Han Qiong was one of the demonic path's older generation powerhouses and the martial uncle of "Young Demon Lord" Du Mian. He was also a cultivator who had entered the Prodigious Realm for many years. When had he ever taken the younger generation seriously?
So when Du Mian shouted that warning, his brain didn't fully process it.
It wasn't until that young man, who was ten meters away from him, appeared directly in front of his eyes at an unimaginable speed that the old demon's face suddenly paled.
"Power of Shadows!"
"Weak Point Insight!"
"Dragon Power!"
For the first time since the battle with Wen Changfeng, Gu Nan attacked with his full strength. The Shadow Earring, Observer Eyepiece, and Dragon Heart Pendant lit up simultaneously.
The shadows under his feet spread out, turning into two pitch-black ghostly claws that grabbed onto Han Qiong's ankles.
The fist strengthened by Dragon Power struck towards his head!
As long as there was extreme speed, any weapon—no matter fist or sword—would become incomparably deadly and unable to be dodged. The enemy could only receive the attack.
That was how Han Qiong felt right now.
The opponent's punch came too fast. Because of his arrogance, he didn't immediately mobilize his innate ability. He could only make a gesture with difficulty, crossing his arms in front of him to block the blow.
Crack!
Beside him, Du Mian clearly heard the sound of bones breaking and also felt the attack's astonishing power. His face had already paled.
"He seems to have… gotten stronger again."
Gu Nan had indeed gotten stronger. After unlocking the third equipment page, his explosive power no longer belonged to the peak of Innate Realm. His physique, speed, and other attributes had comprehensively surpassed Innate Realm.
In the face of a Prodigious Realm master, the existence of the Dragon Heart Pendant gave him the means to threaten the enemy.
The strengthening from Dragon Power wasn't unlimited. The stronger the player's own strength, the weaker the strengthening effects of the pendant. With Gu Nan's current strength, the pendant could roughly increase his strength to that of someone who just entered Tier 3. Such a punch was already deserving of serious attention from a Prodigious Realm native.
Gu Nan just happened to take advantage of his mentality, which underestimated his enemy, and also used Du Mian as bait to distract him. Only then was this punch able to succeed.
Senior Han Qiong really suffered a lot.
He was knocked to the ground by this punch but soon crawled up again. His glare was fixed on Gu Nan and his face was entirely red.
His injuries weren't very serious; only the wrist bone in his left hand broke. It wasn't a big deal—he just wouldn't use his left hand for a while... But what really enraged him was that a junior had actually injured him!
The gap between Prodigious and Innate was akin to the gap between immortals and mortals, but he had actually been hurt by a mortal!
The sense of honor from his superior cultivation realm constantly provoked Han Qiong and made his anger accumulate further. "Boy, I want you to die without a burial site!"
"Hahahaha~ Then come!" What answered him was Gu Nan's arrogant laughter, as well as… His rapidly retreating figure.
Once his power reached the peak of Innate Realm, his speed became even more terrifying. With the additional help of Power of Shadows, Gu Nan could truly run faster than a rabbit now.
Despite Du Mian's dissuasion, Han Qiong suddenly stamped his foot and shot off like a cannonball.
He was still a Prodigious Realm master after all—an existence that could completely crush Innate Realm experts. Han Qiong's speed wasn't slow at all. He quickly narrowed the distance between them, although Gu Nan only used 50% of his speed.
Even back then, Wen Changfeng could only catch up to Gu Nan by relying on the special characteristic of his "air" innate ability. Gu Nan's speed had already greatly surpassed that of ordinary Prodigious Realm cultivators.
However, Gu Nan intended to bait this fish, so of course he wouldn't increase his speed and throw Han Qiong off. He kept the other party hooked like this while taking out the Four Element Crossbow.
Originally, Han Qiong was sneering in his heart. 'Looking at this situation, I can catch up within two breaths.'
However, a teal arrow flew at him.
"Wind!"
The wind energy echoed through the snowy night. Such an arrow naturally couldn't hurt Han Qiong, but it could stop his attack.
