At the brink of extinction, the Red Lotus Tribulation Fire and Black Nightmare Dragon Wind had already withered Fang Han's tendons, bones, flesh, and blood. All vitality had melted away. His hair was burned to ash, his Golden Core liquefied, his divine abilities collapsing into nothingness. He was moments from total annihilation—
And then, he swallowed four Nirvana Pills.
Instantly, everything changed.
Even for a cultivator at the peak of the Divine Ability Realm, a single Nirvana Pill could trigger a metamorphosis and open the door to the Longevity Secret Realm. One pill alone contained nearly ten times the vitality of Yin-Yang Longevity Pills, Nine-Aperture Golden Pills, Thunderbone Relics, or Dragon God Pills.
A Golden Core expert would explode from taking two.
A tenth-layer Divine Ability cultivator would be torn apart instantly if they swallowed four.
These pills were priceless—one was already unimaginably rare. Even ancient giants of the Longevity Realm would never dare consume four at once.
Yet Fang Han possessed exactly four Nirvana Pills—and he was standing at the precise moment of breaking through to the Eighth Layer.
It was as if fate itself had prepared them for this instant.
The terrifying medicinal power erupted.
Streams of condensed vitality transformed into blazing flames—each like a firebird, a fire phoenix—circling Fang Han and shielding him against the Red Lotus Tribulation Fire. These fire phoenixes beat their wings and cried out, their calls shaking the heavens, pouring overwhelming life force back into his body.
In an instant—
Fang Han's flesh regenerated.
Muscle and blood grew back stronger than before, gleaming with divine luster, as if his body were becoming an indestructible golden form.
His hair regrew strand by strand, radiant and sacred, enduring the Red Lotus Fire like true gold in the furnace—growing more brilliant the more it was refined.
Even his Golden Core began to reform.
Under the overwhelming medicinal power of the four Nirvana Pills, his shattered divine abilities re-condensed—purer, sharper, more perfect than ever.
The most dramatic transformation occurred in his mind.
The Panwu Great Strength Divine Ability activated automatically. Under the triple refinement of tribulation fire, medicinal power, and tribulation wind, Fang Han's five seas of consciousness expanded like the shifting of the Five Elements—
They doubled in size.
An ocean of mana surged into them.
The once liquid-like crystalline mana condensed again—this time into solid form, like gemstones, like heavenly crystal. Its purity and density soared to an entirely new level.
After enduring the Wind and Fire Tribulation, Fang Han's body, Golden Core, divine abilities, and seas of consciousness all underwent fundamental transformation.
And sensing this rebirth—
The tribulation intensified.
From the depths of the Golden Core's nucleus, even fiercer wind and fire erupted.
The more abundant the vitality, the more violent the tribulation.
"Nirvana rebirth.
Wind tempers my spirit.
Fire refines my body.
Yin and Yang embrace,
the cauldron gathers the soul.
When the tribulation passes—
one stands as a sage."
Though the Wind and Fire Tribulation grew ever more ferocious, Fang Han felt no fear.
He had already brushed against total annihilation. His heart demons had been burned away completely. In this moment, he possessed true clarity.
When heart demons vanish, wisdom arises.
All beings possess innate wisdom; all are Buddhas at their core. It is only tribulation, karma, and inner demons that obscure it.
This insight—once learned from the Great Universal Salvation Zen Light—now manifested with unprecedented depth.
And with that realization—
Rings of light began to form.
Halo upon halo emerged from Fang Han's Golden Core, shimmering like rainbows. More appeared behind his head, radiating outward. Wherever this light passed, vat-sized Red Lotus Tribulation Fires were extinguished, and the Black Nightmare Dragon Winds dissolved one by one.
The roar of fire softened.
The howl of wind faded.
The Wind and Fire Tribulation… was retreating.
"He's comprehended supreme wisdom through the Nirvana Pills—using insight to subdue tribulation!" Six Paths Wanderer exclaimed instantly.
"Indeed," said Mirror Water Scholar, laughing loudly. "Light halos behind the Golden Core—this is the sign of post-tribulation awakening. He has a real chance! The vitality within those four Nirvana Pills is simply monstrous."
