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

Li Hanshan moved the last spiritual herb into the jade pot, put the pot away, and stood up to dust off his hands. He looked at the medicinal field that had just been cleared; all the spiritual herbs had been taken into the space inside the jade pot and were quietly taking root and growing in the spiritual soil.

"This medicinal herb garden was left behind by Luo Li," Li Hanshan thought.

The reason is simple: she only taught Li Hanshan the rules of those ancient chess games. Moreover, the girl said that she found those ancient chess games at an archaeological site, and no one else knew about them except her.

She only taught Li Hanshan. The restrictions on this stone hall were set up using the same ancient chess rules, clearly an entrance left specifically for someone who could solve this chess puzzle.

Isn't this designed specifically for him?

But Li Hanshan wasn't sure, because he wasn't sure if the girl had taught it to other people later.

Perhaps it was a backup plan she left when she set up this ruin, or perhaps it was just a coincidence. But at least one thing is certain—every restriction on this ruin comes from the array theory that Li Hanshan learned from her. The fact that she was able to leave so many intact things on this ruin shows that she did not flee in panic when she left.

Li Hanshan didn't speculate too much.

He gazed towards the deeper parts of the valley, at the silhouettes of buildings faintly visible in the mist. "Let's keep going. Since this herb garden has so many good things, there should be even more ahead."

The two continued along the main bluestone path through the valley. The deeper they went, the more intact the surrounding ruins became, gradually transitioning from piles of rubble almost completely leveled to building remains with most of the walls still intact. The spiritual patterns on the stone pillars became clearer, some even revealing complete runic structures, though long since ceased to function, they still retained the exquisite placement they had been carved into. The concentration of spiritual energy in the air continued to rise, as if they were approaching the center of a treasure trove buried for thousands of years.

After walking for about half an hour, a grand hall appeared ahead, much better preserved than the one they had seen before. Although the roof was also mostly collapsed, the four walls retained their complete outlines. The hall's doors consisted of two entirely silver-white stone doors, devoid of any runes. Only a very fine silver line extended from the crack in the door, drawing a chessboard pattern on the stone slab in front of the door—similar to the previous stone hall, yet far more complex. The chess pieces had several times more placement options than before, and the clues were hidden extremely well; if he hadn't studied the game so deeply, he would have almost missed those subtle clues.

Li Hanshan crouched down, carefully examining the chessboard pattern. Its layout was several times more complex than the chess formation in the previous stone hall, as if it had leaped from a beginner-level endgame to a complete intermediate-level game. He needed to deduce at least dozens of moves before finding a true breakthrough. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, repeatedly rehearsing the movements of the pieces in his mind before tentatively using pure Yang energy to trace the trajectory of the first piece on the stone slab.

The silvery-white stone door glowed faintly the moment he put pen to paper, a response more steadfast and weighty than the previous stone hall, like the first hum of an ancient bronze bell awakened. Li Hanshan continued sketching in the order of his deductions—the second stroke, the third stroke, the fourth stroke—each stroke requiring more concentration than the previous one. The moves of the chess pieces were interconnected, like meticulously choreographed dance steps; any misstep would throw the entire game off balance. When he finally completed the last stroke, the silvery-white light on the stone door suddenly surged, and the door slid open to the sides with a dull thud, like a boulder being pushed across a bluestone floor.

The sight inside the hall made Li Hanshan's heart skip a beat. In the center of the hall stood a sword—entirely crimson, its blade like solidified magma, its surface swirling with fine flame patterns. A dark gold thread wrapped around the hilt, from which hung a fiery red tassel. Even from a distance of several dozen feet, he could feel the scorching heat emanating from the sword, like a volcano compressed to its limit, still possessing an intensity capable of igniting the air, even in the silent hall. That sword intent resonated subtly with the essence of his own pure Yang fire, like a raging fire meeting kindling, causing his pure Yang primordial spirit in his dantian to tremble slightly.

