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

The dark red wax residue left on the candlestick after the candle had burned out gleamed warmly in the morning light. The sky outside the window paper had gradually changed from a hazy gray to a pale gold, and a few rays of the early sun seeped into the room through the gaps in the paper, casting a thin band of light on the floor, which landed right on the edge of the bed.

Shen Qingyue woke up when the band of light moved to her pillow. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, like butterfly wings moistened by morning dew slowly unfolding in the early sunlight. Then she opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was Li Hanshan's face, so close to hers. He lay on his side, one hand across her waist, his breathing steady and long, still asleep. The morning light fell on his angular profile, illuminating the contours of his brow bone with exceptional clarity. She could smell the scent emanating from him, a mixture of pure yang energy and a light sheen of sweat, carrying a warm, comforting quality that came from being warmed by his body heat all night.

Shen Qingyue's cheeks flushed instantly. She froze as if she had been plunged into boiling water, even holding her breath for a beat. She recalled everything from last night—the wedding ceremony, the nuptial wine, the candlelight, and finally, her falling into a deep sleep in his arms—every frame was as clear as if etched into her memory.

She could feel his hand still resting on her waist, the warm touch through her thin undergarment like a sun-warmed pebble against the curve of her side. She wanted to subtly move away a little to calm herself down, but found her body stiff from holding the same position for too long. As soon as she moved, his arm around her waist tightened naturally.

Li Hanshan woke up.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Shen Qingyue's flushed face and her clear eyes that widened suddenly because he had woken up. She could feel the weight of his gaze on her face after he woke up, and she was frozen in place, not knowing where to look.

"Qingyue," he said, his voice low and hoarse, characteristic of someone just waking up.

Shen Qingyue's fingers curled slightly against his chest, as if she wanted to grasp something but didn't know what to grasp. The composure that had supported her during the wedding ceremony was gradually fading away in the warmth of the morning light and their body heat, revealing the underlying sadness of a young girl, somewhat at a loss under the weight of her new identity.

Li Hanshan looked down at her, the morning light falling on her slightly drooping eyelashes, casting a small, fine shadow on her eyelids. He remembered what she had said last night—"You just need to be good to me"—like a seed blown into a crack in the rock by the wind, slowly taking root under the nourishment of the morning light.

He no longer restrained himself.

As she leaned forward, the morning light seeped through the gaps in the window paper, gilding the edges of their silhouettes with a warm golden glow. The moment he drew near, Shen Qingyue's fingers tightened slightly on the fabric of his shoulder, as if grasping a steadfast wooden stake in flowing water. Her breathing quickened, and a blush spread from her cheeks to her neck, even her fingertips glowing with a faint pink.

When Li Hanshan kissed her lips, he could feel that her response this time was even more passionate than the night before. Her body tensed slightly in his arms for a moment, then slowly unfolded like bamboo leaves moistened by spring water.

However, at the very moment the two were truly united, he sensed something strange.

It was as if a barrier sealed within Shen Qingyue's body for many years had suddenly shattered in that instant. An extremely pure innate lightning force surged forth from the depths of her dantian, flowing ceaselessly along her meridians, like a sealed thunder pool being pried open, the lightning that had accumulated for countless years finally finding an outlet. That innate lightning force, carrying an extremely pure, unadulterated primal power, poured back into his meridians along the point where the two were joined.

Li Hanshan felt a sudden jolt in his pure Yang primordial spirit within his sea of ​​consciousness. The purity of that lightning power far surpassed any lightning-attribute spiritual power he had ever sensed before. It collided violently with his pure Yang energy in his meridians and then rapidly merged, like the intertwining of ice and fire. Each touch left a fine, clear lightning mark on the surface of his pure Yang primordial spirit, as if it were an engraving.

He could feel his pure yang energy undergoing a qualitative change. The innate lightning power was imprinting a trace of lightning attribute deep within his pure yang primordial spirit in an extremely subtle yet irreversible way. His pure yang fire, nourished by the lightning power, became even more intense than before, with a layer of fine silver-purple arcs leaping at its edges, flickering like a lit fuse.

