Above Hatred-Heaven Daoist's head, a stretch of void was forcibly torn open by his overwhelming mana.
Within that gaping rift lay what seemed to be another world—pitch-black, lightless, devoid of sun or stars. Yet deep within that darkness, countless strange lifeforms were stirring, as though birthed from primordial chaos itself, harboring an ambition to dominate the entire universe.
"This is bad," Yan Shuiyi said sharply, her expression changing at once as she transmitted her thoughts to Fang Han. "Hatred-Heaven God Emperor is invoking divine power. His supreme divine consciousness is opening a passage to the Void God Realm, drawing upon its boundless godly energy. Once he does that, his strength becomes inexhaustible. He has an entire world supporting him—he'll be practically invincible."
"You know about the Void God Realm too?" Fang Han asked.
"Of course. Much of the God Race's secrets are recorded in Taiyi Sect's ancient archives. I was fortunate enough to read some of them."
Fang Han's gaze flickered. "Then what about this God Race incursion—will you report it to the Taiyi Sect?"
Yan Shuiyi smiled faintly. "Your Feathered Immortal Sect must already know. A God Race invasion is the greatest calamity faced jointly by the immortals, demons, and monsters of the Xuanhuang World. Any sect that prepares early and plans ahead will gain an enormous advantage. You probably don't want me to tell Taiyi Sect—but with enough benefits, I can keep silent."
"Kill this Hatred-Heaven God Emperor, and the benefits will be endless," Fang Han replied calmly. "Still, I'll give you something first. I'll transfer to you four refined True God Seeds along with the essence of two God Kings, so you can experience the advantages of a half-immortal body. In return, give me several Supreme Purity Jade Nectar Grand Restoration Pills."
"Deal," Yan Shuiyi said without hesitation. "We'll synchronize our mana and look for an opening. Help the Human Emperor's Brush kill Hatred-Heaven God Emperor."
In the span of a heartbeat, the agreement was struck.
The World Tree at Fang Han's brow trembled violently. Two Divine Ability Fruits containing True God Seeds poured down, transformed into surging primal energy, and were forcibly driven into Yan Shuiyi's body.
At the same time, Yan Shuiyi crushed four Supreme Purity Jade Nectar Grand Restoration Pills, dissolving them into pure streams of energy that flowed into Fang Han. Vast, immaculate vitality flooded his body, carrying with it a faint yet eternal aura from the immortal artifact Eternal God Furnace, replenishing the lifespan and qi-blood he had lost from using the Immortal-Slaying Technique.
The Supreme Purity Jade Nectar Grand Restoration Pill—
A supreme elixir refined by the Taiyi Sect using the eternal immortal artifact, the Eternal God Furnace.
Each pill increased lifespan by a thousand years, massively replenished vitality, and carried traces of an immortal artifact's essence. The benefits were beyond measure.
The instant Fang Han absorbed them, waves of lucid, ethereal qi rose within his sea of consciousness, as if immortal mist were drifting through it. His nine seas of consciousness became more solid, more stable. When he circulated his mana, it carried a newfound sense of indestructibility and eternity.
After restoring his lost lifespan and reinforcing his spiritual foundation, the remaining medicinal power surged into his Golden Core. The massive core—bearing ninety-three divine abilities—grew ever clearer, ever more radiant, its manifested shadow increasingly vivid.
The thousand-handed, thousand-eyed demonic deity hovering in the void suddenly gave voice.
Its thousand hands moved in unison, forming countless seals. Each seal resounded with something like Buddhist chanting—vast, solemn, pure, imbued with boundless compassion, as though guiding sentient beings across the sea of suffering.
Yet its thousand eyes were the complete opposite.
Each eye that opened released the howls of billions of demons—pain, cruelty, deceit, malice, savagery, sorrow—all pouring forth. Every eye embodied a distinct demonic nature. A thousand demonic natures fused together, forming the presence of a supreme demon lord, the ancestor of all fiends.
A thousand hands—representing a thousand forms of compassion.
A thousand eyes—representing a thousand forms of demonic intent.
Great mercy capable of saving all beings, and great destruction capable of annihilating heaven and earth.
Buddha-nature and demon-nature coexisted flawlessly upon Fang Han's Golden Core manifestation, perfectly balanced yet utterly extreme—yin and yang, the two faces of humanity.
It was impossible to imagine how terrifying this Heaven-and-Earth Dharma Aspect would be once fully refined.
Even so, the power of four Supreme Purity Jade Nectar Grand Restoration Pills only raised Fang Han's lifespan to 9,990 years. It still fell just short of pushing his Golden Core into the Ninth Layer of Divine Abilities—the realm of the Heaven-and-Earth Dharma Aspect.
Yan Shuiyi had nine such pills and had given Fang Han four. Enough to compensate his losses and greatly strengthen his Golden Core—but not enough for a full breakthrough.
Likewise, Yan Shuiyi had only received two True God Seeds and the core essence of two God Kings.
Yet when those seeds entered her body, she felt every strand of her mana, every drop of blood and flesh begin to condense and transform into pure energy, as if she might immediately ascend on the spot, dispersing into primal essence and incarnating into countless forms.
