The instant Fang Han hurled the Five-Prison King Cauldron forward, he was certain the silver-clad demon youth would be crushed beyond recognition. Unless he's forged a Heavenly Demon Golden Core, Fang Han thought, no one can survive this impact. The cauldron at full force could pulverize a mountain—what chance did a single person have?
But in the next heartbeat, everything went wrong.
Just three yards before impact, a talisman on Seven-Leaf Demon Lord's body suddenly ignited, turning to ash. Rivers of mercury-bright demonic aura surged out, threading through the air like liquid metal. In less than a thousandth of a blink, the aura wove itself into a massive sigil-array—so large it froze a radius of thirty miles.
Time itself slowed.
Not metaphorically. Time—the flow of seconds, the pulse of the world—dragged into a crawl.
Such power was beyond the realm of mortal techniques. To alter the laws of time and space… only beings of the Longevity Realm, ancient figures who commanded cosmic principles, could do so. This was no ordinary spell. This was a distortion of universal law.
Buzz—
The colossal cauldron struck the boundary of the sigil and stopped dead.
Even a cultivator with a million galloping-horse strength could not have halted that impact, but the sigil did—because it did not resist with force. It resisted with time.
Such was the terror of the Longevity Realm.
A moment later, the massive array shattered into stardust. The silver aura vanished as though it had never existed.
It was unmistakable: that talisman was not Seven-Leaf Demon Lord's own power.
It was a one-use life-saving charm—crafted by someone far above him.
Likely a Demon God.
"Too close…"
Seven-Leaf Demon Lord exhaled, sweating cold. "If not for the Grand Chrono Sigil bestowed by Lord Nine-Sun Demon God, I'd be dust. Even if my soul escaped, the injuries would've been catastrophic."
"A Grand Chrono Sigil!? From a Longevity expert!?"
Yan roared inside Fang Han's mind, the psychic shock trembling through his consciousness.
Fang Han barely understood what had happened. One moment he was about to kill, the next—his mind froze, his thoughts stalled, even time itself stood still.
"Kill him now! That sigil is gone—he only had one! Move before he recovers!" Yan barked. "Anyone carrying a Longevity talisman must have other treasures. Kill him and we strike gold!"
Thought flashing like lightning, Fang Han poured his energy into the cauldron for another strike.
But Seven-Leaf Demon Lord was no longer unprepared.
"Too late!"
Silver demonic light burst from his pupils, then wrapped itself around the cauldron like chains. The light seeped into the cauldron's surface, slowing its internal arrays.
Fang Han felt the suppression immediately. "His power… terrifying! At least a hundred thousand raging-horse strength—maybe more. Is he at the Heavenly Man realm? Or… the Unity realm!?"
Yan's voice turned sharp. "Almost certainly the Unity Realm! That means he's one step away from condensing a Heavenly Demon Golden Core!"
Every hair on Fang Han's body stood on end.
Unity Realm—Sixth level of Divine Abilities.
A realm where all techniques merge, where every gesture carries boundless force.
A realm where grandmasters are treated like honored elders.
Such an opponent could not be killed easily.
"Break for me!"
Fang Han shoved all his qi into a single formation: the Wind-Fire Revolving Array. The cauldron erupted with ten-yard blades of spinning flame, slicing downward like burning saw wheels.
Chzz—chzz—
The blades cut through the silver aura—severing the demon lord's control.
"You do wield a fine treasure," Seven-Leaf Demon Lord said coldly, voice echoing across the void. "Five-Prison Uncle spent centuries forging that cauldron. In your hands, it's wasted."
His left hand lifted, fingers splaying. Black demonic force poured out, weaving into symbols that snapped into place as a new array.
"Black-Spirit Binding Array!"
The spinning fire-wheels clashed against the dark formation—but its shifting patterns dissolved each strike.
Before Fang Han could recover—
"Golden Serpent Net Array!"
Gold demonic streams whipped from Seven-Leaf Demon Lord's other hand, forming a writhing nest of serpentine light that climbed from below, pressuring the cauldron upward.
And then—
"Milky Way Descent Array!"
A silver torrent erupted from his mouth—thousands of runes cascading like a celestial waterfall. It crashed onto the top of the cauldron like the fall of the heavens.
The Five-Prison King Cauldron groaned.
Inside, Fang Han, Long Xuan, and the Demoness felt their qi scatter.
Nearly six hundred of the eighty-thousand captured Sky Demons were crushed instantly, their essence devoured by the remaining horde.
Three arrays—cast in one breath.
And these weren't artifact arrays—they were born purely from his own qi.
Unity Realm.
A monster who could wield multiple divine abilities as if they were toys.
Fang Han, were he at the Heavenly Man realm, could have matched this with his own arrays. But now, he could only withstand.
The three arrays thundered down, shaking the cauldron violently. Cracks of pressure filled the air; demonic aura seeped through even the cauldron's defenses.
"Dragon-Roar Eight Tones!"
Fang Han roared, his qi vibrating the air, dispersing the invading demonic essence. Long Xuan and the Demoness braced behind another formation, desperately trying to propel the cauldron upward.
"You—what are you? You're no ordinary Demon King!" Fang Han shouted.
Seven-Leaf Demon Lord answered with chilling pride, "Of course not. I am the son of the Nine-Yin Demon God."
His voice suddenly twisted, becoming a sinister melody:
"Dragon-Roar Eight Tones? A child's trick. Let me show you true demonic arts—
the Soul-Binding Chorus."
Symbols spilled from his mouth—notes of a dark hymn:
"Na-mo… ha-da-ya-ya… na-mo… a-li-ye…"
They linked, formed harmonics, then fused into another array.
The moment Fang Han heard the tune, his soul constricted. His chest felt crushed, his forehead weighed down by a mountain. His qi stalled.
A fourth formation.
The pressure was suffocating.
"There's no choice. I'll use it—the Three-Headed Heavenly Lion!"
With Long Xuan and the Demoness completely entranced by the Soul-Binding Chorus, they wouldn't resist the beast. Three lion heads burst from his tattoos and merged with the cauldron's arrays.
Three more formations roared to life.
The cauldron lunged—
trying to break free.
"Humph."
Seven-Leaf Demon Lord snorted. A shining bead rose from behind his head.
"Heavenly Demon Relic."
The pressure multiplied a hundredfold.
Fang Han's qi buckled. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
"This time… I might truly die…" he thought, vision blurring.
But then—
within the crushing force—
a spark ignited.
His qi… was changing.
Compressing. Refining. Shifting toward something new.
It was…
transforming into gang-qi.