"For such a formidable treasure artifact like the Seven Malice Gourd, you just want it whenever you want it—that's simply unreasonable. But this person is an expert in the Divine Ability Realm, an authentic disciple. I must make a prompt decision! Otherwise, he can finish me off with a single move."
Fang Han recognized Jin Shitai and knew he was the authentic disciple presiding over the Emerald Flame Peak, even more elusive than the Shura. He was absolutely not his match; even if he used his flying swords and the Blood Cotton Demon Garment, he would still not be his opponent.
The difference between the Divine Ability Realm and the Physical Body Realm was too immense—a difference between heaven and earth, clouds and mud.
While Jin Shitai was speaking, Fang Han shook the "Seven Malice Gourd." Instantly, dense rolling smoke poured out from it—it was actually the "Heavenly Wolf Seven Malice Smoke."
This wolf smoke first wrapped his own body into a dharma sphere, making him invulnerable, and at the same time enveloped Fang Qingxue within it. The wolf smoke dharma sphere initiated its defense first.
Facing an opponent like Jin Shitai, there was fundamentally no possibility of victory. He could only risk everything on the power of the treasure artifact, defending with all his might, waiting for Fang Qingxue to refine the demonic energy and wake up.
The webbing between his thumb and forefinger had been torn by the Shura's massive force, and fresh blood was flowing continuously from it. When he grabbed the "Seven Malice Gourd," his fresh blood had already tainted the gourd's spiritual nature, instantly creating a close and inseparable blood-and-flesh connection with the gourd. When Fang Qingxue seized the gourd, she had already used her divine ability to obliterate the spirit of blood inside, so whoever dropped their blood first would own it.
"Junior! How bold! You actually dare to disobey orders!"
Jin Shitai also did not expect Fang Han to be so resolute, deploying the wolf smoke defense of the "Seven Malice Gourd" without even answering a word. His expression inadvertently changed, revealing a hint of malice, clearly enraged.
"Fine. I will kill you, this junior, today. Do you think that by relying on a single treasure artifact, you can resist an expert in the Divine Ability Realm? You are too naive!"
While speaking, Jin Shitai waved both his hands. Instantly, seven streaks of emerald flame shot through the air like sword auras! The flames blasted through the air, emitting long, rumbling cries.
Above the desert, the scorching sun hung in the sky. Originally, it was an expanse of golden yellow, but Jin Shitai's emerald flames illuminated the several surrounding miles into a glowing green, turning the golden sand dunes into green mountains and blue waters.
Fang Han knew that this was the Emerald Flame Seven Cultivations Divine Radiance! It was one of the Ascension Sect's Eight Great Divine Abilities. Ranked alongside the Purple Lightning Yin Thunder Blade, one was fire and the other was electricity, each with its own strengths.
"Bang bang bang…" Bang bang…
A continuous succession of emerald flames crashed against the wolf smoke dharma sphere, actually producing sounds like a heavy iron hammer striking a bell, shocking Fang Han so much that his qi and blood churned. However, the Emerald Flame Seven Cultivations Divine Radiance abruptly failed to blast through the wolf smoke dharma sphere. It merely shook the surrounding wolf smoke so that it shot out in all directions, the smoke clouds surging like crashing waves.
"Jin Shitai! Senior Sister Fang and you are both disciples of the Ascension Sect! Why have you struck such a venomous blow! Could it be that you have betrayed the immortal path and entered a demonic sect! If you don't cease this act of mutual slaughter among fellow disciples, I will treat it as if nothing happened; otherwise, I will spread the word, letting everyone from top to bottom in the Ascension Sect know the circumstances of you brutalizing a fellow disciple. According to the Ascension Sect's rules, authentic disciples cannot slaughter one another; they can only decide victory or defeat on the Heavenly Punishment Platform! Betraying sect rules is treated as betraying the sect!"
Fang Han exerted all his strength and roared out a string of words. In the All Worlds book, the rules of the Ascension Sect were recorded. Fang Han occasionally read it and remembered several crucial points clearly. Now, questioning Jin Shitai felt like a fish in water.
