What exactly was Gu Nan trying to do? It was unclear even to the top echelons of Academic Heaven—who actually knew the inside story—let alone the outside world.

To the outside world, it was clearly more interesting to speculate on how Academic Heaven had managed to coerce Gu Nan, making him end up in such a wretched situation.

That’s right. The final outcome of this fiasco was Gu Nan fighting to the death to stall the higher-ranked gods, killing two Tier 9 gods by himself and subsequently suffering heavy injuries of his own. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.

Although Gu Nan's astral world remained unchanged, the gods' search in Fairhaven continued, proving that Gu Nan hadn’t been found yet.

Some believed Gu Nan was already dead and that his astral world was only maintaining the status quo for the time being.

They believed that Gu Nan, an exceptional genius who’d risen to Realm Level in less than a hundred years, was doomed to repeat the fate of many geniuses in history, who would quickly fall after a short-lived glory.

There were also those who believed that Gu Nan wasn’t truly dead. Rather, he would be freed from Academic Heaven’s control after this incident.

At the same time, he would take advantage of the situation to withdraw from this Great War and also withdraw from the conflict between the Heaven-God Alliance and Academic Heaven, going into seclusion to single-mindedly focus on his cultivation.

Perhaps it would take hundreds or even thousands of years, but in any case, the next time Gu Nan reappeared in public, his cultivation would have reached a completely new height.

There were all kinds of contradicting speculations about Gu Nan, and no consensus could be reached.

The Heaven-God Alliance was equally puzzled, and both the core and normal members wanted to know what had happened to Gu Nan that forced him to attack Alfred.

Zhuangxuan immediately traveled to Extreme Sword Heaven.

As much as he didn't want to disturb Xue Ren during secluded cultivation, the matter this time was already too big for him to resolve alone, so he had to ask Xue Ren for help.

However, Zhuangxuan met someone unexpected when he reached Extreme Sword Heaven.

"You've come." The white-haired old man with a face full of wrinkles was sitting on the old-fashioned chair, staring at Zhuangxuan with a smile.

Only one person could both foresee Zhuangxuan’s arrival and enter and leave Extreme Sword Heaven at will—Zi Luo Elder, the fourteenth Unified Dao cultivator of the Myriad Heavens.

Zhuangxuan froze, then hurriedly saluted. "Sir."

"Xue Ren has reached a critical stage; it’s inconvenient for him to come out for the time being," Zi Luo Elder explained softly, then grew serious. "I already know about Gu Nan's matter."

Zhuangxuan added, "After the incident, I used all types of methods to investigate, but I didn't find any contact between Gu Nan and Academic Heaven before the Great War."

"You won’t find anything." Zi Luo Elder shook his head a little. "If they really are using a weakness of Gu Nan’s to coerce him, then you definitely won’t be able to find the person who went out to meet him."

Realization flashed through Zhuangxuan's eyes. "Are you saying.. that one paid him a visit?"

Right now, the Heaven-God Alliance’s forces were spread across the whole Myriad Heavens. If someone from Academic Heaven visited Gu Nan without a trace, it could only have been done by Song Fei himself.

Zi Luo Elder nodded. "And it must have been before the war. Once the Great War starts, it's unlikely that Song Fei will have the energy to focus on this anymore."

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the current Great War consisted entirely of battles among mortals that had nothing to do with the Unified Dao figures.

In reality, existences at this level on both sides were bound to be confronting each other in a corner somewhere. No matter which side revealed a weakness first, these Unified Dao powerhouses definitely didn't mind striking.

As long as they were given the slightest bit of time to spare, it would be a calamity for the Star Rulers and gods below them.

Zhuangxuan frowned in contemplation, gradually straightening out the entire sequence of events. "That is to say, Song Fei discovered a certain secret of Senior Gu Nan’s before the war started and coerced him into aiding Academic Heaven during the war."

"It's just that previously, Senior Gu Nan always hid his identity, all the way until Academic Heaven thought his value had been exhausted, so they used him one last time by ordering him to kill Alfred."

A piece of information suddenly flashed through Zhuangxuan's mind as realization dawned on him, "No wonder we received news from the frontlines earlier that a ‘Ghost' specializing in hunting gods without taking their Godheads had appeared. In all likelihood, Senior Gu Nan must be Ghost."

This series of analyses was consistent with each other, and with all the information known at present, this was indeed the closest answer to the truth.

Some regret surfaced on Zi Luo Elder's face as he said, "Gu Nan, what a pity. If there’s any secret Academic Heaven can use against Gu Nan.. His origin has always been a mystery, so it’s most likely related to that."historical

Many people knew Gu Nan was incomparably familiar with the World of Gods and was most likely the reincarnation of a certain powerhouse from that side, but his exact identity had always remained a mystery.

Song Fei personally traveled to the World of Gods just recently, so it was indeed very likely that he discovered a secret relating to Gu Nan's origins in the process.

Zhuangxuan nodded with a heavy expression. "I will investigate in this direction."

....

Zi Luo Elder and Zhuangxuan's speculations were off the mark, while other people’s conjectures were even more off the mark.

Lu Wen, for one, knew very little about Gu Nan’s matter, and since he wasn't one of the parties involved, he didn't even want to investigate it; his attention was focused on another matter.

On his desk, report after report clearly showed that there was a group of people donning the guise of "Ghost", looking to kill gods who were by themselves on the battlefield.

Unlike Gu Nan, who only killed gods but didn't take their Godheads, not only did they do the same thing, but they also sent a team to the targeted god's Divine Kingdom to collect faith.

Yes, the reason this group hunted gods was to collect the power of faith in the gods’ Divine Kingdoms.

Once a god died, the faith of the believers inside the Divine Kingdom would undoubtedly collapse instantly, so the power of faith drifting aimlessly became this group’s best prey.

While others might not know what this group of people were doing, Lu Wen knew very well.

"The power of faith and the power of dreams are both branches of mental power and are two sides of the same coin from the beginning.." Lu Wen put the dossier down and said softly, "Dream Immortal, you really fooled everyone."

....

Just when the entire Myriad Heavens was discussing Gu Nan, the fellow rumored to be dead was leisurely hiding in a small plane, basking in the rare sunlight here.

Gu Nan also didn't know what world this was, only that there were six hours of sunlight in a day here.

Of course, that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that he’d come here to heal.

After tanking sustained attacks from a Tier 10 god plus multiple Tier 9 gods, even Gu Nan's Evil God physique was overtaxed and needed constant rest and recuperation.

Only now, over half a month later, did he fully recover.

It was fortunate that the special characteristic of the law of shadows allowed him to escape from Fairhaven without truly being trapped to death in the World of Gods.

And by taking advantage of this large amount of Evil Value credited to him, Gu Nan's Evil Value finally exceeded 130,000, reaching the standard for Tier 10!

The current Gu Nan would never dare show himself in front of greater gods, or else his identity as an Evil God would be seen through instantly. The most important thing he needed to do right now was naturally to reach Tier 10 as soon as possible.

And all Gu Nan was currently missing for Tier 10 was just 1.5 times the points given by Daoist Sect Realm.

"Those people should have had plenty of time to speculate.. So then, attack," a small smile appeared as he transmitted a message to his Divine Kingdom.

The last Divine Kingdom War had finally broken out.

Target: Imperial Glory Heaven.