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

Inside the sect's main hall, candlelight flickered.

The Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect sat high on the main seat, her black dress as dark as ink, her face veiled. Her deep eyes, visible through the veil, revealed no emotion, yet carried an aura of authority that commanded respect. Li Hanshan stood in the hall, his wounds still throbbing, his robes stained with blood, looking rather disheveled. But he paid no heed to this, standing respectfully with his hands at his sides, awaiting the Sect Master's words.

Only the two of them remained in the hall. The First Elder and Second Elder hadn't come, and the Third Elder was dead. The vast sect hall was empty, with only the candlelight flickering gently in the night breeze. The sect leader was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "Li Hanshan, what do you think of the Joyful Union Sect?"

Li Hanshan was slightly taken aback.

He had never seriously considered this question. In the two years since joining the sect, he had risen from being an auctioned furnace to where he was today, experiencing countless life-and-death situations and witnessing too much cruelty. Hua Nongying wanted to drain him dry, Qin Muyue wanted to use him for sustenance, Leng Yue wanted to use him as a furnace, the Third Elder set an ambush to kill him, and the First Elder wanted to execute him on the spot—all of this happened in the Hehuan Sect.

But he's only alive today because of the Hehuan Sect. Jiang Nianwei saved his life in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, Xu Lingxi stole pills from Jiang Nianwei for him, and although Hua Nongying initially harbored ill intentions, she's now devoted to him. The sect leader didn't blindly believe the Grand Elder's side of the story, gave him a chance to explain, and even accepted him as a disciple.

"Reporting to Master, this disciple thinks...it's not bad." Li Hanshan carefully chose his words. "The senior sisters here are all very nice."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

The sect leader didn't speak, but simply looked at him quietly. There was no emotion in her deep eyes, yet Li Hanshan felt an invisible pressure, as if she were seeing through his eyes into his heart.

"Is that really what you think?" The sect leader finally spoke, his tone calm.

Li Hanshan was silent for a moment, then sighed and honestly said, "This disciple dares not deceive Master. To tell you the truth, when I first entered the sect, I was almost killed by someone's 'life-draining' technique. Later, I was surrounded and killed in the secret realm, blocked by a Golden Core demoness in the Demon Beast Mountain Range, used as a furnace by a Quasi-Saintess in the Yin Nether Land, and ambushed by the Third Elder while chasing the remnants. In the past two years, the troubles I have encountered are more than all of my previous lives combined."

He paused, then looked up and stared directly at the sect leader: "But I have also met good people. Elder Jiang saved my life, Lingxi secretly gave me the pills Master gave me, and although Hua Nongying initially wanted to harm me, she is now devoted to me. Without them, I wouldn't be alive today."

The sect leader nodded slightly, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.

"The fact that you can see all this shows you're not just someone who complains all the time," the sect leader said calmly. "But you must have a question in your mind—why has the Joyful Union Sect become like this? Why do disciples kill each other, why can elders freely use disciples for sustenance, and why can the quasi-saintess use her fellow disciples as cultivation vessels?"

Li Hanshan paused for a moment, then said frankly, "This disciple has indeed thought about this issue."

"Have you ever wondered why you've never met any reputable sects?" the sect leader asked again.

Li Hanshan was taken aback.

A prestigious and righteous path?

After he transmigrated, the only sects he encountered were the Joyful Union Sect, the Heavenly Demon Sect, the Blood Fiend Sect, and the Yinming Sect. As for the righteous immortal sects, he had only heard of the Yaoguang Sect from the girl, but had never seen one in person. He didn't even know what the righteous immortal sects looked like, nor did he know where they were located.

"This disciple... has never thought about this question," he said honestly.

The sect leader stood up and slowly walked to the entrance of the main hall, gazing at the five mountain peaks that were faintly visible in the night sky. The mountain breeze stirred her black dress and long hair, and the black veil fluttered gently in the wind.

"Because the righteous path's cultivation speed was too slow, they were all wiped out." Her voice was calm, as if she were talking about a trivial matter.

Li Hanshan's pupils contracted.

"Was wiped out? By whom?"

"By the Heavenly Demon Sect, by the Blood Fiend Sect, by the Yin Nether Sect, and by our Joyful Union Sect," the sect leader said without turning his head. "A thousand years ago, this land was filled with righteous immortal sects, known as the Thirty-Six Righteous Sects. How many can you still find today?"

Li Hanshan fell silent.

He recalled the dilapidated sword pavilion in the Northern Wilderness Secret Realm, and the history recorded on the stone tablet of the Northern Wilderness Sword Sect being destroyed by extraterrestrial demons. He had thought it was an exception, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be the norm.

"Master, what do you mean...?" he asked tentatively.

