The "Reincarnation Incantation" cast by the Yellow Springs Diagram could conceal all of one's own aura, including the aura of the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, as well as the various sensations of the World Tree.
Daoist Wood was a wood attribute demon. Toward wood attribute sacred objects and wood attribute divine abilities, he possessed an extremely intense sensation, something akin to a primal sensing. If he were allowed to continuously sense like this, Fang Han would exhaust his magic power before he could escape back to the Yuhua Sect. One must know that a Giant of Ages has a long-lasting breath and can use their own intent to absorb the Immortal World's origin energy. It had the same function as the World Tree.
In a contest of long-lasting breath, Fang Han absolutely could not compete against the combined forces of two Giants of Ages right now.
The greatest ability of a Giant of Ages was to use their own divine sense to open the void, continuously extracting origin energy from the Immortal World, reaching the realm of everlasting qi consumption. Those who consume qi attain immortal godhood, which is everlasting longevity.
In Fang Han's battle against the Giants of Ages, the biggest weakness was that the advantage of the World Tree had been offset, leaving him with no advantage whatsoever in terms of long-lasting magic power.
Therefore, he decided to temporarily avoid their sharp edge.
Using the Reincarnation Incantation to hide for a while, the longer the time, the thicker the accumulated magic power would be. The greater the certainty of successfully escaping back to the Yuhua Sect. Otherwise, if he kept flying like this, the consumption of magic power would be severe. Before even flying back to the Yuhua Sect, he would already be completely devoid of strength. That would be even worse when the time came.
Although Fang Han had passed the Wind and Fire Tribulation, and the five seas of consciousness in his mind had completely doubled in size, the three newly added supreme divine abilities of the Golden Core were also existences that extremely consumed magic power, especially the Great Pudu Zen Light, which consumed magic power fiercely. Magic power was the highly condensed and transformed state of spirit.
Buddhist cultivation methods all cultivated the mind and tempered the spirit, consuming magic power even more than the Immortal Dao.
The moment he cast the "Reincarnation Incantation," Fang Han transformed into the Soul-Reaping Scholar, completely hiding his physical aura. Aiming at a densely populated place in the mortal world, he suddenly projected himself downward. In the blink of an eye, within the bustling crowd of a massive city, an extra scholar appeared.
This city was extremely prosperous. Although it could not compare to the Great Xuan Empire, it was roughly on par with Longyuan Province where Fang Han resided. There were spacious buildings and mansions everywhere, and various figures of all trades and backgrounds: beggars, merchants, scholars, warriors, street vendors, street performers, storytellers, as well as some lavishly decorated carriages carrying the precious young ladies of wealthy families. Beside the carriages, maidservants were in attendance. They were heading to the Daoist temples to offer incense to the Immortal Dao Ancestral Master, praying for peace.
As soon as Fang Han stood on a main street of this city, a thick mortal aura rushed against his face. Simply engaging his ears slightly, all sorts of sounds entered his mind, allowing him to understand what this place was in an instant.
"Stinky tofu, selling stinky tofu… My ancestors served as imperial chefs in the royal palace. In this dynasty, before the founding grandfather rose to power, he loved a bite of our Heji stinky tofu."
"Last time we spoke of that Immortal Liu, who with a single swish spat out a flying sword. Its white light spanned ten thousand feet, covering the light of the sun and the moon. The wicked dragon in the Old Dragon Pool was immediately frightened out of its wits…" This was a storyteller telling a tale in a teahouse.
"Brother Wang, what do you think the topic will be for this imperial metropolitan examination? Which chief examiner will be presiding? When we write our essays, we must figure out the chief examiner's preferences. Otherwise, even if the essay is written beautifully, it will be of no use whatsoever. You will still be failed." At the entrance of an academy, several scholars wearing Confucian robes and cyan shirts walked out, conversing as they walked.
"Pity our ten years of studying by the cold window, bitterly reading the books of sages, it all comes down to this one imperial examination. After I pass the exam, I must go to the Spring Breeze Pavilion, properly call upon two girls, and have a good time."
"Indeed. We have bitterly studied for many years, and once we rise to prominence, life is short. If we do not enjoy pleasure in time, then when we are old and the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, that will be the true sorrow."
"Rather than speaking of enjoying pleasure after passing the exam, it is better to enjoy pleasure right now. Let us go to the Spring Breeze Pavilion directly. Just now, my family sent me a hundred taels of silver, we can go and have a blast."
"Young Master, please awaken your kindness. Give us poor folks a bite to eat, commit good deeds and accumulate virtue." A middle-aged woman, carrying a child on her back, both of them wearing tattered clothes, especially the child whose face was filthy and who was sucking his fingers with his mouth, knelt down in front of Fang Han: "In this imperial examination, Young Master will definitely score the top champion."
Seeing that the middle-aged woman and the child were pitiful, Fang Han moved his palm and tossed out a piece of silver.
In the Yellow Springs Diagram, there was also plenty of gold and silver. It was from the last time he killed the Absolute Death Island Master and emptied an entire island of gold and silver. However, these were of no use to Fang Han. Casually tossing out a piece would be enough for many people in the mortal world to live for a very long time.
"Ah, Young Master will enjoy nobility for ten thousand generations!" A heavy, large silver ingot materialized in the middle-aged woman's hands. She seemed unable to believe her own eyes. After confirming it, she kowtowed repeatedly, but Fang Han had already walked away.
