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

The purplish-gold streak of light flew across the sea for nearly two hours. The seawater beneath their feet changed from light blue to dark blue, and then from dark blue to a near-inky dark blue. The waves rose and fell more violently than in the nearshore waters, and occasionally, a few dark shadows could be seen swimming rapidly at the crests of the waves, carrying faint fluctuations of demonic energy as they darted beneath the surface of the sea.

As Li Hanshan flew, he used his divine sense to perceive the surrounding spiritual energy environment. The Endless Sea to the south was indeed completely different from that to the north. In the northern sea, an ancient sword aura that pierced through heaven and earth floated, separating the Northern Wilderness from the Central Continent. Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage dared not venture deep into it.

However, in the southern sea area, that sharp sword intent was absent. Instead, a more primal and coarse demonic aura permeated the air, like a layer of turbid mist covering the sea surface.

After flying for about half an hour, Li Hanshan sheathed his flying sword and took out the silver-white flying boat from his storage ring. The flying boat swelled in the wind, and the array patterns on its hull glowed with a warm silver light as spiritual energy was injected into them. He leaped onto the bow and activated the array base with his spiritual energy. The flying boat then transformed into a silver-white streak of light, continuing to speed southeast at a speed several times faster than the flying sword.

The waves beneath his feet were stretched into blurry gray-blue streaks, rushing past him at high speed. The aura of demonic beasts on the sea surface grew increasingly dense, with beasts attacking from time to time. Fortunately, none of them were very strong, and Li Hanshan dealt with them easily.

Every now and then, one can see cultivators fighting with demonic beasts in the distance. The demonic beasts in the Endless Sea are treasures to cultivators, and fighting with them can also hone their skills. Therefore, there are quite a few cultivators who enter the Endless Sea.

"Looks like I'll have to fly even further." Li Hanshan decided to fly even further.

Perhaps because too many demonic beasts died in the beast tide, Li Hanshan did not encounter any particularly strong demonic beasts after flying for a full day. The strongest one was only at the mid-stage of the fifth rank, equivalent to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

"This distance should be safe."

After flying for another day, they were already far from the Immortal Island. Han Shan put away his flying boat, summoned his flying sword again, and carefully searched the low sky for a while. He soon found a suitable place to land - a deserted island that was only a few miles in circumference. The island was full of jagged rocks, not a blade of grass grew on it, and there was no trace of any demonic beasts.

Such deserted islands are not uncommon in the endless sea. Due to the scarcity of spiritual energy and resources, they are rarely visited by people. It is precisely because of this that they are suitable as a place for Xiao An to break through to the Void Refinement stage and undergo tribulation.

Li Hanshan landed on the deserted island. Instead of immediately summoning Xiao An, he first flew around the island's edge, then took out six silver-white array flags from his storage ring. Using his spiritual power, he inserted them one by one into the crevices of the rocks. The moment the flags touched the ground, silver-white light spread out from their surfaces, forming a thin curtain of light around the island, like a drawn veil enveloping the entire island.

Although this formation was rudimentary, it was enough to conceal most of Xiao An's soul power fluctuations during his breakthrough, preventing them from being detected by distant demonic beasts or cultivators. He returned to the relatively flat reef in the center of the deserted island and stood there. After confirming that the formation's spiritual energy circulation was functioning normally, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness.

"Xiao An, that's enough. Go ahead and break through; I'll protect you."

"Senior... I've saved up enough, but it will probably take me several years to cross that final hurdle on my own. If you're willing..."

Xiao An paused for a moment, as if carefully choosing his words, "Help me once with the dual cultivation of spirit and soul, fusing the pure Yang primordial spirit power of the senior with my soul power, which should allow me to unleash an impact far exceeding my own limits at the moment of breakthrough. In this way, I will have more than 90% confidence that I can push open the threshold of the Void Refinement stage within a day."

Li Hanshan didn't hesitate: "Then now."

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and completely immersed his consciousness into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness. Xiao An's soul took shape before him, and their souls began to merge together, each containing the other.

The feeling of their souls merging was exceptionally profound. Xiao An's soul power, carrying the unique yin-like quality of the Netherworld Record, was like a warm current moistened by spring water, slowly swirling, permeating, and intertwining around his pure yang primordial spirit. The layer of dark blue light on the surface of her soul body began to ripple subtly under the influence of Li Hanshan's pure yang primordial spirit. Each interaction was like a warm current being injected into a dried-up riverbed, allowing the long-accumulated soul power to regain its vitality.

He could sense that Xiao An's soul power was rising in an extremely stable yet irreversible way. Her long-suppressed inner strength was illuminating layer by layer under the continuous nourishment of her pure Yang primordial spirit. Her cultivation was rising, extending upwards from the critical point of the Nascent Soul stage.

