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

"Let's see if we can break through to the Nascent Soul stage."

After breaking through to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, Li Hanshan decided to give it a try and see if he could advance to the Nascent Soul stage.

However, he soon discovered that the threshold from Golden Core to Nascent Soul was more than a hundred times stronger than he had imagined.

A Golden Core cultivator at the Great Perfection level is like a drop of water facing an ocean compared to a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Although the immortal golden elixir in the dantian was already as large as a fist, breaking it to form a nascent soul would be extremely difficult.

To shatter the golden core and form an infant, it doesn't mean simply breaking the golden core. Shattering the golden core would be self-destructive in terms of cultivation.

Instead, it is to use the Golden Elixir to "incubate" a Nascent Soul.

Putting everything else aside, the spiritual energy required in this process is more than the sum of all previous cultivation.

In addition, there are requirements regarding the spirit and soul.

This was precisely the part that Li Hanshan didn't find too difficult.

"Although the Immortal-grade Golden Elixir is powerful, the difficulty of breaking through it has also become much greater."

He discovered that the celestial-grade golden elixir had now become an obstacle.

Li Hanshan tried various methods—swallowing pills, absorbing spirit stones, cultivating with several women, and extracting the essence of the nascent soul from the blood slave's body—but the effects were minimal. The Immortal-grade Golden Core was like a bottomless pit that could never be filled; no matter how much energy was invested, it only made it grow larger, still far from "hatching" the nascent soul.

"No." Li Hanshan withdrew his spiritual power, his brows furrowed. "At this rate, it will take at least several decades to break through."

He could wait decades. But he didn't want to.

Blood Slave sat in the corner of the stone bed, watching his anxious appearance, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

"What's the rush? How many years have you been cultivating before you think you can break through to the Nascent Soul stage?" Her voice carried a hint of sarcasm. "It took me over four hundred years to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, and you, a junior who's been cultivating for less than twenty years, think you can achieve instant success?"

Li Hanshan glanced at her but didn't reply.

The Blood Slave didn't stop, continuing, "Even if you break through to the Nascent Soul stage, so what?"

Li Hanshan frowned: "What do you mean?"

The Blood Slave sneered, a complex light flashing in his blood-red eyes: "Why do you think your sect leader treats you so well? Taking you as a disciple, giving you resources, helping you seize furnace cauldrons—do you really think she's doing it for your own good?"

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm: "What are you trying to say?"

The Blood Slave stared at him for a moment, then slowly spoke: "Do you know what became of the Blood Fiend Sect Master?"

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat. The Blood Fiend Sect Master had been besieged by the combined forces of the Joyful Union Sect Master and the Heavenly Demon Sect Master during that great battle, and had eventually escaped. He had assumed she had escaped, but judging from the Blood Slave's tone, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Didn't your sect leader run away?" he asked.

Blood Slave shook his head, the hatred in his eyes almost solidifying: "She escaped, but not completely. She was captured by your sect leader several years ago."

Li Hanshan suddenly stood up, his expression changing slightly: "What did you say?"

"I said, the Blood Fiend Sect Master has been captured by your Joyful Union Sect Master." Blood Slave spoke slowly and deliberately, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth.

She paused, her blood-red eyes fixed on Li Hanshan: "Your sect leader wants to break through to the Nascent Soul stage."

Li Hanshan remained silent. He already knew this; the Second Elder had told him that the Sect Master had been stuck at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage for eighty years.

"But the transition from the peak of the Nascent Soul stage to the Divine Transformation stage is not so easy," the Blood Slave continued. "It requires a massive accumulation of spiritual energy, as well as an understanding of the laws of Heaven. Your sect leader has been stuck for eighty years; his accumulation is more than enough, but what he lacks is an understanding of the laws of Heaven."

