Yes, because of the Heaven-God Alliance.
One had to admit that the existence of the Heaven-God Alliance significantly influenced the overall situation of the Myriad Heavens.
Song Fei would inevitably pay attention to the Heaven-God Alliance because it contained his old rival, Zi Luo Elder. And Zou Jiming would also pay attention to the Heaven-God Alliance because it contained his potential rival, Xue Ren.
In a way, both Song Fei and Zou Jiming were threatened by certain members in the Heaven-God Alliance, but the two were different.
Song Fei could directly attack Zi Luo Elder without much scruple since the two of them had a personal vendetta.
But it would be a big problem for Zou Jiming to openly attack Xue Ren—there were too many people who could threaten Zou Jiming, and killing a single Xue Ren would make him the target of criticism in the blink of an eye.
That was why Zou Jiming was relieved when the Heaven-God Alliance appeared.
If Xue Ren could run to the World of Gods to ascend to Unified Dao, then the conflict between him and Zou Jiming would disappear. Instead, there would be one more weapon path Unified Dao cultivator to help Zou Jiming share the pressure. It was a total win-win situation.
Therefore, he didn't want the two sides to go to war. If they did, it would be much more difficult for Xue Ren to break through to Unified Dao on that side.
These two—one a supporter of the Heaven-God Alliance and the other a mortal enemy of the Heaven-God Alliance—shared a common goal regarding whether or not to go to war.
Song Fei stared at him for a long time before finally speaking, "In that case, I'll have to ask Brother Zou for help."
...
Gu Nan was sitting inside his Divine Kingdom, not in the slightest hurry. He was leisurely sipping tea and reading a light novel.
Ever since the Weak Gods Hunting Manual was published, he'd stayed inside his Divine Kingdom and never stepped foot outside again. At the same time, he also rejected all visits from Star Rulers, acting as if he was in closed-door cultivation until death.
On one hand, it was to avoid suspicion, and on the other hand, it was also because he didn't want to communicate with anyone—at times like these, the more he said, the more he might let something slip.
After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the person who wrote the Weak Gods Hunting Manual was bound to be someone who had an extremely thorough understanding of the World of Gods and the gods.
To be precise, when it came to god-slaying techniques, not even the gods themselves were any match for Gu Nan.
It was only until the content from the meeting of the Thirteen Heavens came in that Gu Nan finally put down the light novel in his hands.
"Song Fei is leading?" Gu Nan rubbed his chin, seemingly pondering something.
Gu Nan was already aware of the fact that Song Fei's youngest disciple had been framed and murdered. This wasn't out of his expectations.
It wasn't that he was great at predicting the future. Rather, he knew that this kind of event would happen sooner or later as time went on—if not with Song Fei, then with someone else.
It's just that the Thirteen Heavens' determination to go to war was a bit out of his expectations. He'd thought that this group of people wouldn't do such a strenuous and thankless task.
"It's even better if they start fighting; it'll save me a lot of trouble. But I'm afraid they still have some ulterior motives…" Gu Nan didn't believe figures at the level of the Thirteen Heavens would have such simple plans.
Gu Nan thought for a moment, then said to Red Tail, who'd come over, "Investigate what other information can be used. We can't count on this group of Unified Dao cultivators."
Red Tail seemed already prepared for this and handed over a piece of intelligence.
"Lu Yang still has a wife and son in the World of Gods. His wife used to be a well-known beauty in the Nightmare Continent, and his son just turned fourteen."
Here, Red Tail couldn't help chuckling as she added, "We found out that there's a God of Lust in the Dark Faction—"
"It's true that Houston is the God of Lust, but that doesn't mean he's a pervert himself," Gu Nan interrupted Red Tail with a wave of his hand.
God of Lust Houston, one of the Tier 8 gods, had a divine authority precisely related to passion and lust.
But just because that was his law didn't necessarily mean the god himself was lustful; in fact, Houston was an ascetic fellow who usually didn't even touch women.
Red Tail stared blankly, as if she hadn't expected this outcome.
"But your thought process is still very good!" Gu Nan patted Red Tail's shoulder and said with narrowed eyes, "Give me the information on Lu Yang's wife and son. I'll make a personal trip there."
"Yes."
...
Lu Yang's wife and son were a breakthrough—Gu Nan was well aware of that.
Everyone was extremely tense right now. Though the higher-ups on both sides maintained a certain degree of restraint, it was much harder for the Star Rulers and gods under them to have such sensible judgment.
In the end, this was because it concerned their direct interests, while the higher-ups were looking more towards the future.
But in a situation like this, all it takes is one more gentle push, and everything can become irreconcilable.
What? You're saying one push might not be enough? Then just keep pushing!
Gu Nan, who never harbored expectations of succeeding on the first try, once again came to the World of Gods.
In fact, the residents of the World of Gods already tightened control considerably over visitors from the Myriad Heavens. Every visitor had to be inspected, especially those at Void Cutter Realm or above.
However, these measures obviously couldn't stump Gu Nan, who was all too familiar with the gods' abilities and had too many ways to deal with them.
'Song Fei and the others should be coming over soon, so I need to hurry,' Gu Nan thought, having already memorized the information Red Tail provided.
Nightmare Continent.
One of the main planes under the control of the Dark Faction. Although the name sounded very sinister, it was essentially a pretty normal main plane.
The reason this place was called Nightmare Continent was simply because the god who first conquered this continent was none other than the original God of Nightmares, now the Ruler of Nightmares.
Of course, because it was under the control of the Ruler of Nightmares for many years, there were still many related traces left on this continent.
For example, Gu Nan was currently standing in front of an inverted garden, a typical Nightmare grotto-heaven.
"This is the 391st Nightmare Land, My Lord," a man in a black suit stood in front of Gu Nan and respectfully explained.
The garden in front of the two hung upside down in the air in a strange state, and all the birds and beasts within it were likewise upside down.
There were many bizarre Nightmare Lands like this on Nightmare Continent, but these types of places often had a strange distribution of laws, making them an excellent place for adventurers to further their training.
Lu Yang's only son on this side, Lu Jialiang, was studying in this particular Nightmare Land.
"I heard those who can study here are all students from well-off families?" Gu Nan asked casually as he looked at this inverted garden.
He knew a little about Nightmare Continent, but it wasn't considered comprehensive, at least not to the extent of knowing it like the back of his hand.
"Yes." The man in a suit nodded with a smile. "The 391st Nightmare Land is a famous aristocratic academy. Ordinary people can't afford the tuition here."
"Has anything strange happened here recently?"
"I don't think so… Everything is normal—oh right, two days ago, there was a boy who got in a fight and seemed to suffer a head wound, but we haven't been able to contact his family."
Gu Nan revealed an odd smile and nodded.
And at this moment, within the 391st Nightmare Land, the boy named Lu Jialiang was hiding alone in a corner, bloodstains still lingering on his forehead.
His gaze held a trace of anger. He clenched his fists, then gripped a pendant on his chest.
"Damn you, Brook, you'll pay for this!"