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

Another half month passed.

On Frosty Peak, on the ice-jade bed, the cold air mingled with gasps of breath.

Li Hanshan rolled down and sat cross-legged. The extremely cold yin energy within his body collided violently with the pure yang energy, unleashing a surge of immense power that flowed ceaselessly along his pure yang meridians.

boom!

A muffled thud came from inside the body.

Foundation Building Level 6!

The spiritual energy within his dantian surged once more, and his pure yang meridians became even wider and stronger under the tempering of this energy. Li Hanshan opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance in them, and his aura was significantly stronger than before.

Liu Ruoxue silently put on her clothes and looked at him coldly. Her cultivation had also broken through to the peak of the third level of Foundation Establishment through this dual cultivation, only one step away from the fourth level.

"You've broken through," she said coldly.

"Hmm." Li Hanshan stood up. "Sixth level of Foundation Establishment."

Liu Ruoxue's eyes twitched slightly, but she quickly regained her icy composure.

"The transaction is complete. You can leave now."

Li Hanshan did not leave. He took out several jade bottles from his storage bag and placed them on the ice jade bed.

"The Nourishing Essence Pill and the Condensing Essence Pill. The Nourishing Essence Pill strengthens the foundation and nourishes the vital energy, while the Condensing Essence Pill assists in cultivation."

Liu Ruoxue turned her head away: "I don't want your charity."

"This isn't charity; it's part of a deal." Li Hanshan walked out without looking back. "The faster your cultivation improves, the more you can help me."

The stone gate slammed shut behind them.

Liu Ruoxue sat alone on the ice jade bed, staring at the jade bottles for a long time. Finally, she reached out and carefully put the jade bottles away one by one.

When Li Hanshan returned to Hua Nongying's cave, Hua Nongying was leaning against the stone couch, puffing on a cigarette. Seeing him enter, her eyes sparkled, and she said sweetly, "Hanlang, went to find that ice again?"

"Um."

"A breakthrough?"

"Um."

Hua Nongying put down her pipe, leaned over and sniffed him, her eyebrows furrowing slightly, her tone sarcastic: "You're radiating cold. Next time you go see her, let me know so I can warm you up."

Li Hanshan was both amused and exasperated.

At that moment, a communication talisman flew from afar and hovered in front of him.

As the talisman burned, Deacon Lu's gloomy voice emanated from it: "Inner disciple Li Hanshan, proceed immediately to the Outer Affairs Hall to receive your annual assessment task."

Li Hanshan frowned.

Hua Nongying emerged from the cave, her expression slightly changing: "Annual assessment? Han Lang, you've been a full-time employee for a year now?"

"Mm." Li Hanshan nodded.

"They might try to manipulate the assessment." Hua Nongying grasped his hand, her eyes filled with worry. "I'll go with you."

When the two arrived at the Hall of External Affairs on their flying swords, several people had already gathered in front of the hall.

Li Hanshan didn't recognize any of these people; judging from their identification tags, they were all outer disciples.

Most of them were at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining, with the highest being the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. At this moment, they were all somewhat uneasy, clearly feeling apprehensive about this assessment.

Deacon Lu stood in front of the palace gate, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, lingering for a moment on Li Hanshan, a faint, cold smile appearing on his lips.

"Everyone's here." He spoke slowly and deliberately. "I've called you here today for the annual assessment. You're all disciples who have been promoted to full-fledged furnace cauldrons, and your one-year term is up. According to sect rules, you need to undergo an annual assessment. Those who fail the assessment will be reverted to their original form and become furnace cauldrons again."

Upon hearing this, the other disciples became even more uneasy.

Li Hanshan's gaze swept over the group of people, who had all transitioned from furnace cauldrons to formal disciples.

It seems that the Hehuan Sect has some outstanding furnace cauldrons each year. Unlike him, these people are all relatively young, mostly in their twenties, with the oldest being only in his thirties.

Li Hanshan is unique at his age.

Deacon Lu took in everyone's reactions, waved his hand, and six jade slips flew to each of the six people, saying:

"Enough with the nonsense, the assessment tasks are all in the jade slip, take a look yourself."

A square-faced disciple was the first to receive the jade slip. He probed it with his divine sense, and his face turned pale at first, but then relaxed.

"Hunting down ten Tier 1 demonic beasts..."

Another disciple in white robes also looked at his jade slip: "Gather ten designated spiritual herbs..."

Although none of their tasks were easy, they were all within the capabilities of the Qi Refining stage. They all wore expressions of relief, secretly rejoicing.

