Before them stood a forest of black stone mountains, each as tall as a person. Jian Dan and Han Pengfei were speechless. Beside them, the old woman—now seated on a black stone chair—spoke slowly:
"Whether you leave or not depends on the weapons you've forged. Shatter all the stone mountains before you, and the path will open."
Jian Dan gently touched the Obsidian Bracelet and walked toward the stone mountain marked "Jia Seven." Han Pengfei, holding a black longsword in his arms, nodded at her and took his place before "Jia Eight."
With one throwing punches and the other swinging his sword, they launched their final assault.
Jian Dan summoned her unique inner force, channeling it into the Obsidian Bracelet. As her fists met, a translucent membrane shimmered over them, coating them in protective energy. She struck out—and half the stone mountain before her crumbled in a roar of falling rock.
"Not bad," came the old woman's praise.
But Jian Dan dared not relax. She kept her fists flying, her strikes relentless. Nearby, Han Pengfei's sword shimmered with radiant light as he cleaved through his own target, carving away half a mountain in one swing.
Neither rested. For half an hour they attacked, relentless.
And just when Jian Dan's strength was nearing its end, the ground beneath her flared with glowing runes. In the blink of an eye, both she and Han Pengfei vanished.
"…At least there are still a few good seedlings."
A melodious, youthful voice echoed in the silence. The "old woman" on the chair was no elder at all, but a female cultivator with a doll-like face and dimples, her cultivation level indiscernible. With a wave of her hand, the sky darkened—the Spirit-Devouring Rat Tide had returned.
This time, Jian Dan maintained her poised immortal demeanor as she was transported to a clearing. About twenty cultivators stood or sat in small groups, barely reacting to her sudden appearance.
Remaining vigilant, Jian Dan observed the grand pavilion ahead, shrouded in an aura of mystery. Its halls and courtyards resembled an imperial palace rather than the ruins of a cultivation sect.
But for now, that mystery was secondary. Jian Dan's cultivation, at early Foundation Establishment, was teetering on the brink of a breakthrough. No doubt a result of her recent focus on body tempering in the sub-realm.
"Shan Daoyou, we should find a place to break through first," Han Pengfei's voice sounded beside her. He had also been transported here, and the unstable spiritual energy radiating from him indicated he was about to reach late-stage Foundation Establishment.
"Go ahead. I'll guard you."
Han Pengfei hesitated, then nodded. Retrieving an array disk from his storage pouch, he sat cross-legged and began his breakthrough.
"Isn't that Senior Brother Han? Why is he with an unfamiliar female cultivator?"
A sickly sweet voice reached Jian Dan's ears—undoubtedly from a scheming "white lotus."
A wave of floral perfume announced the arrival of a petite woman in pink robes. She had an oval face, willow-leaf brows, upturned eyes, a small upturned nose, and thin lips—her looks were passable at best.
The woman gazed down at her, voice soft and sticky-sweet:
"Daoyou, are you a friend of my senior brother? Why are you staying so close while he's breaking through? It might disturb him."
Jian Dan stood, her height forcing the woman to step back with a frown. Without a word, Jian Dan tossed out a Heaven-Earth Defense Array Disk, adding another layer of protection around Han Pengfei's formation.
Then, she entered the array herself, setting up an isolation barrier. Turning to Brother Parrot, she said:
"Brother Parrot, I have a bad feeling. I need to break through immediately. Keep watch—if anything goes wrong, enter the array. I've left you an opening."
Brother Parrot nodded seriously, landing between the two arrays and patrolling with careful steps.
From the moment she'd arrived, Jian Dan had sensed the instability of the surrounding space—as if two opposing forces were locked in a delicate stalemate. Though balance had not yet been broken, the underlying tension made her hair stand on end.
Now, she retrieved a sealed jade box from her storage pouch, extracting a Purple Heart Fruit. Piercing its skin, she swallowed the purple liquid inside.
The liquid transformed instantly into pure spiritual energy, flooding her meridians, then gathering in her dantian. The energy flowed into the Taiji Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Diagram within her core, filling the Yang sector and condensing into spiritual liquid. It then passed into the Yin core, where the liquefied essence filled two-thirds of the core.
She had succeeded—she broke through to late Foundation Establishment, skipping an entire minor stage.
The Purple Heart Fruit was a rare spiritual treasure capable of instantly elevating a cultivator's realm, highly sought after by those below the Nascent Soul stage. Sensing danger, Jian Dan had consumed it without hesitation. Since she faced no bottlenecks, there would be no hidden repercussions.
By the time she stabilized her cultivation and withdrew the array, Han Pengfei still hadn't emerged.
"Xiao Zhuzi, you're out?"
"Mn. My cultivation is stable now. You've worked hard these past few days."
"It's nothing, but I've had this uneasy feeling…"
"Let's go take a look."
When Jian Dan emerged from her array, she was greeted by the sight of rainbow light cascading across the palace-like buildings.
Suddenly, a piercing sword light came from behind, aimed straight at her heart.