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

The following morning, a deep, muffled hum came from the direction of the central mountain range of the island, like a giant bell being struck deep within the earth's crust.

The sound pierced through the mountain and the cave's protective barriers, echoing for several breaths within the No. 9 cave where the three were before slowly dissipating. Immediately afterward, a pale golden light rose from the core of the mountain range, like a giant curtain being drawn back, slowly and irresistibly spreading outwards, enveloping an area of ​​ten miles in radius.

Li Hanshan stood at the entrance of the cave, gazing at the time array that was taking shape. Its coverage was more limited than he had expected, like an inverted golden glass bowl, completely covering the central mountain range and the surrounding area for several miles.

Fine runes flowed across the surface of the light screen. The trends of these runes were of the same origin as the spatial runes in the Immortal Alliance's teleportation array, but they were more precise and complex, like different branches growing from the same root system.

His Void Refinement level divine sense instinctively probed the edge of the formation. The power contained within the light barrier far surpassed any restriction he had encountered before, like a fragment of the Heavenly Dao Law compressed to its extreme. Its surface appeared calm and still, but beneath it lay a vast power sufficient to distort the flow of time on the entire island to another dimension.

He carefully used his divine sense to walk around the edge of the light screen, trying to capture the complete structure of a single rune. However, he found that the runes were too tightly interlocked, like fragments of a mirror that had been crushed and reshaped. With his current mastery of array formations, he was unable to separate a single complete lineage from them.

Just as he was about to extend his divine sense a little deeper, a thick and sharp divine sense swept over from the other side of the formation. The divine sense, like a fully drawn bowstring, precisely swept across his direction, paused briefly at the edge of his divine sense, and then withdrew, like a giant whale swimming in the shadows that, after confirming that the intruder was not a threat, continued its stealthy advance.

The moment that divine sense swept over him, Li Hanshan withdrew his own divine sense and sank into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness like a school of fish startled.

He could sense that the owner of that divine sense was at least at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, and that their familiarity with time-based formations far surpassed his own, clearly indicating that they were a veteran elder who had been stationed here for many years. He didn't probe further, turned around and walked back to the depths of the cave, where he sat cross-legged in the quiet room that Shen Qingyue had tidied up.

"I need to cultivate first," he murmured to himself.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the cave became even more concentrated after the formation was activated, like aged wine sealed in a jar, its fermentation accelerating after being sealed. Shen Qingyue sat cross-legged opposite him, her silver-purple innate lightning power flowing endlessly around her, each breath sending fine arcs of electricity leaping along the edges of her clothes.

When Li Hanshan pulled her into his arms, her body was no longer as stiff as before. Instead, it had a kind of docile softness, as if it had been tamed. The moment he touched her, she took the initiative to adjust the rhythm of her spiritual energy flow.

After the dual cultivation began, the innate lightning power flowed into his meridians like a stream being drawn along the point where the two met.

After entering the core immortal island, the Thunder Spirit Body within her body was completely activated by the rich spiritual energy. With each cycle of spiritual energy, it would release innate thunder power that was even purer than that outside.

When that wisp of lightning collided and merged with his pure yang energy deep within his dantian, the resulting energy ripples were brighter and longer than ever before.

This time, the dual cultivation lasted all night.

When Shen Qingyue finally fell into a deep sleep, Li Hanshan felt that the surface of the pure Yang primordial spirit in his sea of ​​consciousness was covered with fine silver-purple lightning patterns, like a carefully carved jade statue gleaming with a warm, cold light in the dim light.

He didn't rush to get up, but lay quietly, circulating the newly refined spiritual energy through his meridians for another small cycle.

He maintained a similar rhythm for the next few days.

During the day, he and Shen Qingyue would study the ancient talisman in the quiet room, trying to apply the talisman improvement techniques that Luo Li had explained in the dream to the actual drawing of the Purple Thunder Talisman; at night, he would cultivate with Shen Qingyue, using her innate thunder power to continuously temper his pure yang primordial spirit.

Every ten days, after Shen Qingyue falls into a deep sleep, he would get up, pass through the silver-white light barrier, and walk towards the room on the left that was occupied by Shen Yun.

