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

Li Hanshan stood above the deserted island, the purplish-gold pure yang fire slowly receding around him, his gaze fixed on the figure veiled in silver. Waves surged beneath his feet, and the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon Spider's dark gray body readjusted its posture. Its eight scale-covered legs slightly contracted in the void, and its dark red vertical pupils flashed with vigilance.

The sea breeze passed between the two, gently fluttering the woman's silver-white robes. She waited a moment, and seeing that he did not answer immediately, she tilted her head slightly, as if re-examining the unusually composed young cultivator before her.

"It's me," Li Hanshan finally spoke, his voice carrying a steady quality tempered by the sea. "But whatever your problem is, deal with the monster first."

The woman didn't speak. Her gaze passed over Li Hanshan's shoulder and landed on the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon Spider, which was gathering its strength again. Then she moved. The movement was extremely light, as if she had merely raised her wrist.

A sword light was so fast that it was almost impossible to detect with divine sense—it shot out from her fingertips, drawing a silver-white arc in the void, and then precisely cut into the layers of dark gray scales of the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon Spider, as if a red-hot blade had cut into frozen wax.

The many vertical pupils of the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon Spider suddenly lit up for a moment, and then went out one after another like a lamp wick that had been cut off.

Its massive body remained suspended in mid-air for a full two breaths before a smooth, mirror-like slit split open, extending from its spine all the way to its abdomen.

Dark gray demon blood gushed out from the crack, exploding into a dark water column tens of feet high on the sea surface. The massive wreckage crashed into the surging waves like a felled giant tree, creating a water wall tens of feet high that spread in all directions.

The wall of water subsided slowly a few feet from the edge of the deserted island, and the remains of the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon Spider sank slowly in the deep blue seawater, leaving only a few thin, bloody streaks floating on the crests of the waves.

Such formidable combat power!

Li Hanshan was shocked. This woman had killed a demonic beast at the early stage of the Void Refinement realm with just one sword strike! Her combat power was undeniably strong.

Once you reach the Void Refinement stage, the gap between cultivators widens, but in some ways it narrows as well. Even if a woman is at the late Void Refinement stage, it would be extremely difficult for a typical late Void Refinement cultivator to instantly kill someone at the early Void Refinement stage.

Li Hanshan gazed at the closing sea, then at the woman's fingers that had already retracted to her side. After a moment of silence, he spoke: "How do you know my name?"

The woman stood in the void, her silver veil fluttering gently in the sea breeze. Moonlight fell on her slightly lowered eyelashes, casting a small, fine shadow along the edge of the veil. Her voice remained clear and crisp: "I not only know your name, but I also know you are a spy sent to the Immortal Alliance by the Joyful Union Sect."

Li Hanshan stood rooted to the spot, his expression completely unchanged. He spoke calmly, "You mustn't speak recklessly. How could I, a mere steward of the Array Hall, become a spy for the Joyful Union Sect?"

At this point, it's natural not to admit it.

The woman chuckled softly. The laughter was so brief, like the faint sound of a dewdrop falling into water, fleeting in the night breeze.

She spoke slowly: "You started from a branch of the Northern Wilderness Joyful Union Sect, were bought by Hua Nongying, and then turned the tables on her, later subduing Shen Ruoxi. You defeated Wang Hao and Luo Lie in the main sect's grand competition, and at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, you severely injured a Deity Transformation cultivator. After joining the Immortal Alliance, you helped the Purple Thunder Pavilion repel the beast tide, slay Void Refining demonic beasts, heal cultivators who had gone mad in the Flowing Light Array, and repair ancient array flags, gradually gaining Elder Gong's trust. The storage ring you wear still contains the Joyful Union Sect's sect leader's token."

With each word she spoke, Li Hanshan's heart sank a little deeper. The information was so precise that even he himself was almost blurry with the details, like a dossier being turned page by page from the depths of his memory, each page meticulously marked.

Li Hanshan's expression remained unchanged. He slightly tilted his head, his gaze falling on an extremely fine silver pattern along the edge of the woman's silver-white veil. He suddenly spoke, "So, you are the Demonic Sect's spy within the Immortal Alliance? Otherwise, how could you know so much about my affairs?"

The woman paused for a moment. Then she clapped her hands gently.

"A brilliant move, using offense as defense." Her voice held a hint of admiration. "You guessed right. I am indeed a pawn planted by the Demonic Sect within the Immortal Alliance."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat. He never expected that this woman would actually admit it so readily.

He had only tentatively raised the possibility, expecting her to deny it, change the subject, or distract him with a bigger secret. But she simply admitted it calmly, as if it were a trivial matter unrelated to her.

This feeling made his back tense slightly for a moment. A cultivator at the late stage of the Void Refinement realm, who had been lurking in the Immortal Alliance for many years, was now revealing her identity directly in front of him. Either she was absolutely confident that she could control the situation, or what she was about to say was so important that she was willing to take this risk.

"Since you've said all this and are willing to acknowledge your identity before me," he said slowly, "it seems you're not here to kill me. You're here to talk business."

The woman's gaze lingered on his face for a moment: "It's so good to talk to smart people; it saves a lot of trouble with probing."

She paused, her voice lower than before, as if to keep her words under wraps so that only the two of them could hear: "Which do you think is better, the Demonic Sect or the Immortal Alliance?"

Li Hanshan sensed the probing in her words. Unable to fathom her true stance and intentions, he didn't hesitate for long: "Of course, it's the Demonic Sect."

The woman tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips: "You won't tell the truth."

Li Hanshan straightened up, met her gaze, and said earnestly, "That's the truth. The cultivation technique I practice is the inheritance of the Hehuan Sect, which is why I was able to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul stage in such a short time. If I were from a righteous path, I'd probably still be stuck in the Nascent Soul stage."

The woman was silent for a moment. She looked at Li Hanshan, her gaze lingering for a second on the lingering pure Yang energy around him, as if sensing something. Then she spoke: "Of all the Nascent Soul cultivators I've seen in the Demonic Sect, you have the least blood on your hands."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat, but a perfectly timed sneer appeared on his face: "Is that so? I've killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people."

He thought to himself that this was obviously bragging; since he transmigrated, he had killed fewer than ten people at most.

The woman chuckled softly. The laughter lingered longer than before, like a string of silver bells swaying in the night breeze, and then she spoke: "Don't try to fool me. You haven't killed more than ten people yet."

Li Hanshan paused slightly. Looking into the woman's calm eyes behind her silver veil, he sensed she wasn't testing him, but stating a confirmed fact. He remained silent for a moment before speaking, "How did you know?"

The woman didn't answer directly. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, then she slightly turned her head: "To me, you seem more like a righteous cultivator."

Li Hanshan sensed that the conversation was heading in a direction he couldn't predict. He disliked being led by the other party, with the pace of each conversation controlled by them, while he himself could never grasp their true intentions.

"This kind of chatting is exhausting," he said, his voice a few degrees colder than before. "Since you've found me and are willing to admit your identity, then just tell me what your purpose is. If you're here to kill me, then bring it on. If not—then stop beating around the bush."

The woman was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. When she spoke, her voice no longer held the deliberate aloofness of before, but instead became extremely serious: "Alright. Let's cooperate then. How about we destroy the Heavenly Demon Sect together?"