Li Hanshan probed his divine sense into his jade slip.

A moment later, his face darkened.

"Travel deep into the Monster Beast Mountain Range to hunt down late-stage Tier 2 monsters and bring back ten late-stage Tier 2 monster cores. Deadline: one month."

A late-stage Tier 2 demonic beast is equivalent to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Ten inner cores mean ten late-stage Tier 2 demonic beasts.

The others gasped when they heard about the task, their eyes filled with sympathy as they looked at Li Hanshan.

"Senior Brother Li, this...this mission is way too difficult!"

"Late stage of the second tier! That's the late stage of Foundation Establishment!"

Deacon Lu looked at Li Hanshan with a smile: "Junior Brother Li, have you heard your mission clearly? If you have any objections, you can raise them now."

Li Hanshan looked at the confident smile on his face and sneered inwardly.

That old man was definitely up to no good.

When Deacon Lu first returned, Li Hanshan did not choose to cause trouble, to avoid him joining forces with Wu Tianxiong.

Instead of being grateful, this guy took the opportunity to make things difficult for him.

Ten late-stage second-tier inner cores—let alone a core disciple who "has only recently broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage," even a veteran core disciple in the late-stage Foundation Establishment stage might not be able to complete this within a month.

The depths of the Monster Mountain Range are fraught with danger. Late-stage second-tier monsters each have their own territories. If you search for them one by one, you might accidentally run into a third-tier monster, which is a Golden Core level being.

This is practically a suicide mission.

"Junior Brother Li, if you find it too difficult..." Deacon Lu drawled out.

"What's so difficult about that?"

Li Hanshan interrupted him, his tone eerily calm: "Ten late-stage second-tier inner cores, one month. Any other requirements?"

The smile on Deacon Lu's face froze for a moment.

He thought that since he had made his challenge so obvious, Li Hanshan would definitely argue his case, and he could take this opportunity to teach the old man a lesson and let him know the consequences of offending him. Unexpectedly, the other party agreed immediately.

"Are you sure?" Deacon Lu narrowed his eyes. "A late-stage second-tier demonic beast, that's equivalent to the late-stage Foundation Establishment. You've only recently broken through to Foundation Establishment..."

"That's my business," Li Hanshan interrupted him again. "Deacon Lu only needs to tell me that completing this task will pass the assessment, right?"

Deacon Lu's expression darkened slightly: "Not bad."

"Okay." Li Hanshan put the jade slip into his storage bag and turned to leave.

Hua Nongying quickly followed.

Deacon Lu watched his retreating figure, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

That old bastard, still so arrogant even on his deathbed. Fine, let's see how cocky you are when you die in the Monster Mountain Range.

Wu Tianxiong walked out of the Outer Affairs Hall and stood next to Deacon Lu, his face full of schadenfreude: "Deacon Lu, he agreed?"

"I agree," Deacon Lu sneered.

"He's courting death." Wu Tianxiong sneered. "A late-stage second-tier demonic beast, equivalent to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even I would run away if I encountered one. For a hundred-year-old man like him to go there would be suicide."

"Just what I wanted." Steward Lu turned and walked back into the hall.

On the flying sword, Hua Nongying held Li Hanshan's hand tightly, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.

"Hanlang, a late-stage second-tier demonic beast is equivalent to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. It's too dangerous for you to go alone. I'll go with you."

"No need," Li Hanshan shook his head. "You can just wait for me at the sect."

"But~~~"

"No buts." Li Hanshan smiled and lowered his voice. "Don't worry, they probably never dreamed that in just one year, I've already reached the sixth level of Foundation Establishment. A late-stage second-tier demonic beast is nothing to kill."

Hua Nongying looked at his confident and composed demeanor, but her worries did not lessen in the slightest. Late-stage second-tier demonic beasts were no joke, and most importantly, there were too many demonic beasts in the Demonic Beast Mountain Range. A battle could easily attract third-tier Golden Core level demonic beasts.

Therefore, to solve this problem, we must act quickly; it's too difficult.

However, when she thought about Li Hanshan's many amazing achievements along the way, Hua Nongying's worries lessened a bit.

But she knew that Li Hanshan must have had the confidence to accept the offer.

"You must be careful." She held his hand tightly.

"rest assured."

Li Hanshan patted the back of her hand, stepped onto his flying sword, and returned to his cave to make final preparations.

We will depart in three days.

In the next three days, he needs to get himself into peak condition and prepare more healing pills and life-saving measures.

After all, the depths of the Monster Mountain Range are not a peaceful place.