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

Half a day later.

Li Hanshan squatted on the branch of an ancient tree, suppressing his aura to the extreme, like a piece of dead wood growing on the tree.

Not far away, two groups of demonic beasts were engaged in a fierce battle, fighting over a glowing fruit tree.

Li Hanshan did not rush to make a move.

The battle between the two groups of demonic beasts quickly began. One group left with a large number of corpses, while the other group did not fare well either, with many of them bearing injuries. They ate the corpses of the demonic beasts, and before long, their bellies were bulging. They lazily lay on the ground and began to doze off.

Right now.

The flying sword transformed into a streak of light and shot out from the tree.

One, two, three... The flying swords left trails of death, rapidly reaping the lives of the demonic beasts.

"Awoo!"

The remaining demonic beasts finally noticed Li Hanshan and roared as they charged forward, only to be met with Li Hanshan's fireballs.

"Boom boom boom~"

Just a few minutes later, all the demonic beasts were killed.

Li Hanshan jumped down from the tree, retrieved his flying sword, and went to the glowing fruit tree, picking all the fruits that were not yet fully ripe. He didn't have time to wait for them to ripen.

Then, he flew away on his sword, found a cave high up, took out a Qi-replenishing pill, ate it, and began to recover.

A little over an hour later, Li Hanshan opened his eyes, looked at the trial token, and found that the score on it had become one hundred and fifty.

This was his harvest for most of the day.

At this rate, it will only take six or seven days to accumulate a thousand points.

"I hope Hua Nongying doesn't find me these next few days."

Just then, a streak of light rushed toward him, and when Li Hanshan saw who was on it, his expression changed drastically.

"Damn, what's she doing here?"

It was Hua Nongying who arrived.

Speak of the devil, and he appears!

Without giving it much thought, Li Hanshan summoned his flying sword and fled into the distance.

His flying speed on his sword was far inferior to Hua Nongying's, and before long, Hua Nongying closed the distance to only a few dozen meters.

"Master~"

A seductive voice came from behind: "Why are you running away? I finally found you~"

Li Hanshan gritted his teeth and desperately urged his spiritual power to push his speed to the limit.

However, the difference between the eighth level of Qi Refining and the Great Perfection of Qi Refining was there. Hua Nongying's figure was getting closer and closer, and that red dress was particularly eye-catching in the twilight.

There's no escape!

Li Hanshan simply put away his flying sword and landed on the ground.

A moment later, Hua Nongying landed lightly a few meters in front of him, a pipe held horizontally between her lips, and looked at him with a smile: "Master, you can't escape."

Li Hanshan took a deep breath and said coldly, "So you've finally stopped pretending?"

Hua Nongying tilted her head, revealing an innocent expression: "What did you say, Master? I was just worried about you~"

She walked gracefully towards us, her waist swaying gently, her red dress like fire: "Master, you have no idea how long I've been searching for you. This secret realm is so vast, my legs are aching from all the walking!"

Li Hanshan didn't back down, and asked coldly, "How did you find me?"

Hua Nongying twirled the pipe between her fingers and chuckled softly, "Does Master think I would tell you?"

He guessed the demoness wouldn't speak, so he asked, "What do you want to do?"

Hua Nongying looked aggrieved: "Master, don't be so wary of me. As long as you help me break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, I'll still be your little slave girl, and I'll be obedient to you in everything, okay?"

Li Hanshan shook his head: "Once you break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, the oath against the inner demons will be useless, right?"

The smile on Hua Nongying's face slowly froze.

After a moment, she smiled slightly, exhaling a puff of pink smoke from her pipe: "That's right."

The charming voice turned cold: "Master understands perfectly well, but I advise Master to obediently submit to this servant."

Li Hanshan said in a deep voice, "What if I say no?"

Hua Nongying said calmly, "Master, you have no right to say no now."

"Why?" Li Hanshan asked.

"Because the oath to the inner demons is useless now." A smug smile appeared on Hua Nongying's lips.

As soon as she finished speaking, a cold glint flashed in Li Hanshan's eyes, and his flying sword shot out, aiming straight for Hua Nongying's throat!

"clang!"

However, Hua Nongying didn't even lift her eyelids. With a light tap of her pipe, a small pink shield appeared in front of her, blocking the flying sword.

