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

As morning light seeped in through the cracks in the cave ceiling, Shen Yun sat up from the stone surface. Her movements were much lighter than yesterday. She had already put her deep purple robe back on while practicing her cultivation technique, and she had carefully tied the sash back in its original position. Only the strands of hair that fell over her shoulders were still a little messy from not combing them.

She sensed the spiritual energy flowing within her body and confirmed that nearly 70% of the nodes in her meridians that had been depleted by the fierce battle had been replenished and filled by pure Yang energy. The speed was indeed many times faster than her own recovery.

She glanced down at Li Hanshan, who was fast asleep. He was sleeping soundly, and his complexion was slightly paler than when she entered the cave—the almost all-night dual cultivation session last night had indeed taken a toll on him.

Li Hanshan seemed to sense her gaze, opened his eyes, looked at Shen Yun, and said, "Sect Leader, good morning."

Shen Yun nodded slightly. She stood up from the stone surface, took out a stack of dark purple sixth-order spirit talismans from her storage ring, and placed them on the stone platform beside her.

The edges of the talisman paper shimmered with the metallic sheen unique to the fine purple thunder bamboo. Each sheet was cut with extreme precision, radiating a gentle fluctuation of thunderous energy. "I don't have many sixth-tier talisman papers left in my stock; this is the last batch."

Her voice regained its sect leader-like calmness, "Take advantage of the lull in the fighting to draw more sixth-tier purple lightning talismans."

Li Hanshan opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the stack of talismans, then looked up at her: "Are you going to support the other islands?"

Shen Yun nodded, tightening the tie on her cuff: "I've received the news from the main city of the defense zone. Two more islands have fallen, and the pressure on the Sea Locking Formation is increasing rapidly. Although I only recently broke through to the Void Refinement stage, I can at least hold back one Void Refinement demon beast, buying time for those islands that are only guarded by Nascent Soul cultivators."

As she spoke, she took out a silver-white token from her sleeve and placed it on the stone platform. "This is the sect leader's token of the Purple Thunder Pavilion. When I am not here, the affairs of the island will be decided jointly by you and Qingyue. If you encounter a situation that you are unable to handle, contact me with a communication talisman, and I will return as soon as possible."

She actually gave the sect leader's token to Li Hanshan, which shows how much she trusts him.

She had already reached the edge of the cave entrance as she spoke. Morning light seeped through the gaps in the vines, casting a soft, warm glow on her silhouette. She stopped, not turning back, her voice coming from ahead, a few decibels lower than before: "Furthermore, once this battle is over and I have accumulated enough merit, I will apply to the Immortal Alliance to allow you and Qingyue to enter the core immortal island for several years of cultivation. With Qingyue's aptitude, if she can seclude herself in that time-accelerating formation for decades, she will be confident of breaking through to the Void Refinement stage."

Will we enter the core immortal island together?

Shen Yun had previously only allowed Li Hanshan to enter the outer immortal islands, but now he is being allowed to enter the core immortal islands. Naturally, his treatment has been upgraded considerably.

Shen Yun looked at him and said, "However, the premise is that you marry Qingyue. Otherwise, such a good thing will not be your turn."

Li Hanshan leaned back against the stone wall, watching her silhouette standing in the morning light. He could sense the seriousness in her tone as she spoke, and a sense of helplessness rose in his heart—why was her obsession with this matter so strong?

But he didn't refute her directly. He simply put away the sixth-tier talisman paper on the stone platform, stood up, walked to the edge of the cave entrance, and stopped half a step behind her: "We'll talk about it when you come back."

Shen Yun did not turn around, but her figure paused for a moment before transforming into a dark purple streak of light and soaring into the sky, heading towards the southern sea.

In the morning light, the streak of light left a long trail, tracing an arc across the sky like a lit fuse, before being quickly swallowed by the clouds.

In the days that followed, Li Hanshan devoted almost all his time to making talismans. The talisman-making table, which had been temporarily moved into the cave, was covered with dark purple sixth-order talisman paper. The consumption of spirit ink was far faster than usual, and even the spare talisman pens on the pen holder began to show signs of wear from continuous high-intensity use.

He would start painting in the cave every morning and continue until dusk, taking only a few short breaks in between to recover his consciousness and spiritual power.

The sixth-order purple lightning runes took shape faster and faster under his pen. The first few required repeated confirmation of the precise position of each line, but later the direction of the runes seemed to be engraved into his instincts, naturally unfolding the moment his fingertips touched the paper.

When each talisman is completed, silver-purple lightning will travel around its surface for a while before settling down quietly like a tamed river, leaving behind a finished talisman with stable spiritual light and clear patterns.

