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

Shen Qingyue stood on the stone steps in front of the main house, the afterglow of dusk casting a warm glow on the edges of her slightly reddened eyes. When she heard Li Hanshan say "priceless," her fingers slowly loosened from the fabric of her tightly clenched sleeves. The shoulder line that had been taut with tension completely relaxed the moment Situ Yan's figure disappeared, like a boat rope that had been untied, slowly drifting away on spring water.

The dishes from dinner had been cleaned up, and the mahogany tabletop had been wiped until it gleamed with a warm luster. When Shen Qingyue sat down beside him, she gently touched the back of his hand with her fingers, a very light touch, as careful as if testing the temperature of water.

Li Hanshan turned to look at her, and she lowered her head, her gaze falling on her interlaced fingers. Her voice was a few decibels lower than usual: "What you just said... was it true?"

Li Hanshan sensed the seriousness beneath her words, and instead of answering immediately, he took her hand in his. He could feel her fingertips curl slightly at his touch before slowly unfurling, like leaves unfurled by a spring breeze.

"Every word I've said is true," he said, his voice neither loud nor soft. "I've found someone in the Purple Thunder Pavilion who's willing to stay with me. That person is you."

Shen Qingyue's fingers tightened slightly in his palm, as if grasping a stone pillar whose position had been confirmed in flowing water. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only murmured, "Husband..."

Those two words fell in the warmth of the twilight and candlelight, like crushed moonlight spreading between the two people.

Shen Yun walked out from the direction of the kitchen, carrying a pot of freshly brewed hot tea.

She sat down at the table, pushing teacups towards the two women. Her gaze lingered for a moment on Shen Qingyue's slightly reddened eyes before shifting away. She could feel the subtle surge of emotion emanating from her daughter, like the surface of a lake rippled by a night breeze slowly returning to calm.

She picked up her teacup, took a sip, and set it down, saying, "Qingyue, go back to your room and rest. I have something to say to your husband alone."

Shen Qingyue looked up at her mother, then at Li Hanshan, her clear eyes filled with curiosity, but she didn't ask any questions. She released Li Hanshan's hand, stood up, nodded slightly to her mother, and then turned and walked out of the main house. Her pale blue figure quickly disappeared into the twilight at the end of the path leading to the side courtyard.

Only the two of them remained in the main room. Shen Yun put down her teacup, stood up, walked to the doorway of the inner room, and pushed open the carved wooden door. She stood sideways by the door, her gaze fixed on the ground, not looking at him, her voice a few decibels lower than before: "Come in. There are some things I want to give you."

Li Hanshan sensed the softness in her tone, like a thin layer of ice covering an undercurrent. He got up and followed her into the inner room.

The door closed behind me with a very soft sound. The candles in the inner room had not yet been lit; only the last rays of dusk seeped in through the gaps in the window paper, casting dappled light and shadow on the bluestone floor.

Shen Yun stood with her back to him on the edge of the bed, her shoulder line slightly tense and then relaxed in the twilight, like a taut string slowly vibrating in the night wind.

She raised her hand, her fingertips touching the tie at the edge of her dress. The movement was a beat slower than before, as if she were making some kind of final confirmation. The sound of the fabric slipping down was exceptionally clear in the quiet room, like bamboo leaves blown by the wind brushing against the edge of a stone surface.

"This is what I'm going to give you." Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but it carried a firm conviction, as if she had been refining these words in her heart for a long time.

Looking at her figure standing in the twilight, Li Hanshan could feel that when she spoke those words, her shoulders relaxed slightly for a moment, like an umbrella that had been held open for a long time finally being closed. He stepped forward and gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

Shen Yun paused slightly the moment he touched her, then slowly relaxed as if tamed, leaning into his arms. Her eyes were closed, her voice growing softer: "Since you were able to resist the temptations of the Heavenly Mystery Sect and stay, then... I should give you something in return."

As the morning light seeped through the gaps in the window paper, Shen Yun was already dressed.

Her deep purple dress was carefully tied up, her long hair was combed again, and only a trace of lingering laziness remained on her brows.

