"What is Yin and Yang?"
"The One begets Two; Two beget Three. Yin and Yang are the roots of all transformation."
"And what is Heaven-and-Man?"
"Heaven and earth respond to each other. Forces mirror and confirm one another. All things condense. Vitality gathers. Trees bear fruit, the sun and moon turn, wind and fire shift, clouds spiral—the natural order never ceases. That harmony is Heaven-and-Man."
Inside the grand hall of the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion, a quiet dialogue echoed between Fang Han and the mysterious man sealed within the ancient structure.
Fang Han asked.
The mysterious figure answered.
Each question-and-response pierced directly into the essence of cultivation. Every phrase struck at the heart of Dao comprehension, reshaping Fang Han's spirit and opening new layers of understanding.
Cultivating divine abilities required spiritual transformation.
Cultivating the physical body—only structural change.
A divine-ability cultivator who grasped the right sentence could reform their power instantly. Without that insight… they could remain stuck forever. But physical training? Daily effort and enough nutrition always yielded progress.
That was the fundamental difference between the two paths.
Fang Han cultivated, losing sense of time. Days blurred into years—ten full years of seclusion. In a place like this immortal mansion, there was nothing else to do. Even wandering wasn't possible.
Yet those ten years transformed him.
He had not yet reached the Heaven-and-Man Realm, but his mastery of the Fourth Realm—Yin–Yang Realm—had become flawless, profound, unpredictable.
With a single movement of his astral qi, he could manifest birds and beasts, forests and oceans, mountains and storms.
"Moonlight brushing pine needles… spring water murmuring over stone. Transform!"
Fang Han released his Wood Emperor Astral Qi. It flowed through the entire hall, shaping reality like the brush of a master painter.
A bright silver moon rose overhead, cool and immaculate.
Below it, a dark pine forest spread across the hall. Between the trees, a stream flowed, trickling and chiming. Fish darted beneath the rippling water.
A soft wind stirred the pines; waves of green sighs rolled through the forest.
"Ah!"
The Demoness gasped as she stepped into the illusion-turned-reality. Moon, pine, spring—everything felt solid and real. She plunged her hand into the stream, shivering as the cold water flowed around her fingers.
Instinctively, she snatched up a fish. It thrashed wildly, splashing water everywhere.
"This… this is real!"
"No," Fang Han's voice echoed gently. "It's my astral qi taking form. This is what comprehension of Yin and Yang allows."
With a soft boom, the moon, the pines, the stream, the fish—all dissolved into swirling currents of qi and flowed back into Fang Han's mind.
The mysterious man let out a long, impressed sigh.
"Remarkable. Ten short years, and you've already refined the Yin–Yang Realm to such vivid perfection."
"Unfortunately," Fang Han said bitterly, "I still haven't broken into the Heaven-and-Man Realm. Back outside, ten years might not even get me this far. My talk of challenging Hua Tiandu in ten years… looks more and more foolish."
But in truth, this decade had been priceless.
With the mysterious man answering every question, Fang Han corrected the hidden flaws caused by his earlier rapid cultivation. His foundations solidified. His understanding of Dao soared. Even the daunting "Great Cutting Technique" was now fully comprehended—only waiting for him to step into the Heaven-and-Man Realm to truly cultivate it.
He had become, in all aspects, a genuine expert in the theory of the Dao.
This opportunity could never have occurred in Yuhuamen. Not because the elders were unwilling, but because none of them had ten years to spare for constant guidance. Not even Hua Tiandu would receive such treatment from the Headmaster. Even the Demon Commander—Fang Han's own father in another lifetime—couldn't match this.
Time was precious. Ten years of uninterrupted teaching was impossible.
Unless… you were this mysterious man, sealed away with nothing but eternity for company.
Everything Fang Han once found obscure had been unraveled.
"Don't fret about Hua Tiandu," the mysterious man laughed. "He inherited Panwu Immortal Venerable's legacy. Impressive, yes. But you possess the World Tree. Let it grow—let it pierce all realms—and even Panwu reborn wouldn't match you."
"That would take a hundred million years," Yan snorted. "Even the gods don't live that long."
"Heh. The little dragon actually knows of the gods?" the mysterious man said, amused. Ten years of conversation had left them almost familiar.
"We caught two gods, actually."
Yan tossed out two divine corpses.
For the first time, the mysterious man lost his composure.
"The gods have returned…? Then the world is on the brink of catastrophe! Ten thousand years ago, the War Against the Gods shook all realms—countless immortals fell. Even Panwu Immortal Venerable died to the gods. They should've been annihilated!"
Yan laughed. "If the gods return and chaos follows, maybe it'll give you a chance to break free, old relic."
The mysterious man laughed heartily. "You little dragon have wit, though you've lost your strength. As for the World Tree—it was severed by the Progenitor God King ages ago. Shattered into fragments scattered across the world. If you can gather those fragments and merge them into your sapling… its growth will accelerate."
Fang Han's eyes narrowed.
"Senior, I've been puzzled by the gods' divine power. It's completely unlike any magical art. Do you know its origin?"
"You should've asked earlier!" the mysterious man said, suddenly excited. "Do you know why the God King chopped down the World Tree?"
Fang Han and Yan leaned forward.
"Because the World Tree is the gods' nemesis. Any god touching it is drained to the last drop—nothing remains. Gods are born from the most primal source-energy of heaven and earth, akin to the purest celestial essence. To the World Tree… they're nourishment."
Fang Han froze.
"So I can't absorb divine power directly… but the World Tree can refine it?"
"Exactly. You won't gain much raw power from it, but your understanding of the world's essence will deepen. With that clarity, you'll step into Heaven-and-Man far faster."
Yan cackled.
"Hah! Like humans can't eat dung, but they can grow vegetables with it—and those you can eat!"
Fang Han didn't hesitate.
He activated the World Tree within his brow.
A root shot outward—
crack!
—and pierced the corpse of a god.
Instantly, the body shriveled like rotting leather.
Fang Han felt it—
A stream of "godforce" surged into the World Tree.
It vibrated with life, rejuvenated.
The leaf he had once gifted the Demoness—now long refined—sprouted a new tender shoot.
"Ah… this is godforce!"
A thread of subtle, mysterious energy flowed from the tree into Fang Han's mind.
And suddenly—
His world changed.
It was like a nearsighted man suddenly putting on glasses. Everything became sharp.
He saw the world filled with endless motes of vitality.
He saw hidden currents of good and ill.
He saw energies that nourished—and energies that harmed.
He saw structure.
Patterns.
Order.
Formation.
The microscopic particles that formed mountains and rivers followed laws—
a lattice of meaning known as "array structure."
The barrier between Heaven and Man… shifted.
He had not broken through—
but he now stood with one hand on the door.
"You see?" the mysterious man said, awed. "The gods truly are extraordinary. Their essence widens your vision. Your cultivation advances. You've opened half the door already. With a few years of contemplation, breaking into the Heaven-and-Man Realm will be easy. Then your lifespan will grow, and you can split your Golden Core—mastering all twenty-eight divine abilities."
The mysterious man sighed with genuine envy.
"When I was your age… I never had such fortune."