"The Goddess of Sunlight sends her highest regards to you, Your Excellency," when McKenzie talked to Gu Nan again, he looked even more respectful than last time and conveyed the Goddess of Sunlight's attitude.
It was no different from what Gu Nan expected. The Goddess of Sunlight had not lived tens of thousands of years in vain. After seeing Karina's broken spear, she decisively chose to concede.
Outsiders had no way of knowing about the fight over the name of 'Shadow', and the two sides chose a small unoccupied plane precisely for the sake of reputation.
But the conflict between Karina and Sylvia, plus the fact that she later found someone to reforge her divine spear, was something that outsiders knew about, so they naturally associated these events with what happened in Dragon Realm.
Gu Nan took back the two spear shafts from McKenzie's hands and casually asked, "Last time, you said Rolensia went to the Red River Divine Kingdom. Has she returned yet?"
The Red River Goddess wasn't a greater god, but she was Rolensia's close friend. They had always worked together within the World of Gods, so she was considered a hardcore ally.
Now that Rolensia ascended, she naturally wouldn't forget her old friend—this was a matter of reputation and prestige.
"Master has yet to return."
"Find someone to inform her that it's almost time to return," Gu Nan said in an extraordinarily calm tone.
McKenzie looked at Gu Nan weirdly for a while, but in the end, he didn't say anything else and left after bowing. Whether he believed Gu Nan or not, at least for the moment, he didn't dare to ignore Gu Nan's instructions.
Gu Nan also didn't bother elaborating. After all, certain matters couldn't be perceived by people whose level was too low—there was no mistake. Similar to Rolensia's earlier ascension, the strange phenomenon that accompanied someone's advancement to Unified Dao had already started appearing.
The closer one was to the realm of the greater gods, the easier it was to detect this kind of abnormality. In addition, it was naturally easier for those like Gu Nan—who'd long been expecting this and was actively trying to sense such abnormalities—to detect it.
It was still not Xue Ren.
If Gu Nan's guess was correct, then Zi Luo Elder was probably the one about to ascend this time.
Perhaps this old man actually awakened a long time ago and had been silently accumulating power since then, maybe even going so far as to deliberately suppress his power so that he wouldn't immediately complete the ascension.
The reason was simple. It was far harder for him to break through in the Myriad Heavens than over here.
Back then, he blocked Song Fei's path, so Song Fei joined forces with Star Ruler Jiu Po to move this obstacle out of his way. But after Song Fei ascended to the top, he was now the one blocking Zi Luo Elder's path.
Even if he didn't block Zi Luo Elder's path, would Song Fei really just sit back and watch Zi Luo Elder ascend again?
Perhaps Song Fei truly was an upright gentleman, but only a fool would bet his own future on the integrity—or lack thereof—of Song Fei's character.
Zi Luo Elder was obviously a deeply calculative person. He even waited until the Heaven-God Alliance gained a Unified Dao member named Rolensia before choosing to appear in front of the public eye.
Therefore, the real reason Zi Luo Elder made that original remark about Gu Nan back then was not because of Gu Nan, but because Rolensia had already arrived in the Myriad Heavens Universe.
If someone discovered Rolensia's existence, then this old man would truly be the last line of defense.
It's just that Gu Nan and Xue Ren's performance saved him some trouble.
"It really won't be long now before we can head back…" Gu Nan muttered to himself. He was still waiting to return to the Myriad Heavens to harvest all the selected astral worlds and farm enough points.
On the contrary, he could only choose to keep waiting while in the World of Gods, much less go on a killing spree—if he earned too much Evil Value, there would be a certain risk of exposure after reaching Tier 9.
Once his identity as an Evil God is exposed, then at least in the World of Gods, he would truly become the enemy of the world, without any room for negotiation.
...
After that day, Rolensia really did return to her Divine Kingdom soon. Perhaps Gu Nan wasn't the only one who sent a reminder.
And only when she was personally overseeing the entire matter would it be considered reassuring enough. Unlike her ascension earlier, everyone knew where Zi Luo Elder was this time, so the possibility of someone launching a sneak attack couldn't be ruled out.
After all, although Song Fei and Jiu Po may not be able to come here personally, it was entirely possible for them to buy the help of a greater god here for a certain price.
And shortly after this day, Daoist Lingyang visited Gu Nan again.
"A rare guest!" Gu Nan looked at the figure of this old Daoist and couldn't help exclaiming.
Ever since Rolensia returned to the World of Gods and the Heaven-God Alliance solidified its reputation, Daoist Lingyang hadn't shown his face for a long time. Xue Ren, on the other hand, would often find Gu Nan for tea.
"There's a matter I want your help with," Daoist Lingyang said with a smile. He was already quite familiar with Gu Nan, so he didn't really bother with polite formalities and stated his intention straight away.
"What matter? Is there any benefit?" Gu Nan asked.
"If I ask you for help, of course I have benefits prepared." Daoist Lingyang's expression said I get you, and only then did he slowly reveal his intention.
It was actually quite a simple matter—that is, to ask Gu Nan to be an examiner.
Now that the Heaven-God Alliance had established a reputation for itself, more and more gods were interested in joining, finally ushering in the best opportunity for the organization to develop its power in the World of Gods.
One should know that the Heaven-God Alliance's original development on the two sides was extremely unbalanced—they had much more power in the Myriad Heavens than on this side. Setting aside everything else for the moment, eight of the core members were Star Rulers, compared to three who were gods.
"We plan to develop a group of new members, and the examination criteria this time will be much stricter than earlier," Daoist Lingyang said as such.
This was the right thing to do. After all, now that the organization was so famous, there was always bound to be people who wanted to join just to fish in troubled waters or even spy on them.
"You know about a lot of people over here, so I want to ask you to be the gatekeeper," Daoist Lingyang requested unapologetically.
Gu Nan was most likely someone who came from the World of Gods—this was something he made no intention of hiding from anyone, so Daoist Lingyang also didn't shy away from this point.
Gu Nan asked after some thought, "Why don't you ask the organization's core members on this side?"
"Of course I asked them already." Daoist Lingyang revealed a helpless look. "We simply don't have enough people right now… We need to evaluate too many candidates."
"Then your exam really is quite strict." Gu Nan looked at him strangely.
There weren't that many gods to begin with. If it got to the point where they didn't have enough examiners, then that could only mean the examination was so meticulous that even assessing one target took a long time.
"Yeah." Daoist Lingyang nodded. "Since the organization stepped into the public eye, our entry requirements can no longer be as relaxed as before… After all, we're an organization with a Unified Dao powerhouse—well, maybe we'll have two soon."
When he said that, the two couldn't help exchanging smiles.
"So, what's in it for me?" Gu Nan didn't care much about how Daoist Lingyang wanted the exam to be carried out and asked for his reward first.
"If the target passes the exam, you can become the leader of the target." Daoist Lingyang solemnly said, "In the future, he will belong to your faction within the organization, and at the same time, you will be responsible for his actions."