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

Huo Yuan's gaze was fixed on the purple-gold figure in the center of the battlefield, watching the flaming longsword clash with Yan Qingsong's iron-gray halberd, creating a dense shower of sparks in the valley. He watched as Li Hanshan, under the full pressure of a seventh-level Nascent Soul cultivator, not only did not retreat but even forced Yan Qingsong back half a step in one of the clashes. His pupils contracted slightly, and the fingers gripping his short staff tightened unconsciously.

"How is this possible..." His voice was forced out from between his teeth, dry and hard, as if he still couldn't accept it even after repeated confirmation. "How long has he been at the Nascent Soul stage? At most a little over a month, how could he possibly fight Senior Brother Yan to this extent? Senior Brother Yan is at the seventh level of the Nascent Soul stage, having immersed himself in this realm for over a thousand years..."

Ye Shuanghua leaned against the edge of the valley wall, her silver-white outfit stained with dust and blood, the deep, bone-revealing wound on her left arm still oozing blood. But her gaze was also fixed on the center of the battlefield, on Li Hanshan's figure enveloped in purple-gold flames. A flicker of tremor, though she tried to suppress it, still betrayed her emotions, flashed in her eyes, slightly dimmed by blood loss. She knew Li Hanshan's combat prowess before breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage better than Huo Yuan. At the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, he needed to exert all his strength to contend with Zhao Shoudao, yet now, facing Yan Qingsong at the seventh level of the Nascent Soul stage, he was able to hold his own in direct combat, even finding openings in his counterattacks that forced his opponent to distract him.

"The quality of the pure Yang primordial spirit... is far superior to that of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators," she murmured to herself.

The spiritual power Li Hanshan was currently displaying far exceeded the expected level of a first-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, even surpassing that of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Each time the flaming longsword clashed with Yan Qingsong's halberd, it left a deep burn mark on the iron-gray armor, like a red-hot iron rod piercing frozen soil, causing fine cracks to appear on the surface. Furthermore, the attack originating from the soul level forced Yan Qingsong to devote nearly 30% of his energy to defending against the invisible sword shadow that could pierce his sea of ​​consciousness at any moment. With this shift in power, the combat advantage of a seventh-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was compressed to a minimum.

The purple-clad enchantress stood on the outer edge of the battle circle, her crimson gauze dress shimmering in the twilight. Her gaze swept back and forth between Li Hanshan and Yan Qingsong, the languid smile on her lips gradually fading, replaced by a serious expression of having been carefully weighed. She could sense that while Li Hanshan's aura wasn't as robust as Yan Qingsong's, it possessed an extremely rare purity, as if every strand of his spiritual energy had been repeatedly refined countless times. The power contained within that flaming longsword far exceeded the realm of ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators; each spark that exploded upon colliding with the halberd carried a heat so intense it could scorch the soul, and even she, standing dozens of feet away, could feel the heat.

"Senior Brother Yan," she began, her voice losing its previous flippancy and gaining a weighty calm, "there are more and more people nearby. Those few divine senses from earlier have retreated and advanced again; there are at least seven or eight lurking in the shadows. They recognize you and me, and they know this is an internal strife within the Joyful Union Sect, so they haven't intervened yet. But if it drags on too long, it's hard to guarantee that someone won't lose their temper."

She paused, then looked back at Li Hanshan. "I'll help you."

Before the words were even finished, the crimson gauze skirt left a trail of afterimages. The purple-clad enchantress, her figure like a wisp of smoke scattered by the wind, bypassed the outer edge of the battle circle at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye, cutting into Li Hanshan's blind spot from the side. Dark purple spiritual energy condensed at her fingertips into five hair-thin strands, each wrapped with the pure spiritual energy unique to the late-stage Nascent Soul realm, like an invisible net wrapping around Li Hanshan's flank.

Yan Qingsong intensified his attack in the same instant. The iron-gray halberd twirled half a circle in the air, and a thicker, grayish-white beam of light condensed at its tip, carrying an overwhelming pressure as it slammed into Li Hanshan's front. The two attacks, one from the left and one from the right, were like two scissors closing simultaneously, completely blocking all of Li Hanshan's escape routes.

Li Hanshan sensed the yin-like spiritual energy attacking from the side, and also the rapidly approaching grayish-white pillar of light from the front. His figure abruptly halted just before the two attacks converged—then, like a lit firework, a burst of purplish-gold light exploded around him. Pure yang fire rapidly expanded outwards from him, transforming into a burning ring of fire that simultaneously blocked the grayish-white pillar of light from the front and the dark purple spiritual threads attacking from the side. The moment the ring of fire collided with the two attacks, a muffled boom resounded, and the shockwave shaved the ground beneath their feet even lower.

