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

Inside the cave, the water of the spirit spring flowed gently. Li Hanshan sat cross-legged on the stone couch, having just finished his dual cultivation with Qin Muyue. The pure yang energy within his body was circulating in an unprecedentedly harmonious state. His cultivation at the sixth level of the Nascent Soul stage had been completely stabilized after several days of repeated tempering, and even the golden light on the surface of his divine infant was more solid than when he first broke through.

When Shen Ruoxi broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, the surge of primordial power not only helped him break through three levels, but also thoroughly cleansed his meridians with the residual aura of the Nascent Soul stage's Heavenly Dao. The feeling was like a riverbed that had been flowing for years being widened into a surging river, with the speed and capacity of spiritual energy circulation increasing several times over.

He closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the results of his cultivation that day. After confirming that there were no blockages in his meridians, he slowly finished his practice. The night outside the window was already deep, and the luminous pearl on the cave ceiling emitted a soft halo, enveloping the entire cave in a warm and gentle light.

Li Hanshan leaned against the stone couch, about to close his eyes and rest for a moment, when a familiar pull suddenly came from the depths of his consciousness. The pull was weaker than ever before, like a spider's thread in the darkness that could break at any moment, faintly drawing his consciousness in a certain direction.

Since the mysterious woman cleaved his dream in the Endless Sea with her sword, he had never entered that dream again. He thought the ability had completely disappeared, but now this pulling sensation had resurfaced, filling him with both surprise and joy.

He did not resist, allowing his consciousness to be drawn into the depths by that faint force. Passing through layers of darkness, after an unknown amount of time, his feet finally landed on solid ground.

Li Hanshan opened his eyes and found himself standing once again in that grayish-white void. Beneath his feet was still the same smooth, mirror-like grayish-white stone surface, and a thin mist surrounded him, exactly as he had seen before. But this time, the golden membrane at the edge of the dream was much stronger than before, like a reinforced dam, firmly enclosing this space.

Just as he looked around, the gray fog in front of him suddenly churned violently. An extremely sharp sword light shot out from the fog, aiming straight for his brow.

Li Hanshan was prepared; pure Yang fire condensed in his palm, forming a fire shield in front of him. The sword light struck the fire shield, producing a crisp metallic clang and sparks flying. He was jolted back several steps by the impact, his hand slightly numb, but this time he steadied himself in time, unlike before when he was in such a sorry state.

From the gray mist, that familiar figure emerged once more. The young woman was still dressed in that pale blue robe, her long hair tied up with a wooden hairpin, her face as cold as frost. Seeing Li Hanshan block her sword, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes, followed by a cold voice: "Heavenly Demon, you dare to come again?"

Looking at her expressionless face, Li Hanshan couldn't help but say, "What, it's you again? Do you think I want to see you?"

The woman ignored her and unleashed her second sword strike. This strike was faster and more ruthless than the first, its light like a silver lightning bolt tearing through the void, carrying a chilling sharpness that sent shivers down one's spine, aimed directly at Li Hanshan's dantian.

Li Hanshan dodged to the side, and a flaming longsword formed from pure Yang fire took shape in his hand, meeting the silver sword light head-on. The moment the two swords collided, he once again felt that extremely peculiar sharpness—the sword intent, like an invisible needle, pierced through his flame defenses and went straight into the depths of his soul.

But this time, he was prepared. The sword of his soul spontaneously sprang out from his sea of ​​consciousness, colliding head-on with the invading sword intent and blocking its sharp force outside his sea of ​​consciousness.

"Huh?" The woman finally let out a short, surprised sound. She seemed not to have expected that Li Hanshan could improve to the point of being able to block her second sword in such a short time. A very complex light flashed in her clear, cold eyes, showing confusion and scrutiny, but it was quickly replaced by a cold killing intent.

The third sword followed immediately. This sword was more terrifying than the previous two combined. Fine ice crack patterns flowed across the blade, and the sword intent was condensed to the extreme, like a red-hot steel needle piercing the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

Li Hanshan felt an unprecedented sense of oppression surging from all directions. Although the sword intent had not touched his body, it had already penetrated the defense of the pure yang fire and pierced straight into his sea of ​​consciousness, causing his soul to tremble violently. He gritted his teeth and fully activated the long-tempered sword of his soul in his sea of ​​consciousness, transforming it into a golden sword light to meet the silver sword light.

Gold and silver clashed violently the moment the two swords collided. Li Hanshan's divine soul avatar was forced back several steps by the impact, and a violent ripple spread through his sea of ​​consciousness. Although he blocked the woman's silver sword light, the residual force still slashed him back dozens of feet.

But he also took this opportunity to see the key point—in the dream, the spiritual power he circulated was not true spiritual power, but a projection formed by the condensation of his soul power. Yet the woman's attacks posed a real threat to his soul, and the core of that threat was the extreme sharpness contained in her sword intent.

Her swordsmanship is not the path of immortality.

