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

The Myriad Spirits Realm, Yaoguang Mountains

Li Hanshan stood in the air, looking up at the sky.

Yan'er stood three steps behind him, holding her sword, her head also tilted back, but her legs were trembling uncontrollably.

She had never been this afraid in her entire life.

The Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Sect had seen many powerful figures and dead people since childhood. But what was above her head at this moment was beyond the scope of the word "powerful figure"—it was the sky, the real, living sky, unleashing all its fury upon one person.

And she stood directly beneath this raging inferno.

The sky had turned into a vast ocean of thunder.

Nine layers of purplish-black tribulation clouds piled up, one pressing down on the other, making the entire sky hang low as if about to collapse. Deep within the clouds, ten thousand lightning dragons rolled and roamed, each as thick as a mountain range, and with each burst of lightning, the earth of the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm trembled.

The Tribulation of Merging with the Dao.

The most terrifying heavenly tribulation Yan'er had ever witnessed was the one her master had triggered in the Hehuan Sect's plaza years ago. But compared to the one before her—that heavenly tribulation was like a firecracker in a child's hand; this one was the collapse of the sky.

"Master..." her voice trembled, "She...she won't be alright, will she?"

"Won't."

Li Hanshan answered without turning his head, his answer firm and resolute.

It wasn't just a consolation; he genuinely could tell.

He was now at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, and had spent several days "soaking" in the Sea of ​​Laws, so his eyesight was far superior to that of ordinary Void Refinement cultivators. While others were watching the spectacle, he was observing the intricacies—he could see that every breath the sect leader took was drawing upon the spiritual energy within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, and even the trajectory of the tribulation lightning within three feet of her was silently "circling" around her.

That's not the effect of protective aura.

That was heaven and earth making way for each other.

The ninefold tribulation of lightning was more intense than the last. For the first six tribulations, the sect leader didn't even raise her hand; she simply stood still and let the lightning dragons crash down upon her. The lightning, powerful enough to shatter even a peak Void Refinement cultivator into ashes, fell on the spiritual light surrounding her like raindrops on a lake, creating ripples before dissipating.

On the seventh level, she raised her hand.

A gentle swipe.

The massive, raging lightning dragon that had been plunging down was forcefully pushed back into the tribulation clouds by her flick of the wrist—like an adult holding down a sulking child.

On the eighth level, she pointed her fingers like a sword and casually slashed at the tribulation clouds.

That sword strike had no sword light, no sword aura, and not even any spiritual energy fluctuations. Yet, within the nine layers of tribulation clouds, a clear crack split open from the center, as if the entire sky had been cleaved in two by her sword.

Yan'er felt a chill run down her spine.

She couldn't understand that sword strike. There was no power in that sword strike—or rather, in that sword strike, there was "heaven and earth" itself.

The ninth level, and also the final level.

The entire cloud of calamity contracted and condensed frantically, with thousands of thunder dragons intertwining and devouring each other, eventually forming a pure purple, colossal pillar that pierced the heavens and earth, crashing down upon the white figure.

The power of this attack had exceeded Yan'er's comprehension. She had no doubt that if this attack landed on the ground, it could level half of the Yaoguang Mountain Range.

The sect leader finally made a move.

She took a step forward, facing the purple lightning bolt, and stretched out her hand.

One hand, supporting the sky.

boom--!!!

The instant the lightning bolt collided with the palm, the entire world turned white, losing all color. Yan'er screamed and closed her eyes; Li Hanshan squinted, staring intently into the depths of that white light—

He "saw" it.

The lightning bolt shattered inch by inch beneath that palm. It wasn't blocked, but rather "crushed"—like grasping an icicle, the five fingers clenched, and purple lightning wailed, transforming into a shower of light that rained down upon the heavens.

In the rain of light, the white figure stood quietly, his clothes spotless.

He survived all nine tribulations of lightning.

The world fell silent.

-

A moment later.

The clouds of calamity dispersed, and the light of day broke through them.

A white rainbow descended from the heavens, streaking across the sky above the Myriad Spirits Secret Realm, and landed before the Yao Guang Mountains—the sect leader descended from the sky, landing back in front of the Jade Balance Palace, three steps away from Li Hanshan.

Upon closer inspection, the changes become even more astonishing.

Before the tribulation, the sect leader embodied "majesty"; after the tribulation, the sect leader embodied "heaven." She stood there casually, yet Li Hanshan had a strange feeling—that the person standing before him wasn't a person, but the embodiment of an entire world. Her breath corresponded to the tides of spiritual energy; even the light within her gaze softened.

What's even better is that the coldness that once kept people at arm's length has faded.

It didn't disappear—it just found a home for that coldness. Like someone finally lighting a fire on a snow-capped mountain that has never melted for millennia.

"Master," Li Hanshan said sincerely, "Congratulations."

"Um."

The sect leader's lips curled slightly, the patterns of law in his eyes slowly shifting, his voice calm yet revealing an unprecedented certainty:

"I have made it through."

"From this day forward—I am the one who has attained the Dao."

She spoke in a simple, understated manner. But Li Hanshan knew that behind that understated statement lay 1,800 years of waiting, two major attacks, and countless brushes with death.

"And what about the other two?" he asked casually. "Did any of them succeed?"

Upon hearing this, the sect leader's gaze sharpened slightly.

She closed her eyes, and after a moment, she opened them again.

"They all failed."

"That guy from the Yinquan Sect, his aura dissipated at the bottom of the icy pool—he was interrupted at the last thread of the Fusion Law, his Dao foundation collapsed in seven places, and he will never be able to touch that threshold again in this lifetime."

"That guy from the Blood Fiend Sect, he's in an even worse situation." She paused, her tone indifferent, "His aura was cut off halfway through by two streams of Dao-merging energy. He'll probably never have a chance to merge with the Dao in this lifetime."

Li Hanshan felt a slight chill run down his spine.

Having achieved the Dao Integration Realm, things are indeed different. Across thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, she can see clearly the movements of half of the Central Continent with just a blink of an eye.

"In other words..." He slowly processed the news, "that three people attempted to break through to the Dao Integration stage that very night."

"Only Master has succeeded."

"Hmm." The sect leader nodded, his expression calm, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

Li Hanshan lowered his head and breathed a long, thorough sigh of relief.