When Gu Nan finally reappeared, he was already inside his own Divine Kingdom back in the Myriad Heavens.
He was considered someone from the Myriad Heavens in this life, so he needed a space-time crystal to enter the World of Gods but naturally didn't need one to go back.
When Gu Nan returned, not much time actually passed since Lan Si and her group came back. However, because of the time flow difference unique to the Myriad Heavens, quite a bit of time went by in the Divine Kingdom.
At least, Xie Yun had already reached Tier 5 by now!
The special law of time in the Myriad Heavens made it so that the smaller the plane, the easier and more efficient it was to develop.
This was especially true for people like Xie Yun, who needed special resources—regardless of whether it was a large or small plane, gold was always the same.
"Her breakthrough was too fast. Will it leave any problems?" More than one person expressed concern about this, but Gu Nan himself was the only one who had no such worries.
Player routes were originally prepared to serve the players, and the benefits they brought were completely free of side effects. This was what made the player army so powerful.
Utilizing resources meant for players to create NPCs that were beyond imagination.
Of course, it wasn’t like a Pay to Win Expert was invincible. After all, this class could only make the player themselves stronger, but the astral world still had to be developed entirely by the player.
In other words, perhaps in the near future, Gu Nan would have a group of oddball underlings who already reached Tier 6 or 7 themselves but didn't even possess an astral world yet.
It was naturally inconceivable for anyone else, but player routes could indeed bring about this kind of advancement that went beyond common sense.
Instead, it was Lan Si who looked a little depressed. She was originally the strongest apostle under Gu Nan, but she didn't expect to be surpassed by a little girl like Xie Yun in the blink of an eye.
She even somewhat regretted not taking the opportunity to join the player army as well back in the World of Gods—at that time, she felt that since she had a Godhead, other paths couldn’t even compare to her rate of progress.
This was the limitation in an NPC’s viewpoint. They could never understand the power of players.
Fortunately, Pay to Win Expert only gave Xie Yun a high cultivation realm; her combat skills and experience still had major flaws.
As a result, she couldn’t beat Lan Si—who’d been making steady progress in contrast—for the time being, and she would even lose two to three out of ten rounds to Liang Ruxin.
But again, this was much stronger compared to before.
……
Gu Nan sat alone on the throne in the Evil God Temple, calmly operating the panel as he upgraded structure after structure, with Tier 8 already close at hand.
After killing Cliff, Gu Nan's Evil Value exceeded 16,000, satisfying the requirement for Tier 8.
As a well-known Tier 8 God, Cliff gave a lot of Evil Value and was practically the peak of all Tier 8 gods.
After he upgraded all the basic structures and even a few Divine Servant Institutes to meet the minimum requirements, all the conditions for Gu Nan's advancement were in place.
Without much hesitation, he directly chose to upgrade the Evil God Temple.
Similar to earlier advancements, the Evil God Temple inside the Divine Kingdom swelled violently in size, expanding to the point where it was as big as a small city.
Boundless power of shadows poured into Gu Nan's body, while he had long since grown accustomed to this.
Instead, the strange phenomena happening outside the Divine Kingdom caused a stir.
……
As a famous person in the Myriad Heavens, Gu Nan and his Divine Kingdom were also watched by countless forces.
Therefore, many people noticed as soon as changes started occurring to the Divine Kingdom and immediately reported the situation to their superiors.
In the Myriad Heavens, Gu Nan's Divine Kingdom began to leap towards the center at a rapid pace. The power of the law of time gradually weakened, and space itself was further strengthened instead.
Time and space were originally two sides of the same coin, and now that one was strengthening and the other weakening, many people realized what was happening.
"This means… it’s about to ascend to a Realm Level plane?!"
Once the astral world leapt to the center of the Myriad Heavens, the flow of time would no longer be any different from the main world. Space became extremely stable, and living beings could now reincarnate from the astral world to other worlds, while the reverse became impossible.
From all angles, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that this was as monumental a step as a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate[1]!
Countless intelligence officers caught wind of this astonishing news and reported it to their superiors at the first opportunity.
……
"It’s ascending to a Realm Level plane so quickly?" Xue Ren was staying in his own astral world at the moment and couldn’t help his slight surprise at hearing the news.
It had taken him quite a bit of effort to suppress the internal strife within Extreme Sword Heaven and once again devote himself fully to his own cultivation.
However, Xue Ren wasn't completely oblivious to external events, so of course a major commotion like Gu Nan's ascension immediately reached his ears.
Gao Xiaowen was the one who passed on the news, and he was also referred by Xue Ren into the Heaven-God Alliance.
"Martial Uncle, should we invite Lord Gu Nan over…"
"No need." Xue Ren waved his hand. "Just go and congratulate him on my behalf. He will naturally speak up if he really wants to get involved with matters here."
"Yes."
……
Not only did Xue Ren get the news, all major forces received first-hand information at practically the same time!
The ascension of a new Realm Level plane was considered a big deal no matter what when.
In Clockwork Heaven, Lu Wen tapped his fingers on the desk, his gaze slightly cold.
In Void Grotto Heaven, standing in front of Yu Lian was none other than Daoist Heir Qin Ning, recounting his encounter with Gu Nan in the World of Gods.
In Zi Luo Heaven, the old man who no longer made frequent appearances in public showed a rare hint of a smile and even ordered someone to send a congratulatory gift to Gu Nan.
The biggest reaction was naturally still inside Academic Heaven.
Fang Chaoyun personally rushed to Academic Heaven to meet his teacher as soon as he received the news.
"Teacher, Gu Nan’s astral world ascended to a Realm Level plane," Fang Chaoyun was still a powerful Tier 10 Star Ruler, so he didn't lose his cool and just spoke of the matter like a routine report.
Song Fei, on the other hand, still had that calm demeanor, as if nothing in the world could move him.
It’s just that he knew very well that the fact his own disciple paid a special visit to Academic Heaven was in itself proof of the importance he attached to this event.
So Song Fei let out a small sigh and responded, "Since that's the case, let's stop the operation targeting him."
Fang Chaoyun didn't answer for a long time before finally replying somewhat unwillingly, "He’s just at Realm Level. In a fair fight, your disciple has nothing to fear."
He was one of the strongest people under Unified Dao Realm, so he naturally didn't feel like a mere Realm Level Star Ruler was much of a threat.
Song Fei, however, only chuckled slightly. "Gu Nan is nothing to worry about. But we are about to focus on dealing with Zi Luo and Xue Ren right now. By getting entangled with Gu Nan’s matter, you will have fallen into their trap."
Fang Chaoyun was slightly stunned. "Gu Nan is those two’s pawn?"
"It matters not whether he is or isn’t." Song Fei said noncommittally, "Ten years from now, as long as Xue Ren doesn't enter Unified Dao, Zi Luo will naturally die, and it won't be too late to circle back and deal with Gu Nan at that time."
Only after Fang Chaoyun heard this did he slowly nod. "A gentleman can wait ten years to take revenge. In that case, I will follow Teacher's wishes."
Song Fei once again revealed a smile. "There just happens to be something I want you to do right now."
"What is it?"
"Join the Heaven-God Alliance."
T/N:
[1]Carp leaping over the Dragon Gate: Chinese mythology where a carp swimming upstream and leaping over the Dragon Gate at the top of a legendary waterfall would be able to become a dragon
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l