He originally thought he could discover some treasure this time, but he never expected to almost be killed by the treasure, and that this treasure was actually the legendary "Human Emperor Pen". Having finally tunneled out of the ground, Fang Han still felt some lingering shock in his heart.
This time was truly dangerous; he had almost been killed.
However, it was also considered a gain. Under the pressure of the "Human Emperor Pen", his cultivation made another breakthrough. Although he didn't manage to condense a Golden Core, if he fought someone and sacrificed his natal talisman, transforming into a false core again, his power would increase greatly. It was a good method for performing a deadly sneak attack.
Of course, it would require wasting some essence blood.
Just now, fighting the "Human Emperor Pen" head-on had consumed a massive amount of essence, blood, and origin energy. Fang Han could feel his body weakening. In this state, he did not dare use the power of the Metal Emperor Slash to perform instantaneous movement in the air. It seemed his fleshly body needed to be further tempered.
Sitting on a yellow earth mound in this barren mountain ridge, Fang Han adjusted his breathing for a while. He found that none of the healing methods were very effective, so he once again activated the "God Sealing Grand Magic". Sure enough, this grand magic seemed to be a sacred art for tempering the body and recovering from injuries. With just a slight circulation, six streams of God Sealing origin energy transmitted from the void were absorbed into his organs. Merging with his qi and blood, they turned into a warm current flowing throughout his entire body.
In this instant, Fang Han also operated the healing methods of the Five Emperors Supreme Demonic Ability. Executing both divine abilities simultaneously, his whole body soon felt warm, as if bathing in a hot spring; every pore was exuding a spring breeze.
At this time, it was exactly the third lunar month of bright spring, and the air everywhere was filled with a mighty spring breeze. The spiritual essence of grass and trees was flourishing. With Fang Han activating the Five Emperors Supreme Demonic Ability, the "Green Emperor Wood Emperor Art" spread out. The spiritual essence of grass and trees within a radius of a thousand miles all gathered over, constantly revolving around Fang Han, turning the air into clusters of green.
On the entirely barren yellow earth mound, dense green grass gradually began to grow. Many seeds of various flowers drawn in by the Wood Emperor Astral Qi also took root and sprouted here, and many unknown wildflowers bloomed competitively.
A full three days and three nights passed before Fang Han awakened from his meditation. All his injuries were completely healed. He abruptly stood up, his mind echoing with the four strokes and the pen tip of the "Human Emperor Pen" attacking him. This supreme treasure of heaven and earth, a former immortal artifact, possessed a profoundness in its strokes that almost surpassed all divine abilities.
Every time he reminisced, he would comprehend something new—whether it was the ultimate principles of martial arts, the methods to absorb heaven and earth origin energy, the techniques to operate divine abilities, or even the process of Heavenly Crystal Stones collapsing to generate a primal chaos hole. This improved his realm step by step, and his cultivation experience was also increasing.
Being able to fight something like the "Human Emperor Pen" and survive yielded exceedingly precious experience.
"Strange? This Human Emperor Pen is so powerful, the Heaven Emperor Mirror must definitely be extraordinary as well. How did the Headmaster Supreme, Feng Baiyu, obtain it back then? Rumors say that three thousand years ago, he had only cultivated to the Undying Body; logically, he couldn't have subdued the Heaven Emperor Mirror. Could there have been some fortuitous encounter? Moreover, I didn't see the artifact spirit of the Heaven Emperor Mirror appear when he took action."
Fang Han suddenly thought of Feng Baiyu's Heaven Emperor Mirror, while simultaneously casting his gaze around. To his surprise, there were birds singing and flowers blooming everywhere. Fields of flowers and green grass covered all the yellow earth hilltops. A place that was originally a barren wasteland had now turned into a sea of flowers, clearly the doing of his Wood Emperor Astral Qi.
"Looks like I can't casually use the Wood Emperor Astral Qi in the future; otherwise, everywhere will turn into a heavenly grotto-blessed land, and even plant spirits and demons might multiply."
Thinking about it, he sighed, flew back up, shot into the clouds like lightning, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Indeed, if his Wood Emperor Astral Qi was sprinkled even a little bit onto an ordinary tree, it could enlighten that tree into a spirit, eventually transforming it into a demon.
This was unmatched by the original "Wood Emperor Astral Qi" because of the abilities derived from the essence of the World Tree. Now that Fang Han possessed the World Tree, the Wood Emperor Astral Qi he had was unprecedented and unrepeatable.
Right after Fang Han left, tens of thousands of feet underground in the place the Pure Fox Little Demon Girl called "Demon Sealing Ridge", a cryptic change was taking place.
Underground, at a depth of a full fifty thousand feet, everywhere was an expansive sea of magma and fire, a place of purgatory. This was already deep into the core of the earth. Within the fiery sea of magma, clusters of spatial and temporal storms tore through everywhere, created by extremely intense fire power. To reach this place, one would have to pass through an unknown number of rock faults to get down.
Even experts who had cultivated to the second layer of the Longevity Secret Realm, the Undying Body, would likely find it very difficult to reach here.
Boundless purgatory fire seas and spatial and temporal storms, mixed with origin magnetic explosions and many torn spatial faults… This complex, volatile, and harsh environment was no longer a place where any living creature could exist.
However, in one corner of this purgatory fire sea, one could faintly see many massive fire dragons formed from magma composing a profound array that spanned thousands of miles, approaching ten thousand miles. In the center of this great fire dragon array, a person was bound by iron chains.
There was no mistake, it was a person.
This person had disheveled hair, and the long hair appeared silver-white, actually reaching three thousand feet long. Like a waterfall, it was truly three thousand feet of white hair.