This was precisely one of the signs recorded in Daoist scriptures—the precursor to forging an immortal body.
Yan Shuiyi was overjoyed. She circulated her divine abilities again, but the True God Seeds had already been fully refined, the God King essence completely absorbed. She was just one step away—yet that final piece was missing.
"As expected, it works," she said softly.
"And your pills work as well," Fang Han replied.
Their spirits met, exchanged in a flash. They looked at each other and smiled.
In this transaction, neither had deceived the other. Both had gained enormous benefits, and their cooperation was now built on deeper trust.
Boom!
The moment Fang Han and Yan Shuiyi completed their exchange, the surrounding space began to quake violently. Spatial storms tore through the void as Hatred-Heaven God Emperor forcibly widened his connection to the Void God Realm, siphoning limitless divine energy into himself.
His body began to swell.
His purple-gold Daoist robe burst apart first. Then even his flesh split open, revealing purple-gold bones beneath.
He expanded to a height of three hundred and sixty zhang, like a primordial titan. Upon his head were three faces—one savage, one sinister, and one aloof and emotionless, ruling all things like the Heavenly Dao itself.
His entire body was composed of purple-gold skeletal matter.
He possessed three arms—one on each side, and a third growing directly from his chest. Each hand had nine fingers, each finger several people long, hideous and terrifying.
Fang Han's heart stirred.
The Heaven-Covering Demon Hand also had nine fingers.
Perhaps the demonic overlord who created that art had once witnessed the God Race in battle, and modeled that supreme divine ability after their anatomy, embedding within it the principles of the Great Dao.
Hatred-Heaven God Emperor's legs were equally abnormal—three legs, branching outward into a triangular support, planted firmly in the void. He stood incomparably stable, as though nothing in existence could ever topple him.
Three faces.
Three arms.
Three legs.
This was Hatred-Heaven God Emperor's true body—the physique of the God Race.
Three faces, three hands, three legs—hinting at a deeper meaning, as though embodying the principle that three gives rise to all things.
The surging divine energy around him was so sharp it surpassed Fang Han's Great Severing Technique by tenfold, shredding the surrounding void into fragments.
All three faces spoke at once:
"You will all die. Human Emperor's Brush—you are no longer an immortal artifact. You no longer possess the might you had in ancient times."
The artifact spirit of the Human Emperor's Brush responded with an even more thunderous voice:
"Hatred-Heaven God Emperor? It seems you still haven't truly comprehended the laws of space. A mere God Emperor like you—I slaughtered countless in the past. Even God Kings of your race who had grasped life and death were eternally erased by me. Today, I will show you why every member of the God Race fears my name."
The tiny crystal brush looked no larger than dust before the towering God Emperor, yet it radiated an indescribable pressure.
A single stroke wrote the laws of the Dao.
A single movement embodied supreme truth.
With a surge of divine will, the Human Emperor's Brush lashed through the void like a divine dragon. In midair, it wrote talisman after talisman—each shining like a star. In the blink of an eye, those talismans transformed into ancient Daoists clad in high crowns and ceremonial robes.
Each Daoist stepped in astral patterns, invoking stellar positions, opening gateways to mysterious worlds.
The universe held countless hidden realms—the Immortal Realm, the Void God Realm, the Buddhist Realm, and more. Many supreme divine abilities worked by linking one's consciousness to these realms and drawing upon their power.
The talismans written by the Human Emperor's Brush became Daoist avatars, each opening a gateway to a different world, siphoning hundreds of distinct energies, as though recreating heaven and earth itself.
"So many worlds… drawing power from all of them at once," Fang Han murmured in shock. "What realm is this? What kind of Dao is this?"
Yan Shuiyi was equally stunned. The scene before them completely overturned their understanding of cultivation.
"This is terrifying," Fang Han said decisively. "We can't intervene at all. The Human Emperor's Brush and Hatred-Heaven God Emperor are about to clash directly. Move—now. Hide in the Yellow Springs Diagram. The aftermath alone could kill us. It's a supreme Dao artifact—those shockwaves won't reach us."
Without hesitation, Fang Han grabbed Yan Shuiyi and retreated into the Yellow Springs Diagram.
In the next instant, the diagram transformed into a simple painting, drifting amid raging spatial storms and seas of infernal flame.
Deep underground, tens of thousands of zhang below the surface, within molten hellfire and magma, the Human Emperor's Brush and Hatred-Heaven God Emperor were about to collide.
Fang Han and Yan Shuiyi hid within the Yellow Springs Diagram, striving both to avoid the devastating aftermath—and to find a chance to strike and seize the ultimate prize.
At that moment, Hatred-Heaven God Emperor made his move.
His colossal body lunged forward. His three legs stomped through the void in rapid succession. His hands lashed out, grasping toward the Human Emperor's Brush, blotting out the sky as hundreds of millions of giant hands manifested.
Even the Yellow Springs Diagram shuddered violently.
It was caught.
Dragged toward a mysterious, distorted space.
"This is bad," Fang Han said instantly. "Hatred-Heaven God Emperor has noticed us. He's trying to drag us into the Void God Realm."