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

Li Hanshan turned his gaze away from the depths of the Yinming Sect's ancestral land and towards Hanyan.

"What do you need me to do?" Han Yan asked directly before he could speak. After spending more than a month together, she had figured out the old man's temperament.

He never beats around the bush or engages in pointless pleasantries. Since he revealed his plans to her face, he must have had a purpose.

"I have a way to partially unlock your Spirit-Locking Pill." Li Hanshan took out a jade bottle from his storage bag and poured out a crimson pill. "This is a Seal-Breaking Pill, a fourth-grade pill, specifically for breaking seal-type poison pills. Although it can't completely unlock the Spirit-Locking Pill placed on a Golden Core cultivator, it should be enough to restore seventy or eighty percent of your strength."

Han Yan took the pill, her eyes flashing slightly: "When did you refine it?"

"In the Ghost Realm." Li Hanshan didn't explain further. This Breaking Seal Pill was refined by him in the Ghost Realm using limited spiritual herbs, and the formula was naturally given to him by Luo Li.

Without hesitation, Han Yan tilted her head back and swallowed the pill. As the medicine took effect, demonic energy surged around her, and a look of pain appeared on her cold and beautiful face, but it was quickly suppressed. A few breaths later, she reopened her eyes, her gaze sharp and piercing.

"Seventy percent." She flexed her wrist. "That's enough."

"How many more trump cards do you have?" Li Hanshan asked directly. He hadn't believed she didn't have other methods, especially since she had managed to hide a third-tier spirit talisman right under the noses of two Golden Core cultivators on the flying boat.

Han Yan paused for a moment, then took out a bead from her storage bag that was entirely black and had blood-red patterns engraved on its surface.

"The Heavenly Demon Pearl." Her voice was calm. "This pearl contains a wisp of the Heavenly Demon Sect Master's demonic thought. Once unleashed, it's equivalent to a full-force attack from a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. However, it will shatter after use, so I won't use it unless absolutely necessary."

Good guy.

She actually has such a trump card; her status in the Heavenly Demon Sect is definitely not low.

"With a third-tier spirit talisman and this Heavenly Demon Pearl, you are already capable of threatening a Golden Core cultivator. Why were you captured by Wu Zhanlong?" Li Hanshan asked, puzzled.

"Who would have thought that a Golden Core cultivator would actually launch a sneak attack against a Foundation Establishment cultivator?" Han Yan's beautiful eyes were filled with anger as she spoke of this.

"A sneak attack?"

This Wu Zhanlong is truly a disgrace to the Golden Core stage.

"After I was subdued by him, I could only activate one of his abilities at most. I wasn't 100% confident that I could kill him, so I kept waiting for the right opportunity," Han Yan continued to explain.

Li Hanshan understood.

Whether it's a third-tier spirit talisman or a Heavenly Demon Pearl, although they can unleash attacks at the Golden Core level, it doesn't mean they can kill a Golden Core cultivator.

It was just a full-force attack from a Golden Core cultivator.

Even if the Heavenly Demon Pearl unleashed an attack comparable to the mid-stage Golden Core realm, if a Foundation Establishment cultivator has such a trump card, surely a Golden Core cultivator wouldn't have an even more powerful one?

Although Han Yan is not an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Han Yan then discussed conditions: "Once the Heavenly Demon Pearl is used, I won't be able to obtain a second one for ten years. If you want me to use it, you have to give me enough benefits."

Li Hanshan asked, "What do you want?"

Han Yan said in a deep voice, "Let me leave after it's done."

Without a second thought, Li Hanshan agreed: "Okay."

Han Yan then made a second request: "I want a storage bag for a Golden Core cultivator."

Storage bag?

For a Golden Core cultivator, good things are basically always carried with them; that represents their entire fortune.

Li Hanshan did not hesitate: "Sure, if you are not at ease, I can swear on my Dao heart."

Han Yan tossed out a piece of paper: "This is the Heavenly Demon Oath. Swear it."

Li Hanshan took it, examined it, and finding nothing unusual, then swore an oath as agreed.

Han Yan's situation is now settled.

