After the four of them agreed on a plan, they soon dispersed to their respective destinations.
Shang Rong and Gu Nian naturally left together, traveling through the endless starry sky, but Gu Nian suddenly spoke, "I'm stopping by the Ninth Region for a while. Please inform me if something happens here."
Shang Rong was still a little unfamiliar with the term "Ninth Region," but he quickly reacted, "Okay."
Shang Rong, together with four other people, was known as the "Five Steles," which was well-known throughout the Myriad Heavens Universe.
The Five Steles was a very famous ancient inheritance that could be obtained by only five people in each generation, each of whom would pick the path that suited them best, and every generation walked different paths.
An inheritance that actually changed from generation to generation. This was the biggest peculiarity of the Five Steles inheritance.
Shang Rong's position under Zuo Zuo wasn't low, or else he wouldn't have been selected as the vanguard of Zuo Zuo's invasion of Star Realm, but he never put on airs in front of this woman.
In fact, in all the years that Shang Rong worked under Zuo Zuo, he'd never seen his Lord attach so much importance to a single person.
'What exactly is so amazing about this woman called Gu Nian?' Like many of Zuo Zuo's subordinates, Shang Rong was bound to have this curiosity.
Zuo Zuo's unique half-male and half-female form made his subordinates straight-out dismiss the possibility of "beauty," which narrowed down the possible answers.
"The Ninth Region?" Shang Rong looked at Gu Nian's disappearing figure and murmured to himself.
He wasn't worried that Gu Nian wouldn't make it on time because of this delay. This distance was no different from making an U-turn for Void Cutter cultivators.
What he truly cared about was how Gu Nian wanted to visit the Ninth Region as soon as she entered Star Realm. Perhaps he might be able to uncover her origins by investigating the Ninth Region.
...
In the Ninth Region, Gu Nian was walking on Ruby Fish Star's familiar streets, yet it felt as if it were a lifetime ago.
In less than two years, she actually stepped to Void Cutter Realm in one fell swoop. Even though she'd always believed that such a day would come, she never thought it would come so soon.
"Speaking of which, maybe I actually need to thank that guy?" Gu Nian chuckled slightly, but her smile didn't reach her eyes.
She recalled that person again, the person she accidentally met when reincarnating and then personally brought to Star Realm.
It was precisely that guy—who walked so fast that people couldn't even catch up to him while running—who stirred up this world so much that even the one behind her was paying attention to him.
In the blink of an eye, Gu Nian had already reached the Gu family's front gates. Although they were still the familiar gates and walls, they felt a little unfamiliar to Gu Nian.
After all, she was now a Void Cutter cultivator, a completely different lifeform from ordinary people. What's more, she'd been missing for nearly two years. Who knows who's in charge of the Gu family right now?
But this wasn't important. In any case, the Gu family would have another new ruler as of today.
"Who are you?" A voice rang out beside Gu Nian. It was a man in gray standing in front of the gates, looking at her warily.
Even for the poorest and most barren Ninth Region, Starry Ocean Pavilion still sent two Void Cutter cultivators, and this man was one of them.
It wasn't that this Void Cutter discovered Gu Nian's trail. Rather, he happened to be visiting the Gu family as a guest today and ran into Gu Nian when leaving. He immediately realized that something was off about this woman.
Gu Mingyuan, Gu Nian's father, was accompanying the Void Cutter in gray and sending him out. The instant he saw Gu Nian, his face almost looked like he'd seen a ghost.
But Gu Nian didn't look at her father. Her gaze slowly landed on the man in gray, and she revealed a strange smile.
"Life and death, death and life."
As if imbued with special magic, six words emerged directly from the bottom of the gray-clothed man's heart.
He seemed to be transported into a space containing only black and white, with death on the left and life on the right, while he was standing on the border between them.
The man was a little startled. Just when he wanted to mobilize his own law, he saw life and death reverse suddenly, changing into reincarnation.
The space of life and death made a light seal, and his consciousness completely disappeared.
In Gu Mingyuan's eyes, Gu Nian seemed to have only looked at the man in gray, and this Void Cutter cultivator began to slowly fall to the ground until he was completely dead.
...
Star Realm, Central Region, Heavenly Kingdom Star.
As one of the leaders of the Bloodline Alliance, although the King of the Deep Sea might not be the strongest, his status was absolutely top-notch, so his temple was naturally on Heavenly Kingdom Star.
Gu Nan was already on Heavenly Kingdom Star at this time. After all, it didn't take much time for Void Cutter cultivators to travel through space.
But Gu Nan didn't immediately accept the mission upon finding the mission to "Kill the King of the Deep Sea" in Astral Gate. Instead, he also did some investigation.
He made a trip back to Immortal Demon World. While managing the Divine Kingdom, Yan Xiaoxiao was simultaneously keeping a close eye on the situation in Star Realm at Gu Nan's request.
The news he received from Yan Xiaoxiao's side was that Starry Ocean Pavilion just underwent a great change. Yue Jiu became the only Pavilion Lord, and signs of the approaching war were becoming clearer and clearer.
A more typical sign was the frequent assassinations of Void Cutter experts recently, as well as certain Prodigious cultivators in important positions.
Under such circumstances, the mission to "Kill the King of the Deep Sea" didn't seem surprising.
If the invading forces could kill all the Void Cutter cultivators in Star Realm merely by throwing money at mercenaries, then they'd certainly be eager to issue assassination missions.
"It's also possible that some people want to snipe me," Gu Nan muttered in his own language.
It wasn't like he hadn't considered this possibility. This mission just happened to appear in front of him. Was there a possibility of it being deliberate?
However, with his current strength, even in the face of a veritable Star Ruler, he still didn't have much fear—as long as it wasn't the existences that had their own astral worlds.
His Evil Value breaking through the 1,500 threshold didn't only bring an increase in strength from the third law, but his Evil God physique had also been strengthened to a considerable extent.
And speaking of the King of the Deep Sea, Gu Nan really was interested in having a chat with him.
The reason he first came into contact with the other party during the mission chain was because Qin Xuanji, the spokesperson of the King of the Deep Sea, was also eyeing the Godhead.
According to them, that object should be called a Realm Stone, but its essence didn't change.
Later, to acquire this Realm Stone, the King of the Deep Sea even personally hunted down Gu Nan. Ultimately, he ran into a Gu Nan who advanced to Tier 4 and was chopped up by the ten times crit damage from the law of substitution.
Since then, the King of the Deep Sea never appeared in front of Gu Nan again, and Gu Nan also couldn't spare the time to take revenge for the time being, so he'd been dragging it out until now.
But it was time now. Plus, Gu Nan really wanted to know where this bloodline user got that information.
Lan Si and her older brother also came here for the Godhead. Could the King of the Deep Sea possibly be connected to the World of Gods?
All these suspicions needed to be confirmed by the King of the Deep Sea himself. And now, Gu Nan was standing in front of the gates to the Deep Sea Temple, calmly staring at this solemn palace.
"Your Excellency, who are you?" Someone noticed Gu Nan's existence and asked cautiously.
"I'm here to kill someone," Gu Nan replied.