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

Li Hanshan retreated to the stone wall at the cave entrance, his back pressed against the cold rock. The attack of the twelve silver corpses paused slightly, forming a semi-circular encirclement in front of him. Silver-gray runes slowly flowed across their bodies, awaiting the next command.

Granny Yin slowly descended a few feet in front of him, her withered fingers gently tracing the lines on the edge of her sleeve. Her gaze lingered on Li Hanshan for a long time, and a complex emotion gradually emerged in her cloudy eyes—at first, it was scrutiny, then curiosity, and finally, that curiosity was replaced by something even more fervent.

"Pure Yang Sacred Body." Her voice was hoarse but filled with barely suppressed excitement as she uttered these four words. "No wonder your flames could harm my silver corpses. The flames of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators can't even burn a layer of skin on a silver corpse. But your flames can leave scorch marks on them. Pure Yang Qi is indeed a good thing."

She took a step forward, her cloudy eyes scrutinizing Li Hanshan as if examining a newly unearthed artifact: "To have lived to such an old age and still possess such pure Yang energy, you've maintained yourself remarkably well. If the Pure Yang Sacred Body were refined into a Pure Yang Battle Puppet, it would be an unparalleled weapon of destruction. Your flames wouldn't require magic to drive them, your bones could be tempered into an indestructible body by Yin Sha runes, and your soul could be forever sealed within your body for your use. At that time, even a Nascent Soul cultivator might not be able to withstand a single punch from you."

Her voice trailed off, but the smile on her lips deepened, as if she had already visualized the battle puppet in her mind: "I never expected it to be such a treasure. Capturing you makes this trip worthwhile." She waved her hand. "Take it back."

Two silver corpses stepped forward simultaneously, their claws reaching for Li Hanshan's shoulder. Li Hanshan dodged one of their attacks, but the other's claws had already gripped his right arm. An extremely cold aura seeped into his meridians through the point of contact, like ice water being poured into a scalding pipe, causing the flow of pure Yang energy in his right arm to stagnate.

"I am a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect," he said in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on Granny Yin. "Does your Yin Spring Sect intend to become enemies with the Joyful Union Sect?"

Granny Yin paused slightly. She tilted her head and looked at him for a few moments, as if she had heard something amusing, then grinned, her laughter hoarse and grating: "The Joyous Union Sect? Junior, do you think you can intimidate me by mentioning the name of the Joyous Union Sect? You, a disciple at the early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, killed people from the Yin Spring Sect. Today, no one can save you."

She stepped forward, her withered index finger pressed against Li Hanshan's brow, and a gray spiritual energy surged from her fingertip into his meridians, flowing down along the pure yang meridian and into his dantian, sealing off the spiritual energy on the surface of his divine infant layer by layer.

Li Hanshan felt a chilling, bone-piercing Yin energy tighten around his dantian like an iron clamp, causing the circulation of his divine infant to suddenly slow down, and even the flames of pure Yang fire abruptly retreated into his body. His limbs felt weak, and his spiritual power was suppressed, like frozen river water.

The silver corpse loosened its claws and took a step back. Granny Yin withdrew her fingers, turned and flew out of the cave, leaving behind a single sentence without looking back: "Seal his dantian and take him away. Don't let him die, or he'll be worthless."

Two silver corpses grabbed Li Hanshan's arms, lifted him off the ground, and followed Granny Yin out of the cave. A cold mountain wind rushed towards them. Li Hanshan's body was suspended in mid-air by the silver corpses. The gray-black mountains in his field of vision receded, and Granny Yin's hunched figure flew slowly ahead, with twelve silver corpses following in two rows behind, like a silent escort team.

After flying for about half an hour, Granny Yin slowed down, as if waiting for Li Hanshan to adjust to his confinement. Li Hanshan turned his head, looking at her profile, and suddenly asked, "Since you're so eager to use the Pure Yang Holy Body to refine battle puppets, why don't you go and capture some young and strong ones? I'm old, my bones are all loose, how good would the battle puppets I make be?"

Granny Yin didn't turn around. Her voice drifted from ahead, tinged with impatience: "Do you think the Pure Yang Sacred Body is so easy to catch? Such talent would be a treasure in any sect. When they're young, sects would never let them go out. Even if they occasionally go out, they carry a bunch of life-saving trump cards. Even if I catch up with them, I might not be able to keep them. Do you think I don't want to catch young ones? I'll only do so if I can catch them."