"Xiao An," he turned to Xiao An, "why don't you try to break through to the Golden Core stage?"

Xiao An naturally understood his meaning. She closed her eyes, and the Netherworld Record within her soul body operated at full power, frantically refining the residual soul power of the devoured Golden Core Yin Souls. Her Foundation Establishment Level 10 aura steadily rose, rushing towards the threshold of the Golden Core level.

However, that threshold was too high.

The leap from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core is not a matter of accumulating spiritual energy, but a qualitative leap.

For a cultivator to form their Golden Core, they need to compress their liquid spiritual essence into a solid Golden Core. For a Yin Soul to break through to the Golden Core level, it needs to completely solidify its soul body, transforming the ethereal into the tangible, requiring at least the condensation of a Soul Core. Although Xiao An absorbed a large amount of soul power, her cultivation of the Netherworld Record was too short, and her foundation was insufficient.

Li Hanshan frowned deeply. Xiao An's aura had far surpassed the tenth level of Foundation Establishment, faintly touching the threshold of the Pseudo-Core stage, but it was still just a step away from the true Golden Core stage.

"Senior, I can't break through to the Golden Core level." Xiao An opened his eyes, his tone tinged with resentment, "But I can maintain the cultivation level of a Pseudo Core for a short period of time."

"That's enough fake cores," Li Hanshan said. Although fake cores are not as good as real golden cores, Xiao An possesses the Netherworld Record, and since this is her home turf, her combat power may not be much inferior.

Just then, a violent fluctuation suddenly came from the spirit beast pouch in Li Hanshan's arms.

A beam of white light shot out from the bag and landed on his shoulder. The little beast woke up. It yawned widely, rubbed its eyes with its little paws, then tilted its head back and stretched out its little paws towards Li Hanshan as if it were perfectly natural—wanting a pill.

Li Hanshan looked at it, a thought flashing through his mind. This little thing had been asleep for nearly two months; the third-tier demon core it had swallowed should have been completely digested by now. He sensed the little beast's aura, his pupils contracting slightly.

Not the same.

Although the little beast's aura was still weak, it possessed a chilling sharpness. In particular, the tuft of golden fur on its forehead was now gleaming with a faint golden light, and some kind of runes could be vaguely seen flowing within the golden light.

"Eee!" The little beast cried out in dissatisfaction when it saw that he was not giving it the pills for a long time, and then began to rub against Li Hanshan.

This little guy has actually learned to be affectionate.

Li Hanshan took out a few Qi-replenishing pills and handed them to the little beast. The beast swallowed them with a flick of its tongue and then squinted its eyes in satisfaction. But when it opened its eyes and looked into the depths of the Yinming Sect's ancestral land, a trace of extremely human-like fighting spirit flashed in its dark eyes.

It sensed something.

Li Hanshan followed its gaze—there was the direction where Qin Muyue and Wu Zhanlong were fiercely battling the Golden Core Yin Soul.

"Can you deal with a Golden Core cultivator?" he asked tentatively.

This little guy once killed a third-tier demon beast, even though it was under severe injury.

The little beast tilted its head, then nodded vigorously. Its golden fur suddenly glowed, and a thin, hair-like beam of golden light shot out, striking the broken wall beside it. That wall, constructed from special materials of the Yinming Sect and resistant to centuries of Yin energy erosion, was instantly pierced with a fist-sized hole, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Han Yan gasped.

A glint flashed in Li Hanshan's eyes. This little thing had indeed grown stronger again. With it around, their chances of dealing with Golden Core cultivators had increased even further.

"I'll use you as bait!"

Li Hanshan placed Wu Tianxiong's corpse at the exit of the Yinming Ancestral Land.

"Xiao An".

"it is good."

Xiao An understood Li Hanshan's intention and immediately crawled into Wu Tianxiong's corpse.

Immediately afterwards, Li Hanshan and Hanyan concealed themselves in the ruins on either side of the exit. He suppressed his aura to the extreme, becoming like a cold stone, blending into the surrounding ruins.

Now, everything is ready, and we're just waiting for Wu Zhanlong and Qin Muyue to come out.