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

In the secret realm, Li Hanshan's figure swiftly traversed the forest. Purple-gold flames exploded beneath his feet, each flash covering several miles, stirring only a slight breeze as he passed over the treetops, barely disturbing a few leaves.

The distance of over a hundred miles was covered in an instant at full speed by a peak Nascent Soul cultivator. He stopped on a small hill, his gaze falling on a clearing in front of him that was covered by a dense canopy of trees.

The spirit banner, entirely crimson, stood planted in the center of the clearing. Fine golden runes flowed across its surface, gleaming softly in the twilight. Beside the banner, a colossal beast covered in dark red scales lay prone. Resembling a lion, it possessed a pair of bony wings folded along its back, and a single horn atop its head gleamed with a dark, blood-red light. Its aura was heavy and powerful, each breath causing the surrounding ground to tremble slightly, and spiderweb-like cracks to appear on the stone slabs beneath its feet.

Li Hanshan narrowed his eyes. The power level of this demonic beast was much higher than he had expected, probably a demonic beast at the fifth or sixth level of the Nascent Soul stage. Demonic beasts of this level not only possessed profound demonic power, but their physical strength also far surpassed that of human cultivators of the same level. Even if he used his broken sword and Chongyang Yuan Tai to fight with all his might, it would still take him at least half of his spiritual power to kill this giant beast head-on, and it would drag on for a long time.

He pondered for a moment and made a decision. The purplish-gold flames silently receded beneath his feet, and his figure, like a wisp of smoke, slipped away along the gaps in the tree shadows toward the edge of the clearing.

He planned to lure the monster away.

A fireball materialized in his palm, landing precisely on the rocks at the edge of the clearing, exploding in a blinding purple-gold light. The behemoth abruptly raised its head, its dark golden vertical pupils sweeping towards the explosion, letting out a low, warning roar. But it didn't stand up; it merely turned its head in that direction, then slowly lowered it back, lying down beside the spirit flag. Its posture clearly said: I won't leave, and you won't come near me.

Li Hanshan tried again. This time the fireball landed further away, making a bigger commotion and shattering a small hill, but the giant beast merely flicked its tail and didn't even raise its head.

"As expected, it won't leave." Li Hanshan's heart sank. This demonic beast had clearly been given a death order, guarding only the spirit flag and ignoring everything else.

Then we'll have no choice but to take it by force.

He took a deep breath, and his Pure Yang Meridian surged. Purple-gold flames erupted around him. Instead of charging in head-on, he concentrated his divine soul power to its limit, and the Chongyang Primordial Embryo in his sea of ​​consciousness suddenly lit up—the sword of his divine soul shot out from between his eyebrows like a silent lightning bolt, precisely piercing the giant beast's head.

The behemoth froze abruptly, its dark golden vertical pupils flashing intensely for a fleeting moment. In that instant, flames erupted beneath Li Hanshan's feet, his figure flashing across the open ground like a streak of purple-gold lightning, his left hand reaching for the crimson spirit flag planted beside the beast's paw. The instant his fingertips touched the flagpole, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently.

A layer of dark red light rose from the ground, transforming into a semi-transparent force field that enveloped him. The force field was as heavy as a mountain, like an invisible hand gripping him firmly in place. His body suddenly froze, as if he had stepped into extremely viscous mud, making even moving a single step difficult. The behemoth's dark golden vertical pupils had regained their clarity, and it was looking down at him condescendingly, emitting a low growl, as if gloating over finally capturing its slippery prey.

Outside the secret realm, a murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd before the bronze mirror. Chang Sheng was the first to react, a barely suppressed smirk spreading across his face: "Senior Brother Chen, look! That old man's trapped!"

Chen Jie stood to the side of the platform, arms crossed, a confident smile playing on his lips. He looked at the blue figure struggling within the force field reflected in the bronze mirror and slowly said, "I knew he would target that flag."

Chang Sheng's eyes lit up: "Senior Brother Chen, did you arrange for this demonic beast?"