She sneered, "Why do you think she launched a war against the Blood Fiend Sect? Why do you think she personally hunted down the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Blood Fiend Sect? It wasn't for the sect, it was for herself. The Blood Fiend Sect's cultivation methods are based on Blood Fiend Qi, which contains a special Heavenly Dao Law—the Law of Slaughter. By absorbing the essence of Blood Fiend Sect cultivators, she can slowly comprehend the Law of Slaughter, thereby breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage."

Li Hanshan's face darkened.

"Our sect leader is at the late Nascent Soul stage, and the killing laws contained within her essence are more complete than you imagine." The blood slave's voice grew lower and lower. "After your sect leader captured her, she imprisoned her in a secret place and slowly drained her essence. Our sect leader held on for three years, but in the end, she was still drained dry."

She looked up at Li Hanshan, a flicker of fear in her eyes: "A late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was drained of his life in just three years. How long do you think you can last?"

Li Hanshan fell silent.

He knew the sect leader needed a cultivation vessel, and that the sect leader launched the war to capture one. But he never expected that the Blood Fiend Sect leader would fall into the sect leader's hands and be completely drained. A late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was drained in just three years—how fast could the sect leader absorb his essence?

"You're different from me." The Blood Slave seemed to see through his thoughts and said coldly, "The restrictions your sect leader placed on me are only temporary. Her goal is to fatten you up so she can devour you once you break through to the Nascent Soul stage. You have an innate pure Yang body, and the pure Yang energy within you is more precious than any furnace. To her, an innate pure Yang body at the Nascent Soul stage is far more valuable than ten late-stage Nascent Soul Blood Fiend Sect cultivators."

Li Hanshan's heart sank to the bottom.

He recalled the Second Elder's words, the millions of skeletons in the canyon, and the Sect Master's deep eyes when he looked at him. All that tenderness, all that care, all that resources—it was all just to fatten him up and then slaughter him.

"How do you know all this?" he asked in a deep voice, staring at the blood slave.

Blood Slave sneered: "Before our sect leader died, she used a secret method to send a message to all the elders of the Blood Fiend Sect. She told us that the sect leader of the Joyful Union Sect was a madman who would stop at nothing to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. She told us to hide well and never be found by the people of the Joyful Union Sect."

She paused, her hatred intensifying. "Unfortunately, you still managed to find me. If I hadn't been so badly injured, do you think you, a mere Golden Core cultivator, could have stopped me?"

Li Hanshan ignored her sarcasm and was rapidly calculating in his mind.

He believed some of what the blood slave said. Not entirely, but he didn't think she was lying either.

If it's true that the Blood Fiend Sect Master was captured by the Sect Master, then the Sect Master's scheme is crystal clear. Taking him as a disciple, providing him with resources, helping him seize a cultivation furnace—all of this was to help him break through to the Nascent Soul stage as quickly as possible. Because only a Nascent Soul stage cultivator with a pure Yang constitution would have sufficient value to her.

If what the Blood Slave said is true, then his current situation is even more dangerous than when he was a furnace cauldron in the Joyful Union Sect.

Back then, he was just a mortal. When Hua Nongying used her sexual energy to replenish him, she could at most drain him dry.

Now that he has reached the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, the sect leader has his eye on him. He not only wants to drain him dry, but also to extract all his value, including his immortal-grade Golden Core, his pure Yang meridian, and his understanding of the laws of heaven. Everything will be taken away by the sect leader.

"What do you plan to do?" Blood Slave looked at him, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Li Hanshan didn't answer. He was wondering whether he should believe the Blood Slave's words. If she was lying to him, why would she lie to him? If she was trying to sow discord, what was her purpose? Was it to make him turn against the sect leader, thus giving him a chance to escape?

It's all possible.

The problem now is that even if the Blood Slave was trying to sow discord, the Second Elder's words confirmed part of it. The Sect Master did indeed need a cultivation vessel, he had indeed been stuck at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage for many years, and he had indeed resorted to any means necessary. Regardless of whether the Blood Slave was telling the truth or not, the seeds of doubt had already been sown in his heart.