He approached the sword, and the moment he grasped the hilt, the blade emitted a deep hum. The hum carried a burning, vibrating sensation, like a slumbering being instinctively responding to a call from its source. The instant Li Hanshan's pure Yang energy flowed along the hilt into the blade, the flame patterns suddenly blazed with a crimson-gold light, pulsating violently in his palm before settling down, like a tamed wild horse briefly raising its head before meekly lowering it again. He could clearly feel that this sword contained an extremely pure Yang-attribute primordial power, resonating with his own pure Yang energy like long-lost brothers reunited.

"What level of magic weapon is this...?" Li Hanshan weighed the sword in his hand. The weight of the blade was just right, and a fine crimson-gold halo flowed along the edge of the blade. He tried to activate the sword with his spiritual power, and a crimson-gold sword aura shot out from the tip of the sword, leaving an extremely fine and deep burn mark on the wall of the hall. The cross-section showed a glassy luster as if it had been melted by high temperature, and thin smoke was still rising from the edge.

It should be noted that this hall is made of extremely high-quality materials and is protected by a restriction, yet it was still able to be cut through by sword energy.

This sword is at least on par with his broken sword, perhaps even slightly better.

He examined the sword closely for a moment. Near the hilt, there were two extremely fine ancient seal characters engraved on the blade: "Chiyang".

"The Crimson Sun Sword."

A complex and indescribable emotion welled up within Li Hanshan. The sword's attributes perfectly matched his pure Yang fire, as if it had been tailor-made for him. The Yang-attribute primordial power contained within the sword formed a subtle resonance with the pure Yang primordial spirit in his dantian, like an invisible bond connecting the two. Even though he was only holding the hilt, he could feel the spiritual energy flowing smoothly between the sword and his meridians compared to any other magical artifact.

Li Hanshan had a strange feeling that this sword was also left to him by the girl.

Could it be that the girl knew he would come here?

He put the newly acquired Crimson Sun Sword into his storage ring, searched the main hall again, and only after confirming that there was nothing else of value did he turn around and walk out of the hall.

Dusk deepened. The gray mist at the end of the valley churned endlessly under the moonlight, obscuring the outlines of the buildings deeper within. Li Hanshan stood on the stone steps before the hall, taking the "Crimson Sun" sword from his storage ring and examining it once more—the silvery-white light flowing across its blade was warm and gentle, and the sword intent originating from the same source as the broken sword gave him an inexplicable sense of peace. He looked up at the largest complex of buildings at the end of the valley, appearing and disappearing in the spiritual mist, and the surging thoughts in his mind rose layer by layer like the surface of water illuminated by moonlight.

Xiao An had floated to his side without him noticing, her eerie green eyes also gazing in the direction of the building complex. She didn't speak, but Li Hanshan could feel the eerie blue light on the surface of her soul body flicker slightly—it was the instinctive reaction of the Netherworld Record technique when it automatically sensed the fluctuations of spiritual energy in front of it.

"Senior, the spiritual light in that palace is much stronger than here. There must be more things there," she said.

Li Hanshan straightened his robes and strode towards the complex of buildings. His steps were more steady than before, and his Pure Yang Primordial Spirit was quietly circulating in his sea of ​​consciousness, like a well-tuned lantern, its light stable and restrained.

A thought was forming in his mind—the layout of this ruin was too ingenious. Every restriction precisely corresponded to the knowledge he had learned from Luo Li, and every opportunity seemed to have been deliberately placed on the route he would take. If the previous ones were just coincidences, then the appearance of this herb garden, that spirit plant jade pot, and this Crimson Sun Sword could no longer be explained by coincidence.

He recalled Luo Li's expression as she taught him the rules of ancient chess under the moonlight in his dream, the light yet determined arc of her fingertips as she placed a piece, and the slightly smug smile she gave him every time she won.

She once said that, apart from teaching him, no one else in the Yao Guang Sect knew this chess skill. If the restrictions deep within this ruin were truly all set up using the same ancient chess rules, then the probability of it being broken is almost negligible in the entire cultivation world. Unless someone happens to have learned this chess skill, happens to know the variations and movements of those runes, and happens to have arrived here.

Li Hanshan stood before the stone steps leading to the largest hall, the moonlight casting a long shadow of him. His heart pounded steadily in his chest, and a single thought swirled in his mind—Girl, if these opportunities were truly left for me by you, what were you thinking when you set them up?

He took a deep breath and stepped onto the stone steps.