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

At the same time, 100,000 miles away, at the front line of Yinquan Sect, in the allied army camp.

Inside the commander's tent, the lights were on.

The sect leader, clad in black armor, sat upright in the main seat, his fingertips pressing down on several newly delivered military reports. For three months, the front lines had been locked in a stalemate; the Immortal Alliance had besieged the area without attacking, the two sides like two ferocious beasts testing each other, neither willing to reveal a weakness first.

Outside the tent, the north wind howled, making the commander's flag flutter loudly.

suddenly--

The communication jade talisman at her waist lit up.

It wasn't an ordinary military dispatch jade talisman, but that one. That one, an urgent dispatch jade talisman that could only be activated when the sect faced a life-or-death crisis.

The sect leader's eyelids twitched suddenly.

She grabbed the jade talisman and scanned it with her divine sense—

"The Heavenly Demon Sect Master is not dead. He attacked our mountain gate, forcibly broke through the great formation, and damaged the three array eyes on the east side. The great formation is in grave danger—"

boom!!

An indescribable aura of terror surged from the commander's tent! The tent flaps instantly turned to dust, the guards and disciples outside were thrown more than ten feet away, and the entire commander's tent, along with the ground within a radius of a hundred feet, sank three feet!

"Master, please calm down—"

The order was given to the disciples to scramble and crawl.

The sect leader gripped the jade talisman tightly, her knuckles turning white. Her chest heaved violently, and a chilling, almost predatory glint surged in her unfathomable eyes.

Heavenly Demon Sect Master

When the Heavenly Demon Sect was destroyed, the Immortal Alliance and the Three Harmonies Sect surrounded and killed him, and everyone thought the demon was dead. But he wasn't—he had been hiding for months, until the Joyful Union Sect's elite forces were all deployed and its gates were at their weakest!

Well thought out.

What a ruthless calculation!

"Issue the order—" She abruptly stood up, her voice as cold as ice, "Summon all the elders to the command tent for a meeting, immediately!"

-

Before an incense stick could burn, streaks of light appeared one after another in front of the commander's tent in the allied camp.

Elder Nie Hongyuan walked at the front. This elder had emerged from seclusion a few days ago, but everyone could see the melancholy between his brows—after more than two months of seclusion, he still hadn't broken through that thin veil.

Behind him, the Second Elder, Third Elder, Fifth Elder, Sixth Elder, and Ninth Elder filed in.

As everyone entered the tent, they were first startled by the lingering chill inside, and then their expressions changed drastically when they saw the jade talisman in the sect leader's hand.

"Take a look at them all."

The sect leader tossed the jade talisman to the Grand Elder, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger.

Nie Hongyuan scanned the area with his divine sense, his pupils contracting slightly, before transmitting the information to the others. The tent remained silent for a few breaths, then erupted into chaos.

"The Heavenly Demon Sect Master isn't dead?!"

"Attack on our mountain gate?! The great formation is in grave danger—"

"How is that possible! How did he survive the Three Harmonies' ambush?!"

"Shut up, all of you." The sect leader spoke coldly, and the tent fell silent instantly.

She slowly sat down, her gaze sweeping over everyone, and spoke slowly and deliberately:

"The second message has arrived."

She took out another jade talisman, and with a flick of her spiritual power, the Fourth Elder's familiar handwriting appeared in mid-air—

"Elder Li has single-handedly drawn away the Heavenly Demon Sect Master, and the siege of the mountain gate has been temporarily lifted. Elder Li... his fate is unknown."

Life or death is uncertain.

Four words, like four needles, piercing everyone's eyes.

The sect leader stared at those four characters for a very long time.

That little rascal.

It's always the same. When the sky falls, he's always the first to step forward, shouldering the heaviest burden, and then he's all smiles, as if he'd just gone on a long trip.

She remembered the pool of spring water he had stirred up in the Jade Balance Palace, the nonsense he had whispered in her ear during the day and night in the cave, his playful face when he came over to call "Master" every time he got into trouble, and the strands of pure yang energy he had transferred to her, which were entwined with her spiritual power—that little rascal who always stood in front of her, who was always talking nonsense, but who was more reliable than anyone else.

What big picture?

What sect?

What does "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold" mean?

At that moment, only one line of words remained in her mind, burning over and over again—

If he dies, what's the point of all this?

Her eyes inexplicably welled up with tears, which she forcefully suppressed. What she couldn't suppress was the throbbing, stabbing pain in her heart.

At the fifth level of the Void Refinement stage, a Dao Integration Realm expert was drawn in.

