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

Elder Chang's black escape light had already reached the edge of the Heavenly Demon Sect's protective formation. The pitch-black light shield was right in front of him, and he could even see the pale and sinister face of the Heavenly Demon Sect Master inside the shield.

If you just rush forward another three zhang, you can pass through the great formation and escape to safety.

But just as his toes were about to touch the array wall, a purple-gold sword light shot out from behind, piercing his left leg with pinpoint accuracy. Elder Chang groaned, his body jerking to the side, his speed drastically reduced. He gritted his teeth, trying to charge forward, but a second sword light arrived, this time piercing his right shoulder.

"Li Hanshan—!" Elder Chang roared angrily, turning around and slashing out with a black blade. But Li Hanshan was prepared, and pure Yang fire condensed into a fire shield in front of him, blocking all the blades.

The two clashed fiercely before the protective array's walls. Elder Chang was eager to rush into the array, his attacks becoming increasingly hasty, revealing more and more flaws in his moves. Li Hanshan, however, remained as steady as a rock, each sword strike precisely blocking Elder Chang's path, relentlessly pressing him away from the array walls.

"Sect Master! Save me!" Elder Chang finally couldn't hold back and shouted into the formation.

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master stood in the center of the formation, his face ashen, his fists clenched tightly. He certainly wanted to intervene, but his injuries were too severe. If he forced his way through the formation walls, he would likely collapse before he could even save anyone.

He could only watch helplessly as Elder Chang was defeated by Li Hanshan, his wounds multiplying and black blood dripping onto the stone ground in front of the array wall, quickly seeping into the soil.

Outside the formation, the sect leader of the Hehuan Sect stood with her hands behind her back. She did not make a move, but simply watched the scene quietly. Her gaze fell on Li Hanshan, carrying a complex mix of emotions and admiration.

Elder Chang finally couldn't hold on any longer.

His spiritual energy was completely depleted, and the wounds on his left leg and right shoulder continued to bleed, making his movements increasingly slow. Li Hanshan seized an opening, and a longsword formed from pure Yang fire pierced straight through his dantian. Elder Chang's body stiffened abruptly, the black blade slipped from his hand and fell to the ground like a broken piece of withered wood.

"You—" He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but only exhaled his last breath before collapsing forward and falling silent.

Inside the protective formation of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the sect leader's face turned completely pale.

He watched helplessly as his last trusted confidant, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, died on the battlefield, beyond even being saved. Outside the formation, the purplish-gold figure slowly straightened up, its gaze, calm and cold, falling upon him through the formation's walls.

"Sect Master of the Heavenly Demon Sect," Li Hanshan spoke, his voice not loud, yet clearly penetrating the array's walls, "Your elders are all dead. The Grand Elder is dead, Elder Zhao is dead, Elder Chang is dead. Do you still intend to remain hidden within the array?"

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master did not answer. He stood in the center of the formation, clutching the old wound on his chest that was still throbbing. His gaze swept across the empty sect hall, over the low-ranking disciples huddled in the corners, trembling, and finally landed on the purple-gold figure.

He had cultivated for hundreds of years, climbing step by step from an unknown nobody to the position of the Heavenly Demon Sect Master, experiencing countless life-and-death situations. But at this moment, for the first time, he felt a true sense of powerlessness and despair.

He remained silent for a long time, then slowly spoke, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping: "What do you want?"

"Open the great formation," the Hehuan Sect Master ordered. "Hand over all spoils of war and prisoners, then take your men and get out of the Hehuan Sect. The sect might spare your life."

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master stared at her for a long while, then suddenly laughed. The laugh carried a hint of self-mockery, and a touch of madness: "Spare my life? Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect, do you think I'd believe that?"

He suddenly raised his hand, and a stream of black spiritual energy flowed into the array wall.

The protective array's walls suddenly lit up, and the dense black runes began to writhe like living things, emitting a chilling aura. The entire array began to contract and condense, like a giant fist slowly clenching, converging all its power towards the Heavenly Demon Sect Master at its center.

