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

When Li Hanshan put down the talisman brush, the subtle tremor from the final stroke of spiritual ink still lingered on his fingertips. The sixth-order, second-level purple lightning talisman lay quietly on the stone platform, its surface shimmering with a deeper, more restrained silver-purple luster than that of ordinary sixth-order purple lightning talismans.

The overlapping runes, like meticulously woven silk threads, intertwined and coiled on the dark purple paper, forming a complex and intricate pattern.

Shen Qingyue had put down the jade slip in her hand at some point and stood quietly beside him, her gaze fixed on the newly completed double talisman.

She could sense that the lightning power contained in the talisman was far greater than that of an ordinary sixth-order purple lightning talisman. That power was like a thundercloud compressed to the extreme. It seemed calm on the surface, but underneath it was accumulating enough immense energy to explode the entire quiet room the moment it was released.

Her lips parted slightly, her voice tinged with suppressed astonishment: "Husband... this is a double-layered talisman? When did you learn to this level?"

Li Hanshan carefully picked up the talisman and handed it to her: "I've been pondering this for a while. The manual for the seventh-tier Purple Thunder Talisman is missing, and the technique of layering double talismans can fill this gap."

Shen Qingyue took the talisman with both hands, her fingertips gently brushing along the edges of the fine lines. She could sense that two spiritual energy circuits were operating in sync with an extremely exquisite rhythm, like a carefully choreographed ensemble, with each step precisely landing on the same beat.

Her eyes shone with adoration: "My husband is so amazing! No one in the Purple Thunder Pavilion has been able to draw a sixth-tier, second-level talisman for many years. Even my mother spent many years mastering this technique. You've only been here a short time..."

She looked up at him, her clear eyes filled with earnestness. Li Hanshan reached out and took the talisman, his fingertips lightly touching her cool fingertips, and said, "You'll be able to draw it soon too."

As they were talking, the silver-white light screen on the left trembled slightly, and Shen Yun's figure walked out from it.

She had been heading to the spirit spring to fetch water, but her gaze was fixed on the silvery-purple luster emanating from the talisman in Li Hanshan's hand as she passed the doorway of the meditation room. She stopped abruptly, as if a candle flame had been blown away by the wind, her eyes locked on the talisman. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke: "You... drew a double talisman?"

She strode forward and took the talisman from Li Hanshan's hand with an eagerness she herself was unaware of.

She turned the talisman over and over twice, her fingertips slowly tracing the overlap between the first and second layers of runes, pausing for a moment at the junction of the runes. After a while, she put down the talisman, looked up at him, and remained silent for a long time.

"It took me fifty years to learn how to make double-layered talismans." Her voice carried a deliberately suppressed calmness. "From my first attempt to successfully creating a talisman, it took me fifty years of hard work. During that time, the warehouse was filled with discarded talisman paper. You've only been learning how to make talismans for less than two years."

Her gaze lingered on his face. "Moreover, the spiritual energy circulation of your double talisman is far more stable than the first one I drew back then. The resonance frequencies of the two talismans are almost perfectly synchronized, without the slightest trace of conflict. In the history of the Purple Thunder Pavilion, there are few who can rival you in this level of precision."

Standing to the side, Shen Qingyue's clear eyes shone with even stronger admiration upon hearing her mother's words. She looked at Li Hanshan, then at the double talisman in her mother's hand that was faintly glowing, and couldn't help but smile, though she tried hard to suppress her laughter.

As Shen Yun handed the talisman back to him, her gaze lingered on him for a moment before shifting away. She turned and walked back to the spirit spring pool, her voice drifting from ahead, carrying a softness she herself might not even realize: "Come here, I have something to tell you."

Li Hanshan carefully put away the talisman and followed her into the room on the left. The light screen behind him hummed softly as it closed, keeping Shen Qingyue's curious gaze at bay.

Shen Yun stood on the stone platform beside the spirit spring pool, her back to him, and remained silent for a moment. The sound of the spirit spring water flowed between them, and the rising white mist shrouded her silhouette in a warm, hazy glow. "You have nothing left to learn."

She finally spoke, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, "In the talismanic inheritance of the Purple Thunder Pavilion, you have already mastered the parts below the sixth rank, and you have also drawn the sixth-rank second-level talisman. What remains is only the things above the seventh rank—but even I can't say that my own mastery of that part is very deep."

She paused, turned to look at him, and said, "However, there is indeed another way regarding the seventh-order Purple Lightning Talisman. Although there is no complete seventh-order rune structure in the ancient texts, the previous leader of the Purple Lightning Pavilion—my master—took away a scroll containing the core runes of the seventh order before she left."

Li Hanshan raised an eyebrow slightly: "The previous sect leader?"

Shen Yun's gaze fell on the ground, and her voice lowered slightly: "She went to the Heavenly Demon Sect."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat: "They've betrayed us?"

Shen Yun remained silent for a long while. The mist from the spiritual spring swirled around her, enveloping her slightly lowered gaze in a warm, hazy mist.

"At that time, I had not yet taken over as sect leader. My master... had been stuck at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage for a long time, unable to break through to the Void Refinement stage. The Heavenly Demon Sect somehow got wind of her situation and sent a female cultivator to approach her. That female cultivator practiced an extremely special mental magic technique that could make the target lose their mind without them realizing it. My master had been trapped in the bottleneck for too long, and her will was already wavering. After being penetrated layer by layer by that female cultivator, she suffered a qi deviation."

