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

The lightning and chains were still ten feet away from the barrier light membrane.

The hidden moon moved.

A silver-white figure, like a sword finally drawn from its sheath, stood before the entrance to the cave. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and spiritual energy exploded from her body, causing a silver-white wall of light to rise from the ground, ten zhang wide, sealing the entire cave entrance completely.

"boom--"

A deep purple lightning bolt struck the left end of the light wall, while nine dark gold chains lashed out at its right. Two powerful Void Refinement auras exploded simultaneously, blasting away a layer of rock from the platform and causing swathes of spirit trees to collapse outwards. The light wall trembled violently, its surface cracking with countless fissures, yet it withstood the attack without shattering.

"Hidden Moon! How dare you obstruct the Elders' Hall from carrying out its duties?!" the Third Elder shouted sternly.

"Breaking the gate without orders, this disciple is not stopping the Elders' Hall, but those who break the rules." Yin Yue's voice came from behind the light wall, still calm, but her face was a little paler than before, revealing the weight of that attack—after all, she was only at the seventh level of Void Refinement, while her opponent was attacked from both sides by a seventh level Void Refinement cultivator and a mid-stage Void Refinement cultivator.

The Fifth Elder's eyes turned cold. The nine chains trembled in mid-air, forming a dark golden net that descended upon the light wall. The Third Elder followed closely behind, pushing forward with both palms, unleashing seven bolts of purple lightning that struck the same point on the light wall like a string of pearls. Cracks appeared, and silvery-white fragments flew in all directions.

Yin Yue bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood into her palm, and formed hand seals so fast that they left afterimages.

"A flower in a mirror."

The instant the light wall shattered, countless silvery-white fragments did not fall to the ground, but instead condensed in mid-air into dozens of palm-sized silver mirrors, refracting and deflecting the purple lightning and chains. The lightning grazed the edge of the platform and blasted into the valley, while the chains rolled back, forcing the Fifth Elder to take a half-step back.

She held off two opponents single-handedly.

"Rebellion! Rebellion!" Ye Feiyan's voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing. "You all saw it, didn't you? Not only did she defy orders, but she even dared to attack an elder! There must be something shady hidden in her cave!"

This sentence was like a spark falling into a hot oil pan. Whispers spread like wildfire on the platform. Behind the crowd, Elder Xu moved, but ultimately withdrew his half-step.

The elder's face darkened completely.

He stared at the figure blocking the cave entrance, his dark golden pupils shrinking to pinpoints. He said nothing more, only raising his right hand.

The demonic energy in the world froze in that instant.

He pressed down with his palm. There was no earth-shattering sound, only a blood-red palm a hundred feet in size descending from the sky, as if a corner of the sky had collapsed. Before the palm even arrived, the entire platform could not withstand the pressure. Centered on Yinyue, the rocks within a radius of tens of feet silently sank, revealing a huge palm-shaped crater.

Yin Yue raised her head. Her hair was disheveled, and her long, silvery-white hair danced wildly in the wind from the palm strike. She knew she couldn't withstand this blow—the difference between the seventh level of Void Refinement and the peak of Void Refinement wasn't just a minor realm, but an entire insurmountable chasm.

But behind her was that door.

"The moon is approaching."

Her entire body was ablaze with silvery-white spiritual energy, like a crescent moon driven to the brink of despair, crashing head-on against the oppressive crimson sky.

"puff--"

The silver light shattered like paper. Yin Yue was sent flying backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood in mid-air. The blood mist dispersed in the morning light, eerily resembling a suddenly blooming red plum blossom. She crashed onto the stone steps in front of the cave entrance, shattering all three steps.

"This is the last time." The Grand Elder stepped forward slowly, looking down at him. "Get out of the way."

Yin Yue, bracing herself against the rubble, slowly stood up. Her left arm hung limply at her sides, and blood from the corner of her mouth stained a large patch of her silver-white front. But the first thing she did after standing up was to raise her arm and place it across the entrance to the cave.

"No, order, do not, open."

"Stubborn to the end." A murderous glint flashed in the Grand Elder's eyes, and black demonic flames erupted from his palm. "Then I'll take this entire sect and its inhabitants—"

It was at this moment that

A figure stepped out from the cave passage, catching the swaying Yin Yue around the waist before the elder's palm could strike, and pulled her back several feet, landing steadily on the edge of the platform.

It is Li Hanshan.

The Grand Elder's hand froze in mid-air, his dark golden eyes narrowing slightly: "Oh? A mere demon slave from the Joyful Union Sect, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, dares to snatch someone from before me?"

A burst of laughter erupted on the platform. A mere Nascent Soul cultivator was nothing but dust before a peak Void Refinement cultivator. Ye Feiyan covered her lips, a hint of pleasure flashing in her eyes—perfect, even that demon slave had delivered himself to their doorstep.

Li Hanshan did not respond.

He gently set Yin Yue down, letting her lean against his side. Then, he raised his head and looked at the Grand Elder.

