The moment Fang Han brought his hand down to suppress him, Jiao Fei's face suddenly twisted—becoming identical to Fang Han's own. Whatever technique he was using, it was unnervingly bizarre.
Fang Han didn't hesitate for a heartbeat.
His claw descended like a mountain crushing an egg. This strike should have left Jiao Fei crippled even if it didn't kill him outright.
Crack.
Jiao Fei's body resisted for a split second—then shattered completely. Flesh exploded outward, blood spraying in all directions. Even the sword aura surrounding him collapsed into fragments.
Impossible… Fang Han's eyes narrowed. Too fragile. The Slaughter-Calamity Sword is a mid-grade Dao Artifact. Even if I went all out with the Yellow Springs Diagram and the Eightfold Floating Pagoda, I couldn't have killed Jiao Fei in one blow. There's only one explanation—this was another deception. The Heart-Demon Curse Sword again.
His claw closed on nothing.
At that instant, deep within the core of his golden core, something shifted violently. The power of the Wind-and-Fire Tribulation surged—ten times stronger than before. The seal left by the Grand Wish Technique actually loosened.
It felt as though the one he had just killed wasn't Jiao Fei's incarnation—but himself.
"Fang Han," Jiao Fei's voice echoed from the corner of the arena, disembodied and calm. "What you killed just now wasn't me. It was you. My sword already struck your golden core. Your heart demon is under my complete control. Did you really think the Heart-Demon Curse Sword had only those few tricks?"
"You can't escape now. Your heart demon belongs to me—and with it, I can fully trigger your Wind-and-Fire Tribulation. If you surrender, I'll release my control. How about it?"
No one could see Jiao Fei.
"Arrogant nonsense."
Fang Han sneered. In the same instant, his body vanished and reappeared where the voice had come from. His claw tore through layers of airflow, locked onto Jiao Fei's true body—and pierced straight through his chest.
Yet it was useless again.
The moment Fang Han's hand penetrated Jiao Fei's chest, the body transformed—into Fang Han himself. Deep inside Fang Han's golden core, the Wind-and-Fire Tribulation surged once more.
Every time he killed Jiao Fei, it was as if he were killing himself.
"Every time you kill me, you kill yourself," Jiao Fei's voice rang out again from another corner of the arena. "Because at this very moment, I have completely fused with your heart demon. You will never comprehend the true terror of the Heart-Demon Curse Sword."
"The mysterious master who taught me this sword art once prophesied that I would dominate the world with it. Fang Han—you were always destined to fall by my hand."
He was like a true heart demon—appearing without warning, vanishing without trace, existing only in the shifting thoughts of the mind.
Fang Han didn't waste words. His body flickered again, weaving through the arena, relentlessly hunting Jiao Fei's true form and striking without mercy.
The two clashed in a ghostly dance across the platform.
"Jiao Fei is truly formidable," Water Mirror murmured, watching the battle. "The top disciples of the Immortal Dao Ten Sects are no ordinary figures. This Heart-Demon Curse Sword—who in the world created such a thing? To forge the heart demon itself into a blade… endless illusions, total confusion. Even Fang Han has been ensnared."
He turned to Six Paths Wanderer. "Your Six Paths Alliance prides itself on intelligence. Do you know who created this sword art? Someone capable of this could found an entire sect."
Six Paths Wanderer lowered his voice mysteriously. "A thousand years ago, a certain old man appeared briefly in the cultivation world. He sent invitations and debated the Dao with six of the Seven Demon Sects' Demon Emperors at Cang Mountain."
"The result? Those six Demon Emperors—even Ying Xiantian himself—were utterly shaken by the old man's demonic Dao."
"This is one of the deepest secrets of the demonic path. After that debate, the old man vanished without a trace. The Demon Emperors only knew that he called himself… the Elder of the Heart Demon."
"The Elder of the Heart Demon?" Water Mirror exclaimed. "I've never heard of him. Even the six Demon Emperors couldn't do anything to him—how terrifying must his strength have been?"
"Of course you haven't heard of him," Six Paths Wanderer chuckled. "Ying Xiantian himself sought me out and paid nine Heaven-grade supreme pills—Nine-Turn Tendon-Reforging Pills—for that information. Otherwise, even I wouldn't know such a figure existed in the Xuanhuang Great World."
"I suspect Jiao Fei encountered this Elder and received the Heart-Demon Curse Sword from him."
"Elder of the Heart Demon… Heart-Demon Curse Sword…" Water Mirror tapped his folding fan thoughtfully. "Six Demon Emperors of the Seven Sects were shaken by his Dao. If the Yellow Springs Emperor were still alive, I wonder what would have happened."
"That Elder once sighed to Ying Xiantian," Six Paths Wanderer continued, "saying he wished to meet the greatest demonic cultivator of the Xuanhuang World—the Yellow Springs Emperor. But after learning that the Emperor had torn open the Immortal Realm's gate and perished, he lamented for a long time, saying the heavens and myriad worlds no longer held anyone with whom he could truly discuss the demonic Dao."
