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

Shen Yun stood holding Shen Qingyue, her deep purple skirt fluttering gently in the sea breeze, her gaze fixed on the remains of the Void Refining Beast on the sea surface.

The dark blue scales of the Void Refining Beast gleamed with a last, chilling light in the twilight, its massive silhouette resembling a reef swallowed by the sea.

"Go and collect the corpse of that demonic beast," Shen Yun said, her voice regaining its composure. "The demonic core and materials of a Void Refinement demonic beast are quite valuable."

Li Hanshan did not refuse. He leaped out of the sea on his flying sword, dragged the remains of the demonic beast aboard, and stored them in his storage ring.

He could sense that the demonic energy within the mangled body was still profound, and the fist-sized dark blue demonic core remained intact, like compressed deep-sea ice, radiating pure demonic energy belonging to the Void Refinement level. When he returned to the island, the disciples who had been stunned by the sound waves were gradually waking up.

The first to regain consciousness were two elders with higher cultivation levels. They propped themselves up, rubbing their temples, and looked around blankly. Then their gaze fell on the blood-stained sea, and realizing that the beast tide had been repelled, they struggled to their feet and began to check on the condition of their fellow disciples. Shen Qingyue woke up after everyone else.

She frowned, pressed her forehead, and let out a soft groan. Shen Yun asked with concern, "How are you feeling?" Shen Qingyue looked up at her mother, her eyes filled with confusion, "Mother, I... I think I heard something just now, and then I don't remember..."

As Shen Qingyue spoke, she turned her head and looked around. She saw her fellow disciples getting up one after another, and then she saw Li Hanshan walking over from not far away. "Did we win?" Shen Yun patted the back of her hand: "We won. You rest first, don't rush to get up."

Shen Qingyue sat against the stone platform for a while as instructed, and only after the dizziness gradually subsided did she stand up again and look out at the sea.

The scattered low-level sea beasts had completely disappeared from sight, with only a few fragments of spirit wood, shattered by demonic power, still floating in the surging waves.

But the strange feeling of the sea being stirred up still lingered, like the fine ripples left on the beach after the tide receded, announcing that even bigger storms were yet to come.

Her premonition was soon confirmed.

Just an hour later, dense, dark outlines reappeared at the horizon, even denser and longer than before, like a turbulent black tide surging from the horizon.

The sea beasts were much smaller than before, and most of them only had cultivation levels of the first or second rank. However, their sheer number was terrifying—thousands upon thousands of heads floated in the waves, covering the entire sea surface in a dark mass, obscuring the original color of the seawater.

Shen Yun stood atop the tower, her expression calm, her gaze sweeping over the approaching horde of beasts. Her voice, amplified by spiritual energy, resonated throughout the entire island: "Don't panic. This wave doesn't have any high-level demonic beasts. Golden Core and Nascent Soul disciples will take turns defending, using talismans instead of spells to conserve spiritual energy. Elders Jin and Liu, you two will remain in command."

The disciples quickly redeployed according to her instructions. Those who had been stunned earlier had recovered most of their strength and took their positions in the towers and stone fortresses. Shen Qingyue took out a stack of prepared low-level talismans from inside the tower and distributed them to the nearby disciples. Then she walked to her mother's side and said in a low voice, "Mother, this wave is too large. We probably can't hold out for long with just talismans and spells."

Shen Yun withdrew her gaze from the approaching beast tide and turned to Li Hanshan, who stood not far away. She was silent for a moment before speaking again: "You're right, this is a war of attrition. They know that a direct assault won't take us down, so they changed their strategy—first using low-level sea beasts to exhaust our spiritual energy, and only when we can't hold on any longer will the high-level demonic beasts hiding behind attack again. But we've run out of Purple Lightning Talismans. The stock of sixth-level Purple Lightning Talismans is already scarce, and those three were the last batch."

Shen Qingyue's expression changed slightly: "Then what should we do?"

"We can draw it on the spot," Li Hanshan's voice came from the side.

Shen Yun's gaze fell on him, a genuine surprise flashing in her almond-shaped eyes: "You mean, you're going to draw a sixth-tier purple lightning talisman right here?"

She paused, as if weighing the feasibility of the suggestion, "Even if you can draw it, a sixth-order purple lightning talisman requires a Void Refinement cultivator to infuse it with spiritual power to activate it after it is formed. Without a Void Refinement cultivator, it's just a piece of waste paper."

"What if I help you break through the bottleneck of the peak of the Nascent Soul stage?" Li Hanshan looked at her, his tone calm. "If you break through to the Void Refinement stage, then it's all set. Besides, we can activate the Purple Lightning Talisman ourselves here, without needing to wait for someone to come and help us."

Shen Yun's pupils contracted slightly for a moment. She stared at him for several breaths, as if to confirm whether he was joking, but she quickly read the seriousness in his calm eyes. "You... have a way?"

Her voice lowered slightly, "I've tried for a hundred years to cross the barrier between the Nascent Soul stage and the Void Refinement stage, and I still can't get past it. Ordinary pills and secret techniques are almost ineffective at this threshold. Even if you have a way, it won't be effective overnight."

"This method is indeed somewhat special, and only the two of us know about it." Li Hanshan glanced at Shen Qingyue. "Sect Master, please arrange the defenses first. I will discuss the details with you later."

Shen Yun's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, then she turned to Shen Qingyue: "Qingyue, you and your junior brothers and sisters hold off the first wave. I'll be right back." She didn't explain further, but simply nodded slightly to Li Hanshan, signaling him to follow, before turning and heading towards the natural cave hidden deep within the island's dense forest. Li Hanshan didn't hesitate, following her steps, and the two figures quickly disappeared into the swirling twilight and shadows of the dense forest at the cave entrance.

Shen Qingyue stood on the edge of the tower, looking in the direction where her mother and Li Hanshan had disappeared. Her brows furrowed slightly, but she didn't have time to think about it.

The first wave of the beast tide had already crashed into the edge of the defensive formation. She withdrew her gaze, summoned her flying sword, and began the battle.

The cave seemed more spacious at its depths than from the outside. The cave walls were made of damp, dark rock, and a few thin cracks in the ceiling let in a faint twilight, casting dappled light and shadow on the stone surfaces. Li Hanshan stopped on a relatively flat stone surface at the deepest part of the cave, took out several array flags from his storage ring, and activated them with his spiritual power to set up a concealment array.

The silvery-white light at the edge of the formation spread silently across the cave wall, like a drawn curtain enveloping the entire cave and isolating it from all external divine sense perception.

After doing all this, he turned to look at Shen Yun. His eyes appeared exceptionally calm in the twilight and the faint light of the array. He spoke, his voice neither loud nor soft: "Take off your clothes."

Shen Yun stood there, as if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, frozen in place. A blush rose visibly from her cheeks, spreading from her neck to her ears, and even her breathing became rapid.

She instinctively took half a step back, her back against the damp stone wall, her voice carrying a panic she tried so hard to suppress but which still betrayed her: "What...what are you going to do?"