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

Inside the room, Qin Muyue's words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating subtle ripples.

Li Hanshan looked at her mischievous smile, his gaze lingering for a moment on her slightly raised eyebrows and upturned lips. She was clearly teasing him on purpose, wanting to see how he would react. He reached out and pulled her up from the chair beside him. Qin Muyue hadn't expected him to be so direct; she gasped and fell into his arms.

"You—" Before she could finish speaking, Li Hanshan lowered his head and silenced her with a kiss. Qin Muyue's eyes widened, then her alluring eyes curved into crescents, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Shen Ruoxi coughed lightly and stood up: "I'm going out for a walk."

Leng Yue silently walked towards the door without looking back. Chu Mengyao clutched the emerald beads, her cheeks slightly flushed, and quickly followed Shen Ruoxi. The wooden door closed behind them with a soft sound.

Qin Muyue broke free from Li Hanshan's embrace a crack and chuckled in a low voice, "Hanlang, you're really something, daring to do that even in front of the sect leader."

The sect leader she was referring to was naturally Shen Ruoxi.

Although Shen Ruoxi is no longer the sect leader, but only an inner disciple...

But the habit formed over decades remains, and in private, she still calls him that.

Li Hanshan released her, saying calmly, "You started this." Qin Muyue giggled twice, then leaned close to his ear, her breath sweet as orchids, "So... do you still want to?"

Li Hanshan did not answer, but gave her an answer with his actions.

The courtyard wasn't large, with blue bricks and gray tiles. Although the soundproofing was crude, it was enough to block out all sounds from inside. Qin Muyue's cultivation level wasn't the highest among the women, but she was the most uninhibited. Li Hanshan was still recovering from his injuries, so this was just a light dual cultivation session, focusing on mutual recovery without any deep intercourse. Even so, Qin Muyue was still driven to beg for mercy by his ministrations, finally collapsing limply onto the pillow, too exhausted to even move a finger.

In the dead of night, the door was gently pushed open a crack, and Shen Ruoxi walked in. She saw Qin Muyue's limp state, her eyes flickered slightly, but she said nothing. She sat down at the table, poured herself a cup of cold tea, and said calmly, "I just went out for a walk and found that the array patterns around this courtyard have been disturbed. Although it's not deep, it means someone has been here."

Li Hanshan sat up, his brows furrowing slightly. "The Elders' Council?" "Not sure." Shen Ruoxi put down her teacup, her gaze grave. "But we have no other enemies in the main sect. I suspect someone is trying to investigate your background."

Li Hanshan pondered for a moment and said, "No rush. They're just testing the waters; they won't make a move openly. Ye Shuanghua gave me a substitute pill and a protective talisman, so I won't be in too much danger for the time being."

The next morning, when Li Hanshan awoke, Qin Muyue was nowhere to be seen. He walked alone out of the courtyard and along the bluestone path toward the outer perimeter of the main peak. The main peak of the Hehuan Sect was enormous, with the surrounding area alone covering hundreds of miles. He wanted to explore and see if he could find any clues to the ruins of the Yaoguang Sect.

He walked and observed. The outer perimeter of the main peak was mostly the area where outer disciples lived, with many abandoned courtyards and stone steps, clearly ancient. The further he went into the remote areas, the thinner the spiritual energy became, and the more dilapidated the buildings became. He stopped in front of a broken wall overgrown with weeds, squatted down, and reached out to brush away the vines and soil covering the base, revealing several bluish-gray stone bricks underneath. The bricks had no runes or engravings on their surface; they were just ordinary building stones, showing no trace of anything related to the Yao Guang Sect.

He visited several more locations, even using his Nascent Soul level divine sense to detect any remaining traces of the array deep underground, but to no avail. The entire main peak had been covered by the Hehuan Sect's protective array for thousands of years, and the underground spiritual veins had been completely assimilated by the Dragon Spine Spiritual Vein. Even if the Yaoguang Sect had left anything behind back then, it had long since been completely erased.

Li Hanshan stood on the edge of a precipice, gazing at the surging sea of ​​clouds below, and sighed softly. Eight thousand years ago, in these ruins, where could one find any trace of the past?

He was about to turn back when he suddenly heard the voices of several disciples talking not far away. The voices were not loud, but they clearly reached his ears.

"...That old man from the Northern Wilderness, I heard that Senior Sister Ye took him as a disciple on behalf of her master." A young male disciple's voice carried a hint of schadenfreude. "Tsk tsk, the sect leader's lineage, huh? That's not an easy place to go. I don't think he'll live for more than a few months."

"That's right. The people on the Elder's side can't stand the Sect Leader's lineage recruiting people. Last time, an inner disciple defected to the Sect Leader's lineage, and in less than half a year, he was transferred to guard the mines. Now we haven't even heard from him."

"That old man is so old, yet he still wants to curry favor with powerful figures. Doesn't he even know if he can hold onto them properly?"

"I think he'll be completely subdued in three months at most."

The group chatted and laughed as they walked down the stone steps below the cliff, completely unaware that someone was standing above them.

Li Hanshan watched their figures disappear around the corner of the stone steps, remained silent for a moment, and then turned and walked back the way he came.

He thought to himself: It's really not easy for the sect leader's lineage to get along in the Hehuan Sect. Even some ordinary outer disciples dare to talk about him.