It remained motionless, seeming to be cultivating some technique.
Right at this time, a subtle wisp of green aura suddenly transmitted from above, and it immediately sensed it. Swish! This person's hair abruptly assembled into a grand array, actually absorbing that wisp of green aura inside.
"The aura of the World Tree! It's the aura of the World Tree!" It let out waves of shouts, "Why is there no more? Come a little more!"
The entire fire dragon array seemed ready to collapse due to the voice it emitted.
Right at this moment, a crystal pen appeared above the purgatory fire sea, drawing hundreds of strokes in a row, crafting an extremely massive talisman that rumbled down to suppress it. Instantly, all the flames in the purgatory fire sea gathered in that direction, the fire dragons doubled in size, and locked it down viciously tight.
"Human Emperor Pen! You will not bind me for much longer."
It let out a roar, then quieted down, and eyes like black holes revealed themselves amidst the three thousand feet of white hair…
"What happened just now? I felt a massive shock." Inside the Sun Moon Five Stars Bracelet, Star Cloud Baby woke up and saw Fang Han flying in the sky.
"Does cultivating the Future Star Constellation Grand Magic make you sleep easily? Wandering into the future through your dreams while sleeping, gathering power, and comprehending the realm?" Fang Han looked at the newly appeared Star Cloud Baby with a helpless, amused expression. However, he knew that cultivating the Future Star Constellation Grand Magic allowed Star Cloud Baby to easily comprehend the realm in his dreams.
Star Cloud Baby had already cultivated to the divine ability fourth layer, the peak of the Yin Yang Realm, and was just a tiny bit away from breaking through to the "fifth layer, the Heaven and Human Realm" to refine the Golden Core.
His breakthrough would also bring a qualitative breakthrough for Fang Han.
Because Fang Han could then peel the God Sealing Grand Magic out from Zhao Xuanyi's Golden Core and merge it into his own talisman. Perhaps it would undergo a transformation and ascend to the Golden Core realm, it was hard to say.
Originally, it would take him a very long time of tempering to advance to the Golden Core realm—from three to five years at the shortest, to over a decade, or even a sixty-year cycle at the longest. The more divine abilities one possessed, the harder it was to condense a Golden Core; this was an ironclad rule. But the more divine abilities there were, once the Golden Core was condensed, the life span would be longer, and the benefits greater.
From the sixth layer to the seventh layer of the Divine Ability realm, transitioning from a natal talisman to a natal Golden Core was the most important foundation-building process of the Divine Ability realm.
Actually, to elevate his realm right now, Fang Han could also lay all his cards on the table and refine Zhao Xuanyi's Golden Core, extracting only its core the "God Sealing Grand Magic" and discarding all other divine abilities. But that would be too wasteful.
The twenty-seven divine abilities of Zhao Xuanyi's Golden Core took hundreds of years and various fortuitous encounters to successfully cultivate. If discarded, it would simply be recklessly wasting divine gifts.
Giving it to Star Cloud Baby was the best choice. Of course, he could give it to Fang Qingxue as well, but Fang Han hoped to control some affairs of the Myriad Stars Sect through Star Cloud Baby to exert pressure on Hua Tiandu.
"Fang Han, I never imagined that we would actually encounter such a terrifying magical artifact underground. But you broke through your realm and were actually able to elevate your talisman to the absolute peak, turning it into a false core. It's only a tiny half-step away from a true Golden Core. If you receive the help of a Nirvana Pill, you will definitely be able to break through your realm and truly forge a Golden Core! When that time comes, you will truly become a little titan across the ages." Suddenly, the Pure Fox Little Demon Girl who had been taken into the Yellow Spring Diagram said, "How about this, let me make a deal with you. I know where there is a Nirvana Pill. After I tell you, you set me free, okay? I can even swear upon my fox clan's ancestors not to leak today's incident."
"Didn't you say there was a Nirvana Pill hidden beneath this Demon Sealing Ridge treasure trove? And as a result, I almost lost my life. It turns out you just casually heard rumors of a Nirvana Pill outside, made one up, and lured me onto the hook." Hearing this, Fang Han remained silent for a while, seeming to be pondering the credibility of this girl. "Speak, where is the Nirvana Pill. Tell me, and I'll see if I can obtain it before letting you go."
"No, you have to promise me first, then I'll tell you where the Nirvana Pill is. And I guarantee you will be able to obtain it." The Pure Fox Little Demon Girl said cunningly, "Otherwise, I won't speak even if I die. You are about to break through to the Golden Core soon, reaching the heavens in a single bound! Becoming a little titan across the ages, greatly increasing your Dharma power! Your status in the Ascension Gate will also rise along with it. With your cultivation, after forging a Golden Core, you'll probably be the number one person beneath the Longevity Secret Realm, comparable to some old antiques at the tenth layer of the Divine Ability realm who have trained in seclusion for a thousand years."
"Guarantee I can get it…" Fang Han suddenly sneered. "Little girl, trying to play your sly tricks in front of me is a bit too premature. That kind of thing like a Nirvana Pill, if it could be obtained, you would have already taken it. To guarantee I can get it, then there is only one possibility of where it exists, and that is at the Grand Xuan Empire's Treasure Selling Convention. Just passing this piece of news to me to get yourself out, isn't that a bit too easy? Are you playing me?"
"You! You you you you you… You could even guess that?" The Pure Fox Little Demon Girl seemed to choke in the Yellow Spring Diagram. "You are simply a devil! Even my fox clan is full of schemes and endless plots, but is there anyone as malicious and sinister as you?"