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

Shen Yun froze in Li Hanshan's arms, able to feel his heartbeat slowly seeping through the fabric, steady and strong, a stark contrast to her own chaotic heartbeat.

She bit her lip and tried to prop herself up again. This time, Li Hanshan loosened his grip slightly, allowing her to finally break free from his embrace.

She practically rolled off the bed, her bare feet sinking into the sea-soaked gravel. The chill shot from her toes to her head, clearing her mind of some of her confusion. With her back to him, she rapidly formed hand seals in the air, a dark purple spiritual energy circulating around her, dispelling the lingering aphrodisiac mist.

She then took out a new dark purple dress and put it on, her fingertips trembling slightly as she tied the straps.

After doing all this, she turned around, her gaze falling on the figure sitting up from the bed. Li Hanshan had already put on his outer robe, his expression calm and composed, as if the chaos of the past hour was merely a dream blown away by the wind. He looked at her, not in a hurry to speak, but quietly waiting for her to break the silence first.

Shen Yun took a deep breath, raised her hand, and a dark purple lightning bolt silently condensed in her palm, forming a three-inch-long lightning blade, which she held three inches from Li Hanshan's throat. Her voice was as cold as the undercurrent beneath the ice: "Who exactly are you? Why did you conceal your cultivation and infiltrate the Purple Lightning Pavilion?"

Li Hanshan looked at her calmly: "I am indeed a rogue cultivator. I came to the Immortal Alliance because I wanted to find a place to settle down. But the sect leader should understand why I concealed my cultivation level."

The lightning blade in Shen Yun's hand remained motionless, but her eyes flickered slightly: "Explain yourself."

"It's too difficult for a rogue cultivator to reach the fifth level of the Nascent Soul stage. If I reveal my cultivation level, the Immortal Alliance will definitely scrutinize me closely, control me, or even imprison me. Although the misunderstanding might eventually be cleared up, who knows how long that will be." Li Hanshan's tone was unhurried. "I've heard that many rogue cultivators have been imprisoned by major sects for years because of their unknown origins, and by the time they are released, their cultivation has already been largely wasted. I don't want to go down that path. So I want to join a small sect first, spend a few years proving my innocence, and then gradually increase my authority. This is a choice made after careful consideration, not a scheme against the Purple Thunder Pavilion."

Li Hanshan continued, "Sect Master can check. My spiritual power has no demonic aura whatsoever. If there were even the slightest trace of demonic energy, Sect Master, you could have pierced my throat with this lightning blade."

Shen Yun's lightning blade remained motionless, but her gaze softened slightly: "If you only wanted to conceal your identity and make your move gradually, you could have simply told me the truth when you joined. I have some connections in the Immortal Alliance, so it wouldn't be difficult for me to vouch for you."

"Sect Leader, you certainly have that ability." Li Hanshan looked up at her, "But for a rogue cultivator to dare to confess to the Sect Leader that he has concealed his cultivation level—what does the Sect Leader think that is?"

Shen Yun remained silent for a moment. She understood what he meant—if a rogue cultivator of unknown origin revealed all his cards right away, it would only make him seem more suspicious, as if he were deliberately trying to gain trust. His choice to first integrate as a low-level cultivator, and then gradually reveal his true strength after gaining a foothold, was indeed more prudent from a strategic perspective, and also more in line with the caution expected of a rogue cultivator who had been wandering in the Central Continent for many years.

She held the lightning blade in her hand for a moment longer before slowly retracting it, the dark purple lightning dissipating into tiny specks of light in the twilight. She looked away, her voice lower than before: "Get up, clean this place up. Someone will be here to check it out soon."

Li Hanshan didn't ask any further questions. He got up, straightened his robes, and then dispelled the concealment array he had set up. The traces of the battle on the island were still shocking—fragments of the defensive array were scattered among the reefs, and scorch marks from demonic energy stretched from the shore all the way to the foot of the tower. Shen Qingyue lay on the inner stone platform, still unconscious, but her breathing had become much more steady. In the distance, the surviving sea beasts were scattering away like the receding tide, and the sound of the waves returned to a regular rhythm.

He had just finished clearing away the last traces of the battle when a heavy whooshing sound came from the sky. A silver-white streak of light rapidly approached from the twilight horizon, falling straight towards the center of the island like a hurled spear.

The silver-white streak of light moved with incredible speed, almost instantly coming to a complete stop upon landing. It carried an immense pressure, descending like an invisible mountain onto the open ground before the tower. Li Hanshan stopped in his tracks. He lowered his head, suppressing his aura to the level of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, allowing the pressure of the Void Refinement level to flow naturally around him without causing any ripples.

Shen Yun stood at the edge of the tower, her deep purple dress now properly fastened, her expression regaining some of the composure befitting a sect leader, though a lingering blush stubbornly remained at the base of her ears. As the light faded, a slender woman was revealed, dressed in a silver-white outfit, with a silver token bearing the inscription "Jade Capital" hanging from her waist.

Her face was as cold as frost, and her body emanated a steady and profound spiritual energy. Her gaze swept across the entire island like two invisible compasses before landing on Shen Yun: "Sect Leader Shen, are you injured?"

Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, with a slight panting from the journey.