Shen Yun never refused him. Every time he pushed open the door, she was either sitting cross-legged by the spirit spring pool, regulating her breathing, or leaning against the rock wall, reading a scroll of talismanic jade slips that she had brought from the Purple Thunder Pavilion.

She never looked up when he entered, her gaze remaining fixed on the jade slip in her hand, as if he were just a disciple who had come to retrieve an ordinary item. But Li Hanshan could sense that her shoulders would relax slightly as he approached, as if she had automatically lowered her guard after confirming his identity.

He walked over and sat down beside her. As he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, she casually placed the jade slip in her hand onto the stone platform beside her. He didn't rush to circulate his spiritual energy, but instead lowered his head to kiss her. Her response was awkward yet subtly skillful.

Her fingers would gently tighten on his back, as if confirming that this warm body was real, before she would relax her spiritual power and let his pure yang energy seep into the depths of her meridians.

After the dual cultivation ended, she never kept him any longer. She would straighten her robes after the spiritual energy circulation had calmed down, pick up the jade slip again, and look back at the talismans she had studied countless times. Her voice carried a calm, suppressed tone: "Go, Qingyue should be waking up soon."

Li Hanshan would then get up and leave, passing through the silver-white light barrier to return to the middle room. Just before Shen Qingyue woke up, he would lie back down beside her, as if he had never left the cushion woven from spirit herbs all night.

This continued for about a month. The special nature of the time array kept the light in the cave constant, with no alternation of day and night. Only the sound of the spiritual spring and the increasingly dense spiritual energy in the air served as the sole reference for the passage of time.

Li Hanshan felt his pure Yang primordial spirit becoming more and more solid through continuous dual cultivation and tempering. The silver-purple lightning pattern was deeply imprinted on every inch of the primordial spirit's surface, like an ancient rune that had been repeatedly drawn.

That night, after his dual cultivation with Shen Yun ended, he did not return directly to the middle room. Instead, he sat cross-legged on a futon in the quiet room on the right, closed his eyes, and let his weary consciousness sink 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 sat on a blue stone, dressed in white, her bare feet dangling lightly. When she saw him, her eyes curved into two crescent moons, and she tilted her head slightly.

"Grandpa, why are you here so fast this time?" Her voice carried a hint of surprise. "Last time you said you wanted to enter that time array, and I was counting down the days. It's only been a few days, and you've already entered my dream again."

Li Hanshan sat down beside her, pausing slightly when he heard her words. He sensed the tempering marks accumulated in his sea of ​​consciousness from more than a month of intense dual cultivation, and then looked at Luo Li's face, which appeared exceptionally clear in the moonlight, and suddenly realized something.

"More than a month has passed here," he began, "but only a few days have passed where you are?"

Luo Li was slightly taken aback, then a thoughtful light flickered in her clear eyes: "You mean, you spent more than thirty days inside that time array, while only a few days passed in the outside world?"

She paused for a moment, as if weighing the matter over in her mind, "Then the acceleration rate of this formation is about five or six times that of the outside world."

Five or six times?

According to Shen Yun, the time ratio of this time array to the outside world should be three times.

But the time allotted to Luo Li was five or six times longer.

Could it be that the time array has changed again, and Shen Yun's understanding is incomplete? Or has this dream that transcends time and space undergone some strange changes because of the time array?

If it were five or six times faster, and if he could continue cultivating at this rate for the next few years, his cultivation level might be able to break through to the Void Refinement stage in an even shorter time.

Luo Li exclaimed in amazement, "No wonder the Immortal Alliance was able to cultivate so many Void Refinement cultivators in just a thousand years. One thousand years outside is equivalent to more than five thousand years within this formation. Even cultivators with mediocre talent can hone their skills to a higher realm with several times the time they have to cultivate."

Li Hanshan nodded. He had already told Luo Li about the situation in the Immortal Alliance Kingdom.

"Sir, you should make good use of this time. The value of that formation far exceeds what you see on the surface. Five years inside is equivalent to thirty years of arduous cultivation outside. That alone is enough to make any cultivator give up everything for it."