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

The potency of the elixir was far greater than Li Hanshan had anticipated.

It was not like a elixir, but rather like a ferocious beast imprisoned for ten thousand years, tearing open his sea of ​​consciousness the moment it broke through the furnace. The pure Yang primordial spirit was engulfed by that torrent, emitting an unbearable hum, and the patterns on the surface of the primordial spirit that had been tempered for many years lit up one after another, only to be suppressed and extinguished one after another.

pain.

It's not the pain of the body being torn apart, but the pain of the soul being repeatedly ground in a millstone.

Li Hanshan groaned, his back tensing abruptly. He instinctively activated the Yang Book, intending to draw a wisp of pure Yin energy from the Hidden Moon Meridian into his body, following the pre-planned rhythm, to harmonize Yin and Yang—

The first wisp of pure Yin energy entered the body, like a drop of water falling into a red-hot iron pot; with a "hiss," it disappeared.

Not enough.

The medicinal power of the Fusion Pill was too strong. The pure yang primordial spirit was burned to a scorching temperature by the medicinal power. When ordinary doses of pure yin energy were poured on it, not even a trace of white steam was stirred up.

Li Hanshan gritted his teeth and intensified his absorption efforts.

One strand, three strands, ten strands.

Pure Yin energy surged into his meridians like a dam bursting in a frozen pool. The collision of ice and fire merged within his body, and halos of gold and silver rippled outwards in concentric circles, casting shifting light and shadow over the dark cabin.

Yin Yue, who was beneath him, suddenly tensed up.

"Well……"

She let out a very soft, muffled groan, bitten into her throat, her nails digging deep, bloody gashes into his shoulder. Her body trembled uncontrollably, like a bowstring stretched to its limit.

too fast.

The speed at which she absorbed energy far exceeded the normal pace of dual cultivation. If the daily cycle of Yin and Yang was like a tide, then Li Hanshan was now releasing a flood. The icy pool within her body, frozen for millennia, was being brutally drained by a tyrannical force, and even the dormant primordial cold source at the bottom of the pool was beginning to stir.

This is no longer dual cultivation; it's sexual exploitation.

Moreover, they have clearly exceeded the line they agreed upon—not to over-extract nutrients.

Yin Yue bit her lip, not saying a word.

She could sense Li Hanshan's current state. The medicinal power within his body was raging wildly; if the supply of pure Yin energy couldn't keep up, the Yin and Yang would be out of balance, resulting in severe damage to his primordial spirit at best, and complete annihilation of his soul at worst. She understood this principle.

She just never expected it to come to this.

She simply raised her arms slowly, wrapped them around his back, tightened her grip, and then—released the bloody mark on her lip from where she had been bitten, letting the suction force grind over her inch by inch from the depths of her veins.

Even though her consciousness was beginning to fade.

Even though her cultivation level was dropping at a perceptible rate.

In the darkness, Yin Yue turned her head and buried her face in his shoulder, her voice as soft as a wisp of wind about to dissipate:

"...Slow down."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't answer, but the force of his drawing finally slowed down a bit.

-

I don't know how much time passed.

Through countless collisions, the medicinal power and the pure Yin energy gradually blended together, and the cracks on the surface of the pure Yang primordial spirit were healed one by one. The barrier between the primordial spirit and the physical body was warmed, softened, and glued together inch by inch by the medicinal power of the Fusion Pill.

The primordial spirit and the physical body began to merge into one.

At the deepest point where the two merge, a faint stirring quietly awakens.

That is the way of space.

Years ago, on the burial mound at the Yao Guang Ruins, when he ignited the extraterrestrial demon from within his primordial spirit with pure Yang fire and burned it to ashes, a trace of insight was unexpectedly imprinted deep within his soul. For years, it had slumbered in the deepest part of his primordial spirit, until this moment—when his primordial spirit merged with his physical body, and his soul was about to break free from the shackles of form—when it was finally awakened.

hum-

Li Hanshan's consciousness was suddenly pulled out by an irresistible force.

Like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

No.

The entire ocean, before him, suddenly had its lid lifted.

He "saw" it.

chaos.

An endless chaos, like a boundless gray ocean. And above this ocean, suspended, are countless "stars"—no, not stars, but worlds. Some shine like the sun, some dim like a flickering candle, some so vast their outlines are invisible, some as tiny as a speck of dust. They gaze at each other across the endless chaos, flowing slowly, like the countless grains of sand in the Ganges.

And in the cracks of the world, deep within the folds of chaos—

Heavenly Demon.

Endless demons.

Like ant colonies, like fish runs, like an endless black downpour, they traverse the chaos, migrating between worlds. Billions of figures converge into dark torrents, surging from one lifeless world to another vibrant one. Wherever the torrents pass, the light of the world is extinguished inch by inch.

Li Hanshan's soul froze on the spot.

