The female Star Ruler in front of Gu Nan was Hua Zhenxiu, a person who entered this realm some time ago but never found a suitable astral world yet.
Such Star Rulers weren't uncommon at all—or rather, people at Hua Zhenxiu's stage made up the largest portion of Star Rulers.
Finding an astral world required luck. Even if they had enough resources and power, finding a suitable astral world still wasn't a simple matter.
The lucky bastard from Hua Zhenxiu's story who picked up a Tier 7 Godhead on the battlefield from Ghost was another Star Ruler called Ren Fu.
Ren Fu and Hua Zhenxiu were of the same generation. The two did have contact before, but they didn't have friendly relations and even had a slight rivalry.
However, Ren Fu later found a suitable astral world for himself before she did and named it "Grand Mission World", a reference to the phrase "a grand mission will descend upon the skilled", and now he was already the ruler of a plane.
"Ren Fu?" Gu Nan stroked his chin and nodded to indicate that he knew.
Hua Zhenxiu smiled in satisfaction and said, "Then I'll go in first."
Frankly, this woman deliberately mentioned Ren Fu to Gu Nan as both a probe to sound out more information and a casual move to see if she could find some trouble for Ren Fu.
If something later happened to Ren Fu, then she would get to vent some anger while also learning more about the mysterious Black Robe, so it wasn't a loss by any stretch of the imagination.
When Hua Zhenxiu's figure disappeared, Gu Nan followed suit and walked into the room behind the bar.
This place could definitely be called a pocket dimension. Even if Heavenly Province World was a plane with advanced technology, it was still hard to imagine someone being able to create such a vast area in a chamber hidden underground.
In fact, this wasn't a product of technology and was a pocket dimension a Star Ruler constructed with their own laws. In essence, this space didn't belong to Heavenly Province World.
Such a pocket dimension could only exist temporarily, and if the need arose, any random Star Ruler could destroy it without being trapped here.
This safety guarantee was also the reason Star Rulers were willing to gather here.
This one gathering spot was called Dark Pavilion by Star Rulers. The origin of the name was simple—the bar outside was called the Dark Night Bar, that's all.
Just as Hua Zhenxiu said, Dark Pavilion was currently holding a small auction.
This kind of auction didn't have a host to speak of. Any Star Ruler who had a nice item they wanted to sell would walk onto the stage and wait for bids from the crowd below.
Of course, this was also because the value of the auction items weren't at the point of making people go crazy. Otherwise, the Star Rulers here wouldn't mind rising up as a group to attack the seller.
As for the case with the Godhead Ren Fu planned to sell, that was because several Tier 7 gods had already fallen in the past few days, or else he wouldn't have dared to put it up for auction.
Gu Nan watched this auction with a dispassionate gaze. For one thing, he wasn't interested in what these Star Rulers were auctioning off, and for another, he also didn't have any money.
Even if something really did catch his interest, he could just memorize the buyer's identity and snatch it later. There was no need to attract other people's attention here.
Ren Fu looked like a young man, but his calm and steady demeanor made people feel that he was very reliable. At this time, he was putting the God of Giantwood's Godhead on the stage to start the auction.
Quite a few people already knew about the fact that he'd picked up a Tier 7 Godhead, and it was Ren Fu himself who had spread that. This was one of the main reasons so many Star Rulers gathered at the Dark Pavilion today.
"Gentlemen, the Tier 7 God of Giantwood's Godhead." Ren Fu placed the Godhead on the stage and said to the audience with a faint smile, "Everyone, please bid first. The buyer can come up and inspect the goods. We'll trade here; this transaction is only valid on this stage."
Which meant he would no longer acknowledge the trade after leaving the stage.
There were bound to be people who doubted the authenticity of the Godhead. Rather than arguing, it was better to make things clear— "I, Ren Fu, have nothing to prove. It's up to you guys to believe me or not. Just don't buy it if you don't believe me."
However, though he refused to argue with people, the Star Rulers below still had their own verification methods.
"Dare I ask Daoist Friend Ren where he picked up this Godhead?" A Star Ruler dressed as an old man opened his mouth to inquire about its origin.
The fall of a Tier 7 god couldn't possibly be a silent affair. There would always be someone who knew about it.
Ren Fu didn't hide anything and reported the name of a frontline plane. It was a small plane that belonged to the World of Gods, but it was obvious that not many people present knew about it. After all, it was just a relatively obscure plane.
Some people began to secretly contact their subordinates to urgently check the situation in this plane to see if any gods had fallen today.
There were also people who started bidding without another word. Perhaps they happened to be in that plane today, so they no longer had any doubts about Ren Fu's words.
But even so, the others didn't dare make a bid—who knew if the people who already started bidding were in cahoots with Ren Fu?
There was only one person who reacted in a way that surprised those who noticed him.
After Gu Nan heard the Godhead's origin, he actually turned to leave without any intention of bidding. Many Star Rulers wondered if this person had visited that plane today and knew that Ren Fu was lying.
The ones who cooperated by bidding might be in cahoots, but the one who turned and left wouldn't be an act, right?
...
In a small frontline plane in the World of Gods, Gu Nan's figure slowly appeared in a certain corner.
"Ren Fu is telling the truth." Gu Nan sensed the aura around him and quickly determined that this was indeed the place where the God of Giantwood had fallen.
The energy given off by a god's death wouldn't dissipate so easily. Though Star Rulers might not be able to utilize this, it was a beacon in Gu Nan's eyes.
It was already nighttime, yet battles were still raging in this plane. Evidently, that Great Wars didn't have any ceasefires to speak of.
"Who could it be?" Gu Nan walked through the flames of war without the slightest hint of being affected and soon arrived in a forest.
This was the place with the densest Giantwood divine power. The god had clearly fallen here. His laws—which hadn't completely dissipated even after his death—caused a forest of giant trees to grow.
Gu Nan walked through the forest of giant trees, carefully scrutinizing each and every trace of laws, trying to find a wisp of law that didn't belong to the God of Giantwood.
'Killing a god without anyone's notice means it was basically an instant kill. Not taking away the Godhead after killing him means the killer's aim isn't to cultivate Void Cutters…'
Gu Nan pondered as he walked.
It had to be said that this person's imitation of "Ghost" was very accurate, successfully imitating every distinct feature without revealing any of their own.
What was even stranger was that no trace of the killer's law was exposed—even that aspect was exactly the same as Gu Nan.
'Either the killer is also like me and killed the god directly with pure strength, or… it's a law that acts directly on the gods themselves!' Gu Nan didn't ponder for too long and directly concluded.
When comparing the two possibilities, it was clear that the latter was more likely.
"Is it a law that acts upon the psyche?" Gu Nan's gaze fell in the distance, where he saw a figure slowly approaching.