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

The lamps inside the cabin had burned out, leaving only a tiny, bean-sized flame flickering at the bottom.

Yin Lingyue lay on Li Hanshan's chest, her dark purple hair scattered on the brocade quilt, her breathing long and steady, like the shallow waves left behind after a tamed tide recedes.

Li Hanshan lay on his side, one hand resting on her shoulder. He could feel her primordial yin energy slowly receding back into the depths of her dantian, like a stream that had been stirred for too long finally settling down, revealing the clear riverbed beneath.

The month-long dual cultivation on the flying boat healed all the minor hidden injuries in his meridians caused by years of battle, and the strength of his physical body steadily increased with the daily tempering of spiritual energy circulation.

Although it is still far from matching the level of a pure Yang primordial spirit, it is already much stronger than when it fought Zhou Heng to the death in the secret realm.

He closed his eyes, pulled Yin Lingyue closer to his chest, and let the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion sink his consciousness into the depths.

The moment the sound of flowing water reached his ears, he knew that pull had returned. Unlike the usual rhythm that came only after a long interval, this time it came too smoothly, so smoothly that it felt like he was being actively pushed along by some force. Before he could even feel that familiar pull, his consciousness was already on the riverbank. Moonlight spilled onto the water, dyeing the entire river a silvery white. The blue stones on the bank were as smooth and warm as ever, and the distant mist resembled a repeatedly blurred ink painting.

Luo Li sat on the bluestone, dressed in white, her bare feet dangling lightly. When she saw him appear, her eyes curved into two crescent moons, and she waved to him: "Master, come quickly."

Li Hanshan sat down beside her, his gaze falling on her face, which was exceptionally clear in the moonlight. Before the thoughts that had been churning in his mind for so long could unfold, he was struck by a fact.

He was silent for a moment, then spoke with a hint of doubt that even he himself hadn't fully grasped: "Girl, it's only been less than two days since we last met in my dream."

Luo Li tilted her head, a hint of smug satisfaction appearing in her clear eyes. She raised her chin slightly, like a kitten that had caught a fish: "Grandpa, that's because I succeeded!"

"Success?" Li Hanshan raised an eyebrow.

Luo Li stretched out her finger and gently traced a few lines in mid-air. Several silver-white lines flowed from her fingertips, intertwining in the void to form an extremely complex rune structure. The positions of those runes were exactly the same as those he had seen in the Flowing Light Array, but they were more compact and denser, with a sense of exquisiteness after being compressed to the extreme.

"The Flowing Light Array." Luo Li pointed to the structural diagram, her tone light as if she were showing off a masterpiece she had just finished carving. "I figured it out myself, based on the fragments of that ancient array and the rune structures you brought back from the Immortal Alliance. However, my array is much smaller in scale, only able to accommodate one person, and the spirit stones it consumes are extremely astonishing. I've already used up nearly 70% of my spirit stone reserves, but at least it's running."

As she spoke, a gentle light shone in her clear eyes, "We sped up the timeline several times, so only one night has passed for the old man, but several days have passed for me. This way, we can see each other every day."

Li Hanshan looked at the rune structure diagram flowing in the void, then glanced at her. A Nascent Soul cultivator, without any complete inheritance, without the support of the Array Hall, and without guidance, had deduced a simplified version of the Flowing Light Array on his own, relying only on a few incomplete scrolls and the scattered information he had brought back.

His talent and perseverance left him speechless for a moment. He paused for a couple of breaths before speaking, "Girl, you're amazing."

Luo Li waved her hand, the slight smugness on her face not completely gone, but the curve of her lips had softened a bit, showing a natural embarrassment after being praised: "Grandpa, don't praise me. This formation isn't solely my achievement. If it weren't for the rune structures you brought back from the Immortal Alliance, and the deduction notes you summarized when you repaired the Flowing Light Formation flags, I wouldn't have been able to figure out the operating logic of this formation even if I studied it for another ten years. So, I should be thanking you, Grandpa."

As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly, the moonlight falling on her eyelashes and casting a silvery halo around them. "From now on, we should be able to see each other once a day."

When Li Hanshan heard these words, his heart skipped a beat. He recalled the long years he had spent with Luo Li in his dreams, the late nights studying runes on the moonlit riverbank, and the afternoons deducing restrictions by the bluestone.

Seeing her every day meant he would no longer have to wait months or even longer to see her in his dreams. He spoke, his voice neither loud nor soft: "Then let's see each other every day."

Luo Li smiled, a smile that was slightly fainter than before, yet more lingering, like a shallow stream bathed in moonlight. She nodded, then turned slightly to the side, her gaze lingering for a moment on the fluctuations of spiritual energy flowing around him, as if sensing something. After a moment, she spoke: "Grandpa, your cultivation has reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, hasn't it? I can sense that your total spiritual energy is much more abundant than when we last met."

