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

More than twenty figures had gathered on the ridge. Various colored streaks of light descended in the twilight, landing on the relatively flat rock platform on the ridge. Most of these figures were at the early to mid-stages of the Nascent Soul realm, with a few possessing exceptionally deep and heavy auras, like dark icebergs with their edges smoothed, silently occupying the central position on the rock platform.

As Li Hanshan landed at the edge, his Nascent Soul level divine sense swept across the entire area without leaving a trace. He discovered that these cultivators belonged to different sects and maintained a distance of several feet between them. They communicated with each other only through divine sense transmission. Their gazes would occasionally linger briefly on each other before quickly moving away, all assessing the strength and potential threat of each person present.

Ye Shuanghua landed beside him, her silver-white outfit standing out against the twilight. She whispered, "The people from the Hehuan Sect are over there." Her gaze flickered towards the east side of the rock platform, and Li Hanshan followed her line of sight, spotting several familiar figures.

Yan Qingsong stood at the eastern front, his tall figure gleaming coldly in the spiritual mist, his arms crossed, his gaze like two invisible iron rulers, precisely measuring each descending figure. Huo Yuan stood half a step behind him, his dark green robe fluttering slightly in the wind, the animal skin map he once held now replaced by a short, dark blue-black staff, its head inlaid with a dark spiritual pearl. Zhao Shoudao stood further back, the tear in his gray robe roughly patched, but upon closer inspection, the remaining claw marks of the silver corpse could still be seen at the seams.

His gaze tightened abruptly the moment he saw Li Hanshan land, like a tightly wound string. He remained silent and still, but the tension in his eyes betrayed his awareness. Yu Mengjia, standing beside Zhao Shoudao, had changed her leather armor over her light blue dress. She too paused when she saw Li Hanshan, her watery eyes lingering on his aura for a moment—she sensed something, but didn't immediately show it.

High in the center of the rocky platform, a figure stood with his hands behind his back. It was a lean middle-aged man, wearing a faded gray-blue robe, with no identification token hanging at his waist. Yet, simply by standing there, he seemed to make the surrounding air slightly still. His gaze was as calm as a deep pool, and his voice, neither loud nor soft, clearly overpowered the wind on the mountain ridge and the distant roar of the beast tide: "Since you have all come, you must have seen that Void Refinement stage demonic beast. The secret realm cycles every hundred years, and the cleanup has never missed a year. But since this demonic beast has appeared here, it means it broke through within the last hundred years. A Void Refinement stage being is not something any one of us can deal with alone. If we don't cooperate, I'm afraid we won't even be able to enter the ruins."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the entire room, his voice carrying an undeniable force, "I propose that, before the window of opportunity arrives, all Nascent Soul cultivators temporarily set aside their sect rivalries and join forces to eliminate the beast tide. Afterwards, the spiritual plants and cultivation techniques within the ruins will be contested based on individual ability, without interference from one another." His gaze swept over each person in turn, "I swear by the Heavenly Dao that anyone who violates this agreement will be punished by Heaven."

The silence on the rock platform lasted for a few breaths. The Nascent Soul cultivators standing on the periphery exchanged glances; some nodded slightly, while others remained silent.

Chu Zian, the leader of the Hehuan Sect, spoke calmly: "Our Hehuan Sect can participate in the cooperation." His voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone present could hear the weight behind his words.

Yan Qingsong's voice rang out immediately afterward, a few degrees colder than before: "However, before discussing cooperation, some accounts need to be settled first." He turned to Li Hanshan, his gaze, sharp as an iron ruler, fixed directly on him. "Li Hanshan, you killed Chen Jie, this matter cannot be left unresolved."

The air on the ridge suddenly fell silent for a moment. The Nascent Soul cultivators who had been whispering amongst themselves all stopped talking, their gazes turning sharply towards Li Hanshan's direction, as if examining evidence suddenly placed on a table, scrutinizing his expression for any change. The roar of the distant beast tide continued, but that sound seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, making the silence on the ridge exceptionally clear.

Li Hanshan stood there, his pure Yang primordial spirit aura like a flattened lake, its surface calm, yet the undercurrents flowed methodically beneath, showing no panic at being suddenly called out. He did not retreat, nor did he argue about Chen Jie's preemptive killing; he simply met Yan Qingsong's gaze, his voice neither loud nor soft: "Chen Jie attacked me first in the secret realm. I was merely acting in self-defense." His tone was calm, as if stating an outdated fact.

Huo Yuan, standing behind Yan Qingsong, took a step forward. The dark blue short staff in his hand gleamed slightly, and his voice carried a suppressed coldness: "Junior Brother Zhao said that you have people from the Yinquan Sect helping you. How do you explain your collusion with the Yinquan Sect?" His gaze was like two invisible blades, pressing straight at Li Hanshan, as if he wanted to dissect him to see clearly.