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

The following morning, thousands of people saw them off on Poseidon Island.

Li Hanshan stood on the deck of the flying boat, looking down at the dense crowd below. Ayan's eyes were swollen like two walnuts, and he held a bulging bundle in his hand, filled with dried fish and fruit that his older sister had packed overnight. Uncle Liu led the generals at the very front; this towering man was bent over at a ninety-degree angle today.

Below the island, the giant tortoise's head broke through the water, and its dark golden eyes revealed a look that was almost aggrieved.

"Alright, go back now." Li Hanshan waved his hand and smiled. "I'll come back to see you all when I have time. Focus on your training, and next time I come back, I'll test Ayan's boxing skills."

With a sob in her voice, Ayan shouted, "I will definitely practice well!"

The little beast squatted at the bow of the boat and made two "ee-ee" sounds below, as if bidding farewell to its "subjects".

Li Hanshan squatted down, rubbed its little head, and said seriously:

"Little one, next, head south."

The little beast tilted its head.

"To the south, there's a deeper sea." Li Hanshan pointed to the southern horizon. "There are more and stronger sea beasts there; even those at the Void Refinement stage aren't rare there. With your bloodline, being confined to this shallow sea is a waste. Head south, go as far as you can, and eat as much as you can."

"When you truly become the overlord of this endless sea one day—" he smiled, "I might need your help in the future."

The little animal stared at him blankly for a while, then suddenly pounced, its two front paws tightly hugging his neck, burying its furry little head in his shoulder, and rubbing against him for a long, long time.

Finally, it took two steps back and made a loud "ee" sound, as if to say—leave it to me.

The airship takes off.

Poseidon Island grew smaller and smaller below, eventually becoming a tiny bluish-black speck between the sea and sky. Li Hanshan stood at the bow of the ship until it was no longer visible before turning his gaze away.

"Where to next?"

Yin Yue had somehow appeared beside him, gazing at the horizon ahead, and asked softly, "Shall we return to the Immortal Alliance? Senior Yin Ling and the others want to see you again."

Li Hanshan shook his head.

"I'm returning to Huanzong."

Yin Yue abruptly turned her head, her clear, cold eyes filled with astonishment: "Are you crazy?"

"The news of the Heavenly Demon Sect's destruction has probably already spread throughout the Central Continent. Your identity has been exposed, the demonic path sees you as a thorn in their side, and the elders of the Joyful Union Sect will hate you to the bone—if you go back now, wouldn't you be walking into a trap?"

"It's not about going to our deaths," Li Hanshan said calmly, gazing into the distance. "It's about going home."

Yin Yue was puzzled: "The Immortal Alliance is also your home. As long as you destroy the Joyful Union Sect, it's not too late for you to go back later. Going back now is too dangerous. Does that mean you still have any attachment to the Joyful Union Sect?"

Li Hanshan was silent for a few seconds, then looked at her: "What if I said I didn't want the Hehuan Sect to be destroyed so quickly?"

Yin Yue also looked at him: "Why?"

Li Hanshan said, "There's no reason why. If you insist on asking for a reason, what you get won't be the real reason. But given our relationship, I can tell you that the Hehuan Sect was founded by an old friend of mine, and I don't want it to be destroyed right now."

Yin Yue remained silent for a moment, then said, "I'm afraid I can't make that decision. Once the Immortal Alliance conquers the Yin Quan Sect, they won't stop. That's all for later. The key thing now is that if you return to the Huan Sect, you will surely die."

"Don't worry," he interrupted her, turning to look at her with a smile. "I have my own plans."

Yin Yue pursed her lips, wanting to persuade him further. But when she looked into those eyes, she suddenly couldn't utter a single word.

There was not a trace of arrogance in those eyes, only a deep-seated, inexplicably reassuring certainty.

"...Whatever you want." She finally turned her face away, but her ears flushed red uncontrollably. "Anyway, your life is your own."

"Speaking of fate," Li Hanshan suddenly changed the subject, gesturing with his chin towards the cabin, "Come in with me."

Yin Yue was taken aback: "What are you doing?"

"I'll help you recover," he answered matter-of-factly. "What I owe you, I should repay."

