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

"Leave the cover-up to me." Yin Yue stood in the center of the stone chamber, her gaze beneath the silver veil fixed on the twelve array artifacts. "During the time it takes for the incense stick to burn to activate the teleportation array, the Heavenly Demon Blood Array must not react in any way. I will find a way to divert attention elsewhere."

Li Hanshan leaned against the stone wall, circulating the spiritual energy he had used while calibrating the array device through his meridians for a small cycle. He nodded: "That's good."

Yin Yue withdrew her gaze, turned around and looked at him: "Before activating it, I need to go out for a while, and it may take some time before I come back."

"how long?"

"It could take anywhere from ten days to half a month, or even several months." Yin Yue walked to the stone platform and put the "Saint" token back into her sleeve. "During this time, you stay in the cave. No matter who comes, just ignore them. The Enforcement Hall has already come once, and Ye Feiyan won't let it go easily either, but as long as you don't leave the cave, they can't get in."

Li Hanshan nodded slightly: "Understood."

Yin Yue didn't say anything more. She tightened the sash of her silver-white robe again and put the jade slips she had read into her storage ring one by one.

She paused at the entrance to the cave, turning half her face to the side. Moonlight seeped in from the entrance, making the edges of her silver veil almost transparent.

"I'm leaving."

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure disappeared at the end of the passage, her footsteps fading into the distance between the stone walls and finally swallowed by the mist of the spiritual spring.

Li Hanshan stood alone in the stone chamber, listening to the faint hum of the silver-white barrier at the entrance of the cave closing again.

He turned around, walked to the stone platform, sat down, took out a Rejuvenation Pill from his storage ring and swallowed it, smoothing out the remaining spiritual energy fluctuations in his body one by one. Then he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness.

Xiao An's soul floated quietly in her sea of ​​consciousness, her body surrounded by a deep blue light like a pool bathed in moonlight. Sensing his arrival, she slightly opened her eyes, her dark green pupils questioning him.

Li Hanshan didn't explain much, but simply recounted the progress of the teleportation array's deployment and Yin Yue's departure.

After listening, Xiao An nodded slightly without speaking, and the two tacitly began their dual cultivation of spirit and soul.

Over the next few days, Li Hanshan meditated and regulated his breathing in his cave. He took out the incomplete formula for the Fusion God Pill and studied it repeatedly, memorizing every alternative and every minor adjustment to the process that Luo Li had marked in the dream deep within his sea of ​​consciousness.

Occasionally, he would use his divine sense to perceive the state of the silver-white barrier surrounding the cave, confirming that it was still operating stably, and then he would refocus his mind.

On the evening of the seventh day, just as dusk was settling outside the cave, a presence rapidly approached from afar.

That aura was even more blatant than the one from the Enforcement Hall, rushing straight toward the cave without any concealment. It was surrounded by extremely faint dark red spiritual energy fluctuations, like a poppy flower scattered by the wind, exuding a sweet and dangerous fragrance in the twilight.

The night is full of smoke.

Li Hanshan opened his eyes but did not get up. He sat by the stone platform, his pure yang energy flowing slowly through his meridians, completely concealing his aura under the cover of the Demon Slave Seal, without making any unnecessary movements.

The silver-white barrier surrounding the cave dwelling flashed briefly the moment Ye Feiyan touched it. The barrier's strength far exceeded that of ordinary cave dwelling defenses. Ye Feiyan's dark red spiritual power crashed into it like waves hitting a reef, creating fine ripples but failing to tear open a single crack.

"Sister?" Ye Feiyan's voice came from outside the cave, clear and sweet, each word falling perfectly between concern and worry. "Sister, are you inside? Your little sister has come to see you."

The cave was completely quiet.

Ye Feiyan waited a few moments but received no response.

She didn't leave. Instead, she stopped on the platform outside the cave. Her peach blossom eyes tilted slightly upward in the twilight, landing on the silvery-white light membrane at the entrance of the cave, which was slowly receding. Her gaze was filled with a kind of certainty that had been repeatedly confirmed.

She took two steps forward, raised her hand again, and this time she poured more spiritual power into her palm. The dark red spiritual power condensed into a hair-thin cone, which precisely pierced the weakest connection point of the barrier light membrane.

A rapid ripple spread across the surface of the light membrane, but it did not shatter. The moment the sharp cone pierced through, the counterattack force contained within the restriction flowed back along the trajectory of the cone, like an invisible blade springing out from a fully drawn bowstring the instant it was released.

Ye Feiyan's fingertips trembled violently. The dark red spiritual energy cone shattered the moment it touched the light membrane, turning into countless dark red light spots that scattered in all directions. She took a half step back, looked down at her fingertips, and saw a very shallow burn mark on her fingertip, which was slowly fading away.

"Such a powerful restriction." Her voice was a few decibels lower than before, and there was a hint of resentment in that sweet tone.

She stood outside the cave, silent for a moment, then spoke, her tone regaining its just-right concern, "Isn't my sister here? Then... Demon Slave Brother, are you inside?"

There was still no response from inside the cave.

Ye Feiyan tilted her head slightly, her dark red hair slipping down her shoulders, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the twilight. She took a step forward, gently clasping her hands in front of her, her posture as graceful as a well-behaved junior waiting at the door for her elder's return.

"Little brother, I know you're in there." Her voice was as sweet as a pool of stirred honey, each word perfectly timed. "You don't need to pretend you're not there. You should feel more comfortable when your sister isn't around. You can't just stay holed up in someone else's cave, not daring to say a word, can you?"

She paused, waiting a few moments, but the cave remained silent. She narrowed her eyes slightly, a calculating glint in her peach-blossom eyes. She lowered her voice even further, but each word became even clearer, like a string being repeatedly plucked:

"Little brother, your sister has controlled your demonic seal, right? If you want to leave, you don't actually need to wait for her to come back. I have a way to help you break that seal. You're different from me; you're originally from the Joyful Union Sect, and you don't need to be someone else's demonic slave here. I can help you regain your freedom. Come out and say something to me, okay?"

Her voice faded slowly into the twilight, leaving only the faint rustling of the spirit wood forest in the demonic wind on the platform outside the cave. Inside the cave, Li Hanshan sat by the stone platform, his pure yang energy flowing smoothly through his meridians. His gaze fell on the twelve quietly dormant array artifacts on the stone floor, his expression as calm as ever.

He did not respond.