Shen Qingyue would come to check on him outside the cave every evening. Sometimes she would bring some spiritual fruits and dried food and leave them at the cave entrance, and sometimes she would just stand at a distance and watch him intently making talismans for a while before quietly leaving.

She never interrupted him directly, but Li Hanshan could feel that her gaze lingered on him for longer and longer periods. That silent gaze was like the edge of a bamboo leaf moistened by morning dew, carrying a soft inquiry that she herself might not have fully realized.

As for the monsters, the beast tide facing this island is indeed not strong anymore. Perhaps the monsters are frightened by the island's combat power. In addition, the importance of this island is not like that of other islands, so Li Hanshan has not needed to take action these days.

On the evening of the seventh day, as he finished drawing the last sixth-order talisman and put it into the jade box, a familiar dark purple light appeared outside the cave. The light drew a sharp arc in the air and landed in the shadow of the cave entrance. When the light dissipated, the figure that was revealed staggered slightly.

Her deep purple dress was stained with dust and dried blood, and a long tear in the sleeve of her left arm revealed a scorch mark that was slowly healing. Her face was paler than when she left, and her breathing was rapid and suppressed, clearly indicating that the support she had provided over the past few days had depleted her spiritual energy.

She leaned against the rock wall at the edge of the cave entrance, using the damp rock surface for support. Her gaze fell on Li Hanshan, and after a moment of silence, she spoke: "I need you to help me recover."

Seeing her like that, Li Hanshan got up and walked over to her, his voice carrying a mischievous tone that finally found an outlet for something he had been holding back for so long: "Didn't you say last time that was the last time?"

Shen Yun's expression froze for a moment.

She could sense the wryness in his words, a resentment stemming from her own words, as if a wall she had erected herself was now blocking her path. She opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but found that he was using the very words she had said herself—that was the last time—now being casually brought up as a shield.

She took a deep breath, averting her gaze to the damp moss on the rock wall. Her voice, though slightly weak even to herself, carried a restrained quality she tried to maintain: "There's nothing I can do. The pills are too slow to restore my energy, and the battles on the other islands are still escalating. I need to recover at least 70% of my spiritual power in a short time before I can continue to provide support."

She paused, her voice unconsciously lowering a few decibels, "No one else could do it but you."

Li Hanshan looked at her, not rushing to agree. He leaned against the stone wall, his gaze lingering for a moment on the scorch mark on her left arm before shifting away. "Since you feel it's a last resort, let's put it another way—you came to me because you need my help. As for whether this is the last time, we can talk about that when you truly don't need me anymore."

Shen Yun's ears flushed a familiar blush. She bit her lip, her almond-shaped eyes swirling with a complex mix of emotions—a sense of being rendered speechless by his words, but more than anything, a helpless resignation born from weighing the pros and cons. After a moment, she looked away, her voice barely a whisper, as if squeezed from between her teeth: "Are you going to help or not?"

Li Hanshan stepped aside to make way for the cave entrance: "Come in."

The array in the cave was activated again, and silvery-white light silently spread across the stone walls. Shen Yun removed the outer robe, which was covered in dust and blood, with much more nimble movements than the previous two times, as if she had become familiar with the rhythm of each step of the process.

This time, she was more proactive than before. As she straddled Li Hanshan, her fingers braced on his shoulders, she looked down at him with lowered eyelashes, her voice carrying the urgency of being pushed to the limit by the war: "Time is of the essence, forget about those unnecessary steps."

She took the initiative to approach him, with a rhythm and decisiveness that he was already familiar with.

Li Hanshan's heart raced slightly at her initiative. He could sense that the depletion of her spiritual energy was indeed more severe than before—the remaining lightning energy in her meridians was like a well that had been repeatedly drained, with only a thin layer of water remaining at the bottom. But her eagerness was real; with each cycle of spiritual energy, she was drawing nourishment from the pure yang energy at the point where the two of them were joined at the fastest speed.

This night was longer than the previous two. She clung to him for almost a whole day and night, and each time her spiritual energy reached its peak, her body would tense slightly like a fully drawn bowstring, and then slowly relax.

As the morning light seeped in through the cracks once more, she finally stopped, leaned against the stone wall, closed her eyes to regulate her breathing for a while before opening them again. The weariness in her almond-shaped eyes had mostly faded, replaced by a renewed brightness. She stood up, fastened her robes, and without saying a word, transformed into a dark purple streak of light and plunged back into the twilight.

Li Hanshan leaned against the stone wall, feeling the dwindling spiritual energy within his body after being repeatedly drained. He shook his head with a wry smile. She had thoroughly exhausted him, almost completely draining him. If he hadn't already reached the seventh level of the Nascent Soul stage, he truly wouldn't have been able to hold on.