No one expected that after merely half a month of hiding, "hot topic" Gu Nan would reappear with another big move.
He was attacking Imperial Glory Heaven!
As if they were prepared long in advance, the army descended upon Imperial Glory Heaven in an incomparably coordinated manner and immediately started the massacre.
However, people didn't immediately notice this invasion, as Gu Nan's army didn't descend openly, but rather infiltrated in secret.
It turned out that the recent instability inside Imperial Glory Heaven where numerous outstanding heroes rose up simultaneously was all backed by Gu Nan's forces. His army had long since infiltrated the ranks of Imperial Glory Heaven.
Only when the Divine Kingdom War broke out did Gu Nan's army sneak in under the guise of helping the various forces.
By the time Immortal Empress Taisheng discovered all this, the massacre was already mostly complete, and the entire Imperial Glory Heaven was inundated with the misery of living beings, with nine out of ten houses empty.
"Why?" In her palace, Immortal Empress Taisheng glared coldly at Gu Nan, who was standing calmly.
Ever since she realized something was amiss, Gu Nan had already shown himself, obviously prepared for it.
Gu Nan gave a small sigh with a shake of his head. "I was forced."
...
Gu Nan's attack on Imperial Glory Heaven was already a major event that the Myriad Heavens paid great attention to, so this revelation immediately set off waves in the Myriad Heavens.
"Academic Heaven really has extraordinary methods. First, they used Gu Nan as cannon fodder and sent him to his death, and then, when he didn't die from that, they forced him to attack Imperial Glory Heaven instead. They're practically forcing him to fall out with the Heaven-God Alliance!"
"That old man Fang Chaoyun said he wanted to join the Heaven-God Alliance earlier, yet he then turned around and used such underhanded tactics. He really is… Tsk tsk!"
"Old Fang really is petty. To think his personal grudge with Gu Nan caused such a ruckus."
"..."
Discussions arose in all directions. While debating exactly what Academic Heaven had over Gu Nan, people also included their disdain for Fang Chaoyun this time.
Of course, Academic Heaven immediately received news of this as well.
"He was forced! Ha, yeah right!" Fang Chaoyun almost snapped his brush in half, the rage in his heart unable to be quelled.
How could he not know Gu Nan's goal by now? This was clearly an attempt to use Academic Heaven as a scapegoat!
If the many previous events didn't occur, no one would try to decipher Gu Nan's words in depth. Worse, they might even suspect Gu Nan's own intentions.
However, in the context of the Demon Lord incident and the many speculations that took place afterwards, Gu Nan then threw out such a sentence…
Even without naming anyone, the spearhead was undoubtedly pointing directly at Academic Heaven, especially Fang Chaoyun!
With the earlier preconceived impression still fresh in their minds, no one doubted the truth of Gu Nan's words anymore, because Gu Nan's attitude matched their speculations perfectly.
"Master, this must be the Heaven-God Alliance's scheme!" Lin Huan anxiously rushed into Fang Chaoyun's study. "The most urgent matter is to stop Gu Nan from continuing his actions and to show our attitude!"
Lin Huan felt like he finally understood everything now. This was all a play performed by the Heaven-God Alliance and Gu Nan as a counterattack to his master's earlier membership application.
In this play, Gu Nan was merely a pawn acting out a scripted role. The mastermind behind the Heaven-God Alliance controlling everything was the truly terrifying person!
"Why should we stop him?" Fang Chaoyun snorted coldly. "The innocent party has no guilty conscience! We haven't done anything like this. When your Grand Master returns, the truth will naturally come out."
Lin Huan froze, not expecting this old man to be stubborn at a time like this. "Master…"
"You need not say anything else." Fang Chaoyun waved his hand. "Besides, do you think our clarification will make any difference? Our current plan is to keep calm and maintain our rationality."
...
Academic Heaven adopted the strategy of "keeping calm", giving no response to the entire "Gu Nan" incident, resolutely maintaining a cold and detached approach.
This near-acquiescent attitude made the ridicule from all sides even louder, but that was all.
After all, they couldn't actually do anything against Academic Heaven. Instead, the Great War still continued in an orderly fashion.