Yin Yue's eyelashes trembled slightly, but she didn't ask any more questions. She lowered her eyes and followed him into the cabin.

The hatch closed silently.

-

From then on, the flying boat returned south, traversing the endless sea.

During the day, Xiao An was at the helm. She finally awoke on the fifth day after setting off. Her soul body was so solid it was almost like flesh and blood, and her soul power was far greater than before she fell asleep. Her cultivation had already broken through to the late stage of the Void Refinement realm, much faster than Li Hanshan's. As soon as she opened her eyes, she hugged Li Hanshan's arm, crying and laughing, saying that she had "had a very long dream, a dream full of the senior's sea of ​​consciousness."

At night, the flying boat split into two.

Ye Feiyan's days were getting harder and harder to endure.

Li Hanshan came every night, but he didn't say a word. He would just press her down in a corner, circulate the Yang Book, and slowly extract the remaining Yin essence from her body. He controlled the intensity of his extraction perfectly—just enough to keep her from falling out of the Void Refinement stage, yet bringing her closer to that threshold every day.

And the yin mark on her abdomen quietly grew as she continued to replenish herself with nourishment night after night.

One petal. Two petals. Three petals.

At first, Ye Feiyan cursed and struggled, glaring at him with hateful eyes. But later, she didn't even have the strength to curse anymore. She curled up in the cold corner of the cabin, like a puppet whose soul had been emptied, only letting out a suppressed, desperate tremor from deep in her throat with each bloom of the dark lines.

Meanwhile, the top-floor cabin is another world entirely.

Using the dual cultivation method, Li Hanshan slowly transferred strands of pure Yang energy, mixed with the spiritual essence he had gathered from Ye Feiyan and repeatedly refined by Yang Ce, back into Yin Yue's body.

Her lost cultivation level gradually recovered under such nourishment.

Seventh level of Void Refinement. Eighth level of Void Refinement.

Six months later, a long, dark blue coastline finally appeared on the horizon ahead of the flying boat.

We've arrived in Central Continent.

That night, Yin Yue sat cross-legged on the couch, her entire dantian filled with silvery-white moonlight, and the demonic moon was three times brighter than before she was injured.

Her cultivation level remained steadily at the ninth level of the Void Refinement stage.

In the lower deck, Ye Feiyan hugged her knees, her face ashen. The last bit of demonic energy in her body had finally been squeezed to its limit—she was on the threshold of the early stage of Void Refinement, and if she took another half step forward, she would fall out of Void Refinement.

The dark, shadowy flower on her abdomen silently bloomed to its sixth petal.

Just as the sixth petal opened, Li Hanshan pushed open the door and entered.

He looked down at the woman huddled in the corner, and suddenly a thought struck him.

In an instant, Ye Feiyan felt as if her soul had been suddenly gripped by an invisible hand. All the vitality in her body froze in that instant—her heart stopped beating, her blood congealed, and even her sea of ​​consciousness was frozen into ice.

Death has never been so close.

"Well……"

Her eyes widened, a short, deathly gasp escaped her throat, and she collapsed, her clothes instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Li Hanshan withdrew that thought.

Life is flowing again.

Ye Feiyan lay sprawled on the cold deck, gasping for breath, her body trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind. She looked up at the smiling man standing in the doorway, and for the first time, his peach blossom eyes were filled with utter, unmasked fear.

"You felt it?"

Li Hanshan squatted down to look her in the eye, his voice soft and gentle.

"Now, I can control your life and death with a single thought."

"Your heartbeat, your spiritual power, your soul—I can make you live if I want you to live; I can make you die if I want you to die, and you won't even have a chance to cry for help."

Ye Feiyan's lips trembled, and she couldn't utter a single word.

She was desperate.

Li Hanshan raised his hand and patted her head as if dusting off some ash, then stood up.

"Now, do you know what to call me?"

Ye Feiyan pursed her lips and remained silent.

"Think it over carefully." Li Hanshan turned and left, his tone as relaxed as if he were discussing tomorrow's weather. "I'll come back tomorrow."

The hatch closed.

In the lower deck, only Ye Feiyan remained, slumped in the darkness, trembling for a long, long time.