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

Li Hanshan retreated rapidly, his purplish-gold pure yang fire condensing into a thick fire shield in front of him, forcefully blocking the extremely sharp sword light. A deep crack appeared on the surface of the fire shield, sparks flew everywhere, and he was forced back several steps before regaining his footing.

"I am not the Heavenly Demon!" he shouted, his gaze fixed on the figure emerging from the gray mist. "You've mistaken me for someone else!"

The young woman ignored her, and the second sword strike arrived like a shadow. That sword light was faster and more ruthless than the first, with an extremely thin and bright wisp of sharpness gathered at the tip, as if even the air itself was being cleaved in two.

Li Hanshan dodged to the side, the sword light grazing his shoulder and slicing a black crack in the gray-white void behind him, with tiny fragments of space churning at the edges.

His heart sank.

Something's wrong with this dream.

In his previous dreams, he had never encountered any attacks.

Luo Li said that this dream is unique to him, and outsiders cannot enter, let alone attack him from inside.

But the woman before him attacked with fierce and decisive moves, each sword strike carrying genuine killing intent. Clearly, it was not an illusion, but a real attack.

Listen to me—

The woman did not listen. The third sword strike had already arrived.

This sword strike was completely different from the previous two.

The sword traced a strange arc in the air, its trajectory resembling a crescent moon, yet its sword intent aimed directly at his sea of ​​consciousness. Li Hanshan felt an extremely sharp aura pierce through the defenses of the Pure Yang Fire, striking straight into the depths of his soul, like an invisible steel needle piercing the core of his spirit.

He groaned, a tearing pain shooting through his mind.

The divine sword, which had been tempered in the center of the sea of ​​consciousness for a long time, spontaneously shot out and collided with the invading sword intent.

boom!

The two sword intents collided deep within the sea of ​​consciousness, exploding into a blinding light.

Li Hanshan's divine soul avatar was forced back several steps by the shock, a trace of golden light spilling from the corner of his mouth. He gritted his teeth and steadied himself, about to speak again, when the woman's fourth sword strike landed.

This sword strike didn't cut him, but rather the dreamscape beneath his feet.

The sword light, like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night, struck the gray-white stone surface with tremendous force.

The entire dream trembled violently, and the grayish-white mist scattered and flew in all directions like pieces of paper being swept up by a gale.

The golden membrane at the edge of the dream uttered a crisp sound as it succumbed to the weight of the sword strike. Cracks spread rapidly in all directions from where the sword fell, instantly covering the entire void.

The scene before Li Hanshan's eyes began to shatter.

The grayish-white stone surface shattered into countless pieces, like a broken mirror, with his own reflection in each fragment.

Those fragments tumbled, scattered, and collapsed, eventually turning into nothingness.

He felt his consciousness being pulled out of this space by an irresistible force, as if he were lifted from deep water and thrown onto the surface.

He opened his eyes.

The first thing you see is the wooden ceiling of the spirit boat's cabin, with the cold light of the luminous pearls flowing slowly overhead.

He lay on the futon, drenched in cold sweat. His robes were soaked through, and sweat dripped from his forehead. His chest heaved, and he breathed rapidly, as if he had just finished a long run.

He sat up, and the first thing he did was explore his own sea of ​​consciousness.

His sea of ​​consciousness was intact. The sword of the soul floated quietly in the center, its golden blade without a single crack, as if the battle just now had been an illusion. But the stinging pain of the sword intent piercing his soul still lingered deep within his consciousness, as clear as if it had just happened.

He raised his hand and pressed his temples, feeling a throbbing sensation in his temples.

"Awake?" The sect leader's voice came from the side, tinged with concern. "You were sweating profusely and your breathing was erratic, as if you were trapped in some kind of nightmare."

Li Hanshan turned his head and saw the sect leader sitting not far away, her gaze fixed on him. Her black veil still covered her face, but there was a hint of inquiry in her deep eyes.

"I had a dream," he said, his voice a little hoarse. "Someone wanted to kill me, saying I was a demon."

The sect leader raised an eyebrow: "A Heavenly Demon?"

"Hmm." Li Hanshan stood up and walked to the porthole. The sea outside had returned to its normal deep blue, the array patterns on the spirit boat were operating smoothly, and the protective light of the array was soft and stable. He didn't know how long the dream lasted, but it felt like only the time it takes for an incense stick to burn; in reality, it should have been even shorter.

He closed his eyes, trying to recall the aura of that sword strike. The fourth sword strike from that woman, the sword light that tore through the barrier of dreams, its sharpness, its ferocity, and the pure intent to tear everything apart contained within it, were essentially of the same origin as the ancient sword energy he had sensed in the chasm.

"It can't be such a coincidence..." he muttered to himself.

He only spent a few hours comprehending that sword intent in the chasm. Even if he had some understanding, it wouldn't be to the point that he was being chased by that level of sword intent in his dream.

Unless that sword intent originally existed in his subconscious and was only awakened by the sword energy of the insurmountable barrier, or perhaps the woman herself was not a product of his dream.

He recalled the look in the woman's eyes when she emerged from the gray fog.