"Hahahahaha, hahahaha…" Hearing Fang Han's words, Jin Shitai acted as if he had heard the most laughable remark in the world. "A petty outer disciple like you knows what a sect rule is? You ant-like thing! I won't bother talking nonsense with you. I will collect this Heavenly Wolf Smoke and let you be smashed to pieces!"
"True Qi Grappling Art!"
Amidst Jin Shitai's sharp roar, the seven streaks of emerald flame suddenly transformed, turning into a giant hand that scooped down viciously. It grabbed hold of the surging wolf smoke and lifted it upward with ferocious force.
Sizzle, sizzle sizzle sizzle… The raging emerald flames burned fiercely, wrapping Fang Han so tightly in the blink of an eye that not a drop of water could leak out. Looking all around, everything was an emerald green hue; he had completely fallen into the flames.
Fang Han felt his head heat up, and his body was subjected to a tens of thousands of catties strong lifting force, seemingly trying to pull the wolf smoke out. And the emerald flames crackled, as if directly burning inside his mind, wanting to bake and vaporize his brain matter and his mind directly.
His consciousness began to blur.
This was his first time fighting an expert in the Divine Ability Realm, and he didn't expect the opponent to be this formidable, that even a treasure artifact was not a match.
"Be careful, he is refining your spirit of blood. If you guard your consciousness, you can protect the Seven Malice Gourd from being lost; otherwise, the moment your consciousness blurs, this gourd will fall into his hands."
At this critical juncture, a voice in his mind awakened him—it was actually Yan, who had just disappeared!
"Yan, where did you go just now? Why did you disappear?" Fang Han was startled and overjoyed to the extreme.
"I merely hid myself using a minor technique. Look at your body!" Yan said with utmost caution. Fang Han looked and saw that on the skin of his upper body, a diagram was gradually emerging, like a tattoo, indistinguishable from his own flesh and blood.
The original Yellow Springs Dragon Diagram was worn as an inner garment, but now it had turned into his own tattoo! This transformation connected them even more deeply by flesh and blood.
A dragon and a Yellow Springs River coiled on the skin of Fang Han's upper body. Such a tattoo added endless demonic energy to Fang Han, as if a Demonic Sect Great Emperor had been reborn to dominate heaven and earth, devour the universe, and forge peerless divine abilities sharing longevity with heaven and earth and rivaling the brilliance of the sun and moon.
"It actually turned into a tattoo!" Fang Han said in pleasant surprise.
"I told you long ago, the Nine Orifices Golden Pill contains the blood of the Yellow Springs Great Emperor, and the Yellow Springs Diagram also has the blood of the Yellow Springs Great Emperor. The two are one body, inseparable. If you cultivate to the Longevity Realm, you can truly integrate the Yellow Springs Diagram into your own blood, and your magic power will probably be more profound than the Ascension Sect's supreme master. But right now, it is of no use. It's just for hiding."
Yan's form appeared directly in his mind, bringing a lot of coolness to Fang Han, making it so the emerald flames could not shake Fang Han's consciousness and spirit for a short while.
Although the firepower of the emerald flames was blocked by the wolf smoke, the fire poison could directly attack Fang Han's spirit, making his spirit lose its guard, thereby leading to defeat and death.
"Oh no, if you appear like this and Fang Qingxue sees…" Fang Han was suddenly startled.
"It doesn't matter. Fang Qingxue was hit by the Heavenly Demon Great Hand Seal, and is now putting all her effort into refining the demonic energy. She cannot spare a single shred of spirit, and any events outside will not be felt by her. Otherwise, do you think she would willingly hand the Seven Malice Gourd over to you? This is a treasure artifact, a good item cultivated by the Demon God, far more profound than the Heavenly Rooster Extreme Yang Rope. But the gourd is a pure yin magical treasure and contains demonic energy, making it unsuitable for me to eat, otherwise, I really wouldn't be able to hold back."
Yan licked its lips.
"Since that is the case, if I place my seven flying swords into the Seven Malice Gourd and urge the Seven Kill Sword Array inside, it might cause Jin Shitai to suffer a big loss," Fang Han said viciously.