As the ring of fire dissipated, the purple-clad enchantress's figure shifted slightly. Her dark purple spiritual threads hissed and crackled as they touched the edge of the pure yang fire; several strands snapped and dissipated into tiny specks of light in the air. A genuine surprise flashed in her eyes—though her five spiritual threads weren't used at full power, Li Hanshan had blocked both the frontal and lateral attacks simultaneously with a ring of fire, giving her no time to even catch her breath.

"Enough." Li Hanshan's voice came from the smoke and dust after the ring of fire dissipated, carrying a suppressed certainty. "This battle has pretty much proven it."

He wasn't going to fight anymore.

With his combat strength, he is indeed capable of fighting against a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Moreover, this battle is not just about taking a few blows from the opponent, but about fighting back and forth, and even gaining the upper hand.

If one were to unleash a pure Yang primordial spirit, a powerful burst of energy could potentially defeat the opponent. However, severely injuring or even killing the opponent would still be difficult and would require a prolonged battle.

Now, there are two late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators here, and even more Nascent Soul cultivators coveting the area, so Li Hanshan is not going to delay any longer.

Before he finished speaking, his right hand had already reached into his storage ring. The longsword, entirely crimson with a blade like solidified magma, was in his grasp, the dark gold threads wrapped around its hilt gleaming warmly in the twilight. The moment the sword was drawn, an intense, almost igniting heat emanated from its blade, spreading in all directions. Even the pebbles on the ground were vaporized, hissing and crackling.

The purple-clad enchantress's pupils contracted sharply the moment they touched the crimson longsword. She could sense that the power contained within the sword far exceeded her understanding of spiritual weapons. The scorching heat wasn't simply driven by spiritual energy; it felt more primordial, like a fragment of the sun compressed to its limit. The residual heat released merely as it was drawn from its sheath was enough to cause subtle ripples in her protective aura. Her lips moved, the composed allure completely vanishing: "What kind of sword is that?"

Li Hanshan did not answer. He gripped the hilt of his sword, and pure Yang energy poured into the blade like a flood bursting its banks. Under the impetus of this shared spiritual power, the flame patterns on the surface of the Crimson Sun Sword suddenly shone with a crimson-gold light, and the entire sword emitted a deep, heart-beat-like hum, as if it were burning kindling. The crimson-gold sword light drew a near-perfect arc in the twilight, precisely slashing at the halberd that Yan Qingsong held horizontally in front of him.

Yan Qingsong felt an oppressive force far exceeding any of the previous exchanges. His spiritual energy surged wildly into the halberd in that instant, and an iron-gray armor condensed on its surface, forming a nearly foot-thick defensive barrier, as if compressing the weight of an entire iron mountain onto a single halberd. But when the Crimson Sun Sword's light struck, that thick iron-gray armor, like wax pierced by a red-hot iron rod, began to melt, disintegrate, and shatter from the point of impact. The cross-section displayed a glassy luster from high-temperature melting, with wisps of smoke still rising from the edges. Under the continuous penetration of the sword light, the halberd emitted a metallic groan of unbearable strain, like a piece of iron repeatedly forged, its surface cracking like a spiderweb.

Then—the natal magic weapon that Yan Qingsong had nurtured for over a thousand years cracked in the middle.

The Crimson Sun Sword's momentum didn't wane after severing the halberd, continuing its advance. Yan Qingsong's face instantly turned deathly pale. His protective aura hastily coalesced before him, only to be ripped apart by the crimson-gold sword light as easily as tearing paper. The blade swept across his right arm—from shoulder to elbow, the entire arm was severed cleanly at the root. The flesh at the cut was instantly scorched black by the pure Yang fire, without even a spurt of blood; only a hissing sound, particularly jarring in the twilight, escaped.

Yan Qingsong was jolted back several feet, the reddish edge of the Crimson Sun Sword still visible at the severed end of his right arm. His expression completely changed, shifting from the composure a seventh-level Nascent Soul cultivator typically displayed when facing a first-level Nascent Soul cultivator to an undisguised horror born from a complete shattering of his understanding. He looked down at his right arm, severed clean at the root, then up at the crimson longsword in Li Hanshan's hand, still radiating a scorching light. His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping: "What kind of sword is this? That's definitely not a spiritual weapon! Even a top-grade spiritual weapon couldn't possibly sever my natal magic weapon in one strike!"

