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

Li Hanshan's next attack gave Zhou Heng no chance to catch his breath.

The Crimson Sun Sword slashed horizontally, its crimson-gold light like a stretched fiery cloud, cutting through the air and splitting the half of the ruined mountain where Zhou Heng was hiding in two.

Rocks and dust shot into the sky, and the deafening roar of the mountain breaking echoed through the secret realm for several breaths, causing large leaves to fall from the distant spirit wood forest.

Zhou Heng emerged from the collapsed rubble, his gray robe covered in stone dust and scorch marks, a trace of dark red blood at the corner of his mouth, but his deep-set eyes had regained their clarity.

The six talismans shattered simultaneously between his fingers, transforming into six silver-white light curtains that unfolded from different directions at the same time, like a hexagonal light shield that was instantly expanded, completely enveloping the space several feet around him.

This is also why he wasn't killed by Li Hanshan's sword.

The six spirit talismans were clearly of high quality, each radiating spiritual energy fluctuations at the Void Refinement level. The runes on the surface of the light barrier were more complex and denser than ordinary sixth-order defensive spirit talismans, with almost no gaps visible at the joints between them, as if they were linked together by some extremely precise array, forming a nearly impenetrable three-dimensional defense.

"Such fast talismans," Li Hanshan thought to himself. The trump cards of a Void Refinement cultivator are indeed far beyond those of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator; the quality and quantity of these talismans far exceeded his expectations.

He didn't stop; the Crimson Sun Sword slashed down again. The crimson-gold sword light was like a blazing spear of the sun cleaving down from the sky, heavily striking the most prominent layer of the six silver-white light curtains.

With a deafening roar, the light barrier trembled violently, its silver-white runes flashing wildly, and cracks rapidly spreading in all directions from the point of impact. Yet, it did not shatter. The spiritual energy circulation within the light barrier seemed to be reactivated, quickly dispersing, consuming, and deflecting the power of the Crimson Sun Sword. The spiritual energy between the six runes flowed simultaneously, distributing the impact force across every inch of the hexagonal light barrier.

Li Hanshan's brow twitched slightly. These six spirit talismans were a set, not individual sixth-tier defensive talismans, but rather a special talisman array designed for joint casting.

While a single spirit talisman's defensive power is not as strong as a complete sixth-grade high-level defensive talisman, the combined defensive power of six talismans far surpasses that of ordinary talismans. Although his Crimson Sun Sword can leave cracks on the surface of the light barrier, after each strike, the spiritual power of the light barrier will automatically fill those cracks, restoring the defense to a near-complete state.

"Xiao An!"

Xiao An's figure moved the moment he spoke. The eerie blue light cut in from the side, and the Netherworld Chains shot out from her palm, wrapping around the weakest connection point at the bottom of the light curtain. The chains coiled and tightened like living things, constantly seeping through the gaps in the spiritual energy circulation, attempting to sever the flow of spiritual energy in the rune array from the inside.

Meanwhile, Li Hanshan wasn't idle either. He held the Crimson Sun Sword horizontally in front of him, fully activating his Pure Yang Meridian. Golden Pure Yang fire surged around him, resonating even more deeply with the Crimson Sun Sword's own fiery essence. He no longer merely swung the sword; instead, he drew a near-perfect arc in the air with the flaming sword, a crimson-gold sphere of light condensing at its tip, like a fragment of the sun compressed to its extreme. The sphere of light detached from the sword and landed precisely in the center of the connecting node at the top of the hexagonal light shield.

The moment the sphere of light exploded, the entire hexagonal light shield trembled violently, like a bronze bell struck by a giant hammer. Simultaneously, the six talismans erupted with blinding silver-white light, their runes dancing wildly on the surface of the light barrier, while the spiritual energy inside the shield became as chaotic as churned water.

The spiritual energy that was filling the cracks scattered like a swarm of ants, and obvious gaps appeared at the originally seamless joint.

Xiao An's Netherworld Chains tightened in an instant. The chains pierced through the cracks into the light barrier, severing the spiritual energy pathways of two talismans, like a boulder thrown into a river, splitting the flow in two. At the two severed points on the surface of the light barrier, the silvery-white light suddenly dimmed, and the once solid barrier became as fragile as thin ice.

Li Hanshan didn't let this opportunity slip by. The Crimson Sun Sword slashed down again, this time not directly at the front, but diagonally cutting into the two weakest points of connection. The sword light, like a red-hot blade, sliced ​​into the frozen earth, splitting the two crumbling spiritual light curtains in two. Fragments scattered everywhere, and the entire hexagonal light shield emitted a groan of unbearable strain, then cracked open in the middle with a fissure several feet wide.

Zhou Heng stood inside the light barrier, his face ashen. He didn't attempt to repair it, but instead swiftly retrieved several jade bottles from his sleeve, uncorking each one and pouring the pills inside into his mouth. The pills were clearly of extremely high quality; the moment they entered his stomach, they transformed into several streams of pure spiritual energy that surged through his meridians, soothing, repairing, and stabilizing the hidden injuries inflicted by the Crimson Sun Sword and the Purple Thunder Talisman.

His aura surged under the influence of the elixir, and his previously disordered spiritual energy regained its composure and strength, like a furnace that had been rekindled and was slowly returning to its peak.

"I didn't expect you to have so many tricks up your sleeve." Zhou Heng raised his head, his gaze falling on Li Hanshan, and a genuine seriousness finally surfaced in his deep-set eyes.

His aura was much stronger than when he was struck by the thunder dragon, and his gaze, which had been slightly scattered due to the damage to his soul, had also become focused again. Clearly, the pill he had just taken was extremely precious and could heal and recover in a very short time.

