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

On the arena, just as the second platinum-gold beam of light struck, Li Hanshan finally moved. Pure Yang fire surged around him, its purplish-gold light like sunlight breaking through the clouds, forcing all the platinum-gold flames back to the edge of the arena. He formed hand seals, and pure Yang energy condensed in his palms into a purplish-gold flaming longsword, its blade shimmering with fine light patterns—proof that all the spiritual power within his pure Yang meridians had been compressed into form. Then, he raised his hand and slashed down with the sword.

This sword strike lacked fancy techniques and tricky angles; it was simply a straightforward slash. Yet, the sword intent it carried was like a golden hammer descending from the sky, landing precisely in the center of the platinum-gold pillar of light. The instant the flaming sword collided with the pillar of light, everyone in the plaza heard the sound of ice shattering—initially extremely faint, like a fine needle piercing thick ice, then instantly spreading along the entire surface of the pillar of light, transforming into countless platinum-gold fragments.

Forced back several steps by the recoil, Luo Lie's lips stained with a trickle of blood, and the stone slabs beneath his feet shattered into a spiderweb pattern. Instead of regaining his footing, he used the momentum of his retreat to forcefully clasp his hands together in front of his chest, interlacing his fingers to form a complex, almost twisted, hand seal. Crimson-gold patterns spread from his palms to his entire arm, then climbed up his neck and cheek, like a lit fuse enveloping his entire body.

"Burning Heaven—!!!"

Luo Lie's roar exploded across the plaza. In that instant, the platinum-gold flames surrounding him stopped expanding outwards and instead collapsed inwards, like a compressed ball of gas that, after a brief moment of silence, shattered with a deafening roar. The entire arena was engulfed by a sea of ​​platinum-gold flames, and the temperature instantly soared to a point where even the defensive array patterns began to melt. Dense cracks appeared on the surface of the bluish-white light barrier, which emitted a humming sound as it struggled under the strain. The disciples closest to the arena were forced back by the heatwave, some even having to summon protective spiritual light just to barely stand.

Platinum flames coalesced above the arena into a gigantic fiery hand, its five fingers spread wide, palm facing down, like a fiery mountain descending from the sky, slamming down on Li Hanshan. Wherever the palm print passed, the air was scorched and distorted, and even the defensive array patterns frantically repairing themselves at the edge of the arena shattered completely the moment they touched the edge of the palm print, turning into countless blue light spots.

Luo Lie's eyes gleamed with a platinum light in the flames, and the blood at the corner of his mouth evaporated instantly under the intense heat. He stared intently at Li Hanshan, pouring all the primal power he had honed over the past eight years in the fiery rift into this single palm strike. This strike, even if it couldn't defeat Li Hanshan, would at least force him off the stage!

Li Hanshan stood in the center of the sea of ​​fire, the pure yang fire of purple-gold surrounding him like a layer of flowing molten gold, insulating him from the platinum-gold heat waves. He looked up at the giant fiery hand that was rapidly descending, and could clearly sense the true essence of the sun's fire contained within it—a full-force strike that Luo Lie had compressed over eight years of arduous training, like smashing a small sun onto the ground.

He did not retreat. At this moment, he pushed his Pure Yang Meridian to its limit, and the Nascent Soul peak-stage Divine Infant in his dantian erupted with unprecedentedly dazzling golden light, like a blazing star. The Chongyang Primordial Embryo in his sea of ​​consciousness trembled slightly, and a wisp of pure divine soul power silently merged into the flames in his palm. A purple-gold light surged around him, no longer merely a protective fiery armor, but transforming into a purple-gold pillar of fire soaring into the sky, like a giant fiery sword piercing the heavens from the ground.

Li Hanshan raised his hand, and the purple-gold flame sword reformed in his palm. The light patterns on the sword changed from fine to dense, like refined iron that had been repeatedly forged. Each line contained the sharpness of pure yang energy compressed to its extreme. He met the giant white-gold palm that descended from the sky and slashed out with his sword—upward, straight thrust.

The purple-gold sword light and the white-gold palm print collided with a deafening roar in the center of the arena. In that instant, the eardrums of everyone in the square were filled with an almost silent vibration—not a loud bang, but a high-pitched buzzing beyond the limits of hearing, like two suns colliding in the void. Immediately afterward, a blazing pillar of light shot into the sky from the point of impact, illuminating the entire sky as a dazzling vortex of interwoven white-gold and purple-gold.

