly. If it was harvested improperly, the mushroom’s effects would be greatly reduced.

From his observation, the ones inside the boxes were in good condition despite already being dried. That meant these mushrooms were correctly harvested.

Aldrian suddenly became interested in the village head’s story. How could he have harvested these mushrooms?

"Village head, may I follow you to the town? I want to see the town myself," Aldrian said.

The village head raised his eyebrows before smiling and nodding.

"Of course, young master. You may follow me to the town. I also feel more assured if someone as strong as young master accompanies me," he replied in a joking tone.

"Let me bring another horse for you, young master," the village head said as he got down from his horse and tied it to the side of the road.

"How about I put the boxes into my storage ring and we depart for the town my way? That would be much faster and easier," Aldrian offered.

The village head was stunned. "Is that okay, young master? I do not want to burden you. I could just borrow another horse."

"It is okay, village head. It is not a burden to me. Since I want to visit the town anyway, I can also help you. Just take it as my way of repaying your kindness for letting me stay here," Aldrian answered.

The village head sighed and nodded. "Alright."

Aldrian smiled. "Good, that is settled then."

Aldrian stored all the boxes inside his storage ring. The village head, who watched this, could not help but think how good it would be if he also had a storage ring.

After storing the boxes, he then brought the village head to fly using his energy, which was the village head’s first experience of flying. As they flew, the village head showed the way to Aldrian, and after fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at the town.

The journey that the village head usually took five hours to travel by horse was actually shortened to fifteen minutes!

This truly astonished the village head, though he had already expected it to some extent. He had never experienced flying before, and he did not know how fast a cultivator at Aldrian’s level could fly.

They landed near the town gate of Abrum Town, the closest town to their village.