Even so, truly returning to its former glory will not be easy.

Zhou Heng continued, "A Dao artifact, a sword of divine soul, and a sixth-tier spirit talisman. You have far more trump cards in your hands than I imagined."

His eyes reddened slightly when he spoke of Dao artifacts.

A Dao artifact!

Even someone at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm doesn't have a Dao artifact. In fact, let alone the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, even the late-stage or peak Void Refinement realms find it extremely difficult to obtain a Dao artifact.

But Li Hanshan happens to have it!

This strengthened his resolve to kill Li Hanshan; once he killed Li Hanshan, the Dao artifact would be his!

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath and quickly recovered.

Li Hanshan remained silent. His entire focus was on activating the Crimson Sun Sword.

The crimson-gold sword light, like an endless torrent, relentlessly slashed at the light barrier that was being torn apart by Xiao An's chains. One strike after another, without pause or hesitation, each strike precisely hitting the repairing cracks. He didn't need to speak; his actions spoke for themselves.

At the edge of the dense forest in the distance, He Yuan was hiding in the canopy of an ancient tree, his palm pressed against a pale blue telescope bead. The bead's surface reflected the entire battle taking place several miles away. He had originally only intended to confirm the situation and then escape in the chaos, but the image reflected in the bead made him stop breathing completely at that moment.

Li Hanshan was suppressing Zhou Heng.

The crimson-gold sword light and the silver-white light barrier collided back and forth in the center of the secret realm, and each strike left a new crack on the light barrier.

The eerie blue figure lingered around the outer edge of the protective barrier like a persistent leech, its ghostly chains slicing through the gaps in the defense from every angle, severing one spiritual energy pathway after another that Zhou Heng had painstakingly gathered. The young man was engulfed in purplish-gold flames, like a blazing sun, and each swing of his sword carried a merciless killing intent.

He Yuan's hand, gripping the telescope, trembled slightly. He had initially thought Li Hanshan was merely a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, and that Zhou Heng, having dared to set up this trap, must have been absolutely certain of killing him. But...

The scene before him completely overturned his judgment. The young man was not only not at a disadvantage, but was actually pressing Zhou Heng, who was in the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, against him. Every sword strike he made tore new cracks in the hexagonal light shield, and every slash forced Zhou Heng to reactivate his spiritual talismans to reinforce his defense.

Zhou Heng retreated to the deepest part of the light barrier. Two layers of the hexagonal light barrier had already been sheared off, and the remaining few spirit talismans had become extremely fragile under the continuous burning of the Crimson Sun Sword and the erosion of the Netherworld Chains.

He sat down cross-legged and swallowed the remaining pills. His spiritual energy surged rapidly, like a furnace being rekindled. The slightly scattered aura caused by the damage to his soul was re-condensed under the influence of the pills, like a blade that had been sharpened anew, gleaming with a cold, sharp light deep within the protective barrier.

"You won't kill me." Zhou Heng's voice came from inside the light barrier, carrying a kind of unwavering certainty that naturally comes from being cornered. "The trump cards of a Void Refinement cultivator far exceed your imagination. Even if you have a Dao artifact in hand, even if you have the help of a Yin spirit, it doesn't change one thing—you are ultimately only at the Nascent Soul stage. The gap between the Nascent Soul stage and the Void Refinement stage cannot be bridged by a few magic treasures."

Li Hanshan remained silent.

The Crimson Sun Sword continued to slash down in his hand. Each time the sword light struck the light barrier, it would shatter the spiritual energy channels that were re-forming. He could feel his spiritual energy being consumed at a rate far exceeding expectations. Nearly 70% of the pure Yang energy in his dantian had been depleted, and the nodes in his meridians that were being repeatedly activated were experiencing a series of subtle aches and pains.

But deep down, he knew one thing clearly—Novice Refinement cultivators were indeed terrifying. Zhou Heng wasn't as easy to deal with as the Novice Refinement demonic beasts he had killed before. Those demonic beasts, though incredibly strong and thick-skinned, had relatively simple fighting styles; they could be killed in one strike if an opening was found. But Zhou Heng was a mid-stage Novice Refinement cultivator, with far too many methods. Talismans, pills, spells, and those trump cards he hadn't yet unleashed.

Even though he had used the Crimson Sun Sword and the Divine Soul Sword, and even unleashed a sixth-tier, second-level Purple Thunder Talisman, he had only managed to severely injure his opponent. After two layers of the hexagonal light shield were removed, the spiritual energy flowing inside became even more condensed, like an anvil that had become harder after being repeatedly struck.

He had no time to recover, and no way out. If he let Zhou Heng go now, once the other party recovered, with the recovery speed of a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator and those trump cards that had not yet been used, he would be the one to die.

We must strike while the iron is hot and finish him off.

Li Hanshan took a deep breath, channeling all the remaining pure Yang energy in his dantian into the Crimson Sun Sword. The flaming longsword grew several feet in his hand, its crimson-gold light dazzlingly bright, the entire sword resembling a blazing star. He held nothing back, wielding the sword with both hands and bringing it down in a single strike.

The crimson-gold sword light, carrying the momentum to incinerate everything, struck the weakest point of the already crumbling hexagonal light shield.

The spiritual energy circulation of the last three layers of talismans shattered simultaneously under that sword strike, like a harp with its strings snapped, emitting a piercing buzz before completely disintegrating.

The countless silver-white fragments, like glass scattered by the wind, flew in all directions amidst the aftershocks of the crimson-gold sword light, falling into the dense forest and rocks below, exploding into clusters of fine light mist.