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

After Li Hanshan recovered his cultivation, he did not rush to find Ye Shuanghua.

He continued to cultivate with Qin Muyue, Leng Yue, and Chu Mengyao in the cave, and Shen Ruoxi would occasionally come as well, with a tacit understanding between them.

That afternoon, Li Hanshan had just come out of the Spirit Spring Pool, changed into a clean blue robe, and was about to go to the External Affairs Hall to collect his monthly allowance—although Ye Shuanghua had said that she would allocate cultivation resources, he still had to collect his basic monthly allowance himself—when he suddenly heard a commotion outside the cave.

He pushed open the stone door and saw several male cultivators dressed in inner sect disciple robes standing on the bluestone path outside the courtyard. The leader was tall and square-faced, with a golden inner sect disciple token hanging from his waist, indicating that his cultivation was at the late Nascent Soul stage. Behind him were three early Nascent Soul cultivators, surrounding a woman in purple and blocking her in the middle of the path. The woman in purple was none other than Qin Muyue.

"Junior Sister Qin," the leading male cultivator spoke, his voice carrying a hint of feigned gentleness, "I've said it several times already. You've just been promoted from the branch sect, and you have no one to look after you in the inner sect, so it's inevitable that you'll be bullied. Be my Daoist partner, and I can protect you. On this main peak, my words still carry some weight."

Qin Muyue stood in the middle of the road, arms crossed, a hint of impatient sneer on her alluring face: "Senior Brother Chang, I've said it several times already. I already have a Daoist partner, and I don't want to change."

Chang Sheng frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the cave behind her: "Your Daoist partner is that old man from the Northern Wilderness? An old geezer, only at the second level of the Nascent Soul stage. Junior Sister Qin, what kind of taste do you have? What future can you have following him?"

He took a step forward, his tone becoming increasingly authoritative, "I'll ask you one last time, will you agree or not?"

Qin Muyue tilted her head, her smile growing colder: "I won't agree."

Chang Sheng's face finally darkened.

His three henchmen also stepped forward, forming a clear encirclement. Several inner disciples passing by stopped and watched from a distance, whispers spreading through the crowd.

"Isn't that Senior Brother Chang? Why is he arguing with someone again?"

"That female cultivator in purple seems to be from the Northern Wilderness branch sect. She's quite pretty, and Senior Brother Chang has taken a liking to her."

"Senior Brother Chang is at the late Nascent Soul stage, ranking among the top inner disciples. That female cultivator isn't even at the Nascent Soul stage, yet she dares to refuse?"

"That cave behind her is the territory of the sect leader's lineage. Could that old man be the one Senior Sister Ye took on as a disciple on behalf of her master?"

"Tsk tsk, people from the sect leader's lineage, no wonder Senior Brother Chang dares to be so blatant."

Hearing the discussions, Li Hanshan knew he could no longer stand idly by.

He stepped out of the cave, through the courtyard gate, onto the bluestone path, and headed towards the spot where Qin Muyue was blocked. His pace was neither fast nor slow, and his pure Yang energy circulated silently through his meridians.

Chang Sheng saw him approaching, his gaze sweeping over him before a contemptuous smile appeared on his lips: "Oh, the main character has arrived. I thought you were going to hide in your shell and wouldn't dare come out."

He sized Li Hanshan up and down, his gaze lingering on his weathered old face for a moment, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm, "Someone like you, does he even deserve to be Junior Sister Qin's Daoist partner? If I were you, I would have left long ago, so as not to ruin that girl's future."

Li Hanshan stopped beside Qin Muyue and looked calmly at Chang Sheng: "She is my Daoist partner, it's none of your business."

Chang Sheng scoffed and winked at his followers behind him: "Did you hear that? A mere Nascent Soul Stage 2 old man says it's none of my business."

His followers burst into laughter. Chang Sheng withdrew his gaze and looked back at Li Hanshan, his tone suddenly turning cold. "Old man, I gave you a chance. If you know what's good for you, get out of the Hehuan Sect today, and I might spare your life. If you don't—"

He took a step forward, releasing his late-stage Nascent Soul power without reservation, like an invisible mountain pressing down on Li Hanshan. "I'll show you what it means to wish you were dead."

