Daoist Heir Qin Ning left reluctantly, his heart full of bewilderment.
Even until he left, he still believed that Gu Nan had some deeper meaning for doing this and even sought out Daoist Lingyang to test the waters.
However, Daoist Lingyang just laughed involuntarily after hearing this. "Even if you want to give a gift, you still need to know what the person actually wants, right?"
A few moments later, Daoist Lingyang came back to Gu Nan's side and said with a smile, "This little fellow was originally supposed to talk to me."
Of course it was impossible for Daoist Heir Qin Ning to predict that Gu Nan would come to the World of Gods right now. His initial target was definitely Daoist Lingyang.
After all, even if the latter wasn't in the Myriad Heavens, his status within the Heaven-God Alliance still wouldn't drop too much. He would still be one of the elders, just responsible for different matters.
Gu Nan shook his head. He was completely uninterested in Qin Ning's so-called benefits. Status inside the Heaven-God Alliance? The opportunity to directly interact with Void Grotto Heaven? None of it was worth mentioning in Gu Nan's eyes.
Most of the interactions between players and NPCs were limited to the "mission-reward" pattern. Besides a few with special hobbies, no one would bother to have deeper interactions with NPCs.
As for seeking status within an NPC organization, that was even more laughable.
Players only knew to beat up disobedient NPCs until they obeyed and beat up those who still refused to obey until they died.
"So, do you have a grudge against any other gods?" Gu Nan turned to look at Daoist Lingyang again. He still hadn't forgotten that last time, Daoist Lingyang's schemes to kill Lewis were still quite remarkable.
Daoist Lingyang replied a little curtly, "No!"
...
After Daoist Lingyang left as well, Gu Nan finally started to focus on considering which god he would be better off going after.
If a player had developed normally, they wouldn't actually have these kinds of worries at all. This was because if one took the normal route to becoming a god, they would inevitably make some enemies and friends, so it was much more convenient to lay out a plan around them than going after someone out of thin air.
Just like how he used Elise to lure out the God of Love, there were quite many lures similar to Elise. It's just that trying to find such lures wasn't an easy task.
Of course it wasn't like there weren't any upsides to Gu Nan's current situation. At least he was like an invisible person in the World of Gods, ensuring that as long as he didn't do anything too eye-catching, very few people would pay attention to him.
A few moments later, Lan Si was called before Gu Nan.
Lan Si's life was very peaceful lately. As long as she kept an eye on both Xie Yun and Liang Ruxin, she only needed to focus on her own cultivation, which was much easier than in the Myriad Heavens.
However, she knew her peaceful days were finally coming to an end when Gu Nan placed a document in front of her.
"Here's a list." Gu Nan pointed to the list and said, "Find out what these people are up to and if they've encountered anything strange recently."
Lan Si skimmed through the names on the list and realized they were basically all mortals—it was rare to see even Legend Rank experts on that list—and all of them lived in the main planes.
"Understood," Lan Si didn't ask further questions and immediately agreed. "But we're understaffed here, time-wise…"
Actually, it wasn't just a lack of manpower. Gu Nan simply had no manpower to speak of in the World of Gods.
"Ask… Lingyang for help. Atalante is already mostly his anyway. Since he's going to rebuild his astral world, there's no way he doesn't have forces in the other main planes."
Gu Nan thought about it and ultimately decided not to seek Rolensia's help.
Now that she was already a greater god, openly seeking her assistance to kill other gods might cause her to see some clues and discover his identity as an Evil God.
As for Daoist Lingyang, it seemed that he made up his mind to establish his astral world in the World of Gods. Nobody knew what exactly he was thinking.
Lan Si took the list drawn up by Gu Nan and started investigating the situation of all the baits listed on there, but only two days later, Gu Nan received a different piece of news first.
Liang Ruxin had returned.
"My Lord." Liang Ruxin, who was carrying two swords on his back, met Gu Nan with a very different appearance. If it wasn't for some similarities in his facial structure, Gu Nan wouldn't have been able to recognize him.
The former Liang Ruxin had gone through the vicissitudes of life, so his face appeared older, resembling a middle-aged uncle with a face full of scruff.
But now his skin was as white as a woman's, with no calluses visible on the palms of his hands. His long hair fell down to his shoulders, and his entire person exuded a decadent and demonic aura.
"Are you sure the class you changed to is Phantom Sword Saint and not Sunflower Successor[1]?" Gu Nan asked while rubbing his chin. Even Chamberlain himself didn't have this appearance after creating this class.
Liang Ruxin, however, revealed a troubled smile. "Master's sword art is too profound for this humble one to comprehend directly, so I had to divide it into two and cultivate them one after the other."
"How did you divide it?"
"I divided the sword art into Yin and Yang." Liang Ruxin instantly straightened up when he started discussing swordsmanship. "I first obtained the Yin Sword. I will learn the Yang Sword after that, entering major attainment only after I master both parts."
Gu Nan's expression couldn't help turning a little strange. Although he himself had never gone the Phantom Sword Saint route, he knew that there was absolutely no such thing as Yin and Yang in this route.
In fact, this was entirely Liang Ruxin's own understanding, a theory of swordsmanship from the Myriad Heavens.
This was also an issue Gu Nan had overlooked. In the end, people of the Myriad Heavens weren't players. They had their own set of worldviews, as well as their own understanding of power systems.
Young people like An Tiansheng and Xie Yun were still fine, but Liang Ruxin's three views had already been formed, and his talent and understanding were equally high, so it was too much to ask him to honestly follow the unfamiliar new route to the letter.
However, being able to have his own understanding might not necessarily be a bad thing, and he might achieve more in the future.
Gu Nan was more interested in the so-called "Yin Yang Swords" and casually said, "Try attacking with it."
Liang Ruxin nodded and pulled out a sword directly from behind him. He knew that the gap between himself and the one before him was so great that it was impossible to injure the other party, so he had nothing to worry about.
Moreover, now that he'd broken through to Void Cutter Realm, he was eager to test his newfound strength.
The longsword Liang Ruxin held was a strange sword that glowed faintly, but for some inexplicable reason, the light seemed to capture people's hearts and minds.
There was nothing strange about the sword itself. Rather, it became like this only after Liang Ruxin infused it with his power.
In the next moment, the Yin Sword instantly cut through space and arrived straight in front of Gu Nan—to be in front of Gu Nan and still be able to easily tear through space was something that even many gods couldn't do!
Gu Nan's gaze turned slightly serious. Already, this was not an ability that belonged to the Phantom Sword Saint class, but rather created through Liang Ruxin's own understanding of the route.
Just as the Yin Sword was about to land on Gu Nan, Liang Ruxin moved his body again, actually splitting into six images of himself who all simultaneously attacked from six different directions. This was the Phantom Sword Saint's signature ability.
"How interesting." Gu Nan grabbed one of the longswords with one hand but allowed the others to stab his body, a small smile appearing on his face.
The illusory swords instantly disappeared, while only a few white spots were left on Gu Nan's body. Liang Ruxin was slightly taken aback, but he came back to his senses and hastily sheathed his sword. "I've offended you."
Gu Nan waved his hand with a smile. "Do you know what role your current abilities are best suited for?"
"What?"
"Assassin."
[1] Sunflower Successor - Reference to the Sunflower Manual from the Wuxia novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer where anyone who cultivates it must first castrate themselves