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

Shen Yun's gaze lingered on her face for a long while.

She could see the stable texture of the spiritual energy flowing around her daughter after she broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, and she could also sense that the innate lightning power in her body, which had been repeatedly tempered by pure Yang energy, had completely merged with her spiritual core.

She didn't say much, but simply stepped forward and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from Shen Qingyue's ear.

As night fell, Li Hanshan, as usual, passed through the silvery-white light barrier and headed towards the room on the left occupied by Shen Yun. When he pushed the door open, she was sitting by the spirit spring pool with her back to him. Her dark purple outer robe was neatly folded and placed on the edge of the stone platform. She was only wearing a thin, plain white inner garment, and he could see the fine strands of hair at the back of her neck that were slightly damp from the mist of the spirit spring.

She didn't turn around, her voice calm and relaxed from waiting: "Tonight is the afterglow of Qingyue's breakthrough. You're tired, and so am I."

Li Hanshan crouched down behind her, reaching out to encircle her waist. He felt her body pause slightly at his touch, then she leaned into his embrace as if tamed. Her voice lowered slightly: "Qingyue broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, and you've been helping her solidify her foundation. I... thank you."

Her fingers rested on his forearm, the tips still warm from the spring water. The weight of that solemn entrustment made his heart skip a beat. He didn't answer immediately, but instead lowered his head and kissed her lips.

She could feel the moment he kissed her, the spiritual energy circulation within her body, which had become extremely familiar over the years, automatically started operating like a lit fuse, carrying an expectation that she herself might not even be fully aware of.

Her fingers gripped the fabric of his shoulder, but with a lighter touch than usual.

Only the sound of the spiritual spring and the warm glow of the luminous pearl reflected in the mist remained in the cave. The overlapping figures moved slowly within the glow, like pebbles washed by spring water rolling gently in a riverbed.

This time, Shen Yun was exceptionally devoted, allowing Li Hanshan to experience the ultimate bliss.

Nearly a year and a half later, time within the Array of Light flowed forward slowly and steadily, like a stretched thread.

Lin Qingyin's cultivation was steadily rising at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Each cycle of spiritual energy made the long-standing barrier in her dantian loosen further. She sensed that the barrier was so thin that she could almost see through it to the light of the Void Refinement stage on the other side. Only the last layer of paper was blocking her way, and she could break through it with just a gentle poke.

But even with that thin layer of paper, she couldn't completely tear it apart after trying for months. Each impact was like waves crashing against rocks, bouncing back steadily. When her spiritual energy came into contact with the surface of that barrier, it was as if it had hit an invisible copper wall, and she could never find the most suitable angle to penetrate it.

She sat on the stone platform by the spirit spring pool, her face slightly flushed with fatigue from repeated attempts.

Li Hanshan sat down opposite her, sensing the state of the barrier within her body. After a moment of silence, he said, "Your accumulation is already enough to break through to the Void Refinement stage. The reason you can't cross that threshold is not because of the total amount of spiritual energy."

Lin Qingyin looked up at him, her clear eyes filled with an anxiety that was even brighter than usual due to repeated failures: "Where is the problem?"

"There are still a few tiny impurities deposited in your meridians." Li Hanshan stretched out his hand, and pure Yang energy condensed into a warm golden halo at his fingertips, probing towards her dantian. "The location of those impurities is extremely hidden, concealed in the gap between the core of spiritual energy and the meridian walls. Every time you attempt to break through the threshold of the Void Refinement stage, a portion of your spiritual energy is intercepted by those impurities, causing the impact to always fall short by a hair's breadth."

Lin Qingyin's eyes brightened slightly, then darkened again: "Can it be removed?"

"Yes, but it requires the aid of elixirs." Li Hanshan withdrew his hand. "Ordinary foundation-strengthening elixirs are not effective enough. We need a refined elixir specifically targeting impurities deep within the meridians. I happen to know an ancient formula—'Meridian-Clearing Elixir,' which uses six-thousand-year-old Red Scale Vine as the main ingredient, combined with extracts from Silver Moon Flower and Jade Marrow Ginseng. It can peel away impurities deep within the meridians layer by layer without damaging the foundation."

Lin Qingyin frowned slightly when she heard about the age and combination of the medicinal herbs: "Six-thousand-year-old Crimson Scale Vine... even a Void Refinement cultivator would find it difficult to find even one. Do you have one?"

Li Hanshan took out the emerald green jade pot from his storage ring and placed it on the stone table. A soft emerald green light shone from the pot's spout. The medicinal fragrance, which had been permeating the core immortal island for many years, became even more mellow and profound; one could feel the millennia of time it contained even through the jade pot. Lin Qingyin's gaze fell on the light slowly flowing inside the pot's spout, as if she could see a field of spiritual herbs quietly growing within the jade pot's space.

Her gaze lifted from the jade pot and landed on his face: "You actually had such a Qiankun Pot hidden away? And the spiritual herbs inside... are probably no less than a thousand years old?"

Her voice held a slight pause, as if she had seen something beyond her expectations, "How many more of you are there that I haven't seen before?"

Li Hanshan put away the jade pot: "I learned the alchemy technique many years ago. The quality of the spiritual herbs in the herb field is indeed quite good; we should be able to gather all the ingredients for the Clear Meridian Pill." He stood up. "It will take a few days."

Although Li Hanshan spoke lightly, Lin Qingyin was no less shocked than when he received the deacon's order.

At this moment, in her mind, her husband was utterly mysterious.