The great war on Gu Nan's side was also underway.
The divine servant army split into multiple units and entered Imperial Glory Heaven in advance in order to immediately inflict a large number of casualties, earning points for Gu Nan while simultaneously weakening Immortal Empress Taisheng's power.
The laws of Imperial Glory Heaven were special, and the strengthening its Star Ruler could receive was mainly manifested in the form of dragon Qi.
Therefore, when the Immortal Empire continuously lost ground under the divine servant army's attack, Immortal Empress Taisheng's power also weakened.
Originally, with her level, she should've been able to easily suppress Gu Nan in her own astral world, but now her continuously weakening power was actually allowing Gu Nan to stabilize the situation for the time being.
"You won't be able to stall for long!" Immortal Empress Taisheng coldly glared at Gu Nan and said darkly.
She didn't care what reasons Gu Nan had. From the moment the latter invaded Imperial Glory Heaven, they became mortal enemies.
Every move of hers contained a terrifying pressure. The mighty forces of heaven and earth all bore down on Gu Nan, as if he was fighting the entire world.
In the end, Immortal Empress Taisheng was still an experienced powerhouse. Though she was weaker than Fang Chaoyun, it wasn't by far.
She even ignored the enemy armies inside her astral world, aiming to crush Gu Nan in one fell swoop!
Even if her dragon Qi was dwindling, she was still confident she could crush Gu Nan quickly.
She was right. If there were no other variables, Gu Nan definitely wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
However, Gu Nan was still struggling to endure because the situation at this moment was already much better than he predicted.
Thanks to Academic Heaven's "valuable assistance", at least the Heaven-God Alliance was still hesitating and hadn't collectively made a move to help Imperial Glory Heaven.
Thus, Gu Nan waited.
He already had enough Evil Value to advance to Tier 10, but he was still short on points, so he might be able to meet the standard after slaughtering most of Imperial Glory Heaven's inhabitants.
But that didn't mean he had to hold out until then.
He could absolutely collect a wave of points and return to his Divine Kingdom to level up to Tier 9 first!
Imperial Empress Taisheng's suppression continued, but due to Gu Nan's prior arrangements, the invasion was far more efficient than expected.
While Gu Nan was enduring the spiritual pressure of heaven and earth, he was still keeping an eye on the number of points shown on the panel.
'Still short 50,000… 30,000… 10,000… The last 5,000!'
'Success!'
As soon as his points reached the Tier 9 mark, Gu Nan's figure shrank as his entire body transformed into shadows that quickly disappeared without a trace.
"Ran away? How sharp!" Immortal Empress Taisheng sneered, but she didn't suspect much.
She originally thought Gu Nan had some special trump card that gave him the courage to invade, but now, it seemed like he merely took advantage of her astral world's internal unrest.
Given the power difference between the two sides, if Gu Nan still didn't leave, it wouldn't be long before he died under the omnipresent pressure.
Of course Immortal Empress Taisheng was aware of Gu Nan's terrifying recovery power, but any ability in this world could be countered, and Gu Nan was naturally no exception.
She aimed to crush him with the weight of heaven and earth, and when the pressure reached a certain critical point, Gu Nan's body would instantly collapse, which was undoubtedly a counter to his regeneration.
She didn't waste much time and immediately went down to the mortal world, personally cleaning up Gu Nan's army.
What puzzled her was that these armies didn't seem to have any intention of retreating. Instead, all of Gu Nan's troops tried to slaughter everything in their way with no regard for their own lives, only seeking to inflict more kills.
But in a place she couldn't see, Gu Nan had long since returned to his Divine Kingdom, opening the interface at the fastest speed in his life. He quickly selected one structure after another and built them outside the Evil God Temple.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Gu Nan's mind operated quickly, refusing to waste a single second.
One should know that the Divine Kingdom War was still going on right now and that countless divine servants were dying at Immortal Empress Taisheng's hands every second. Right now, every second was precious!
Under Gu Nan's frantic operations, all the structures were constructed at the fastest speed possible, and he then clicked on the advancement button without hesitation.
Tier 9!