"After that meeting, Ying Xiantian went into seclusion for a thousand years. When he emerged, his cultivation was unfathomable. He repelled Taiyi Sect's siege in a single move—enough to make even Hun Tian Daoist and Tai Huangtian wary. All of it stemmed from his discourse with the Elder of the Heart Demon."
"You can see it," Water Mirror said suddenly, pointing at the arena. "From Jiao Fei's sword art alone, you can tell how terrifying that elder must have been."
"Fang Han… he's completely trapped by his heart demon. If this continues, the Wind-and-Fire Tribulation might erupt."
On the arena, Fang Han appeared utterly lost.
To the spectators, Jiao Fei's true body stood high in the sky, the Slaughter-Calamity Sword circling Fang Han like a divine executioner. Fang Han rampaged across the platform like a maddened beast, striking wildly in every direction, muttering incomprehensible words.
Anyone with half an eye could tell—Fang Han had fallen into madness, trapped by his own heart demon.
"It's over," Jiao Fei murmured to himself as he looked down at Fang Han's frenzied state. "He's completely ensnared by my Heart-Demon Curse Sword. His mana is deep—this could drag on for days—but his Wind-and-Fire Tribulation is growing stronger by the moment."
A faint smile curved his lips as he calculated how to defeat the remaining opponents and claim the inheritance of the three supreme divine abilities.
Yet inside Fang Han's mind, the scene was entirely different.
To him, Jiao Fei's voice echoed everywhere. Jiao Fei appeared in every corner of the arena, attacking relentlessly. No matter how many times Fang Han struck him down, another would appear instantly.
At this point, Fang Han knew with absolute clarity—he was trapped inside the Heart-Demon Curse Sword. Reality and illusion were indistinguishable.
But Fang Han was Fang Han.
He had already made his preparations.
He drew Abyssal demonic qi from the Yellow Springs Diagram to suppress himself, while sending part of his divine consciousness to resonate with the Five Elements Earth Talisman. Again and again, he silently chanted the Six-Syllable Mantra.
Gradually, clarity returned.
If he could fully mobilize the Yellow Springs Diagram—open the Gate of Avici and raise the Bridge of Naihe—he could make Jiao Fei wish for death in a single strike. But for now, even drawing a small amount of Abyssal qi was an achievement.
"I've got you."
Suddenly, the Five Elements Earth Talisman radiated a mysterious, compassionate blessing. Fang Han's mind snapped into perfect clarity. The world sharpened into focus.
The Slaughter-Calamity Sword was spinning around him—and high above, Jiao Fei stood in the sky, gazing down with mockery, his strength untouched.
"Toying with me like a monkey?" Fang Han's eyes burned. "Then you die."
He shot upward.
His fist exploded forward—Great Severing Technique, Great Devouring Technique unleashed together. The Five Emperor Grand Demonic Arts roared to life. The Ghost Emperor's thirty-four divine abilities fused into the Nine-Ghost Primordial Spirit, seizing space itself, while countless other techniques sealed the void completely.
At the same time, Fang Han spread Abyssal demonic qi across all directions, layering the arena in inescapable darkness.
No escape. No evasion.
"He saw through it?!" Jiao Fei's heart jolted. "He's resisting the Heart-Demon Curse Sword!"
This punch was Fang Han's long-prepared killing blow.
"Slaughter-Calamity Sword—return!" Jiao Fei roared.
Above his head erupted his true natal Dharma Aspect—a towering sword spirit like a celestial god, its back formed from countless rotating rings of swords.
The Heaven-Piercing Sword Spirit.
This was Jiao Fei's true foundation, refined over centuries.
It charged straight into Fang Han's fist.
"That's your real path," Fang Han said coldly. "The Heart-Demon Curse Sword is a crooked shortcut. You neglected your true foundation. Compared to Wan Lianshan's Sea God Avatar, you're far weaker."
"Let me show you what real power is."
His body exploded—everything except his head dissolving into countless talismans. The talismans twisted like primordial dragons, intertwining into a colossal arm as vast as a mountain.
In its palm lay his natal golden core.
The arm closed.
The Heaven-Piercing Sword Spirit shattered instantly.
"Immortal body and golden core—merged as one! Shatter the ages!"
Fang Han burned half of his immortal body, fusing it with his golden core in a brutal, head-on strike.
Pu—!
With his natal sword spirit destroyed, Jiao Fei spat a mouthful of blood and was hurled from the arena. He was grievously wounded in a single blow.
His Heart-Demon Curse Sword was terrifying—but his primordial spirit was nowhere near as strong as Wan Lianshan's. Countless years had been wasted cultivating heart demons.
"Heart-demon seed—detonate!"
Even as blood poured from his mouth, Jiao Fei unleashed his final gambit.
Deep within Fang Han's golden core, the Wind-and-Fire Tribulation erupted—surging thousands of times stronger than before.
Boom!
The seal of the Grand Wish Technique shattered.