"Inappropriate. The Seven Malice Gourd is extremely profound. Back then, the Demon God intended to cultivate these gourds in bulk, but ultimately did not succeed; otherwise, the Demon God Sect's power would have probably swollen and suppressed all other sects. If you put the seven flying swords inside, I fear you won't be able to retrieve them. What if Fang Qingxue takes the gourd afterward and sees an extra seven flying swords inside—how would you explain that? Wouldn't your secret be exposed?"
"Bulk cultivation… If this gourd could be cultivated in bulk, and every disciple of the Demon God Sect had one, wouldn't they be invincible under heaven?" Fang Han thought about it. If the hundreds of thousands of disciples in the Ascension Sect all had a Seven Malice Gourd, what kind of scene would that be?
"Inside the Seven Malice Gourd, there are still many marvelous uses; observe it for yourself. If it were relying solely on the wolf smoke, it's impossible that Wang Molin could have resisted Fang Qingxue for so long. You have to know, Fang Qingxue's magic power is much higher than Jin Shitai's, and her realm is fully two tiers higher. Jin Shitai is only in the second tier of the Divine Ability Realm, the True Essence Realm, while Fang Qingxue is in the fourth tier, the Yin-Yang Realm."
"Alright, let me look." Having obtained Yan's help, temporarily Jin Shitai couldn't do anything to him outside, so Fang Han sent a sliver of spirit to probe the interior of the Seven Malice Gourd.
The interior of the Seven Malice Gourd actually had layer after layer, like shelves, with forty-nine compartments. Some compartments were completely empty, while inside other compartments, there seemed to be poisonous bugs wriggling. Seven of the compartments were filled with smoke. They were actually storing a massive amount of Heavenly Wolf Smoke.
This Heavenly Wolf Smoke, although smoke, was unusually heavy, akin to mercury.
"Hmm? What is that?"
Subsequently, Fang Han saw that at the very bottom of the Seven Malice Gourd, there were seven compartments shaped like sword scabbards. Below the compartments was actually a painting. Drawn on the painting were numerous sword postures and stances, flowing continuously, as if millions of swordsmen were constantly practicing swordplay.
Those seven sword scabbard compartments were completely empty, lacking a single flying sword. Evidently, as long as one placed seven flying swords inside, they could urge the sword postures and unleash inconceivable power.
"This Wang Molin actually didn't even have a single flying sword. No wonder it is said that the demonic path excels at reaping without sowing and is not skilled in artifact refinement." Fang Han wanted to test the power of this Seven Kill Sword Array, but ultimately held back.
"Hmm? Gold-Devouring Centipedes! Nine-Clawed Spiders, Beauty Demon Bees, Blood Pool Poisonous Mosquitoes, Iron-Backed Ladybugs, Six-Winged Silver Silkworms, Phantom Demon Butterflies! There are actually this many poisonous creatures! The Seven Antique Poisons! Good, good, very good… Especially since these poisonous bugs have been tainted by the malice of the gourd, each one is incomparably fierce, with prolonged stamina, and unafraid of water or fire. As long as someone gets bitten, never mind the Divine Ability Realm, they will die from the poison."
Yan's voice transferred out. Evidently, it was also carefully watching the items in the Seven Malice Gourd, and upon abruptly discovering the many bizarre poisonous bugs in those compartments, it couldn't help but rejoice.
"The Seven Antique Poisons?"
Fang Han, however, had never heard of them, and there were no detailed records of poisonous creatures in the All Worlds book. The immortal path was, after all, not the demonic path.
"Use your will to open these compartments in the gourd and release the poisonous bugs!"
"If I release them, wouldn't they be burned to death by the fire?"
"It doesn't matter. These poisonous bugs aren't that easy to burn to death. Jin Shitai's emerald flames haven't been cultivated to mastery."
"Alright!"
Fang Han's mind stirred. Woo woo woo woo, woo woo woo! The Seven Malice Gourd shook violently once again, and abruptly, a swarm of centipedes flew out initially. These centipedes all had wings on their backs, their whole bodies golden yellow as if cast from gold. Fierce and hideous, shuttling like lightning, they drilled right out of the wolf smoke and pounced toward Jin Shitai outside the emerald flames.