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

Shen Yun's eyes snapped open. Her almond-shaped eyes churned with golden lightning that had not yet fully settled after her breakthrough, like two pools of molten gold being stirred up and flowing endlessly deep within her pupils.

Her breathing gradually calmed down, and the pressure of her newly broken through Void Refinement Realm spread outwards slowly and irresistibly like a flattened tide, pressing all the rubble that had been lifted up by the collision of spiritual energy in the cave back to the ground, making a fine rustling sound.

But the moment her gaze fell on Li Hanshan's face, all the tenderness and lingering charm suddenly cooled down like charcoal embers doused with ice water.

She raised her hand from the stone surface, and dark purple lightning silently condensed in her palm—this time the condensation speed was several times faster than before the breakthrough. The lightning blade seemed to grow out of the void, and it took shape almost at the same time she raised her hand. The three-inch-long sword tip was precisely pressed against Li Hanshan's throat.

"You are from the Joyful Union Sect." Her voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it carried a chilling undercurrent, like water surging beneath the surface of ice. "Only the Joyful Union Sect's cultivation methods can refine and circulate spiritual energy to that extent during dual cultivation. Your cultivation method is simply not something a rogue cultivator could possess."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat for a split second, but his expression remained unchanged.

He could feel the Void Refinement level lightning power contained within the lightning blade trembling slightly, like a suppressed beast ready to break free at any moment. The pure Yang energy continued to flow smoothly through his meridians, without acceleration or fluctuation, as if the lightning blade pressed against his throat was merely a fleeting shadow blown by the wind.

Of course, after breaking through to the seventh level of the Nascent Soul stage, he was not without power to resist Shen Yun, but Li Hanshan had no intention of using it.

He spoke, his voice neither loud nor soft: "What makes you say that?"

"The Hehuan Sect's method of absorbing and replenishing essence is known throughout the world." Shen Yun's gaze was like two invisible blades, pinning him to the stone surface, not even letting go of the rhythm of his breathing. "Apart from the Hehuan Sect, no other cultivation method has such an effect."

Li Hanshan remained silent for a moment. She could sense that after she asked his question, he didn't rush to defend himself, but rather carefully considered his words before speaking, his voice still steady: "The Sect Leader is right, my cultivation method does indeed share the same origin as the Yin Manual of the Joyful Union Sect. But has the Sect Leader considered that the Joyful Union Sect's cultivation method is based on 'absorbing the essence of others'—absorbing the essence of others to replenish oneself, using plunder as its foundation, and achieving self-sufficiency by depleting others?"

He slightly raised his chin, the edge of the lightning blade trembling slightly three inches above his Adam's apple. "When I helped you break through your bottleneck just now, was the flow of spiritual energy unidirectional? Or did I give back exactly what I absorbed from you?"

Shen Yun's gaze flickered slightly. She didn't speak, but Li Hanshan could see that her fingers, which were gripping the Thunder Blade, loosened by an extremely minute amount of force for that instant.

She certainly remembered—during the breakthrough, the circulation of spiritual energy was indeed not a one-way plunder. Every time she absorbed pure Yang energy from Li Hanshan, an equally pure source of lightning energy would flow back into his meridians.

That balance wasn't about sexual exploitation, but rather a near-perfect exchange. She wanted to say something in rebuttal, but found she couldn't find any evidence to support the claim that the other party was a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect.

During those few breaths of her silence, the rocks above the cave began to tremble slightly.

At first, there were only extremely subtle vibrations, as if something had turned over in the distant mountains. Then the vibrations became more and more obvious, and even the gravel on the cave walls made a fine rubbing sound, which was particularly clear in the quiet cave.

Shen Yun raised her head, her gaze passing through the narrow crack above her head as she looked towards the sky—the twilight sky, which had returned to calm, was now darkening at a visible speed.

The thick clouds, as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, surged and converged from all directions. The color of the clouds changed from grayish-white to leaden gray, and then from leaden gray to a chilling dark purple. Fine golden arcs of electricity surged at the edges, like lit fuses, weaving and rushing through the clouds, reflecting the entire sky as a repeatedly torn scroll.

Shen Qingyue stood at the edge of the tower, directing her disciples to withstand the third wave of the beast tide. The low-level sea beasts crashed against the newly repaired defensive array like surging tides. Her spiritual energy was nearly half depleted, and her hand holding the flying sword was slightly sore.

But when the dark purple tribulation cloud began to form in the sky, her movements suddenly stopped—she was all too familiar with that aura of heavenly might, which was a similar resonance between heaven and earth that would be triggered when a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage broke through. But this time, the tribulation cloud was clearly located above the island beneath her feet.

"Mother..." Her voice trembled with a tremor she herself was unaware of, her gaze fixed on the rapidly gathering center of the tribulation clouds, "Mother has broken through?"

The surrounding disciples stopped what they were doing, all their gazes fixed on the cave hidden by the dense forest. Fine arcs of golden lightning began to drip from the edges of the tribulation clouds, flickering like a lit curtain in the twilight. A young female disciple couldn't help but ask, "Sect Master... is the Sect Master undergoing his tribulation?"