At that very moment—

A wisp of silver-purple sword light shot out silently from between his brows, without the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power or any warning. It was so fast that even the divine sense of a peak Void Refinement cultivator could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

The Grand Elder was, after all, at the peak of the Void Refinement stage. At the critical moment, his divine soul in his sea of ​​consciousness suddenly contracted, and a dark golden soul shield barely rose to form on the surface of his consciousness—

"Clang!"

A sharp sound, audible only to the Grand Elder, exploded deep within his consciousness. The small, silver-purple sword struck the soul shield, and the lightning patterns swirling on its blade suddenly blazed brightly, like thousands of red-hot silver needles piercing the shield's surface. The soul shield trembled violently, letting out a groan of unbearable pressure, and was forcefully cleaved in a crack.

The elder grunted and staggered back three steps, each step causing cracks to appear in the rock beneath his feet. When he finally stood still, a look of shock appeared on his withered old face—for the first time, something other than indifference and killing intent.

The square was deathly silent.

Ye Feiyan's hand, which was covering her lips, froze in mid-air, her smile freezing. The Third Elder and the Fifth Elder's expressions changed simultaneously, and the jade slip in the Second Elder's hand fell to the ground with a "thud." The disciples watching stared wide-eyed, gasping for breath, but unable to utter a single word.

A Nascent Soul cultivator.

A Nascent Soul cultivator, with a single sword strike, forced the Grand Elder, a peak Void Refinement cultivator, back three steps.

"Senior!" Yin Yue, nestled in his arms, gripped Li Hanshan's sleeve tightly, her voice trembling for the first time without her even realizing it. "What are you doing out here! You promised me—"

"What did I promise you?" Li Hanshan glanced down at her, his tone calm. "I only promised not to abandon my woman."

Yin Yue was taken aback, then a surge of indescribable emotion welled up within her. She hadn't expected Li Hanshan to actually dare to come out!

"Okay, okay, okay."

The Grand Elder's voice came from the other side, three consecutive "good"s, each colder than the last. He slowly raised his head, his dark golden pupils surging with almost tangible rage, and the crimson spiritual power around him surged into the sky like a burst dam, dyeing half the sky dark red.

"So he was just a little beast who had been hiding his cultivation. Too bad, in the face of such an absolute disparity, all his tricks are a joke."

He slowly pressed down with both hands.

boom--

An invisible, immense force descended from the sky, like a crimson dome pressing down. The air around Li Hanshan instantly froze, his bones creaking under the immense pressure, his knees buckling inch by inch. He groaned, shielding Yin Yue behind him, his pure Yang energy surging wildly, the divine soul sword in his sea of ​​consciousness humming and trembling, yet under that overwhelming pressure, even sheathing it became incredibly difficult.

The difference in their cultivation levels was simply too great. The reason his sword strike had been successful was because the Grand Elder was caught off guard; now that his opponent was unleashing his full power and crushing him squarely, his soul sword was no match for him.

"Kneel down." The Grand Elder's voice was like thunder, each word carrying a powerful pressure that made the space vibrate and even the air seem to solidify.

"I won't kneel!" Li Hanshan roared, and the pure Yang fire within his body exploded, sweeping through his limbs and bones like magma bursting its banks. Even his eyes were filled with blazing flames, his pupils transforming into two dazzling suns, shooting out inch-long golden-red rays of fire.

The bluestone slabs beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, and a wave of heat, distorting the air, rose around him. His bones creaked and his blood boiled, yet his knees did not bend.

That's enough.

A barely audible sound escaped from Yinyue's lips.

Her fingertips slowly probed inside her clothes, close to her heart.

There, a tiny, silvery-white scale, the size of a fingernail, was affixed—the Moon-Escape Scale. It was the last relic of the sea race that Yinling had personally imprinted on her. Once activated, it could carry two people across a thousand miles of void in three breaths, beyond the reach of the Dao Realm, and untouchable by anyone. But she only had this one chance. Once this scale was used, all the identities, covert operations, and escape routes she had cultivated over a century within the Heavenly Demon Sect would be reduced to ashes tonight. From that moment on, there would be no more "Heavenly Demon Sect Saintess Yinyue," only a traitor on the run.

Originally, she had reserved this trump card for her own escape. As long as He Dao didn't reveal it, she could easily get away; that was her true source of confidence.

But at this moment, she was going to sacrifice this "self," along with the man beside her who would rather break than kneel, all of them.

The moment her fingertips touched the scales, a chilling sensation spread upwards. Her breathing slowed, and she suppressed her aura to the extreme, like a bow drawn to its fullest extent, holding back all sound.

Take a breath.

The demonic flames in the Grand Elder's palm rose another foot, causing the floating pebbles on the platform to tremble.

Two breaths.

Li Hanshan was engulfed in flames, his back taut like a fully drawn bow, blood dripping down his chin in a line that pooled in a small puddle on the ground.

Three breaths.

The spiritual power at Yin Yue's fingertips was about to be infused into her scales—

suddenly.

The dark silver conch shell in Li Hanshan's right palm, which hung by his side, trembled slightly.

"Waaah—"

A long and clear sound pierced through the overwhelming pressure and the roar of the entire mountain, like a sea breeze finally sweeping across the vast ocean, and landed clearly in his sea of ​​consciousness.