Li Hanshan fell silent. He had come all the way from the Northern Wilderness, experiencing countless dangers, but most of the time he had relied on his trump cards and luck to turn the tide. Now that he had arrived in the Central Continent, he truly understood the extent of the danger in this place. In the Northern Wilderness, a Nascent Soul cultivator could roam freely, but in the Central Continent, they could be easily crushed by a Deity Transformation cultivator, without even room for negotiation. Every sect was cultivating its own geniuses, and every territory was guarded by powerful figures. It was many times more difficult for rogue cultivators and outsiders to gain a foothold than in the Northern Wilderness.

He quickly calculated in his mind. Granny Yin wanted to take him back to the Yin Spring Sect to refine the battle puppet, a process that would take at least several days or even longer.

Xiao An has already escaped. Now, all he can hope for is that she can call for reinforcements. That way, he still has a chance to escape. The most urgent thing now is to buy time and prevent her from refining him prematurely.

Just as he was about to say something more to stall for time, a subtle tremor suddenly came from the horizon ahead. The tremor was initially very faint, like a heavy object falling into the sea in the distance, but it quickly became more and more obvious, and even the air began to ripple with visible waves. Granny Yin abruptly stopped, her cloudy eyes looking in that direction, her brows furrowing.

On the horizon, a pure white flying boat emerged from the clouds, its hull adorned with intricate silver runes that reflected a soft glow in the sunlight. The flying boat moved with incredible speed, closing in within a few breaths from the distant horizon to within several miles, showing no intention of yielding. Granny Yin's expression darkened. She raised her hand, signaling the silver corpse to stop, and turned towards the flying boat, gray spiritual energy quietly gathering in her palm.

The airship hovered steadily several dozen feet away. The cabin door slid open silently, and a white figure stepped out, suspended in mid-air. It was a young woman, dressed in a long white dress, with long, flowing hair, a beautiful and ethereal appearance, and a deep, unfathomable aura emanating from her, carrying an undeniable pressure. Her gaze swept over Granny Yin, over the twelve silver corpses, and finally landed on Li Hanshan, who was being held captive by the silver corpses.

Her gaze paused slightly.

"Grandma Yin," the woman in white spoke, her voice sharp and cold, "You dare to capture a disciple of our Joyful Union Sect? How dare you!"

When Granny Yin saw the other person, her gaze sharpened, and a deep sense of apprehension flashed across her face.

"The Sword of Startling Beauty! Night Frost!"

Granny Yin uttered the other person's name slowly and deliberately, a hint of undisguised apprehension flashing in her cloudy eyes.

She knew better than anyone how famous this name was in the southeastern part of Central Continent.

The youngest Nascent Soul cultivator in the Hehuan Sect, she was decisive and ruthless in her attacks, never hesitant or indecisive. Once, during a sect conflict, she severed the left arm of a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Yinquan Sect with a single sword strike. From then on, the name "Jinghong Sword" became a sharp blade hanging over the heads of everyone in the Yinquan Sect.

But this is her Yinquan Sect's territory.

Granny Yin suppressed the chill in her heart, her withered fingers clenching tightly inside her sleeve.

She grinned, revealing a set of uneven, yellow teeth, her voice dry yet carrying a forced coldness: "Ye Shuanghua, this is the territory of my Yinquan Sect, not your Hehuan Sect."

She raised her hand and gestured around, her fingertip pointing at the vast, gray-black mountains. "You, a disciple of the Joyful Union Sect, dare to come to my Yin Spring Sect's territory to snatch someone? Do you really think my Yin Spring Sect has no one left?"

Ye Shuanghua did not answer. Her gaze passed over Granny Yin and landed on Li Hanshan. After confirming that his dantian was sealed, a cold glint flashed in her clear eyes. She didn't say anything more, nor did she even look at Granny Yin again. She raised her hand, and her sword flashed.

The sword light came without any warning.

A white light, like a bolt of lightning piercing the twilight, shot out from Ye Shuanghua's fingertips, precisely striking the two silver corpses holding Li Hanshan captive. Granny Yin's expression changed drastically; her withered fingers swiftly formed a hand seal, urging the two silver corpses to retreat, but the speed of the Jinghong Sword was never something an opponent could react to.

As the sword flashed, the bodies of the two silver corpses split in two, the cuts as smooth as mirrors, without even a speck of dust rising. They were neatly cleaved in two and fell from the sky.