Shen Qingyue did not answer. Her gaze passed through the swirling spiritual mist and rubble, landing on the deep purple figure rising from the cave.

Shen Yun's figure shot straight into the sky like an elongated bolt of lightning. She had changed into a new deep purple dress, and her body was surrounded by the still not fully subdued pressure of the Void Refinement level.

She steadied herself beneath the dark purple tribulation clouds, looked up at the lightning gathering in the center of the clouds, her expression calm and composed, as if what was about to fall was not the power of the Heavenly Dao capable of tearing apart a Nascent Soul cultivator, but an ordinary thunderstorm.

Shen Qingyue stood atop the tower, gazing up at her mother's figure, which appeared exceptionally small yet upright beneath the tribulation clouds. She could feel the weight of that heavenly might rapidly increasing, like an invisible mountain slowly pressing down, even the distant waves churning more violently under that oppressive force. She gripped her flying sword, her knuckles slightly white, but she bit her lip, remaining silent, simply standing there, her gaze unwavering.

When the first bolt of lightning from the heavenly tribulation struck, the entire island was illuminated by that pillar of light. The lightning was a strange color, silvery-white with a hint of dark purple, with fine lightning snakes surging around its edges, and it struck Shen Yun's head with pinpoint accuracy.

Shen Yun did not dodge or use any talismans. Instead, she looked up to face the lightning bolt. Her dark purple spiritual power surged suddenly, engulfing the lightning bolt like burning firewood.

She was a cultivator specializing in lightning, and the heavenly tribulation lightning before her was like a tamed river, automatically circling around the flow of her spiritual energy before being absorbed into her dantian, transforming into power to temper her primordial spirit. Her face paled slightly for a moment when she received the lightning, but then regained its rosy hue.

Shen Qingyue's grip on the sword finally loosened slightly, and a smile appeared on her lips that she herself might not even be aware of.

She watched her mother's figure stand steadily in the lightning, like a purple bamboo that had been repeatedly blown down but never fell.

She could feel the power of the heavenly tribulation gradually increasing, but her mother remained calm and composed, as if the lightning was not a judgment by the power of heaven, but a tempering ceremony tailor-made for her.

Li Hanshan stood in the shadows at the cave entrance, also gazing at the figure standing proudly amidst the lightning. His Void Refinement level divine sense was like a finely crafted net, taking in every subtle change in the heavenly tribulation.

Shen Yun's tribulation was indeed powerful—each bolt of lightning was enough to crush the primordial spirit of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. The nine bolts of lightning increased in thickness layer by layer, and by the last bolt, the thickness of the lightning pillar was like a silver-purple dragon that pierced through the heavens and the earth.

But he was also making silent comparisons in his heart.

Although Shen Yun's tribulation was fierce, far surpassing Li Hanshan's tribulation, in terms of level, it seemed to be a step below the tribulation of the Nascent Soul stage that he had attracted back then.

Although the range of her tribulation also covered the entire island, it did not attract the attention of the entire main peak of the Hehuan Sect as much as his; although the color of the tribulation clouds was also dark purple, it lacked the pure gold brilliance at the edges of his.

He could clearly sense that the quality of his tribulation was indeed a notch higher than that of a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage—perhaps that was the special nature of the Pure Yang Primordial Spirit, which had gained a higher level of recognition at the level of the Heavenly Dao Laws.

When the ninth bolt of lightning struck, the entire sea was illuminated as if it were daytime. Shen Yun spread her arms at the center of the lightning, and the dark purple spiritual energy around her spread out in all directions like a flower petal being opened, absorbing, refining, and processing the last trace of the lightning's aftershocks.

Within a few dozen breaths after the lightning dissipated, the clouds of tribulation peeled away layer by layer like ashes blown by the wind, revealing the sky behind them, which had been dyed dark gold by the twilight. A new moon was slowly emerging at the edge of the clouds, casting its silvery-white moonlight on the figure that was slowly descending from mid-air.

As she landed, the hem of her deep purple robe brushed against the gravel ground. The aura of Void Refinement flowing around her was like a newly tempered blade, sharp yet warm. Shen Qingyue practically rushed down the tower, her footsteps making rapid sounds on the gravel.

She ran to her mother, opened her arms and hugged her tightly, burying her face in her shoulder, her voice choked with uncontrollable sobs: "Mother...you broke through...you really broke through!"

Shen Yun reached out and wrapped her arms around her daughter's shoulders, gently patting the back of her head. She could feel Shen Qingyue's cheeks, pressed against her shoulder, were slightly warm, and the worry that had been suppressed for so long finally found an outlet in that embrace.

She didn't say much, just stood quietly with her daughter in her arms for a while, then let go of her arms, her gaze passing over Shen Qingyue's shoulder and landing on the figure slowly walking out of the shadows of the cave.

Li Hanshan stood in the afterglow of the twilight, his pure yang energy flowing smoothly through his meridians, his Void Refinement level divine sense silently withdrawn.

His gaze met Shen Yun's for a fleeting moment in the night breeze. He didn't say anything, only nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Shen Yun's gaze lingered on his face for a moment before shifting to the direction of the receding tide of beasts—the low-level sea beasts scattered like startled fish, leaving behind trails of fine, silvery-white tails on the moonlit sea.