There was indeed such an agreement among Unified Dao powers.
It could be said that it was impossible for any Star Ruler to avoid conflicts with others while advancing.
For the Star Rulers qualified to ascend to Unified Dao, offending a certain Unified Dao existence in the process was a very likely event.
For example, Xue Ren had a certain conflict of laws with Zou Jiming, so their relationship had never been very harmonious.
He did have a very good relationship with Yu Lian, which was also a tradition left from the past. Otherwise, if he just offended everyone without making allies, he might be ambushed when breaking through to Unified Dao.
It was also to protect those who entered this realm later that such an agreement was made between the Unified Dao cultivators. Once a newcomer ascended to this realm, all previous grievances and grudges other Unified Dao powers had against them would be erased, and they would start with a clean slate from now on.
Of course, Song Fei's situation—where he directly caused Zi Luo Elder's cultivation realm to fall, unable to recover for tens of thousands of years—was another matter entirely.
"That's indeed true," Yu Lian sat across from Gu Nan and confirmed Huo Kui's statement.
This wasn't Void Grotto Heaven. Rather, Yu Lian personally came over to meet Gu Nan. The implication behind her words was that she wanted to pull Gu Nan into her faction.
While it was true that the Unified Dao powers in the Myriad Heavens didn't have clear-cut factions like the two major godly factions next door, they were still more or less divided into unofficial factions.
For example, Jiu Po and Song Fei were relatively close, and Song Fei had a good relationship with Qin Guanruo, so they could be said to be one faction.
Gu Nan had always been closer to Yu Lian due to his relationship with the Heaven-God Alliance and Xue Ren, so it was normal for Yu Lian to try to win him over immediately.
"In other words, neither Song Fei nor Dream Immortal will trouble me because of old grudges?"
"Yes and no." Yu Lian explained with a half-smile, "The agreement is just an agreement. If one day you no longer have Unified Dao Realm power, they most likely won't let you go."
Gu Nan finally nodded. To put it bluntly, this so-called agreement simply gave everyone an excuse to de-escalate the situation so that it wouldn't have to develop into a life-and-death struggle.
It was quite hard for a Unified Dao cultivator to kill an opponent on the same level. But how can they give an account to their subordinates in situations where their disciples and children died at other people's hands?
Since it was hard to give an account, just create an agreement like this. As for when they need to take action… They don't have to abide by the agreement at all.
"Dream Immortal has just returned and still needs to deal with her former organization's affairs. And after you ascended, Zi Luo was able to stabilize his injuries." Yu Lian continued, "I will call a meeting with everyone after those two handle their respective affairs. The date will be one month later."
"Okay." Gu Nan had no objections and nodded.
Yu Lian cast Gu Nan another meaningful glance. "We suddenly gained three more Unified Dao members this time, but both of the other two are old members. You're the only newcomer. There are some matters I will tell you when the time comes."
Gu Nan glanced at her. There was obviously something hidden in her words, but since Yu Lian didn't want to explain it now, it would be better to wait a month.
Anyhow, it was unlikely to be as bad as "the world is about to be destroyed, so the Unified Dao powers need to take turns defending it" or "there's an invasion of foreign enemies, and the Unified Dao cultivators need to take turns guarding the border" or something like that.
Seeing as how Song Fei still had time to start a war against the World of Gods, Gu Nan knew those situations wouldn't be the case here.
After the two agreed, Yu Lian had no intention of staying any longer and quickly disappeared.
It was already two days after Gu Nan's advancement. Everything had settled down. The gods all retreated, and the overall war entered a sluggish state.
The Myriad Heavens wouldn't know what the gods were thinking, and they also had no time to care, because they were all busy welcoming the arrival of a new Unified Dao powerhouse.
Prior to this, although Gu Nan's reputation was well-known, it had always been a mix of praise and criticism, but now it became one-sided praise.
No one dared to make comments such as "unstable foundation", "narrow-minded and made too many enemies", or "vicious and unscrupulous actions" any longer.
Even the classic battles since Gu Nan's debut were made into case studies for all of the Myriad Heavens to analyze, and then people discovered… there was nothing to analyze at all.
How can a fellow who debuted less than a century ago and shot to the level of Unified Dao like a rocket be analyzed?
Favored by luck? Nope. Monstrous genius? Ridiculously monstrous. Unswerving determination? Can't really tell. The Heavenly Dao rewards diligence? Nonexistent. A late bloomer… Late, your foot!
Analysts from all major forces began to burst into tears. If they could still use "his breakthroughs were too hasty, so his foundation is unstable" as an excuse in the past, now they really didn't know what to say.
That was, until news spread from somewhere that Gu Nan was actually not a mortal, but the reincarnation of an ancient Evil God from the World of Gods. It was precisely because of this that the greater gods were so determined to kill him.
This news won the immediate approval of the majority of analysts as soon as it came out.
Reincarnation of a powerhouse!
They finally found a reason for his absurd growth rate. They really did go to great lengths to make the story sound reasonable.
And as the "Evil God theory" spread far and wide—gaining more people's acknowledgement—and more information about Gu Nan's history was uncovered, a new problem emerged.
How did a great power from the World of Gods reincarnate into the Myriad Heavens?
Due to the existence of the dimensional wall between the two worlds, it could be said that there was no way to cross except for space-time crystals, and reincarnation was even more out of the question.
This triggered a wave of research on "cross-border reincarnation". Many people wanted to sneak into the World of Gods this way, but that's another story.
Gu Nan himself didn't pay attention to the turbulent discussions outside. He never cared for other people's opinions.
Gu Nan was sitting in his Divine Kingdom and watching Red Tail bring in batches of lists, all of which were cultivators who applied to join the Divine Kingdom.
Because Gu Nan prohibited outsiders from entering his astral world, after several waves of killings, no one dared to trespass anymore and obediently submitted applications instead.
Those who could be selected by Red Tail were absolutely not bottom-of-the-barrel, and many of them were even Star Rulers.
Joining a Unified Dao power's astral world was definitely not a bad thing for Star Rulers. If others found out about it, they wouldn't feel embarrassed but would feel honored instead.
As a matter of fact, the vast majority of weak Star Rulers lived in the astral worlds of Unified Dao existences and used it as their regular residence.
There was slight worry on Red Tail's face. "My Lord, if we don't let these people in, I'm afraid…"
"There's nothing to worry about. Tell them all to fuck off. I don't need outsiders in my astral world," Gu Nan waved his hand and said rudely.
After the Second Round, the law buff that the Divine Kingdom could provide was far less powerful than in the First Round.
And the subsequent arrangements that Gu Nan would make for his Divine Kingdom—more accurately, the purge that would be carried out in it—required full control over the Divine Kingdom. There was no room for these outsiders.
Rather than kicking them out when the time came, it would be better to not let them in at all.
"Oh right." Gu Nan added, "Since I've already reached Unified Dao, let's change the Divine Kingdom's name. This time, it'll be called 'This World is Full Do Not Join' Heaven."