He originally thought that the situation within the Hehuan Sect was merely a matter of resources being cut off and status being squeezed out, but now it seems that even personal safety is probably in grave danger.

Ye Shuanghua's giving him those three Substitute Tribulation Pills was definitely more than just a polite gesture. Thinking of this, he abandoned the idea of ​​continuing his investigation and decided to focus on healing his injuries and consolidating his foundation first.

As he walked back to Shen Ruoxi's courtyard along the bluestone path, a familiar figure was standing at the gate waiting for him.

Chen Tong, the manager of the External Affairs Department. He was wearing a clean External Affairs Department uniform today, with a silver manager's token hanging on his chest. His complexion was much better than yesterday, but he still avoided Li Hanshan somewhat.

"Junior Brother Li... Junior Brother Li." Chen Tong's address was much more polite than yesterday. "Senior Sister Ye instructed me to take you to choose a cave dwelling. The disciples of the sect leader's lineage have several vacant cave dwellings on the southern slope of the main peak. Please choose one to stay in."

Li Hanshan did not refuse and followed him flying towards the southern foot of the main peak.

The scenery on the southern slope was far more refined than the outer area, with shady spiritual trees, babbling spiritual springs, and occasionally a few ancient spiritual herbs growing among the cracks in the rocks. Chen Tong led him around several cave dwellings, each with its own courtyard, a protective array at the entrance, spacious interiors, and smooth stone walls, clearly having been carefully maintained. The concentration of spiritual energy was also quite considerable; although not comparable to the core area of ​​the main peak, it was still considered quite good for an inner disciple.

"These all belong to Senior Sister Ye, and are currently vacant." Chen Tong pointed to one of them, his tone somewhat cautious. "This place is backed by a mountain wall, and a mountain spring has been channeled in. It's warm in winter and cool in summer. What do you think, Junior Brother?"

Li Hanshan looked around for a few moments, then nodded and said, "This place will do."

Chen Tong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took out his token, swiping it across the barrier in front of the cave. The stone door opened silently. He carefully gave a few instructions on how to use the barrier before hurriedly taking his leave, as if afraid that staying even a moment longer would cause trouble.

Li Hanshan entered the cave and found it to be more spacious than he had imagined. It was fully equipped with a stone bed, a stone table, and a spirit spring pool; several high-quality luminous pearls were even inlaid on the walls, emitting a soft glow. He sat down beside the stone bed, circulating his spiritual energy to sense the flow of spiritual energy around him, but his brows gradually furrowed.

On the surface, this cave dwelling appears to be rich in spiritual energy, but upon careful perception, one can discover that this energy is forcibly drawn from elsewhere using some kind of diversion array. The array is crude, and most of the spiritual energy is lost during the flow, leaving only about 30% that can actually be absorbed. Worse still, a faint, chilling aura emanates from deep underground, like the lingering effects of sealed earth vein fissures. While it won't harm anyone, it will continuously erode one's foundation, and living here for many years will inevitably affect one's cultivation speed.

Li Hanshan closed his eyes and probed the depths of the cave's stone wall with his divine sense. The rough flow-guiding array extended along the veins of the stone wall to the array base at the bottom of the cave, where a gray-black spirit stone was embedded, slowly releasing a chilling aura.

"As expected, something was tampered with." He opened his eyes, his gaze turning slightly cold.

But he quickly calmed down. Since the sect leader's lineage was not well-received within the Joyful Union Sect, such covert harassment was bound to happen sooner or later; it was only a matter of time.

Instead of dealing with the spirit stone, he went out of the cave and picked some spirit herbs from several medicinal fields on the southern slope of the main peak. They were low-grade and worthless, but enough to refine some pills to restore qi and blood.

Lacking a furnace, he used the most primitive method of refining alchemy, setting up a simple refining apparatus on a stone platform outside his cave and slowly simmering it with the pure yang fire of his palm. Several women arrived one after another at his new cave, taking turns to protect him.

Qin Muyue brought a pot of spiritual wine with her, but after drinking two cups, her face flushed as she complained that the spiritual energy in this place was off, and she insisted on helping him break down the array foundation. Leng Yue didn't say anything, but silently sat down opposite him on the stone bed, using her own spiritual power to help him clear the blockages in his meridians. Chu Mengyao would pick fresh spiritual fruits every day and place them on the stone table, then sit quietly to the side reading. Shen Ruoxi would come occasionally, but each time she would only stay for a short while before leaving, and before leaving, she would check whether the restrictions outside the cave were intact.

Li Hanshan took turns practicing dual cultivation with them every day, gradually restoring his foundation with the help of the Yang Ce technique. The process was slow but steady, taking at least three months and sometimes up to half a year. The pure Yang energy that Ye Shuanghua had drained from him was slowly replenished through these daily acts of intercourse.

Three months later, his dantian finally became full again, and the golden light on the surface of his divine infant returned to its peak brilliance. Pure yang energy surged endlessly in his meridians, and his foundation at the second level of the nascent soul was completely solidified, even showing a faint tendency to advance to the third level of the nascent soul.

He opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath. Outside the window, the morning light shone through the cracks in the stone door, falling on his slightly gleaming fingertips.