It was noon; the blazing sun was high in the sky.
In the capital of Heavenly Enterprise Star, a group of people dressed in black poured into a manor on the city's outskirts, killing people on sight and burning rooms on sight. One could still vaguely recognize the "Ye" character written on the plaque at the door.
"So… Why on earth did they wear all black in broad daylight?" Gu Nan stood outside the manor and asked Lu Zhanyu, who was beside him, in confusion.
Lu Zhanyu responded with a slightly dark expression, "I should be the one asking you that! What kind of person decides to slaughter an entire family at noon?"
"What's wrong with noon?" Gu Nan shrugged. "When killing an entire family, of course you have to ensure that not even a single chicken is spared. If we strike during the night, what if someone escapes under the cover of darkness?"
While he was talking, a teenager just happened to escape the manor in a panic, with several people in black chasing him.
When the teen saw that Gu Nan and Lu Zhanyu weren't dressed in black, he dropped all decorum and quickly shouted, "Mister, Save me!"
Gu Nan waved his hand, signaling for the pursuers to return, then waved towards the teenager. "Come here."
When the teenager turned back to look, he just happened to see his pursuers leaving after a bow. He became even more panicked, but he also didn't dare pretend he hadn't heard anything, so he could only summon up the courage to walk over.
"Lord, what are your orders…"
Before he finished speaking, Gu Nan had already pulled out a golden eagle from nowhere. His right hand swiped across that bloody pupil, and a few pink crystals appeared. Gu Nan stuffed a handful of the crystals into the teen's mouth.
"Mmph…"
The teen, who had been forced to swallow the pink crystals, soon showed a dazed expression. He swayed on the spot, then sat down on the ground.
Immediately afterwards, he ran for a while, then punched a tree, and later simply rushed back into the manor, only to have his head casually chopped off by a passing person in black.
"It really does have strong hallucinogenic effects." Gu Nan gave a little nod.
He hadn't fed Maes to Lin Yunyun yet. Anyhow, there was something strange about this drug, so he planned to conduct some small experiments first to study the rules behind this drug.
Lu Zhanyu looked at the golden eagle in Gu Nan's hand with some curiosity. "I heard that Maes is made from fresh blood. Is that true?"
"Really?" Gu Nan lowered his head to study the golden eagle, and when he thought about it carefully, it was quite possible.
He found that crystals began to form in the eagle's left eye only after it had absorbed enough blood, and this bloody pupil also reminded people of blood.
"Yeah… I heard some elders say that in addition to the drug's side effects, Maes was also banned because its production method was too cruel."
Gu Nan frowned slightly, a little puzzled.
Merely requiring blood as an ingredient couldn't be considered cruel at all. Let alone how even regular people would still be fine after losing a little blood, wasn't there also beast blood they could use?
'Perhaps the Eye of Maes has another use that I don't know of yet.'
The two stood there for a while longer. The shouting and killing in the manor gradually subsided, and a man in black walked over quickly and reported to the two.
"At present, all of the Ye Manor's 352 people—except for a few servants who were out shopping—have been put to death. Your Lordship, please instruct."
Gu Nan nodded. "Track down the few that slipped through the net and kill them too. We can't let the family be missing a few people on their trip to the afterlife."
"…Yes."
Gu Nan and Lu Zhanyu's current location was precisely Ye Qinglan's family estate.
After the previous battle, Gu Nan, annoyed at being injured by Hu Wei, also directed his anger at Ye Qinglan and ran over to exterminate Ye Qinglan's family.
Alright, fine. The main reason was that Hu Wei simply didn't have any other relatives. She only ever grew up with a younger brother. This was why she hated Gu Nan so much for killing her younger brother Hu Daobin.
As for her friends and such, most of them were on Ruby Fish Star, and her only teacher was Lu Yiming, who had already cut all ties with her before the fight even started…
So Gu Nan could only take his anger out on the Ye family.
