The upheaval in the Divine Kingdom continued as one city-state after another was covered by that golden light, just like being wrapped in a golden dome.
People inside the city couldn't leave, and people outside the city couldn't enter.
Countless people were dumbstruck as they stared at this scene. Many had left the city-states and gone to the wilderness, trying to find some resources that weren't available in the city or to get some air. As a result, they were forever separated from the city-states.
Lan Si silently returned to the Evil God Temple. Yan Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, had long since left to deal with the mess Gu Nan had suddenly sprung on them, which really brought her a lot of trouble. She was under a great deal of pressure.
On the Regional Management Platform, there were already 50 "golden domes" from east to west, which looked quite spectacular.
After a long time, Yan Xiaoxiao finally walked back to the Evil God Temple, her face full of exhaustion.
She also became Gu Nan's apostle, and because of her special relationship with the Divine Kingdom, she could be regarded as half of the Divine Kingdom's master, with considerable privileges in management and administration.
Only Yan Xiaoxiao could manage the vast Divine Kingdom and make everything clear and orderly.
But this time, even she was out of her depth.
"Teacher, nearly one-tenth of the Divine Kingdom's people are stranded in the wild, and most of them are martial artists…" Yan Xiaoxiao asked, "Should we give them a chance?"
"Give them what chance? It's not like they can't survive in the wild." Gu Nan, however, replied indifferently, "In the future, you should also slowly get used to managing the populace using the Divine Kingdom's structures to reduce contact with the populace."
In his previous life's game, residents of the Divine Kingdom were just a bunch of numbers in players' eyes. No one was bored enough to talk to them.
On the contrary, administrators like Yan Xiaoxiao basically existed inside every Divine Kingdom.
Players were only ever enthusiastic about something for all of three minutes. It was unrealistic to expect players to persevere in managing the Divine Kingdom for a prolonged period of time, so a full-time administrator was essential.
That was the significance of apostles. Some of them specialized in fighting, some specialized in farming dungeons, and others were good at management and administration.
So Gu Nan turned his attention to his own list of structures. The third structure he planned to build was precisely the "Apostle Hall."
The Apostle Hall was a structure specifically prepared for apostles. Not only could it quickly recover apostles' injuries, but it could also train their various abilities.
After reaching higher levels, the Apostle Hall could even resurrect dead apostles.
The structures in the Divine Kingdom that could most effectively enhance the strength of its population and strengthen the Divine Kingdom's fighting power were "Populace Training Camp" and "Divine Servants Institute."
However, the Evil God Temple was still Level 0 right now. Even if he took out divine servants, they still wouldn't have much use. It would be better to build the "Apostle Hall" first.
Only by strengthening the power of apostles would they be able to better earn points for Gu Nan.
Matters in Crescent Moon World were progressing rapidly. Six months had passed in the Divine Kingdom, only a little over half a month had passed in the outside world, while three years had already passed in Crescent Moon World.
With Lan Si's help in cleaning up the Transcendent Realm martial artists, plus Zhongli Sword Sect's voluntary help as the local boss, the reconstruction of White Mist went very smoothly.
In just three years, Crescent Moon World's martial forces had been basically wiped out, and the world was only waiting for Red Tail to integrate and unify it.
Gu Nan sat inside the Divine Kingdom, but he didn't overlook a single piece of this information and absorbed them one by one.
However, when his gaze fell on the words underneath the "Apostle Hall," he couldn't help but stare blankly at the first line of the required materials list. There was a line of words in parentheses behind the 10,000 points.
The words in parentheses were "10 units of life-death stones."
Gu Nan had also seen this scene many times before. This was a random event that could be triggered during the construction of structures where certain special materials could be used in lieu of points.
Of course the management of the Divine Kingdom wasn't completely monotonous and boring; all kinds of random events existed solely for the sake of enriching players' gameplay.
Events where certain event materials could be used to replace other required materials were quite popular among players in the early stages of their Divine Kingdoms, because everyone was short on points at this stage, so they were extremely eager for such an exchange.
"Life-death stone?" Gu Nan repeated this somewhat strange name, wrinkling his brows slightly.
With his present knowledge, he was already very familiar with certain popular materials. At the very least, there were few materials in Star Realm that he didn't know about.
Gu Nan searched through his memories for a while, but there really was no memory of any "life-death stone." He also asked Red Tail, Guan Hongchen, and the others, but they also didn't have any clue.
"Is it really an item not from Star Realm?"
Gu Nan shook his head as his figure disappeared from the Evil God Temple in a single step.
...
Zi Luo Heaven.
Gu Nan hadn't been back here ever since he advanced to Tier 5. Now, because of a "life-death stone" that he didn't know the origins of, he once again set foot onto this land.
It was still the same old residential area belonging to Astral Gate, as well as the familiar maid whose name Gu Nan couldn't recall.
After reaching Void Cutter Realm or beyond, there was indeed a huge chasm between cultivators and mortals. They were practically like two different species. This was particularly noticeable in their lifespans.
For example, the lifespan of the several maids hired by Gu Nan was at most 100-200 years, and the amount of time they could serve him might not even be 50 years.
Maybe Gu Nan will only see a pile of bones when he returns from closed-door cultivation one day.
Gu Nan quickly left and headed for Astral Gate, trying to obtain some news on life-death stones there. As a result, he ran into his "old neighbor" Roman as soon as he walked out the door.
"Huh, Your Excellency Gu Nan? Long time no see!" Roman greeted Gu Nan with much joy, although such a short span of time was far from a "long time" for a Void Cutter cultivator like him.
Gu Nan nodded, and after exchanging some pleasantries with him, he casually asked for news on "life-death stones."
"Life-death stones? This is a specialty product of Nirvana Heaven!" Roman was well informed and immediately answered.
With Roman's explanation, Gu Nan also slowly understood what the life-death stone was.
This was a kind of crystal that naturally contained the laws of life and death upon formation. Even in the Myriad Heavens Universe, it was considered a relatively scarce resource. The only place publicly confirmed to have a fixed supply of this resource was Nirvana Heaven.
Perhaps other small planes would also occasionally produce this, but information on those planes would certainly be concealed as soon as they were discovered and wouldn't be publicized at all.
"Nirvana Heaven, huh…?" Gu Nan rubbed his chin, feeling some irony about the situation.
If he remembered correctly, wasn't Nirvana Heaven Zuo Zuo's astral world? 'To think that after going around in a big circle, I still ended up having to get involved in this matter.'
But this time, it couldn't possibly be someone's plot; it should just be a coincidence. The resources needed to construct the Divine Kingdom's structures weren't something outsiders could control.
"Gu Nan, do you need life-death stones?" Roman easily guessed Gu Nan's needs and added, "This kind of thing is very hard to buy with just origin crystals. But it just so happens that someone is organizing an invasion of Nirvana Heaven recently, so you might as well try your luck there."
After a pause, he then added, "Do you remember the Seven Stars League that came to investigate last time? The missions they issue to the public are still relatively reliable, and they're guaranteed by Astral Gate, so you won't have to worry about being ripped off."
Gu Nan nodded and expressed that he would consider Roman's suggestion. Then he asked, "So what's this about an invasion of Nirvana Heaven?"
Roman burst out laughing with great schadenfreude. "That one in Nirvana Heaven has ideas about Star Realm, yet there's still no result even after things have dragged on for so long. Now, he just invited trouble for himself!"