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

At this moment, Li Hanshan's sea of ​​consciousness was churning with turbulent waves.

The moment that black mist crashed into his sea of ​​consciousness, the pressure of his Nascent Soul was like a massive mountain crashing into a calm lake, causing his entire sea of ​​consciousness to tremble violently.

Li Hanshan felt a tearing pain in his mind, as if something was forcibly squeezing into the depths of his soul, trying to force his consciousness out of the center.

"Young man, your sea of ​​consciousness is indeed more expansive than I imagined." The demon's voice echoed in his sea of ​​consciousness, carrying an air of confident ease. "A Nascent Soul level divine consciousness, not bad, indeed not bad. But divine consciousness is ultimately just divine consciousness; without condensing into a primordial spirit, what do you have to contend with me?"

Li Hanshan's divine soul avatar manifested in the center of his sea of ​​consciousness, its purplish-gold light faint yet resolute. He looked at the rapidly expanding black mist, his face showing no fear, but rather a strange smile.

"What did you call me?" His voice was calm.

The demon was taken aback: "Junior."

"A junior?" Li Hanshan's smile grew even stranger. "How many years have you been cultivating?"

"I have cultivated for over 1,300 years." The demon's voice was filled with arrogance, and the black mist continued to spread into the depths of his consciousness, even tinging the golden light within it with a layer of gray-black.

"More than 1,300 years." Li Hanshan nodded, his tone as if chatting casually with an old acquaintance. "Then do you know how many years I've cultivated?"

The demon did not answer, but the spread of the black mist noticeably paused for a moment.

"More than a decade," Li Hanshan said calmly. "Before joining the Northern Wilderness Joyful Union Sect, I was a mortal. A mortal over a hundred years old. I only began cultivating after joining the sect, so all in all, it's been less than twenty years."

There was a moment of silence in my mind.

The black mist slowly coalesced in the center of his consciousness into the withered, distorted face of the demon, its eerie green, ghostly eyes staring directly at Li Hanshan as if he were looking at a madman. Twenty years—from mortal to Nascent Soul, and even a Divine Infant, possessing the divine consciousness of a Deity Transformation level, and still harboring a wisp of Heavenly Dao power. How could this be possible? Even the most outstanding geniuses he had encountered in the Central Continent back then couldn't have achieved this.

"You're lying to me." The demon's voice turned cold.

"Why would I lie to you?" Li Hanshan spread his hands, his purple-gold divine soul avatar radiating a gentle and serene light in his sea of ​​consciousness. "I'm already quite old, and I never thought anyone would still call me 'kid.' If you call me 'kid,' then shouldn't I call you 'little brother'?"

The demon's face darkened, his features contorted with even more grotesque ugliness. His 1300 years of cultivation seemed utterly laughable compared to this old man's mere 20 years. To reach a level he himself needed a thousand years to attain in just twenty years—what would things be like in another twenty years?

The thought had barely surfaced when it was suppressed by an even deeper greed.

That's why he's even more determined to possess this body. How many secrets does an old monster who can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage in just twenty years hold? If he can make them all his own, not only can he restore his cultivation, but he might even surpass his peak.

"Whether you're telling the truth or not, I've got your body today!" The demon roared, and the black mist suddenly expanded, like a giant hand grabbing at Li Hanshan's soul avatar. The suppression of the primordial spirit's power struck again, this time more direct and fierce than the previous pressure outside the consciousness, like an iron clamp tightly gripping the throat of Li Hanshan's soul.

Li Hanshan's divine soul avatar was slightly deformed by the pressure, and the purple-gold light flickered violently, as if it would be extinguished at any moment. But he did not retreat; he simply stood there, looking up at the overwhelming black mist, and even managed to maintain a calm smile on his lips.

"Are you sure you want to fight me here?" he asked.

The demon sneered, "You, a mere soul that hasn't even condensed a primordial spirit, dare to negotiate with me?"

"I'm not negotiating with you." Li Hanshan slowly raised his hand, and fine and intricate patterns began to appear on the surface of his purple-gold divine soul avatar. Those patterns were like ancient engravings on a tortoise shell, each one exuding an aura completely different from ordinary spiritual power—these were the traces of a Nascent Soul level divine consciousness being fully released, like a sealed abyss finally having its surface lid lifted.

Just as the demon was about to unleash his power to crush Li Hanshan's soul, he saw the changes in Li Hanshan's body.

The patterns became more numerous and denser, slowly spreading out throughout the entire sea of ​​consciousness, forming an invisible force field that firmly contained his expanding black mist.

"Although your divine sense has reached the Nascent Soul level, you—" The demon's voice suddenly stopped.

Because Li Hanshan's sea of ​​consciousness lit up in that instant. It was a scene where the entire sea of ​​consciousness lit up simultaneously, with golden light surging from every corner of it, like thousands of torches being lit at the same time, illuminating that space like the midday sun. The demon's black mist, within this light, was like an ice cube thrown into a pot of boiling oil, hissing and melting at a visible speed.

"A Nascent Soul level divine consciousness, coupled with the pure Yang fire of a Divine Infant." Li Hanshan's voice echoed in his sea of ​​consciousness, calm and steady. "In this sea of ​​consciousness, I am the master. You, a remnant soul whose primordial spirit has left my body and has been severely injured twice, dare to enter my sea of ​​consciousness and attempt to possess me?"

The demon then realized he was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, although Li Hanshan's divine soul avatar had not yet condensed its primordial spirit, the pure Yang power he could mobilize here, combined with the divine infant's power, far exceeded what was outside his sea of ​​consciousness. That pure Yang fire spread along the patterns of his divine sense, turning the entire sea of ​​consciousness into a giant furnace, and he himself was the fuel trapped within that furnace.

The black mist churned and scorched, and the demon let out mournful roars, trying to break free of his sea of ​​consciousness, but he could not break through the encirclement of the pure yang fire. His primordial spirit was already greatly depleted from leaving his body, and he had been struck by the sect leader's natal spirit sword. Now that he had fallen into Li Hanshan's sea of ​​consciousness, it was as if he had voluntarily locked himself in a cage.

"Youngster—" he roared hoarsely.

"Who are you calling a junior?" Li Hanshan interrupted him, his purple-gold divine soul avatar slowly taking a step forward. "I'll say it again, I've cultivated for less than twenty years, while you're a piece of trash who's cultivated for over 1300 years—"

He paused for a moment, a playful smile appearing on his lips.

"Who is the junior?"