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

Inside the Jade Balance Palace, day and night are indistinguishable.

The process of transferring qi lasted for a full seven days.

For seven days, Li Hanshan kept his palms pressed against the back of the sect leader's chest, and pure Yang energy, like a gentle stream, continuously seeped into her body. Her meridians, Qi Sea, and Dao Foundation were gradually permeated, nourished, and awakened by that supreme Yang energy.

The sect leader wasn't the only one to benefit during these seven days.

Yin and Yang are always interdependent. The pure Yin energy within the sect leader's body, accumulated over 1,800 years, absorbed the pure Yang energy and, following the connection between the two, also flowed back into Li Hanshan's body. That pure Yin energy was extremely pure, and with each wisp seeping in, it refined the pure Yang energy around him—after seven days, he even felt that his cultivation had subtly advanced a small step.

"No wonder all the ancient dual cultivation sects were so prosperous," Li Hanshan muttered to himself. "This kind of cultivation method is even faster than taking elixirs..."

By the seventh day, the originally gentle and dormant spiritual power within the sect leader's body had become terrifyingly powerful. The Yin and Yang energies circulated naturally around her, and with each cycle, the spirit-gathering array of the Jade Balance Palace resonated in unison, causing the spiritual light of the entire hall to rise and fall like the tide.

On this day, she opened her eyes.

"Hanshan."

"Disciple is here."

"Enough," she said slowly. "I... am about to formally attempt to break through to the Dao Integration Realm."

Li Hanshan withdrew his palm, took three steps back, and solemnly said, "Master, rest assured. This place is a world of its own; the eyes of Heaven cannot see in. You only need to focus on breaking through the barrier; leave the rest to your disciple."

The sect leader nodded slightly.

The effects of the Nine-Turn Breakthrough Pill she had taken had already dissipated. At this moment, she formed hand seals, and the aura around her began to rise in a mysterious rhythm. At first, it flowed like a stream, then like a river, and finally—like the sea.

The spiritual energy of the entire Jade Balance Palace converged wildly upon her, condensing into a visible vortex above her head. Her aura began to resonate with this world, circling and surging towards a supreme threshold.

-

Deep within the Elder Hall of the Hehuan Sect.

The elder sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

At one point, he suddenly opened his eyes, his cloudy pupils flashing with a sharp light.

"They've arrived."

He looked up, as if piercing through the palace roof and through thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, and saw that faint tremor in the darkness—the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth trembled slightly at that moment.

Someone is attempting to break through the Dao.

Even though separated by the boundary of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm and the blockade of the ancient array, the breakthrough to the Dao Integration Realm resonates with the Heavenly Dao. That kind of tremor is like muffled thunder rolling from the ground, which even the strongest Dao Integration Realm experts can hear from afar.

You can hear someone attacking, but you can't pinpoint where they are or who is attacking—the boundary of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm has turned everything into a blurry fog.

The Grand Elder stared at the southern horizon for a long time, then slowly clenched his fist in his sleeve.

At this time, the number of people in the entire Central Continent who are qualified and have the courage to attempt the Dao Integration Realm can be counted on one hand. And among them, those who most need to achieve Dao Integration and have the greatest motivation to hide in the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm—

No need to guess anymore.

"Sect Leader, oh Sect Leader," he chuckled softly, a laugh devoid of any warmth, "If you truly succeed, the fate of the Joyful Union Sect will truly change."

-

Yinquan Sect, the main hall of the sect leader.

The Yinquan Sect Master suddenly stood up, rushed out of the hall, and stared intently at the horizon in the direction of the Hehuan Sect.

The tremor was faint, almost imperceptible. But the perception of the resonance between a Dao-merging being and the Heavenly Dao is like that of a mortal to thunder—it can be heard no matter how far away it is.

"The Joyful Union Sect..." he murmured, then his face lit up with wild joy, "Could it be that the Joyful Union Sect is about to give birth to a second Dao Integration Realm cultivator?!"

The initial euphoria quickly turned into a cooling-off period.

His expression gradually became more complex. If the Joyful Union Sect produced a second Dao Integration cultivator, the crisis at the front lines could be resolved instantly—but what would happen after that? With two Dao Integration cultivators in the Joyful Union Sect, wouldn't the Yin Spring Sect be forever suppressed?

Joy and sorrow alternated on his face, and finally, he let out a long sigh.

"That's enough."

"At least for now... this is a good thing."

He turned and went back into the hall, instructing as he went, "Send orders to the front lines to tighten their defenses and hold their ground. As for the Hehuan Sect, whether they succeed or not, we'll have results in the next few days—tell the brothers to keep their eyes peeled."

"Yes!"

The deputy general withdrew. The Yinquan Sect Master stood alone at the palace entrance, glancing once more at the southern horizon, his expression uncertain.

For thousands of years. The Central Continent has been peaceful for far too long, so long that everyone has almost forgotten what the words "Harmony with the Dao" truly mean.

One Dao Integration Realm cultivator is enough to transform a sect into a super sect; two Dao Integration Realm cultivators are enough to make even a behemoth like the Immortal Alliance, which spans dozens of countries, think twice.

If the Hehuan Sect truly produces a second Dao Integration Realm expert... after this battle, there will likely be one more player on the chessboard of Central Continent.