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

After making the agreement with Ye Shuanghua, Li Hanshan didn't delay any longer. He needed to obtain the Dragon Transformation Grass and the Mind-Concentrating Fruit as soon as possible; the longer he delayed, the more variables would arise.

On the day of departure, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the morning mist had not yet dissipated. When Li Hanshan stepped out of the cave, Ye Shuanghua was already waiting on the stone platform. Today, she had changed into a neat silver-white outfit, her long hair was tied into a high ponytail, and the Jinghong Sword hung at her waist. She looked like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath, having lost some of her usual aloofness and gained a sharp and piercing aura.

"Let's go." She said succinctly, summoning a palm-sized silver shuttle that expanded in the wind, transforming into a shuttle-shaped flying boat several meters long. The flying boat was entirely silver-white, with fine array patterns flowing across its surface. Its spiritual energy fluctuations were restrained and steady, clearly indicating that it was of a high grade.

Li Hanshan leaped onto the flying boat, while Ye Shuanghua stood at the bow. She raised her hand and cast a spell, and the flying boat silently ascended into the air, speeding northward. Its speed far exceeded that of ordinary flying magical artifacts, and the mountains and rivers outside the window turned into blurry blocks of color as they rushed past.

Li Hanshan stood by the ship's railing for a while, then suddenly remembered something. He turned to Ye Shuanghua and said, "By the way, what happened to Deacon Xu in the end? I haven't seen him since you threw me overboard at sea last time."

Ye Shuanghua paused for a moment, then replied calmly, "He has completely joined the Heavenly Demon Sect and has been incorporated into their ranks."

Li Hanshan nodded: "Just how powerful is the Heavenly Demon Sect in the Central Continent?"

"It's much larger than you imagine." Ye Shuanghua's tone was calm, yet tinged with seriousness. "In the Central Continent, it's one of the top demonic sects. Although its overall strength is not as great as the Hehuan Sect, its strongest members have also stepped into the Dao Integration Realm. They have always coveted the Dragon Spine Spirit Vein occupied by the Hehuan Sect, and the friction between the two sides has never ceased."

The strongest member of the Heavenly Demon Sect is also a Dao Integration Realm cultivator?

This reminded Li Hanshan of what the girl had mentioned about the Yaoguang Sect.

The leader of the Yaoguang Sect is a Mahayana practitioner.

From this perspective, the overall strength of Zhongzhou now is far inferior to that of Luo Li back then.

At the same time, Li Hanshan understood why Deacon Xu chose to join the Heavenly Demon Sect. It was indeed a way out—although not respectable, it could at least save his life.

The airship flew day and night for several days. The further north they went, the more desolate the landscape became. The continuous, lush green forests gradually thinned out, replaced by exposed gray rock formations and sparse, drought-resistant shrubs.

Although the concentration of spiritual energy in the air was still not low, it had a rougher, more untamed wildness than that of the Hehuan Sect.

On the morning of the seventh day, the outline of a long mountain range appeared on the distant horizon. The mountain range resembled a sleeping giant lying on the earth, with swirling clouds and mist faintly visible along its ridges, creating a hazy and indistinct atmosphere.

Ye Shuanghua slowed down the speed of the flying boat and hovered above a group of low hills on the outskirts of the mountains.

She pointed ahead: "That area is a branch of the Ten Thousand Spirits Mountain Range, and the Ancient Medicine Origin is deep within this area. However, the monsters in this area have very keen senses, and if we fly directly through the air, we'll easily be spotted. We have to sneak in."

Li Hanshan looked at the gray-brown mountain range and extended his Nascent Soul level divine sense, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea—a natural, invisible force field permeated the air, greatly weakening his divine sense, making it extremely difficult to even see the specific details of the mountains.

Ye Shuanghua put away the flying boat and landed in a shady mountain hollow. She lowered her voice and said, "The monsters in this area are very special. They don't rely on spiritual energy to sense their prey, but on the vibrations of the earth's veins. We can conceal our spiritual energy fluctuations, but the vibrations from our footsteps will spread for hundreds of miles around. As long as one monster senses something is wrong, all the monsters in the entire area will converge here."

Li Hanshan also became more vigilant. He concealed his aura and followed behind Ye Shuanghua, quickly moving along the shadows at the foot of the mountain. Both of them moved extremely lightly, like two weightless shadows gliding silently through the morning mist.

After passing through several narrow valleys and around a few obvious dens inhabited by demonic beasts, Ye Shuanghua stopped in front of a moss-covered stone wall. She raised her hand and pressed it against the surface of the stone wall, and a subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy emanated from her palm, spreading outwards along the texture of the stone wall.

A moment later, a very faint humming sound came from somewhere on the stone wall. The moss and soil on the surface were brushed away as if by an invisible hand, revealing a crack just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. The crack was pitch black, its depth indiscernible, yet extremely rich spiritual energy seeped out from it in wisps.

"This is the entrance I discovered years ago, connecting to an ancient medicinal herb field isolated by a natural array." Ye Shuanghua slipped into the crevice, her voice coming from ahead. "The spiritual energy inside is several times denser than outside, and the medicinal herbs are all very old. But just as much, the demonic beasts inside are much more troublesome than those outside."

Li Hanshan followed closely behind and entered the crevice. After passing through a narrow passage about ten zhang long, the space in front of him suddenly opened up. He looked up and couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

Before them stretched a vast, boundless medicinal field. The ground was covered with thick, lush green vegetation, with various spiritual herbs and medicines spread out like a carpet. Purple, red, blue, and gold specks of light danced among the leaves—spiritual light formed from the condensation of medicinal energy.

The air was filled with a rich, almost tangible, medicinal fragrance, each scent so mellow it seemed to seep into the very bones. The sky above was shrouded in a pale golden natural barrier, like a giant glass dome separating this medicinal field from the outside world. Sunlight filtered through the barrier, turning into a warm, gentle halo.

"Dragon Transformation Grass prefers to grow on sunny slopes where spiritual energy is most abundant, while Concentration Fruit mostly grows in damp, shady crevices." Ye Shuanghua looked around the medicinal field and pointed to a gentle slope with higher elevation to the left. "The spiritual energy is most abundant over there. I'll go take a look first. You gather the herbs around here for now, but don't go too far."

Li Hanshan nodded and squatted down. His gaze quickly locked onto the nearest spiritual herb—its leaves were crimson red, shaped like dragon scales, its roots were thick, and a faint golden pattern flowed across its surface; it was clearly the Dragon Transformation Grass. Overjoyed, he carefully brushed aside the surrounding soil, took the entire Dragon Transformation Grass out by its roots, and placed it in the jade box.

A short while later, Li Hanshan discovered another Dragon Transformation Grass. Just as he was putting it into the jade box, he heard a very faint sound of footsteps coming from his right rear.

He turned around abruptly and saw Ye Shuanghua standing a few feet away beside an ancient tree, clutching a bluish-purple vine in her hand. At the tip of the vine were several pale golden fruits the size of a thumb—these were the Concentration Fruits. She glanced at him, her tone calm yet carrying a hint of approval: "Not slow."

The two spent most of the day separately gathering herbs in the medicinal field. By evening, Li Hanshan's jade box contained four Dragon Transformation Grasses, and Ye Shuanghua had collected six or seven Mind-Concentrating Fruits. The entire herb-gathering process went remarkably smoothly, without encountering any demonic beasts.

He looked up at the sky shrouded in a pale golden barrier, a vague unease rising within him—it was too quiet. This medicinal field was so rich in spiritual energy, teeming with medicinal herbs; how could it be without demonic beasts guarding it? Unusual calm often signifies a greater danger brewing.