Every so often, extraterrestrial demons would attack, bringing cataclysmic destruction to the Mahayana sects and devastation to the land.

But beyond this sky—

Such "calamities" are playing out in countless worlds every moment. The catastrophe that cultivators in the Central Continent fear so much is nothing more than a wave in this boundless chaos, which can be born at any time and be destroyed at any time.

Wow... there are so many worlds.

There are so many demons...

Li Hanshan felt his breath catch in his throat. Only now did he truly understand just how small this world he inhabited was. He also truly understood what that ancient sword master in his dream had severed—the chasm of sword energy that had traversed the endless sea for thousands of years.

In the midst of the shock, his "gaze" suddenly caught something.

Deeper into the world and the demon realm, in a place where even chaos seems to have never reached, a wisp of "something" is slowly flowing.

It is formless, colorless, lightless, and without substance.

Countless demons are surging towards it.

The origin of emptiness.

These four words appeared in Li Hanshan's mind for no apparent reason, yet they instantly made him certain that they were the true source of all spatial principles in the deepest part of the void.

A thought suddenly surged into my mind.

Cut it off.

Even a single strand.

Li Hanshan moved almost instinctively. The faint spatial Dao deep within his primordial spirit was activated to its limit, transforming into an invisible hand that gently reached out and scooped up the slowly flowing wisp of void origin—

It feels cool to the touch.

That wisp of primordial energy, as thin as a hair, yet as heavy as a thousand pounds, struggled wildly in his "hand," nearly tearing his soul apart. At the critical moment, the pure Yang fire within Li Hanshan's body, pushed to its limit by the medicinal power, suddenly contracted—

The flames have transformed.

A wisp of purplish-gold flame, condensed to its ultimate form, was born from the core of the pure yang fire. The moment it appeared, a tiny vacuum was scorched out of the surrounding chaos.

Pure Yang True Flame.

Li Hanshan didn't have time to think about where those four words came from. He urged the newly formed flame to entwine with that wisp of void origin. When the flame and the cold current touched, strangely, they did not annihilate each other. Instead, like chains, they locked the wisp of origin tightly.

Captured.

He dared not be greedy, so he grabbed onto this wisp of origin and the spark of fire, and turned to leave.

Just then—

"what?"

A voice resounded from the deepest part of chaos.

It wasn't large, but it caused the entire chaos to tremble slightly.

The billions of demons that were moving through the area froze, as if nailed to the void.

Li Hanshan's soul felt as if it had fallen into an ice cave. He "saw"—in the deeper depths of that infinite world and the infinite demons, a pair of eyes slowly opened a crack.

That single crack was larger than all the worlds he had ever seen combined.

Those eyes casually swept across the chaos, across the world, and finally settled on that insignificant speck of dust that had just stolen a wisp of its essence.

"come over."

A single thought, piercing through the boundless chaos, landed on Li Hanshan's soul.

That wasn't a sound, a command, or even language. It merely "thought" for a moment, and Li Hanshan's entire consciousness uncontrollably plummeted towards those eyes—

"roll!!"

Deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, the divine sword, forged over many years, emitted a heart-wrenching cry, forcefully severing the pull.

Li Hanshan's consciousness, like a kite with a broken string, retreated madly.

At the last moment, he "saw" that eye slightly turn, and a gigantic hand, composed of pure darkness and encompassing countless worlds, slowly reached out to grab him as he retreated—

Hurry up.

Faster!

boom!!

Li Hanshan's consciousness crashed back into his physical body.

The cabin remained dark. The whale oil lamp had long since burned out, and only a faint glimmer of morning light filtered through the porthole. He was drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding wildly, and he gasped for breath, clutching the person in his arms.

And at the deepest part of his dantian, the center where his primordial spirit merges with his physical body—

A wisp of formless and intangible void origin and a tiny purple-gold flame are quietly suspended, leaning against each other, like two stars that have just fallen to earth.

Li Hanshan lowered his head, looking at his empty palms, and remained silent for a long time.

Beyond the heavens.

He looked up, peering through the cabin ceiling at the sky that had just brightened, a sky so calm it seemed almost unreal.

What are those eyes...?

What was that voice...?

He didn't know. All he knew was that, in that instant, for the first time in his life, he had come so close to the word "death"—nearly a hundred times closer than being hunted down by a Dao-merging cultivator, nearly ten thousand times closer than falling into the void's turbulent currents. It was a gap so vast that he couldn't even muster the thought of resistance, like an ant facing the heavens.

In his arms, Yin Yue lay unconscious, her long, silvery-white hair covering his body. Her cultivation level had dropped from the ninth level of the Void Refinement stage back to the seventh.

Li Hanshan remained silent for a long time before reaching out and gently tucking the strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek behind her ear.

"...Put it on my tab," he said in a low voice. "I'll pay you back later, with interest."