Fang Han had never imagined that five thousand fathoms beneath the Demon-Sealing Ridge, hidden in the basaltic depths, there would truly be a secret—
and one this astonishing.
A diamond the size of a mountain.
And inside that colossal crystal…
a lake.
A palace.
It was like staring into an impossible dream.
A thumb-sized diamond was priceless in the mortal world—so what was a mountain of it worth?
Fang Han extended his spiritual sense.
This "diamond" was far larger than his Samsara Peak, its aura vast and ancient beyond imagining.
"What a spectacle… What an insane find," he thought. "Diamond isn't useful to cultivators beyond decoration, but something this size? If I could move it back to the sect, who needs Samsara Peak—this thing could be my new mountain!"
A ridiculous thought.
To lift a mountain of crystal from five thousand fathoms underground was far beyond anything a Divine Ability or even most Longevity experts could achieve.
Wind Whitefeather might possibly manage it… but even he would struggle.
Pure-Fox Little Demon Girl trembled with excitement.
"It's here! I knew it was here! I never thought the treasure sealed under Demon-Sealing Ridge would be this deep—five thousand fathoms under the basalt! I've finally found it! If not for running into you, Fang Han, even a group of Ninth- and Tenth-Layer monsters would've never located this place!"
She pointed eagerly at the massive crystal.
"See? I didn't lie! Inside this giant 'diamond' is the sealed horde of Heaven Demons and the treasures—the Nirvana Pills and everything else!"
Fang Han remained calm.
"Maybe. It's certainly extraordinary. But whether there's a demon sealed inside… let me test it first."
His life-talisman above his head spun, unleashing a radiant beam that struck the mountain-sized crystal.
Diamond, though famed as the hardest mortal substance, was nothing special to cultivators. Many heavenly materials were far tougher.
But when Fang Han's talisman-light struck the crystal—
Nothing happened.
No cracks.
No melting.
Not even a tremor.
"That's impossible."
His talisman, containing fifty-five divine abilities—including the Great Cutting Art—could shatter top-grade treasures and even damage a Dao Artifact.
But it couldn't scratch this?
Then this wasn't diamond.
Before Fang Han could form the thought, Yama's voice thundered in his mind.
"Fang Han, that's not diamond—it's Heaven Crystal! One of the hardest materials in the starry heavens! It takes millions of years under the crush of collapsing constellations to form even a pebble of it. A tiny shard can forge supreme flying swords. Even the hull of the Great Brahma Lightship uses Heaven Crystal. But a whole mountain of it… and with a palace sealed inside? This is the work of an ancient powerhouse—someone on par with the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion's creator or the Primordial Demon Sovereign of the Five-Element Lands!"
Yama's voice deepened.
"And look—its shape. This isn't just a lump. This entire mountain is the model of a magic treasure!"
Fang Han froze.
Using the Five-Emperors Demon God Art, he probed the basalt around the crystal—
and saw it clearly.
The massive Heaven Crystal block wasn't a mountain at all.
It was a pen.
A titanic, mountain-sized pen buried by countless ages of tectonic shifts, perfectly preserved, waiting.
"Heavens…"
Fang Han stared, stunned.
A pen taller than a mountain.
The value of a thumb-sized Heaven Crystal was equivalent to ten million pills.
A mountain of it…?
Then disbelief flashed into annoyance.
"I don't believe Heaven Crystal is so hard. If I can destroy the Great Brahma Lightship's hull, I can break a pen!"
He roared, and his life-talisman flared with full force, striking the crystal.
CRACK!
His life-talisman—capable of harming Dao Artifacts—hit with its full might.
The Heaven Crystal remained flawless.
Not a chip.
Not a scratch.
Only a faint vibration—
followed by a tremor through the surrounding crust.
It was as if the "pen" had been sleeping… and Fang Han had just jabbed it awake.
A deep, furious rumble rolled through the earth, like the growl of a colossal beast irritated from slumber.
Then—
Reality folded.
Space warped.
In the blink of an eye, the mountain-sized pen shrank—
ten thousand times—
a hundred thousand times—
collapsing inward until it became a simple brush no larger than a mortal writing tool.
A slim crystal pen with a gleaming tip.
It drew one casual arc in the air.
A stroke filled with the laws of heaven and earth.
And that stroke slashed at Fang Han.
The Heaven Crystal Pen had compressed itself.
A mountain collapsing to a fingertip—
a power similar to the formation of a cosmic black hole.
Fang Han remembered reading in Worlds Without Number about supermassive stars collapsing into "Chaos Holes," swallowing everything—even Longevity Realm cultivators.
And this pen… carried a similar flavor.
"What kind of treasure is this?!"
The pressure nearly crushed his bones.
A dark vortex bloomed before him—pulling, shrinking, eroding all matter and energy.
Ghost Emperor? Ruiyi? the Demon Gods of Nine Yin and Nine Yang?
Worthless.
Even the mysterious master of Taiyuan Mansion or the Ancient Demon Sovereign would treat this thing with caution.
"NO! RUN! I know what this is! Ten to one it's that treasure! We're not even close to its level! One stroke from this pen can sever life and death!"
Yama screamed in terror.
He burst out of the Yellow Springs Diagram in his skeletal form, the Gate of Abaddon opening behind him. A wave of abyssal demonic energy erupted outward, easing the crushing force on Fang Han.
The current Yellow Springs Diagram—combined with Yama—had power comparable to a mid-grade Dao Artifact.
Even so, it could barely keep Fang Han alive.
"Life-talisman—protect me!"
Fang Han recalled his talisman, letting it wrap his body as he tried to flee upward—
Too late.
The Heaven Crystal Pen flicked once.
SPLIT. SPLIT. SPLIT.
The talisman's divine abilities shattered like paper.
The Great Diamond-Iron Handprint, the Ice-Snow Domain, the Infinite Constellation Scripture—
all sliced apart effortlessly.
The crystal pen pierced straight into the core of his life-talisman—
the Five-Emperors Canopy.
If that protective canopy broke, his cultivation would vanish instantly.
The talisman would collapse.
Underground, he would have no chance of survival.
"This is it… life or death!"
Fang Han spat essence blood directly onto the talisman.
The Five-Emperors Canopy erupted into five-colored clouds, five elemental divine thunders exploding outward, colliding with the pen's stroke.
The Five-Emperors Demon God Art, after reaching perfection, was so powerful even Meng Shaobai's Kunpeng Primordial Spirit couldn't break it.
But the Heaven Crystal Pen—
With one casual stroke—
brought the Five-Emperors Canopy to the brink of annihilation.
Fang Han realized with horror:
This pen could kill the Ghost Emperor with a flick.
This pen could slice through top-grade Dao artifacts.
This pen might rival Wind Whitefeather's Celestial Emperor Mirror.
And it was treating him like a child.
His mind roared:
What kind of nightmare treasure have I awakened?!