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

Days flow by like water, quietly passing by.

Li Hanshan put aside his thoughts and stopped looking for traces of the Yaoguang Sect, focusing instead on cultivating diligently in his cave.

Every day, he takes turns cultivating with Qin Muyue, Leng Yue, and Chu Mengyao. Occasionally, Shen Ruoxi will also come. The circulation of spiritual energy among them is like a waterwheel that turns more and more smoothly, repeatedly refining, purifying, and blending the pure yang energy with each other's spiritual energy.

Six months later, his foundation at the second level of the Nascent Soul stage was completely solidified. A year later, the golden light on the surface of his Divine Infant was even more condensed than before. A year later, late one night, a slight vibration came from his dantian—he had broken through to the third level of the Nascent Soul stage.

Time flies.

Once you reach the Nascent Soul stage, you can cultivate for years at a time.

It is probably precisely because Nascent Soul cultivators are not so free that, since Chang Sheng came to cause trouble last time, no one else has come to cause trouble for Li Hanshan.

After all, everyone needs to cultivate themselves.

The girls' progress was equally remarkable. Qin Muyue had already reached the peak of the Golden Core stage, Leng Yue's cultivation was steadily rising, and Chu Mengyao was close behind.

Early that morning, Shen Ruoxi pushed open the stone door of Li Hanshan's cave.

She wasn't wearing a veil today, and her exquisite face held an expression Li Hanshan had never seen before—not weariness, not anxiety, but a calm, almost solemn determination. She walked to the stone couch and sat down, remaining silent for a moment before speaking in a voice several decibels lower than usual: "I sensed it, the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage."

Li Hanshan opened his eyes, his gaze falling on her. He could sense that Shen Ruoxi's aura was at an extremely delicate critical point, like a dam filled with water, just one final blow away from bursting. But that power was firmly suppressed by an invisible barrier, and no matter how she tried to break through, it wouldn't budge.

"Do you need elixirs?" he asked.

Shen Ruoxi nodded: "Transformation Pill. The main sect's treasury has them, but they require approval from the Internal Affairs Hall. With my current status, getting it approved shouldn't be difficult." She paused for a moment, "I'll go there; you wait for me here."

Li Hanshan did not stop him, but only told him, "If there is any trouble, come back and tell me."

Shen Ruoxi responded and got up to leave the cave. Her figure stretched into a long shadow in the morning light, her steps were brisk, just like when she was giving orders in the main hall of the Hehuan Sect in the Northern Wilderness.

But what Li Hanshan didn't expect was that when she returned, the calm yet angry aura emanating from her could be sensed from a great distance.

Shen Ruoxi pushed open the door and sat down by the stone couch, her face ashen, her sleeves crumpled in her fists. She didn't speak immediately, but instead picked up the iced tea on the table and took a big gulp, then slammed the teacup down. After a long silence, she finally managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth: "Those people in the Internal Affairs Hall are truly despicable."

Li Hanshan sat up straight: "What happened?"

Shen Ruoxi took a deep breath and recounted the entire incident. She arrived at the Internal Affairs Hall, submitted her application for the Nascent Soul Pill, and the entire process went smoothly. The steward in charge of approvals reviewed her file and had her cultivation level verified, confirming that she was indeed on the verge of reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Everything seemed normal until the steward picked up a communication talisman and whispered a few words, after which his attitude suddenly changed.

"He said that the approval for the Nascent Soul Pill required the elder's signature." Shen Ruoxi's voice grew colder and colder. "Then he told me to go to the Ninth Elder's cave, saying that the Fifth Elder wanted to verify my qualifications in person. I went."

She raised her head and looked into Li Hanshan's eyes: "The Ninth Elder said that he could give me the pills, but on one condition. After I break through to the Nascent Soul stage, I must cultivate with him once a year. He said it was 'mutually beneficial,' and that with the physique of a Nascent Soul cultivator, once a year would not damage his foundation, but would instead stabilize his cultivation."

Li Hanshan's face darkened.

Shen Ruoxi's tone carried a suppressed anger: "He also said that this was a 'preferential treatment' from the Hehuan Sect for disciples promoted from branch sects, and that I shouldn't be ungrateful. If I agreed, I could get the Nascent Soul Pill today. If I didn't agree—he said my application would be put on hold indefinitely."

She took another sip of her herbal tea, her chest rising and falling slightly: "I refused. His expression changed immediately, and he told me to go back and think it over, saying, 'You can still change your mind within a month.' So I came back."