"The guardian beast of that spirit flag is the strongest in this secret realm—a sixth-level Nascent Soul cultivator." Chen Jie's voice carried a confident ease. "Moreover, its innate ability is extremely rare; it can manipulate the power of the earth to form a force field barrier. Once prey steps into the force field's range, it will be firmly trapped, and no matter how fast you are, you can't break free." He paused for a moment, "No matter how fast that old man can run, he won't be able to escape this time."

In the bronze mirror, Li Hanshan was indeed trapped. The dark red force field was like an inverted iron cage, suppressing him in place. The burning speed of his pure yang fire slowed down significantly, and even the circulation of his spiritual energy became stagnant. The giant beast slowly stood up, its massive body moving without any hindrance within the force field. It lowered its head, and the blood-red light on its horn was rapidly gathering, clearly preparing to launch a fatal attack.

Just before the giant beast's horn was about to thrust out, Li Hanshan's right hand moved. He raised his hand and drew a jet-black short sword from his storage ring; the ancient patterns on the sword's surface suddenly lit up. He gripped the short sword and lightly slashed at the dark red force field.

The crimson force field, wherever the sword passed, tore apart from the mark like cloth pierced by a red-hot iron rod. The cracks rapidly expanded, spreading across the entire surface of the force field in an instant, before shattering with a deafening roar. Countless crimson fragments scattered in all directions, like a shower of shattered glass, shimmering with a fine light in the twilight before dissipating into the air.

The giant beast's single horn, glowing with blood-red light, froze in mid-air. A hint of confusion flashed in its dark golden vertical pupils, as if it couldn't understand why its force field could be so easily sliced ​​open by a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Li Hanshan gave it no time to react. He reached out with his left hand, grabbed the crimson spirit flag, and yanked it up from the ground. At the same time, flames exploded beneath his feet, and he transformed into a streak of purple-gold light, hurtling towards the edge of the clearing. The giant beast let out a deafening roar, but it was too late to give chase. The purple-gold light vanished into the depths of the dense forest in a few breaths, leaving behind only shattered fragments of the force field scattered on the ground.

Outside the secret realm, when the scene displayed in the bronze mirror reached this point, the plaza fell silent for a moment. Then, a burst of intense discussion erupted: "He's out!" "What kind of magic weapon is that short sword? It can even cut through the force field of a sixth-level Nascent Soul cultivator?" "So fast! He did the whole thing in less than ten breaths!"

Chen Jie's smile froze. He stared at the rapidly receding purplish-gold light reflected in the bronze mirror, his eyes filled with disbelief. After a moment, he finally found his voice, his tone laced with barely suppressed sternness: "He...he cheated! That sword—he used a magical artifact beyond his capabilities!"

Ye Shuanghua's voice came from not far away, clear and calm: "The rules only stipulate that talismans exceeding one's own grade cannot be used, but do not prohibit the use of magic weapons. Besides, that sword belongs to him, so it's not a violation." She paused, looking directly at Chen Jie, "Junior Brother Chen, a loss is a loss."

Chen Jie's face turned pale and then red, but he couldn't utter a word in rebuttal. Chang Sheng stood behind him, his mouth agape, as if something was stuck in his throat, unable to squeeze out a single word. The disciples who had been whispering around them all turned to look, and a few of the bolder ones began to chuckle.

"He tried to trap Senior Brother Li with a sixth-level Nascent Soul demon beast, but was instead sliced ​​open by a single sword strike."

"He's hoisted himself by his own petard..."

Although the whispers were kept low, they still made Chen Jie's expression even more unpleasant.

The scene in the bronze mirror continued to shift. The camera switched to another part of the secret realm—beside a stream several tens of feet wide, Xuan Yinzi stood with his hands behind his back, his silver-gray robe fluttering gently in the wind, his gaze fixed on the cyan spirit flag planted on a reef in the middle of the water. Beside the spirit flag lay a demonic beast covered in cyan scales, shaped like a giant crocodile, also exuding the pressure of a sixth-level Nascent Soul cultivator, slowly swaying its tail and emitting a low warning sound.

Xuan Yinzi didn't rush to approach; instead, he raised his hand, and a silver-gray spiritual light shot out from his fingertips. The light split in mid-air into dozens of hair-thin sword shadows, scattering silently around the demonic beast like willow catkins blown by the wind. These sword shadows slowly moved through the air, forming a complete encirclement, sealing off all of the demonic beast's escape routes.

