For Gu Nan, it was perfectly normal to have NPCs lure monsters out. NPCs are meant to be used.
His decision this time was also reasonable, since this was mainly Qin Xuanji's mission. If she refused to be a bait, then Gu Nan could simply walk away without any loss.
So Gu Nan didn't feel guilty at all about his decision to have Qin Xuanji take the lead while he followed her.
A moment later, after confirming that Gu Nan was not, in fact, joking, Qin Xuanji could only sneak into the ancient castle alone with a dark expression.
In her view, she really was "alone," because her eyes couldn't catch a trace of Gu Nan at all. She couldn't even see a shadow of Gu Nan anywhere.
If her special intuition as a bloodline user didn't sense a gaze that vaguely seemed to be staring at her, she almost would've believed that the other party had already run away.
'He's not a man!' Qin Xuanji could only curse him in her thoughts, and then… obediently embarked on the journey as a guinea pig.
Like Qin Xuanji, Yan Fei was one of the people who participated in the competition over a bloodline user's inheritance back then, so he had a considerable understanding of bloodline users to begin with, and possessed innumerable methods to deal with them.
The whole Mt. Yanxing region was Yan Fei's territory. If the two of them wanted to kill him, they had to either lure him out of his stronghold or sneak into the castle.
And one could imagine the danger of sneaking into his castle—it was the other party's headquarters that he had managed for many years.
Along the way, Qin Xuanji used practically every trick she knew, but she was still tormented by all the kinds of traps, pitfalls, and snares, cutting her into an extremely sorry figure.
After all, it wasn't enough to merely see through these traps; she also had to think of ways to avoid them. She couldn't even trigger them intentionally, or else she'd be telling Yan Fei that someone had broken in.
Even Gu Nan felt a little apprehensive when he watched from behind her. After all, bloodline users' methods were still a little strange and unpredictable to him, and they differed from what he'd seen in the game.
Although he could see the theory behind most traps and find a temporary solution, it was impossible to do so in advance, before triggering these traps.
If he challenged this ancient castle by himself, he wouldn't be able to avoid alerting the enemy, even if he could still avoid injuries.
As expected of someone who ultimately won the bloodline user's inheritance, Qin Xuanji was extremely familiar with these methods. She painstakingly dealt with the traps, one after another, and finally came all the way to the castle's top floor.
There was no sign of any living creature in the ancient castle, but the top floor alone was different. The owner of the castle lived here.
Qin Xuanji's infiltration reached its limit here. Yan Fei had placed a large number of traps and mechanisms on the top floor, which was an absolute private space to him. He sensed that someone was coming almost immediately.
Yan Fei was a middle-aged man with a refined temperament. He was dressed in a gray Chinese tunic suit and sat cross-legged on the ground. The marble floor under his feet was covered with runes.
The blood colored runes on the ground gradually lit up and dimmed with every breath he took, as if they were alive.
The instant Qin Xuanji arrived, Yan Fei suddenly opened his eyes, and the blood colored runes under his feet all lit up simultaneously, casting a scarlet light over the entire top floor.
"You are… Qin Xuanji?" Yan Fei looked at the unfamiliar face in front of him, hesitated for a moment, then reacted quickly.
No matter whose body she reincarnated into, the essence of her soul wouldn't change. Yan Fei was naturally very familiar with his old rival.
Qin Xuanji didn't have any intention of wasting words with him. A cruel smile tugged on the corners of her lips.
In the next instant, the shadow that Gu Nan was familiar with suddenly appeared!
Qin Xuanji's head transformed into a snake's head in an instant. She opened her gigantic mouth, which was a hundred times larger than normal, and bit down towards Yan Fei!
This was like the game "Fight the Landlord"[1]—she dropped the bomb as soon as the game began!
However, it had to be said that Qin Xuanji's decision was actually very correct. Even though their strength was more or less equal, this castle was Yan Fei's territory, so how can stalling be advantageous for her?
Since she'd be at an increasing disadvantage the more she delayed, it was better to use her ultimate technique from the start and catch her opponent off guard.