The giant, platinum-gold fiery palm cracked open at its center. Initially just a thin line, it rapidly expanded under the relentless piercing of the purplish-gold sword light, like cracks spreading across ice after a red-hot iron rod pierces it. A second, a third, a fourth—a dense array of cracks spread across the surface of the platinum palm print, before shattering with a deafening roar.

The countless white-gold fragments, like shattered glass, refracted countless tiny points of light under the sunlight, or like a blazing blizzard, fluttering down from the sky. Meanwhile, the purplish-gold sword light, after shattering the palm print, continued its momentum, like a spear piercing the heavens and earth, carrying the purest yang energy as it shot straight into the clouds, exploding into a dazzling golden halo, like a golden flower blooming in the grey sky.

The moment the palm print shattered, Luo Lie was struck head-on by the backlash. He was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, his crimson figure tumbling several times in the air before crashing heavily onto the bluestone ground outside the arena with a dull thud. He struggled to get up, only to find that the residual power of the purple-gold sword energy had disrupted the flow of spiritual energy throughout his body, making even lifting a finger difficult. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only managed to exhale a breath of stale air before completely losing consciousness.

The square was deathly silent.

Everyone stared blankly at the purplish-gold light slowly descending from the sky, then at the crimson figure lying unconscious outside the arena. For a moment, no one uttered a sound. The remaining points of light from the shattered defensive array patterns flickered slowly in the air, like stars about to die out in the night sky, enveloping the entire plaza in an eerie silence.

Wang Hao was the first to react. His gaze shifted from Luo Lie to the figure slowly receding its purplish-gold light, his expression becoming complex and unreadable. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only uttered two words in a low voice: "Outrageous."

The crowd seemed to surface from deep water, and finally someone let out a long sigh of relief. Then, like a lit fuse, murmurs quickly spread from a few scattered points to the entire square, transforming into a cacophony of noise that surrounded him within a few breaths. Some exclaimed, "Even the Heaven-Burning Blaze has been shattered!" Others gasped, "What kind of technique was that purple-gold sword light?" Still others repeatedly murmured, "Just how high is the quality of Senior Brother Li's flames?"

Li Hanshan stood in the center of the arena, the purplish-gold pure yang fire slowly receding, like a lamp whose flame had been turned down, the fire gradually dying out, though the residual warmth remained. His breathing remained steady, as if the battle had merely been a warm-up. As he turned and walked off the arena, his gaze swept across the crowd, meeting the eyes of a figure standing not far ahead.

She was a young female cultivator, around twenty years old, with a refined and ethereal beauty. Her long, black hair shimmered softly in the morning light. She wore a light blue dress, and a jade pendant with the number "six" engraved on it hung at her waist. She didn't deliberately release any pressure; her aura was deep and restrained, like a calm lake. Her gaze lingered on Li Hanshan for a moment, then the corners of her mouth slightly turned up, a scrutinizing look on her face, as if she were assessing an interesting new object.

"What is Junior Sister Yu looking at?" A female disciple, also dressed in the robes of the Sixth Elder, approached, followed her gaze, and whispered, "That one from the Northern Wilderness?"

Yu Mengjia withdrew her gaze, her tone calm yet tinged with thoughtfulness: "A peak Nascent Soul cultivator with a Pure Yang Sacred Body possesses Pure Yang Fire of a quality even superior to Luo Lie's True Solar Fire. Without using any magic treasures or secret techniques, the sheer purity of the Pure Yang Fire was enough to suppress the fully-formed Heavenly Fire Spirit Body." She paused, her smile deepening. "Interesting."

She said nothing more, turned, and walked out of the crowd. Her pale blue figure quickly disappeared into the throng, leaving only a single sentence drifting in the wind: "I really want to find a chance to test him myself."

Wang Hao stood at the back of the crowd, watching the direction Yu Mengjia had left in. He raised an eyebrow slightly, then turned to Xuan Yinzi and asked, "Is Yu Mengjia interested in that old man?"

"You read that right."

Xuan Yinzi nodded.

He also noticed Yu Mengjia's performance.

"What makes an old man better than me?" Wang Hao retorted.

Even if he lost to Li Hanshan this time, he didn't think he was inferior to Li Hanshan. Especially in terms of attracting women, Li Hanshan looked old and frail; how could a beauty like Yu Mengjia be interested in him?

"Senior Brother Xuan, you were the one who went in just now!"

Wang Hao said to Xuan Yinzi.

Xuan Yinzi shook his head: "No, I won't go."

"Not going?" Wang Hao asked, puzzled.

Xuan Yinzi's answer was simple: "Let's save such an opponent for the finals."