Clockwork Heaven.
Gu Nan, Jiu Po, and Lu Wen were all sitting down. The first two looked as usual, but Lu Wen kept his earlier appearance.
Black and white Daoist robes, a seven-star Daoist crown, and the twin dragon Yin Yang diagram on his forehead made Lu Wen look extremely eye-catching. One could tell he was extraordinary at first glance.
"So, you're going to look this flashy from now on?" Gu Nan glanced at Lu Wen and asked.
Lu Wen had long grown accustomed to Gu Nan's style and smiled without any surprise. "This is actually my original appearance. As for what Yu Lian said… that's simply what she believes to be true."
"Original appearance?" Gu Nan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The appearance from my past life." Lu Wen showed an amused smile. "You know which past life I'm referring to."
Of course Gu Nan knew.
The great-martial uncle Yu Lian mentioned was Daoist Yin Yang, a former traitor of Void Grotto Heaven and a disciple of the second-generation Saint. Based on Yu Lian's understanding, Lu Wen was undoubtedly Daoist Yin Yang's reincarnation.
But judging from Lu Wen's answer just now, his current appearance was not that of Daoist Yin Yang, but from his real past life—the Gap World.
There was no doubt that cultivators existed in the Gap World.
Even technological civilizations such as Earth could develop rudimentary cultivation systems like the Force on their own after hundreds of years of progress. It would be natural for actual cultivation civilizations to exist as well.
It was apparent that Gu Nan, Jiu Po, and Daoist Yellow Springs were all from technological civilizations. The latter two only knew some future events, so their advantage wasn't great at all.
Gu Nan, on the other hand, carried an Evil God Temple with him. Moreover, the ultra-realistic game allowed him to experience cultivation, which gave him a far greater advantage than the former two.
Now, a Lu Wen popped up amongst their ranks as well. Lu Wen actually seemed to be a genuine cultivator in his past life.
"In my previous life, I stood on the brink of Unified Dao. In the end, I died from the Heavenly Dao's punishment because I futilely tried to merge with two Great Daos." Lu Wen shook his head slightly.
No wonder he could reach this point so easily and be so familiar with the laws of time and space… This person actually was the reincarnation of a powerhouse.
A flicker of surprise appeared in Gu Nan's eyes. "Can that world reach this realm? Haven't you guys noticed the abnormality in that world?"
Let alone someone standing on the verge of Unified Dao, even an ordinary Star Ruler could travel through the entire Gap World. All one needed was enough time.
"We call it the Origin World." Lu Wen said, "As a galaxy-type plane, the Origin World itself is vast enough, as well as… closed-off."
Lu Wen then looked at Gu Nan and Jiu Po. "In my past life's civilization, Unified Dao cultivators did exist. They were also called Saints. But even those Saints have never seen the world outside of the Origin World."
Some confusion cleared up in Gu Nan's eyes.
Based on this statement, the universe that housed his past life's Earth was precisely the Origin World Lu Wen mentioned. Cultivation civilizations existed in the Origin World, and there were even Unified Dao experts there, but it was completely isolated from the outside world.
Gu Nan didn't doubt this, because he'd witnessed the dimensional wall separating the Origin World from the outside. It was so powerful that even he couldn't break through it directly and could only descend via a strand of consciousness.
Using what little astronomical knowledge Gu Nan retained from his previous life, he could tell that the universe Earth was located in was indeed larger than most of the planes in the Myriad Heavens.
Even Star Realm and Milky Way Heaven, which were both galaxy-type planes, couldn't compare with the Origin World in terms of actual size.
"Then how did you get out?" Gu Nan asked Lu Wen. With Lu Wen's cultivation at that time, he shouldn't be completely unaware of the process by which he left the Origin World.
Lu Wen revealed a bitter smile. He turned to Jiu Po and motioned for him to answer this question.
Jiu Po didn't refuse, explaining with a sigh, "During that tribulation, someone rescued his soul when it was about to be destroyed. I've always suspected that Yellow Springs did it, but he never admitted it."
Lu Wen also nodded. "Back then, I couldn't tell who saved me, but judging from the timeline, Daoist Friend Yellow Springs is indeed the most likely candidate."
Gu Nan started to frown. The information gathered from Jiu Po, Lu Wen, and Daoist Yellow Springs gave him a strange feeling, as if something was missing.
Jiu Po said Daoist Yellow Springs left to look for his hometown, disappearing without a trace. Jiu Po never saw him again.
Lu Wen called their hometown the Origin World, but he did not enter the Myriad Heavens and World of Gods naturally. Instead, he was rescued, and the time of his rescue coincided with Yellow Springs's disappearance in the historical timeline.
Daoist Yellow Springs called the Origin World the Gap World—because he had indeed found the Origin World, which was located in the gap between the two worlds.
Jiu Po was most likely telling the truth. If he knew where the Origin World was, there would be no need to waste any time chatting with Gu Nan; he would just go find Yellow Springs directly.
The only possibility was that he still didn't know where his hometown was. He merely deduced Gu Nan's origin, and from some of Gu Nan's strange behaviors, he realized that Gu Nan may have met Daoist Yellow Springs at some point.
In fact, if not for the history of the World of Gods being inconsistent with the history in the game, Gu Nan would not be able to follow the clues and find Daoist Yellow Springs in the gap.
But what puzzled Gu Nan was that if Daoist Yellow Springs truly rescued Lu Wen, then why would he need to deny it? And how could he allow Lu Wen to fall into Jiu Po's hands?
But if that wasn't Yellow Springs's doing… Then could there be another fellow transmigrator?
Several questions swirled through Gu Nan's head, keeping him quiet for a while as he fell into deep thought.
Lu Wen and Jiu Po didn't interrupt his thoughts. It wasn't until they saw that he had come to a decision that Lu Wen said, "The events that transpired in the Origin World are in the past. Gu Nan, if you see Daoist Yellow Springs, it's enough to ask him to help this humble Daoist look after a few old friends."
"Okay." Gu Nan thought for a while and finally nodded.
If there was a chance, he really did want to go back to the Origin World and take another look—not just simple communication with Fu Cheng, but having his will actually descend.
"Then, the next matter is the most important matter," Jiu Po finally stood up and said with a smile.
"You mean what we just discussed isn't important?" Gu Nan asked with a shrug.
"The following is more important." Jiu Po said seriously, "With Valen's death, another Great War is inevitable, and it will even affect Unified Dao cultivators. Gu Nan, if you intend to attack the greater gods, we can help."
Gu Nan raised his head and looked at Jiu Po, then Lu Wen. "What are your conditions?"
He didn't believe these two would be altruistic enough to help for nothing. Everyone had an ulterior motive behind their actions.
Jiu Po smiled. "You'll probably refuse even if we ask you to reveal Yellow Springs's whereabouts, and we most likely won't fully trust your answer either… So all we want is for you to stand on our side when the time comes."
Gu Nan heard the bone-deep bloodshed contained in those words and couldn't help smiling faintly. "You want to make an enemy out of the entire Myriad Heavens?"
"I want to go home." There was no expression at all on Jiu Po's face. "I've already been a Unified Dao cultivator for tens of thousands of years. I am tired. I just want to see my hometown again."
"Since Yellow Springs refuses to come out to see me, I will turn the entire world upside down and dig up the ground to find his trail."