Fang Han could feel it—Hua Tiandu was ripping through the earth behind him, closing the distance with terrifying inevitability. The ground split like paper under the man's strength. His power wasn't just greater—he was several times stronger, perhaps ten times. A head-on fight was suicide.
Of course Hua Tiandu was furious. Fang Han had stolen everything—the ancient heaven-dragon skeleton, the hundred Blackwater King Serpents, the Blood-Dragon Crystal Mountain, every treasure and pill buried in the dragon palace. Not a single scrap left behind.
A haul worth tens of billions… but it only mattered if he survived.
"Life Talisman—Grand Severing!"
Black light twisted from his talisman and scythed through the stone ahead. Hard bedrock powdered instantly. The Earth-Emperor aspect of the Five Emperors Demonic Divinity melted the debris into liquid earth, and Fang Han tunneled through as if diving through water.
Grand Severing combined with Five Emperors Divinity made him a nightmare underground—splitting stone, liquefying soil, accelerating deeper and deeper. His technique, already forming its true shape, sliced through terrain like a divine sawblade.
He pushed downward a thousand meters, then more.
But he still couldn't shake Hua Tiandu.
The Panwu Primordial Spirit formed a colossal hand behind him—solid when needed, vapor when convenient—slipping through cracks and chasing relentlessly. It wasn't as fluid as Fang Han's methods… but it was strong enough to make brute force irrelevant.
"You dare steal from me? Rob the dragon bones from under my nose? You're dead!"
Hua Tiandu's voice boomed through the earth. His soundwaves hardened soil within a ten-mile radius, turning it into something denser than steel.
"Earth-Hardening Seal!"
The ground ahead suddenly became unbreakable. Fang Han's speed faltered.
He hadn't expected Hua Tiandu to cast so many techniques at once—especially earth-type spells down in the planet's crust.
"Break!"
Fang Han tore forward. His palm erupted in demonic flame, his talisman slicing at impossible angles. The sealed ground split open under raw physical force and divine power combined.
His body alone was a weapon—infused with six Enshrining Tablets, tempered with demonic arts, bones and sinews brimming with essence. If some master killed him and harvested his bones, each one could become a supreme flying sword; his tendons could make treasures stronger than celestial cords.
He wasn't worth as much as the ancient dragon bones—but not by much.
A chill voice rolled through the rock.
"So powerful a body… Fine. Since you took my dragon skeleton, I'll simply turn your body into my treasure. You think a little earth-burrowing can save you? Earth-Law, heed my command—Invert!"
The ground roared.
The earth's qi surged like a tide, turning hostile, rejecting him entirely. Fang Han felt the elemental power pushing him out as if he were a criminal condemned by the world itself.
"What technique is this?!"
Yan's voice echoed in his mind.
"The Five-Element Inversion—a high immortal-level art. It twists the elements, scrambles yin and yang. Normally the Five Emperors Divinity would suppress earth-qi, but your realm is too far from his. His inversion counters your Five Emperors perfectly."
Yan sighed.
"I'm merging with the dragon bones. I can't help you. You're on your own."
The ground convulsed. A crater burst open behind Fang Han. From within, an enormous hand reached out—the Panwu Primordial Spirit's purple-gold palm, majestic and unstoppable.
It was even stronger than Fang Han remembered from the Taoyuan Immortal Mansion.
Hua Tiandu had advanced again.
The hand seized, and earth turned purple-gold, hardening into a cage. Fang Han was boxed in.
He knew Hua Tiandu was dangerous, but he hadn't known this dangerous. Hua Tiandu burrowed as skillfully as he did, manipulating earth-qi as if he owned the world itself, weaving Five-Element Inversions like flicking through a book.
Fang Han didn't panic.
Escape was possible.
Escaping without revealing his identity… that was harder.
He flicked his hand. Black runes screeched through the air, slicing toward Hua Tiandu's massive palm. His body spun, erupting in golden light—the White Emperor Golden Severing, swirling around the Primordial Spirit's grasp.
The purple-gold hand flicked its fingers.
Grand Severing shattered.
White Emperor Severing was blocked.
Hua Tiandu shifted forms, trading blows casually.
The explosion rocked the earth. The cage cracked. Fang Han whirled like a spinning spear, slipped through a tiny gap, and vanished into the depths.
But Hua Tiandu's hand plunged after him immediately, shattering the ground layer by layer.
The chase drove them deeper.
Three thousand meters.
Five thousand.
Eight thousand.
Ten thousand meters—nearly the planet's core. Heat surged. Soil glowed red.
And then Fang Han sensed something.
A pulse of power in the distance.
"A treasure? Now of all times?" he thought.
"But this is a dragon planet… ancient dragons lived here. Treasure isn't surprising."
He veered toward the aura.
A cavern erupted before him—carved from fiery crystal stone, glowing like a furnace. Inside lay seven enormous eggs, each the size of a Kunpeng egg, each radiating a primal draconic heartbeat.
Dragon eggs. Ancient heaven-dragon eggs.
They lay there absorbing the surrounding heat, slowly hatching.
"Dragon eggs… rare, but not priceless," Fang Han thought. "They'd fetch maybe a few tens of millions each. But the essence inside is rich."
They weren't supreme treasures—but seven eggs meant a few hundred million in value. Worth taking.
He spun through the chamber.
All seven eggs vanished into the Yellow Springs Diagram.
That moment of delay cost him.
Hua Tiandu's hand burst into the cavern.
This time, he didn't strike immediately. His fingers flicked, sending hundreds of thousands of purple talismans into the air. They wove themselves into a formation, sealing the cavern and trapping Fang Han within a shimmering web of thunder and runes.
"As expected. Greed ruins judgment," Hua Tiandu said coldly. "Dragon eggs are valuable—but you need a life to enjoy them."
His hand transformed fully into the Panwu Primordial Spirit, looming over Fang Han with regal menace.
"Spare me the lecture."
Fang Han shot upward, turning into a streak of golden light, trying to break the formation.
But the purple talismans flared.
A torrent of thunder crackled.
Bolts of refined celestial lightning forced him back.
"This is the Xuantian Demon-Refining Thunder Array," Hua Tiandu said, eyes gleaming. "You won't escape. Not this time. You handed me the time to complete the formation—your death is already sealed."
His killing intent poured through the cavern like freezing water.
And the formation closed in.