Rending Mountain Venerable's conflict with Gu Nan wasn't quite an eye-catching matter.
Xue Ren even felt that the only reason he even paid attention to it was because of Lou Wanying, otherwise a busy person like him wouldn't have time to try and keep track of these trivial matters.
Rending Mountain Venerable was Lou Wanying's friend, despite the difference in age. After the Time Arena incident, he nursed a grudge on Lou Wanying's behalf against Gu Nan.
Later, when Daoist White Bones was rumored to be heavily injured in the fight over Nirvana Heaven's "inheritance" and White Bones Realm was attacked by seven planes, Rending Mountain Venerable was one of the invaders.
Originally, the seven attackers had agreed to advance and retreat together, but when Rending Mountain Venerable discovered that Gu Nan was also in White Bones Realm, he wanted to take a detour to deal with Gu Nan, then turn back to fight Daoist White Bones.
"What happened after that?" Zi Luo Elder revealed an interested expression, the smile on his face unspeakably amiable.
Gu Nan had already left by this time; he only came over to meet Xue Ren. Or rather, Xue Ren invited him over solely to introduce him to this old man.
Seeing the old man's interest, Xue Ren continued, "Gu Nan only left a Void Cutter clone in White Bones Realm. With this clone, he transmitted a portion of his true body's laws over and stopped Rending Mountain Venerable in his tracks."
Speaking of this, Xue Ren couldn't help adding, "Now that I think about it, he might already possess an astral world as early as then."
"He walked too fast." Zi Luo Elder sighed with emotion, his gaze also seeming to contain some laughter.
Gu Nan certainly walked fast; he was practically progressing at a speed hundreds or thousands of times faster than others. The speed of his growth was enough to make anyone's jaw drop.
"Is he someone's reincarnation?" Zi Luo Elder lowered his head slightly, but his mind wasn't slow in the slightest, hitting the crux of the matter at once.
"We're also looking for his past life's identity." Xue Ren was silent for a moment, then added, "He joined the organization from that side, so we suspect… He is the reincarnation of someone from that side."
Some astonishment finally appeared on Zi Luo Elder's face. "A god from that side reincarnated into the Myriad Heavens? How interesting… Could any of the gods in our organization glean information about his origins?"
Xue Ren, however, could only shake his head. "No. Of the gods who wield divine authority over shadows, we only know a single Sylvia and have never heard of anyone else like that."
That meant Gu Nan probably even changed his original law… Then how could they even start looking for his origins?
"Then forget it." The smile reappeared on Zi Luo Elder's face. "Let Gu Nan cause chaos as he pleases. There must not be any mistakes with Rolensia's matter."
...
Under the sword testing platform, the Star Rulers had already settled down one by one, waiting for those powerful figures to show up.
The large and small Star Rulers Xue Ren invited over this time added up to hundreds of people, especially those at Realm Level or above, who were all sent invitations.
In the face of an invitation from a powerhouse who might soon enter Unified Dao Realm, these Star Rulers certainly didn't have their usual reserved, aloof air.
As long as they weren't occupied by a pressing matter and truly couldn't get away, almost everyone who received an invitation personally rushed to Extreme Sword Heaven to observe the ceremony.
Xue Ren also didn't make the crowd wait for too long. His figure appeared on the sword testing platform as he cupped his hands at the spectators. "This humble one recently received an unexpected enlightenment and wishes to verify it with everyone… Brother Wang?"
As his words fell, a man also appeared at the same time. From his appearance, he seemed to be in his thirties. There wasn't much of an expression on his face, and he held a long blade in his right hand.
Severing Dao Heaven's Wang Li, an unparalleled powerhouse who became a powerful Star Ruler through the blade Dao. If not for that one in Weapon Martial Heaven who also used a blade, he would rightfully be the number one blademaster in the Myriad Heavens.
"Come," Wang Li merely said one word after he appeared, but his voice instantly spread throughout the entire sword testing platform and below.
The Star Rulers below the platform immediately fell silent, because everyone seemed to see a clear, cold blade energy gently arc around them.
Wang Li clearly only spoke one word, but it put a terrifying pressure on the Star Rulers.
Unlike Xue Ren, Wang Li was the most traditional kind of blademaster. His martial path was the blade of the heart, true to the saying the "blade goes wherever the heart goes." His blade intent was strong enough to sever mountains and rivers.
"Okay." Xue Ren also smiled; the longsword in his hand had already thrust out.
No one imagined that these two would attack so decisively. It was simply too inconsistent with their statuses.
Xue Ren's sword style was the very same Wave Sword that he became famous for. But the Wave Sword used by Xue Ren was too different from Qu Hongye's.
A sword thrust out. Xue Ren's entire body seemed to merge with the sword, then scattered into a huge sword cloud.
Every position was Xue Ren inside this sword cloud, yet Xue Ren didn't exist in any position. The location of his sword couldn't be predicted.
Wang Li's expression remained unchanged. He gently raised his long blade and actually stabbed it out like a longsword, with the tip of the blade randomly pointing at a certain point in the sword cloud.
In this instant, something in space seemed to be torn apart. The sword cloud collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and for a while, it seemed like a black hole appeared on the sword testing platform.
But the next moment, endless sword light cut through the horizon. The light was actually faster than the speed at which space collapsed, allowing it to drill out of the black hole.
Wang Li brazenly slashed out with his blade at this instant. The blade's afterimage, which was originally floating, seemed to have swelled up at once, as if flooding the whole world.
The peerless, tyrannical long blade fell, yet the sword light didn't flicker or dodge, simply allowing the slash to land. Indeed, the long blade couldn't block the sword light. The latter hit Wang Li unhindered.
"Sword light is also light… You let me win." Xue Ren reappeared, smiling at Wang Li.
From his words, it seemed that the two actually decided victory and defeat in this moment.
Wang Li thought for a moment with a wooden expression and said, "Very strong, but still not enough."
"That's why I need you guys to help," Xue Ren understood his meaning and casually responded.
Wang Li nodded, more or less agreeing with him. Below the sword testing platform, the voices of discussion rang out again—it couldn't be helped since many people didn't actually understand the exchange between these two.
True, the two had high cultivation realms, but wasn't this a little too outrageous?
Many famous Star Rulers were swearing in their hearts. 'I don't even understand what these two just did, so how the hell can I explain it to my disciples and descendants?'
'Star Rulers who use swords or blades really are annoying!'
Outside of Extreme Sword Heaven, some of the big names in the Thirteen Heavens were also watching this spar.
After all, once Xue Ren broke through, he would be on the same level of existence as them, so it was reasonable to give Xue Ren the necessary attention.
Within Void Grotto Heaven, Yu Lian had a new guest. This person was dressed in a gorgeous long gown, with a short blade hanging from his waist. Its sheath was full of gems, crystals, and other decorations.
From the looks of it, this youth with a short blade appeared very much like a nouveau riche, no different from the hedonistic young masters of the secular world.
But only those who knew his identity would know just how terrifying this youth was.
He was none other than one of the Thirteen Heavens—Zou Jiming, the Star Ruler of Weapon Martial Heaven.