I'll make you the furnace and the cauldron, so you can refine Yin and Yang and prove the Great

The sea breeze was salty and fishy, ​​and the waves crashed against the surface of the sea.

Li Hanshan opened his eyes, his body swayed, and he almost lost his balance. His spiritual energy was almost exhausted, his sea of ​​consciousness was empty, and the golden light on the surface of his divine infant was dim, as if covered with a layer of dust.

The sect leader stood beside him, her black dress fluttering in the wind, her black veil gently swaying. Although her face was pale, her deep eyes held an undisguised concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Li Hanshan steadied himself and waved his hand, "It's alright. I've already destroyed that demon's primordial spirit."

The sect leader's body stiffened slightly.

She could already sense that the aura of the Nascent Soul Demon Lord had indeed dissipated, leaving not even a trace of his remnant soul.

But that was, after all, the primordial spirit of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Even though it had been severely injured twice, it was not something a Nascent Soul cultivator could easily kill.

She looked at Li Hanshan with an extremely complex expression, a mixture of surprise, confusion, scrutiny, and even a hint of awe that she herself didn't realize.

"What methods did you use?" she asked.

Li Hanshan didn't hide anything: "Let him rush into my sea of ​​consciousness, then trap him with pure yang fire, and then let my yin spirit devour his primordial spirit."

The sect leader remained silent.

She had already witnessed Xiao An's prowess in this battle.

But she didn't expect that the ghost had grown to the point where it could devour the essence of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

How many cards do you really have up your sleeve?

She finally said those words, her voice soft, yet carrying an unprecedented seriousness.

Li Hanshan smiled and asked, "Master, why are you suddenly asking this?"

The sect leader looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then suddenly said something that surprised even Li Hanshan: "If this continues, I may not be worthy to be your master."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat. He could sense that when the sect leader said those words, besides self-deprecation, there was also a hint of barely perceptible apprehension.

She was wary of his rapid growth. He'd gone from an ordinary person to where he was today in just over a decade; what would he be like in another decade?

At that time, will she, as his master, still be able to keep him in check?

Li Hanshan looked into the sect leader's deep eyes, his mind racing. If he could use the little beast now, he might be able to forcefully suppress the sect leader.

But the thought only flashed through his mind before he suppressed it.

The sect leader had been kind to him. She took him as her disciple, provided him with resources, helped him break through his limits, and even fought alongside him in the Endless Sea. Although she may have had ulterior motives at first, she had never truly harmed him along the way.

Not to mention, the sect leader's natal spirit sword may still possess power.

"Master is too kind," Li Hanshan said. "A teacher for a day is a teacher for life. It has nothing to do with the level of cultivation. Even if I reach higher realms in the future, I will always be your teacher."

The sect leader's eyes flickered slightly, and the corner of his mouth behind the black veil seemed to twitch, but he did not speak.

Li Hanshan reached out and gently embraced her waist. The sect leader stiffened slightly but did not pull away. He lowered his head and whispered in her ear, "Besides, you are my woman too."

The sect leader visibly paused for a moment.

She looked up at him, and a complex mix of emotions flashed in her deep eyes—surprise, anger, helplessness, and a touch of indescribable tenderness.

She didn't speak, but remained silent for a moment before gently pulling her arm away from his.

"Stop fooling around." Her voice regained its usual subtle authority, but was a few decibels softer than usual. "Let's get down to business first."

Li Hanshan smiled and didn't press the matter further.

He turned and flew towards the now calm sea. His Nascent Soul level divine sense swept across the waters that had been turned upside down by the beast tide, and he quickly locked onto his target.

Although the demon's mangled body was cleaved in two by the sect leader's sword and torn apart by the beast tide, a portion of it still remained on the sea surface.

Several gray bone fragments, mixed with tattered pieces of black robes, drifted on the water's surface. Li Hanshan scooped up the fragments and probed them with his divine sense into the lining of one of the robe fragments, where he indeed found a storage ring.

The ring was entirely black, with a faint, eerie glow flowing across its surface. Although it was of high quality, it had been tempered by the demon's aura for hundreds of years, bearing his divine soul imprint. Now that the divine soul was gone, most of the restrictions on the ring had loosened.

Li Hanshan infused it with pure Yang fire, and after burning for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the last layer of protection cracked and shattered, revealing the space inside.

His divine sense probed into the ring, and his pupils contracted slightly.

The spirit stones were piled up into a small mountain, roughly estimated to be at least several hundred thousand, including many high-grade and even top-grade spirit stones, radiating a rich spiritual energy.

There were several rows of shelves filled with pills, with various jade bottles neatly arranged.

The jade slips were piled up in several layers, each one exuding an ancient and profound aura, clearly indicating that they were from the cultivation techniques passed down in the Central Continent.

There were also quite a few magical artifacts. Several high-quality magical artifacts lay in the corner. Although most of them carried the remnants of Yin energy, they could be reused after a little refining.

What captivated Li Hanshan most was an inconspicuous bronze box in the corner. Upon opening it, he found a crimson spiritual herb inside, emitting an extremely rich medicinal fragrance that made one's blood surge with just a whiff.

"This is... Crimson Blood Dragon Fungus?" The sect leader's voice came from behind, tinged with surprise. "A sixth-grade spiritual herb, quite rare even in the Central Continent. This demon has certainly hoarded quite a few treasures."

Li Hanshan closed the bronze box and put it into his pocket. He checked the contents of the ring again to make sure nothing was missing before withdrawing his divine sense with satisfaction.

"I'm rich!" he exclaimed.

The sect leader glanced at him, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips: "The contents of this ring are enough for you to cultivate from the early Nascent Soul stage to the late Nascent Soul stage."

"Master, let's divide it up."

Li Hanshan glanced at the sect leader and handed over the ring.

"No need, you can keep it. My cultivation has been stuck at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage for a long time, and ordinary things are useless to me. I don't need these."

The sect leader shook his head.