Gu Nan, on the contrary, borrowed the recoil from the wind arrow to rush forward once again, widening the distance between the two.
Han Qiong's gaze was slightly cold. He didn't bother wasting words anymore and just held back his anger as he immersed himself in the chase. 'The other party is merely an Innate Realm fighter. How long can he maintain this "full speed" of his?'
Han Qiong was confident that he could win this war of attrition.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to catch up to Gu Nan once more, and Gu Nan also used the wind arrow again to pull away from Han Qiong.
After a few rounds like this, as Han Qiong expected, the opponent's speed gradually slowed, and that extremely fast arrow no longer appeared.
'Hmph! Is your internal energy almost exhausted?' Han Qiong sneered in his heart, accelerating once again and quickly narrowing the distance.
But he didn't notice that with this swift chase, the two had already reached an unknown region.
As if he was panicking, Gu Nan suddenly turned around and rushed towards him. Han Qing immediately became focused. He knew that the other party was running out of strength and was about to make a final desperate struggle.
Han Qiong was also an experienced veteran. In a situation like this, he became more cautious and vigilant.
However, he never could've imagined that his every thought and move had all been predicted by his opponent.
Seeing Han Qiong become more cautious, Gu Nan smiled and put away the Four Element Crossbow. He started to attack with all his strength using his hands and feet, entirely disregarding any injuries he would receive!
A punch and a kick attacked from mid-air, directly ignoring the black energy surrounding Han Qiong. Gu Nan intended to exchange injury for injury!
"Seeking death!"
Han Qiong's sneer deepened when he saw the opponent act like this. He didn't hesitate to throw a punch back.
He was a grand Prodigious Realm master. How can he be afraid to exchange injuries with a mere Innate?
Bam!
The dull sound of fists colliding traveled out. Gu Nan was directly blown away by this punch, while Han Qiong didn't seem affected at all.
But he didn't expect that while his opponent was flying upside down, he could still shoot a red arrow that fell right on Han Qiong's chest. The violent explosion sent him flying as well.
This explosion didn't hurt Han Qiong, but it made him a little puzzled.
'His power is much weaker now... Was his earlier attack the result of some sort of secret technique?' Han Qiong felt Gu Nan's strength drop and came to a sudden realization.
'Hmph! Sure enough, he's still just at the Innate Realm.' Han Qiong felt that he had seen through the other party's methods and became confident.
Gu Nan, however, broke through the smoke. His right arm had already been broken in the confrontation just now, so he used his left arm to swing a fist at Han Qiong.
Han Qiong was very baffled. He casually threw a punch in response but felt flabbergasted. 'Does this person not care about his own life?'
But the result was beyond his expectations.
A terrifyingly powerful force came from Gu Nan's fist, and Han Qiong's hand also followed suit, shattering into pieces under this monstrous strength.
"Shameful thief!" Han Qiong roared in anger and finally realized that he had fallen into a trap, but Gu Nan had long since disappeared.
The chase between the two exceeded five minutes now, and the cooldown of "Dragon Power" had completely refreshed already. So Gu Nan played a trick and gave Han Qiong some more injuries.
After retreating at full speed, Gu Nan was already hundreds of meters away in the blink of an eye.
"This is IQ suppression." A small smile hung on Gu Nan's mouth. He seemed to have returned to the game, where he kited to death each and every boss whose strength far surpassed his own.
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: Gu family's residence at Ruby Fish Star
Current Soul Location: At an unknown region, West of the South Central Region, Immortal Demon World
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 2
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: External Kung Fu - Innate Realm Sixth Stage
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Eliminate the six demonic factions. - External Source
◈ Status: On Going
-— Evil Event: Bai Luoluo's Blackening. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: On Going
→ Side Quest Objective:
-— Kill the six demonic factions Innate Realm and above cultivators. - External Source
◈ Status: On Going
Current Evil Points: 810
Overall Evil Points: 2085, Overall Evil Value: 45
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
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ 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｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ None.