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

The following morning, an unnamed, solitary peak.

Before dawn, the three streaks of light quietly departed from the solitary peak.

Li Hanshan was in the center, the sect leader flew to his left with an expressionless face, and half a step behind on the right was a figure wearing a plain veil and a concubine's dress—Yan'er.

Ever since the battle at the desolate mountain, she had always followed far behind her master. Today, Li Hanshan simply said "follow," and she followed without daring to ask any more questions.

The three concealed their tracks and headed south—the sect leader's whereabouts must not be detected by the elders' spies at this moment.

After flying for most of the day, Li Hanshan suddenly slowed down his escape.

"arrive?"

"arrive."

Ahead lay a desolate mountain range, barren of vegetation in its valleys, a place even demonic beasts dared not approach. Li Hanshan landed at the bottom of the valley, and with a wave of his sleeve, an illusion array dissipated like a veil, revealing a weathered ancient teleportation array at the bottom of the valley.

The sect leader's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the teleportation array.

"The entrance to the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm."

"Does Master know about this place?"

"The Hehuan Sect has guarded this entrance for thousands of years; how could I not know?" The sect leader's gaze fell on the ancient formation, his tone somewhat complicated. "However, the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm opens only once every five hundred years, and there are still over four hundred years until the next opening. What did you bring me here for?"

"Disciples cannot enter the secret realm; we need Master's help," Li Hanshan smiled. "But there is one place within the secret realm that disciples can enter."

The sect leader looked at him, a hint of confusion flashing in his watery eyes, but ultimately did not ask any further questions.

Her gaze, however, fell on Yan'er.

"Is she going too?"

Yan'er lowered her head even further, her slender shoulders tensing almost imperceptibly. Facing this peak-stage Refinement Realm sect leader of the Hehuan Sect, she even held her breath to the lowest level.

"Take her with you; she has a purpose." Li Hanshan said calmly. "Master, rest assured, she carries my slave contract within her; her life and death are in my hands—there is no one more reliable in the world than her."

The sect leader gave the woman in the plain veil a deep look.

She didn't ask who was behind the veil, or why a Void Refinement cultivator would bind them with a slave contract. This was a secret journey; asking more questions would be pointless.

She took out half of an ancient jade from her sleeve.

The ancient jade was bluish-gray throughout, with jagged edges, resembling a fragment broken off from a complete artifact. Within the jade, a very faint silvery-white halo flowed, like a piece of solidified moonlight.

"The Secret Realm Key Seal," the sect leader said, "can open a passage when the secret realm is sealed. However, this key seal cannot be used too often; each time a passage is opened, only five people can pass through at most, and it lasts for no more than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

She paused, her gaze lingering on the half of the ancient jade for a moment.

She raised her eyes and looked at Li Hanshan.

Are you sure you want to go in?

"certainly!"

"good!"

The sect leader infused spiritual power into the key seal.

The bluish-gray ancient jade lit up, and a silver-white beam of light shot into the sky, landing on the ancient teleportation array. The mottled array patterns gradually awakened, like a river that had been dormant for hundreds of years flowing again, and the spiritual energy of the entire valley converged towards the center of the array in that instant.

"Walk."

The sect leader stepped into the formation and grabbed Li Hanshan's wrist. Li Hanshan reached behind him with his other hand, but Yan'er grabbed his sleeve.

"The teleportation will randomly scatter the landing points, so don't let go."

"good."

The white light engulfed the three figures.

-

Myriad Spirits Secret Realm

The moment it landed, an invisible force pressed down from all directions.

Li Hanshan felt his spiritual energy suddenly sink – the suppression of the secret realm. It could suppress a peak Nascent Soul cultivator to the peak of the Spirit Transformation stage, and he was now at the Void Refinement stage. The suppression felt like he had suddenly fallen into the deep sea.

Beside her, Yan'er groaned, her face turning pale instantly beneath her veil—her mid-stage Void Refinement cultivation had been shattered.

The sect leader's body swirled with milky-white spiritual light, enveloping the three of them like water, forcefully breaking through the oppressive layer.

"The suppression of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm spares no one above the Nascent Soul stage," she said calmly. "Fortunately, with my cultivation level, it cannot crush me. Let's go. Is the place you're taking me deep within the secret realm?"

"Yes, the central region."

Three beams of light shot into the sky and flew towards the center of the secret realm.

The deeper one goes, the denser the spiritual energy becomes, so dense it almost condenses into water droplets. Below, the land stretches endlessly, with mountains, dense forests, and swamps appearing and disappearing in the spiritual mist. Occasionally, the aura of a demonic beast rises from the depths, only to quickly retreat upon sensing the aura of the escaping light.

The aura of a peak Void Refinement cultivator was so powerful that no demonic beast dared to provoke him on the outskirts of the secret realm.

After flying for most of the day, the mist ahead suddenly dissipated.

A mountain range stands silently at the edge of the world.

The mountain range stretched endlessly, its main peak hidden above the clouds. The outlines of ancient buildings were faintly visible on its slopes: gray-blue tiles, crumbling eaves, and a winding, upward-reaching bluestone road. The entire mountain was enveloped in a pale golden halo, on the surface of which countless fine runes flickered in a slow, rhythmic beat, like a heart that had slumbered for millennia, still pulsating.

The sect leader stopped his escape light some distance away.

She gazed at the mountain range and remained silent for a long time.

