Ascending the Heavens as an Evil God
Chapter 247: Sword or Fist?

The Duanmu family was a very special existence on Floral Jasper Star.

The special characteristic of Shinto cultivators determined that the Duanmu family couldn’t completely withdraw themselves from the outside world. Instead, they must be exposed to people, especially ordinary people.

Because the source of their power came from faith. Although unlike the gods, their power of faith didn’t manifest to the point of having people worship them, it was still impossible to seclude themselves from the world.

Therefore, their territory was quite easy to find. There was an entire city on Floral Jasper Star that belonged to their sphere of influence.

"This is Three Leaves City. The Duanmu family is the de facto ruler here," Ren Jixuan explained cautiously, "but they did a good job covering it up on the surface. Very few citizens know about them."

Gu Nan nodded slightly. If it wasn’t necessary for faith to be highly manifested, then the Duanmu family could even gather the power of faith from citizens who were entirely unaware of just who they were worshiping.

For example, a person who believed in Buddhism worshiped the Buddha one day and had his wish granted the next day. As long as he was earnest and sincere in redeeming his vow to the deity, the power of faith would be created.

And as long as Shinto cultivators intervened in this process a little, they could guide the power of faith to converge onto themselves, even if the Buddhist believer didn’t know about their existence at all.

"The residence of the Duanmu family's top level is just ahead."

"Do you know where their ancestral tomb is?"

"Ah? Ancestral tomb… This…"

"Forget it, you can return," Gu Nan said casually and waved him away. A place like the ancestral tomb was unlikely to be known to outsiders.

Ren Jixuan sighed in relief and hurriedly saluted. "Yes. Junior will take his leave now."

If at first he was still unconvinced and felt that Gu Nan only defeated him by relying on a sneak attack, then he no longer harbored such thoughts after Gu Nan obtained the Duanmu family’s location and brought him here.

This person brought him here by tearing through the void!

Ren Jixuan couldn't understand at all. ‘All I did was pay a rare visit to a nightclub. To think I’d actually attract the attention of a Void Cutter cultivator…’

Fortunately, the other party didn’t seem to want to find trouble for him and purely wanted him to lead the way.

In fact, Ren Jixuan should count himself lucky. If Gu Nan's goal this time was to sneak in, then a "guide" like Ren Jixuan would definitely be silenced.

Fortunately, it wasn’t an infiltration.

The Duanmu family’s residence looked just like that of a normal wealthy family. It was part of many villas by the sea. Even at night, the amount of light and voices were still the same as during the day.

Boom!

A super-long gigantic sword over 200 meters tall fell heavily from the sky, immediately making a clean cut through dozens of buildings. A large number of the Duanmu family’s disciples were killed or injured.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"Inform the family head immediately!"

The Duanmu family reacted quickly. Almost simultaneously, someone was shouting information loudly, and their sound was amplified through scientific equipment and special arrays.

The internal communication system of a genuine powerhouse must be a combination of both technology and metaphysics, so as not to be countered by the enemy from any one aspect.

But this sound soon stopped, because Gu Nan’s figure was already out of sight when they looked up again.

Gu Nan had always liked to do things in the most direct and efficient way. It was the same with finding the Duanmu family’s ancestral tomb.

Duanmu Sen and his daughter definitely knew where their ancestral tomb was, but that was meaningless, because it was impossible to capture Shinto cultivators and torture the information out of them.

Gu Nan's current understanding of the Myriad Heavens Universe was quite deep, so he knew the characteristics of various schools.

Shinto cultivators were famous for having many clones, and at the same time, they weren’t easy to kill.

If you plan to subdue a Shinto cultivator to interrogate them for information… Sorry, they might just kill themselves and reshape their bodies elsewhere in the blink of an eye.

However, just because Void Cutter Realm Shinto cultivators couldn’t be tortured and interrogated didn’t mean that other people in the Duanmu family couldn’t be either.

This was one of the methods Gu Nan thought of. If the other method didn’t work, then this method would be his safety net.

For once, shadow clones didn’t directly surge forth. Gu Nan had already turned into a shadow and stolen into the inner part of the Duanmu family’s residence. Only then did countless shadows sneak away.

Following the sword Gu Nan dropped from the sky earlier, the Duanmu family as a whole fell into chaos.

Especially after he disappeared, the chaos became more obvious—nobody believed that the enemy had left after merely throwing down one sword; he was clearly lurking in the shadows somewhere, waiting for the chance to strike again!

It was precisely amidst such chaos that the shadow clones snuck in one after another and found people from the Duanmu family one by one to ask the same question.

"Where is the ancestral tomb?"

The shadow clones’ voices were mostly hoarse because ultimately, the vocal cords simulated by Gu Nan still couldn’t compare with the originals.

Anyone who couldn’t answer this question was killed without hesitation to deepen the fear amongst the Duanmu clansmen.

People were always more vulnerable to the influence of the outside world when under sufficient panic, and even today's moonlight very cooperatively turned bleak.

"Who are you? Don’t you know that this place is…"

"Don't kill me! I really don't know, I’m telling the truth…"

"Youngster, what grudge do you have against the Duanmu family? You might as well…"

Numerous disorderly words and endless slaughter played out, yet Gu Nan's expression was unswerving from start to finish. He had already followed some of the Duanmu family’s people and found two acquaintances.

"Eldest Miss, there are enemies…" Before a servant could finish speaking, he was instantly split into two halves by the shadow that followed.

"It's you!?” A soft shout came from the front. It was Duanmu Nianlan.

She was one of the Duanmu family’s two Void Cutter cultivators. The expression on her face at this time was much more vivid than what Gu Nan saw before.

If he had to describe it, then this one might be her true body, while the previous one was at best a puppet—the kind she controlled from thousands of miles away.

But Gu Nan just revealed a strange smile as his figure instantly disappeared.

Blink!

By the time Duanmu Nianlan turned her head back, Gu Nan's sword had already slashed down, chopping heavily onto her shoulder. The sword strike that was superimposed dozens of times practically cut her body apart.

"How can this be…" Duanmu Nianlan sensed the heavy injury she received with much disbelief.

Although she didn't have time to activate her Shinto golden body, why was this person’s swordsmanship also so powerful?

The methods Gu Nan used this time were completely different from the last time they fought—he was clearly a cultivator who strengthened his physical body, so how could he also know laws of space and swordsmanship?

Duanmu Nianlan's realm wasn’t so low that she couldn’t distinguish between teleportation and pure speed. That was why she was particularly surprised.

In fact, which skills Gu Nan used to fight monsters had always been decided after detailed analysis of the specific situations.

When faced with unknown enemies, he’d always started off with law nullification, which had the widest range, but this wasn’t as effective on Shinto cultivators.

On the other hand, his self-recovery was still suppressed by the curse, so he couldn’t forcibly exchange HP with the enemy. Instead, it was better to use a sword.

When Duanmu Nianlan was in pain, she immediately raised her head to the sky and gave a shrill whistle. The golden brilliance emerged from her whole body, and a glowing godly avatar appeared behind her.

But Gu Nan moved even faster. He used Blink several times in a row to attack. Every sword just happened to land exactly on the previous wound. Every strike was a solid critical hit, which made Duanmu Nianlan's golden light sway around her.

In just one exchange, he gouged out a bloody gash in Duanmu Nianlan's shoulder, and golden blood flowed out slowly.

But Gu Nan quickly stopped, because he knew very well that Duanmu Nianlan wasn’t his only enemy here.