"What I mean is, the cruelty of the cultivation world far exceeds your imagination." The sect leader turned around and looked directly at him. "The cultivation speed of the righteous path is too slow. It takes hundreds of years to cultivate a Golden Core cultivator and hundreds of years to cultivate a Nascent Soul cultivator. But what about us? The Joyful Union Sect has the method of absorbing essence, the Heavenly Demon Sect has the technique of devouring souls, and the Blood Fiend Sect has the method of blood sacrifice—our cultivation speed is several times or even ten times that of the righteous path."

She paused, her tone becoming sharper: "You think the righteous path doesn't want to be fast? They do. But their cultivation methods don't allow it, their Dao hearts don't allow it. So they can only cultivate slowly, endure slowly. And in this long process of cultivation, they have been surpassed and killed one by one by our ancestors. Today, the number of righteous immortal sects still alive on this land can be counted on one hand."

Li Hanshan was shocked, but he remained silent.

"You've been in the sect for over two years, and you've cultivated from a mortal to a Golden Core cultivator. Do you think that's fast?" the sect leader suddenly asked.

Li Hanshan clasped his hands in a fist salute: "This disciple was simply lucky to receive the ancient empowerment in the Northern Wilderness Secret Realm..."

"Don't mention any initiation to me," the sect leader interrupted him, his tone tinged with impatience. "You and I both know that the talk of initiation is just a pretext to fool outsiders. Two years to go from a mortal to a Golden Core cultivator—even with an ancient initiation, that's absolutely impossible. Unless the cultivator who performed the initiation was a being above the Nascent Soul stage—but if such a being truly existed, you would have been burst apart by the spiritual power of the initiation long ago. How could you possibly be alive now?"

Li Hanshan's heart tightened.

The sect leader indeed did not believe it.

"So, I won't ask how you cultivate," the sect leader said calmly. "I won't pry into your secrets either. Since I've decided to take you as my disciple, I won't delve into these matters. You have your destiny, and I have my judgment."

Li Hanshan felt relieved and clasped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you, Master."

The sect leader nodded slightly, turned and walked back to her seat. She picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and her tone returned to calm: "You asked earlier why you hadn't seen any reputable sects. Now you know the answer—it's not that they didn't exist, but that they were all wiped out. The remaining ones either hide in the deep mountains and forests, barely surviving, or depend on more powerful forces, living at their mercy."

She put down her teacup and looked at Li Hanshan: "But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that if you don't become strong, one day you will also be destroyed."

Li Hanshan remained silent.

The sect leader is right. In this dog-eat-dog world, if you're not strong, you die. Although the Joyful Union Sect is cruel, it provides its disciples with a quick way to become powerful. Harvesting, plundering, and killing—these methods, though dishonorable, are indeed effective.

"However, the Hehuan Sect isn't without rules." The sect leader's voice suddenly turned serious. "Disciples can compete, but they cannot kill each other without cause. Elders can 'guide' disciples, but they cannot arbitrarily use their 'life-giving energy' to kill them. These rules, while not strictly enforced, at least still exist. Do you know why?"

Li Hanshan shook his head: "This disciple does not know."

"Because if there were no rules at all, the sect would have been in chaos long ago," the sect leader said calmly. "The reason why the Hehuan Sect has been able to stand for hundreds of years is not because of the strength of any one person, but because of this set of rules, which, although imperfect, can barely function. The Third Elder violated the rules, so he died. If you violate the rules, you will die as well."

Li Hanshan felt a chill run down his spine and clasped his hands in a fist salute, saying, "This disciple will remember."

The sect leader nodded, his tone softening slightly: "You're a smart man, I don't need to say more. Besides the matter of accepting disciples, there's another thing I need to tell you today."

Li Hanshan raised his head: "Master, please speak."

The sect leader took out a jade slip from his sleeve, placed it on the table, and gently pushed it in front of Li Hanshan. The jade slip was completely black, with a faint spiritual light flowing across its surface, exuding an ancient and profound aura.

"You asked Qin Muyue about the main sect before," the sect leader said calmly. "How much did she tell you?"

Li Hanshan was shocked, but remained calm on the surface: "Saintess Qin only told me that the Hehuan Sect has a main sect, but she didn't say exactly where it is."

The sect leader nodded slightly: "She didn't say because she didn't know either. Although the quasi-saintess has a high status, only the sect leader and a few elders are qualified to know about the affairs of the main sect."

She paused, her gaze deepening: "The Joyous Union Sect does indeed have a main sect. The main sect isn't in the Northern Wilderness, but on another continent. That's where the most prosperous place in the entire cultivation world is."

Li Hanshan's heart pounded wildly. Suppressing his excitement, he asked, "May I ask, Master, what is this other continent?"

The sect leader didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "You saw the ruins of the Northern Wilderness Sword Sect in the Northern Wilderness Secret Realm. Do you know what the Northern Wilderness refers to?"

Li Hanshan was taken aback: "Isn't it to the north?"

The sect leader shook his head, a meaningful smile appearing on his lips.

"Northern Wilderness" is not the north, but the name of the land beneath our feet.