Inside a cluster of tombs behind an ancient mansion on Heavenly Enterprise Star, a group of people in black were gathered in front of a tombstone, led by a young man in white.
The young man's face was expressionless as he spat out one word: "Dig."
The people behind him didn't hesitate in the slightest and immediately started digging—at first they would hesitate, but they had done similar things countless times in the past few days, so they had long since become numb to it.
A few moments later, a coffin was placed in front of the group.
The young man waved his hand. A black blade flew out and split open the coffin's lid, revealing the skeleton inside.
The young man dispersed the dust in the air and searched the coffin for a while, then shook his head. "Let's check the next location."
There was already a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood outside the tomb, with bodies strewn everywhere.
But the white-clothed youth completely ignored all this when he walked out. There was still a man on the ground who had not yet died, and he used the last of his strength to crawl up from the ground and glare at the youth viciously.
"Why… My Mai family has no enmity with you guys. Why did you slaughter my relatives and burn me…"
A black glint flashed through the air, and the man's head had already landed on the ground before he even finished speaking.
In contrast, the youth leisurely dispersed the black sword in his hand, his steps not slowing at all throughout this.
To not allow offing stragglers to slow him down—this is where top players are superior to ordinary players.
And when a black-clothed person behind Gu Nan saw this scene, he sighed softly, "If you want to blame someone… then blame the fact that you had an ancestor called Maes."
...
"Young Master, we've investigated all of the 12 remaining clues today."
The black-clothed person, or rather, the leader of the Lu family members currently in disguise, stood in front of Gu Nan and carefully reported.
It wasn't that this leader had a feeble nature; it's just that Gu Nan's methods over the past few days were too cruel and violent, so much so that even they were a bit overwhelmed by it.
The white-clothed youth was naturally Gu Nan.
He nodded to the leader to lead the group away, then sat in the mansion prepared by the Lu family, also feeling quite helpless.
It had already been four days since his arrival at Heavenly Enterprise Star, and after comparing the clues he found with information gathered by the Lu family, he finally narrowed it down to 44 plausible leads.
Gu Nan locked the word "Maes" onto ancient heroes and fierce beasts. These 44 clues were all centered around those two categories.
However, the result was… Gu Nan's conjectures were wrong.
"Is it a living person's name? Or is it a location name?"
Gu Nan was most afraid of these two scenarios. If it was the former, then there would be too many variables. People who weren't local residents would never bother putting their names in the register. How could he even begin searching?
And if it turned out to be the name of a place, it would be too difficult to find information. Often, many name changes that location undergo become submerged in the flood of history, long since forgotten by modern-day people.
"Uncle." Lin Yunyun had walked up to his side at some point and said softly, "I received an item today."
Gu Nan turned his head in confusion and saw Lin Yunyun holding a small box. The box was entirely pink and looked full of girlishness.
Gu Nan also didn't think too much about it. He casually opened the box and found a small paper slip lying inside, wrapped around some pink crystals.
A small line of words was written on the note:
[Military stimulant class drug: Maes]
...
In the quiet valley, Hu Wei and the man were walking side by side.
The man's face was excited. "Little Wei, your gamble to advance to Prodigious Realm paid off, and your strength has soared. You can definitely avenge your brother now!"
But Hu Wei shook her head slightly. "Although my psychokinesis martial arts is special, it can only resist an Infinitesimal Stage cultivator at most. That person has already materialized a domain; he's not so easy to deal with."
The man was flabbergasted. Although he also knew martial arts, his heart wasn't into it.
This man was named Tian Yuequan. He was merely an Acquired Realm martial artist, so he naturally wouldn't understand the difference in power between Prodigious cultivators.
Hu Wei didn't say anything more and just continued to walk forward, but soon stopped again.
Because an old man was already standing at the mouth of the valley.
"Teacher…" Hu Wei spoke with some difficulty. Her originally determined gaze lowered somewhat. She knew that her insistence on avenging her younger brother had wronged her teacher the most.
After all, she had forcibly accelerated her advancement despite having unstable foundations. This was akin to cutting off any hope of stepping into Void Cutter Realm—she had let down her teacher's many years of painstaking teachings. Furthermore, her stubborn insistence on dealing with Gu Nan had also placed her teacher in a tough spot with his own family.
After all, Gu Nan was invited by Lu Zhanyu to the Lu family to help them fight a match.
But her mortal enemy had come to her home base—how could she let the other side off?
Lu Yiming looked at his favorite disciple, and after a long silence, he finally sighed softly. "This battle is your fate. I won't help either of you. The master-student relationship between you and me ends here. You're on your own now."