The purple-skirted enchantress had retreated to the edge of the valley. Her gaze fell upon the crimson longsword, her dark purple eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of the crimson-gold light swirling on its surface, then widening abruptly as if she had confirmed something. Her voice carried a tremor she tried to suppress but which still betrayed it: "A Dao artifact… that aura is definitely a Dao artifact! I've seen similar descriptions in ancient texts; only Dao artifacts could possess this level of spiritual energy feedback. Senior Brother Yan, his sword is a Dao artifact!"

She confirmed it again and again.

Dao Qi (the Way and its implements).

Li Hanshan's hand, gripping his sword, paused slightly. He had read about the ranks of magical artifacts in the Hehuan Sect's scriptures, starting with the lowest-ranking magical artifacts, progressing to treasure artifacts, spiritual artifacts, and Dao artifacts, with the legendary immortal artifacts above all else. Spiritual artifacts were the limit that Nascent Soul and Void Refinement cultivators could control; an ordinary sect possessing one or two sect-protecting spiritual artifacts was considered to have a profound foundation. As for Dao artifacts—those were existences that could drive even Dao Integration cultivators mad. Among the major sects of Central Continent, the number of Dao artifacts was extremely limited, each one being kept as a sect-protecting treasure hidden deep within, never to be used lightly except in a life-or-death situation.

The Crimson Sun Sword he was holding was actually a Dao artifact. The girl had left him a Dao artifact.

"Prepare to die!" Li Hanshan's voice echoed through the valley. He twirled the Crimson Sun Sword halfway in his hand, the flame patterns on the blade flowing ceaselessly as if awakened. He took a step forward, and the sword light shone again, the crimson-gold radiance like a sun compressed to its extreme, slashing down towards Yan Qingsong and Huo Yuan.

Yan Qingsong's face turned completely pale. Ignoring the burning pain still lingering at his severed arm, he swiftly pulled a silver-white talisman covered in dense runes from his storage pouch with his left hand and crushed it. The talisman exploded, transforming into a silver-white light screen that enveloped him entirely. This light screen acted like a spatial barrier compressed to its limit, with subtle spatial fluctuations flowing around its edges, forcefully blocking the sword light of the Crimson Sun Sword. Huo Yuan reacted a fraction slower, but he also crushed a teleportation talisman just before the sword light struck, his figure transforming into a streak of bluish-black light as he rapidly retreated.

These are Void Refinement level escape talismans! That is, sixth-order spirit talismans, each one is extremely precious.

This was also the trump card his senior master had given him!

Even a Void Refinement level escape talisman is still not fast enough against a Dao artifact. Although most of the Crimson Sun Sword's light was blocked by Yan Qingsong's spatial barrier, the aftershocks still penetrated the edge of the barrier and accurately struck Huo Yuan's rapidly retreating legs. The bluish-black escape light suddenly paused in the twilight, then split in two like a rope cut in half. Huo Yuan fell forward to the ground, his two severed legs rolling several feet behind him among the rubble. The cut surfaces were smooth as mirrors, the flesh charred and curled by the residual heat of the Pure Yang Fire. He let out a short, miserable scream, the sound echoing in the twilight for a few breaths before being swallowed by the wind.

Using the spatial barrier as cover, Yan Qingsong grabbed Huo Yuan, who was struggling on the ground, and the two of them soared into the sky in a silvery-white escape light. Their speed was like a bowstring stretched to its limit and then released, disappearing into the twilight at the end of the valley in just a few breaths. The purple-skirted enchantress reacted just as quickly. As Yan Qingsong crushed the talisman, she transformed into a dark purple stream of light and fled in the opposite direction. Her figure was like a petal scattered by the wind, flashing and disappearing in the twilight before vanishing without a trace.

"pity!"

Li Hanshan stood in the center of the valley, holding the Crimson Sun Sword. The pure Yang energy in his meridians slowly subsided, and the flowing flame patterns on the sword were gradually dimming. He had consumed a lot of spiritual power, but the feeling of fullness brought by the feedback from the Dao artifact surged through his meridians like a tide, giving him an unprecedented sense of security.

He felt a little regretful; although the Dao artifact was powerful, his own strength was ultimately too weak.

This is a weapon whose full power can only be unleashed by cultivators who have reached the Dao Integration stage!

"There are more and more people."

