Patrice was a newly-ascended god whose divine authority was ice.
This was a very popular divine authority. There were at least ten elemental gods in the World of Gods, and there were also many Gods of Fire.
But because no greater god had ever appeared yet with a divine authority of any of the four basic elements, everyone had a chance.
Patrice was an ambitious god. He was very active in the Great War, but he carefully protected himself and survived to this day with only his Tier 6 strength.
The secret to his survival was to avoid fights against truly powerful enemies as much as possible, only concentrate on causing destruction, and never stay too long on the frontal battlefield.
After only a few rounds, he found that this strategy actually suited him quite well.
Ice was essentially a derivative of the divine authority of water. Patrice had the ability to hide himself in water, and which astral world didn't have water?
Water sources became the best hiding places for Patrice, and the astral worlds in the Myriad Heavens that weren't built by the Star Rulers themselves had way too many flaws in the eyes of the gods.
Patrice spent almost no effort to assassinate the powerful figures in these astral worlds one by one, quickly weakening these Star Rulers' powers so that they could be defeated one after another.
As his assassinations went smoother and smoother, Patrice's ambition also grew. He was already quite famous among the gods, but he was not satisfied with just this. He wanted to become the most eye-catching person in this Great War.
What better way to become famous than to invade the astral world of a Unified Dao bigshot?
Gu Nan's disappearance wasn't much of a secret. Most people tend to believe that he was trapped in the World of Gods to recuperate, so his astral world must be the emptiest.
But Patrice was now regretting his choice.
"What is this…?" Patrice stared ahead with disbelief. In his sight, a cloud of black mist was quickly covering the entire astral world.
This vigilant god didn't hesitate at all and retreated from the astral world directly, gazing down with lingering fear.
Sure enough, any intruders in regions the shadows swept through were all dragged into the shadows and silenced.
What frightened Patrice even more was that the black mist swallowed its targets with extreme precision, not missing a single enemy or killing a single ally.
That meant the black mist's control over this astral world had reached an unimaginable level…
'The Evil God must have return— No!' Before Patrice could finish his thoughts, a shadow appeared from behind and swallowed him whole.
Gu Nan slowly opened his eyes inside the Evil God Temple. After cleaning up the bugs that entered his Divine Kingdom, his Evil Value increased slightly, indicating that there were a few gods among them.
Such absolute precision targeting was naturally not entirely due to Gu Nan's own ability. Rather, he borrowed Yan Xiaoxiao's control over the Divine Kingdom.
Only the spirit of the Divine Kingdom could be so familiar with every corner of the Divine Kingdom, as if it was her own body.
"Teacher, can you please give a heads up before you disappear next time…?" Yan Xiaoxiao's helpless voice traveled over. It was evident that she'd expended considerable effort to deal with the attacks that came during his absence.
But Gu Nan just smiled. "There won't be a next time."
Yan Xiaoxiao was slightly taken aback, but Gu Nan had no intention of elaborating. His gaze paused on the Divine Kingdom for a moment, then quickly withdrew.
He'd already returned to his peak condition, and the Evil Value from Valen and Rolensia even allowed him to step into Tier 13 in one fell swoop.
Now, even if he went back and faced another ambush from the four most powerful greater gods, Gu Nan was confident he could escape unscathed.
If it was one-on-one, even if he couldn't single-handedly suppress Austin, at least Gu Nan wouldn't have much to fear anymore—because Austin alone couldn't kill Gu Nan at all.
From the Second Round to now, it took Gu Nan over ten years to finally be able to say he was somewhat "invincible". The next step was to kill everyone who should be killed.
As the Divine Kingdom's other half, Yan Xiaoxiao seemed to sense Gu Nan's thoughts and whispered, "Teacher, are you going to go on a killing spree?"
"Pretty much." Gu Nan nodded. "Jiu Po was right about one thing. Only when you have the world in your hands will it be easier to investigate certain matters."
...
Gu Nan completely stabilized his Tier 13 realm, and his strength reached a whole new level. However, he did not rush to plunder Evil Value, instead visiting another place first.
Jiu Po Heaven.
"You mean, Lu Wen already knew that there's a world beyond the Origin World a long time ago?" Jiu Po looked thoughtful after hearing Gu Nan's explanation.
Gu Nan did not reveal where he got this information, nor would he reveal that he had been in and out of the Gap World. He only told the other party what Lu Wen said before his tribulation.
"I suspect that Yellow Springs told him." Gu Nan said calmly, "Yellow Springs may have discovered the Origin World a long time ago and might've had contact with Lu Wen's past life."
Jiu Po nodded with a dark expression.
He understood what Gu Nan meant. At present, there were only four transmigrators confirmed to be from the Origin World. If Lu Wen and Yellow Springs had started colluding a long time ago, then Jiu Po and Gu Nan would have to be careful.
"We'll have to accelerate the plan." Jiu Po saw the situation clearly. Lu Wen already regained the power from his previous life, so they must act as soon as possible.
Right now, the only advantage he and Gu Nan held was that in terms of power alone, they were superior to the other two, so they must take advantage of this period to completely control the two worlds.
"We need them to start a full-scale war," Gu Nan stated calmly. Despite the commotion of the current Great War, the only greater god or Unified Dao cultivator who actually died in the war was Qin Guanruo.
Jiu Po's eyes turned to Gu Nan. "Not everyone is willing to go all-out in this war. How do you plan to get them to do that?"
Gu Nan replied with a smile, "If someone refuses to give his best, then I'll take the fight to his house."
"That's quite a vicious plan you've got!" Jiu Po couldn't help feeling amused. "Who's your first target? Dream Immortal? Si Yun?"
Cloud Dream Heaven's Dream Immortal and Milky Way Heaven's Si Yun were both Unified Dao cultivators who didn't contribute much in the Great War, having only appeared once or twice so far.
But these two minor characters could no longer enter Gu Nan's eyes anymore, and he answered directly, "Emperor Zhao."
...
World of Gods.
A Divine Kingdom stood high above the clouds, filled with holy light and a sacred aura, making it impossible for anyone to harbor any blasphemous thoughts.
This was the kingdom that belonged to the King of Gods, the Divine Kingdom of the Ruler of Light and Justice, and the last Pure Land in this world.
If one day, the world was overrun by evil, then this Divine Kingdom would most certainly fight that evil until the last living creature shed their last drop of blood. Its inhabitants swore to kill all evil, even at the cost of death.
Thus, evil arrived today.
Gu Nan's figure suddenly appeared in the Holy Light Divine Kingdom and struck Austin's main temple with a greatsword.
A holy light barrier instantly appeared. Although it was unable to resist Gu Nan's monstrous strength, it purified all the shadows he used to condense the body of the sword, leaving not even a trace behind.
In Austin's home court, Gu Nan's just-ascended Tier 13 laws really were nothing much.