Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"What should we do?" Su Yunjin asked anxiously.

She tried to examine her heart and discovered that she really didn't want to continue moving forward—It was rare to sit side by side with the captain on the mountain steps, to talk sweetly, and even have the chance to lean on his shoulder to sleep. Su Yunjin wished such moments could last longer.

But what if this thought wasn't her own, but the result of some external interference at play?

With this thought, Su Yunjin felt a cold sweat start to form.

"Keep going," Yan Yu quickly decided. "If it wants to stop us, even deliberately blocking out the sound of the alarm clock, then we'll do the opposite. Don't rest, and hurry along the mountain path to reach the end as soon as possible!"

"Okay!" Su Yunjin immediately replied.

The two activated their Shifting Technique and began to sprint along the mountain path.

The mountain path truly wound around Tianzhu Mountain, spiraling upwards. From the scenery around, they had almost made five or six turns, and their altitude had already surpassed most surrounding peaks.

But looking up, there was still no sign of the mountain's summit.

"How tall is Tianzhu Mountain, exactly?" Su Yunjin stared in astonishment. Can we really reach the top?

"It doesn't matter," Yan Yu promptly responded. "I made a point of remembering certain terrains we've passed along the way, and so far, we haven't encountered any repetitions."

"So it's not a looping illusion," Su Yunjin worriedly said. "But, if the end is very far from us, like three or four months or even half a year away, wouldn't that be no different from an endless loop? It's a distance we simply can't accept."

"It won't be that far," Yan Yu switched to communicated through a secret transmission with Su Yunjin. "The restriction against Sword Flight must envelop the entire Mysterious Realm. The larger the Mysterious Realm itself, the larger the restriction required.

It's not feasible as you suggest, making this mountain peak extremely tall and long, stretching out the entire space of the Mysterious Realm; that would be totally uneconomical."

Yan Yu, having lived through one generation before, had fought in many Mysterious Realms, and could deduce that this Mysterious Realm was likely a "test-type realm." Otherwise, if they just put a large group of enemies on the mountain path, coupled with that silent demonic mental manipulation attack, the two of them would already be in a terrible mess.
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Since it was a test-type realm, then based on the current situation, this place was most likely testing their determination. Otherwise, as soon as their minds were troubled by the inner demons, causing them to stop, it would mean failing the test—even if one is strong and capable of fighting, succumbing to inner demons means game over!

With the Shifting Technique propelling them at an incredibly fast speed, much faster than walking, in the blink of an eye, they had circled around the mountain pillar several times,

As the distant landscape became "all mountains seem small" in their view, the path ahead remained empty. However, Yan Yu became even more vigilant, commanding the Huang Tingjian, sometimes hovering to the left, other times shifting right, ready to confront any enemies that might emerge from the surroundings.

Suddenly, he heard Su Yunjin cry out:

"Yan Yu, I can't go on..."

"You're not really unable to go on," Yan Yu urgently transmitted. "It's the inner demon amplifying the lazy thoughts in your consciousness, tempting you to give up moving forward!"

Su Yunjin clenched her teeth, trying to keep up with Yan Yu's speed, but unavoidably, she began to slow down—after all, her subconscious wanted to rest, and sometimes she would slow her pace without realizing it. Only when she noticed Yan Yu getting farther away would she suddenly wake up and hurriedly rush to catch up.

Yan Yu noticed her varying pace, guessed that Secretary Su was being harassed by the inner demon, deliberately slowed down and, after she caught up to him, grabbed her left hand forcefully and pulled her along as they continued to sprint forward.

This hand-in-hand tactic proved to be effective. Su Yunjin, who had previously been distracted with miscellaneous thoughts, found them all disappearing the moment Yan Yu took her hand. It was like she had been fed a mouthful of honey; her heart was filled with nothing but shyness, elation, joy, and intoxication, allowing Yan Yu to lead her in their relentless run.

The invisible inner demon that failed to bring down Su Yunjin turned to attack Yan Yu, stirring his seven emotions and six desires.

But Yan Yu, having lived two lifetimes, already possessed extraordinary determination, firmly suppressing all scattered thoughts, and continued to dash forward, dragging Su Yunjin along.

The higher the two climbed along the mountain path, the more fierce and terrifying the inner demons became, conjuring various things in their Divine Sense to attack them.

Sometimes Su Yunjin would see her blood-covered parents crying out for her behind them; at other times, she would see her own dead body blocking the way ahead... She shivered with fright, not daring to look forward or backward, focusing solely on the steps under her feet as Yan Yu pulled her along in their flight.

Because of the many deep dark sides in Yan Yu's heart, the illusions he saw were a hundred times more cruel than Su Yunjin's. The images might as well have been of the nine serenities of the netherworld or the unspeakable torments of hell.

But his endurance surpassed Su Yunjin's by a thousand times. He had witnessed the living hells on earth not just once or twice in his previous life; how could he fear the false terrors conjured by inner demons?

Amidst the flash of knives and swords, he ignored them; faced with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he saw them not!