Then he formed hand seals, and the sword shadows lit up simultaneously, weaving into a fine, silver-gray net that closed inwards at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Sensing danger, the giant crocodile opened its massive jaws to charge forward, only to be blocked by the sword net, sparks flying from its scales. It roared and tried to retreat, but found its escape route also blocked by the sword shadows. No matter which direction it charged, it was precisely intercepted by those hair-thin sword shadows, as if trapped in an invisible cage.

Taking advantage of the giant crocodile's struggle with the sword net, Xuan Yinzi moved like a wisp of smoke across the water, landing before the azure spirit flag and pulling it up. The entire sequence of movements was fluid and seamless; from the scattering of sword shadows to the acquisition of the spirit flag, it took only a few dozen breaths. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he turned and drifted back the way he came, without even glancing back at the giant crocodile still struggling in the sword net.

Yu Mengjia's actions were even more decisive and efficient. Her spirit flag guardian was a giant silver-white eagle, circling above a cliff with a wingspan of tens of feet. Each flap of its wings carved several deep fissures into the cliff face, leaving deep, knife-like marks all over the cliff.

She stood below the cliff, her pale blue dress fluttering like a butterfly in the wind. She didn't rush to attack, but first closed her eyes to sense the wind direction and airflow for a moment, then raised her hand, and a pale blue spell flowed from her palm.

The magic swirled and expanded before her, transforming into a rapidly spinning storm. Initially only a few feet in size, the storm quickly expanded at an astonishing speed, emitting a low, howling sound, shattering the mountains and rocks in its path. The giant eagle seemed to sense the danger, letting out a sharp cry and flapping its wings violently, trying to escape the storm's reach. But Yu Mengjia was faster. She hurled the small, condensed storm towards the giant eagle. As it rose, the storm rapidly devoured the surrounding air, expanding to tens of feet in size by the time it reached the eagle's height, resembling a grayish-white cloud churning in the air.

The giant eagle's wings were caught in the storm, causing it to lurch violently. It struggled to regain its balance, but was entangled by the relentless airflow. Before it could break free, Yu Mengjia transformed into a pale blue streak of light, grazing the edge of the storm and landing lightly beside the silver-white spirit flag on the cliff face, which she then pulled up. Holding the flag, she glanced back at the giant eagle still circling in the storm, a gentle smile appearing on her lips, before turning and leaping off the cliff, her pale blue figure disappearing into the twilight.

Outside the secret realm, the disciples watching were completely absorbed. "Senior Brother Xuan Yinzi's sword formation is exquisite! Even a sixth-level Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't touch him!" "Senior Sister Yu's storm technique is amazing too; that giant eagle is still circling inside..." "Did you notice? Although Senior Brother Li was trapped for a moment before escaping, he was the first to get the flag! The fastest!"

Three days passed slowly within the secret realm. The images in front of the bronze mirror constantly shifted, recording every action and encounter of the three. After capturing the first flag, Li Hanshan didn't rush to find the second. Instead, he took a detour to confirm that there were no pursuers behind him before readjusting his direction. Relying on his sixth-level Nascent Soul divine sense, he avoided Xuan Yinzi and Yu Mengjia's activity range in advance, and located the second flag in an area where the two had not yet met.

The guardian beast of the second flag was also at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but this time he was not trapped by the force field. He used his Divine Soul Sword in conjunction with the Naruto Step to quickly finish the battle, taking the flag and leaving in less than a hundred breaths. Two auras intersected near the third flag. He observed them from the outside for a moment before decisively giving up and turning to another location. The guardian beast of the fourth flag was weaker than the previous three, and he took it down with almost no resistance.

Finally, when the eighth flag was retrieved and the three arenas rose in the center of the secret realm, the scene before the bronze mirror clearly reflected the three's battle records: Li Hanshan had four spirit flags planted in front of him, crimson, silver-white, dark gold, and dark blue, each gleaming in the twilight. Xuan Yinzi had two spirit flags planted in front of him, one cyan and one grayish-purple. Yu Mengjia had two spirit flags planted in front of her, one emerald green and one earthen yellow.