Yu Lian was giving a lecture in Void Grotto Heaven today, surrounded by hundreds of Daoist Heirs.
A top-notch astral world like Void Grotto Heaven, which had gone through several cycles of prosperity and decline, naturally placed the utmost importance on the cultivation of successors.
Even though the current Yu Lian already had a very high status, she still gave frequent lectures in person, not only teaching the principles of cultivation, but also the practicalities of managing an astral world and how to coordinate the various departments.
For the leader of all Daoist sects to remain standing to this day, pragmatism was essential.
Today's class was a debate on a topic of the students' choosing. The Daoist Heirs would each state their views and then evaluate each other's opinions. And the most popular topic today was naturally the stunning fight between the five Unified Dao figures.
Most of Void Grotto Heaven's Daoist Heirs were true heaven-sent geniuses. Not only would one of them succeed Void Grotto Heaven in the future, but even for the ones who lost the succession competition, many would still end up leaving and establishing their own astral worlds.
Therefore, these Daoist Heirs all had very high bars for topics that could catch their attention. They were full of vim and didn't shy away from discussing Unified Dao battles at all, frequently debating about these bigshots.
"Ultimately, that one's road has been too smooth-sailing until now. While single-handedly fighting four Unified Dao cultivators is an extraordinary feat, the losses also cannot be ignored. This humble one believes that it will be difficult to hear any news about that one again in the next thousand years."
"I disagree. It's common for later generations to surpass older generations. Three Buddha Heaven may have sealed that one in the name of suppressing evil demons, but there will inevitably be another battle between them in a hundred years at most."
"Now that the matter has already reached this point, further discussion is useless. The events you two predicted will only happen in the future. But that one in Three Buddha Heaven has obtained the power of a Unified Dao level evil demon. How to deal with Three Buddha Heaven is our most pressing concern right now."
Void Grotto Heaven was the head of all Daoist sects, so of course it was at odds with Three Buddha Heaven. Most of the Daoist Heirs had ambitions of controlling the overall situation of the Myriad Heavens, so they wouldn't forget about this conflict.
Only when the discussion came to a slight lull did Yu Lian finally conclude, "Gu Nan's setback is not necessarily a bad thing. Fa Kong doesn't understand the principle of eradicating evil at the roots, which will come back to haunt him in the future."
Everyone made noises of agreement, but at this moment, an indescribable aura suddenly surged between heaven and earth.
Very few people had felt this kind of aura before, but almost all cultivators had heard of it from ancient records.
This was a sign that someone was ascending to Unified Dao. In Void Grotto Heaven, it was called the "emergence of a new Saint amidst the celebrations of Heaven and Earth."
"A new Saint is about to emerge?"
"Who is it? I see sword energy in this Saint Omen. Could it be…?"
"It's Xue Ren." Yu Lian was quite certain, and the expression on her face turned gentler. She had a rather good personal relationship with Xue Ren, so she was naturally happy for him.
"Congratulations, Sect Master!"
"So it's the one in Extreme Sword Heaven. His reputation as the best swordsman in the Myriad Heavens is probably about to become the truth."
"I think so too… Eh? Why has the Saint Omen disappeared?"
Just when Void Grotto Heaven was filled with joyful congratulations, the celebrations of Heaven and Earth abruptly disappeared, as if someone suddenly paused a cassette that had been playing.
...
Many people didn't understand that having the power to destroy the world was not the same as actually wanting to destroy the world.
Of course, most people didn't want someone else to have such power in the first place. From that perspective, both viewpoints would lead to the same response.
As was the case with Xue Ren. He came, he ascended, and then… he died.
Under Yan Xiaoxiao's dumbfounded gaze, Xue Ren's head exploded, and his corpse lay limply inside the Evil God Temple. The aura of Unified Dao ascension had not yet dissipated from his body.
Even a genuine Unified Dao existence might not fare much better if Gu Nan's head smashed into them like this, let alone Xue Ren, who had yet to truly break through.
It could only be said that Xue Ren was too overconfident that Gu Nan had lost most of his strength. In order to prevent Gu Nan from escaping, Xue Ren's action of showing up in advance sent him onto the path of no return.
Gu Nan's half-head fell back to its original position. There was nothing strange about his expression, but he was thinking some strange thoughts in his mind.
'Shouldn't killing a high-level monster with a special method give an achievement like "Headshot Monster" or something?'
...
The origin of the Saint Omen that was abruptly cut off midway through its appearance couldn't be hidden from the world.
More and more people learned that Xue Ren had ascended, but he mysteriously died during his ascension.
Some people suspected that he was too eager to break through, which caused his own path to deviate, and that was why he suffered backlash from the Great Dao. But everyone fell silent when they found out the place where Xue Ren died.
Xue Ren died in Gu Nan's astral world.
Gu Nan, who just had most of his power sealed away, could actually cause Xue Ren to fall mid-ascension! Some of Gu Nan's enemies who were beginning to stir because of the earlier Unified Dao battle immediately became well-behaved again.
On the contrary, Gu Nan's image in people's minds became even more eerie and unpredictable—not that it was much better before.
But amidst this strange atmosphere, Gu Nan entered a long incubation period. While repairing his body, he also waited for the Blasphemer Project to yield results.
With the release of the first batch of blasphemers, although he couldn't harvest the fruits of labor from Vivian, subsequent subjects did not disappoint.
More and more Godhead fusion vessels succeeded in killing gods, constantly providing Gu Nan with Evil Value. When a blasphemer trained by Gu Nan killed a god, the efficiency of earning Evil Value was almost ten times what Gu Nan would get from killing that god himself.
The Greater God Dimension was still gradually developing. Moreover, with the increase in subjects and the gradual improvement of the Dimension's rules, the "actors" were slowly exiting the stage.
Besides certain candidates that required close observation, actors were used less frequently.
After all, actors were just actors. On one hand, there were problems with their acting skills. On the other hand, following a script may not be the best development route for the subjects. It was better to let them grow freely.
Selecting one out of a hundred subjects—using this method of cultivating gu to find suitable subjects would not be a bad idea no matter how one looked at it.
While Gu Nan was waiting on that, he wasn't just idling away either. He did not forget that there were still some experiments waiting for him to complete in the Gap World.
...
Gap World, Earth.
Fu Cheng received the complete information on "Evil God" from Professor Wang and understood Gu Nan's intention and requirements. Thus, she immediately began to reconstruct the game.
This woman, who built a gaming empire in just three years, really did possess amazing game development talent.
In just two months, she and her team fully analyzed Austin, compiled a comprehensive growth path, and made it into the game's main plot.
Maintaining the role-playing style of the original work, the entire game was based on Austin's journey and growth while incorporating sandbox game characteristics—players could also do whatever they wanted in the World of Gods.
Of course, corresponding to "Evil God", what players needed to obtain for growth was not Evil Value, but Holy Light Value.
The leveling settings of the original work was basically copied exactly. Players needed to earn Holy Light Value and points during several phases, such as the First and Second Rounds, to raise their level.
"The details of the game are like this." Fu Cheng stood in front of a notebook and described the game they developed bit by bit, without missing any details.
This explanation took several hours. When even Fu Cheng's throat turned dry, a few words finally appeared in the notebook.
"Launch the game."