The single word "Good!" exploded like thunder. In that instant, every heart on the field tightened. All eyes locked onto the unfolding scene—this gamble was beyond anything the Feather Gate had witnessed since its founding.
On one side was the legendary Five Emperors Demonic Divine Art.
On the other, the Panwu Titan Divine Art, a supreme technique passed down from the primordial Panwu Immortal Sovereign—one that multiplied a cultivator's strength tenfold upon mastery.
Either technique alone was enough for someone to rise from a sea of elites and stand among the chosen of heaven. The stakes were so enormous that merely watching induced tremors.
But Fang Han had another reason for accepting the wager.
He could no longer increase his mana through pills. His power had already reached its physical limit.
Most cultivators in the fifth realm of the Divine Ability stage possessed only about ten thousand horses of strength. Exceptional ones reached fifty thousand or eighty thousand. Fang Han, relying on the Hell King's Physique and the World Tree's strengthening, had reached an absurd fifty thousand horses the day he stepped into the Divine Ability realm—an absolute anomaly.
But even such a body had limits.
Now, his mana was a brimming barrel of water. More water would only burst it. To grow stronger, he needed to expand the barrel—break through his realm.
But mastering the Panwu Titan Divine Art was different.
Rumor held that Panwu Immortal Sovereign's disciples, upon first stepping into the Divine Ability realm, already wielded a hundred thousand horses of force. True titans.
And Fang Han had long studied Panwu lore, having asked the mysterious being in the Taiyuan Immortal Mansion and heard the Hell King's interpretations. He knew the value of this art.
For Wan Luo to offer it as a wager was a temptation no one alive could refuse.
"Good, good, good!" Wan Luo laughed heartily. "Then let us begin! Cast the Five Emperors Divine Art into a manual and place it atop the Heavenly Execution Hall's plaque. Whoever wins takes everything."
"Fine."
Fang Han pressed his palms together. The Wood Emperor energy gathered into a five-colored tome, accompanied by the map of the Five Elemental Spirit Root's location. They flew up and settled on the right side of the great plaque.
Wan Luo placed the Panwu Titan Divine Art, the Taiyi Metal Star Stone, and the Myriadfold Water Essence on the left.
The rules were clear—once a wager was placed on the Heavenly Execution plaque, no one touched it unless victorious. Any offender would be instantly executed.
"Come," Fang Han said.
"Come," Wan Luo echoed.
The two descended onto the Heavenly Execution Platform. All others—Fang Qingxue, Jia Lan, Ling Xiao—retreated. This was the true confrontation, of skill, fate, and destiny.
"Fang Han," Wan Luo began, "I know everything about you. Fire Cloud Fairy's Golden Core… twenty-eight divine abilities… the Blood Heaven Blade refined into a Dao Artifact… the wooden treasure you hide. Your foundation is monstrous—yet I still dare challenge you here. Do you know why? I never fight uncertain battles."
His clothes fluttered though no wind blew. His figure grew impossibly tall in everyone's eyes—towering like a divine mountain, oppressive and unshakable.
He was building momentum.
A crushing, suffocating momentum.
Fang Han felt the air tighten. The pressure was enough to suffocate lesser disciples.
Wan Luo's power surged:
One hundred thousand horses.
Three hundred thousand.
Half a million.
Eight hundred thousand—
Nearly one million horses of force roared within him before stabilizing.
Shock rippled through the crowd. Wan Luo's mana surpassed Fang Han's by nearly double. Countless jaws dropped.
The Panwu Titan Divine Art was terrifying.
Even the strongest peak Golden Core experts of the great sects rarely exceeded fifty thousand horses unless they risked their lives. But Wan Luo—Wan Luo stood as a living impossibility.
From the outside, he was a lion cornering a wolf—Fang Han seemed dramatically outmatched.
Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, Fang Han roared. A vast blood shadow rose above him. A pillar of blood light shot skyward, staining the heavens crimson.
The Blood Night King emerged—bat wings unfurled, draped in blood robes, eyes like twin void-seas of gore.
The aura of the Blood Heaven Blade's Dao Artifact form forced Wan Luo's momentum to halt.
"Oh? Blood Night King… If not for that Dao Artifact, it would hardly be fair to bully you with my Titan Divine Art." Wan Luo nodded with a faint smile. "But if you wish to challenge Senior Brother Hua Tiandu, you must first survive me. Today, I fear, is your doom."
"Enough nonsense!" Fang Han snapped.
The Blood Night King absorbed all bloodlight and slashed out a blade aura so swift it was almost invisible—aimed straight for Wan Luo's brow.
"Panwu walks the heavens—comprehending the extremes of the seasons. Martial might pierces eternity; strength obscures the sky; grasping stars, shattering illusions—within my palm, all things break!"
Wan Luo drifted like a ghost, avoiding the strike. His voice turned into a chant—each line became a floating array that dissolved the blood blade as though consuming it.
Within a few breaths, the blade's power was shredded. Wan Luo reached out casually, caught the fading aura, and crushed it. His palm ignited with a divine fire.
A wisp of blue smoke rose—the blade aura was refined to nothing.
"That's the Haotian True Flame," the Hell King's voice warned. "A supreme divine ability recorded in the Feathered Ascension Canon. Its power rivals the Great Sun Fire Catastrophe! Be careful!"
Before Fang Han could answer, Wan Luo struck.
With a single sweep of his arm, a colossal palm manifested—big as a house, woven from solidified qi. It had seven fingers, each inscribed with a character:
Joy. Anger. Sorrow. Delight. Grief. Pain. Despair.
The seven extremes of human emotion.
A wave of mental chaos exploded outward.
Even spectators felt their emotions buckling—waves of euphoria, rage, misery, and panic surging uncontrollably. Their minds were violently shaken.
Even Fang Han staggered. His consciousness quivered, nearly slipping from his control.
"This is the Seven Emotions Great Hand Seal!" the Hell King roared. "A fearsome art that attacks the heart-mind! Unless you reach an advanced realm of longevity where emotions cannot sway you, this will tear your spirit apart! Quickly—use the Blessing Art among your twenty-eight divine abilities!"