Chapter 63: Battle Aftermath

Gu Nan watched as the Demon Lord's figure gradually disappeared, but he didn't chase after him.

The Demon Lord actually had a higher cultivation, yet he lost because Gu Nan could see through all his attacks. Still, it would've been quite difficult for Gu Nan to truly kill him.

In any case, Radiant Tower would be acting as the vanguard in the future. Why would he need to fight the Demon Lord to the death right now?

'The most efficient method is to wait and collect the heads of demonic path experts in the future war.'

As soon as the Demon Lord retreated, the remaining small fries of the demonic path could no longer stir up any more waves. In a short time, Gu Nan had slaughtered them all.

Yan Xiaoxiao began to instruct people in cleaning up the manor and repairing the destroyed structures.

"Teacher, was that the... Demon Lord just now?" Yan Xiaoxiao moved next to Gu Nan's side and asked with some difficulty.

Gu Nan's fight with the Demon Lord wasn't hidden from prying eyes. In addition, the Demon Lord's conspicuous appearance made it easy for people to recognize him.

"That's right."

Yan Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and cupped her hands. "Congratulations to Teacher for stepping into the 'Infinitesimal Stage' as soon as entering the Prodigious Realm!"

The so-called Infinitesimal Stage referred to one of the smaller stages within Prodigious Realm.

There were three stages in between the Prodigious Realm and Void Cutter Realm: Origin, Infinitesimal, and Domain. Based on Gu Nan's understanding, these stages corresponded with the first three levels of one's core skill.

With the Shadow Earring, his core skill was placed at Level 2. So he didn't fall into a disadvantage when he fought the Demon Lord—someone publicly known to be at the "Infinitesimal Stage." Thus, Yan Xiaoxiao believed that Gu Nan's cultivation was also at that stage.

"Not really." Gu Nan shook his head. "Only my understanding of my innate ability reached Infinitesimal Stage; my actual cultivation hasn't caught up yet."

Yan Xiaoxiao almost couldn't help rolling her eyes. 'Are you aware that it's way more terrifying to know how your comprehension of innate ability exceeds your actual cultivation!?'

But she suddenly fell silent just then.

Gu Nan looked at her and asked with a slight smile, "What? Do you believe there's hope for your revenge now?"

Yan Xiaoxiao still didn't speak. Her usual smile gradually disappeared, replaced by the expression of the Polis Witch who had taken countless lives when she first appeared.

Gu Nan understood Yan Xiaoxiao very well.

This girl was a natural-born killer. The hatred of seeing her entire family slaughtered had made her mature quickly, but it also made her walk down an extreme and obstinate path.

Although she'd put down her hatred for the time being per his persuasion, it didn't mean that she had ever forgotten her hatred.

She had placed aside the sword she used in the beginning and never unsheathed it again, not even when she was in a life and death situation just now. This meant that she was still trying her best to restrain herself.

She wanted to use her deep-seated hatred to nurse the vengeful sword in her heart. The day the longsword is unsheathed once more will be the day she achieves her Dao.

"Go get revenge," Gu Nan said lightly.

Yan Xiaoxiao looked at him in a daze. 'I thought Teacher would persuade me to be patient and wait until the sword in my heart has formed completely. I didn't expect…'

"If you can't even take revenge to your heart's content, then what's the point of practicing martial arts?" Gu Nan patted her head and smiled. "Never forget what made you first walk down this path."

With Gu Nan's voice, Yan Xiaoxiao seemed to return to that mansion a long time ago. She recalled the scene of blood splashing everywhere and the trembling from the depths of her soul.

...

Many bystanders observed the battle at Azure Dragon Hall's headquarters, so it was impossible to hide the outcome.

The Demon Lord privately headed to the South Central Region and tried to capture the emerging force of "Azure Dragon Hall" in one go, but in the end, he retreated after suffering injuries—such news began to spread all over the world.

With the rumors growing more and more exaggerated, some places even claimed that the Demon Lord had suffered fatal injuries and was on the verge of death, and the downfall of the demonic path was just around the corner.

A meeting was taking place in the middle of the continent, inside Radiant Tower's main headquarters in this world.

"It's simply absurd! That Demon Lord is already an expert in the Infinitesimal Stage. He's one of the strongest people among the natives. How can anyone injure him so easily?"

An old man whose face was full of wrinkles slammed his hand down on the table. He didn't believe the rumors at all.

Together with him, a total of eleven people were sitting around a huge round table, discussing the incident. They all had different expressions.