The result was also quite good. When Yan Fei realized that someone had infiltrated his stronghold and that the person was Qin Xuanji, his heart was shocked. He wasn't able to react in time and was swallowed in one bite.
Gu Nan used "Hidden Shadow" to hide on one side. When he saw this scene, he still waited with patience.
This wasn't because he knew anything about Yan Fei. Instead, based on his years of gaming experience, how can an NPC actually complete the mission? Ultimately, the player must still clean up after their mess.
So, 30 seconds passed…
1 minute passed…
5 minutes passed…
The scarlet runes had gradually dimmed, and Yan Fei's aura also dissipated completely, as if there was no longer any trace of him between Heaven and Earth.
The top floor of the ancient castle fell into a strange silence. Qin Xuanji stood completely still. Even she herself didn't believe that Yan Fei had died so easily, just like that.
She had always boasted about her great patience, but in the face of this weird situation, even she couldn't help but feel irritable.
For an instant, she even wanted to open her mouth and ask Gu Nan, but fortunately, her remaining reason stopped her—exposing your own trump card was the stupidest and most meaningless behavior.
Gu Nan was still waiting motionlessly, not releasing even a slight trace of his aura.
The reason was very simple: his Evil God Temple still didn't give him a mission complete prompt yet.
As a veteran player, Gu Nan always kept one principle in mind—your eyes will deceive you, your ears will deceive you, and NPCs will also deceive you, but the system prompt will not deceive you.
Sure enough, an aura that made the heart palpitate rapidly attacked, knocking into Qin Xuanji and sending her flying.
"Hahahaha! Qin Xuanji, to think that you really dared to return!"
The thing that sent Qin Xuanji flying was a mass of thick, sticky blood, which quickly changed into Yan Fei's appearance.
The current Yan Fei was quite different from before. Not only was he dressed in a blood red robe, but he also had a much younger appearance, and his skin was suffused with a strange red color.
Qin Xuanji stood up from the rubble and looked at Yan Fei with cold eyes. "This is not the power of bloodline users… You pledged yourself to the gods!"
The conflict between gods and bloodline users was even larger than the conflict between inheritors of different bloodline users. No wonder it evolved into a private mission.
Yan Fei sneered, "If I can't walk the path of a bloodline user, then of course I have to switch paths. Do you think I'm one of those idiots who became your stepping stone for nothing?!"
Qin Xuanji's eyes narrowed slightly. The 'bloodline' in her body vibrated again. The huge snake head that swallowed the sky reappeared and swallowed Yan Fei again.
However, just a moment later, a ball of blood surged once again, and Yan Fei's figure reappeared.
Incidentally, even the blood runes all over the ground lit up, as if revealing a sinister face to give Qin Xuanji an evil grin.
"It's useless." Yan Fei had a disdainful smile. "I worship the God of Blood and sought and obtained a divine art that grants infinite resurrection—all to deal with you, Qin Xuanji!"
Back then, he lost the fight for the bloodline user's inheritance and personally witnessed Qin Xuanji swallow several of his companions with one bite. From then on, he had a lingering fear of this move.
So in picking a divine art, he subconsciously chose this one, which just happened to neutralize Qin Xuanji's skill.
He didn't expect it to be useful today.
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Radiant Tower's branch office on Ruby Fish Star's sixth asteroid belt
Current Soul Location: In the ancient castle at Mt. Yanxing, Langya World
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 2
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: External Kung Fu - Innate Realm Fourth Stage
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Eliminate the six demonic factions. - External Source
◈ Status: On Going
-— Kill Yan Fei - External Source
◈ Status: On Going
→ Side Quest Objective:
-— Kill the six demonic factions Innate Realm and above cultivators. - External Source
◈ Status: On Going
Current Evil Points: 800
Overall Evil Points: 1875, Overall Evil Value: 35
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 1 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows".｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— None.
→ Weapon
-— Four Element Crossbow. ｢A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
Item/s owned:
→ None.