Chapter 201: Pursuit

Inside Splendid World, Gu Nan, Qiu Wenran, and Zi Yi stood side by side, watching as lava flowed throughout the city.

The Third Phase was survival; it was even simpler than they expected. The three of them easily passed after several tries. From beginning to end, the entire process didn't take long at all.

To put it bluntly, the Third Phase rained down lava from the sky, which tested players' defenses and reflexes, so it was a test of players' actual power.

This was in line with the dungeon's design. At the beginning, it flaunted its strength to players using a meteor, then delved into the second phase with an ingenious problem, which required players to be adaptive and perceptive. Finally, it gave a test of hard power.

But when it came to Gu Nan's team, the last phase posed no difficulty whatsoever, because this party didn't lack hard power at all.

Therefore, the three of them cleared the entire Third Phase with almost no trouble, and the dungeon soon came to an end.

'Based on this difficulty level, the overall reward won't be too high. I don't know if I can get to 2,500 points…' Gu Nan muttered to himself in his heart.

He now had 2,100 points, which was 400 points short of the 2,500-point mark.

Earlier, the First Phase and Second Phase gave him 300 and 400 points respectively. The rewards for the Third Phase probably won't be much higher than that, but it's reasonable to say that it won't be lower than the previous rewards.

Just to be on the safe side, Gu Nan could only take precautions in case he couldn't get to 2,500 points this time, "Wanna clear it again?"

He was greeted by two people's surprised gazes. Qiu Wenran said with a chuckle, "Your Excellency, we'll be able to clearly see this world's origin after clearing the world mission once. A second attempt is useless to us."

"It's the world's origin again…" Gu Nan finally understood a little. For this world's powerful figures, this was probably the basis of their cultivation.

By observing different worlds' origins, they would be able to refine their own laws and use that to perfect their own worlds.

This might be true for them, but not for Gu Nan himself. He didn't forget how the dungeon clearly stated that the reset period was three days.

...

｢The Tier 3 mission in the personal dungeon Splendid World has been completed. Obtained 500 points｣

Gu Nan immediately checked the Evil God Temple as soon as he returned to reality and saw this message.

500 points!

With these 500 points, Gu Nan's points finally broke through the 2,500 mark, reaching 2,600 points, which was enough for his advancement!

"Next, I just need to wait for Lan Si's side…" Gu Nan glanced at his Evil Value in passing: 458. This was still far from the goal of 500.

But Gu Nan couldn't do anything about it for the time being. Reincarnation was still in "cooldown," and his soul wouldn't be able to endure another reincarnation right now, so he could only wait patiently.

But at that moment, he found two consecutive messages sent from White Mist.

What was even stranger was that the content of these messages were similar. They both said that his location had already been exposed and that he should move immediately!

...

Near the central mountain range, Feng Xu's figure appeared in mid-air and slowly landed on the ground.

There were very few people with him this time, and he didn't bring any entourage. Only Ping Jiushan and someone else was with him. The second person's expression looked a little vacant—it was precisely Guan Sheng, who had escaped from White Mist.

Feng Xu and Ping Jiushan didn't recognize Gu Nan. Even though they saw his appearance from the data, they still weren't as familiar with him as Guan Sheng, who'd seen him in person, so it was only natural to take him on this trip.

"I'm afraid that Red Tail sent Gu Nan a message as soon as you escaped from White Mist. Are you sure he'll still be here?" Ping Jiushan still wasn't too sure they could actually find Gu Nan.

However, Guan Sheng replied expressionlessly, "My Lord gave me the order to delay him for a moment."

"That's right." Feng Xu nodded lightly. "After learning Gu Nan's location, I've already sealed off this mountain range. As long as he escapes afterwards, he will trigger my tracking mark."

Ever since his early years in the Deep Sea Temple, Xu Feng had long been famous for tracking down and searching out people, which was why the King of the Deep Sea sent him this time.

"Then how did you stall him?" Ping Jiushan asked again.

Guan Sheng's blank expression turned into a smile. "I sent him a message in advance."

...

It could be said that Guan Sheng was very good at playing with people's hearts. At least in this matter, his approach was very clever.

Even Red Tail didn't expect Guan Sheng's little trick—she was too busy trying to prove her innocence.

Red Tail had a neutral stance where she wouldn't offend either side.

She wouldn't oppose a Tier 4 existence for Gu Nan, nor would she help the King of the Deep Sea encircle Gu Nan.

For her, it didn't matter who won or who lost. She just needed to stand beside the final winner. Unfortunately, Guan Sheng ruined her arrangement.

White Mist was the one that revealed Gu Nan's position to Feng Xu. On the off chance that Gu Nan really did turn the tables and come back even stronger than before, would he believe her if she said that someone betrayed the organization and exposed his location?

So she was in a hurry to send a message to Gu Nan.

Of course, what Red Tail didn't know was that, in fact, no matter what she sent, he wouldn't believe everything she said.

"Two messages?" Gu Nan rubbed his chin, but his mouth was sneering.

When faced with this kind of inexplicable behavior, it was easy to infer that something went wrong inside White Mist, or it was a diversion intended to confuse him, or perhaps Red Tail chose to oppose him.

In this situation, no matter whether he listened to the messages or continued staying in the same place, both choices were risky.

So... Gu Nan gradually turned into a shadow, silently lurking in the depths of the mountain range.

...

At a stream in the central mountain range, a girl in plain cotton clothing was walking in the wilderness, carrying a cloth basket on her back and picking wild fruits from the mountains one by one.

She didn't look like anyone special; she simply looked like a village girl who came out to pick fruits.

But there were certain matters in this world that required nothing but luck.

A young man in a warrior's outfit was lying unconscious in the stream. He had sword eyebrows and starry eyes. His figure was well-built, and he had a longsword at his waist.

Seeing this scene, the girl quickly put down her fruit basket and went forward. "Hey, are you still alive? Wake up…"

As though he'd been touched by the outside world, the youth began to stir faintly.

As soon as he opened his eyes and their gazes met, it seemed that a star suddenly lit up in the sky.

"So that's it…"

...

"Still can't find him?" Feng Xu had already scoured the entire mountain three times over, but he still couldn't find a trace of Gu Nan, which made him secretly frown.

Some cold sweat also began to gather on Guan Sheng's face, and he began to worry that his clever trick might've had the opposite effect.

'What if Gu Nan was too honest and frank, or what if Red Tail didn't act as I predicted?'

"My Lord, do you want me to send people into the mountains to search?" Ping Jiushan whispered from the side.

"Mm." Feng Xu gave a slight nod, then asked, "There are many cultivators in the mountains. Did you predict this situation in advance and send them here, knowing that I would fail to find Gu Nan?"

How could Ping Jiushan dare to take credit for this? He quickly waved his hand in denial. "Of course not… They all came to chase Ye Chen."

"Ye Chen? That child of destiny?" Feng Xu's expression changed a little, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Precisely him." Ping Jiushan smiled ingratiatingly. "He overestimated his capabilities and came to challenge you. After being heavily injured by you, he reportedly escaped into this mountain range."