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

That day, the restrictions on the Elders' Hall remained in place from the afternoon until late at night.

The guards outside the hall only knew that the candlelight inside the hall was always steady, with only occasional low, barely audible sounds that were quickly swallowed up by the restrictions.

The Fourth Elder initially maintained a haughty demeanor.

She was determined to gain the upper hand in this deal: to feign reluctance while simultaneously securing tangible benefits before discussing anything else.

But she soon discovered that her methods were utterly ineffective against this young man. When she tried to refuse, he remained more composed; when she tried to welcome him, he proceeded with unhurried ease. She invoked her status as a "senior" to intimidate him, and he responded with a smile, "Yes, yes, yes," while waves of pure yang energy poured into her meridians, causing her iron-like bottleneck to hum and her two-hundred-year-old reserve to crumble...

In the end, she was the one who feigned reluctance and accepted, the one who half-heartedly yielded, the one who lost her composure and gritted her teeth, refusing to utter a sound.

Li Hanshan, from beginning to end, maintained that smiling, composed demeanor.

The great cycle of Yin and Yang circulated in the hall for more than an hour before finally subsiding.

The Fourth Elder slumped onto the prayer mat, half of her palace robes undone, her hair slightly disheveled, her chest heaving violently. She looked inward—within her meridians, the pure and vast Yang energy was still slowly circulating, repeatedly washing over her bottleneck. The barrier that had blocked her for over two hundred years was now riddled with cracks and on the verge of collapse!

At this rate... in as little as ten days or as long as a month, reaching the late stage of the Void Refinement realm is within reach!

She looked up at the young figure who was slowly and methodically tidying his robes, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"What?" Li Hanshan noticed her gaze, turned around, and grinned. "Fourth Elder, are you satisfied?"

The Fourth Elder stared at him for a long while, then suddenly chuckled softly, extending her slender fingers to tie up the loose sash one by one, her voice soft and steady:

"Elder Li's mouth... it's truly deadly deceitful."

"Now I understand—why the sect leader chose you out of all people."

Li Hanshan smiled without saying a word, turned and walked towards the palace gate. Reaching the door, he suddenly added without turning back:

"By the way, Fourth Elder."

"Tomorrow, at the same time."

"When it comes to bottlenecks, striking while the iron is hot is the most effective."

The palace doors opened and then closed again.

The Fourth Elder sat alone in the empty hall, staring at the door, motionless for a long time.

After a while, she raised her hand and gently pressed her lower abdomen—there, a warm, faint current was slowly flowing.

The corners of her lips curved up little by little.

Unseen by her, Li Hanshan walked out of the Elder Hall, stood with his hands behind his back in the night, and the smile in his eyes gradually turned into a hint of calm.

The Fourth Elder, at the sixth level of the Void Refinement Realm, is the most senior neutral member of the Elders' Council—capturing her would be like driving a nail into the heart of the Elders' Council.

With this thorn in his side, he could see clearly every move Nie Hongyuan made within the sect.

Moreover… Li Hanshan clicked his tongue, savoring the “deal” he had just made.

A cultivator at the sixth level of the Void Refinement stage, with over a thousand years of primordial yin essence, whose yin and yang are in harmony, is receiving considerable benefits in return. Now that his foundation is stabilizing, he needs a large amount of "resources" to solidify his cultivation—he shouldn't refuse such readily available cultivation resources.

As for the psychological burden?

nonexistent.

For the next ten days or so, the Hehuan Sect remained as quiet as a deep pool.

With the main army outside and the mountain gates tightly shut, the protective array revolved day and night. The disciples remaining behind diligently cultivated and took turns on duty, none daring to cause trouble at this time. Between the five peaks, the number of people moving about was seventy percent less than usual, and even the welcoming pine tree in front of the mountain gate seemed somewhat deserted.

The Elders' Hall became the place where Li Hanshan "took turns" on duty every day.

Every afternoon, he would leisurely stroll to the Elder Hall, dismiss his attendants, and set up a protective barrier—ostensibly to "discuss defense matters" with the Fourth Elder; in reality, only the two people inside the hall knew what they were discussing.

