For ordinary cultivators, burrowing into the earth was practically impossible.
Divine Ability experts could only rely on brute force—blasting open tunnels, carving pits, and digging for spirit herbs. But at best, they could reach a few hundred feet underground. And even then, they risked the tunnels collapsing. A million pounds of rock could crush them alive. Even a Fifth-Layer "Heaven-and-Man Realm" powerhouse, with the strength of galloping warhorses, would suffocate to death if buried under a hundred feet of earth.
A thousand feet? Forget it.
Earth wasn't like the open ocean—it was dense, oppressive, unyielding.
Even masters of earth-element arts burned tremendous energy to carve tunnels. Ninth-Layer experts could send their "Heaven-and-Earth Dharma Form" underground, but even that couldn't last long. The geomagnetic pressure beneath the earth shredded their manifestations.
Unless one possessed a special burrowing artifact—like a spiritual drilling shuttle. But such treasures were incredibly hard to craft, counted as top-grade magic tools, and offered little use in actual combat, so almost no one bothered making them.
Because of all this, many cultivators knew treasures lay beneath the ground yet could only stand on the surface and sigh.
But the underground was where the greatest treasures hid. Ancient dynasties collapsed, sects fell, mountains reshaped—countless relics were swallowed by the earth. Spirit mines, rare herbs, mutated beasts—all were down below.
Fang Han, however, had cultivated the Five-Emperors Demon God Arts, with the Yellow Emperor's Earth-Sovereign Dao at its center, tied directly to his Yama Golden Body. With earth-sovereign qi, he moved underground like a fish through water. Down here, even several Tenth-Layer Divine Ability masters combined would struggle to kill him.
Even a First-Layer Longevity Realm expert couldn't guarantee catching him underground—unless they'd cultivated the second stage, the Immortal Body. Only then could they melt into the earth faster than he could swim through it.
But such beings were vanishingly rare.
In truth, Fang Han hadn't brought the Pure-Fox Demon Girl underground because he believed her story about the Demon-Sealing Ridge. He didn't for a moment think he'd walk out of the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion only to stumble upon a treasure vault.
Especially not one "guided" by a cunning fox girl.
He brought her down here because this was where he had absolute control.
Now that they were deep underground, if he disengaged and left, she'd suffocate and turn into a fossil—no matter how many tricks she had.
Once his power left, the liquefied earth would harden immediately.
"This is my first time using the Earth-Sovereign Qi to burrow," Fang Han said as he shot through the earth, weaving like a swimmer. "Didn't expect the underground world to be this interesting."
Whole sheets of soil dissolved into yellow slurry. Rare earth creatures writhed in terror—golden silver pangolins, six-eared spirit mice, earth-dragons and giant worms—thrown into chaos by the sudden shift.
Wood-element herbs remained intact, floating in the liquefied earth.
Fang Han swept them all into the Yellow Springs Diagram without hesitation.
Spirit mines below radiated waves of powerful qi.
Yes—underground truly brimmed with treasure.
The deeper he went, the richer the earth-element essence became. Fang Han didn't dig straight down but moved unpredictably. The soil contained mineral veins—some impossibly dense. If he couldn't melt one quickly, he simply avoided it.
This was why ordinary cultivators couldn't tunnel underground. Certain layers of rock were literal mountain bones—harder than refined steel. A flying sword could barely chip them.
Soon, Fang Han reached five thousand fathoms deep. Everything around him turned silent, black, and incredibly dense—solid basalt plateaus that resisted even his power. These rocks took far longer to melt.
Fortunately, the World Tree sustained his endless reservoir of mana. Without it, his power would have dried up by now, leaving him buried forever.
"How does he have such inexhaustible mana…?" the Pure-Fox Demon Girl muttered, shaken.
"My clan elder, at Ninth Layer, once tried exploring this Demon-Sealing Ridge. Even with a full Dharma Form, he nearly ran out of power when he reached the basalt layer and almost couldn't return."
Yet Fang Han was only at the Sixth Layer—and his power still surged.
No wonder he'd slain the Ghost Emperor.
"We're nearly five thousand fathoms deep now," Fang Han suddenly said, halting.
"These basalt strata consume too much power. I'll need compensation. Give me some spirit-crystal pills or I'm not draining myself for free. Otherwise—I could simply leave, and you know the result."
They floated in a three-yard bubble of molten basalt—thick slush created by his Earth-Sovereign Qi.
"You—what did you say?!" The fox girl shrieked. "This is extortion! If you leave now, I'll die here! How is this different from murder?"
"Oh, it's exactly what would happen," Fang Han said calmly. "We're almost five thousand fathoms down. If I stop sustaining the soil, it'll harden in an instant. You'll be sealed here for thousands of years. Maybe someday you'll be dug out as a fossil. Who knows?"
He nodded with utter seriousness.
"But I'm not extorting you. I'm simply running out of power. Every breath I take down here costs as much mana as a normal Divine Ability cultivator accumulates in one month. If you want me to keep melting rock like your personal laborer, you should pay for it."
"We agreed to split the treasure!" she hissed. "Isn't that enough?"
"I don't trust invisible profits. Only what's in my hand is real. And so far, I've seen no treasure—only basalt.
And now my power is almost gone."
He dimmed the glow of his life-talisman slightly.
The molten basalt began to cool—fast.
"Ah!"
The fox girl immediately pressed closer, terrified.
"This is blatant blackmail," she whispered, then wilted. "Fine… fine! Here!"
She dug out a large gourd: a thousand Essence-Augmenting Pills, forged from spirit-crystal jade, capable of restoring mana and stamina—excellent for battle.
She handed it over with trembling hands.
"Good, good," Fang Han said, pleased. He examined one pill—crystal-clear, humming with energy. Perfect.
And she knew better than to play tricks now. If he left, nothing could save her from becoming bedrock art.
Fang Han rubbed his fingers together.
"And while we're at it—you can hand over that talisman-thunder of yours. The one that almost fooled me. I'm interested in studying it."
"You're robbing me."
But then the glow shrank again.
She broke.
"This… this talisman is the Heavenly Demon Heart-Confounding Thunder! The Demon God gave it to me! I only have one! Without it, I'll die if I meet a stronger enemy!"
"Oh? Then keep it," Fang Han said mildly—letting the glow contract again.
"Fine! Take it! Take it!"
She hurled it over in panic. Fang Han caught it and tossed it straight into the Yellow Springs Diagram for Yama to examine.
"See? You gave it willingly," he said coolly.
"Now let's see what's hidden in this basalt. If there's nothing, you'll compensate me further."
His talisman flared bright again, melting a vast sphere of basalt. Fang Han surged forward.
"The talisman—it's reacting!" the fox girl suddenly cried. The ancient scroll in her hand trembled, as if guiding the way.
"Oh?"
Fang Han felt it too and rushed toward the pulse.
BOOM!
He slammed into something unyielding.
The Earth-Sovereign Qi failed to melt it.
Fang Han's eyes narrowed. The "basalt" before him shimmered with a hard, crystalline transparency.
It wasn't basalt at all.
It was diamond—the pure, flawless kind mortals called "King's Stone," worth more than gold.
But this wasn't a fist-sized gem.
It was a mountain-sized sheet of diamond, stretching who knew how far.
And at its heart—deep within the world-sized crystal structure—there was the faint outline of a palace.
A palace sealed inside a continent of diamond.
Fang Han's pulse quickened.
At last—they had found something real.