Among the many cultivators arriving to pay respects to Linglong Immortal Venerable, Fang Han kept to himself, listening quietly as waves of rumors and strange tales drifted through the crowd. He learned far more than he expected.
High above the Nine Heavens Astral Winds of the Xuanhuang World—millions of miles out in the void—there were other planets, each with their own powerful cultivation sects. They were not as fearsome as the Ten Great Immortal Sects, but even those distant forces housed experts in the Longevity Realm—true ancient giants.
Even the headquarters of the Three Great Merchant Alliances—Six Paths League, Nine Cauldrons Pavilion, and Heavenly Dao Court—were not in the Xuanhuang World at all, but on nearby stars. Their leaders, the Six Paths Wanderer, the Nine Cauldrons Immortal Sovereign, and the Heavenly Dao Law King, were each an overlord ruling entire planets, their influence stretching across starfields.
Their business dealings in magic treasures, pills, forbidden relics, and ancient secrets dwarfed even the resources of the Daxuan Empire.
These three colossal merchant alliances were in no way inferior to the Ten Great Immortal Sects or the Seven Demonic Lineages.
And this time, even they had come to celebrate Linglong Immortal Venerable's birthday.
Her prestige did not merely shake the Xuanhuang World—it radiated across the nearby starry heavens.
But traveling beyond the Nine Heavens Astral Winds to reach those planets was harder than crossing an ocean. Even with Fang Han's current strength, flying through the void by force would take months, maybe years. Most visitors arrived through fixed spatial passages—man-made channels similar to the Taichimen's space gate leading to the Five Elements Land deep in the cosmos.
Listening, absorbing secrets, piecing together scattered bits of information—stories of someone discovering an ancient dragon overseas, or a rogue cultivator stumbling upon a primordial ruin and subduing a supreme treasure—Fang Han quietly harvested intelligence while drawing ever closer to Mount Sumeru.
Only upon reaching the mountain did he realize its true magnitude. Rising like the world's primordial pillar, Mount Sumeru reduced even golden core giants to specks of dust.
Compared to this mountain, he felt like a single grain of sand.
"State your name and sect! Only honored guests may step onto Mount Sumeru. Others, follow the path to the Welcome Isles outside."
As Fang Han approached, he felt layer after layer of golden radiance locking the mountain down. This was the Great Sumeru Divine Light, the core defense of Linglong Paradise. Even Longevity experts could not break through it.
Its power rivaled the Five Emperor Great Demon Divine Ability.
Even with Fang Han's nearly one hundred million units of mana—enough to kill several golden core prodigies in an instant—he could not break through this radiance.
A few female disciples appeared outside the divine light, stopping him.
"I am Fang Han of the Yuhua Sect, here to pay my respects to Linglong Immortal Venerable."
At this moment, hiding his identity would only prevent entry.
"You… you're that Fang Han?"
The girls shivered as soon as they heard his name. Clearly, his reputation had preceded him.
Fang Han dispelled his Transforming Reincarnation Technique, revealing his true face.
"It really is you!"
One of the disciples hurriedly parted the golden barrier, opening a small passage for him.
As he stepped through, he noticed the curious, almost dazzled looks on their faces. Fang Han ignored them. After all, he had recently slain Taichimen's golden core prodigies and was rumored to be gifting their golden cores as a birthday present—his notoriety was immense.
Though these girls were merely body-refinement disciples, their bodies glittered with treasures—robes, swords, pins, necklaces, bracelets, rings—all spiritual artifacts.
Even their flying swords came in complete matched sets.
In the Yuhua Sect, a body-refinement disciple with one spiritual artifact was considered blessed.
Here? They were walking treasure vaults.
Linglong Paradise was clearly far wealthier than Yuhua Sect.
Once inside the Great Sumeru Divine Light, Fang Han landed on Mount Sumeru. Wide avenues stretched upward, lined with palaces, waterfalls, verdant groves, exotic birds, and fragrant flowers. He could even sense a massive reserve of willing power deep within the mountain—countless beings praying, feeding the mountain with devotion.
Just like how Stars Sect raised beasts to produce wish-power for their Primordial Meteorite, Linglong Paradise had its own invisible empire of living offerings.
Fang Han thought of his own Eight-Fold Pagoda, now filled with 3.6 million heavenly demons and over three hundred demon kings generating wish-power to temper the treasure. One day, he hoped to refine it into a true immortal artifact to seal his own divine abilities.
"You're Fang Han of the Yuhua Sect?"
A voice rang out. Fang Han turned and saw a blood-robed man descending under the escort of several Linglong disciples.
It was Blood Dance Sun—ranked sixth on the Longevity Candidate List.
Blood Shadow Demon Sect's foremost true disciple.
A master of the Tenth Divine Ability—Reversing Fate.
Stronger even than Xing Mie Xie.
A qualifying guest indeed.
"Blood Daoist, it's been a while. I watched your confrontation with Demon Marshal earlier—pity you two didn't actually clash."
"You watched us fight? And I didn't notice you?"
Blood Dance Sun's eyes flickered with surprise, quickly turning calm. "Ah. So that was the Yellow Springs Diagram. Its Transforming Reincarnation Technique hides one's essence and aura completely. Without it, you couldn't have fooled me."
Arrogant, but with reason, Fang Han thought.
A man on the cusp of the Longevity Realm—pride is natural.
Out loud he said, voice steady:
"Rumor has it Linglong Immortal Venerable will pass down three supreme divine abilities—Ancient God Breath, Great Sumeru King Fist, and Universal Salvation Zen Light. Blood Daoist, I'm sure you're eager to obtain them. Coincidentally, I am too. So I expect we'll have to exchange pointers."
"Exchange pointers?"
Blood Dance Sun laughed lightly, eyes carrying a trace of mocking amusement.
"If I recall, you're only at the sixth divine ability realm—One Qi Returning. You recently formed your life talisman. Your realm is far too low. Don't get cocky just because you killed Zhao Xuanyi and Song Weiyi. Those two are nobodies, barely scraping into the top hundred. Before true experts, they're soft as mud."
"Two senior brothers, if you wish to spar, there will be opportunities later—please don't fight here…"
One of the Linglong disciples stepped forward timidly, clearly frightened. Body-refinement disciples like her stood no chance of stopping either man.
Blood Dance Sun waved casually.
"I'll abide by Linglong Paradise's rules. No need to worry. Here—my small gift to you."
With a flick of his sleeve, over ten streams of light flew out, each containing a treasure—swords, rings, bangles, needles, bells, ribbons…
All of them lower-grade treasure artifacts.
A dozen treasure artifacts, casually tossed out like snacks.
The girls gasped softly. Though they were clad in spiritual artifacts, none of them possessed true treasure artifacts. A treasure artifact could drastically increase their power—enough to resist early-stage Divine Ability cultivators.
They eagerly blood-refined the treasures, joy lighting up their faces.
Even the girls guiding Fang Han looked envious.
Blood Dance Sun smiled faintly.
"Well then, Fang Han—the rumors say you're rather wealthy yourself, capable of refining Nascent Soul Pills. But considering the many divine abilities you cultivate, your resources must be stretched thin. Yet, since we're here to honor Linglong Immortal Venerable, a little generosity is only proper."
His eyes gleamed provocatively.
"These junior sisters work very hard. Why don't you offer them a few treasures as well?"
He clearly wanted to embarrass Fang Han in public.