Fang Han had originally expected to uncover some hidden treasure during this venture… yet he had almost been killed by the treasure instead. And that treasure turned out to be the legendary Human Emperor Pen. Even after returning to the surface, his heart still throbbed with lingering fear.
This time, he had truly brushed past death.
Still, the ordeal hadn't been without gain. Under the crushing pressure of the Human Emperor Pen, his cultivation had taken another leap. Though he failed to condense a true Golden Core, the moment he unleashed his life talisman, it transformed again into a phantom core—far more potent than before. In combat, this would be a devastating ace for surprise attacks.
Of course, it came at a cost—his blood essence.
Having clashed head-on with the Human Emperor Pen, Fang Han had burned through a massive amount of blood and qi. The weakness lingering in his limbs made it clear that he absolutely could not use Golden Phoenix Slash to teleport in midair right now. His physical body needed further refinement.
Perched atop a barren yellow dirt hill in the middle of the wilderness, he sat and regulated his breath. But no healing technique seemed to work. At last, he activated the Sealing God Technique—and as he'd suspected, this art was practically made for bodily recovery. The six strands of divine sealing qi descending from the void merged into his organs, nourishing his blood and qi, turning into a warm current that swept across his entire body.
Simultaneously, he triggered the healing aspect of the Five-Emperor Demon Divinity. With both divine arts operating together, warmth flooded every pore. His entire being felt as if submerged in a rejuvenating hot spring.
It was early spring—March—and the air around him was thick with vitality. When Fang Han activated the Wood Emperor Art within the Five-Emperor Divine Ability, wood-attribute spiritual energy from a thousand miles surged toward him, spiraling around him in emerald clouds.
Even this desolate hill—once barren and lifeless—began sprouting grass. Seeds carried here by wind or beast began to germinate under the influence of the Wood Emperor's force. Wildflowers bloomed in clusters.
Three days and three nights passed.
Fang Han emerged from meditation fully healed. He shot to his feet. In his mind, the four deadly strokes of the Human Emperor Pen replayed themselves vividly—their structure, intent, power. As he studied them, he absorbed new insights: profound truths of martial arts, methods of channeling heavenly essence, refinements for divine abilities, even the process of crystal ore collapsing into spatial singularities.
Every recollection deepened his realm. The experience was priceless.
To survive an encounter with a treasure like the Human Emperor Pen—once an immortal artifact—was a fortune beyond measure.
"Strange…" Fang Han frowned. "If the Human Emperor Pen is this terrifying, then the Heavenly Emperor Mirror must be no less extraordinary. How did our sect master Feng Baiyu acquire it back then? It's said that three thousand years ago, he had only just reached the Undying Body realm. There's no way he could have subdued such a treasure. Did he have some incredible encounter? And when he used the mirror… why did its artifact spirit never appear?"
His gaze shifted across the surrounding landscape—now transformed. What was once a dry, lifeless land had become a sea of flowers and thriving greenery. All of it caused by his Wood Emperor qi.
"Hmph. I can't casually unleash Wood Emperor qi anymore. Otherwise, everywhere I go will turn into a blessed land full of budding plant spirits—and eventually full-fledged wood demons."
The Wood Emperor force he wielded wasn't just the original art—it carried the unique ability of the World Tree. With the World Tree's essence in his body, his Wood Emperor qi had become something unparalleled in history.
After another sigh, he rose and shot into the clouds, disappearing instantly.
Far beneath the earth—deep under what Pure Fox had called the "Demon-Sealing Ridge"—a strange transformation was taking place.
Fifty thousand zhang underground, the world was a hellish sea of magma and fire—purgatory itself. Space-time storms twisted and shredded everything. Even cultivators at the second stage of the Longevity Realm—Undying Body—would struggle to survive here.
Amid this inferno, in a corner of the blazing ocean of lava, magma had taken the form of countless enormous fire dragons, woven into an ancient formation spanning thousands of miles. At its center, bound by iron chains, hung a single figure.
A human.
His hair was wild, unkempt—yet impossibly long and silver-white, flowing down for three thousand feet like a cascading waterfall.
He sat motionless, as though meditating.
Suddenly, the faintest wisp of green qi drifted down from above.
His head of white hair stirred—and instantly folded into a formation, capturing the wisp of green and drawing it in.
"The aura of the World Tree! The World Tree!" his voice thundered through the hellscape. "Why did it disappear? Bring more!"
The entire fire-dragon formation trembled violently.
At that moment, a crystalline pen appeared above the magma sea. With a flurry of strokes—hundreds in an instant—it drew a massive talisman that slammed downward, compressing the furnace's flames and forcing them into the formation. The fire dragons swelled in power, tightening their grip around the imprisoned man.
"Human Emperor Pen!" he roared. "You won't bind me forever!"
His gaze—hidden within the three-thousand-zhang white hair—opened briefly, resembling twin bottomless black holes… before falling silent again.
"Something happened just now, right? I felt a huge shock."
Starcloud, the little spirit inside the Sun-Moon Five-Star Bracelet, awakened just in time to see Fang Han flying through the sky.
"Your Future Star Scripture makes you fall asleep pretty easily," Fang Han said helplessly. "You cultivate by dreaming into the future—no wonder you drift off so often."
Starcloud had reached the peak of the Yin-Yang Realm—one step from the Heaven-Man Realm. Once he broke through, Fang Han could strip the Sealing God Technique from Zhao Xuanyi's Golden Core and merge it into his own talisman, possibly triggering another metamorphosis—maybe even ascending to the Golden Core realm.
Normally, Fang Han would need years—three to five at least, maybe decades—to condense a Golden Core. The more divine abilities one possessed, the harder the condensation. But once forged, the benefits were immense.
He could brute-force his breakthrough by refining Zhao Xuanyi's Golden Core and discarding the other divine abilities within it—keeping only the Sealing God Technique. But that would be a waste. Zhao Xuanyi's twenty-seven divine powers had taken centuries to cultivate. Discarding them would be unforgivable.
Starcloud was the perfect vessel to inherit them.
Suddenly, Pure Fox's voice came from the Yellow Springs Diagram:
"Fang Han, that treasure underground was terrifying. But you actually pushed your life talisman to its peak, turning it into a phantom core—you're only half a step from a real Golden Core! If you could obtain Nirvana Pills, you'd break through for sure! You'd become a young overlord—unrivaled among all below the Longevity Realm!"
She hesitated, then said, "How about this—I'll make a deal with you. I know where to find Nirvana Pills. If I tell you, you let me go. I can even swear on my fox clan's ancestral oath never to reveal what happened today."
"You said there were Nirvana Pills under Demon-Sealing Ridge," Fang Han replied coldly. "Yet I almost died. Clearly, you overheard the rumor somewhere and fabricated the rest to lure me in."
He paused, thinking. "Fine. Tell me where the Nirvana Pills really are. I'll decide whether releasing you is worth it."
"No way!" she snapped. "Promise to let me go first, then I'll tell you. And I guarantee you'll be able to get them!"
"You guarantee?" Fang Han laughed. "If you could get them, you would've gotten them already. The only place you could possibly 'guarantee' access to Nirvana Pills is…"
His eyes sharpened.
"…the Grand Treasure Auction of the Da Xuan Empire."
Pure Fox froze. "You—you—you—how did you guess that?!"
Fang Han smirked.
"You want to escape? And you think such a simple trick can fool me?"
Pure Fox shrieked, furious and flustered:
"You monster! Even my fox clan with all our schemes isn't as vicious or terrifying as you!"