Inside the Heroic Spirit Temple's main hall, Gu Nan asked a staff member under the gaze of all the onlookers, "His injuries can be treated if I just put him in there?"
Gu Nan was naturally referring to the guardian of the Sun Moon Enchanted Box—the old man with the white beard.
Gu Nan was asking a girl with a ponytail. Although she was very dissatisfied with this fellow who didn't respect Heroic Spirits, she kept telling herself that she couldn't be rude in front of everyone.
But she still didn't have a good attitude when facing Gu Nan. She replied stiffly, "That's right!"
There was a small man-made hot spring in front of Gu Nan that many Heroic Spirits were soaking in. It could cure Heroic Spirits' injuries and restore their strength.
Gu Nan nodded, casually grabbed the old man by the collar, and threw him in—his action immediately drew a buzz.
"You're really… too crude! How can you treat a Heroic Spirit like this?"
"A fellow like this with no respect for Heroic Spirits—even if he becomes a Heroic Spirit after he dies, no one will want him!"
"Too excessive…"
Gu Nan completely ignored this discussion, while the bearded old man didn't have time to respond to these sympathetic people. He was comfortably soaking in the Heroic Spirit Temple's hot spring and quickly recovering from his injury.
Perhaps because the old man's injury was strange, or maybe because he was strong, the originally rainbow-colored spring water faded at a speed visible to the naked eye after he entered.
A short while later, the spring water had turned completely transparent, and all the other Heroic Spirits healing inside the hot spring could only stare at this with stunned eyes.
And the old man's figure also solidified again. He suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of divine light in his eyes. His entire aura also turned imposing.
"This one, Gu Zhaoyue, has returned once again!" Excited, the old man even reported his real name. He laughed and looked at Gu Nan, looking like his schemes had succeeded.
"Didn't expect this, did you now? This one has been imprisoned by the Sun Moon Enchanted Box for thousands of years. I've been waiting for this day… Speaking of which, I really need to thank you, little friend!"
As Gu Zhaoyue spoke, he laughed at Gu Nan. At the same time, power exploded from his whole body, showing that he was actually at the Prodigious Realm, and his level within the realm was also quite high.
"If you didn't destroy the moon box, this old man wouldn't have had the chance to escape! Don't worry, since this one is now free, our previous… Huh?"
A black sword ran through his chest and continued into the spring water behind him, piercing him clean through.
Gu Nan stood in front of Gu Zhaoyue expressionlessly, holding a black sword in his hand, while Gu Zhaoyue was stupefied and speechless. He was rapidly losing strength along with his injury.
"Where is the Heroic Spirit Mirror?" Gu Nan turned to ask the female staff next to him.
The girl didn't immediately come to her senses because of the sudden changes. She subconsciously pointed behind her. "It's there… Hey, wait! You haven't paid yet!"
'No matter what the relationship is between this fellow and his Heroic Spirit, they used up an entire hot spring!'
Gu Nan stopped. He stared at the girl who spoke, then at the people around him, and muttered, "This is really troublesome…"
Before the girl understood what he meant, a sword of shadow had already pierced her heart.
...
Just as the sentence "Right inside this temple" fell, a loud noise came from outside.
"What happened? !" Dongfang Qi asked loudly. He couldn't imagine that anyone would dare to make trouble inside the Heroic Spirit Temple.
'Does that person want to make enemies of the entire continent's Heroic Spirits?'
Han Jun's eyes narrowed slightly; he had a bad feeling in his heart.
Crash!
A corpse smashed the ground in front of them. It turned out to be the person whom Dongfang Qi was just speaking to. Unable to bear it any longer, Temple Master Dongfang rushed to the front hall to check the situation.
But the scene that greeted him left him flabbergasted.
The originally lively yet orderly Heroic Spirit Temple now had blood and bodies strewn everywhere, and countless figures were carrying out the slaughter in the hall.