She stood by the window, her back to him, her voice regaining its sect leader's steady tone: "In the days to come, spend more time with Qingyue. Her Thunder Spirit Body has just been activated; it's the perfect time to temper her foundation."

Li Hanshan leaned against the edge of the bed, sensing the spiritual energy within his body, which had become even purer due to the dual cultivation of the previous night, and also sensing the silver-purple lightning patterns slowly becoming clearer on the surface of the pure Yang primordial spirit in his sea of ​​consciousness. He nodded: "I know."

In the time that followed, he devoted almost all his energy to dual cultivation with Shen Qingyue.

As dawn broke, the two rose from their beds and strolled through the purple bamboo grove for a while before returning to their inner chamber once their spiritual energy was flowing smoothly. They spent most of the afternoon cultivating together—Shen Qingyue's innate lightning spirit body released a wisp of pure innate lightning energy with each spiritual energy cycle, like a tamed silver-purple stream, slowly flowing into his meridians along the point where their bodies met.

The innate lightning power collided fiercely and rapidly merged with his pure Yang energy deep within his dantian. Each fusion left a fine, silvery-purple lightning pattern on the surface of his pure Yang primordial spirit, like an ancient mark branded upon it. He could feel his pure Yang primordial spirit undergoing a qualitative change—not a breakthrough in cultivation, but a deeper, more profound transformation, like refined iron being repeatedly folded in fire to become more dense and intricate.

Lightning is of the highest yang and strongest nature, representing two extremes from the same source but different branches as his Pure Yang Sacred Body. Now, that innate lightning power is like a new branch grafted onto the main trunk, slowly but irreversibly merging with his Pure Yang Primordial Spirit. After each dual cultivation session, the silver-purple arcs leaping within his Pure Yang Fire become denser and the released power more solid.

Shen Qingyue was also steadily improving through continuous dual cultivation. Her cultivation level had been steadily advancing from the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage towards the threshold of the late-Nascent Soul stage. Each cycle of spiritual energy refined the innate lightning power within her body, making it even purer. When she closed her eyes, she could feel the spiritual energy flowing through her meridians several times faster than before, like spring water rushing endlessly in a narrow riverbed after its channels had been cleared.

A month later. After the spiritual energy cycle ended, Li Hanshan lay on the bed, with Shen Qingyue nestled in his arms. Her breathing had returned to steady, carrying a lingering quality of utter satisfaction. He could feel that the silver-purple lightning patterns on the surface of the pure Yang primordial spirit in his sea of ​​consciousness had spread across its entire surface, like a meticulously crafted jade artifact gleaming with a warm, cool light in the dim light.

He closed his eyes, letting the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion sink his consciousness deep into the depths.

As the sound of flowing water reached his ears, he realized he was standing by that familiar river. Moonlight spilled onto the water, turning the entire river a silvery white. Luo Li was already sitting on the blue stone, dressed in white, her bare feet gently swaying. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, then she tilted her head slightly, her gaze lingering for a moment on the aura emanating from him.

"Grandpa, your aura has changed." Her voice was filled with curiosity. "There's an added...thunderous quality? It's like someone mixed a flash of lightning into your pure yang fire."

Li Hanshan sat down beside her and briefly recounted his experiences over the past few days—the beast tide, the sixth-order purple lightning talisman, the core immortal island, and Shen Qingyue's lightning spirit body.

Luo Li listened attentively. When she heard the words "core immortal island," her eyebrows twitched slightly, and a thoughtful light flickered in her clear eyes.

"You just said that there's a formation on that fairy island that slows down the flow of time?" she asked.

"Yes. Three days on the island are equivalent to one day in the outside world."

Luo Li remained silent for a moment, as if weighing something over in her mind. She shook her head: "There are indeed some islands near my sea area with abundant spiritual energy. Some islands also have ancient array ruins, but none of them possess an array that can slow down the flow of time."

Li Hanshan nodded, not delving deeper into the topic. However, he had already etched that information into his subconscious: the Immortal Island didn't exist in Luo Li's time. The time-slowing formation was set up later. Who on earth could have set up such a powerful and wondrous formation thousands of years ago?