In the Evil God Temple, Gu Nan's reconstructed body slowly opened his eyes.
However, he could only open his eyes, because his body only consisted of a small part of his head. The rest of his body was still missing.
Like all Unified Dao existences, Gu Nan's body had merged with laws. Simply destroying his physical body was not enough to truly kill him.
However, his physical body was far stronger than that of normal Unified Dao cultivators, so the power required to rebuild it was far greater.
On the other hand, Monk Fa Kong's seal really did seal away most of Gu Nan's laws, limiting the maximum power he could mobilize to a very small level.
For Unified Dao figures, the strength of their own laws actually represented their maximum explosive power.
And the existence of astral worlds could replenish their laws at a high speed, removing the need to worry about running out of power and giving them almost inexhaustible power.
It was precisely due to this characteristic that the Star Ruler system replaced normal cultivators and became the most popular cultivation method.
Since most of Gu Nan's laws were sealed, the power he could currently use was only equivalent to that of a Tier 10 Star Ruler.
Using this kind of power ceiling to reconstruct Gu Nan's ridiculously strong physical body would naturally take a long time.
Gu Nan checked his body and estimated that it would take at least five to ten years to fully recover, and that was taking into account the Evil God physique's ability to automatically repair itself.
That might only be the blink of an eye for other Unified Dao powers, but this was the heaviest injury Gu Nan had suffered since his debut.
Dream Immortal and Fa Kong's final frenzied counterattack did bring very grave consequences, and these two's ferocity exceeded many people's expectations.
If he hadn't already reached Unified Dao, just this battle alone would be enough to truly kill Gu Nan.
Of course, from another perspective, Gu Nan would never have fought like this if he wasn't already aware of his own advantages. Perhaps he would've fled a long time ago.
"I'll take this opportunity to accumulate Evil Value and advance to Tier 12 first." Gu Nan quickly made a decision.
The loss of laws did not affect the majority of Gu Nan's combat power, so he wasn't in a hurry for the time being.
He wasn't worried about anyone taking this opportunity to invade his Divine Kingdom at all. He was simply waiting for his physical body to fully recover so that his subsequent actions would have a higher chance of success.
"Teacher." Yan Xiaoxiao entered the Evil God Temple alone and saw Gu Nan, who had just reconstructed most of his head.
After Gu Nan's injury, Yan Xiaoxiao immediately sealed off the entire Evil God Temple, forbidding anyone from entering. At the same time, she also cut off all channels outsiders could use to learn about Gu Nan's condition.
Although both she and Red Tail appeared to be full of confidence in front of their subordinates, they were actually still quite worried.
If an astral world lost its Star Ruler and also never cultivated a successor, what kind of fate would it face? Just look at the former Nirvana Heaven.
"I'm fine," Gu Nan's voice rang out directly from the temple. He didn't even have vocal cords anymore, so naturally he couldn't speak normally. "How is the Blasphemer Project?"
"Vivian failed." Yan Xiaoxiao reported calmly, "She was barely able to break through the structure of the Nightmare Godhead. Her fusion with the Godhead was very forced, so she did not obtain enough power from it."
There was only one fate awaiting a blasphemer who failed to kill their former god, and that was death at the hands of the true god.
Gu Nan also expected this. After all, this world didn't have a true "Chosen One". On one hand, Vivian being the first to successfully fuse with the Godhead was due to her own hard work, but at the same time, it was also the inevitable result of probability.
They prepared hundreds of subjects to throw at the Nightmare Godhead. Eventually, someone would break through the Godhead's stable structure.
But as long as there was a first success, it would be much easier for future candidates to fuse with the Godhead's power.
Sure enough, Yan Xiaoxiao then said, "The number of blasphemers who have successfully fused with the Godhead now exceeds ten, and one person even reached Tier 7."
The power of a greater god was much higher than that of ordinary gods. Even a Godhead fragment from them still held unimaginable power and could be of enormous help to mortals.
Of course, experts created with this method had no way to replenish their power. Once their power was exhausted, all that was left would be an understanding of laws.
To put it bluntly, they did not have Divine Kingdoms or astral worlds serving as their foundation, so naturally they couldn't compare to normal experts.
"Good." Gu Nan's voice seemed calm, "Continue with the plan… Hmm?"
Gu Nan was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly stopped, his gaze slowly moving up. On top of the Evil God Temple, someone was slowly making their way over.
When not even Dream Immortal and Fa Kong thought about succeeding in one fell swoop and eradicating Gu Nan completely, an unexpected person came first.
"So you've already ascended." Gu Nan's gaze shifted slightly, but his tone remained calm, as if the old friend in front of him still was an old friend.
Xue Ren held a sword in one hand and stared at Gu Nan's reforming body—a little over half a head—with a smile on his lips.
"Not yet." Xue Ren shook his head slightly. "I've been waiting for this moment."
As his words fell, his figure started to blur, as if his entire person had become an illusion, but his aura was constantly surging, growing at an unimaginable speed.
The secret technique Zi Luo Elder gave him was not so much covering up Unified Dao Realm's fluctuations as simply keeping him stuck at the threshold of Unified Dao, putting him in a state where he could break through at any time.
And now, Xue Ren felt like he could break through.
Yan Xiaoxiao's gaze shifted slightly. An inexplicable aura suddenly appeared in the Evil God Temple, about to rush towards Xue Ren, but Gu Nan shook his head to stop her.
"You want to kill me?" Though Gu Nan asked this, he didn't seem to have any doubts.
Xue Ren responded calmly, "That's right. None of them believe Austin's warning, but I think he's right. If I don't kill you, you will destroy the entire world sooner or later."
Gu Nan's advancement speed was utterly terrifying and could be called the fastest in the Myriad Heavens, but Gu Nan was also the reincarnation of a powerhouse, so this did not make the Unified Dao cultivators feel threatened.
In other words, those who could reach Unified Dao would not be frightened by something like this and lose all confidence in themselves.
Only Xue Ren wasn't already in Unified Dao Realm back then. Instead, he watched Gu Nan walk to his current position step-by-step and was also familiar with Gu Nan's actions in the World of Gods. He had a deep understanding of the phrase "public enemy of the gods".
So Gu Nan nodded, and—without any hesitation—his half-reconstructed head flew directly at Xue Ren!
Even having just half a head still didn't undermine the strength of Gu Nan's physical body, because this was the head of the Evil God physique—even if he just head-slammed enemies, he could still kill most Unified Dao existences!
Xue Ren, who gave up his own path and came with the intention of saving the world, didn't even have time to react as Gu Nan's half a head suddenly rammed into him.