The moment that oppressive force descended, Li Hanshan felt the surrounding air become thicker.

Chang Sheng's spiritual power was thick and rough, carrying a feminine aura common in the Hehuan Sect. It coiled around Li Hanshan's meridians, attempting to bind him to the spot. Li Hanshan did not move. His pure yang energy quietly circulated in his dantian, easily tearing away the feminine binding as easily as snapping a spider web.

Chang Sheng seemed unaware that he had broken through the oppressive aura. He raised his hand and grabbed at Li Hanshan's shoulder, his five fingers swirling with a pale purple spiritual light, clearly using seven or eight tenths of his strength: "I'll seal your dantian first, so you won't move around recklessly."

Just as his palm was about to touch Li Hanshan's shoulder, Li Hanshan raised his hand, and pure yang fire silently condensed in his palm, meeting the attack head-on.

The moment their palms touched, Chang Sheng's contemptuous smile froze. He felt an extremely hot and pure power surge from Li Hanshan's palm, like a volcano exploding in his hand. His pale purple spiritual energy shield was as thin as paper under the impact of the pure yang fire, instantly pierced through, and the scorching flames spread up his palm, burning a patch of blackened cuffs.

"What?!" Chang Sheng's expression changed drastically. He abruptly pulled his hand back and looked down. His palm was already red and swollen, with tiny blisters visible at the edges. His followers were also stunned. They had never seen Chang Sheng forced back in a single move, especially by an old man at the second level of the Nascent Soul stage.

A few low gasps of surprise erupted from the crowd: "That old man... blocked Senior Brother Chang's palm strike?"

"Senior Brother Chang is at the late Nascent Soul stage. Even if he didn't use his full strength, he shouldn't have been forced back by someone at the second Nascent Soul stage!"

"Look at Senior Brother Chang's hands, they're burned! What kind of fire was that? How could it be so powerful?"

The discussion grew louder and louder, and the number of disciples who stopped to watch increased from the initial seven or eight to twenty or thirty, and it was still growing.

Chang Sheng's face completely fell. He abruptly withdrew his hand, his gaze shifting from initial contempt to surprise, then to rage and shame. He gritted his teeth and forced out a single sentence: "Old man, you dare fight back?"

Li Hanshan withdrew his hand, the pure Yang fire flickering briefly at his fingertips before extinguishing. He said calmly, "You attacked first."

Chang Sheng didn't waste any more words. He suddenly took out a small bronze seal from his waist. The seal was only about half the size of a palm, its surface covered with densely packed runes. Under the stimulation of his spiritual power, it suddenly expanded, transforming into a bronze seal the size of a millstone. It emitted a pale golden light and carried a tyrannical sense of oppression, pressing down on Li Hanshan's head. That was Chang Sheng's magic weapon, the "Mountain Suppressing Seal," which was specifically designed to break through protective spiritual light and was quite famous among the inner disciples.

The moment the copper seal pressed down, Li Hanshan didn't even lift his eyelids.

He merely turned slightly, and pure Yang fire surged from his palm, condensing into a thin fire shield in front of him, effortlessly meeting the bronze seal. The fire shield collided with the bronze seal, producing a muffled thud. The pale golden light of the bronze seal, upon touching the fire shield, was as if it had struck an invisible wall, forcefully blocked in mid-air, unable to fall even an inch further.

Chang Sheng's expression finally changed completely.

He desperately channeled his spiritual power, trying to make the copper seal continue to press down, but the pure yang fire was like a red-hot iron mountain, unmoving no matter how hard he tried. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his knuckles turned white from the hand seals he made, but the copper seal only hovered in mid-air, trembling slightly, unable to be pressed down even an inch.

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted into an even more heated discussion: "The Zhenyue Seal has been blocked!"

"Senior Brother Chang's magic weapon couldn't even suppress an old man at the second level of the Nascent Soul stage?"

"What kind of spell is that fire shield? I've never seen it before."

"This isn't an ordinary flame; it seems to be... pure Yang fire? The pure Yang fire of an innate pure Yang holy body!"