"Master is so cruel~" Hua Nongying chuckled. "However, this little skill is not enough to impress you."

Li Hanshan's heart sank. This demoness's strength far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators; her chances of winning in a direct confrontation were slim. He asked, "Aren't you afraid I'll use the trial token to leave?"

Hua Nongying blinked: "I'm afraid, but if Master uses it, he will surely die without a burial place."

Li Hanshan remained silent. He knew Hua Nongying was right. He had offended Zhao Yuan badly, and if he used the trial token, Zhao Yuan would probably kill him directly.

If it were an outer disciple, Zhao Yuan might have some reservations. But a mere furnace cauldron, especially one that failed the assessment, he could kill Li Hanshan without any punishment.

"Master, it's my turn."

With a flick of her wrist, Hua Nongying unleashed dozens of fine, hair-like needles from her pipe, swarming towards Li Hanshan!

Li Hanshan retreated rapidly, simultaneously activating a talisman he had been holding in his hand—the one Xu Lingxi had given him.

The talisman shone brightly, enveloping Li Hanshan as he soared into the sky, transforming into a streak of light that shot off into the distance.

"A teleportation talisman?! Damn it!"

Hua Nongying stomped her foot angrily, and in a flash of red, she chased after him with all her might, but the escape talisman was too fast for her to catch up with.

...

A few minutes later, the talisman carried Li Hanshan down from the sky and landed by a stream.

"This demoness really can bypass the oath of inner demons. Luckily, I have this talisman that Lingxi gave me."

Li Hanshan breathed a sigh of relief, took out his flying sword, and was about to throw it away when his divine sense suddenly detected a disturbance.

Two black-clad monks were walking in his direction.

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat. He put away his dry rations, and with a flash of fire beneath his feet, he darted into the nearby bushes. The two demonic sect disciples who had arrived had blood-red skulls embroidered on their chests.

"Senior brother, the women of the Joyful Union Sect are really something else. It's a pity that one ran away too fast and the other didn't get to enjoy herself as much as she wanted," the short cultivator said with regret.

The tall man chuckled, "What's the rush? There are plenty more in the secret realm. We'll catch a few more to try tomorrow."

The two talked as they walked to the stream.

The short man squatted down, scooped up some stream water, and washed his face.

Just as he lowered his head, a sword light burst forth from the bushes!

"There's an ambush!"

The short man was shocked and quickly stepped back, but he was still a step too slow.

The sword light pierced through him.

"court death!"

The tall man reacted extremely quickly, raising his hand to unleash a spell towards the bushes.

Li Hanshan emerged from the bushes, firelight flickering beneath his feet, his figure dodging attacks like a ghost.

The flying sword drew a strange arc in the air, aiming straight for the short man's throat.

The tall man sneered, and a small blood-red shield slid out from his sleeve, rising up to block in front of him.

"clang!"

The sword light struck the small shield, sparks flew, but it failed to break through the defense.

"You dare to launch a sneak attack from the eighth level of Qi Refining?" the tall man sneered. "I'm at the ninth level of Qi Refining, what do you think you can do against me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Hanshan fired several fireballs in quick succession. The tall man snorted and moved his small shield quickly to block the fireballs.

"Boom boom boom~"

The fireballs exploded one after another, their power exceeding the tall man's imagination.

"Oh no!" The tall man's eyes narrowed.

The light on the small shield dimmed the next second, and then a flying sword attacked from the side, piercing it like a shooting star.

"Damn it, just a beat too late..." The tall man died with his eyes wide open, because he was just about to activate the trial token when Li Hanshan's flying sword came too fast.

Two corpses lay on the ground, their blood staining the stream red.

Li Hanshan walked over to the corpse and searched it, obtaining three storage bags, several bottles of pills, and the small blood-red shield.

He opened the storage bag and found a flying sword in one of the bloodstained bags. It should belong to the witch from the Hehuan Sect that they had killed.

"That demoness might have found my location using her flying sword..."

After examining everything Hua Nongying had given him, Li Hanshan concluded that the problem likely lay with the flying sword. The other items were consumables, making it difficult to tamper with them.

So he planted the flying sword Hua Nongying had given him on a rock, and left on the new flying sword.

