Back then, Xue Ren was called "the person closest to Unified Dao". Some people even claimed he could enter Unified Dao whenever he wanted.
Although Xue Ren was already dead, he did confirm the second half of that claim. When he wanted to break through to Unified Dao, the obstacles that seemed exceedingly difficult to others couldn't stump him at all.
But now, it seemed that even the former Xue Ren could not get the title of "closest to Unified Dao", because this title could only belong to Zero.
Zero was only one step away from Unified Dao Realm before the second-generation Saint sealed her. But now that Gu Nan reactivated her system, she didn't encounter any setbacks in her breakthrough.
For Zero, as long as she had enough of the Origin World's origin, she could easily advance.
Time passed one day at a time, and Gu Nan stood in the lab, watching Zero and Molag being continuously infused with origin and then strengthened.
However, this process wasn't fast. Due to the two's physical limitations, the infusion speed could not be increased.
This limitation was not dependent on their strength, but on the fact that their "blueprints" were not strong enough and were already operating at max capacity.
A message from Song Fei quickly came, notifying Gu Nan that the defensive magic weapon had been refined and asking him to go to Academic Heaven to pick it up.
So Gu Nan stood up and said to the researcher here, "Move the entire lab into the Divine Kingdom. Continue to inject origin. Notify me immediately if abnormalities occur."
Everyone agreed in unison, and only then did Gu Nan leave the lab, glancing at Zero and Molag before departing.
If everyone who came from the Origin World had a unique "blueprint", then wouldn't the Origin World be worthy of the name "world of cheats"?
Gu Nan shook his head. More examples were needed to prove this.
...
Reconstruction of Academic Heaven also started not long ago, but its progress was clearly faster than Three Buddha Heaven.
Gu Nan stepped foot into Song Fei's residence, and all the barriers, formations, and alarms the latter recently set up again… were triggered.
For a while, the entire Academic Heaven was in disarray. Gu Nan's behavior—which completely lacked any of the dignity expected of a powerhouse—almost made Song Fei's eyes pop out of his head.
Even for a normal Unified Dao cultivator, these things weren't all that impressive and could easily be avoided.
But the next second, these alarms disappeared without a trace. It wasn't that Song Fei voluntarily turned them off. Rather, they were directly stamped out by Gu Nan's foot, leaving no trace behind.
Song Fei secretly rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time he witnessed Gu Nan's unpredictable behavior, so he just pretended nothing happened. Anyhow, it wasn't a big deal.
"Old Song, you sure are efficient!" Gu Nan calculated the time and found that it took exactly three months—no more and no less—which was the minimum time needed according to Song Fei.
Song Fei was already immune to this form of address. He shook his head and took out a small mirror, handing it to Gu Nan. "This is merely a half-finished product."
"Oh?" Gu Nan studied the round mirror. The bright mirror surface was as smooth as ice, but the frame was covered with mysterious formation runes, exuding a majestic, ancient aura.
This wasn't surprising. Song Fei himself was someone who lived from ancient times to the present.
The mortal world's so-called long-lost "ancient techniques" were actually quite commonplace for these Unified Dao existences; these techniques were not lost at all.
What Gu Nan wanted was a heart protector. Of course, a heart protector didn't necessarily have to protect the heart. For example, Gu Nan originally wanted to use it to protect his abdomen and block attacks to the Stigma of Life and Death.
Although the current him already reached the Third Round, his Evil Value hadn't reached that threshold yet. Not even Gu Nan had seen this kind of bizarre situation before.
So right now, he also didn't know whether the Stigma of Life and Death was still effective on him, but with Gu Nan's usual caution, there was nothing wrong with being prepared.
When Song Fei saw him playing with the round mirror and seemingly satisfied with it, he said with a sigh, "Fa Kong's śarīra is very powerful, but I can only channel a part of its power."
"If this weapon is to be completely refined… It may take over two hundred years." Song Fei looked at Gu Nan.
Gu Nan didn't doubt that. Taking hundreds of years to refine a magic weapon was perfectly normal for Unified Dao cultivators. On the contrary, completing something in three months was unheard of.
"What are the flaws of this half-finished product?" He asked bluntly.
"The intensity of the attacks it can withstand is not as strong as the finished product. In addition, after withstanding three excessively powerful attacks, the mirror will become worn-out, and you will have to bring it back to me for repair," Song Fei explained while pointing at the mirror.
Gu Nan could make out three long formation lines on the frame at the position Song Fei pointed to, which were clearly connected to the inside of the round mirror.
"That's enough." Gu Nan nodded and casually placed the mirror on his abdomen. Being able to withstand three attacks was enough for him to do a lot of things.
As soon as the mirror was pressed against Gu Nan's body, the three lines began to emit a faint glow, but strangely, the three colors were different.
One black, one white, one green.
The next instant, Gu Nan suddenly raised his head and tore off the mirror that was close to his abdomen. For some reason, the suction force attached to the protective mirror was incredibly strong, even tearing off a section of his flesh along with it.
Although the wound swiftly recovered, Gu Nan had already realized what just happened.
"Yu Lian." Gu Nan raised his head to look at the green light in front of him.
In front of Gu Nan, Song Fei's figure had already disappeared without a trace. In any case, his astral world had just been rebuilt, so he wouldn't feel bad even if it was destroyed again. Only the three different rays of light remained, landing on the ground and turning into three figures.
The green light was none other than Yu Lian herself, and the white and black rays of light were Austin and Daisy, who'd descended from the World of Gods.
In order to deal with Gu Nan, Yu Lian actually chose to join forces with the two greater gods. Consequently, even if they succeeded in killing Gu Nan now, the Myriad Heavens may still face tremendous pressure from the war.
But Yu Lian also knew that if Gu Nan didn't die, then the pressure would not only come from the battlefield, but also from life and death.
In the past, Dream Immortal teamed up with three Unified Dao powers to similarly ambush Gu Nan. Yu Lian's current formation wasn't any weaker.
She not only found two top-tier greater gods, but also took advantage of the defensive magic weapon that Gu Nan wanted to plant a trap and made some changes to the magic weapon in advance.
This heart protector had no defensive function at all. As long as Gu Nan tried to activate it, the mirror would automatically stick to Gu Nan's body and start transmitting power over.
The power transmitted naturally came from Yu Lian and the greater gods.
It could be said that as long as Gu Nan reacted even a tiny bit slower just now, the combined power from the three's attacks would hit the Stigma of Life and Death.
"What a pity," Yu Lian lamented coldly. Failing to hit the stigma during their sneak attack brought both sides back to the same starting line. Now, everything will still be decided by strength.
"The survival of the two worlds depends on today," Austin said heavily.
If Gu Nan couldn't be killed today, that meant the three of them would most likely die here, and the world would fall into the hands of this Evil God from now on.