There was one person among the Thirteen Heavens whom Gu Nan had heard of a long time ago but never personally met.
This person was the Star Ruler of Jiu Po Heaven, Jiu Po.
Jiu Po was one of the oldest Unified Dao cultivators in the Myriad Heavens, almost being in the same generation as Zi Luo Elder. And ever since he entered Unified Dao, he'd always been the most mysterious existence among them.
Just how mysterious?
It could be said that no more than thirty people in the entire Myriad Heavens knew what Jiu Po looked like, and this number even included all the Unified Dao figures.
Today, Gu Nan became another person who saw Jiu Po's true appearance.
However, upon actually meeting Jiu Po, one would feel that there was nothing exceptional about this person. Seeing him was the same as not seeing him. His face was completely average and looked like a middle-aged uncle. He smiled all day long, utterly lacking the vibes of a mysterious final boss.
Based on the exhaustibility of human appearances, there might be hundreds of guys who resembled him in all the major planes.
"Gu Nan, I've wanted to get to know you for a long time," Jiu Po greeted Gu Nan with a smile on his face.
Gu Nan glanced at him. "I heard you're on Song Fei's side?"
Song Fei was only able to ascend to Unified Dao due to Jiu Po's assistance. If it weren't for his help, Song Fei alone would never have been able to bring about Zi Luo Elder's fall.
But Jiu Po shook his head. "It's more accurate to say that I invested in him."
"Isn't that the same?" Gu Nan shrugged. "If Song Fei dies, then you won't be able to get a return on your investment, so won't you still be forced to help him?"
Jiu Po smiled in response to such a view. "There are exceptions. For example, if I invest in a new target, and the return on this new target is higher."
Gu Nan finally nodded in understanding. "So you want to invest in me? What kind of capital can you invest?"
"I can help you kill gods." Jiu Po said without changing his expression, "Greater gods."
...
The newest Unified Dao meeting finally began, with a total of sixteen people present this time.
They were made of the original Thirteen Heavens headed by Yu Lian, plus Gu Nan, Zi Luo Elder, and Dream Immortal. The return of two old comrades and the ascension of a newcomer turned the Thirteen Heavens directly into the "Sixteen Heavens."
If nothing else happened, from this day forward, the name "Sixteen Heavens" would be known to the world and would be used to describe the most powerful group of people in the Myriad Heavens.
These Sixteen Heavens were: Void Grotto Heaven, God Emperor Heaven, Jiu Po Heaven… as well as This World is Full Do Not Join Heaven.
Sixteen Unified Dao cultivators gathered in Void Grotto Heaven. This was the first time Gu Nan saw so many Unified Dao existences appearing in one place at the same time, even though he had already met all of them individually just recently.
Yu Lian sat in the main seat, and to either side of her were Jiu Po and a solemn-looking young man, who was the Star Ruler of God Emperor Heaven, Human King Zhao.
In the history of the Myriad Heavens, the ancient era did not have myriad planes like now. Instead, it was divided into only three realms: Heaven, Earth, and Human.
The three realms were not isolated from each other, and the ancient cultivators were able to travel freely among them.
That was, until a great cataclysm shook the world. The three realms crumbled, splitting into countless large and small planes.
However, the most essential parts of each of the three realms were preserved and managed by the three Saints of that time. These three places were passed down from generation to generation to this day and were still within the ranks of Unified Dao.
The Heaven Realm was governed by the authentic direct branch of Daoism, which became today's Void Grotto Heaven. The Earth Realm, which had lost the power of underworld reincarnation, became a normal plane and was today's Jiu Po Heaven. On the other hand, the Human Realm developed and evolved over tens of thousands of generations, producing many great powers belonging to the human race. Thus, it became God Emperor Heaven.
This was the origin of the three oldest astral worlds—Void Grotto Heaven, God Emperor Heaven, and Jiu Po Heaven.
