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

"By the way, sir, I obtained this escape technique from the ancient ruins; it should be useful to you."

After helping Li Hanshan refine his divine sense, the girl taught him a technique of escape.

Escape technique?

This was just in time for Li Hanshan; with his escape technique, he could run away even if he couldn't win.

The escape technique is called Golden Light Escape. When used, the speed can be increased several times in a short period of time, and the whole person transforms into a golden light and rushes into the distance, hence the name Golden Light Escape.

Under the maid's tutelage, Li Hanshan learned extremely quickly, mastering the skill in just one dream.

After that dream, Li Hanshan's dreaming seemed to return to a normal rhythm.

Every one or two months, that gentle, pulling force would arrive as promised, drawing his consciousness to that familiar riverbank.

Luo Li was always there. Sometimes she would sit on the bluestone waiting for him, sometimes she would walk barefoot in the river trying to catch the moon's reflection, and sometimes she would lean against the grass with her eyes closed to rest. Whenever she saw him appear, she would smile, as if he had never been away for so long.

Every time they met, Luo Li would help him temper his soul. Her soul power was pure and gentle, each strand like stream water warmed by the sun, seeping into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness, sharpening the edges of his soul sword until they became increasingly razor-sharp.

At first, the silvery-gray halo was only a thin layer, but with repeated tempering, it gradually became thicker and more condensed, like the cold gleam revealed after a sword has been repeatedly forged. Li Hanshan could feel that he was getting closer and closer to the barrier that he had condensed into a real sword shape in his dream, only one final step away.

Meanwhile, he never saw the woman in the long, pale blue robe wielding a sword in his dreams again. Ever since she had cleaved him out of his dreams three times, that grayish-white void had been like a closed door, never opening to him again.

He tried to find that sharp, pulling sensation when he entered his dream, but it was like reaching out to scoop up the moon's reflection in the water—he couldn't touch anything.

He had a vague guess in his mind. The woman's appearance was likely related to the ancient sword energy he had encountered from the chasm.

The boundary of the dream was as if it had been torn open by that sword intent, allowing something that did not belong to this dream to seep in.

As he slowly refined and integrated that wisp of sword intent into his divine soul sword, the opening gradually healed, and she could no longer enter. He felt both relieved and regretful—relieved that he no longer had to be cleaved out every time he entered a dream, but regretful that he had hoped to glean more insights from the woman's sword intent, and now that path was blocked.

However, the effects of Luo Li's help in tempering his soul were steadily filling that gap. Each tempering session made his soul more solid, and the range of his divine sense had expanded considerably compared to when he first entered the sect.

Now, when he releases his divine sense at full power, it can cover most of the area on the southern slope of the main peak, and he is constantly advancing towards the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

He kept these thoughts to himself and didn't mention them to Luo Li in his dream.

He had vaguely grasped that invisible boundary—some questions couldn't be asked, and some things couldn't be mentioned. Once he touched upon something he shouldn't have, that sense of life-or-death crisis would be like a sharp blade hanging over his head, reminding him to stop.

That night, he spent a long time with Luo Li by the river. After Luo Li finished tempering his soul, she leaned against the bluestone and yawned slightly, the moonlight casting a silvery halo on her eyelashes. "Grandpa, next time you come, I'll temper it another layer for you, and that should be enough to mend the chipped edge of that sword."

As she spoke, her voice softened with a hint of weariness, "I recently found a fragment of a scroll in ancient ruins. It records a special method for refining artifacts using the divine soul, which might be useful..."

Looking at her tired appearance yet still trying to speak, Li Hanshan said gently, "You should go to sleep first, we can talk about it next time."

Luo Li responded softly, leaning on his shoulder and closing her eyes. Moonlight spilled onto the river, and the sound of flowing water echoed gently in the night breeze. Li Hanshan didn't move, just sat there, feeling the warmth and weight on his shoulder, his heart at peace.

When the dream ended, he opened his eyes, and the light from the luminous pearl in the cave was still soft.

As dawn broke outside the window, morning light streamed through the cracks in the stone door, drawing a thin, golden band on the bluestone floor. He sat on the stone couch, sensing the more solidified sword of his soul within his sea of ​​consciousness, his sense of certainty more reassuring than ever before.