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

After Shen Yun left, Li Hanshan spent a considerable amount of time before finally recovering some of his spiritual power.

Shen Yun was like a juicer, squeezing him into nothingness. Fortunately, Li Hanshan also benefited in the process. For example, although he consumed a lot of spiritual energy, the purity of his spiritual energy was constantly increasing.

Quantity was lost, but quality was elevated.

Li Hanshan spent some time drawing a sixth-order talisman. When the tip of his brush finished at the core node, it left a final tiny arc. The silver-purple light on the surface of the talisman flowed smoothly like an awakened river, then settled steadily.

He put down his talisman brush, leaned against the stone wall, and exhaled a long breath. Two consecutive days of intense talisman-making had significantly depleted his spiritual energy, but the quality of the newly completed sixth-order purple lightning talisman had improved even further, with almost no stagnation in the flow of spiritual energy at its core nodes.

However, before he could put away all the talismans, a familiar aura emanated from outside the cave once again.

The dark purple light descended with almost uncontrollable speed, even leaving a shallow scorch mark on the ground upon impact. Shen Yun emerged from the light, this time without even having time to straighten her robes—several new tears appeared on her deep purple dress, there was a noticeable char on her left shoulder, and a dried bloodstain clung to the corner of her mouth.

Looking at her appearance, Li Hanshan couldn't help but feel helpless: "I haven't fully recovered yet, and you're here again. If this continues, I'm really going to be drained dry by you." Although his words carried a hint of complaint, his gaze lingered for a moment longer when it fell on the charred patch on her left shoulder.

Shen Yun paused at the cave entrance. She could hear a hint of complaint in his voice, a complaint that had finally spilled out after she had repeatedly taken from him, like the faint hum of an overused weapon.

She paused for only a moment before quickly walking to the edge of the stone surface, sitting cross-legged opposite him. Her voice, hoarse with urgency from the intense fighting, said, "The battle is critical. I can't worry about anything else. If this drags on, the pressure on the defense zone will only increase. Help me recover first, and we'll talk about other things after the battle is over."

As she spoke, she reached out and unbuttoned her robe, her movements more practiced than the previous two times, as if the boundary she had repeatedly emphasized had been worn away layer by layer by reality.

Watching her actions, Li Hanshan sighed silently to himself, no longer arguing with her about the issue of whether or not it was energy expenditure. She clearly couldn't care less about that anymore.

When he approached her, although her body did not tremble as it had at the beginning, it would still tense up slightly at the moment when the spiritual energy circulation reached its deepest point, and then slowly relax under the influence of his pure yang energy.

This dual cultivation lasted for nearly three hours. When he sensed that her spiritual energy had recovered to about 70%, her movements slowed down noticeably, but she still showed no sign of stopping.

After a moment, she finally stopped, leaned against him, breathing slightly heavily, and said with her eyes closed, "The war isn't over yet... I should be coming again in a few days."

She paused for a moment, as if she herself felt that what she was doing was somewhat inappropriate, and then added, "It'll be fine once this wave passes."

Her tone was a mixture of guilt and helplessness. After speaking, she stood up, straightened her robes, and once again transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the twilight.

Li Hanshan watched the dark purple light disappear into the twilight, then looked down and sensed the few remaining spiritual energy within his body after it had been repeatedly drained. He shook his head helplessly.

In the days that followed, the fighting indeed intensified.

Every few days, Shen Yun would return, each time with new wounds and depleted spiritual energy. The process was always the same: she would enter the cave, undress, engage in dual cultivation, recover, and then leave.

Li Hanshan's spiritual energy was repeatedly taken from him, and the speed at which he recovered his spiritual energy could not keep up with the speed at which she consumed it. Several times, he was meditating in the cave, but before he had fully recovered, she returned.

"I'm really being drained dry by you..." Li Hanshan said helplessly, leaning against the stone wall as she returned to the cave once again.

Shen Yun paused, her gaze lingering for a moment on his pale face. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end only whispered, "The war is urgent, I can't worry about anything else." As she spoke, she approached, her fingertips touching the edge of his shirt.

Li Hanshan looked at the new wound on her left shoulder that was scabbing over, and then at the fatigue under her eyes caused by days of fighting and insufficient recovery. In the end, he shook his head.

He hasn't been entirely without gains lately. Each time she repeatedly takes from him, his spiritual energy is extracted and forced to circulate at high speed, the trajectory of that refined essence flowing through his meridians leaves an increasingly clear imprint on his pure yang primordial spirit.

