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

The next morning, when Li Hanshan arrived at the entrance to the secret realm on the northern slope of the main peak, it was just dawn.

The teleportation array was located deep in a valley surrounded by cliffs on the northern slope. The ground was paved with dark blue boulders, and the array patterns glowed faintly in the morning light. Two deacons from the External Affairs Hall were guarding the array. After he showed his token, they stepped aside to let him stand in the center of the array.

Li Hanshan stepped onto the array's core, channeling his spiritual energy into the array patterns beneath his feet. A soft light converged on him from all directions, enveloping his entire body.

He felt a slight lightness in his body, and the scenery in his vision instantly distorted and stretched, like a crumpled canvas unfolding and then quickly smoothing out before him. When the light faded, he found himself standing in a completely different world.

Before him stretched a range of rolling mountains, densely vegetated, with an air concentration of spiritual energy far exceeding that of the outside world. He sensed his direction, took out the jade token given to him by the Fifth Elder, and infused it with spiritual power. A thin beam of azure light emerged from the token's surface, pointing southeast into the depths of the mountains.

Li Hanshan flew in the direction indicated by the light, staying close to the ground, and carefully spread out his Nascent Soul level divine sense.

The environment in the secret realm is indeed much rougher than that of the main peak. The flow of spiritual energy carries an untamed wildness. Occasionally, one can sense the aura of a few demonic beasts in the mountains and forests. Most of them are low-level beings of the first or second rank, and occasionally there are demonic beasts of the third or fourth rank.

If these monsters behave themselves, all that's left is peace; but if they launch an attack, death is the only thing waiting for them.

He flew for about half a day, and the blue light began to shorten, its direction becoming increasingly clear.

Finally, he landed in front of a stone wall covered with thick vines. He reached out and pushed the vines aside, revealing a barely visible crack about a foot wide on the surface of the stone wall. He squeezed in sideways, and beneath his feet was a natural passage sloping downwards, at the end of which was a small cave.

A thin layer of spiritual mist covered the cave floor, flowing slowly across the surface like vapor. Li Hanshan crouched down and reached into the mist—the spiritual energy was so dense it was almost tangible, like touching warm water. He was delighted; pure Yang energy condensed into a thin thread at his fingertips and probed downwards along the flow of the mist. A moment later, he sensed it: several hundred feet directly below the cave, there was indeed a spiritual vein of decent quality. While not top-tier, it was far superior to the tampered spiritual vein beneath his cave dwelling, which the Hehuan Sect had assigned him.

Without hesitation, he took out a magic pickaxe he had brought from the Northern Wilderness and began digging at the location where the spiritual vein was most concentrated. Pure Yang fire enveloped the pickaxe tip, and each strike carried the intense heat of molten lava, peeling away layers of hard rock. The sound of shattered rock echoed through the cavern, and the spiritual mist grew increasingly dense as he dug deeper, like spring water gushing from the earth, seeping into his robes and hair.

Three days and nights.

He barely closed his eyes, hollowing out the entire mountain and revealing a large area of ​​spirit stone mines.

"many!"

Li Hanshan was overjoyed.

Where there are spiritual veins, there are spiritual stone mines. And here there are so many spiritual stone mines!

Li Hanshan began digging for spirit stones, one after another, some as clear as shattered ice, others with a faint purplish-gold luster. He stored each batch he dug up in his storage ring, the warm, smooth feel of the spirit stones beneath his fingertips bringing him a sense of peace.

When the number of spirit stones accumulated in his storage ring reached a level sufficient for him to cultivate in peace for a period of time, he finally stopped, leaned against a warm, excavated rock wall, and let out a long breath.

Just as he was about to dig out the last layer, a deep tremor suddenly came from the depths of the cave. The tremor came from the depths of the earth, with a slow and heavy rhythm, as if some enormous creature was turning over deep within the earth's crust. Li Hanshan suddenly stood up, pure Yang fire silently gathering in his palm, and his Nascent Soul level divine sense, like a taut string, probed in the direction from which the tremor came.

A moment later, his expression changed. An extremely powerful aura was rapidly rising from the depths of the earth, its speed far exceeding that of ordinary demonic beasts. The aura was cold and violent, carrying a long-suppressed impatience and rage after being awakened.

With a deafening roar, the cave floor shattered. A massive black shadow shot into the sky from the rubble and spiritual mist, like a small mountain being violently thrown from the ground. The figure was covered in dark gray scales, resembling a giant lizard, but possessing a pair of fleshy wings folded to its sides. Its head was like an inverted triangle, its eyes burning with emerald flames, emanating an aura of power clearly belonging to the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

A demonic beast that has transformed into a god.

