After Gu Nan left Fu Cheng's house, he casually found a river and jumped in before pulling his consciousness away from the body.
Even if there was a five-year gap between them, it might be easy for a sharp observer to connect the dots between two consecutive mysterious deaths of bodies that were perfectly fine before, especially since both were related to Fu Cheng.
For now, Gu Nan did not want Earth's civilization to become aware of himself, let alone the existence of high-level cultivators.
After his consciousness left Earth, Gu Nan then tried to find Lu Wen's hometown, but the Origin World was indeed vast.
The nature of galaxy-type planes meant they were far larger than other major astral worlds. Even with Gu Nan's current realm, it was difficult to quickly scan the entire plane.
And it was impossible for Lu Wen to reveal the coordinates of his original civilization, so it would take some time to find it.
Gu Nan simply left part of his will here to continue searching, and at the same time, he sent a clone to Azure Sky Heaven to keep an eye on Dong Xun's progress.
...
Dong Xun had already arrived at the World of Gods.
Accompanying him was naturally Classmate Qi Zhi, who treated him as a cash cow. However, the two's journey really was full of danger; it wasn't peaceful at all.
After all, the two worlds were still at war. Entering and leaving either one could be regarded as smuggling in the truest sense. They would not have a good ending if caught.
Only the Heaven-God Alliance, which had skilled personnel and a lot of courage—as well as the support of people inside the World of Gods—dared to engage in smuggling.
Of course, even in the Heaven-God Alliance, both sides were more focused on their own affairs right now. If Dong Xun hadn't received Azure Sky Heaven's special care, it would have been impossible for him to be assigned such a mission.
"We're finally here…" Qi Zhi complained as she let out a deep breath.
They had suffered a lot along the way. If not for the fact that she wanted to stay by Dong Xun's side to see if there were any new "missions" she could accept, she certainly wouldn't be willing to suffer like this.
Dong Xun comforted her a little, and Qi Zhi was also a Void Cutter who wouldn't let emotions affect her actions, so the two quickly started the mission.
When they arrived at the World of Gods, the members of the Heaven-God Alliance here had already handed over the mission details to Dong Xun.
This time, he needed to kill an old man named Claude. The target was once a top-tier Legend Rank expert, but now that he was getting on in years, his strength had declined.
A seemingly normal old man somehow offended the Heaven-God Alliance, which insisted on sending a member to assassinate him.
But it wasn't like Dong Xun had never joined a powerful organization before. He was fully aware of the unspoken rule in these organizations—that is, to just complete the mission and not ask about the reasons behind it.
...
Old Claude lived in the Atalante plane that Gu Nan was most familiar with.
This most important continent in the game was home to many important NPC characters and also housed major questlines. Claude was one of them.
The relationship between Claude and Rolensia was extremely complicated.
He was Rolensia's teacher, and at the same time, he was also the object of Rolensia's admiration and almost became this god's lover.
But in the end, after realizing her feelings, Claude resolutely left his favorite disciple and completely severed their relationship.
Because Claude knew all too well that the path Rolensia walked could not have love, or else she would inevitably die on the way to lighting her divine fire. After all, a mortal's ascension to godhood had never been a simple undertaking.
When Rolensia finally became the God of Luxuriant Blossoms and came back to look for Claude, her teacher was already old.
Of course the lifespan of a mortal couldn't compare to a god's. Claude was able to live until now only with the help of Rolensia's divine power.
She turned Claude into her own apostle, allowing the latter to live for eternity under the blessing of her divine power. The price was that Claude no longer had the possibility of ascension, and their paths would never cross again.
"Is the target an apostle?" Dong Xun read the mission dossier carefully, which mentioned Claude's identity. Of course, it did not include his past with Rolensia.
Even the name of Luxuriant Blossoms was deliberately hidden, so that Dong Xun did not notice anything unusual.
But the Luxuriant Blossoms soul fragment felt an inexplicably familiarity upon hearing Claude's name. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere before…"
But unfortunately, she was just a fragment of Rolensia's soul and inherited barely any memories. It was obvious that such a profound early memory like Claude would not be included in what little memories she had.
Qi Zhi piped up from the side, "The target's strength is about the same as us two, maybe a little weaker, and his daily schedule is very consistent. Looks like our main goal this time is to prevent the other party from escaping."
Claude lived in a remote town and was an old knight. No one knew how old he was and where he came from.
He repeated a similar life every day and did not practice martial arts. Most of his strength had already been lost.
With Dong Xun and Qi Zhi's power, it wouldn't be hard to defeat Claude. Instead, what they needed to consider was how to ensure the kill and how to escape the gods' pursuit after the kill.
...
Claude was already very old.
His hair was gray, and he habitually brought a walking cane with him whenever he went out. Only his mind was still fine, and his eyes were bright.
The divine blessing made him immortal, but it did not give him the motivation to live. He could only repeat the same actions day after day, watching his friends and relatives grow old one by one.
Sometimes he also wondered, would it be better if he died right now?
But Claude knew this was impossible, because whenever he encountered fatal danger, the power from the God of Luxuriant Blossoms would protect him.
As an apostle under the protection of a greater god, he naturally received such preferential treatment.
Claude walked on the road as usual. He didn't like riding in a carriage, preferring to move forward with his own feet.
The next second, a dim light suddenly appeared in front of Claude as a sharp sword pierced his heart, trying to take away his life.
Dong Xun had been preparing this strike for a long time. With his current realm and years of life-and-death battle experience, Claude couldn't possibly resist.
Old Claude watched helplessly as the tip of the sword pierced his heart, but there was no expression on his face.
Would he still be saved by divine power? Or would the injury be healed by divine power? Claude, who was used to this, was still waiting quietly.
However, to his surprise, the moment the divine power surged up, it instantly withdrew again after coming into contact with Dong Xun's laws.
Claude stared at this scene in shock. His heart was completely destroyed, and his corpse crashed to the ground.
"It's that simple?" Dong Xun looked at the ground doubtfully, confirming that the target was indeed dead.
Qi Zhi also appeared next to him. She didn't take action right away because her job was to prevent Claude from escaping. She didn't expect to not be needed at all.
Dong Xun was a little confused. This mission went way too smoothly, and the target clearly had an extremely sublime aura, so why did it suddenly disappear again?
Dong Xun didn't realize something was wrong until a voice rang out in his head.
"We may be in big trouble." The Luxuriant Blossoms soul fragment said with a trembling voice, "This old man is my original body's apostle, and his divine power also disappeared because of me…"
"In other words, she has already discovered me."