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

The Hall of Elders of the Hehuan Sect.

The Grand Elder abruptly stood up, and for the first time, a crack appeared on his face, which had remained unchanged for a thousand years.

Someone pushed open the door.

The Ninth Elder jumped to his feet: "Who?! Who is it?!"

The Grand Elder did not answer immediately. He closed his eyes, and his boundless divine sense flowed upstream along with the roar of heaven and earth, tracing the aura that had just entered through the door inch by inch—the aura was very blurry, churned into a fog by the boundary of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm, but he was all too familiar with the aura emanating from the root of that fog.

She noticed his expression gradually darkening.

"...It should be the sect leader."

Inside the hall, there was a deathly silence.

"Impossible!" The Ninth Elder's voice changed drastically. "Her first attempt to break through was only a little over ten days ago! Her foundation was injured, how could she—"

"She didn't charge in while injured," the Grand Elder said slowly. "The wound on her body is gone."

"Someone has completed her foundational practice."

These words were like a boulder thrown into a deep pool. None of the seven elders responded. Those capable of such a feat could be counted on one hand throughout the entire Central Continent—and none of them should be in the hands of a sect leader hiding in a secret realm.

Unless, someone gives her something more precious than that.

"This is not the time to discuss this." The Grand Elder waved his hand, his voice turning serious. "Once the Dao Gate opens, those three from the Immortal Alliance will surely have noticed. Do you think they'll just sit and wait for the Sect Leader to finish fusing with the laws and take that step peacefully?"

"They won't," the Grand Elder answered himself. "They definitely will. The most vulnerable point in the breakthrough to the Dao Integration stage is the period between opening the door and merging with the laws—under the influence of Heavenly Secrets, no matter how deeply she hid in the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm, she couldn't hide now."

"The process of fusing with the laws takes anywhere from a few days to several months. During these months, she cannot fight, cannot flee, and cannot be distracted; she can only unleash one-tenth of her full cultivation."

"Three Dao Integration Realm experts are besieging a half-step Dao Integration Realm expert who is unable to move—gentlemen, tell me, what are her chances of survival?"

The Ninth Elder panicked: "What should we do? If they succeed, with the sect leader dead, the Joyful Union Sect—"

"What's the panic?"

It was the Fifth Elder who spoke.

She had been sitting quietly in the corner, but now she slowly raised her eyes, her voice low yet clear: "If the sect leader dies, the Joyful Union Sect will be doomed. You all know this better than I do."

"Therefore—Elder," she turned to the Elder, "I believe you should make a trip there."

"Once our sect leader breaks through to the Dao Integration stage, the situation will immediately reverse. With two Dao Integration cultivators in our Hehuan Sect, we can at least once again stand on equal footing with the Immortal Alliance. This is our only chance; we cannot simply watch as the three of them besiege and kill a half-step Dao Integration cultivator who is currently fusing with the laws."

"Moreover," the Fifth Elder's voice deepened, "don't forget, everyone—if our sect leader dies, the three Dao Integration Realm experts from the Immortal Alliance will turn around and the first thing they'll want to destroy is our Joyful Union Sect. This trip isn't about saving her, it's about saving ourselves."

All the elders in the hall turned their gazes to the Fifth Elder, and then slowly to the First Elder.

The Grand Elder remained silent for a moment.

Then, he shook his head.

"Do not."

"Pushing open the gates of the Dao is only half a step towards achieving Dao." His voice was slow and deep, like stones settling one by one. "The next step—merging the laws of heaven and earth into one's own body—is the true gate to hell."

"That step is far too perilous. When the laws enter the body, it can easily result in the burning of meridians and the annihilation of the soul; a slight misstep can lead to utter destruction. Throughout history, countless peak Void Refinement cultivators have failed not because they couldn't open the door, but because they fell at the very step of fusing with the laws."

"Our previous sect leader of the Joyful Union Sect—" He paused, "Have you forgotten? Back then, he also pushed open the Dao Gate. At the last step, the laws backfired, his soul was scattered, and not even a corpse was left."

"Therefore, I don't think she's capable of taking that step."

The Fifth Elder was stunned: "Then... what does the First Elder mean?"

The elder raised his eyes.

In those murky eyes, something was churning that sent chills down the spines of all the elders.

"It's very simple."

"You shall immediately seal the mountain gates and activate the sect's protective formation. Without my order, not a single person is permitted to enter or leave."

"As for me—" he slowly rose, his aged figure casting a huge shadow in the candlelight, "I will go and ambush the Immortal Alliance army."