Li Hanshan cursed inwardly.

Ye Shuanghua clearly stated that there wouldn't be any Nascent Soul level demonic beasts in a Grade B secret realm; at most, they would be at the peak of the Core Formation stage. This behemoth's aura was clearly that of an early Nascent Soul stage demonic beast, and judging from its furious appearance, which indicated it had been lurking deep within the spiritual vein for a long time.

A thought flashed through his mind—this demonic beast most likely didn't appear here naturally. The possibility of a Nascent Soul demonic beast in a Grade B secret realm is too low, unless someone deliberately let it in. He recalled the Ninth Elder's indifferent expression, and the allocation decision for Grade B secret realms; all these clues connected at this moment into a clear cause-and-effect line.

But now is not the time to pursue the matter. The Nascent Soul giant lizard had fully awakened and was charging towards him with an extremely violent rage. Its fleshy wings suddenly spread open in mid-air, stirring up a gale carrying rubble and spiritual mist. A ball of emerald green light was rapidly forming in its gaping maw, radiating a terrifyingly high temperature.

Li Hanshan did not retreat. A burst of purplish-gold flames erupted beneath his feet, and he dodged sideways like an arrow released from a bow. The emerald-green ball of light grazed his shoulder and slammed into the rock wall behind him, blasting a crater several meters deep, sending debris flying and a wave of heat washing over him. He steadied himself, drew the broken, black sword from his storage ring, and channeled pure Yang energy into the blade like a burst dam.

The ancient patterns on the broken sword's surface glowed with a ghostly blue light, emitting a deep hum. Li Hanshan faced the giant lizard and slashed out with his sword. The sword light drew a dark arc in the cavern, precisely striking the lizard's left wing joint. Scales shattered, and dark red blood gushed from the wound. The giant lizard let out a deafening roar, its massive body tumbling violently in the cavern, smashing against the surrounding rock walls and sending shards of rock flying.

Although his sword strike wounded the giant lizard, it also thoroughly enraged it. The lizard's eyes, burning with emerald flames, locked onto him, and its fleshy wings unfurled again, its speed nearly twice as fast as before. It opened its massive jaws, and this time the sphere of light it condensed was several times larger than the last, its surface crackling with dark green lightning, carrying a terrifying energy powerful enough to collapse an entire cavern.

Li Hanshan gritted his teeth, holding the broken sword horizontally in front of him. Pure Yang fire condensed into a purple-gold protective shield on the blade. He had no way to retreat; the cavern was too narrow to dodge attacks of this range. He could only take the hit head-on.

Boom!!

The moment the emerald green ball of light struck the broken sword, the entire cavern shook violently. The rocks on the outer layer of the cavern trembled and then shattered into powder, instantly expanding the cavern's area several times over.

Li Hanshan felt an overwhelming force coming from the sword, pressing him down so that his knees bent slightly and the rock beneath his feet cracked with spiderweb-like patterns.

Then, layer by layer, it broke apart, and large pieces of rock turned into dust.

His arms trembled violently under the impact of the force, his tiger's mouth split open, and blood dripped from the hilt of the sword to the ground. But the broken sword did not shatter; instead, the eerie blue light on its blade shone even brighter, like a raging beast.

Before the aftershocks of the sphere of light had dissipated, he bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the sword. The broken sword emitted an even sharper hum, the patterns on its surface suddenly intensified, and a dark sword beam, sharper than before, shot out from the tip, precisely slashing at the giant lizard's neck.

The giant lizard was gathering its strength for its previous attack and had no idea it could counterattack in its weakened state. The dark sword-like light sliced ​​through the gaps in its neck scales, piercing its trachea and spine. The lizard's massive body stiffened abruptly, and the light in its eyes, which burned with emerald flames, dimmed considerably. It let out a hoarse cry, its enormous body swayed, and then crashed to the ground, creating a huge crater in the already ravaged earth.

Li Hanshan stood rooted to the spot, his chest heaving violently. The tip of his broken sword drooped, its eerie blue light slowly receding. He glanced down at the dark red blood gushing from the giant lizard's wound, then at the broken sword in his hand, which, though cracked, remained intact. He exhaled a long breath.

Fortunately, this broken sword is powerful enough.

Fortunately, although this demonic beast is at the Nascent Soul level, its combat power is still much weaker than that of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Moreover, while its defense is outstanding, its direct combat power and methods are much lower.

If Li Hanshan hadn't had the broken sword, he probably wouldn't have been able to break through its defenses. But this broken sword was truly sharp, which is how he managed to defeat the monster.