A moment of silence fell over the cave. Li Hanshan sat on the stone couch, his face calm, but his clenched hands betrayed his emotions. He had thought that the sect leader's lineage was only suffering from resource deductions and marginalization, but he hadn't expected the elders to dare to go so far—directly using the breakthrough pills for Nascent Soul cultivation as leverage to force them to sign indenture contracts.

"These elders are truly outrageous." He spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable chill. "Using the Nascent Soul Pill as a bargaining chip to force someone to agree to dual cultivation... what's the difference between this and robbery?"

Shen Ruoxi didn't speak, but leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she was processing the humiliation of being publicly shamed.

Li Hanshan looked at her and asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time: "Why don't you agree? That's a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. Countless cultivators in the Northern Wilderness spend their entire lives trying to even touch the crack of that threshold. You only need one pill to cross it. You just need to nod your head."

Shen Ruoxi opened her eyes, looked at him, and remained silent for a long time. Then she spoke softly, her voice carrying an unprecedented seriousness: "Because I don't want to."

She spoke softly, yet those four words carried with exceptional clarity in the air. Looking into Li Hanshan's eyes, she enunciated each word clearly: "I've spent my entire life in the Hehuan Sect, starting as a junior disciple in the Northern Wilderness branch and working my way up to the position of sect leader. I've seen too many people sell themselves for cultivation, too many people whose cultivation regressed or even their foundations were destroyed after being sexually exploited. I never wanted to become that kind of person."

She paused, a hint of something ambiguous in her voice: "Besides, I already have you."

Li Hanshan's heart skipped a beat. Shen Ruoxi was never the type to say "I already have you" so readily. She was always rational and restrained, her words and actions always carrying the composure and tact of the Northern Wilderness Sect Master. But now, sitting in front of him, she didn't avoid his gaze, and her deep eyes held a firmness he had never seen before.

"Even if you can't break through to the Nascent Soul stage?" he asked.

Shen Ruoxi gave a slight smirk: "Even if I can't break through to the Nascent Soul stage."

A moment of silence fell over the cave. Li Hanshan didn't try to persuade him further, nor did he offer any comforting words like "there will be a way." He simply weighed the matter in his mind, then raised his eyes, his tone calm yet resolute: "In that case, we won't rely on them."

Shen Ruoxi was slightly taken aback: "What?"

"The Transformation Pill," Li Hanshan said, looking at her. "I'll refine it myself."

Shen Ruoxi's surprise deepened: "The Divine Transformation Pill is a fifth-grade pill. I've never even seen the formula before, and the main ingredients are Dragon Transformation Grass and Spirit Condensation Fruit. These two spiritual herbs are controlled by the elders in the Joyful Union Sect's medicinal fields—" "I have the formula," Li Hanshan interrupted her. "I'll go find the Dragon Transformation Grass and Spirit Condensation Fruit. You just need to get yourself into peak condition. Once I get the herbs and refine the pill, you can go into seclusion to break through."

Shen Ruoxi stared at him for a long while, a complex emotion flashing in her deep eyes. She didn't ask where the pill formula came from, nor did she ask how he planned to obtain the medicinal herbs. She simply remained silent for a moment, then nodded gently, her voice slightly hoarse: "Okay."

Li Hanshan didn't delay any longer. He took out a communication talisman, infused it with spiritual power, and the talisman transformed into a stream of light, flying towards the top of the main peak—it was the contact method left to him by Ye Shuanghua. Half an hour later, a silver-white streak of light landed on the stone platform in front of the cave.

Ye Shuanghua stepped inside, her gaze lingering on Shen Ruoxi for a moment before settling on Li Hanshan's face. She cut to the chase: "What do you want with me?"

Li Hanshan briefly explained Shen Ruoxi's situation. After listening, Ye Shuanghua did not immediately express her opinion. Her clear, cold eyes swept back and forth between Shen Ruoxi and Li Hanshan, as if weighing the pros and cons. After a few moments of silence, she spoke: "I have the formula for the Nascent Soul Pill, but I also know a place where the Dragon Transformation Grass and the Spirit Condensation Fruit are produced. Deep in the Wanling Mountains, a branch of the Hehuan Sect, 30,000 miles north, there is an ancient medicinal herb field that has not yet been fully exploited. Many high-grade spiritual herbs grow there, but it is also guarded by Nascent Soul level demonic beasts."

She looked at Li Hanshan: "If you want to go, I'll go with you. But let's make it clear beforehand—it can only be the two of us. Too many people will attract attention. If the elders' council finds out we're collecting the ingredients for the Nascent Soul Pill, they'll intercept us on the way."

Li Hanshan nodded: "Okay."