Myriad Heavens Universe.
Two figures were wandering around the vicinity of Gu Nan's Divine Kingdom, exploring the surrounding space and seemingly searching for… a suitable ambush location.
"Zi Luo Elder will return sooner or later, and so will Gu Nan. Our best chance to strike will be when he's just returned to the Myriad Heavens and hasn't had time to take control of anything yet."
These two were clearly a monk and a Daoist priest, and it was the Daoist who spoke just now.
However, they were a bit odd. The monk had short hair and even carried a longsword on his back, resembling a sword cultivator more than a monk.
The Daoist, on the other hand, was holding a hossu and had a Daoist hat on his head, but he wore a neat Buddhist robe. The gold and red colors reflected each other, looking very eye-catching.
The monk didn't resemble a monk, and the Daoist didn't resemble a Daoist. This monk-Daoist pair was quite famous in the Myriad Heavens—the Sword Arhat and the Buddhist Daoist.
The Sword Arhat also agreed with the Buddhist Daoist's words, but he still felt a bit stifled. "That person surnamed Duan is the one who has a grudge against Gu Nan, but he's using us as pawns."
"It can't be helped." The Buddhist Daoist sighed. "Who let the Cult Master be about to return, yet we even got the wrong Saint and allowed the real Saint to die at Gu Nan's hands?"
The Sword Arhat sneered, "Isn't that all thanks to Lu Wen? If it wasn't for him swapping the two back then…"
"Forget it," the Buddhist Daoist interrupted with a flick of his hossu. "Only by killing Gu Nan will we have a chance to remedy the situation. Make preparations; we must not allow him to return to his astral world."
The Sword Arhat nodded silently.
Before Rolensia ascended to Unified Dao, Gu Nan was already able to stand up to Graceful Heaven's Fang Chaoyun with his own strength while inside his astral world.
Since then, no one under the Thirteen Heavens dared to claim they had a solid chance of defeating Gu Nan, because no one could do anything about him as long as he hid inside his astral world.
...
Xie Yun had failed once again.
As one of the nine people who came to this side from the Myriad Heavens, Xie Yun's qualifications could be said to be one of the best; An Tiansheng was probably the only one who could compare to her.
Liang Ruxin had the most seniority amongst the nine and was also the most composed, but in terms of qualifications, he still couldn't compare to these two children.
But even so, the 16-year-old Xie Yun was destined to be the last of the nine to acquire a class—it was even possible that she wouldn't be able to obtain a class, because Gu Nan was returning to the Myriad Heavens soon.
"Firearms Expert doesn't suit you," Gu Nan stated indifferently as he placed a data sheet in front of the young girl.
After several failed attempts, Gu Nan had long since realized the problem, but he never spoke to Xie Yun about it until she personally came to ask for advice.
"Why?" Xie Yun asked stubbornly as she glanced down, then was blinded by the paper full of information she couldn't understand.
"Your knowledge of firearms is severely lacking, whether it's their manufacture or assembly and application, not to mention making modifications that best suit you."
Gu Nan paused for a moment and pointed at the paper. "This has the names of every single firearm you've ever used. How can you play as a gunner when you don't even know what they're called or what properties they have?"
"I love firearms!" Xie Yun said loudly, "And aren't guns more powerful the more expensive they are?"
Gu Nan shook his head. Her playing with guns this way was undoubtedly a very embarrassing thing… Hm, that said, there really was a route that suited her.
This slight pause made him remember a very special route.
There were so many routes players could choose in the game that not even Gu Nan could remember them all. The list he wrote down and gave to the nine earlier just had some of the routes that he remembered as being more cost-effective and easier to acquire.
"If you simply like playing with guns, you can try this route." Gu Nan quickly lowered his head and wrote down something before handing it over to Xie Yun.
Xie Yun looked down in confusion, only to see the words "Pay to Win Expert" written at the top of the paper.
The official name for the Pay to Win Expert should be "Gold-Devouring Expert." This route was very peculiar. The player could select a natal weapon, then enhance it by means of "gold."
The natal weapon can be whatever the player wants it to be, but it can't be changed after the route is chosen, only evolved. Improvement of the weapon also improves the player's own strength.
To put it simply, it was paying money to become stronger.
"Strengthening yourself by devouring gold?" Xie Yun did understand this time, because the upgrade logic of a Pay to Win Expert was indeed very simple—just pay gold.
Moreover, the "gold" it referred to really was just the metal itself; any other form of currency or valuables was ineffective.
Xie Yun's eyes lit up when she read the natal weapon's introduction. "Can I choose a gun?"
"Of course."
"Then I choose this route!"
...
Xie Yun came and went in a hurry, but her visit didn't affect much.
Gu Nan was sitting inside the Luxuriant Blossoms Divine Kingdom, about to personally witness the second Unified Dao ascension.
Almost two days had passed since the abnormal phenomenon started inside the Divine Kingdom, and now the signs in the World of Gods were so intense that even Tier 4 mortals could feel them.
Zi Luo Elder was making a breakthrough, while everyone outside was silently waiting for that tipping point to arrive.
Breaking through was a slow and lengthy process, and it wasn't as if one could immediately break through by shouting, "Break through for me!"
It was like adding one straw after another to a camel's back. While it seemed like the final straw caused the qualitative change, in reality, it was no different from the previous straws.
"It's coming," Xue Ren's voice rang in Gu Nan's ears. The world's number one swordsman, who had already reached Gu Nan's side at some point, wore a relieved smile on his face.
"You seem very nervous?" Gu Nan, however, could see the worry in the depths of his eyes.
"Of course." Xue Ren smiled freely. "If the old man's breakthrough fails, then I'm afraid we'll have to rebuild our astral worlds on this side… The matter of ascending to Unified Dao has never been a surefire success."
No one dared to claim they would definitely succeed in breaking through to Unified Dao.
With Xue Ren and Gu Nan's situation where they blatantly offended the Thirteen Heavens, once news of Zi Luo Elder's failed ascension reached the Myriad Heavens, the two of them would probably be the first to have their astral worlds destroyed.
Even if Song Fei himself didn't do anything and didn't issue such an order, there was absolutely no need for him to personally give the word.
Almost at the same time that Xue Ren opened his mouth, Gu Nan saw a purple pillar of light shoot up into the sky, as if something had awakened in the depths of the Luxuriant Blossoms Divine Kingdom and was heading straight for the sky.
However, at this very moment, a ray of light came from the far east, falling straight towards that purple pillar.
The light from the east seemed to pierce through space itself, having already struck the purple pillar as soon as it lit up. Only then did people have a chance to see what the light was.
It was clearly a ruler, as simple and outdated as those used in private schools in the countryside.