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

The following morning, the hatch in the lower deck opened.

Ye Feiyan knelt in the corner, having not slept all night. Hearing the door open, her body trembled almost imperceptibly, and then, little by little, she lowered her head.

That once graceful, swan-like neck, held high, is now bent into a humble arc.

"Owner."

Two words escaped her lips, so softly they were almost inaudible, yet without the slightest pause. Clearly, she had spent the entire night internalizing those two words.

Li Hanshan raised an eyebrow.

This woman is certainly pragmatic. Her cultivation has been drained, her demonic seed extinguished, and the Heavenly Demon Seal planted in her body. Now, even her life and death are in his hands—all she has left is this life and this little bit of her brain.

"Have you figured it out?"

"I've figured it out." Ye Feiyan lowered her eyes, her voice flat and devoid of emotion. "My life is in my master's hands. I...accept my fate."

"Just accept your fate." Li Hanshan nodded with a smile. "From now on, call me that. It'll sound natural to me, and I'll feel more comfortable with it."

"Yes, Master."

This sound is much more pleasing to the ear than the first one.

Li Hanshan gave a satisfied "hmm," lifted his foot to walk out, but as he reached the door, he seemed to remember something and turned back to add:

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. From now on, in front of outsiders, you'll be my newly acquired concubine. Remember to keep those flirtatious eyes to yourself, and don't try to charm everyone you see—that would be embarrassing for me."

Ye Feiyan's fingertips suddenly dug into her palm from inside her sleeve.

Concubine.

She, the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the daughter of the Ye family, once the most beautiful woman in the sect, and a figure whom countless demonic cultivators would bow down and call "Holy Maiden"—now, she has become someone else's concubine.

"...Yes, Master," she heard her own voice say.

"good."

Outside the hatch, Xiao An was eavesdropping, clutching the helm. Hearing this, she was so shocked she nearly crushed the helm. She glanced at Li Hanshan emerging, then at the lower deck, her eerie green eyes filled with disbelief.

"Senior, what...what did she just call you?"

"Master," Li Hanshan replied without changing his expression.

"She's the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Sect..."

"She is now my concubine."

Xiao An: "..."

Ye Feiyan answered respectfully. But beneath her lowered eyelids, something extremely deep and cold flashed for a moment, then was covered by a thick, gentle layer of water.

Of course, there is hatred.

Beneath the hateful surface lay a bone-chilling fear that even she herself refused to acknowledge. The suffocating moment last night had crushed her last shred of hope.

She had tried, but after trying for a night, she discovered in despair that even with her cultivation level, she had no way to break through the Yin patterns in her body. If she dared to move, she would die.

Li Hanshan saw through her little scheme but didn't point it out.

The flower has six petals. This snake is now kept in a jar—its fangs are still there, but the jar is in his hands.

-

The airship flew west along the coastline and docked at a deserted bay two days later.

We've arrived in Central Continent.

As soon as the group reached the shore, the sound-transmitting conch shell hidden in Yinyue's sleeve suddenly trembled slightly.

"Waaah—"

A clear, melodious snail chirped. Yin Yue took out the snail, infused it with spiritual power, and the sound of silver bells emanated from within, as clear and simple as ever:

"The Yinquan Sect has begun its war. Its army is advancing in three directions, and within a month, more than forty of its outer strongholds have been destroyed, all without encountering any strong resistance. The Yinquan Sect has retreated to its mountain gates, defending its strategic locations and temporarily avoiding the enemy's advance."

"Our troops will soon arrive at the foot of Yinquan Sect's mountain gate. The towns in Zhongzhou have already been pacified by the proclamation."

As the conch shell's chirping faded, Yin Yue held the sound-transmitting conch shell, remaining silent for a long time.

Her chest heaved violently, and in her clear, cold eyes burned two flames that had been suppressed for a thousand years.

"Did you hear that?" She turned her head, her voice trembling. "More than forty Yin acupoints in one month. The Yinquan Sect's foundations outside are being uprooted one by one. They are no match for them."

"At this rate, it won't be long—it won't be long at all, the entire Central Continent will belong to the Immortal Alliance!"