"But this matter really is true—the Demon Lord retreated." A woman in blue sitting across from the old man said leisurely, "According to our information, the person who fought the Demon Lord is at least at the Infinitesimal Stage."

The old man looked gloomy. He knew he couldn't refute the hard evidence right in front of him, so he asked instead, "Then tell me this: just where did this kind of expert pop out from? Don't tell me that this world still contains a secret that we at Radiant Tower haven't discovered yet?"

The elderly man's last sentence made everyone's expressions sink.

The reason Radiant Tower put so much effort and time into their preparations for this world wasn't simply just to complete the mission.

After they dealt with the hostile reincarnators, this place would become a plane that would provide Radiant Tower with resources, allowing for a stable supply of various materials and human resources.

If this world still contained undiscovered secrets and hidden forces, then this matter would require great attention from them.

"Everyone," one of the women spoke up while everyone was still deep in thought, "I think... I might know that person's identity."

"What?!"

"Is that true?"

"Tang Xuan, have you received information from other channels? Is it reliable?"

A series of questions rang out, and Tang Xuan smiled wryly. She gently pushed forward the documents in her hands. "I don't know if you remember that a genius once appeared in our branch office..."

As she spoke, the documents were distributed to everyone.

After reading Tang Xuan's information, all the Prodigious Realm cultivators frowned.

What Tang Xuan showed them was Gu Nan's past involvement with Yan Xiaoxiao.

Radiant Tower's high-ranking members all knew that Gu Nan taught Yan Xiaoxiao in the past. Even the Demon Lord could easily find this information, let alone Radiant Tower.

It was also well-known that Yan Xiaoxiao was the Polis Witch and the Hall Master of Azure Dragon Hall.

"So... the mysterious person is Gu Nan, who has recently advanced to Prodigious Realm." A young man with sword eyebrows and starry eyes shook his head with a bitter smile. "I did believe that he could advance to the next realm, but I didn't expect him to be so fast."

This young man, Yue Chenxing, once oversaw Radiant Tower's operations in the southern region. He saw Gu Nan's amazing accomplishments back then and greatly admired his talent.

"It's a pity that he's no longer one of us." Another person nearby sighed softly. "Otherwise our mission will be much easier."

The crowd also sighed helplessly.

Even among the people present, over half were still in Prodigious Realm's first stage:"Origin Stage." If an Infinitesimal Stage expert suddenly appeared, then the combat power on their side would rise exponentially.

Radiant Tower didn't forbid members from leaving, so no one could say anything about Gu Nan's departure. They could only lament that he left at a bad time.

Just when the meeting room became quiet, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament knocked on the table and opened his mouth.

"Even if Gu Nan is no longer one of ours, that doesn't mean we can't bring him to our side." The middle-aged man looked calm and collected, as if nothing could move him. "The fact that he fought the Demon Lord already revealed many things, including his allegiance."

Everyone's eyes suddenly brightened. They merely felt regret at letting a good talent go but failed to think of this.

Even if he was no longer in Radiant Tower, he could still be a comrade-in-arms!

The same middle-aged man stood up slowly and said, "Everyone, the final decisive battle has come. It's time to start the war between Prodigious Realm cultivators."

Devotee's Game System Inspired Note

» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.

» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.

MC's Status Information

Name: Gu Nan

Current Location: Somewhere at the Ruby Fish Star

Current Soul Location: The manor headquarters of Azure Dragon Hall, Immortal Demon World

Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫

Advancement Direction: Agility Type

Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3

Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm

◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Infinitesimal Stage

Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow

Current Evil God Temple Quest:

→ Main Mission Objective/s:

-— Eliminate the six demonic factions. - External Source

◈ Status: On Going

-— Evil Event: Bai Luoluo's Blackening. - Evil God Temple Issued

◈ Status: On Going

→ Side Quest Objective:

-— Kill the six demonic factions Innate Realm and above cultivators. - External Source

◈ Status: On Going

Current Evil Points: 10

Overall Evil Points: 2285, Overall Evil Value: 51

Core Skill Acquired

— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣

Normal Skills Acquired:

— Locked ｢N/A｣

— Locked ｢N/A｣

— Locked ｢N/A｣

Exclusive Skills Acquired:

— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣

— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 2 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1, and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2..｣

▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣

▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣

Equipment being worn

→ Armor

-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣

→ Weapon

-— Four Element Crossbow. ｢A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.｣

→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings

-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣

-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣

-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣

Equipment Skills Acquired:

-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣

-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣

-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣

Item/s owned:

→ None.