Of course, the current masters of these three astral worlds were no longer the original three Saints. Even Jiu Po, the oldest among them, was not the first ruler of Jiu Po Heaven.
However, unlike the other two realms—which were passed down through inheritance—Jiu Po stole the Earth Realm's core from the Saint's successor after the Saint's death, then changed its name to Jiu Po Heaven.
Nowadays, whenever people talk about Jiu Po Heaven, the core of their discussion is still on its origins, which shows how mighty this past feat was.
Gu Nan shifted his gaze away from Jiu Po and looked at Yu Lian and Human King Zhao. Both of these people inherited their astral worlds from their predecessors after it was passed down for many generations.
As the origin of Daoism, Void Grotto Heaven had always been said to be the leader of all planes. Therefore, whenever a new Unified Dao cultivator appeared, Void Grotto Heaven would always preside over the meeting.
God Emperor Heaven, however, was more interesting. Every Star Ruler of this astral world would change their names to Human King. The only difference was their surnames.
Compared with Void Grotto Heaven's attitude of intervening in everything, God Emperor Heaven was more like a self-contained astral world.
It wasn't completely closed to the outside world like Gu Nan's, but those who wanted to join God Emperor Heaven needed to undergo a strict review process. The majority of this astral world's population growth was through internal reproduction.
To put it simply, the primary mission of each generation of Human Kings was to protect their own astral world so that the flames of the human race could burn forever in God Emperor Heaven.
As for the happenings outside, that had nothing to do with them.
"I've convened this meeting because new Unified Dao cultivators have emerged. Zi Luo and Dream Immortal are old friends, and I imagine everyone has already met Gu Nan," Yu Lian didn't put on any airs, starting off very directly.
She was also aware that Void Grotto Heaven's title as the so-called leader of the Myriad Heavens was just in name. If any conflicts of interest popped up, no one would care about that at all.
Only when something troublesome like this needed to be hosted would everyone remember that such a title even existed.
"Based on customs." Yu Lian stood up and said to Gu Nan, "Gu Nan, you need to offer incense to the seniors, and the seniors… Forget it, you probably don't want to do it either. Let's just get down to business."
Halfway through Yu Lian's sentence, she thought about it and decided not to ask, simply moving on to the next step.
When talking about business, Yu Lian's expression turned serious, staring at Gu Nan. "Though we Unified Dao cultivators have great freedom in the world, we also have to bear the heavy responsibility of the world."
"What do you mean? Don't tell me we really need to save the world?" Gu Nan couldn't help asking, remembering some of his earlier jokes.
"Not like that…" Yu Lian replied somewhat speechlessly. "It's our responsibility to maintain the normal operation of the Myriad Heavens and cultivate more powerful Star Rulers."
Gu Nan flat-out ignored the matter of cultivating Star Rulers. However, Yu Lian's earlier sentence made him frown slightly. "The operation of the Myriad Heavens is maintained by Unified Dao powers?"
"Strictly speaking, yes." Yu Lian nodded. "When you first became a Star Ruler and started looking for your own astral world, you should have been to a place called the Inner World."
After a pause, she continued, "In a sense, the Inner World does not exist. It is an artificial control center we created by gathering everyone's power."
Gu Nan suddenly had a flash of understanding. All the questions he had about entering and leaving the Inner World back then were explained at this moment.
No wonder the existence of the Inner World was so strange, as if it was provided solely to facilitate the Star Rulers' search for an astral world.
No wonder he'd never heard of an equivalent place in the World of Gods, which was similar in nature to the Myriad Heavens.
And no wonder the laws inside the Inner World seemed mechanical and lifeless. It turned out that they were artificially created…
"What exactly do we need to do?" Gu Nan couldn't help feeling curious.
Yu Lian didn't answer directly but pointed to the side. "Ask Li Ci to take you to the Inner World. You'll understand as soon as you see it again. It's his turn to be on duty this time."