Shadows exist everywhere. Where there's light, there's shadow, and where there's no light, shadows exist everywhere.
An ordinary shadow appeared on the dark planetary ring, and even the Grand Commander sensed nothing, not until a black sword appeared out of thin air and pierced his body.
The Grand Commander's steps suddenly stopped as he glanced down at the black sword, an icy expression underneath his mask.
Although he was stabbed, no blood seeped out. There was only some sand blowing in the wind.
The Grand Commander slowly turned around. "Troublesome worm…"
Boom!
Before he finished that last word, Gu Nan had blasted his head apart with a punch, and his mask, hair, and facial features all turned into sand.
However, in the next second, the sand gathered together again and condensed into the Grand Commander's head, without the mask this time.
This allowed Gu Nan to finally see his horrifying face.
This Grand Commander's face wasn't human, instead resembling some kind of insect. His nose and mouth were part of a single mouthpart, and his eyeballs were a pair of protruding compound eyes, reflecting Gu Nan's face in them.
"Immortality from turning into sand?" Gu Nan felt nothing upon seeing this face, but rubbed his chin and nodded in thought.
"Human, you've incurred my wrath!" The Grand Commander's mouthparts opened and clicked closed, making a vague sound.
He reached out a hand, which turned into a folded tentacle with fuzzy barbs, like the forelimb of some insect.
Gu Nan didn't even glance at it as he casually sliced through that tentacle with his sword. At the same time, he switched places with a clone. The original body appeared behind the Grand Commander, stabbing a sword at the Grand Commander's shoulder.
In addition to obtaining the skill Substitution, the power of shadows that had reached the arcana level also strengthened his existing skills.
The improved concealment effect of Hidden Shadows made him harder to find, and for Shadow Form, the number of clones that could be created greatly increased.
But correspondingly, as the number of shadow clones increased, their attack power decreased accordingly. So when conditions permitted it, Gu Nan preferred to use his original body to attack.
The Grand Commander, who had been indifferent to all of Gu Nan's previous attacks, changed his expression slightly.
His speed was far inferior to Gu Nan's, so he could only explode his body in that instant, transforming into sand that covered the sky, then gradually reform himself nearby.
Gu Nan lifted the Observer Eyepiece on his face and gave a faint smile.
He had discovered some of the secrets behind bloodline users when he killed Qin Xuanji earlier—these fellows who relied on their bloodlines all had a source of power within their bodies. Attacking this core drastically amplified the damage dealt.
The core was the source of a bloodline user's strength, but it was also a weakness that the enemy could exploit. Under the Observer Eyepiece, no weak spot could escape Gu Nan's eyes.
...
In another location on the planetary ring, faint dragon roars could be heard from a place enshrouded in golden light. A group of people were rushing to White Mist's headquarters.
"Jing'er, I can explain…" Lin Tian stood beside Fu Jing, trying to explain, while Fu Jing kept a stiff expression.
She had also heard tales of Lin Tian's romantic affairs before this, but who would've thought that he actually had so many women already?
'It hasn't even been that long since he first started cultivating!'
Lin Tian tried to explain for a while, but Fu Jing never said a word. In desperation, he could only throw a pleading look to all the women behind him.
All the women looked up at the sky, avoiding his gaze. In the end, Ling'er, the non-blood-related younger sister who grew up with Lin Tian, took the initiative to run over.
"Big Sis Fu, Big Sis Fu." The little girl ran to Fu Jing's side and tugged on her sleeve. "Talk to me, please? If Big Bro Lin Tian did something wrong, Ling'er will beat him up for you!"
Fu Jing couldn't keep a straight face any longer after being persuaded by a little loli in such a soft and cute tone, so she could only speak up gloomily, "This playboy… you all just let him bully you like this?"
Ling'er blushed. "There's nothing we can do about it! Who let Brother Lin Tian be so powerful? There are so many big sisters who like him!"
Fu Jing felt defeated by her naivety and was unable to respond for a while.
When Lin Tian saw this, he quickly moved closer and smiled. "Jing'er, let's not discuss this for the time being. Based on the intelligence, Gu Nan should be right up ahead. We'll avenge you first!"
When this was mentioned, even the women behind Lin Tian came forward.
"That's right. That Gu Nan even dared to bully our sister. He really is tired of living…"
"Brother Lin will absolutely teach him a good lesson!"
"Exactly! We're the only ones who can bully our sister!"
...
At White Mist's headquarters, the Grand Commander had just reformed his body from sand for the ninth time. He no longer kept his original human appearance and had instead turned into a huge sandworm.
After Gu Nan found and attacked his core for the ninth time, the Grand Commander finally couldn't endure it anymore and revealed his bloodline transformation.
This was the last trump card of bloodline users. Each full transformation will consume a lot of energy, and they can't stay in that form for long, so they must kill the enemy quickly.
But along with these restrictions, the form also gave them the extreme power contained within their bloodlines.
"Die!" The Grand Commander half-spoke and half-roared.
Gu Nan could barely tell what he was saying. An overwhelming sandstorm followed.
Under the Grand Commander's control, every grain of sand contained incredible energy, and every grain of sand could smash a hole through a person's body.
But even in such a sandstorm, Gu Nan still didn't move.
Shadow clones couldn't even survive inside the sandstorm and were destroyed as soon as they appeared. Such a large-scale attack really could neutralize Gu Nan's Shadow Form and Substitution skills.
"But… you're using all your power to control the sandstorm. Just how much energy do you have left?" Gu Nan sneered as he looked at the Grand Commander, walking forward step by step.
The sandstorm scraped at his face, creating countless fine drops of blood, but couldn't stop his steps.
"Im…pos… sible…" All twelve pairs of compound eyes on the Grand Commander's sandworm gotm stared at Gu Nan, the panic in his heart growing heavier with every step Gu Nan took toward him.
Even the strongest sandstorm couldn't destroy this person's body.
'Just what is his body made of?'
"Ah!" The sandworm's entire body rose and roared angrily at the sky. The sandstorm intensified.
Even Gu Nan's flesh and blood began to be scraped away at this time. With every step he took, pieces of flesh fell. When he finally reached the Grand Commander, his face was almost left with nothing but bones.
But even with just a skull, the remnants of Gu Nan's lips that weren't scraped off yet still showed a faint sneer, and his jaw opened and closed.
If his vocal cords were still there, then what he said just now was, "Come on! Let's fight!"
His sword pierced the enemy in a single strike!
The sandworm, who was using all his power to maintain the sandstorm, couldn't dodge. He could only take this sword head-on, letting out a wail of pain, but this was just the beginning.
The second stab, the third stab…
The sandstorm gradually stopped some time during the frenzy of attacks. There were hundreds of holes on the sandworm's body, yet Gu Nan kept stabbing tirelessly.
Praise of Dawn began to take effect, and Gu Nan's flesh and blood gradually grew out, which felt itchy.
He stretched out his hand and scratched his face but ripped away a chunk of flesh and blood instead, then threw it aside with disdain.
The Grand Commander on the ground had already stopped moving, while Gu Nan seemed to be entirely unaware of this until a weak voice sounded beside him, "Lord, he's already dead…"
Gu Nan suddenly turned his head and saw a slender woman standing there with a similar mask on her face.
The pattern on her mask meant "Queen."