"Heavens! The Pure Yang Holy Body truly lives up to its reputation!"

Chang Sheng gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

He had already pushed his spiritual power to ninety percent, but the bronze seal seemed to be stuck in quagmire, unable to move forward or backward. His followers looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Two of them quietly took a half step back, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, a golden beam of light flew in from afar and landed on the outskirts of the crowd. As the light dissipated, a familiar figure was revealed to Li Hanshan—Chen Tong.

He was dressed in the uniform of the Foreign Affairs Office, carrying a tray with a gray token glowing with spiritual light and a storage ring on it, clearly sent to deliver the monthly allowance. He squeezed into the crowd and immediately saw the two people facing off in the middle of the arena—Chang Sheng's bronze seal was held in mid-air by Li Hanshan's fire shield, not moving an inch—his face turned pale, and he almost lost his footing.

"This, this..." Chen Tong opened his mouth, his voice trembling, "Senior Brother Chang! Junior Brother Li! How could you..." He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly caught sight of Li Hanshan's calm eyes, and then saw Chang Sheng's sweaty and ashen face. He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He shoved the tray in his hand into the hands of a follower beside him, hurriedly stepped forward, and bowed to the two men, saying, "Senior brothers, let's talk this out! The External Affairs Hall just received a notice that today's monthly allowance will be distributed uniformly. Why don't you two go and collect your allowance first, and we can discuss any misunderstandings another day—"

Chang Sheng snorted coldly and abruptly withdrew the bronze seal. The small seal shrank to the size of a palm in mid-air and landed back in his palm.

His face remained ashen, his gaze fixed menacingly on Li Hanshan: "Old man, you're lucky this time."

Then he turned and strode away, not even bothering to say goodbye to his followers. The three followers quickly followed, disappearing around the corner of the cobblestone road in a few steps.

The crowd gradually dispersed, but those who had been watching the spectacle lingered on Li Hanshan for a long time.

Some whispered among themselves, "When did such a person emerge from the sect leader's lineage?" Others shook their heads and said, "Offending Chang Sheng will likely lead to dire consequences." Still others simply clicked their tongues in amazement and walked away.

Chen Tong finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He quickly walked up to Li Hanshan and lowered his voice, saying, "Junior Brother Li, you really know how to cause trouble. Chang Sheng is a top-ranking figure among the inner disciples, and his master is a disciple of the Second Elder. You've offended him, and he'll definitely make things difficult for you in the future. However... your fire shield just now was indeed powerful, even able to block the Zhenyue Seal. I was overthinking it."

After he finished speaking, he took out the gray token and storage ring from his sleeve and handed them over. "This is your monthly allowance; the spirit stones and pills are all inside. Senior Sister Ye also asked me to pass on a message to you—she said that if you want to go out, you should let her know first, and she will send someone to follow you."

Li Hanshan accepted the token and ring, nodded, and said, "Thank you for your help, Steward Chen." Chen Tong gave a few more instructions and then hurriedly left.

Qin Muyue walked to his side, took his arm, and said with a hint of smugness, "Hanlang, those moves you made just now were really satisfying. You didn't see Changsheng's face; it looked like he'd swallowed a fly." Li Hanshan shook his head and didn't reply.

After returning to his cave, he sat down by the stone bed and picked up the gray token to examine it carefully. It was the official identification token of an inner disciple. He put the token away, leaned back on the stone bed, closed his eyes to rest, and pondered his next move.

With his current cultivation level, those Void Refinement Elders might not care about him.

However, the situation is different for the disciples below the Elders' Council, especially some of the Nascent Soul stage disciples.

They might all be harboring thoughts like suppressing the disciples of the sect leader's lineage in order to gain the attention of the elders' council.

Just like this Changsheng, it's probably only the beginning.

This guy is probably playing the vanguard, his purpose being to test Li Hanshan's abilities.

But at least today's battle confirmed one thing for him—the quality of Pure Yang Fire could suppress the spiritual power of cultivators of the same or even higher levels in the Central Continent. Although his cultivation at the second level of the Nascent Soul stage was not impressive, his Pure Yang Qi was far superior to that of ordinary second-level Nascent Soul cultivators.