"Yes. I'm only one step away from the Void Refinement stage." Li Hanshan briefly recounted his recent experiences. When he mentioned using Zhou Heng as a whetstone in the secret realm, suppressing a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator for nine days and nine nights, Luo Li's eyes lit up. When she mentioned discovering that her physical strength couldn't keep up with her Pure Yang Primordial Spirit when trying to break through to the Void Refinement stage, her brows furrowed slightly. When she mentioned Yin Yue and Yin Ling, her expression became serious.

After listening, Luo Li remained silent for a moment, a thoughtful light swirling in her clear eyes. Then she spoke, "Grandpa, let me help you refine your primordial spirit again."

Li Hanshan shook his head: "No. If you help me temper my primordial spirit, the quality of my pure Yang primordial spirit will become even higher, and the gap between my physical body and primordial spirit will only widen, making it even harder for me to break through to the Void Refinement stage."

Luo Li tilted her head slightly, a mischievous smile appearing in her clear eyes, like someone who already knew the answer to a riddle looking at a companion who was still deep in thought.

She said, "Grandpa, your problem is indeed that your physical body is weak, but that's not entirely it. Your physical strength is already top-notch among cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Ordinary cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage simply cannot withstand the impact of spiritual power at the Void Refinement stage, but your meridians and dantian walls have been tempered to the point that they can withstand the spiritual power of the Void Refinement stage."

She paused, then lightly tapped her finger in the air, as if striking something invisible at its core. "Your problem isn't that your physical body is too weak, but that the spiritual power contained within your pure Yang primordial spirit is too strong. Your primordial spirit's quality is comparable to the late stage of the Void Refinement realm, but that spiritual power hasn't fully integrated into the spiritual power of your primordial spirit. It's like a layer of water floating on oil noodles; it appears to be integrated with the primordial spirit, but in reality, there's an invisible membrane separating them. When you break through to the Void Refinement realm, this membrane will be torn apart by the impact of spiritual power, causing the spiritual power and spiritual power to collide directly within the primordial spirit, producing a backlash far exceeding the physical body's capacity to withstand."

Li Hanshan listened intently, going over the information repeatedly in his mind. He had never considered the reason for his failed breakthrough from this perspective before. He had always thought the problem lay in his physical body, but the "invisible membrane" that Luo Li mentioned accurately struck the tearing sensation he had felt when he tried to break through to the Void Refinement stage many times—it felt like two forces that should have merged were separated by something at the last moment, and the more effort he put in, the easier it was for them to fall apart.

"Is there another way?" he asked.

"Of course." Luo Li stood up, the moonlight casting a long shadow behind her. She paced back and forth beside the bluestone, as if organizing her thoughts. "You need a kind of pill that can temporarily soften that membrane, allowing your divine soul power and spiritual power to fuse at the moment of breakthrough. Once the fusion is successful, the quality of your pure Yang primordial spirit will rise to another level. At that time, even if your physical body is still weaker than your primordial spirit, it will no longer be an obstacle."

As she spoke, she pulled a yellowed tattered animal hide scroll from the void. On it were drawn several pictures of spiritual herbs and a repeatedly annotated prescription. The names of those herbs and their combinations were traced back to her with extremely fine handwriting using her spiritual power. The annotations even noted several alternatives and the differences in potency between herbs from different years. Clearly, she had done a great deal of research beforehand.

"This is a fragment of the 'Fusing God Pill' recipe that I found in the ancient ruins. The original recipe was missing half, so I completed the rest based on the medicinal principles recorded in the ancient talisman scroll you have. The main ingredient requires Soul Essence Grass that is over three thousand years old, supplemented with extracts of Nine-Leaf Lingzhi and Dragon Saliva Fruit. These three ingredients should all be available in your era. I have marked alternative solutions in the fragment. If you really can't find one of them, you can use other spiritual herbs with similar medicinal properties as substitutes."

Li Hanshan took the tattered animal hide scroll and meticulously memorized the dense markings Luo Li had made, storing them deep within his mind. Just as he was about to put the scroll away, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer from the depths of the earth. The tremor was extremely fierce and rapid, originating from the depths of the ground, as if something had exploded directly beneath the flying boat.

Then came the second, and the third. The intervals between the tremors grew shorter and the intensity increased, causing violent ripples to spread across the entire edge of the dream. The golden membranes flickered uncertainly during the tremors, and cracks rapidly spread from the edges to the center.

Li Hanshan felt his consciousness being pulled out of the dream by a powerful force. That force came from reality, like a giant hand seizing his soul and lifting him up abruptly. He didn't have time to say anything more, and could only glance hastily in Luo Li's direction.

She stood in that shattering dream, dressed in pristine white, her face bearing a trace of unconcealed worry. Her lips moved as if to say something like "be careful," but the words vanished too quickly into the void, and he didn't even have time to hear a single one.

The dream shattered with a crash.