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

Inside the deep pit, the Sixth Elder struggled to climb out.

Li Hanshan took a step forward and appeared at the edge of the pit, looking down at him.

Then, another punch.

"boom!"

The Sixth Elder, who had just managed to prop himself up, crashed back into the pit and spat out another mouthful of blood.

"Now," Li Hanshan straightened up, clapping his hands slowly, "we can speak properly now."

The tens of thousands of people in the audience were completely silent.

One punch sent the Ninth Elder flying.

With just a few moves, they pinned the Sixth Elder, who was at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm, to the ground and beat him.

When did this newly appointed Elder Li become so powerful?!

Is anyone else here?

Li Hanshan straightened up, looked around the elders' seat, and suddenly grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

"Fourth Elder, why don't you come up here and test your skills with me?"

The Fourth Elder's face froze. Among all the elders, she, the Fifth Elder, and the Seventh Elder were women, while the other six elders were men.

"Or, to be more straightforward."

Li Hanshan's gaze shifted, passing over the Sixth Elder and the Fifth Elder, and landed on the half-yin, half-yang figure in the front row of the elders' seat.

Second Elder—

"You're here?"

boom!

The entire audience erupted in uproar!

Yan Qingsong stood in the crowd, a shiver running through him, and blurted out, "Holy crap! Senior Brother Li has gone mad?! Challenging the Second Elder?!"

"They're courting death..." a disciple muttered nearby. "The Second Elder is at the ninth level of the Void Refinement stage..."

"But he just beat the Sixth Elder like he was a child..."

The crowd erupted in uproar.

Meanwhile, on the elders' seat...

The Second Elder slowly narrowed his eyes.

A voice, neither male nor female, rose softly, its tone unreadable.

"You...you really want to fight me?"

He slowly stood up.

The pressure from the ninth level of the Void Refinement Realm was as tangible as it swept across the sky above the plaza, causing tens of thousands of disciples to change color in unison, with many groaning and bending over.

"The Sixth Elder is useless," the Second Elder said calmly. "He's only at the fourth level of the Void Refinement stage, yet he couldn't last three moves against me."

Are you sure you want to gamble with your own life?

Li Hanshan stood still, his clothes fluttering in the wind, but the smile on his face remained unchanged.

"I know the rules," he said. "What, Second Elder, are you afraid?"

"That's enough."

The First Elder, Nie Hongyuan, spoke.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the extremely tense atmosphere in the arena.

"This farce ends here."

The Grand Elder slowly rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping across the entire room before finally settling on Li Hanshan.

His eyes were complicated.

There was apprehension, scrutiny, and also a hint of...admiration.

This young man was deliberately provoking the Second Elder to attack. The Second Elder, at the ninth level of the Void Refinement stage, was currently the Elder Council's most formidable open fighter—if they actually fought, and he won, it would be an unfair victory for a ninth-level Void Refinement cultivator against a fourth-level one, only to invite ridicule; but if he lost…

That would be embarrassing. Although he didn't think there was any chance of something going wrong, Li Hanshan was just too illogical.

The speed at which his cultivation level increased was unbelievable to him.

This whole thing was a trap from start to finish.

The Second Elder almost jumped in just now.

The Second Elder stared at Li Hanshan for a full three breaths, then suddenly let out a cold laugh and slowly sat back down.

"You little beast, you're quite the schemer."

"Second Elder, you flatter me." Li Hanshan smiled and cupped his hands in greeting. "You flatter me."

"Li Hanshan," the Grand Elder said calmly, "the position of Elder is effective from this day forward."

"Elders," he said, glancing around the room, "do you have any objections?"

The entire room fell silent.

Who would dare to object?

The Ninth Elder covered his face and remained silent, the Sixth Elder was still stuck at the bottom of the pit, the Eighth Elder kept his eyes down and his mind at ease, and the Sixth Elder wished he could shrink his head into his neck.

"Since there isn't—" the Grand Elder waved his sleeve, "Disperse."

Having said that, he swayed and was the first to leave.

The elders, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, rose and dispersed, each with their own thoughts.

The Ninth Elder was pulled out of the stone wall, his face ashen, and he limped away.

The Seventh Elder was carried away from the bottom of the pit by two deacons, coughing up blood all the way.

The other elders hurried about, none of them speaking to each other—today's battle had ripped away the last shred of dignity the Elders' Council had left behind.

Only two figures remained.

Fifth Elder, Eighth Elder.

"Congratulations, Sect Leader! Congratulations!" The Fifth Elder stepped forward with a smile. "The sect has gained such a talented individual, and now we have another Void Refinement Elder. It's a double blessing! I'm here to offer my congratulations to the Sect Leader."

"Fifth Elder, you're too kind," the sect leader said calmly.

"I'm not just being polite," the Fifth Elder chuckled, covering her mouth. "With a Dao-Merging Master like the Sect Leader overseeing the sect, and a prodigy like Elder Li assisting us—I truly feel there's hope for the future."

These words were perfectly worded, praising both the sect leader and Li Hanshan, while also clearly stating his own stance on "taking sides."

As she spoke, she turned to Li Hanshan, her beautiful eyes sparkling: "Elder Li is a man of great talent from a young age; in the future... I hope you will take good care of me."

"Of course." Li Hanshan smiled and cupped his hands in greeting. "Fifth Elder, if you need anything, please come to the main peak to find me anytime."

The Eighth Elder stepped forward and said succinctly, "Congratulations."

The sect leader nodded slightly in acceptance of the greeting.