The pale blue light on Xiao An's soul surface grew brighter and brighter during this fusion of divine souls. The invisible barrier between the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and the Void Refinement stage began to show fine cracks under the continuous impact of soul power. Once, twice, three times, each impact was more violent and more precise than the last.

His divine sense clearly captured the moment the barrier deep within Xiao An's soul shattered. An extremely subtle sound exploded deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, like the first crack appearing on ice under the warm spring sun. Immediately afterward, the long-accumulated soul power surged into the crack like a flood bursting its banks, completely shattering the threshold of the Void Refinement Realm.

The deep blue light suddenly surged, like a bright moon being ignited, illuminating the entire sea of ​​consciousness as if it were daytime.

The oppressive aura of the Refinement Void level Yin Soul spread out from the surface of Xiao An's soul body, carrying a heavy feeling like the surging undercurrent at the bottom of a deep pool, expanding outward in circles within her sea of ​​consciousness.

In the instant of the sudden shattering, a visible ring of dark blue ripples exploded on the surface of Xiao An's soul. The ripples spread rapidly in all directions from her center, and even the spiritual mist suspended in the air was compressed and subsided in the places they passed through.

The Void Refinement level soul power that overflowed during the breakthrough flowed back into Li Hanshan's sea of ​​consciousness almost at the same instant, along the unbroken connection between their souls.

He felt a sudden jolt deep within his consciousness as the extremely pure soul power swept over the divine soul sword floating in the center, causing the silver-gray halo on the sword's surface to brighten by more than double.

The slightly rough edges, which had become rough due to continuous tempering, quickly became smooth and sharp under the influence of this Void Refinement level soul power. A layer of fine, dark blue luster covered the sword, which shone with a warm, cold light against the backdrop of the golden patterns.

The sword trembled slightly, emitting a low hum. Every strand of soul power was re-compressed and rearranged by the reverse force, like an iron bar that was repeatedly folded and forged. With each compression, a layer of impurities was removed, revealing a more intricate texture underneath.

He could sense that the quality of the Divine Soul Sword was leaping forward in an irreversible way. Its sharpness was more restrained than before, yet more deadly. Every strand of soul power within the sword had become more refined, maintaining its sharpness while gaining a more stable resilience, like a blade that had been repeatedly quenched and tempered, neither brittle nor dull.

At the same time, the subtle lines formed at the edge of his sea of ​​consciousness due to long-term cultivation were completely washed away and smoothed out by this soul power. In those few breaths, the range of his divine sense expanded outward again, and the sea and clouds in his field of vision became more open, and even the schools of fish swimming in the distant sea could be clearly seen.

"Seventh level of Void Refinement!" His divine sense surged to the seventh level of Void Refinement in one fell swoop! Don't be fooled by the fact that it's only one level higher than the sixth level of Void Refinement; this one level means that his divine sense has stepped into the late stage of Void Refinement.

Outside the sea of ​​consciousness, the sky above the deserted island began to darken rapidly. Thick clouds surged and gathered from all directions, their color changing from grayish-white to leaden gray, and then from leaden gray to a dark, eerie blue, completely different from the dark purple of ordinary heavenly tribulations.

Fine, dark blue arcs of electricity surged within the clouds, each pulse causing a thin layer of white light to ripple across the surface of the seawater surrounding the deserted island, like a lit fuse rapidly spreading across a deep blue canvas.

An earthquake is coming!

Xiao An burst out of Li Hanshan's sea of ​​consciousness, soared into the sky, and faced the heavenly tribulation.

Li Hanshan also soared into the sky, but he wasn't there to help Xiao An overcome her tribulation; instead, he was there to protect her.

"Boom!"

The first bolt of tribulation lightning struck down and collided with Xiao An.

Li Hanshan glanced at it once before looking away. Although this tribulation was somewhat dangerous for Xiao An, it was also an opportunity for her. The soul is most afraid of lightning, but if she could be tempered by the tribulation lightning, she would have a better chance of dealing with lightning-based spells in the future.

"There's a monster!"

At this moment, Li Hanshan's divine sense detected an extremely powerful aura rapidly rising from the depths of the sea. That aura carried the fluctuations of demonic power at the Void Refinement level and was approaching the deserted island at an astonishing speed.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Perfect timing. Xiao An was focused on dealing with the Heavenly Tribulation and couldn't be disturbed, and he just needed an opponent to test his true combat power after breaking through to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.

A surge of pure yang fire, a deep purple-gold, erupted around Li Hanshan. Without turning around, he said in a low voice, "Xiao An, focus on your tribulation. Leave this to me."