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

"Let's go."

On this day, as Li Hanshan and Yin Lingyue were preparing to leave, their divine senses suddenly detected a familiar aura rapidly approaching. That aura was cold and sharp, like a perfectly honed blade, piercing through the twilight and spiritual mist, flying straight towards them.

A few breaths later, a silver-white streak of light landed not far away. The light dissipated, revealing Ye Shuanghua's figure. Her silver-white outfit was stained with dust and dried blood, her hair was slightly disheveled by the wind, and the hilt of her Jinghong Sword at her waist bore several fine scratches, clearly indicating that she had also experienced considerable combat in the secret realm over the past two weeks. Her gaze first fell on Li Hanshan, and she breathed a slight sigh of relief after confirming he was unharmed.

"How are you?" Ye Shuanghua asked.

Li Hanshan nodded: "It's alright."

"Did you run into Chen Jie and the others?" she asked again.

"Chen Jie," Li Hanshan said without hiding anything, "he's dead."

Ye Shuanghua paused. She stared at Li Hanshan for a long while, a genuine shock flashing in her cold eyes: "Chen Jie is dead? You killed him? He was at the first level of the Nascent Soul stage, and he was very likely acting with Zhao Shoudao..."

"Add her too." Li Hanshan stepped aside, revealing the hunched figure slowly emerging from the shadows of the stone wall behind him. Yin Lingyue wore the gray-black robes of the Yinquan Sect, her face withered, her cloudy eyes shifting slightly through the gaps in her disguise. Her aura was perfectly concealed, like a gray stone that had lingered in the shadows for a long time. When Ye Shuanghua's gaze fell upon her, his brows furrowed sharply, his right hand already on the hilt of the Jinghong Sword. The blade was drawn three inches from its sheath, its silvery-white light gleaming coldly in the twilight.

"Grandma Yin? You teamed up with her to kill Chen Jie?" Her voice carried a suppressed wariness, clearly showing extreme distrust of Yin Lingyue's appearance.

Li Hanshan raised his hand and placed it on the back of Ye Shuanghua's hand that was resting on her sword. The pressure was light but carried a firm and steady tone: "She is my person, she will not attack me."

He didn't elaborate on the Yin Mark, but his words were unequivocal. Ye Shuanghua's gaze swept back and forth between him and Yin Lingyue, and she could read the unquestionable certainty in his eyes. She remained silent for a moment, then slowly pushed the Jinghong Sword back into its sheath, but her gaze still lingered on Yin Lingyue, as if she were examining an object that might explode.

Yin Lingyue felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze, and slightly looked away, speaking in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, I won't harm him. If he dies, I won't live either."

This statement was more convincing than Li Hanshan's explanation, and Ye Shuanghua's gaze finally relaxed a little, but the vigilance was still like a tightly wound string that had not been completely loosened, always taut between the two of them.

"Alright, she's really fine." Li Hanshan interrupted their staring contest and steered the conversation back to business. "Senior Sister, what brings you here?"

Ye Shuanghua withdrew her gaze and took out a piece of dark blue animal hide from her sleeve, handing it to him. The fragment had irregular edges, as if it had been torn from a larger map. Several winding lines were drawn on its surface, along with a circle marked in very light silver ink, and two blurry ancient seal characters were written next to the circle.

"I found this in a half-collapsed stone hall deep in the secret realm," Ye Shuanghua said. "The stone hall is extremely ancient, and the walls are covered with mostly weathered reliefs. I can only barely make out a few images—a group of people kneeling in front of a mountain peak, with a ball of light floating at the top of the peak. Below the reliefs is a line of small characters, which are now blurred to the point that only two characters with complete strokes remain: 'Yaoguang'."

When Li Hanshan received the fragment of animal hide, his fingertips paused slightly. Yao Guang. Luo Li's sect, the clue he had been searching for—that ancient sect that had perished eight thousand years ago, its ruins were actually within this Myriad Spirits Secret Realm.

He had searched through all the records of the Hehuan Sect in the Northern Wilderness but couldn't find the exact location, and now it had been delivered to him in this way. "Are you sure?" He looked up at Ye Shuanghua, his voice carrying a suppressed softness.

Ye Shuanghua nodded: "I found some more recent carvings in a corner of that stone hall, which should be records left by cultivators from later generations. They called that site 'Yaoguang Ruins,' saying that its entrance only appears once every few hundred years deep within the secret realm." She paused for a moment, "Now I can sense that the restrictions around that site are fluctuating rapidly. Based on the time calculations of previous cultivators, in about twenty days, a brief crack will appear at the entrance, allowing people to enter the outer area to explore for a period of time."

Li Hanshan examined the piece of animal hide several times. The ancient seal script on it was consistent with the runes Luo Li had taught him in his dream, with a unique, flowing arc at the end of each stroke. "How big is the outer area?" he asked.

Ye Shuanghua pondered for a moment: "According to the inscriptions, the outer perimeter of the ruins was a medicinal garden and a training ground shrouded in ancient restrictions. The medicinal garden was filled with ancient spiritual plants, and the training ground might contain fragments of cultivation techniques and magical artifacts. However, those restrictions were extremely complex, and even cultivators at the Void Refinement stage dared not force their way in. They could only enter during the brief window of opportunity when the rift appeared. Moreover, the entrance would only be open for a few days each time, and would close again after that period. If a person did not have time to get out, they would be trapped inside."

As she spoke, her gaze lingered on his face for a moment: "Quite a few people have already set their sights on that ruin. On my way here, I sensed several late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators moving in that direction."

Li Hanshan carefully put away the fragment of animal hide. "I need to break through to the Nascent Soul stage before the ruins open." His voice was steady, carrying an undeniable certainty. "Now that my nascent soul is formed, and I've accumulated enough power, with my senior sister and Yin Lingyue helping me, twenty more days should be enough." He paused, his gaze sweeping over Ye Shuanghua and Yin Lingyue. "Are you willing to help me?"

Ye Shuanghua was silent for a moment, then nodded first: "Now that I've come to find you, I won't watch you take the risk alone."

As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously swept over Yin Lingyue again, as if to confirm whether she would be a hindrance. Yin Lingyue, somewhat annoyed by that gaze, spoke in a hoarse voice, "I've already said, if he dies, I won't live either. Believe it or not, I'm going to help you with this." Her tone carried a sense of forced compromise.

Ye Shuanghua didn't say anything more, but simply turned slightly to the side, tightened the straps of her silver-white outfit, placed the Jinghong Sword horizontally on her lap, and asked, "Where do you plan to break through?"

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Ye Shuanghua's gaze swept between him and Yin Lingyue again, but in the end she didn't say anything more. She just stood up and dusted off the dust on her robes: "Let's go. Twenty days isn't a lot of time."