"Huh? Two disciples of the Demonic Sect actually have over a hundred points?"

In mid-air, Li Hanshan discovered that the points on the trial token had become 255.

This discovery delighted him: "So it seems that the sect encourages fighting against the disciples of the Demonic Sect."

These demonic sect disciples also seemed to be participating in an assessment. Killing them yielded far more points than killing demonic beasts. This gave Li Hanshan a way to quickly gain a thousand points!

Killing the disciples of the Demon Sect is definitely more difficult, because if they can't win, they can use the trial token to escape.

However, Li Hanshan possesses the divine sense of the Foundation Establishment stage, as well as divine sense attack techniques. Combined with the Flowing Light Sword Technique, he wouldn't be too difficult to kill if handled properly.

"Let's get out of here first."

He decided to stay away from Hua Nongying first.

No more than an incense stick's time had passed since Li Hanshan left when Hua Nongying landed by the stream and saw the corpses of two Demonic Sect disciples, as well as a flying sword embedded in a rock.

"Damn it!!! How did he know?!"

Hua Nongying's face was ashen, her pretty face covered in frost. Without her flying sword, how could she track Li Hanshan?

"Why did she give me a teleportation talisman?!"

What frustrated her even more was the talisman Xu Lingxi gave Li Hanshan. She had assumed it would be an attack talisman capable of unleashing a Foundation Establishment stage strike. Little did she know, Xu Lingxi had given her a teleportation talisman!

This was completely unexpected for her, which allowed Li Hanshan to escape!

"Master, you can't escape!"

Hua Nongying stomped her foot, stepped onto her flying sword, and soared into the sky, chasing after something in one direction.

......

"It should be alright now."

Li Hanshan hid in the canopy of a large tree, waiting for most of the night, but he did not see Hua Nongying.

He breathed a sigh of relief, swallowed a Qi-replenishing pill, and took out spirit stones to recover.

In the middle of the night, a violent surge of spiritual energy came from afar, startling him awake.

Li Hanshan opened his eyes, climbed to the top of a tree, and saw that there was a battle taking place three miles away.

The spiritual energy fluctuations are very strong, indicating that the Qi Refining stage is at least at its peak.

No, that's not right.

One of them suddenly surged with power, causing the surrounding air to tremble and a gust of wind to sweep in from all directions.

"Foundation Establishment! This person has broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage!"

Li Hanshan was shocked. This guy actually chose to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage during the assessment. Wasn't that a form of cheating?

It should be noted that those who enter the secret realm are all cultivators at the Qi Refining stage.

"It seems this secret realm won't be easy to navigate."

Li Hanshan felt a sense of urgency.

It's only the first day, and someone has already broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage. If he encounters them, the situation will be very bad. He must collect a thousand points as soon as possible.

Li Hanshan quietly left, not going up to join the fun.

The fighting over there quickly subsided. Once the Foundation Establishment stage was achieved, the other group was definitely no match for them. If they wanted to survive, they could only use the Trial Token to escape, which would mean failure in the assessment.

The next day, Li Hanshan changed his strategy. Instead of only hunting demonic beasts, he used his divine sense advantage to target some lone or weak demonic sect disciples.

The points for monsters are too few; with the same strength, killing several monsters is only equivalent to killing one disciple of the Demonic Sect.

Moreover, the disciples of the Demonic Sect possess spirit stones, pills, and magical treasures; killing them would be a huge profit.

His greatest advantage is his divine sense, which is comparable to that of the Foundation Establishment stage. Combined with the Flowing Light Sword Technique and the Divine Sense Attack Technique, even a Qi Refining Stage 9 expert is no match for him.

After most of the day had passed, he killed three more disciples of the Demonic Sect.

"It's a pity two of them got away."

Li Hanshan felt it was a pity, because once the trial token was activated, he could leave with his people within half a second. Those two demonic sect disciples were more decisive, preventing him from earning more points.

After resting for a night, he set off the next day to continue his search for demonic beasts and disciples of the Demonic Sect.

"There are too many people, forget it."

When encountering too many disciples of the Demonic Sect, Li Hanshan would choose to avoid them.

"That witch has gone mad, searching the whole world for me..."

Occasionally, he would encounter Hua Nongying, that vixen who was frantically searching for him everywhere.