A rasping, manic laugh rippled through the depths of the Yellow Springs Diagram.
"Cackle… cackle… The World Tree truly deserves its reputation as the first divine tree of the Xuanhuang World—an innate sacred species born at the dawn of creation! Even shattered, even reduced to fragments, its ability to draw in celestial energy rivals that of a Longevity expert. If you ever gather all its pieces and restore its form… you'll surpass the ancient Three Sovereigns, crush primeval gods, and rule the heavens themselves!"
Yan reveled in the surge of celestial qi pouring madly into the diagram. Bathed in this power, even its grievous wounds visibly eased.
Celestial qi was a refined essence—containing the nine pure yang currents, subtle ethereal energies, and spirit-nourishing clarity. Yan lacked a physical body and could only absorb the pure yang component, but even that was more than enough to heal.
For most cultivators, extracting pure yang from celestial qi was a feat only Longevity experts could manage. Yan had no such ability now—but healing was good enough.
Celestial qi flooded the Yellow Springs Diagram like a storm, descending as glimmering droplets that struck the surface of the Yellow Springs River. As soon as the droplets met the Forget-Love Water, they condensed like vapor freezing in winter—solidifying into thumb-sized crystal beads. Inside each bead swirled a faint silhouette of a curled infant.
Nascent Soul Pills.
The diagram's ability to refine pills on a massive scale had always been terrifying. With enough energy and herbs, it could mass-produce pills faster than any earthly furnace. Even the Five-Prisons King Cauldron couldn't compare.
Thousands of Nascent Soul Pills appeared instantly.
And the World Tree's roots kept drawing celestial qi at an insane rate—far beyond anything before. More pills gathered every breath, a rolling tide of white-gold wealth.
At this pace, Fang Han realized, he could become the richest cultivator in the world.
He did a quick calculation.
"Over thirty thousand Nascent Soul Pills a day… Converted to White Yang Pills, that's more than three million daily."
A wealth flow powerful enough to support a tenth of a major sect—every single day.
But the storm of growth didn't just enrich him—it transformed his Wood Emperor Astral Qi.
As the tree sapling devoured the massive fragment, the violent surge of wood essence slammed into Fang Han's liver, where the Wood Emperor formation lay dormant. The array roared to life, threads of astral energy grinding together until sparks crackled between them—
乙 Wood Divine Thunder.
One of the five legendary elemental thunders.
Only when an elemental astral qi reached its pinnacle—cycling endlessly, refining itself within a completed formation—would divine thunder naturally manifest.
The Wood element was now complete.
Fang Han nodded with satisfaction.
The World Tree truly was a supreme treasure.
If he could find more fragments and fuse them… one day the tree could easily generate half a million Nascent Soul Pills per day. At that point, he thought, even the headmaster of Yuhua Sect would hand over the seat voluntarily.
Even providing half a million White Yang Pills a day would shake the world. But Nascent Soul Pills? That was a difference of heaven and earth.
A cultivator at the tenth level of Mortal Shedding, given twenty years of White Yang Pills, had a fifty-percent chance of breaking into the Divine Ability realm.
With Nascent Soul Pills?
Ninety percent.
The odds weren't even comparable.
A voice gently interrupted his thoughts.
"Realman Fang… do you have more Nascent Soul Pills? If so, the Heaven Dao Pavilion is prepared to buy them at a premium."
Thirteen Niang and Green-Brows had finally recovered from their earlier shock. Fang Han blinked, then forced down his excitement and gave them an unreadable smile.
"I do have quite a few. What's the price?"
"We'll buy any amount above ten thousand pills for one hundred twenty White Yang Pills each. And if Realman Fang can sell one million at once, we'll pay double that rate."
Fang Han inhaled sharply.
Heaven Dao Pavilion was desperate.
A million Nascent Soul Pills… even with the World Tree's new rate, he'd need over a month of accumulation.
"We can talk about it later," Fang Han said lightly. "Since the auction is over, I'll go explore the other markets. If I recall, Taibai City has two other major chambers—Six Paths Alliance and Nine Cauldron Hall. I'll take a look."
He rose and stepped out.
Below, the auction continued, but nothing worthwhile appeared—mostly low-grade artifacts, rare herbs, and odd monster materials. Useful to ordinary cultivators, negligible to Fang Han now.
Taibai City, though vast with billions of residents, wasn't even the empire's greatest city. That title belonged to Xuanhuang City, the imperial capital—said to be a paradise of the mortal world.
Still, Taibai was home to the three great trading powers: Heaven Dao Pavilion, Six Paths Alliance, and Nine Cauldron Hall.
As Fang Han reached the doors, Thirteen Niang called out again.
"Realman Fang! Please accept this—our platinum VIP card. You'll receive exclusive access and discounts. If you have more Nascent Soul Pills, selling to us first would be… highly advantageous."
Fang Han took the card.
"I'll return in ten days."
Especially since the Pavilion would soon auction supreme-grade artifacts and five-element essence treasures like Netherworld Soil Crystals, far beyond the Mountain God Pearl. He would need massive resources to claim them.
With the World Tree generating over three million White Yang Pills per day, in ten days he could amass nearly forty million. Enough to crush any competitor.
He stepped into the streets.
Behind him, Thirteen Niang frowned faintly.
"Green-Brows, do you think he truly possesses a large supply of Nascent Soul Pills? Only the Taiyi Sect—with its celestial furnace—can mass-produce them. No other sect can. Unless a Longevity expert is backing him…"
"Hard to say," Green-Brows murmured, activating a silver-threaded sphere. "But his power isn't what he shows. I used the Zhou Tian Instrument earlier—his strength is equivalent to tens of thousands of galloping Xuanhuang stallions. Not a Heaven-Realm cultivator. Possibly Golden Core… or even higher."
"Mark him," Thirteen Niang said.
Just then—
Fang Han stepped out of Heaven Dao Pavilion.
A voice drifted behind him.
"Wait."
He turned.
A woman in a red veil approached—
the expert from Linglong Blessed Land who had just purchased the Mountain God Pearl.