"Six Paths Wanderer," he laughed, "you've lost this bet. Hand over that Dao Artifact."
"Not yet," Six Paths Wanderer replied grimly. "The tribulation isn't fully over—and the Demon Marshal has begun his counterattack."
Boom!
The Demon Marshal had already sensed danger.
After Fang Han swallowed the four Nirvana Pills, his essence, qi, and spirit surged without limit. Dead wood bloomed again. Halo after halo spread through the tribulation.
The Demon Marshal knew instantly—
Fang Han might actually survive.
"Unacceptable!" he roared inwardly. "If he survives with ninety divine abilities and reaches the Eighth Layer, how terrifying will he become? I can't allow this—or I'll be completely eclipsed before Qingxue!"
Yet the Demon Marshal was no novice. His will did not waver.
With a piercing roar that split metal and stone, he flung his sleeves wide. From within burst thousands upon thousands of white bone spheres, tearing straight into the heart of the tribulation and slamming into Fang Han's body before detonating violently.
Innate White Bone Divine Thunder!
Not a spell—but a weapon.
Forged by the Primordial Demon Sect using the bones of demon kings and even demon gods, fused with Nine Heavens Thunder Essence. One alone could obliterate a fifth-layer Divine Ability cultivator.
Thousands together could gravely injure even Longevity Realm experts.
But—
The moment they exploded against Fang Han, vast black vortices appeared.
They were swallowed whole.
Like mud oxen sinking into the sea—nothing remained.
"Excellent," Fang Han said calmly, eyes snapping open. "Pure white bone vitality… thunder essence… you're feeding me."
The Great Devouring Technique dissolved everything. White bone essence merged into his skeleton, making it gleam brighter than ever. Thunder essence flowed into his flesh, rising into his mind—
Lightning crackled within his pupils.
The Demon Marshal's divine thunder had not harmed Fang Han at all.
It nourished him.
"…You can devour divine thunder?" the Demon Marshal muttered in disbelief.
No more hesitation.
He knew now—nothing except the Eye of the End of Law could affect Fang Han.
"End the Law.
Break all techniques.
Let all Dharma perish!"
He poured all his power into the vertical eye.
Countless beams erupted, converging into an indescribable godlike manifestation—like the arrival of an age where all cultivation lost meaning.
Too late.
"Light of wisdom—
sever heart demons,
erase calamity.
No disaster. No tribulation.
Wind and fire—disperse."
Fang Han's gaze was utterly clear.
His Golden Core sank fully into his mind. Behind his head, the halos stabilized—no longer flickering.
There were ninety halos.
Ninety divine abilities.
Unshaken by wind or flame—like the Buddha's light described in scripture, immune to calamity.
The Wind and Fire Tribulation could no longer touch him.
The halos expanded, intensified. Wherever they passed, Red Lotus Fire vanished. Nightmare Dragon Winds scattered. Stillness returned to the void.
Every divine ability was now several times purer than before—every impurity burned away in the tribulation.
Even the karmic resentment embedded within the Ghost Emperor's stolen demonic arts—accumulated through countless massacres—had been forced upon Fang Han during the tribulation.
And now—
It was all resolved.
Wisdom and power erased the karma.
Layer by layer, the Wind and Fire Tribulation extinguished.
Fang Han had crossed the greatest calamity of the Divine Ability Realm.
From this moment on, with sufficient vitality, he could condense a Heaven-and-Earth Dharma Body and step into the Ninth Layer.
His five seas of consciousness had doubled.
The four Nirvana Pills replenished all consumed mana.
He stood at the strongest peak of his life.
Before, he could unleash one hundred million galloping-horse force ten times within a thousandth of a breath.
Now—
Twenty times.
His Golden Core radiated tranquil, sacred light—no longer domineering, but serene, eternal, and free.
All forcibly seized karma had been purged.
Fang Han sensed it faintly—
His Golden Core had become sentient.
Like an egg about to hatch.
A second self was forming within.
This was the sign of Golden Core birthing the Primordial Spirit—
The threshold of the Ninth Layer.
The tribulation—
Had finally passed.
No more suppression.
No calamity.
No disaster.
Only purity, freedom, and boundless ease.