"The Ghost Emperor is really like a maggot clinging to bone—no matter what we do, we can't shake him. Yan, if we stopped running and fought him head-on, what would happen?"
The deeper Fang Han flew into the primeval jungle, the stranger the world became. The trees grew impossibly tall and thick—some so massive that dozens of people together couldn't wrap their arms around the trunks. Their canopies blotted out the sky, covering hundreds of acres with pitch-black shade. Giant vines coiled everywhere, and countless beasts, insects, serpents, and hulking wild creatures prowled beneath the ancient boughs. It felt like an entirely separate world—one untouched by the outside.
Fang Han had already slipped deep within this wilderness.
He descended from a bank of clouds, weaving silently through the dark forest. A faint aura of green wood-qi rippled from his body, blending seamlessly with the jungle around him. Not a trace of his presence leaked out. It was as if he had melted into the pulse of the forest that stretched for millions of miles.
This was Wood Escape.
His Azure Emperor Wood Sovereign Art had reached absolute perfection. Among the Five Emperor Demonic Arts, this technique stood alone—the power to command all wood-essence at will. Here, in this primeval wilderness, every tree, vine, and blade of grass resonated with him, feeding his concealment.
Flying in the open sky would be suicide; the Ghost Emperor would spot him instantly.
Now that a Tenfold Divine Ability master—one who had reached Fate-Reversal—was hunting him relentlessly, Fang Han had no choice but to flee with everything he had.
Moments ago, he had slain the Moon-Piercing and Star-Extinguishing Bandits by luring them into the jaws of the Abyssal Gate, taking advantage of their ignorance. But the Ghost Emperor was different. He understood the Gate's nature—its abyssal devouring power, its restraint on all Yellow-Springs arts. Facing him directly would be disastrous.
Fang Han knew his limits.
He could defeat Sevenfold Divine Ability experts—Golden Core cultivators.
He could contend, barely, with Eightfold tribulation specialists.
But a Ninefold Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation? Nearly impossible.
And against a Tenfold Fate-Reversal master?
Certain defeat.
Even with the Abyssal Gate restraining the Ghost Emperor's cultivation, the man was still an ancient monster with thousands of years of foundation, armed with treasures Fang Han had yet to see.
So Fang Han kept escaping.
Within the forest, wrapped in Wood Essence, the escape was easier—almost natural. Once he achieved Unified Divine Ability, refined the two Golden Cores he'd captured, and completed the Five Emperor Arts, his power would skyrocket. His myriad divine abilities would merge into one Life Talisman—and then, he would return to settle accounts.
For now, he had to live.
Along the way, the jungle never stopped offering its strangeness: a ten-foot centipede skittering through dead leaves; four-winged flying mice that hunted serpents; human-faced spiders whose venom could kill a Divine Ability master with a single bite. Finger-sized ants swarmed in colonies so dense they stripped all flesh to bone. Blood-leeches leapt from branches to burrow into blood vessels. Iron-armored beasts, crest-crested serpents, jade toads, obsidian turtles—deadly creatures thrived everywhere.
Even a Lesser Divine Ability cultivator could die here.
But nothing touched Fang Han.
He was part of the forest now.
He passed countless rare herbs, untapped mineral veins, and buried spiritual treasures the empire had never touched. The entire jungle was a treasure trove—one left untouched for a reason.
The Barbarian Demon Sect lurked within these depths.
And deeper still was the Primordial Barbarian Shrine—and the ancient curse it carried.
Suddenly—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A vicious gale spiraled above the forest canopy. Inside the storm writhed a massive black hand—an acre wide—reaching downward. Everything it grabbed, whether trees or stone, instantly dissolved into drifting charcoal-gray ash.
Fang Han had just slipped over a marsh where black venomous serpents writhed. A shadow fell.
The black hand crashed down.
Szzzzzt—!
Marsh water evaporated on the spot.
Serpents, insects—everything was reduced to soot.
This wasn't just a spell.
This was annihilation.
"The Ghost Emperor's caught a trace of my aura," Fang Han muttered. "That hand… its power is even greater than I imagined."
Yan's voice echoed from the Abyssal Gate.
"That is the Heaven-Covering Demonic Art—a supreme technique. The Yellow-Springs Emperor once taught it to him. He has reached complete mastery. Worse, he forged a matching treasure—a demonic hand condensed from countless ghost souls, seven demonic metals, nine demonic bloods, eighteen demonic spirits, and thirty-six demonic qi. It is the Heaven-Covering Demonic Hand, a near-Dao artifact.
"Your Abyssal Gate cannot devour it yet. If you fight now, nine times out of ten you will die. At best, you heavily injure him and die in the process. Or you survive but crippled while he walks away with minor wounds."
Fang Han nodded grimly.
"I have over thirty divine abilities… but they're scattered. Without Unified Divine Ability, I can't merge them. Against the Ghost Emperor, scattered arts are useless. Even my Black Sun Wind Disaster can't hurt him—he'd swat it aside. But once I reach the sixth realm and forge my Life Talisman…"
His eyes sharpened.
"…then he will suffer."
For now—
"Escape. Head toward the Barbarian Shrine. The ancient curse will restrain him. We can break free and continue searching for the Five Elements Roots."
Just as he spoke, Fang Han looked down.
The Day-Moon Five-Star Bracelet rested quietly on his wrist.
Inside it, Starborn Kid was curled up asleep—snoring like a tiny pig.
Even Fang Han was speechless.
Sleeping soundly while being hunted by a Tenfold master—this child's nerves were terrifying.
Overhead: The Ghost Emperor's Fury
In the center of the dark gale sat the Ghost Emperor upon his Wailing-Soul Throne. His face was a stony blue. A vertical eye had opened on his brow, scanning the forest below. Occasionally, a faint green glimmer appeared—then vanished.
Every time that glimmer surfaced, a titanic demonic hand—nine-fingered, webbed like a monstrous frog's—manifested behind him, bathed in demonic flame.
The Heaven-Covering Demonic Hand.
Each grasp turned forest and stone into drifting smoke.
But it never caught Fang Han.
"How did he cultivate the Azure Emperor Wood Sovereign Art to perfection?! Even with top-tier wood treasures, it shouldn't be possible!" the Ghost Emperor snarled. "What fortune did this brat obtain?!"
He needed only to catch Fang Han once—to shatter the Wood Escape and crush him with his full might.
But Fang Han's secret was beyond imagination.
Only with a fragment of the World Tree, the primordial ancestor of all wood, could anyone achieve such mastery. As long as wood existed, Fang Han could slip away—becoming the forest itself.
Unless the Ghost Emperor destroyed the entire wilderness…
Which was impossible.
This jungle stretched for billions of miles.
Even immortals would struggle to raze it.
And deep within, powerful beasts slumbered—possibly even those of the Longevity Realm, living quietly without founding sects.
Then—
As the Ghost Emperor's rage reached its peak—
the forest ahead suddenly thinned.
Ancient structures emerged from the shadows.
One after another…
colossal temples rose from the jungle depths,
their weathered stone towering above the wilderness like sleeping titans.
The Primordial Barbarian Shrine—
At last, it appeared.