The feeling is like repeatedly forging a piece of iron. Each time it is squeezed, stretched, and reshaped, the density of the metal itself will be higher than before.

The purity of the spiritual energy within him was increasing at a rate that even surprised himself. Although the total amount was constantly being depleted by him, the quality of the spiritual energy after each recovery was purer than the previous one.

Furthermore, what Shen Yun herself didn't realize was that the yin lines inside her body were getting deeper and deeper.

This naturally pleased Li Hanshan, because even those at the Void Refinement stage could have Yin patterns implanted in them.

Shen Yun is a righteous cultivator, and Li Hanshan does not allow the use of Yin patterns to control her unless absolutely necessary, but having this as a safeguard would naturally be better.

As night fell, Shen Yun returned to the cave. This time, her condition was even worse than before; her spiritual energy was nearly exhausted, and even her flight path had slightly deviated. She stumbled as she landed at the cave entrance, almost crashing into the stone wall, only regaining her balance thanks to Li Hanshan's support. Her face was as pale as paper, and a cut on her lip, which she had bitten herself open, had dried into a thin, dark red line.

"This is the last time," she said weakly, "at least the last time in the near future. The fighting on the other islands has stabilized, and after I recover, there will be at least a few days of buffer time."

Seeing her like this, Li Hanshan didn't waste any more words. He helped her sit down on the stone and moved closer to her. This time, she was more compliant than ever before, letting him guide the flow of spiritual energy.

As the spiritual energy cycle reformed between them, her body trembled slightly, and her fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt on his shoulder, though less tightly than before. She was indeed utterly exhausted.

Just then, a muffled, almost deafening roar suddenly echoed through the twilight outside the cave. The sound didn't originate from the sea, but rather exploded directly from the higher horizon, as if the entire sky had been violently slammed down from the outside. Immediately afterward, the entire island's ground began to tremble violently, even causing rubble from the cave ceiling to fall and make a series of soft, clattering sounds as it struck the rock.

Shen Yun suddenly opened her eyes, a hint of surprise flashing in them: "A Daoist Master has made a move!"

Her intuition was correct. At the same instant, Li Hanshan's Void Refinement level divine sense also perceived the approaching terrifying pressure—far exceeding the range a Void Refinement demonic beast could unleash, as if the entire ocean was slightly submerged beneath it, the waves pushed back to the sides. The two figures were fiercely colliding in the shattered sky, each exchange causing dramatic changes in the celestial phenomena, the clouds torn into fragments, and dark cyan beams of light spreading in all directions from the point of impact.

It was a battle between a Dao Integration cultivator from the Immortal Alliance and a Dao Integration-level demonic beast. The aura of that Dao Integration demonic beast was as heavy as a mountain, and it was shaped like a giant tortoise covered with dark golden scales. Every time it swung its forelimbs, it tore open a black rift in the void.

Immediately afterwards, a second aura at the Dao Integration level rose from the sea surface. A colossal beast, entirely black and shaped like a dragon, soared into the air from the deep sea, its body churning with thick black mist, like a volcano whose seal had been broken.

The second Dao-Merging Demon Beast has appeared!

Its appearance caused the already suppressed situation to become unbalanced again—the Dao Integration cultivator from the Immortal Alliance, who was fighting the giant tortoise with all his might, was attacked by two Dao Integration demonic beasts at the same time, and had to retreat hundreds of miles, barely holding on between the two Dao Integration forces.

Fortunately, soon, another Dao Integration cultivator from the Immortal Alliance made a move!

Two against two, the two sides are evenly matched in terms of numbers.

But immediately, a third aura at the Dao Integration level appeared from the Immortal Alliance's side. It was a silver-white light that rose from the core of the Immortal Island, moving so fast it seemed to tear space itself apart, leaving a straight streak of light in the twilight.

The silver-white figure held a long spear formed entirely of spiritual light. As it approached one of the Dao-Merging demonic beasts, it hurled it. The spear exploded in mid-air, creating a silver-white beam of light that pierced the sky and precisely struck the neck of the jet-black dragon demonic beast.

The moment Li Hanshan's Void Refinement level divine sense captured the silver-white pillar of light, it contracted sharply. The level of laws contained in that power far surpassed anything he had ever sensed before, as if the laws of the entire universe themselves had been condensed into a long spear.

Shen Yun's senses also detected that aura. She propped herself up slightly, her gaze peering through the crack in the cave ceiling at the violently churning sky, her voice trembling: "It's the third Dao Integration cultivator from the Immortal Alliance."