"Since we're all going to die anyway, I'll take you all with me!"

His voice echoed through the great formation, carrying a resolute determination to fight to the death.

That was a forbidden technique he activated using his own essence and nascent soul as a catalyst, compressing all the power of the entire sect-protecting formation onto him alone, in exchange for a sudden surge in combat power.

The light from the array wall grew brighter and brighter, and the aura of the Heavenly Demon Sect Master began to rise steadily.

The previously listless pressure surged violently like ignited oil, and he forcibly crossed the threshold of the peak of the Nascent Soul stage through this self-destructive method.

The Hehuan Sect Master's face darkened: "He's trying to force his way to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage! Stop him!"

Li Hanshan has already made a move.

Pure Yang fire surged around him, transforming into a giant purple-gold flame sword several meters long, which slashed fiercely down at the shrinking array wall. The Hehuan Sect Master also attacked at the same time, his black palm print slamming with all his might onto the other side of the array wall.

The two attacks landed almost simultaneously on the shrinking black light shield, producing a deafening roar.

The array walls trembled violently, and the black runes on their surface flickered wildly, but they did not shatter.

Li Hanshan's first sword strike failed, but the second followed immediately, and the third and fourth sword strikes rained down on the array wall like a storm. The Hehuan Sect Master also made his move in succession, his palm strikes one after another, denting and bouncing back against the light barrier.

"Break it!"

Li Hanshan's divine sense, at the Nascent Soul level, condensed into an invisible sharp cone, piercing fiercely into the core runes of the array wall.

The writhing black runes, pierced by the sharp point of divine sense, froze for a moment, like a venomous snake caught in its vital spot. In that instant of hesitation, the greatsword of pure yang fire slashed down, tearing a several-foot-long gash in the light barrier.

The Hehuan Sect Master's black palm print followed closely behind, slamming into the formation through the crack. The palm print pierced through the formation wall and struck the Heavenly Demon Sect Master's chest with pinpoint accuracy. The Heavenly Demon Sect Master was in the midst of forcibly activating a forbidden technique, all his spiritual energy was being used to maintain the operation of the great formation, leaving him no time to defend himself. He was struck squarely in the dantian by that palm.

He let out a short, muffled groan, his entire body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the stone pillar behind him, cracking the thick pillar that would take several people to encircle. The light of the great formation dimmed abruptly the moment he was thrown back, and the writhing black runes, like puppets without their master, stopped functioning and extinguished layer by layer.

The array walls slowly crumbled, like shattered eggshells, turning into countless black specks of light that drifted across the night sky.

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master struggled to his feet from the rubble, black blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. A large dent appeared in his chest, and the cracks on the surface of his nascent soul were even more shocking than his other injuries. He looked at the slowly approaching purplish-gold figure, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

"In the end... I still lost." His voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

Li Hanshan walked up to him, pure Yang fire condensing into a short sword in his palm, the tip pointing at his throat. He didn't attack immediately, but simply looked at this opponent who had once ambushed the sect leader in the Endless Sea and launched a surprise attack when the Hehuan Sect was vulnerable.

"Do you have any last words?" he asked.

The Heavenly Demon Sect Master shook his head and closed his eyes. He didn't beg for mercy, nor did he utter any more harsh words. He had seen enough arguments about right and wrong, and enough of the victor's posture, among Nascent Soul cultivators who had cultivated for hundreds of years. He simply stood quietly, waiting for the final moment to arrive.

Li Hanshan didn't keep him waiting long. The short sword pierced through silently, and pure Yang fire surged into the Heavenly Demon Sect Master's body in that instant, sealing his nascent soul, dantian, and meridians. The Heavenly Demon Sect Master's body stiffened for a moment, then slowly fell backward, a final trace of calm remaining on his lips.

The last Nascent Soul Peak cultivator in the Northern Wilderness has thus perished.