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

Three days later, at the Hehuan Sect's main square.

A pale blue spirit boat hovered above the plaza, its silver array patterns gleaming with a cold light in the morning glow.

Deacon Xu stood with his hands behind his back in front of the spirit boat's cabin, his gaze sweeping over the crowd of people seeing him off in the square, his expression indifferent.

Li Hanshan stood below the spirit boat, surrounded by the sect leader, Qin Muyue, Leng Yue, Chu Mengyao, and several holy sons and daughters he was not very familiar with. These people were all elites selected by the Hehuan Sect over the past few decades, and now they had finally waited for the opportunity to go to the Central Continent.

Qin Muyue wore a simple purple dress today, less alluring than usual, and more dignified; Leng Yue still had that aloof and moon-like appearance, her silver-white dress fluttering gently in the morning breeze; Chu Mengyao stood a little further away, holding the emerald bead in her hand, her gaze calm.

The sect leader stood at the very front of everyone, her black dress as dark as ink, her face veiled in black gauze. She gazed at the spirit boat in the morning light, her body ramrod straight, but Li Hanshan could feel her hands trembling slightly as she gripped her sleeves. Having waited hundreds of years, this day had finally arrived; anyone would feel the same way.

"Is everyone here?" Deacon Xu's voice came from the cabin door of the spirit boat.

The sect leader turned around and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Deacon Xu: "Reporting to Senior, there are five people in total, and they have all arrived."

Deacon Xu nodded, his gaze sweeping over Li Hanshan: "Come on up."

Li Hanshan was the last to leap onto the spirit boat, and stood at the ship's side to look back.

The five peaks of the Hehuan Sect stood majestically in the morning light. The pale green mist still shrouded the waist of the Jade Peak, and the roof of the main hall reflected golden light in the sunlight. The disciples who had come to see them off were still standing in the square, some waving, some wiping away tears, and some just standing silently, watching the spirit boat slowly rise.

The door of the spirit boat slowly closed. The array patterns on the hull suddenly lit up, the entire spirit boat trembled slightly, and then transformed into a streak of bluish-white light, breaking through the protective array of the Hehuan Sect and speeding towards the Endless Sea.

Li Hanshan stood by the porthole in the cabin, watching the mountains and rivers rushing past below. The land of the Northern Wilderness gradually shrank in his view, from continuous mountain ranges to a dark brown patch, and finally to a thin outline. An hour later, that vast gray-brown land completely disappeared at the horizon, replaced by an endless deep blue ocean.

The endless sea.

As the spirit boat entered the sea, its speed increased dramatically. All the array patterns on its hull lit up, cleaving the oncoming sea breeze in two. The seawater rushed back beneath the boat, creating two long white streaks, like two giant serpents racing across the surface. Li Hanshan stood by the porthole, gazing at the unfathomable ocean in the distance, a strange tremor suddenly welling up within him.

"First time traveling far from home?" Deacon Xu appeared beside him at some point, standing with his hands behind his back in front of another porthole, his gaze also fixed on the churning sea.

"Hmm." Li Hanshan nodded. "Although I spent some time in the Endless Sea before, I have never left the area of ​​the Northern Wilderness Sea."

Deacon Xu was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "You've kept your little pet quite well hidden."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained impassive: "What are you referring to, senior?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Deacon Xu said calmly. "To find a follower of this caliber in a place like the Northern Wilderness, one must indeed have some skill."

Li Hanshan secretly became more vigilant. He had thought Xiao An was well hidden, but he hadn't expected that she would still be exposed in front of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Fortunately, Xiao An was still asleep, digesting his primordial spirit, and the little beast wasn't following him; otherwise, being targeted by this person might have caused some trouble.

After thinking it over, he felt that Deacon Xu probably meant no harm. If the other party really wanted to harm him, they could have done so long ago at the Joyful Union Sect, instead of waiting until now.

"Senior's insight is truly remarkable; I admire you greatly." He clasped his hands in a fist salute.

Deacon Xu said nothing more and turned to walk towards the other end of the cabin.

Li Hanshan withdrew his gaze and continued to look at the gradually deepening seawater outside the window. The spirit boat had been sailing for about half a day, and the color of the seawater changed from deep blue to inky black, and then from inky black to a near-deep purple hue. Scattered whirlpools and undercurrents began to appear on the surface of the sea, and occasionally a few huge shadows swept past the bottom of the ship.