Those eyes were as cold as frost, with a chilling focus as if scrutinizing prey—it was clearly a living being with its own will and judgment, not an unconscious illusion generated in his dream.

But how did she enter his dream?

Li Hanshan stood by the porthole, gazing at the waves cut by the spirit boat on the sea, and remained silent for a long time.

In the days that followed, he tried to enter that dream again, only to find that he could no longer sense that pulling force.

That gray space, that woman with the sword, that sword light that tore through the dream, all vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

He could only put the mystery aside for the time being and focus his attention back on the voyage ahead.

After the spirit boat had been sailing for two months, more and more ships appeared on the sea.

At first, I only occasionally saw the shadow of a mast on the distant sea, and every now and then a small boat would pass by. Later, more and more boats appeared, some traveling in the same direction as the spirit boat, some coming towards me, and some anchored on the sea, their hulls shining with various colored patterns, looking like colorful stars floating on the sea from afar.

Deacon Xu stood at the bow of the ship, watching the passing vessels, his tone calm: "They're all here to comprehend sword intent. Every few decades, the sword energy at the edge of the chasm becomes relatively milder, and that's when people come to try their luck. Most are independent cultivators, but there are also some from small sects. Those who are lucky can glean some superficial understanding from the sword energy, while those who are unlucky have their divine sense shattered by the sword energy, and it's not uncommon for them to become fools."

Li Hanshan gazed at the small boats scattered across the sea, noticing that each vessel was carefully positioned a few miles from the edge of the chasm. The cultivators on board sat cross-legged, cautiously extending their divine senses into the area of ​​white mist. Some had calm expressions, some frowned, and one suddenly screamed, clutching his forehead and collapsing to the ground.

"They're gambling." The sect leader had appeared beside him unnoticed, his gaze also fixed on the scattered ships. "They're gambling on whether they can withstand the impact of that sword intent, gambling on what they can glean from it. If they win, their cultivation will soar; if they lose, their soul will be damaged. The path of cultivation is full of gambles, only the stakes differ."

Li Hanshan nodded, offering no comment.

He observed the cultivators who were trying to comprehend sword intent for a while longer before turning back to his cabin. The highest cultivation level among them was only at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, a level lower than his own, and even the best comprehension had its limitations. He had no interest in watching others gamble with their lives; he was more concerned about what would happen after arriving on the Tianyuan Continent.

The spirit boat traversed the seas at the edge of the chasm for nearly four more months. During these four months, the number of ships on the sea gradually decreased, and eventually they disappeared completely. The seawater changed from deep blue to a deep turquoise, the crisp air grew stronger, and scattered pieces of driftwood and fallen leaves began to appear on the sea surface—things from the land.

"We're almost there." Deacon Xu emerged from the main control room, standing at the bow and gazing at the increasingly clear horizon ahead. "The coastline of the Tianyuan Continent is now visible. Three more days of sailing, and we'll reach the port of Zhongzhou."

Standing at the bow of the ship, Li Hanshan gazed at the endless gray-brown outline in the distance, a sense of anticipation welling up in his heart.

Just then, his Nascent Soul level divine sense suddenly detected two extremely powerful auras rapidly approaching from the horizon ahead. Those two auras were violent and cold, carrying intense killing intent, like two burning black flames, breaking through the clouds and rushing straight towards the spirit boat.

"Enemy attack!" he shouted sternly.

Deacon Xu's face darkened instantly, and he placed his hand on the main array base at the bow of the ship. A thick layer of azure light suddenly illuminated the spirit boat's protective array, enveloping the entire vessel. His gaze was fixed on the two rapidly approaching black streaks of light, and he squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth: "Nascent Soul cultivators from the Heavenly Demon Sect."

Li Hanshan felt a chill run down his spine.

Two streaks of black light abruptly stopped several miles ahead of the spirit boat. The light dissipated, revealing two figures clad in black robes. The leader had a sinister face, narrow, razor-sharp eyes, and was surrounded by dense demonic energy, his aura as deep and unfathomable as the sea. The other was a tall, bald man with a rugged face and a grotesque scar running from his brow bone to his chin on his left cheek; his aura was equally formidable. Both exuded the unbridled pressure of early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, releasing it without reservation, like an invisible mountain pressing down on the spirit boat.

Without a word, Deacon Xu raised his hand and unleashed a cyan spell at the sinister-looking man, simultaneously shouting, "You all hurry! Head southeast! Find the main sect's people when you reach the shore!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already leaped from the bow of the ship, his cyan robe fluttering in the gale, and collided fiercely with the two black streaks of light. The three Nascent Soul stage powers collided in mid-air, exploding into a blinding light, and the sea surface within a radius of dozens of miles was shaken and churned.

Li Hanshan didn't hesitate. He turned and rushed into the cabin, grabbing the sect leader's arm: "Let's go!"

Without Deacon Xu's control, the spirit boat's array patterns began to flicker violently, and its speed plummeted. Several people filed out of the cabin, each summoning their flying swords or magical flying artifacts, transforming into streaks of light and fleeing at full speed towards the southeast.

Behind them, the sound of the three Nascent Soul stage colliding rolled in like muffled thunder, causing the waves on the sea to surge upwards.