The inner demons conjured up the entire Yan family, parents and sister, being held and forced to kneel in a row before being beheaded, their twisted heads rolling around. Yan Yu, however, remained as hard-hearted as iron, completely unmoved, stepping over the bodies with Su Yunjin in tow, continuing to charge forward.

They then conjured up many girls from Zhenhai Team, all crippled and maimed, writhing on the ground in agony, calling desperately for their captain to save them. Yet Yan Yu turned a deaf ear, stomping on the steps with the art of rapid Shifting Technique, leaving them all behind.

His stubborn and almost fanatical attitude finally angered all the lurking inner demons at once. From midair, countless demonic heads appeared, each with three heads and six arms, with fierce green faces and sharp fangs, coming to slay Yan Yu and Su Yunjin.

These were indeed real demons; if one were to dismiss them as illusions and get caught off-guard, a nasty bite would surely result in severe injury... but how could Yan Yu make such a mistake? With one sweep of his Divine Sense, he swung the Huang Tingjian close to his body, repelling and forcing back all the demons in the vicinity.

Su Yunjin was still charging forward with her head down when suddenly, she heard Yan Yu shout loudly:

"Won't you make a move?"

This thunderous roar finally jerked her from her state of panic and fear. Su Yunjin abruptly lifted her head, saw all sorts of demons swirling around, and without hesitation, struck with the hand seal to activate the Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art.

The torrential waters of Jiaochong surged forth, driving back the encroaching demons once more, followed by a shot of coral tears that passed through several demons. However, not a drop of blood was shed; Yan Yu spoke again:

"Don't linger, fight while you move."

With his reminder, Su Yunjin also realized:

The demons that were hit by the Flying Sword showed no sign of injury, still hopping and flying around, which clearly meant they were not afraid of physical attacks. To be delayed by them and hinder their progress would be getting their priorities wrong.

Observing Yan Yu's swordsmanship, he struck wide and swung broadly, never obsessively chasing down any demon, it was clear his intention was to repel the enemies rather than to kill.

Escape first!

The demons were flying everywhere; as soon as they entered the range of the Huang Tingjian's force, the waters of the heavenly river pushed them back out, leaving them no opportunity but to curse and swear at the two, with a stream of foul language.

Su Yunjin blushed with embarrassment upon hearing this, but Yan Yu remained unaffected, instead speeding up the pace of his Shifting Technique. Seeing the end of the mountain path approaching, he quickly took hurried steps, pulling Secretary Su and dashing ahead as if flying.

The demons behind them were all crowded on the last step of the mountain path, as if encountering some invisible barrier, all showing their teeth and making menacingly wicked smiles.

Ahead lay a majestic and splendid temple, grand and magnificent, like the palaces at the summit of the clouds, the abode of immortals.

However, when Yan Yu and Su Yunjin swept the area with their Divine Sense, they discovered an invisible barrier in front of the palace, preventing their Divine Sense from probing any further.

In front of the temple was a stately and expansive white jade plaza.

In the center of the plaza at some unknown time, a girl in red had appeared.

When the two of them had arrived, the plaza should have been empty. But as soon as Yan Yu withdrew his Divine Sense from the direction of the palace, he saw the girl in red standing there gracefully, with a long sword in hand, gazing over with a cool, piercing look.

Both her appearance and her icy demeanor were quite similar to that of the girl in green they had encountered within the Mysterious Realm at Longquan Mountain, but upon closer inspection, there were slight differences.

The figure in green had been solitary and withered, whereas this girl in red was cold and defiant, her eyes conveying a sense of looking down from a high place.

"She has no shadow," Su Yunjin whispered, "just like that Chen Mingyan in the Mysterious Realm of Longquan Mountain... likely just a remnant of someone's Divine Sense and illusion."

"Let's try to communicate first," Yan Yu replied in return.

The person opposite must be the Mysterious Realm Gatekeeper controlling the core of the realm. If they could obtain control of the core without fighting, that would be best, though according to past experiences, it seemed unlikely.

"You…" Before Yan Yu could speak up, the girl in red slowly began, her voice filled with chilliness, "The Spell you used just now on the path to ascend to heaven, was it the 'Star River Secret Art'?"

"Yes," Su Yunjin tentatively asked, "May I ask..."

"That's good," the girl in red interrupted her, simply continuing on her own, "I abhor the person who uses that Spell, and by extension, I detest the Spell itself."

"Since you have mastered that Spell, you must be her successor. In which case, it's only reasonable for me to raise the difficulty of the test, isn't it?"

Su Yunjin: .........

"Let me do it," Yan Yu interrupted, "I'll take your test."

"Want to play the hero?" the girl in red said coldly, "That's not for you to decide."

"Although the path to ascension was replicated by my mother, it also ensnares numerous inner demons. Completing the ascent signifies that your virtues are barely acceptable."

"But in this world, mere virtue is far from enough. The test I have here is one of strength: no matter how you join forces or what methods you use, as long as you can defeat this incarnation of my Divine Sense, you will have passed! Everything within this Mysterious Realm, including those demons, is yours to take and do with as you wish."

"However, if your strength is inadequate and you are killed by me, don't blame me even in the underworld!"