"The Ruins of Yaoguang." She finally spoke, her voice carrying an unusual solemnity. "The Yaoguang Sect's training grounds, the most prestigious righteous immortal sect in Central Continent, were reduced to ruins overnight eight thousand years ago. The training grounds sank into the deepest part of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm, only emerging once every few hundred years."

"Its outer restrictions are so tight that even cultivators at the Void Refinement stage dare not force their way through. The last time it appeared, various sects spent hundreds of years waiting for the window of opportunity to break through the rift. Even after entering the rift, they could only wander around the outer trial grounds, passing several tests before they were qualified to pick a few spiritual herbs in the outer herb garden."

"As for the main hall and scripture pavilion deep inside—" she shook her head, "it's said they're sealed with an even higher-level ancient seal. Even a Dao-cultivating being might not be able to break it."

That's true. While the Dao Integration Realm is currently top-tier in combat, it wouldn't have been particularly remarkable for the Yao Guang Sect eight thousand years ago.

The sect leader turned his head and looked at Li Hanshan.

"So, what exactly do you want with me here?"

Li Hanshan did not answer immediately.

He stepped forward, gazing at the pale golden light barrier, and suddenly asked a question:

"Master, I have a question for you—if there is a place in the entire world that even the three Dao Integration Realm experts from the Immortal Alliance cannot enter together, is there no safer place for a breakthrough?"

The sect leader was taken aback.

Before she could even react, Li Hanshan had already walked up to the light screen.

He raised his hand and formed a hand seal with his fingertips.

The technique was extremely strange, unlike any other hand seal in the world. As his fingers flew across the paper, there was an ancient, almost savage rhythm, as if someone had practiced it countless times under the starry sky on some night ten thousand years ago.

The runes on the light screen lit up one by one as he touched them.

Sealing, suppressing, gathering, defending...

Those ancient runes, which even Void Refinement cultivators found impossible to deal with, were now like eyes that had slumbered for millennia, awakened one by one by a familiar hand. They opened in turn, flickered, flowed, and then—

The pale golden light curtain, like a water curtain parted from the middle by an invisible hand, silently receded to both sides.

A deep and quiet passage appeared before the three of them.

Li Hanshan turned around, stretched out his hand to the dumbfounded sect leader, and smiled like a child who had done a good deed and was waiting for praise from an adult:

"Master, please."

The sect leader stood still, not moving for a long time.

She had lived for nearly two thousand years. She had seen countless geniuses and heard countless legends, but what she was witnessing before her eyes was beyond all her comprehension—

The outer barriers of the Yaoguang Ruins have deterred countless powerful figures and caused numerous sects to wait for centuries... But now, it stands quietly before her, opening a door.

No wonder.

No wonder he dared to show his Crimson Sun Sword in front of the Ninth Elder and then put it away again—it turns out that the stone hall was actually a storeroom in his own backyard.

"You…" Her voice was a little hoarse, "How do you know the Yao Guang Sect's restrictive techniques?"

"As I mentioned before, I had some fortuitous encounters during my years in the Immortal Alliance." Li Hanshan blinked. "What exactly were these fortuitous encounters—Master, I'll tell you about them slowly after you break through to the Dao Integration stage, okay?"

The sect leader gave him a deep look.

There was doubt and shock in that glance, but in the end, it all sank into a kind of helpless indulgence that she herself might not even be aware of.

She didn't ask any further questions.

She stepped into the passageway.

As soon as he entered the formation, the heavy sense of oppression around him suddenly dissipated.

The sect leader was slightly taken aback, then a strange light flashed in his eyes—this ruin was actually a world unto itself. The cultivation suppression that even the Void Refinement Realm had to withstand in the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm couldn't penetrate even a trace here.

Yan'er followed behind, her face also filled with disbelief.

Born into the Heavenly Demon Sect, she had seen countless secret treasures and ancient sites, but this ruin before her—the mountain breeze carried the fragrance of five-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, and the broken stone lanterns lining the bluestone path were covered with ten thousand years of dust. Every brick and tile here was older than the main hall of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

"Master, do you understand now?" Li Hanshan's voice came from ahead, tinged with smugness. "This great formation recognizes inherited knowledge. Even if someone at the Dao Integration stage were to arrive, they could only stand outside and watch helplessly."

"You can break through here without fear of your aura soaring to the heavens—even if those three Dao Integration Realm cultivators from the Immortal Alliance sense it, they can only protect their master from behind the great formation."

The sect leader did not turn around.

But in those watery eyes, there surged a turmoil unlike anything seen in nearly two thousand years.

She suddenly realized that she had never truly understood this disciple.

From the furnace cauldron in the Northern Wilderness to the ruthless man who triggered the heavenly tribulation in the square; from single-handedly destroying the Heavenly Demon Sect to casually pushing open the restrictions of the Yao Guang Ruins—the secrets surrounding him are like a mine that can never be fully explored.

Now, this mine will be used to pave a road for her to reach the Dao.

The three of them climbed the steps along the bluestone avenue. On both sides of the avenue, broken stone lanterns hung one after another. In the distance, the outline of the herb garden was faintly visible in the spiritual mist, with ancient trees that were five thousand years old standing tall, and the spiritual light flowing through their branches and leaves turning half of the mountain peak into an emerald color.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, the sect leader suddenly stopped.

"Hanshan."

"Disciple is here."

"Just how many things are you hiding from me?"

Li Hanshan thought about it carefully.

"Not many," he said. "Just a handful on one hand."

Sect Leader: "..."

For the first time in her nearly two thousand years of life, she felt an urge to hit someone.