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

Life in the cave was quieter than Li Hanshan had expected.

After Yin Yue activated the cave's protective barrier, it continued to operate, isolating all external spiritual energy fluctuations. He could sense the surging demonic energy of the mountain range outside the cave, and he could sense the occasional patrol lights flashing by in the distance, but no aura could penetrate the barrier and reach the edge of his sea of ​​consciousness.

Yin Yue did not leave the cave. Every morning she would emerge from the side passage leading to the back room, wearing a dark red outfit over a silver-white robe, her face cool and calm, showing no sign of anything unusual.

After sitting down by the stone platform, she would take out several jade slips containing cultivation techniques and read them. Occasionally, she would meditate and regulate her breathing on a small or medium-sized spiritual array, her body surrounded by a very faint silver-white spiritual energy glow.

Li Hanshan sat on the other side of the stone chamber. He neither cultivated nor studied the formations; he simply sat quietly, occasionally using his divine sense to perceive the changes in the outer layer of restrictions around the cave. He was playing the role of a demon slave, and demon slaves shouldn't have a strong presence.

On the first day, the two barely spoke. When Yin Yue was flipping through the jade slip, she would occasionally glance up at him, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment before shifting away, as if to confirm that he was still in his proper place.

The next day, after she finished her meditation, she glanced at him a couple more times.

On the third day, she spoke as she sat down by the stone platform. Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself: "Don't you find it boring?"

Li Hanshan leaned against the stone wall, his pure Yang energy flowing slowly through his meridians. His tone was casual, as if he were chatting with a fellow disciple: "Not bad. Quiet."

He found it strange. For someone at the Void Refinement stage, a single cultivation session could last for years or even decades. How could it be boring after only a few days?

Unless, Yin Yue has something on her mind.

You feel bored when you have something on your mind and you're not practicing.

Yin Yue glanced at him and turned a page of the jade slip: "When I first joined the Immortal Alliance, I also spent a long time like that. I did nothing, thought nothing, and spent my days meditating, practicing, and waiting for news. I spent far more time waiting than doing anything."

She didn't speak again after she finished speaking. Li Hanshan didn't respond either.

In his opinion, Yin Yue's words were somewhat superfluous. How could he lose his temper after only a few days?

The fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day. The days in the cave flowed by peacefully like running water.

Yin Yue's daily routine was almost identical: she would get up in the morning, peruse the jade slips, meditate to regulate her breathing, and occasionally fetch water from the spiritual spring in the back room to brew a pot of spiritual tea, which she would slowly drink by the stone platform. When she brewed the tea, she would pour an extra cup and place it opposite the stone platform, but she never called Li Hanshan to drink it.

He didn't take the initiative to serve the tea, but simply sat quietly in his seat, using his free time to repeatedly deduce the deployment plan of the teleportation array.

From the stone chamber to the outer perimeter of the cave, every node of the restriction, every landing point of the array base, and the direction of every spiritual energy loop were repeatedly calculated dozens of times in his sea of ​​consciousness.

By the evening of the tenth day, he noticed that Yin Yue's movements were a bit slower than usual. She closed the jade slip and placed it on the stone platform, but instead of getting up to go to the back room to regulate her breathing as usual, she sat in the same spot, her gaze fixed on the intricate restriction patterns on the surface of the stone platform, and remained silent for a long time.

It was a silence that concealed something. Li Hanshan could tell.

He didn't ask, but simply adjusted his position against the stone wall, leaning back at a more comfortable angle. Yin Yue remained silent for a long time. The light from the luminous pearl in the stone chamber continued to flow as she remained silent, and wisps of mist from the spiritual spring in the back chamber seeped out from the side passage, condensing into fine water droplets on the stone platform.

She finally spoke, her voice a few decibels lower than before: "Do you think I'm waiting for something?"

Li Hanshan turned his head and glanced at her. She was still sitting by the stone platform, her silver-white robe gleaming warmly in the light of the luminous pearl. Her calm eyes were not on him, but were gazing at the fork in the road leading to the back room, as if looking at something very far away.

A few days later, Yin Yue continued her cultivation as usual, getting up every morning to read the jade slips, meditate, and brew tea to drink alone. But Li Hanshan noticed that her pace was faster than before.

She flipped through the jade slips faster, shortened her meditation time, and occasionally sat by the stone platform for a long time while brewing tea, her gaze fixed on the several scrolls of cultivation manuals that she had read countless times, lost in thought.

Five days later, she closed the jade slip and placed it on the stone platform with a bit more force than usual. The crisp clinking sound was particularly clear in the quiet stone chamber.

Five more days passed. Twenty days had passed since Li Hanshan's arrival. After finishing her meditation, she did not immediately go to the back room, but sat by the stone platform for a while longer, her fingers unconsciously stroking the fine restriction patterns on the surface of the stone platform.

That evening, she finally spoke. Her voice was calm: "It's alright, let's begin."