There were indeed countless figures; each one was a black faceless shadow. They ran around crazily, killing every creature in sight.
In the middle of the hall stood a young man in a gray suit, with a bearded old man beside him.
"My Lord…" Gu Zhaoyue floated near Gu Nan, still smiling, as if everything minutes ago was just a dream.
He was a Heroic Spirit, so he didn't have any so-called vital organs. Besides a bloody gash on his chest, he looked no different from before.
"Can you use the Heroic Spirit Mirror," Gu Nan asked flatly, so flat that it hardly sounded like a question.
Gu Zhaoyue, however, felt his heart freeze slightly and hurriedly replied, "Yes! Back in the holy war, this old man controlled the Heroic Spirit Mirror to assist the army…"
Gu Nan nodded wordlessly, and Gu Zhaoyue finally sighed in relief.
He figured out some of Gu Nan's thoughts—this lord cared about neither loyalty nor betrayal; he only paid attention to who was useful and who was useless.
If you were useful, then you could stay no matter what you did, but if you were useless, then you'd never enter his eyes, no matter how loyal you were.
On the other side, Dongfang Qi roared furiously, "Who are you?! You dared to attack the Heroic Spirit Temple. Aren't you afraid that… Wait, you're that Heroic Spirit!"
Dongfang Qi was in the middle of his sentence when he came to a sudden realization. The result from the Heroic Spirit Mirror was still fresh in his mind. If Dongfang Qi still couldn't connect the dots, then the time he spent as a Temple Master would've been in vain.
Gu Nan coldly cast a glance at him, then looked around him.
Under the ravages of his shadow dopplegangers, there were no living humans left in the Heroic Spirit Temple. In the silence, only the strong scent of blood permeated the building.
Han Jun also appeared beside Dongfang Qi, staring at Gu Nan. "Sir, who on earth are you? Why attack my Han family?"
Neither of them received an answer, because what answered them was only a sword as quick as lightning.
The dark sword sliced through the air. Han Jun and Dongfang Qi were both stunned. At the same time, a huge shadow also appeared in front of them, blocking the way.
"Roar!"
This was a giant chimpanzee, which was Dongfang Qi's main Heroic Spirit. Gu Nan's sword sank into its body but didn't cause too much damage.
Dongfang Qi wasn't a summoner who cultivated his physical body. He had already broken out into a cold sweat and immediately shouted, "Black Star, kill him!"
The chimpanzee roared three times, and its huge palm slammed down.
However, no one expected Gu Nan to not make any move to dodge. He just raised his left hand casually. The chimpanzee's palm strike was actually blocked by one hand.
Even the chimpanzee froze. It tried to pull its hand back, only to find that it couldn't move…
It roared again. The next second, its roar turned into one of horror. Gu Nan lifted the chimpanzee's huge body with one hand and threw it directly into the hall behind him.
Boom!
The chimpanzee crashed into a pillar, actually smashing the pillar to pieces and causing dust to fly all over the place. Dongfang Qi was decapitated before he could even utter a sound, dying instantly.
At this critical juncture, Han Jun's head suddenly turned into a wolf's head, and his entire body jumped up into the sky. He broke through the ceiling and fled.
"It's a type of Heroic Spirit that possesses the summoner," Gu Zhaoyue made a judgment and looked at Gu Nan flatteringly. "My Lord, do you want this old man to hunt that person down?"
Gu Nan waved his hand. "I have no grudge against him. Do I look like someone who randomly murders people?"
Even someone as shrewd and shameless as Gu Zhaoyue was choked up by this sentence. He hesitated for a long time before asking tentatively, "Then My Lord, you killed the people here because…?"
"She asked me for money." Gu Nan pointed to the ground at the female staff who had been cut into pieces.
"If you buy things from NPCs without paying, you'll lose reputation. If people find out about this, no one will do business with me anymore," Gu Nan explained earnestly, "so I had to kill them all."