Jiu Po Heaven.
As one of the three most ancient planes in the Myriad Heavens that evolved from the essence of the original Earth Realm, Jiu Po Heaven had always been quite mysterious.
Each astral world and plane had its own spatial coordinates, but not many people knew the coordinates of Jiu Po Heaven. At least, not many people were qualified to enter it.
Under Jiu Po's deliberate guidance, Jiu Po Heaven became a semi-public plane. Outsiders who wanted to enter must pass background checks on their origins and strength.
Of course, this was nothing surprising. Most astral worlds mandated background checks and tests for applicants, but Jiu Po Heaven's requirements were particularly high.
Star Rulers who did not own an astral world were not allowed to enter at all.
This condition alone directly filtered down the qualified applicants to less than a thousand people.
But other than this one rule, Jiu Po Heaven's other conditions seemed more lax, with no special rules or even any characteristics.
Void Grotto Heaven was the origin of Daoist sects, and God Emperor Heaven also had ancient relics relating to the human path. Only Jiu Po Heaven had completely washed away the traces of its past.
When Gu Nan stepped foot here, what he saw was an ordinary astral world, just like Jiu Po's average face.
"What a rare visitor." As soon as Gu Nan set foot in this world, Jiu Po's voice rang out beside him, "Hmm? You've actually broken through again?"
Gu Nan broke through yet another level only a few years after entering Unified Dao. This was indeed astonishing, especially since most of his laws had just been sealed.
But Jiu Po was also not an ordinary person. He too came from the Gap World and witnessed the collapse of the three realms in advance, ultimately reaching his current position.
"It seems that the history you've seen has not yet ended," Jiu Po remarked while giving Gu Nan a deep look.
He was one of the people who profited from knowing the future, so he was all too aware that these advantages would bring considerable benefits if used properly.
Gu Nan was noncommittal and just asked, "Last time, you offered to cooperate to kill greater gods. Do you have any certainty of success?"
"Yes." Jiu Po smiled. "But my only target is Valen. I won't consider others."
Ruler of Time, Valen!
Jiu Po's earlier invitation to Gu Nan to join forces to "invest in his potential" was more of an excuse. So when Gu Nan came to the door this time, he didn't hesitate anymore and revealed his goal.
Gu Nan didn't know how this Valen fellow offended Jiu Po to the point where he wanted to kill the other party.
But judging from the timeline, it was obviously not because of history—Valen debuted much later than Jiu Po, even later than Daoist Yellow Springs' incarnation, the God of Twilight.
But in terms of personality alone, it wasn't that surprising.
Valen's background and laws were similar to this side's Lu Wen, but his personality was similar to Zou Jiming. In other words, he was the king of pulling aggro.
Even in the World of Gods, there were many gods who despised him.
Gu Nan thought for a moment and answered, "Alright. When will we attack?"
Valen was also a newly-ascended greater god. Besides his somewhat special laws, his actual power might not even compare to Rolensia, who ascended later than him.
"I will notify you when the time comes."
"Okay." Gu Nan nodded, then turned to leave.
Jiu Po glanced at his back. "Are you going to Three Buddha Heaven?"
Gu Nan grinned. "Gotta retrieve my power before the hunt."
...
World of Gods.
A ray of light fell from the sky and landed in an unknown Divine Kingdom.
Calling it unknown wasn't quite right, because this Divine Kingdom belonged to a new high-level god, the God of Time.
This particular God of Time—who recently advanced to Tier 8—had just made his debut in the World of Gods and wasn't very famous at all.
The law of time couldn't be said to be a very rare law, and there were quite a few gods with similar laws, but very few were truly able to reach a high level.
On one hand, this law was extremely cryptic, and on the other hand, there was already a Ruler of Time standing high above them, causing the gods controlling time to lose the motivation to advance.
If it was just similar, overlapping laws, there would still be a chance of success, but the law of time was extremely exclusive. As long as Valen was still alive, it was practically impossible for another God of Time to ascend to a greater god.
If someone else wanted to become the new Greater God of Time, they basically had to wait for Valen to fall, or… make him fall.
This Tier 8 God of Time—an obscure god named Sven—revealed a smile after receiving a message from a foreign land.
...
After Gu Nan left Jiu Po Heaven, he didn't even return to his own Divine Kingdom and directly descended onto Three Buddha Heaven instead.
Although the law of shadows could no longer raise Gu Nan's direct combat effectiveness relative to the Evil God physique, the characteristics of shadows were still quite useful.
When heading to the World of Gods, Gu Nan undoubtedly needed the power of shadows to hide himself and launch the fatal blow.
Three Buddha Heaven was a well-known Buddhist plane in the Myriad Heavens. It had never introduced too many technological advancements in order to maintain the purity of the common people's faith.
In a sense, Three Buddha Heaven was somewhat similar to the Divine Kingdoms in the World of Gods. The only difference was that its Star Ruler did not rely on faith to obtain power.
Inside Three Buddha Heaven, the Buddhist Sect was undoubtedly the most powerful sect in each region. Buddhist temples were also institutions with absolute authority over various regions. The government was only the executor of specific management measures.
In the center of Three Buddha Heaven, the holy land in the hearts of all Buddhist disciples, stood Three Buddha Temple.
The name "Three Buddha" also came from the three founding Buddhist ancestors who established this plane in ancient times. They were the founders of Three Buddha Heaven, as well as the creators of Three Buddha Temple.
However, there were currently some discordant voices in Three Buddha Temple.
"Five years have passed in the blink of an eye. Can anyone tell this humble monk why Gu Nan has not been suppressed yet?" Monk Fa Kong sat on a golden lotus, looking down at the Buddhist monks below.
Although he was the Star Ruler of Three Buddha Heaven, the work of suppressing evil demons could not be completed by him alone, so much so that his participation wasn't even required.
Ever since they sealed most of Gu Nan's laws and brought it back to Three Buddha Heaven, the monks had never stopped the work of suppressing this evil demon.
Only by suppressing evil demons inside the astral world could the astral world truly benefit from it, but progress on this particular evil demon had always been very slow.
The outside world believed that Three Buddha Heaven could even seal a Unified Dao powerhouse; its prestige was truly enough to suppress the Myriad Heavens. However, they didn't know that even now, Three Buddha Heaven had yet to benefit from it.
At first, everyone just thought that Unified Dao level evil demons were rare and would take more time, but up until now, the suppression work had made basically zero progress, which inevitably angered Fa Kong.
Hearing Fa Kong's question, a young monk below couldn't help standing up to speak.
"Martial Uncle, based on this young monk's experience, as well as that of all my martial uncles and seniors, it seems that the laws left by Benefactor Gu Nan are not affected by the light of the World-Suppressing Buddha."
"What do you mean?" Fa Kong suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
"That is to say…" An awkward expression appeared on the young monk's face. "It's possible that Benefactor Gu Nan is not an evil demon."
Just as the young monk finished speaking, Three Buddha Temple suddenly caved in from the top, as if someone had smashed it with a heavy fist.