"Whoever's coming to kill me—let them come. With the Blood Night King and you guarding me, not even a Golden Core expert can touch me. Sure, I chose to cultivate out here on the plains, but that doesn't mean I'm unprepared. If someone's spying on me, Yan, just deal with them. I'm at the critical moment of refining this new ability—I can't spare even a thread of strength. Just one more moment… one more moment and I'll open a second spiritual sea!"
Fang Han poured every ounce of focus into drawing down star-power, fusing it with his battle-soul relics. Opening a second mind-sea required absolute concentration—no mistakes, no distractions. Yan's warning flickered into his heart, but after a brief calculation, Fang Han remained calm. With Yan and the Blood Night King, even a Golden Core couldn't kill him. And what Golden Core master would sneak into a wild prairie just to assassinate him? That'd be like a millionaire begging for scraps among beggars.
Besides, he'd altered his appearance with the Sea Mirage Art. No one should be able to identify him.
"This time you may not survive," Yan snapped. "They aren't ordinary assassins. Three Golden Core experts are approaching. And their power—each of them rivals Wan Luo. One of them even surpasses him, possessing at least twenty divine powers. Even one would be difficult, but three? We can't defeat them. If you don't open your second mind-sea right now… disaster is coming."
"What?"
This time Fang Han truly froze.
"Three Golden Core assassins? What, has heaven decided to hate me? Has my luck finally run dry?" Fang Han's mind raced. Yan never lied—his insight was sharper than any mortal's. If he sensed three Golden Core auras, then three Golden Core experts were here.
If it were just one, Fang Han could defeat—but not kill—them so long as they lacked a Dao-artifact. Defeat was possible; killing was not. Golden Core experts had countless ways to flee.
Against two, he would lose. Against three? He would die. Without question.
His foundations were still unstable; he hadn't yet completed the Five-Emperor Demon Arts. Against true elites, his flaws would be obvious.
Three veteran Golden Core killers had come for him. His only rational move was to run—even blindly. But right now, he couldn't. His second mind-sea wasn't complete. If he broke off forcefully, all his progress would collapse—and worse, the battle-soul relics and star-power would fall out of sync, causing his mind to detonate.
To flee was death. To stay was also death.
"Just a bit… just a bit more. If they hesitate even a little, I'll finish opening my second mind-sea, then I can escape." Fang Han gritted his teeth and focused every shred of will. Star-power lines that had been thin as hair suddenly thickened into beams as wide as his thumb—dozens of crystalline pillars descending from the sky.
Above the clouds, three figures lurked silently.
One tall silhouette muttered, "Is that the target the Spirit Prince hired us to kill?"
Another replied, "The aura matches. His face is disguised—using Sea Mirage Art from the Linglong Paradise. But the essence of the technique is far too powerful. No way someone at his level trained it himself. Someone must've forcibly infused it into him. Maybe he's the son of some sect master and they passed him divine arts?"
"He does look suspicious. And there's blood-light around him… definitely a powerful protective artifact. We must be careful. One strike. No escapes."
A soft female voice added, "We're the Starshatter Thief, the Moonpiercer Thief, and the Immortal-Slayer Thief. If the three of us fail to kill one mere Heaven-Human brat, we'd lose every shred of reputation."
As they talked, the star-power around Fang Han suddenly surged.
"He detected us! And he's not cultivating some ordinary technique—he's attempting a dangerous breakthrough. He can't move. If we don't strike now, once he succeeds he'll flee—!"
"Kill!"
The three assassins struck as one.
Starshatter moved first—his attack was a collapsing cascade of starlight, packed with countless grains of shimmering sand. Each grain carried thunderous force—true star-sand thunderbolts. This divine art, Star-Sand Lightning Aegis, gathered star-power and compressed it into explosive sand-grains—each one able to blast mountains into dust.
Moonpiercer inhaled—and spat out rolling yellow clouds. Dozens of miles of sky turned into a raging sandstorm: the Desert Shroud Technique, a devastating earth-attribute divine art.
Then Immortal-Slayer acted.
The second greatest thief of the Forty Sea-Bandit Lords—surpassed only by Abandoned-Heaven Thief. She extended her five fingers; five sword-lights shot forth—red, green, blue, yellow, violet. They spiraled in the air, merging into a lotus blossom the size of a water-jar.
The five-colored lotus shimmered—and the world froze.
Space hardened like steel. Air thickened like molten mercury. Animals across miles rose helplessly into the air, blood bursting from their orifices. Plants withered instantly as their juices were crushed out of them.
In one breath, autumn plains became barren wasteland—like a world purged clean.
A supreme divine art.
The same level as Black Sun Tempest or Great Solar Cataclysm.
"Pure-World Lotus!"
Yan's voice cracked. "A Buddhist supreme technique! But the outer-realm Buddhist sects swore ten thousand years ago never to interfere with the Xuanhuang World. What's this woman doing with a Buddhist art? Fortunately I know these secrets—anyone else would be clueless! Don't let that lotus expand! If it reaches full power, it really can cleanse a world. Blood Night King—break that lotus! I'll handle the star-sand lightning and the yellow-sand storm!"
The Blood Night King—a Dao-artifact spirit and Fang Han's own secondary incarnation—felt the same deadly pressure. Without needing Yan's reminder, its blood-light surged, turning into a hundred-meter blade of crimson light that slashed at the lotus.
At the same time it split off two smaller blades, sending them against Starshatter and Moonpiercer.
"You dare underestimate me?" Yan roared. "Worried I can't handle a couple of thieves? Insulting! If I were in my prime, I'd dominate both immortals and demons! Fine! All of you—DIE! Nine-Heavens, Nine-Earths Corrupt-Immortal Formation!"
Two formations burst out of the Yellow Springs Diagram—one turbid, one pristine, each with nine layered heavens.
The blood-blades shattered the star-sand and the yellow-storm while Yan's formations devoured what remained.
The five-colored lotus trembled—the Blood Night King's slash hadn't broken it, but the pressure was weakened.
"A Dao-artifact!" Starshatter and Moonpiercer were startled—and delighted.
"A mere Heaven-Human dares wield a Dao-artifact? This is fate delivering treasure to us! Kill him and seize it. Even if we offend some Longevity titan—it's worth it!"
Their Golden Cores rose above their heads—then detonated with thunderous force.
The twin explosions tore the Blood Night King's extra blades apart—and blasted Yan's two formations into fragments. Yan's entire body was hurled into the Yellow Springs Diagram, flesh shredded, claws torn off.
At his current weakened level—barely equivalent to Heaven-Human—even wielding the Yellow Springs Diagram couldn't match Golden Core force. One blow nearly annihilated him.
And the assassins—had only just begun.