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

Inside Ye Shuanghua's cave, the steam from the spiritual tea rose gently in the morning light.

After Li Hanshan explained his purpose, she did not answer immediately, but remained silent for a moment while holding her teacup.

Those cool, clear eyes fell on his face, as if weighing something, before finally setting down the teacup. Her tone was calm yet concerned: "The Yinquan Sect specializes in unorthodox and heretical methods. Their cultivators have unique ways of communicating. If you go alone and are discovered, it will be difficult for you to escape."

A special method of communication?

No wonder Granny Yin came so quickly last time.

"I know," Li Hanshan said, "but I don't plan to force my way in. The Yin Caves are all well-hidden, so I don't need to launch a large-scale attack. I just need to find the target, make a quick move, and retreat quickly. Besides, with Xiao An here, she can sense in advance whether there are powerful enemies guarding the Yin Caves, so she won't rush in rashly."

Xiao Anye Shuanghua knew this, so Li Hanshan didn't hide it from her.

Ye Shuanghua looked at him for a few moments, and seeing his resolute expression, she didn't try to persuade him further. She took out a cyan jade talisman from her sleeve and handed it to him: "This is a communication talisman. Once activated, I can sense your location. If you encounter a situation where you can't escape, crush it, and I will come as soon as possible."

Li Hanshan took the jade talisman and put it away. He stood up and said, "Thank you, Senior Sister. I'll be right back." Ye Shuanghua did not get up to see him off, but said again when he reached the cave entrance, "Don't die." Her voice was not loud, but it was a few decibels lower than usual.

Li Hanshan waved his hand without turning his head, transformed into a streak of purple-gold light, passed through the protective array of the Hehuan Sect, and flew north.

After leaving the territory of the Hehuan Sect, he sped northward. The land beneath his feet gradually changed from lush, rolling mountains to gray-brown hills, and then from hills to a barren wasteland. The concentration of spiritual energy in the air did not decrease much, but there was a faint, chilling aura, as if the cold was seeping from the depths of the earth.

Several days later, he landed in a secluded ravine on the edge of the wasteland, took out the Soul Banner and waved it gently. Xiao An's figure emerged from it, hovering beside him, her eerie green eyes scanning the surroundings before closing.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and pointed in a direction: "Over there, about five hundred miles away, there is a remnant of a Yin vein. The concentration is not too high, but it is enough to build a small Yin cave." Li Hanshan did not speak, but simply flew in the direction she indicated.

A journey of five hundred miles takes only a little over half an hour for a cultivator at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage.

He landed in front of a canyon covered with rocks and withered vines, and carefully spread out his Nascent Soul level divine sense to sense the flow of spiritual energy underground.

He didn't act immediately, but instead lay in wait in the vicinity for a whole day. Only after confirming that there was no trace of a Nascent Soul cultivator did he find the entrance to the Yin Cave with Xiao An's guidance.

It was an inconspicuous rock crevice, hidden by a seemingly natural stone slab.

Li Hanshan pushed aside the stone slab, revealing a narrow, downward-sloping passage. He squeezed inside, with Xiao An following behind, moving silently through the darkness.

The passage was simpler than the yin cave we visited last time, but similar in size—it extended downwards for about a hundred feet before suddenly opening up into a cave several tens of feet square. The cave walls were inlaid with tiny fragments of yin energy crystals, emitting a cold, eerie green light that illuminated a dozen or so corpse puppets slowly moving in the center of the cave.

"Two mid-Nascent Soul cultivators, four late-Golden Core cultivators, and twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators," Xiao An's voice entered his sea of ​​consciousness. "No Nascent Soul cultivators."

Li Hanshan nodded, and pure Yang fire silently condensed in his palm.

Without a word, he vanished in a flash. A streak of purple-gold firelight traced a sharp arc through the eerie green cave, precisely striking two mid-Nascent Soul cultivators who were adjusting their corpse puppet formation.

Before the two men could even turn their heads, a sword light pierced through one of their dantian, and the other was engulfed by the following fireball, unable to even utter a complete scream.

The remaining Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators scattered like bees whose swarm had been disturbed, but thanks to the combined efforts of Li Hanshan and Xiao An, they didn't even have a chance to reach the entrance of the passage.

In the span of just a few dozen breaths, not a single living enemy remained in the entire cave.

Xiao An didn't delay.

She sat cross-legged above the array's core in the center of the cave, her hands forming a hand seal, and the Netherworld Record Technique was activated at full power.

The essence of the Yin vein deep underground, like well water being pumped, began to surge upwards continuously, gathering into a thick black mist, which she absorbed entirely into her soul.

The black mist swirled and condensed within her body, eventually transforming into more than ten gray beads the size of fingernails, which she carefully absorbed into the depths of her soul.

Standing at the cave entrance, Li Hanshan cleaned up the corpse puppets one by one, searched through several storage bags, and then sat down cross-legged to protect Xiao An.

This time the absorption was much faster than last time. After Xiao An's cultivation improved, his efficiency in refining Yin energy increased several times. In just a few hours, he had absorbed all the essence of the entire Yin meridian.

As she stood up, a layer of dark blue light emanated from her soul, and her cultivation had become even more solid than before. She nodded to Li Hanshan and said, "Senior, we can leave now. The Yin meridians here are exhausted and will take at least a hundred years to recover." Li Hanshan did not linger. He led Xiao An away from the Yin Cave, covered the entrance again, and continued flying north.

He has no intention of stopping.

The quality of this Yin Cave is not high, and the strongest cultivator guarding it is only at the Nascent Soul stage. The Yin Qi Pearl obtained is not enough to support Xiao An to reach the Divine Transformation stage. Therefore, Li Hanshan plans to take advantage of the fact that the Yin Spring Sect has not yet reacted and take care of a few more Yin Caves.