She cultivated for over a thousand years, crawling out of the blood pool and securing her position as Holy Maiden amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, all for this day. The Heavenly Demon Sect was destroyed, and now the Yin Spring Sect is also collapsing. That thousand-year-old demonic mountain that had weighed on her head is about to be completely eradicated.

Li Hanshan listened quietly to her finish speaking, then shook his head.

"not necessarily."

Yin Yue's smile faltered: "What do you mean?"

"You're too close to the situation to see clearly." Li Hanshan gazed at the continuous mountain range to the west and said slowly, "What is a Yin Cave? It's branches and leaves, eyes and ears, and hands reaching out from the outside. Pulling it out will hurt, but it won't damage the root."

"The true root of the Yinquan Sect lies in its mountain gate. As long as the sect remains intact, the mountain gate remains unbroken, the protective array remains, the sect leader remains, and the Void Refinement Elders remain—it cannot be fundamentally harmed. Retracting the mountain gate and defending the strategic pass is not a defeat, but a way of pulling back the fist. When the Immortal Alliance army besieges the city, fails to conquer it after a long siege, and exhausts its fighting spirit, that fist will be unleashed, and that will be the time to see the true strength."

"The same goes for the Hehuan Sect."

He paused, his tone as calm as if he were stating something extremely simple:

"The three demonic sects have been closely linked for tens of thousands of years. Your father has run the Heavenly Demon Sect for just as many years, and the sect leader of the Yin Spring Sect has run the Yin Spring Sect for just as many years. The foundation accumulated by these sects over tens of thousands of years cannot be erased by simply removing a few Yin acupoints or issuing a few proclamations."

"This battle has only just begun."

Yin Yue stared at him blankly.

Months ago, on the battlefield of the Heavenly Demon Sect, she had heard similar words. At that time, she thought it was just that this man was cautious, but now, looking again—he always saw three steps further than others.

"Then..." She paused for a moment, then suddenly whispered, "You absolutely cannot return to the Huan Sect."

"The elders hate you to the core, and these are turbulent times. If you go back now, they might become desperate and attack you—"

"That's why I need to go back now," Li Hanshan interrupted her.

Yin Yue was taken aback.

"The demonic path is like a frightened bird, and the elders' council is like ants on a hot pan." He smiled. "At times like these, they have the least inclination and the least courage to touch someone who has just broken through to the Void Refinement stage."

"not to mention--"

He didn't continue.

Moreover, there are people he needs to see, things he needs to take, and debts he needs to settle within the Hehuan Sect.

Most importantly, he must help the sect leader break through to the Void Refinement stage in order to maintain the balance between the Immortal and Demonic paths, giving Li Hanshan more time to develop.

Otherwise, if the Immortal Alliance were to destroy the Joyful Union Sect and the Yin Spring Sect, Li Hanshan would be in a passive position.

A simple example: what if the Immortal Alliance forbids Li Hanshan from using the dual cultivation method in the future? Don't think it's impossible. At that time, the entire world will belong to the Immortal Alliance, and it's impossible for everyone in the Immortal Alliance to be able to tolerate Li Hanshan.

Human nature is complex.

Yin Yue looked at him, knowing she couldn't persuade him otherwise.

The sea breeze swept across the beach, ruffling her long, silvery-white hair. She stood there for a long time, then suddenly stepped forward, opened her arms, and gently hugged him.

It's very light and separates with a single touch.

"Alive." After saying these two words, she turned around, and a silver-white light shot into the sky, rushing towards the direction of the Immortal Alliance army in the message.

The streak of light disappeared very quickly, becoming a silver dot in the sky in the blink of an eye. But Li Hanshan clearly saw that the streak of light paused very slightly in the distance, as if turning its head to take a look.

He smiled and waved in that direction.

On the beach, only Li Hanshan, Xiao An, and Ye Feiyan, who was kneeling not far away with her head bowed, remained.

"Senior," Xiao An leaned closer and asked softly, "Senior Yin Yue has left, so...where are we going?"

Li Hanshan did not answer immediately.

He gazed westward. Beyond the desolate bay lay rolling hills, crisscrossing official roads, and the vast mountains and rivers of the Central Continent. Beyond these mountains and rivers lay the mountains of the Hehuan Sect, his long-lost—another "home."

In that family, there was the sect leader's lineage who had been incredibly kind to him, and the elders' council who were eyeing him covetously.

Now he's back.