Her voice carried a suppressed calm, "When she came to her senses, she had already betrayed the Immortal Alliance. She took away most of the core texts of the Purple Thunder Pavilion, including that seventh-tier manuscript."

Li Hanshan pondered for a moment. He asked, "Is your master male or female?"

Upon hearing this question, Shen Yun's expression became somewhat unnatural. She replied, "Of course it's a woman."

female?

Seeing Li Hanshan's somewhat strange expression, Shen Yun added, "Master likes women."

amount.

Li Hanshan understood now, and he stopped dwelling on the question and asking more questions.

However, the fact that Shen Yun's master is in the Heavenly Demon Sect is good news.

He had originally come to the Immortal Alliance from the Central Continent, so he was familiar with the situation there. If he had the opportunity to return to the Heavenly Demon Sect's territory in the future, he might be able to find the other party. He didn't delve deeper into the topic, but simply nodded: "If I have the opportunity to go to the Heavenly Demon Sect in the future, I will keep an eye out."

Shen Yun glanced at him, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately just shook her head: "The Heavenly Demon Sect is more complicated than you think. That scroll is indeed crucial to the Purple Thunder Pavilion, but it's not worth risking your life for. You should thoroughly master the techniques of the Double-Layer Talisman first, then we can talk about anything else."

As she spoke, she took out a yellowed animal hide drawing from her sleeve and spread it on the stone platform. The drawing had several runes drawn on its surface that were completely different from ordinary purple lightning talismans. The lines were much bolder, like the solidified trajectory of a lightning arc magnified several times over after it exploded in mid-air.

"Most of the Purple Lightning Talisman's attacks are lightning-shaped, but they can also have some variations. The essence of the rune structure is to guide the flow of lightning power. As long as the core circuit remains unchanged, the outer condensation form can be adjusted as needed. My master taught me a variation back then—with the same spiritual power consumption, the released lightning can condense into the form of a lightning dragon, with a power that is at least 30% higher than ordinary lightning."

As she spoke, her fingertips slowly traced the rough lines on the drawing. "This variant requires extremely high control over spiritual energy. The slightest mistake will cause the lightning energy to dissipate during the condensation process. You should start by trying the basic form."

In the days that followed, Li Hanshan devoted most of his energy to studying the Thunder Dragon variant. Shen Yun would set aside half an hour each day to guide his progress. She would stand beside him, her fingertips pointing at the angle of his pen strokes, quietly correcting any deviations in the curvature of a particular turn.

At first, he simply listened and drew with focused attention. The structure of those runes was indeed completely different from the movement of ordinary purple lightning runes, like carving out new tributaries in a familiar riverbed. He had to readjust to the direction of each arc. But as he practiced more, those rough lines began to become tamed under his brush, and the trajectory of the lightning gradually became clearer from a blurry outline.

In the blink of an eye, another year has passed quietly within this time array, like a stretched thread.

He had a fairly good grasp of the basic framework of the Thunder Dragon variant, so Shen Yun relaxed the frequency of her guidance. Every time he pushed open the door to her room, she was flipping through a new book.

He would first ask her a few questions about rune connections, and her answers were always precise and concise. But from some point onward, after asking his questions, he no longer rushed to leave. Instead, he watched her eyelashes droop slightly in the mist of the spiritual spring, and the subtle movements of her gaze occasionally falling on his face and then looking away as she answered. Then he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Shen Yun's body would tense slightly for a moment the instant he touched her, like a tiny ripple spreading across water after a pebble has been thrown in. Her fingers, holding the jade slip, paused in mid-air, and her voice lowered slightly: "You… what about Qingyue…?"

"Qingyue is studying the runes in the quiet room and won't come out for at least two hours." Li Hanshan took the jade slip from her hand and placed it on the stone platform beside her. "You mentioned the core circuit of that variant earlier. I just tried it on paper, and I feel that the angle at the convergence point could be further optimized. Could you take a look for me?"

Shen Yun followed his gaze to the talisman-making table, where an unfinished arc was indeed drawn on the spread-out animal hide drawing. She opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but in the end, she simply looked away and focused on the edge of the arc: "Your closing angle just now could indeed be adjusted by another half inch..." She was halfway through her sentence when she felt his pure yang energy seep into the depths of her meridians like a warm stream, carrying an irresistible will.

She closed her eyes, relaxed her shoulders slightly as if resigned to her fate, and leaned into his arms, her voice so low it was almost drowned out by the sound of the spring water: "You... finish drawing that arc first."

Li Hanshan chuckled softly in her ear, but didn't let go. His hand slowly moved up along the curve of her waist, then fell back onto her shoulder, gently turning her around and lowering his head to kiss her lips. Shen Yun's fingers unconsciously gripped the fabric of his shoulder, as if she were holding onto a steadfast wooden stake in flowing water.

He did not rush to delve deeper, but rather probed the edge of the spiritual energy circulation at an extremely slow pace, as if widening a narrow river channel.

She could feel her spiritual energy becoming increasingly docile within that cycle, each time it returned to her dantian with a purer quality than before. Her breathing became erratic the moment he kissed her, yet she never pushed him away.

"You just said that the binding could be adjusted by half an inch..." Li Hanshan whispered in her ear, his breath brushing against her slightly hot earlobe. Shen Yun didn't answer, but buried her face in his shoulder, her fingers gripping his clothes even tighter.