At the same time, even more dramatic changes were taking place within Shen Qingyue's body. The innate lightning power that had been sealed away for many years surged within her like a torrent, washing away, peeling away, and burning away the spiritual impurities that had accumulated deep within her meridians, layer by layer. The quality of her spiritual power was rising at a visible speed, like a beacon being lit, lighting up layer after layer.

She broke through three levels in a row, reaching the peak of the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm.

The sky suddenly darkened. Thick clouds surged and converged from all directions, within which fine, silvery-purple arcs of electricity crackled and danced, like lit fuses. The color of these arcs was completely different from that of ordinary thunderclouds—they were more solid, more pure, and carried an aura that was the same as the innate lightning power within Shen Qingyue's body.

The disciples outside the Purple Thunder Pavilion's mountain gate stopped what they were doing and looked up at the rapidly gathering thunderclouds. Some subconsciously took a half step back, some muttered, "Who is undergoing tribulation?", while most gazes turned to the area behind the main peak surrounded by the purple bamboo forest.

Inside the stone pavilion, Shen Yun was sitting on a stone bench, holding a cup of spiritual tea and flipping through a list of merits. When she sensed the innate lightning energy surging from the direction of the inner chamber, the teacup in her hand suddenly stopped.

Her divine sense almost instinctively probed in that direction, and then she saw—two overlapping figures in the morning light, Li Hanshan lying on her daughter, with a silver-purple lightning bolt flowing between them, slowly calming down, like a tamed river flowing quietly in a narrow channel.

Shen Yun's cheeks flushed bright red.

She jerked her senses back as if burned, the teacup clinking against the stone table. She took a deep breath, stood up, and raised her hand, unleashing a dark purple beam of light. The light rose like a drawn curtain, enveloping the sky above the inner chamber and the gathering thunderclouds.

The disciples of the Purple Thunder Pavilion only saw that the thundercloud was suddenly covered by a layer of dark purple light just as it was about to take shape, and then it quickly dissipated like a flame whose airflow was cut off, leaving only a few wisps of silver-purple electric arcs slowly fading away.

They looked at each other, some whispered a few words, and eventually assumed it was just an ordinary celestial phenomenon, and soon dispersed.

Inside the room, the silver-purple lightning had completely subsided.

Shen Qingyue leaned against Li Hanshan's chest, her breathing gradually returning to normal. She could feel the changes in the spiritual energy within her body—the innate lightning power that had been sealed away for many years had been fully activated, now flowing quietly through her meridians, like a tamed stream that had finally found its course. Her cultivation had stabilized at the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage, only one final hurdle away from the late-Nascent Soul stage.

Li Hanshan also sensed the changes within his body. Several fine, silver-purple lightning patterns appeared on the surface of his Pure Yang Primordial Spirit, resembling ancient marks etched into it under the golden light. His Pure Yang Fire, enhanced by the lightning patterns, became even more intense, each time it circulated through his meridians, it would generate fine arcs of electricity that leaped at the edges, releasing a heat and sharpness far exceeding its previous intensity.

He looked down at Shen Qingyue in his arms, feeling her cheek, pressed against his chest, slightly flushed. He gently brushed aside a strand of hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, his voice unexpectedly soft: "How are you feeling?"

Shen Qingyue didn't answer immediately. With her eyes closed, she could feel the flow of spiritual energy within her body several times faster than before; the innate lightning power surged through her meridians like an awakened river. After a moment of silence, she whispered, "Mid-stage Nascent Soul."

Her voice trembled slightly, as if she were overwhelmed with surprise. "It felt like I had been sleeping in a dark room all along, until just now someone opened the window."

Li Hanshan sensed the genuine joy and relief in her words. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, the joy that had risen in his heart from discovering her hidden constitution slowly settling.

He had only agreed to marry Qingyue in exchange for staying in Zilei Pavilion, but now he found that he seemed to have picked up a treasure that was much bigger than he had expected.