The Black Nether King had actually escaped Hua Tiandu.
Fang Han spotted the streak of black light tearing across the sky, the king's figure faintly visible within—missing an arm, aura flickering, his qi in shambles.
To slip Hua Tiandu's pursuit… his demonic arts really are deep.
But behind that black streak, Fang Han sensed something far more terrifying—
a swelling tide of divine power rolling across the heavens like a tsunami.
A colossal phantom furnace shimmered at the edge of the sky, blurring like a mirage, as if ready to tear through space and descend into this world.
One thought flashed across Fang Han's mind.
He rose straight into the air—
and blocked the Black Nether King's escape path.
"You're courting death!"
The king was already running for his life with everything he had. Even at full power he couldn't outpace Hua Tiandu's pursuit. Seeing someone dare obstruct him at this moment instantly ignited his fury.
He spat a beam of blood—
a blood-red lightning arrow formed from his own essence.
The Blood-Rending Thunder Arrow—a desperate divine art that cost him thirty years of lifespan each time he used it.
Fang Han only snorted.
A talisman flew from above his head.
The Great Devouring Array unfurled, transforming into a massive abyssal maw.
One gulp.
The blood arrow vanished without a trace—digested into pure blood-essence, strengthening the Devouring Art even further.
The Great Devouring Technique could swallow any form of energy and refine it into demonic power. The Black Nether King's full-force strike only nourished the beast that would consume him.
Fang Han burst forward, a wave of demonic force exploding from his palms.
He was trying to seize the king alive.
"What?!"
The Black Nether King's heart lurched.
His thirty years of life force had simply… been eaten.
What kind of demonic technique is this?!
He had no idea the technique originated from the Kunpeng egg—blending the Kunpeng's devouring nature with the supreme demonic Dao of swallowing all under heaven.
Retreating in panic, he unleashed the Tenfold Demon Shift, splitting his aura and bolting in another direction.
He got barely ten feet—
Bang!
A fist slammed into his abdomen.
Pain detonated through his body, cracks spidering across his flesh like shattered porcelain. Tears and snot sprayed from his face uncontrollably.
"Die!"
A second blow followed—Abyssal demonic qi crashing into his soul. His dark primordial spirit plunged as if falling into an endless hell, unable to pull itself free.
"Seal."
Fang Han dragged him straight into the Yellow Springs Diagram, then dove underground like a meteor, burrowing deep into the earth until the world above vanished.
Moments later, the clouds across the sky were blown apart.
Hua Tiandu and the Great Wilderness Furnace descended from the heavens.
He scanned the world below with a cold, unreadable expression.
"Did the Black Nether King also have a tunneling technique? How did he vanish?"
A drop of water-cloud essence flowed from his lips and reshaped into a rotating mirror—the Grand Cycle Divination, a divine ability with no offense, no defense, but capable of calculating fate, calamity, and the movements of enemies across ten thousand miles.
Hua Tiandu sat cross-legged in the sky, the furnace floating beside him like a sovereign suppressing all worlds.
Deep underground—ten thousand meters down—Fang Han finally stopped in an empty cavern.
Inside the Yellow Springs Diagram, the Black Nether King had regained his footing. His dark primordial spirit hugged close to his body. He swallowed healing pills and scanned the strange, eerie world he was imprisoned in.
"Who? Who sealed me?!"
"Inside the Yellow Springs Diagram, everything you try is useless."
Fang Han appeared before him, hands clasped behind his back.
"I am Fang Han, successor of the Yellow Springs Emperor, true disciple of the Feather Gate—and Hua Tiandu's mortal enemy. As a disciple of the Yellow Springs Sect, when you see your future sect master… shouldn't you kneel?"
"You're Fang Han? The one who killed the Ghost Emperor?"
A brief shock crossed the king's eyes, followed by cold contempt.
"You didn't kill the Ghost Emperor. You tricked him with some exploding golden core. Without that, your meager cultivation would never have touched him. And you want me to kneel? You're dreaming!"
He lunged, trying to capture Fang Han and steal the Diagram.
"Stubborn fool."
Fang Han didn't move an inch.
The talisman above his head ignited—
his Life Talisman containing fifty-six divine abilities.
War drums thundered, horns blared, and a five-colored imperial canopy unfurled over him.
The Black Nether King was blasted backward by sheer pressure alone.
"Five Emperor Demon Canopy… you actually cultivated the complete Five Emperor Demon Arts?! How much five-element essence do you have? And fifty-six divine abilities—how could anyone refine that many?!"
Fang Han smiled.
"Crushing you is as easy as crushing a chicken."
The talisman spun—
and compressed into a shimmering illusory golden core.
Boom.
An unimaginable weight descended.
The king slammed to the ground like a crushed toad, unable to breathe, unable to resist. His world shrank beneath the crushing aura of a half-formed golden core.
"Half-step Golden Core… once you break through, with fifty-six divine arts—this is monstrous…"
He howled in despair.
"Breakthrough?" Fang Han laughed. "It's only a matter of time. Once I refine the Ghost Emperor's nine primordial spirits, my core will carry more than eighty divine abilities. Tell me—who could possibly stand against me?"
Behind him, the Abyss Gate rose like a nightmare.
The Black Nether King shuddered violently. He had read enough sect records to know exactly what fate awaited him inside that gate.
"Your primordial spirit is weaker than the Ghost Emperor's, so I'm not going to refine you. You're far more useful alive."
Fang Han's voice grew colder, heavier.
"I will give you one path:
Submit to me. Serve me faithfully. Help me take the Yellow Springs Sect in the future. I will spare you."
He pointed at the king's missing arm.
"You want a new limb? I'll rip one off a Great Demon King myself and graft it onto you. You want life? I have Dragon God Pills to restore your lifespan. You want power? Drink the Water of Forgetting and watch your cultivation soar."
His gaze bored through the king's soul.
"Follow me, and you will reach the Life-Extending Realm. Otherwise?
You will never step across that threshold. Ever."
He raised a hand.
"Submit—or die. Choose. My patience is limited."
The Black Nether King stared at the illusory golden core pressing down on him.
Even three realms apart, if he fought, he would die.
He had no choice.
"Master!" he gasped. "I, the Black Nether King, swear upon my heart-devil to follow you until death!"
"Heart-devil vows?" Fang Han sneered. "Those are toothache curses at best. I don't trust them."
A strand of Abyssal Devil Qi formed a talisman and shot directly into the king's dark primordial spirit.
Only then did Fang Han smile.