After leaving such a sentence, Lu Yiming's figure completely disappeared, not giving Hu Wei a chance to speak again.
Hu Wei looked at her teacher leaving in a daze, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.
Beside her, Tian Yuequan was also a little dazed. After a long while, he finally murmured, "How come Elder Lu… suddenly became so heartless?"
Hu Wei's gaze gradually refocused. She took a deep breath and replied, "Teacher is warning me…. He doesn't think too highly of my chances of winning. Perhaps the enemy is so strong that even he needs to be careful with his actions, and he doesn't dare to gamble with the lives of everyone in the Lu family."
Her words made Tian Yuequan unable to speak for a long time.
At that moment, another figure appeared beside the two. This person was wearing a black conical bamboo hat. He looked middle-aged, and his expression showed some distress.
When Tian Yuequan saw the man, he hurriedly bowed. "Yuequan greets Mr. Ye."
The middle-aged man gave a small nod, smiling with his eyes, but his face still looked anxious. "So you're the Tian family's little fellow… You were only this tall when I first visited Heavenly Enterprise Star," Mr. Ye said while gesturing twice at his knee.
Tian Yuequan looked a little embarrassed. He gave two dry coughs, not daring to speak again.
However, Hu Wei's expression turned even uglier. "Mr. Ye, are you also here to persuade me to give up my revenge?"
"Yes." Mr. Ye nodded slowly. "Gu Nan has already made it into the Star Ranking, with the title Crazy Warrior."
He paused for a moment, as if he felt it was a bit cruel to tell Hu Wei this news. "A 19-year-old who received a title."
Hu Wei had spent the recent period in closed-door cultivation, so this was her first time hearing about this. Her face suddenly sank, and she couldn't respond for a while.
"Esteemed Guest, even you… aren't certain you can defeat him?" Hu Wei turned her gaze to Mr. Ye, hoping she wouldn't hear a certain answer from his mouth.
She still couldn't believe it. No matter how talented Gu Nan was, how could he possibly be a match for the one in front of her?
The one in front of her had advanced to Domain Stage twenty years ago and was awarded the title of "Austere Sword Saint", and he had been traversing the sea of stars for decades, but was he still no match for that guy who had only debuted a few months ago?
To her disappointment, Austere Sword Saint Ye Qinglan shook his head in the end.
"For those in the Star Ranking, one's rank doesn't decide victory or defeat. Everyone on the ranking is an outstanding genius. No one knows what kind of trump cards they hold." Ye Qinglan calmly said, "I don't fear Gu Nan, but neither can I be certain that I can kill him."
Ye Qinglan's follow-up explanation reassured Hu Wei a little.
'It's not that Mr. Ye doesn't think he can defeat the other party, but his goal this time is to kill, which automatically raises the difficulty by several levels.'
To begin with, it wasn't easy to defeat a powerhouse who had been granted a title, but actually killing the other party was even more difficult.
"But you can rest assured." He added, "Since I promised your father I'll help once, I will do my best this time."
Hu Wei could only say a few words of thanks and ran out of things to say after that, so Ye Qinglan also left soon after.
"Little Wei." Tian Yuequan looked at her dispirited expression and couldn't help saying, "How about… I ask my family for help and destroy Gu Nan's reputation?"
The Tian family was a well-known political family in Heavenly Enterprise Star. Rather than martial arts, Tian Yuequan was most familiar with political sabotage.
However, Hu Wei just shook her head. Then her gaze gradually became firm again, as if she had made some decision. She walked out of the valley on her own.
As Tian Yuequan watched her departing figure, his face showed some stubbornness.
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: Heavenly Enterprise Star, Ninth region of the Star Realm
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Domain Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: Seize the Eye of Maes. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: On Going
→ Side Quest Objective/s:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 100
Overall Evil Points: 3875, Overall Evil Value: 120
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Resistance. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Your body will resist damage, and any damage taken will be reduced by 50%｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 3 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2. If the 'Power of Shadows' reached LVL 3, the player will be able to use the 'Law of Shadow' to a much finer degree.｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
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
-— Blade of the Sanguine King. ｢High attack. Ignores external defense. Enhanced sharpness. Triggers the effect "Curse of Blood" on hit.｣
◈ Curse of Blood. ｢This is a cursed divine weapon. Whenever your attack hits your opponent, you will take equal damage.｣
→ 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. [ Passive Ability ] ｢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:
→ Four Element Crossbow. ｢Was used in Chapter 9-104.｣