Seeing that things were almost wrapped up here, Lu Zhanyu said, "Last time I said I'd help you find a small reincarnation organization to join. I've already contacted them, and they plan to send someone over to talk to you in person."
This wasn't strange. After all, Gu Nan was now in the Star Ranking and had a reputation throughout Star Realm.
Whether it was out of respect for Gu Nan or out of consideration for the safety of their organization, it was reasonable for them to come over and meet him in person.
"Oh?" Gu Nan gave her a strange look. "I thought you'd also take advantage of this opportunity to join this organization."
"I'm not the same as you." Lu Zhanyu rolled her eyes. "I reincarnate in order to seek resources and supplies. A large organization like Astral Gate is best-suited for me."
Gu Nan thought about it, and she was right. 'If I couldn't directly accept missions from the Evil God Temple, then I'm afraid I wouldn't be interested in mid-sized reincarnation organizations either.'
After all, individuals only cared about completing missions and getting the rewards. They had no intention of worrying about the organization's future.
"When will they arrive?"
"It's still uncertain. They're departing from the Sixth Region; it's hard to predict how long the hyperspace warp will take." Lu Zhanyu shrugged.
Only then did Gu Nan remember that Star Realm had a thing called "hyperspace warp." Humans didn't divide Star Realm into nine regions, nor were they divided according to political boundaries. Rather, each region was akin to a small world.
Travel between the different regions can only be accomplished through a hyperspace warp. A spaceship couldn't just sail over directly.
And the amount of time the warp would take is in a general range; it was difficult to estimate the exact amount of time.
For example, another side branch of the Lu family who wanted to participate in this competition was also from the Sixth Region, so their arrival time was likewise undetermined. All they knew so far was that the Lu family side branch would arrive sometime within the next fifteen days.
So for the time being, Gu Nan could only wait for members of the reincarnation organization to arrive. However, he wasn't in a hurry either. After all, he hadn't even finished his event chain yet.
The next step was to study the effects of Maes and have Lin Yunyun come in contact with the drug to see if he could trigger the next Evil Event.
"By the way, how is the situation over in Immortal Demon World?" Gu Nan suddenly thought of this matter.
Time in Immortal Demon World flowed ten times faster than in Star Realm, so major changes occurred in Immortal Demon World almost every few days in Star Realm's time.
"The last report I received was that war had fully broken out." Lu Zhanyu said casually, "As you wished, we sent over large amounts of technology and equipment to Azure Dragon Hall. At least they have the power to fight back now."
"That's good." Gu Nan had a look of anticipation.
After the twenty year timeskip in Immortal Demon World, even though there were far fewer Prodigious experts now, the foundation was still there.
Moreover, Immortal Demon World had a large population, so as long as they made it impossible for the Gu family to find a suitable native organization to support, it might not be impossible to slowly bring back the situation for the natives of Immortal Demon World.
With Lu Zhanyu helping to make up for the disparity in equipment and technology, at least Azure Dragon Hall wouldn't be beaten down as soon as the war began.
When Lu Zhanyu saw Gu Nan's expression, she couldn't help asking in curiosity, "You went to such lengths to provoke a war—what exactly do you want to accomplish?"
She really couldn't understand. No matter whether Gu Nan wanted resources or wanted to express his anger, it seemed that he shouldn't be using such means.
She certainly wouldn't know that Gu Nan was raising that world as a spare candidate for his own Divine Kingdom, so of course he wanted to find a way to raise the average strength of martial artists in Immortal Demon World.
"Not even the most incredible teacher can raise stronger cultivators than war can," Gu Nan said with a smile.
'As for those who'll die in the war… they're useless NPCs anyways, so just let them die.'
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: Ye Qinglan's family estate, Heavenly Enterprise Star
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: N/A - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: Pending
→ Side Quest Objective/s:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 100
Overall Evil Points: 3875, Overall Evil Value: 130
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.｣