Within his perception, the number of probing divine senses was rapidly increasing, like sharks drawn by the scent of blood. His divine sense spread out like an invisible net in the twilight, and those probing gazes lit up one after another in his perception, like lamps lit in the dark night—the aura in the southeast was as heavy as a mountain, clearly the peak Nascent Soul ancestor of the Yinquan Sect; he recognized the sharp, knife-like aura in the northwest, the aura of the dark red-clad female cultivator from the Tianmo Sect; further away, several extremely subtle fluctuations were rapidly approaching, each radiating the pressure of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

As Yan Qingsong and the others fled, Chu Zian's presence was already at the edge of his perception. The gray-blue figure appeared on a mountain ridge hundreds of miles away. He had clearly sensed the scene of that sword strike and the Dao artifact aura emanating from the Crimson Sun Sword. His lips were tightly pursed, like a sharp blade yet to be drawn.

"Run!" Ye Shuanghua's voice came from the edge of the valley wall, carrying a clarity and urgency that she maintained even in her weakened state. "Once the Dao artifact in your hand is exposed, all the Nascent Soul cultivators in the entire secret realm will come after you to seize it. The value of Dao artifacts in Central Continent far exceeds your imagination; a single Dao artifact is enough to make even Dao Integration cultivators covet it. You're only at the first level of Nascent Soul now; even with the Crimson Sun Sword, you can't withstand an attack from so many people!"

Li Hanshan didn't waste any words. He strode to Ye Shuanghua's side, put an arm around her waist, and pulled her away from the valley wall. At the same time, he took out the teleportation talisman issued when entering the secret realm from his storage ring. The talisman glowed with a warm white light in his palm, but several days had passed since the window period ended, and the passage between the secret realm and the outside world was closed. This teleportation talisman could only be used to leave the secret realm early and could only be activated at a specific point.

He flew at full speed towards the edge of the secret realm. The Crimson Sun Sword had already been returned to the depths of his storage ring, and pure Yang energy was circulating at full speed in his meridians. His purple-gold escape light left a long trail of flame in the twilight, like a ignited meteor streaking across the sky above the secret realm. He could feel the increasing number of auras rapidly approaching from behind, converging on him from all directions like a disturbed swarm of bees.

"They're catching up," Ye Shuanghua's voice was weak but clear. "Five routes to the southeast, three to the northwest, and Chu Zi'an behind us... he's chasing us too."

Without turning his head, Li Hanshan pushed his escape speed to the limit. He retraced his steps along the shortest route Shuanghua had instructed him to take before entering the secret realm, crossing a clearing flattened by the beast tide, skimming over a mountain peak half-blasted away, and traversing a dried-up riverbed. The aura behind him grew closer and closer, the closest one now within dozens of miles, its weight as heavy as a mountain—undoubtedly the peak Nascent Soul cultivator from the Yinquan Sect. His divine sense, like an invisible spear, locked onto Li Hanshan's trajectory from behind, accurately predicting his next move with every turn.

"We've arrived!" Ye Shuanghua's voice was somewhat broken by the wind, but the direction she pointed to was clearly reflected in Li Hanshan's perception—not far ahead, the gray mist wall at the edge of the secret realm was churning, and there was a natural spatial weakness there that could activate the teleportation talisman.

Li Hanshan mustered his last ounce of strength and rushed in that direction. The aura behind him had already closed to within a hundred miles; he could even sense the fluctuations of spiritual power gathered by the peak Nascent Soul cultivator of the Yinquan Sect when condensing his spell—a gray pillar of light was taking shape, carrying a vast power capable of crushing a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. But Li Hanshan's fingertips had already touched the surging gray mist wall. The teleportation talisman in his palm lit up with a dazzling white light, and a warm and stable spatial power surged from the talisman, enveloping him and Ye Shuanghua within it.

The gray beam of light grazed the forming spatial passage, blasting a deep crater dozens of feet across the mountainside. Li Hanshan and Ye Shuanghua had vanished completely in the white light, like a drop of water falling into the ocean, leaving no trace.

The Yin Quan Sect's peak Nascent Soul cultivator landed on the edge of the still-smoking pit in front of the mountain wall, his face as gloomy as the sky before a storm as he gazed at the dissipating spatial ripples. The female cultivator from the Heavenly Demon Sect, dressed in dark red, landed on a mountain ridge several miles away, also watching the dissipating teleportation light, her eyes filled with a suppressed resentment. Chu Zi'an, however, didn't stop at all, rushing straight into the misty wall, followed closely by Yan Qingsong and the others who had returned.