Li Hanshan vaguely caught this thought. Although those sword intents were sharp, they did not bear any trace of immortal cultivation techniques, nor did they possess the smoothness of flowing spiritual energy. Instead, they carried a savage and pure sharpness. She cultivated a power system he had never encountered before—not spiritual power, not demonic energy, but something more ancient and primal.

The sword intent was essentially the same as the ancient sword energy he had sensed in the Endless Sea. However, the sword energy in the Endless Sea was the final form, like a divine weapon forged through countless forgings; while this woman's sword intent was still in its nascent stage, like a piece of iron ore that had just been unearthed, rough yet containing infinite potential.

This discovery gave Li Hanshan a sudden shock.

If he could deduce the core principle of the ancient sword energy in the endless sea by studying the laws and patterns contained in the woman's sword intent, then his sword control technique might break through to a completely new level.

Seeing his thoughtful expression, the woman frowned even more deeply. She seemed puzzled as to why this "Heavenly Demon" could still stand and contemplate after receiving the third sword strike, but her movements did not slow down. The fourth sword strike was already poised to be unleashed, the ice cracks on the blade even denser than before, and the sharpness emanating from it caused even the golden membrane at the edge of the dream to ripple subtly.

Li Hanshan knew that in his current state, he couldn't withstand the fourth sword strike. Last time, she only needed three strikes to cleave through the dream, but this time she had already swung three swords and hadn't stopped, indicating that her patience was increasing, but it also meant that the power of the next sword strike would far exceed that of the previous one.

He didn't take the blow head-on, but instead deliberately withdrew his defenses, letting his consciousness retreat towards the edge of the dream. Just as the fourth sword was about to fall, he deliberately withdrew from the dream, his consciousness surfacing like a bird breaking free of its cage.

He opened his eyes.

The luminous pearl in the cave still emitted a soft glow, and the water in the spirit spring pool still flowed gently; everything was exactly the same as before he fell asleep. However, fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, his heart pounded in his chest, and the spiritual energy in his pure yang meridians circulated automatically for three full cycles before gradually calming down.

He didn't rush to get up, but closed his eyes, savoring the fragments of sword intent he had captured in his dream over and over again. The sharpness of the woman's sword intent echoed repeatedly in his mind, like a melody etched deep into his soul, every subtle turn clearly discernible.

Although the sword intent was faint, it contained a law pattern completely different from any technique he had ever learned. It was pure, like refined gold that had been tempered a million times, without any impurities or attributes. This sharpness did not depend on the quantity of spiritual power, nor on the sophistication of the spell, but only on the ultimate understanding of the action of "slashing".

Li Hanshan concentrated a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips, attempting to mimic that sharpness. The spiritual energy condensed into a thin golden thread at his fingertips, but when he tried to inject that "pure sense of severing" into it, the edge of the golden thread snapped like a rubber band being forcibly stretched, and the spiritual energy dissipated into the air, vanishing without a trace.

"No. It's not spiritual energy carrying sword intent." He opened his eyes, looking at the remaining spiritual energy specks on his fingertips. "It's sword intent carrying sword intent. She didn't use a spell driven by spiritual energy, but a physical entity driven by sword intent—with sword intent as its bone, the soul as its blade, and will as its edge."

He closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness back into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness. The sword of divine souls hovered quietly in the center of his sea of ​​consciousness, its golden blade shifting and changing. He recalled the savage and pure sharpness in the woman's sword intent, then separated a wisp of divine soul power from the sword, wrapping it with that sharp texture, refining it into an extremely fine and sharp invisible edge.

A slight stinging sensation arose in his sea of ​​consciousness, as if something was breaking through a boundary. That sharp intent collided, rubbed, and merged with the golden sword intent of the Divine Soul Sword itself. At first, they were like two incompatible torrents, repeatedly colliding deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, emitting a violent resonance that even he himself felt a tremor in his heart. After several rounds of merging, that sharp intent finally merged with the golden sword intent of the Divine Soul Sword, forming a very faint silver-gray halo around the edge of the sword.

The halo was as thin as a cicada's wing, almost imperceptible without careful observation. Yet Li Hanshan clearly sensed that wherever the halo passed, the sharpness of the Divine Soul Sword increased at least several times—the blade, which could originally only cut through divine sense defenses, was now enough to tear apart the primordial spirit shield of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

He withdrew his divine sense, opened his eyes, and exhaled a long breath. Although he had only fused with a sliver of its essence, this sliver had already elevated his sword control technique to a whole new level. In the future, when he encountered a Nascent Soul cultivator again, he would at least have a means to truly threaten them.

The sky outside the window was already beginning to lighten. Li Hanshan stood up, stretched his limbs, and pushed open the stone door. A morning breeze, carrying a light mist and the scent of grass and earth, rushed in. Gazing at the faint outline of the palace amidst the sea of ​​clouds on the distant main peak, the sense of urgency in his heart eased slightly, but a new anticipation rose within him.

"The sword energy of the endless sea... the sword intent of the woman in my dream..." he murmured to himself, "If I can fully comprehend it, my swordsmanship will reach a higher level."