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

"If you ask me, it was put out too late."

Inside the Heavenly Demon Sect, as Li Hanshan finished speaking, the platform fell silent.

"Insolence!" The First Elder's beard and hair stood on end. He took a step forward, and the pressure of a peak Void Refinement cultivator pressed down on Li Hanshan like a mountain. "A mere demon slave, facing certain death, dares to disrespect the Sect Master! Sect Master, this boy is extremely arrogant. Please allow me to cripple his cultivation first, and then slowly interrogate him!"

"My people are not for you to scold."

Yin Yue's voice rang out first. She turned to the side, shielding Li Hanshan with her shoulder, and raised her blood-stained eyes to coldly look at the Grand Elder: "Let him say what he wants. Who do you think you are, daring to make decisions for the Sect Master?"

"You—" The elder was so angry that he trembled all over, but he was speechless for a moment.

"You're about to die, and you're still so stubborn." Ye Feiyan chuckled and shook her head, her eyes full of pity. "Sister, I really don't know whether to admire you or pity you. The teleportation array is gone, your trump card is gone, and reinforcements can't get in. You two are just fish on a chopping board now. Will being stubborn buy you a way out?"

Yin Yue slowly turned her head to look at her.

"Ye Feiyan," she suddenly spoke, her voice unusually calm, "Do you think your mother is valued by him?"

Ye Feiyan's smile faltered slightly.

"You didn't understand a single word I just said." Yin Yue looked at her as if she were a pathetic fool. "In this person's eyes, we are all the same. Mother, daughter, saintess, demon slave—we're all just resources for his cultivation techniques. You think you're different?"

"I don't care about my mother at all." Ye Feiyan pouted, then raised her chin, smiling brightly. "Being in the Demonic Sect means you have to be prepared. The strong prey on the weak; it's only natural. Sister, not everyone is as pretentious as you."

"Well said."

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master suddenly spoke.

He looked at Ye Feiyan, a genuine hint of approval appearing in his eyes for the first time: "Being part of the Demonic Sect means having the awareness of the Demonic Sect. Feiyan, you understand this better than your sister."

He paused, then turned his gaze to Yin Yue, his tone as indifferent as if delivering a verdict:

"Since we've come this far, I might as well let you die knowing why. My cultivation technique is called 'Planting Demons in the Heart of the Dao.' It involves planting demons in the heart, using them as slaves to nourish the Dao—the more demonic slaves I plant, the stronger the demonic seed, and the faster my cultivation progresses. The Heavenly Demon Sect's foundation of thousands of years is, in essence, a cultivation ground for me alone."

"I originally intended to pass this technique on to you."

He looked at Yin Yue and said, word by word, "Now it seems that only Fei Yan is suitable."

"I don't care," Yin Yue replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Sister, still being stubborn." Ye Feiyan laughed heartily. "Father is already preparing to pass on his mantle to you, and you still put on this haughty act. Who are you trying to impress?"

"Of course she doesn't care."

Li Hanshan spoke. He stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Yin Yue, his tone as casual as if in a leisurely conversation: "Because she has me now. She doesn't need to learn that kind of thing called 'Demonic Cultivation of the Dao Heart,' which requires ruining others to climb the ranks."

Ye Feiyan's eyes flickered and landed on him, suddenly finding this man rather interesting: "Little brother, you're really interesting. Even at a time like this, you're not flustered at all?"

"What's the panic?" Li Hanshan shrugged, looking completely nonchalant. "Anyway, I'm going to be a demon slave. Where I am, does it matter?"

Even the Second Elder was taken aback by these words.

The Third Elder sneered, "Shameless!" A suppressed chuckle rose from the surrounding disciples. Some shook their heads, some clicked their tongues, and some stared blankly at the figure who was covered in blood but still stood straight—how could this person still laugh at a time like this? Yin Yue, who was standing beside him, blushed slightly at the roots of her ears under her veil for a moment, but then forcibly suppressed it.

She did not refute it.

Not a single word.

At this moment, the Heavenly Demon Sect Master's brows furrowed sharply.

wrong.

Too composed. From the moment he stepped forward until now, this young man neither knelt nor panicked in defeat, and even had the leisure to banter. He's at the Nascent Soul stage, trapped in a desperate situation—what gives him the composure?

Unless—he has a backup plan.

Unless—he doesn't need to panic at all.

His divine sense swept across the entire battlefield in an instant: shattered Moon-Piercing Scales, broken mountain peaks, dying pillars of light... everything was exactly the same as before. Only one thing was wrong—when did that faint, elusive soul aura, which had always been hidden deep within the Demon Slave's sea of ​​consciousness, disappear?

The moment the thought crossed his mind, a chill ran down his spine.

"Not good." The Heavenly Demon Sect Master's gaze suddenly shot towards the pillar of light suppressed by the blood array. "He's stalling for time—"

Li Hanshan blinked.

"Oh dear," he laughed, "you found out. I'll be honest—I was indeed stalling for time."

"Beneath the Heavenly Demon Blood Array," the Heavenly Demon Sect Master's voice turned cold, and countless array patterns on the blood-red dome lit up simultaneously, "space is locked, all is silent. I'd like to know, with this little bit of time you've bought, what solutions can you conjure up?"

"Yeah?"

Li Hanshan smiled slightly.

The moment those two words fell—

"boom!!!"

The silver-white pillar of light, which had been suppressed for the entire duration of a cup of tea and was on its last legs, suddenly trembled. Silver-purple light patterns burst forth from within the pillar, like awakened thunder dragons, spiraling upwards along its length. The crimson suppressive power enveloping it was slowly lifted up inch by inch by a vast force blasted from within the passage.

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master's expression changed for the first time.

On the platform, the First Elder's face twitched violently, Ye Feiyan's fingertips dug into her palm, and the jade slip the Second Elder had just picked up fell to the ground with a "thud." Deep within the blood-red dome, billions of array patterns swirled and shrieked wildly, the entire Heavenly Demon Blood Array like a ferocious beast whose scales had been stepped on, emitting a muffled, thunderous roar. The Sect Master's divine sense probed into the passage first—but the instant it touched the pillar of light, it was gently and undeniably pushed back by a layer of warm, water-like, yet unfathomable silver-white power.

"impossible--"

He held nothing back any longer, his figure flashing as he appeared before the pillar of light. His dark golden hand, imbued with the power of the Dao Integration Realm, shattered the already cracked scale-like light barrier with a single blow. His five fingers formed a claw, aiming directly at the twelve array artifacts at the core of the pillar of light—

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the array weapon.

A slender, white hand slowly emerged from the deep spatial passage.

With a casual gesture, it blocked the large, dark gold hand.