The next day, the Fourth Elder had a silk scarf around his neck, supposedly because he had caught a cold.

On the fifth day, she began to arrive at the Elder Hall early to wait for him, and would even personally brew a pot of spiritual tea.

On the eighth day, a new pair of prayer cushions were replaced in the hall. They were large and soft, because the Fourth Elder said that "sitting on the old prayer cushions caused back pain."

Li Hanshan observed these changes, smiled inwardly, but said nothing on the surface.

It must be said that this Fourth Elder is indeed a remarkable figure.

A cultivator at the sixth level of the Void Refinement stage, over a thousand years old, what kind of scene hadn't she seen? After her initial reserve crumbled, she quickly adjusted her position—in the Elder Hall, she was the "Fourth Elder," a coy and half-hearted figure; outside the Elder Hall, she was the impeccable and shrewd Fourth Elder, fulfilling all defensive duties without fail, and handling interactions with the remaining peak masters with perfect tact.

Only occasionally, when the two were discussing something, her gaze would involuntarily fall on his face, then quickly look away, her ears turning slightly red.

Li Hanshan pretended not to see it.

He is waiting.

Waiting for the right opportunity.

-

Day 12, afternoon.

Inside the Elder Hall, the great cycle of Yin and Yang circulates to its deepest point.

suddenly--

hum! !

The bottleneck inside the Fourth Elder's body, which had been washed by pure yang energy for more than ten days and was already covered with cracks, finally shattered with a bang!

A powerful aura surged from her body, causing the roof tiles to vibrate and the candlelight around her to bend low. Her cultivation level rose rapidly—the peak of the sixth level of the Void Refinement Realm, then the seventh!

Late stage of Void Refinement!

For a full two hundred years, she struggled on this hurdle for two hundred years!

The Fourth Elder suddenly opened her eyes, her phoenix eyes gleaming with astonishment, almost unable to believe what she was seeing. The spiritual energy around her was more than twice as powerful as before, and as she spread her divine sense, every blade of grass and every tree on the entire main peak was clearly visible—this was the late stage of the Void Refinement realm! The late stage of the Void Refinement realm that she had dreamed of for two hundred years!

"I've broken through..." Her voice trembled as she gripped Li Hanshan's wrist tightly. "Li Hanshan! I've broken through! Late stage of Void Refinement!"

"Congratulations, Fourth Elder." Li Hanshan smiled and let her hold his hand. "I wasn't lying to you, was I?"

"I didn't lie, I didn't lie..." the Fourth Elder murmured, then suddenly came to her senses. Her phoenix eyes stared intently at him, and the things surging in her eyes were so complex that even she couldn't explain them—there was ecstasy, shock, and an almost weightless sense of dependence.

A bottleneck that had stood for two centuries was smoothed out by this young man in just twelve days.

What kind of method is this?

The sect leader has broken through to the Dao Integration stage; I'm afraid... I'm afraid it's him!

The moment this thought crossed her mind, the Fourth Elder's gaze towards Li Hanshan completely changed. If she had previously retained some semblance of a "mutually beneficial" understanding of his relationship, that understanding had now been utterly washed away by a tidal wave of shock—

Following this man, reaching the late stage of the Void Refinement realm is just the beginning.

What about the future?

Peak of the Void Refinement Realm? Dao Integration Realm?!

As her heart was churning, suddenly, without warning, she felt a warmth deep in her lower abdomen.

A warm current rose from her lower abdomen, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into an invisible, warm hand, gently grasping something within her body—

vitality.

The hand was merely clenched loosely, without exerting any force. Yet, the Fourth Elder clearly sensed that if the owner of that hand made even the slightest thought, her life force—her life force that had just broken through to the late stage of the Void Refinement realm, a force as vast as a river—would be instantly and completely severed.

The Fourth Elder's smile froze on his face.

"This is……"

"The Yin Mark." Li Hanshan's voice sounded beside her, calm as if reciting a magic incantation. "Those who cultivate with me will have this mark implanted in their bodies. The mark opens into three petals—that's exactly when you broke through just now, it opened to the third petal."

"A flower with three petals can sever a slave's life."