That wasn't going on a long trip. That was risking one's life to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the entire clan.

"I wish to return to my sect."

The sect leader stood up, his black armor gleaming coldly under the lamplight, and spoke each word with resounding force:

"Set off immediately to find him."

-

Inside the tent, a commotion erupted.

"Sect Leader!" Elder Nie Hongyuan was the first to speak, his brows furrowed. "Absolutely not!"

"The battle is raging, and the three Dao Integration Realm experts from the Immortal Alliance are watching us closely. If our commander-in-chief were to leave the battlefield at this moment—if the Yinquan Sect were to suffer any mishap, the allied forces' lines would collapse on the spot! At that point, with the Immortal Alliance's army pressing in, my Hehuan Sect's hundreds of thousands of disciples would be attacked from both sides, and the consequences would be unimaginable!"

"That's right!" The Ninth Elder was also anxious. "Sect Leader, for a mere Void Refinement cultivator..."

"shut up."

The sect leader's voice wasn't loud, but the Ninth Elder felt as if someone had grabbed him by the neck, and he swallowed the rest of his words.

"He is not just a 'Refinement Void cultivator'," the sect leader said slowly. "He helped me break through to the Dao Integration realm; he established his authority at the sect, suppressing the Elders' Council; he stayed behind for three months, protecting hundreds of thousands of disciples—if he hadn't drawn away the Heavenly Demon Sect Master today, the news reaching the front lines would be the death knell of the sect's fall!"

Inside the tent, there was complete silence.

The Fifth Elder stood in the crowd, gazing at the four characters in mid-air, and whispered:

"This kid... he seems carefree and irresponsible most of the time, but when it really matters, he's a real go-getter."

She pursed her lips and stepped forward: "Sect Leader, I'll go back with you."

"No need." The sect leader raised his hand. "I will return alone."

"The army remains motionless, the camps stand firm, and the flags never fall. All forces must defend the front lines—Nie Hongyuan."

"I am here."

"After I leave, you will be in charge of the frontline defenses." The sect leader looked at him. "The Immortal Alliance is unaware of my departure. As long as you hold your ground and don't show any weakness, they may not dare to launch a full-scale attack. Hold them off—not an inch can be retreated here until I bring Li Hanshan back."

Nie Hongyuan stared at her for a full three breaths.

He opened his mouth, as if wanting to argue further, but meeting those eyes, all his words ultimately turned into a long sigh:

"...This old man obeys."

The sect leader gave him a deep look, then with a flick of his black cloak, he left the command tent.

That night, an inconspicuous beam of light rose silently from the back of the allied camp, disappeared into the night, and sped off in the southeast direction.

-

Above the clouds, the night wind was like a knife.

After flying more than three thousand miles and confirming that no one was watching, the speed of the streak of light slowed down slightly.

The sect leader stood atop a cloud, her dark cloak fluttering in the night wind. With no one around, she no longer needed to maintain that perpetually icy expression—the worry and anxiety in her unfathomable eyes were no longer concealed.

She took out the communication jade talisman and looked at the four characters again.

Life or death is uncertain.

"Li Hanshan."

She murmured the name, her fingertips tightening little by little, the jade talisman almost embedded in her palm.

"Listen up, you!"

"My people are mine in life and in death. You dare try to die—"

"Even if I chase you to the Yellow Springs, I will drag you back, break your legs, lock you in my cave, and we'll cultivate together for the rest of our lives."

The words were carried away by the wind. Suddenly, the dark light surged, tearing through the night and hurtling towards the direction of the Joyful Union Sect.

-

After the sect leader left, no one spoke for a long time inside the command tent.

After a long silence, the Sixth Elder suddenly spoke, his voice muffled: "That brat... I fought with him before, and he punched me into a pit."

"Looking back now, I realize that punch wasn't undeserved."

"I've lived for over a thousand years, and I've seen those who fear death and those who try to be heroes, but have I ever seen a Void Refinement cultivator dare to draw a Dao Integration Realm expert upon themselves?"

The Fifth Elder smiled but said nothing.

The Ninth Elder stood in the corner, his expression shifting for a long time. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence:

"Trying to be a hero! Completely ignorant of your own limitations!"

"Being hunted down by Dao-Merging cultivators... Hmph, a sure death, they deserve it—"

"Ninth Elder," the Sixth Elder glanced at him sideways, "your 'serves you right' sounds worse than crying."

The Ninth Elder blushed, turned his head away, and remained silent.

Sitting in the main seat, Nie Hongyuan's eyes were slightly closed, and his fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest, one tap after another.

No one knew what the Grand Elder was thinking.