Li Hanshan could feel an invisible pressure slowly increasing—the force of the natural barrier between the Northern Wilderness and the Tianyuan Continent. This force, like an unseen tide, silently pressed down on the spirit boat's protective array, causing the silver array patterns on the hull to emit a faint hum. If the spirit boat's protective array had not been sturdy enough, an ordinary flying boat would have long been torn to shreds by this pressure.

"How much further?" he asked.

Deacon Xu's voice came from the cabin in front, and although there was a door between them, it was as clear as if he were speaking right next to their ear: "At this rate, it will take about another year to reach Tianyuan Continent."

One year.

Li Hanshan took a deep breath, sat cross-legged on the futon by the porthole, and began to meditate and regulate his breathing. He needed to consolidate his cultivation over the next year to prepare for any situation he might face after arriving in Zhongzhou.

Meanwhile, on the coastline of the Endless Sea in the Northern Wilderness, a dozen figures stood on the rocks in the twilight. The sea breeze ruffled their clothes, and the waves crashed against the rocks beneath their feet with a rhythmic roar.

Hua Nongying stood at the front, holding the dark blue conch shell in her hand. She raised it to her lips, took a deep breath, and then blew hard.

The conch shell emitted a deep, resonant chirp, the sound piercing through the sea breeze, waves, and twilight, spreading towards the endless depths of the ocean. The sound echoed across the vast sea for a long time before gradually fading away.

"No response," Liu Ruoxue, standing behind her, said in a low voice.

Hua Nongying blew the conch shell twice more. Its chirping echoed again in the twilight before fading into silence. Nothing appeared on the sea except for the churning waves. Yun Shuyue and Xu Lingxi stood on the beach behind them, Xu Lingxi clutching the hem of her clothes, her small face filled with nervousness.

"What if they don't even come?" Xu Lingxi asked softly.

Jiang Nianwei stood beside her, her gaze fixed on the surging waves: "Let's wait. He said he would come, and he should."

Hua Nongying carefully put the conch shell away, sat down on a rock, and gazed at the boundless, deep blue sea without saying a word. The sea breeze tousled her long hair, but her gaze remained calm.

"I waited for him once in the secret realm," she suddenly said, her voice soft. "Back then, he was at the Qi Refining stage, and I was at the Foundation Establishment stage. When he was trapped in the secret realm, I waited for him outside the teleportation array every day. I waited for a long time." She paused for a moment. "Later, he did come out. After that, I believed him. If he said he would come back, he would definitely not let me wait in vain."

Liu Ruoxue stood beside her, silent, but a hint of warmth seemed to appear in her icy eyes. Night deepened, waves surged, and only the shimmering moonlight danced on the sea's surface.

On the fifteenth day, everything suddenly changed.

It was noon on the fifteenth day. The calm sea, which had lasted for several days, suddenly began to churn. At first, there were only slight ripples, but they quickly turned into obvious surges. The waves grew higher and higher, and the rocks on the shore were crashed against the shore with a deafening roar. The girls stood up from the beach, and Xu Lingxi nervously grabbed Jiang Nianwei's sleeve.

A shadow of unimaginable size was slowly rising from beneath the sea.

The shadow blocked out nearly half the sunlight from the sea, shrouding the entire coastline in a deep gloom. The sea parted to the sides, forming two walls of water tens of meters high, their waves surging like inverted waterfalls. In the center of the sea, a head so enormous it defied description was slowly emerging from the water, its bluish-gray patterns on its shell resembling ancient totems, gleaming with a deep luster in the sunlight.

Hua Nongying's fingers tightened slightly as she held the conch shell.

The giant tortoise's head rose higher and higher, finally slowly lowering, its two large, millstone-like eyes looking down at the figures on the reef from more than ten feet above the sea. Its gaze swept over the conch shell in Hua Nongying's hand, and over the women standing on the reef; there was no aggression in its pupils, only a sense of scrutiny and confirmation.

A moment later, it opened its mouth and let out a deep, long cry. The sound pierced through the sea and air, echoing along the entire coastline.

Hua Nongying turned around, glanced at Yun Shuyue, and then at Liu Ruoxue. Liu Ruoxue didn't speak, only nodded coldly. A barely perceptible smile appeared on Yun Shuyue's lips, as if she had finally breathed a sigh of relief.