"Daoist Friend Gu Nan has arrived," Zhang Xuyan said with a faint smile when he saw Gu Nan's arrival.
Zhang Xuyan was a middle-aged man with a refined air, and even though his astral world was called "Lyrical", he called Gu Nan "Daoist Friend", which was a bit strange.
His junior martial brother, Ye Xing, had an aloof and detached demeanor. Let alone Gu Nan, he didn't even glance at Daoist White Bones and had been resting with his eyes closed.
When Daoist White Bones heard this, he glanced at Gu Nan with slight astonishment, obviously not expecting him to be able to participate in a hunt of this level.
Seeing that Zhang Xuyan had called out his identity, Gu Nan simply stopped hiding it and directly showed his true appearance.
However, he was already grumbling in his heart, 'Academic Heaven's people really are troublesome. I wouldn't have hidden my identity if you'd just told me earlier. Was there any need to specifically have Zhang Xuyan do this?'
After everyone greeted each other, Daoist White Bones spoke first, "The Demon Lord may change position at any time. Let's hurry up."
The remaining three naturally had no objections and immediately rushed towards the World of Gods.
It had to be said that in order to not give Gu Nan any chance to back out, Lin Huan had also put in substantial capital this time, mobilizing all the power in his hands.
The two Academic Heaven brothers were both Tier 9 Heaven Level Star Rulers, while the combat power of Daoist White Bones far exceeded Realm Level, and he certainly didn't fear fighting Heaven Level opponents. With the addition of Gu Nan, this lineup was indeed more than enough for one Demon Lord.
...
The frontlines were still filled with nonstop battles, only it seemed more desperate and miserable compared to two months ago.
Nowadays, with the gods intervening less and less, all too many pious believers shed their last drop of blood as they died on the battlefield, unable to receive even a tiny blessing from the gods.
This was because even their gods might lose their lives as soon as they showed themselves.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Gu Nan and the others, who swept past at top speed, heading directly for the interior of the World of Gods.
Demon Lord Alfred was a powerful figure who never personally stepped onto the battlefield yet held an astonishing influence over the war.
The Myriad Heavens replenished Void Cutters by hunting gods to obtain a constant stream of combat power. This tactic of gaining more resources through war made the gods miserable.
But it wasn't like there weren't capable people among the gods. Alfred had come up with an idea to utilize the undead resurrection technique unique to the World of Gods to transform enemies on the battlefield into undead.
To do this, a huge number of necromancers was needed, and it was obviously too late to cultivate them among humans, so demons—who were naturally born with the darkness attribute—became the best substitute.
Allowing demons to master simple necromancy spells and then running to the battlefield to become undead conversion machines—this method was extremely efficient and had already been put into use.
"Almost half of the demon necromancers on the battlefield right now came directly from Alfred's territory, and most of the others were also recommended by him," Zhang Xuyan told the three people beside him.
"Now that the technique of undead conversion has matured, killing him won't help…" Zhang Xuyan sighed again. "But at least we can vent a little!"
Only Star Rulers fully committed to the war like him knew just how much trouble the undead conversion secret technique had caused them.
This amiable-looking middle-aged Confucian scholar seemed to be far from calm inside.
Gu Nan wasn't interested in the frontal battlefield, and his gaze fell on a place behind the group. "That's Fairhaven over there, right? Is it still the frontline command center?"
Zhang Xuyan nodded. "Right now as well."
Fairhaven was still the biggest frontline plane, and it was also the largest gathering place for the highest-ranked gods nowadays.
Gu Nan suggested with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Do you guys want to stop there for a stroll once we kill Alfred?"
The three present were all high-ranking Star Rulers and immediately understood what he meant. All of them stared at Gu Nan like they'd seen a ghost.
Only after a long time did Zhang Xuyan force a smile onto his face. "Daoist Friend Gu must be joking. There are at least three Tier 9 and one Tier 10 god in Fairhaven… After we complete our mission, it's better to retreat as soon as possible."
Now that the war was escalating, Fairhaven was naturally heavily guarded as well, truly becoming the gates of hell.
Gu Nan, however, only nodded slightly without saying anything else, so the group didn't know what exactly he was thinking.
...
On the 89th Floor of Hell, Alfred shook hands amicably with the Demon Lord of this floor as they signed a demon supply treaty.
Nowadays, he had become the spokesperson of the entire Hell, recommending demons from Hell to the frontlines and exchanging them for other resources from the gods.
For the Demon Lords, sending away some arrogant, disobedient demons in exchange for precious resources to develop their territories was definitely a great bargain that would normally be unimaginable.
In any case, those fellows would be executed if they weren't sent away, and now that they were given to the gods, how they were managed was none of these Demon Lords' business anymore.
"300 kilograms of Parasitic Inferno Stones, it's a deal!" The Demon Lord of the 89th Floor, a strange-looking female demon, said to Alfred with a dainty smile.
Alfred replied with a light smile, "As long as the demons under your command reach the intended location, the resources won't be a problem. Ma'am, this is the gods' trustworthy guarantee, not mine."
The female demon nodded in satisfaction and sent Alfred away. She knew the other party was bound to take a cut in this, but someone had to be the middleman, right?
Alfred was equally satisfied. With his silver tongue, he managed to keep the price very low this time, which meant…
Before his elation could truly end, a flash of warning violently appeared in his heart.
A high-ranked god's ability to sense danger caused Alfred to instantly activate his laws, attempting to pull himself into the void to avoid any incoming attacks.
But what he didn't anticipate was that what came immediately after was not an attack, but a method to isolate him from the world.
Two large characters—"suppress" and "seal"—appeared out of thin air, dragging Alfred into a strange space where several figures were already waiting for him.
"We must kill him quickly. Our isolation barrier won't last long in Hell," Zhang Xuyan wasn't worried about being overheard by the enemy and spoke bluntly.
But there was no need for his reminder. The group had already made their move at the first opportunity.
Ye Xing raised the brush in his hand, but he didn't bother to write anything. Instead, he directly used the brush like a sword and thrust forward.
Daoist White Bones' law enveloped the Demon Lord, as if he was instantly surrounded by boundless white bones. Countless bone spikes stabbed him from all directions.
But Alfred wasn't incompetent. He was incomparably decisive in this life-and-death crisis, actually allowing the white bones to freely stab his body while his raging demonic flames single-mindedly surged towards Ye Xing's pen.
He wanted to force open a path to survival at the cost of some injuries!
However, just as the demonic flames swept in, a shadow inexplicably appeared behind the Demon Lord, causing his entire being to fall into an icy abyss.
'How can anyone completely hide their presence in a place like this?'
'This is the power of shadows, could it be Sylvia… No! It's Gu Nan!'
The sword of shadows ran through Alfred's chest, and this Demon Lord turned around with a fierce expression, glaring coldly at Gu Nan.
"You… traitor!"