-

As soon as the elders left, the atmosphere in the square instantly came alive.

"Owner!!"

A red figure rushed over first—it was Yan'er. Although she was desperate, as a top-notch scheming woman, she wouldn't lose her composure in front of Li Hanshan.

Followed by.

Hua Nongying, Shen Yun, Shen Ruoxi, Xu Lingxi, Leng Yue, Qin Muyue, Chu Mengyao... one after another, figures emerged from the crowd and surrounded them.

Hua Nongying squeezed to the front, looking him up and down, then suddenly chuckled: "Back in the black market, how come I never realized that this 'old furnace' could forge such a great master?"

"You misjudged me, didn't you?" Li Hanshan said smugly.

"I misjudged you," Hua Nongying smiled, her eyes crinkling. "So I accept this debt. Anyway, I'm already yours."

Shen Ruoxi stood gracefully to the side, smiling without saying a word; Xu Lingxi chattered on, asking about her experiences in the secret realm; Leng Yue and Chu Mengyao stood on either side, feeling proud of themselves.

Yan'er squeezed to the very edge of the crowd, joining in the commotion and shouting louder than anyone else—as if the person who had cried on the flying boat during the day was not her at all.

The women chattered and laughed, surrounding Li Hanshan and asking him all sorts of questions.

Ye Shuanghua stood outside the crowd, looking at the guy surrounded in the middle, a slight smile on her lips, but in the end she didn't squeeze in, just watched from afar.

After looking at it for a while, she turned to leave.

"Senior sister."

That familiar voice came from behind me.

Li Hanshan had somehow emerged from the crowd and was standing three steps behind her, grinning at her.

"Well done." Ye Shuanghua looked at him and said those three words seriously.

Just three words?

"Otherwise what?" Ye Shuanghua raised an eyebrow. "What else do you want?"

Li Hanshan chuckled, reached out, and grasped her slightly cool hand.

"Let's go home."

Ye Shuanghua tried to break free, but couldn't, so she let him hold her.

The corners of her mouth finally curved into a smile.

The sect leader stood in mid-air, looking down at the scene. His gaze swept over the group of beautiful women, and a faint, indescribable meaning flashed in his eyes.

Then, she calmly withdrew her gaze, turned around, and headed towards the main peak.

"Follow me, all of you."

-

Main Peak Hall.

The sect leader sat high in the main seat, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below before finally settling on Li Hanshan.

"You did a good job today," she said calmly, "except you were a little too heavy-handed."

"Master is right," Li Hanshan readily agreed. "Be gentler next time."

"...That's not what I meant."

"Disciple understands." Li Hanshan smiled. "I should just blow them to smithereens."

The sect leader glanced at him, too lazy to bother with him anymore, and stood up with a flick of his sleeve: "Get lost."

The women suppressed their laughter, surrounded their newly appointed Elder Li, and withdrew from the main hall.

-

That night, no one in the Hehuan Sect slept soundly.

"Have you heard? Have you heard?! Senior Brother Li punched Elder Nine so hard he vomited blood!"

"More than that! The Sixth Elder, a mid-stage Void Refinement Elder, was being beaten down by Elder Li!"

"And guess what? Elder Li directly called out to the Second Elder—'You?!' My god, my legs went weak!"

"The Grand Elder has personally decreed that the position of Elder is effective immediately! From now on, we must address him as Elder Li!"

Various versions of rumors spread throughout every corner of the Hehuan Sect.

Some say Elder Li is actually hiding his true cultivation level, and his true realm is unfathomable; some say Elder Li has great opportunities, and even the sect leader's breakthrough to the Dao Integration Realm was facilitated by him; some even claim with certainty that Elder Li's true identity is the reincarnation of a powerful being from the Upper Realm...

Another disciple brought up old grievances: "Did you know that when Senior Brother Li first joined the sect, he was bought by Senior Sister Hua as a cultivation vessel..."

"What?! The elder was once a furnace cauldron?!"

"Shh! Are you out of your mind? How dare you say such nonsense!"

"What's there to be afraid of? Everyone in the sect knows that Senior Sister Hua was the first to recognize her talent..."

After much discussion, all the versions eventually boiled down to the same sentence—

The Hehuan Sect produced an extraordinary figure.

And at the very center of the storm.

Li Hanshan lay on a recliner in a side hall of the main peak, surrounded by the aroma of tea and a group of women chattering noisily, which gave him a headache but also warmed his heart.

He squinted, gazing at the night sky outside the palace.

The matter of the Hehuan Sect is settled.

But he knew in his heart that this was just the beginning.

The Immortal Alliance's army is sweeping across the demonic path; the Blood Fiend Sect has been destroyed, and the Yin Spring Sect is on the verge of collapse. The balance he personally fostered is being crushed inch by inch by the Immortal Alliance's military might.

"The Immortal Alliance..." He tapped his fingertips lightly on the armrest, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Looks like I'll have to find some time to visit some old friends."

Of course, you need to solidify your financial foundation before you go.

The Flowing Light Array needs to be set up in a safe place, the seventh-order spirit talismans need to be branded one by one, and there's also that demon core—the girl said there are things prepared for him inside it.

One pile, one piece.

The road ahead is still long.

But Li Hanshan wasn't in a hurry at all.

In the past, he was pushed along by this world. From the iron cage to the black market, to the secret realm, to the gate of the Dao Integration Sect.

And from tonight onwards—

It's his turn to push this world forward.

The night breeze swept through the palace, and the lamplight flickered slightly.

The heavens of Middle-earth are about to change.