"Life is short. A few decades of time, even for emperors, generals, and ministers who enjoy pleasure in time, it passes in a flash, like a dream or a bubble. Furthermore, the poor whose lifetime of food and clothing is unsettled are even more impoverished and miserable. Where is the unfettered freedom of the Immortal Dao! Bitter, bitter, bitter, all living beings are bitter!"
This was the first time Fang Han had stepped into the mortal world since cultivating the Immortal Dao. Feeling the myriad states of human affairs in the mortal world, he could not help but generate a trace of compassion for the mortal masses.
In his eyes, the brief span of time, birth, aging, sickness, death, wealth, and glory, were all suffering.
Suddenly, he thought of Immortal Venerable Linglong's Great Aspiration Technique, the Great Vow.
At this moment, he also wanted to make a Great Vow, to save the world, to deliver millions of living beings from the sea of suffering, so they all might cultivate the Immortal Dao.
However, he did not issue it forth.
"My current power is not enough to bear such a great vow. I haven't even cultivated myself to everlasting longevity, what qualifications do I have to cross others? To save others? Immortal Venerable Linglong has that kind of strength to bear such a great vow, but I do not."
Fang Han's mind was very clear; right now, he was still in the midst of danger.
Boom!
Just as he was comprehending the various aspects of the mortal world and the myriad of human affairs, suddenly, he felt wave after wave of powerful divine sense radiating down from the highest heavens. A formless divine sense enveloped the entire area of a thousand miles, searching inch by inch. Especially every person within this city was swept over by the divine sense.
"Not good, Daoist Dragon and Daoist Wood have caught up. Is my Reincarnation Incantation totally useless?" Fang Han was startled, knowing that the majestic divine sense in the sky belonged to Daoist Dragon and Daoist Wood.
"No, if Daoist Dragon and Daoist Wood had found you, they would have just struck down directly. Using divine sense to search now proves they haven't found you. They lost your trace. However, their divine sense is extremely powerful. With a single sweep, at the very least, everyone in this city will be swept by them and subjected to various analyses. It's possible they might lock onto you. Giants of Ages in the Longevity Secret Realm are terrifyingly scary; with one sweep of their divine sense, they can count exactly how many ants there are in this city. You don't have such powerful divine sense right now, so you cannot open the void to extract Immortal World origin energy." Yan said: "Therefore, you have to act more like a scholar."
"Act more like a scholar?"
Fang Han perceived that the powerful divine sense in the sky was constantly lingering. Just as he was considering how to act like a scholar, a voice suddenly transmitted from the side of the road: "Word reading and fortune telling, calculating one's future. Past and future, all can be deduced. Knowing five hundred years in the past, and five hundred years in the future."
Fang Han hurriedly looked over and discovered a fortune-telling stall by the roadside, casually draped with white cloth. Behind the stall sat an old man, looking exceedingly aged, shouting weakly without a single speck of immortal demeanor or spiritual aura. Anyone could tell he was just scraping by. Therefore, not a single person patronized his fortune-telling stall.
"Fortune telling? Do people in the mortal world truly understand fate? Destiny is illusory and endlessly changing. Even an expert like Immortal Venerable Linglong cannot grasp the destiny of the future, yet a lowly fortune teller dares to claim he knows five hundred years in the past and five hundred years in the future? I exactly need to pretend to be a scholar and conceal myself a bit."
As Fang Han spoke, he walked up, pulled out a large piece of silver, and tossed it onto the table. This startled the old man, who stared blankly at the silver, and then, with dim, aged eyes, looked at Fang Han weakly: "Young Master, what do you wish to calculate?"
"Nothing much, just taking care of your business and accumulating some merit. I am here this time to participate in the imperial examination." Fang Han smiled slightly: "At a glance, you are not a real fortune teller. I just want to hear some auspicious words from your mouth. Come, say something pleasant. I uphold the Way of the Sages, the righteous principles of the Confucian school, and originally do not believe in fate. However, before the exam, the pressure is high. If you speak well, all this silver will go entirely to you."
"Is that so?" The feeble, fortune-telling old man looked lazily at the silver, stared at Fang Han for quite a while, and then finally spoke: "Young man, you are not a scholar at all. And you are not here to calculate regarding the imperial examination either."
"Oh? How so?" Fang Han sat down at the stall by the roadside. He actually knew that some fortune tellers in the mortal world liked to do the unexpected to disrupt others' states of mind, fish out some useful information, and then casually improvise to frighten people into shock, and then have them obediently hand over money.
"You have just passed a tribulation, but the moment one tribulation subsides, another arises. You are here to evade a tribulation. Your destiny is fraught with tribulations; this is also because you have created too many karmic sins in the past." The lazy old man tapped his finger against the tabletop.
Listening to this, Fang Han couldn't help but be startled. He immediately used his gaze to observe this lazy old man. After looking for a long time, he discovered that this old man, wearing a black front-buttoned jacket, had emaciated fingers and clearly looked entirely weathered by hardships. His face was lined with deep gullies, having withstood the baptism of time.
This was simply an ordinary old man in the mortal world. Nothing miraculous about him. Furthermore, there was absolutely no fluctuation of magic power emanating from his body.
"What tribulation could I possibly have? You're speaking a bit too mystically, aren't you." Fang Han shook his head, sneering repeatedly. "What karmic sins have I created?"
"Mysterious, mysterious, mysterious, do not treat tribulations as trivial matters…" The old man looked up at the sky and sighed: "A tribulation is an inner demon, and an inner demon is a tribulation. Everything in this world is the evolution of inner demons."