Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Yan Yu stepped out the door in his slippers, shuffling leisurely in the direction of the sound he had just heard.

Not far ahead, he saw Liu Longtao standing in the middle of the road. The ground, with him at its center, had caved in all directions, as if struck by a massive hammer.

Two corpses had toppled around him, with blood oozing from their seven orifices, undeniably dead—their Flying Swords lay nearby, similar in style to the short swords from before.

To tell the truth, if they had chosen an easier target, like Chen Lingyun, perhaps they might have had a chance to succeed.

However, unfortunately, these assassins had chosen the two strongest individuals in the battle teams, the least likely to fall victim to their attack…

"Nicely done, Old Liu, you resolved it all by yourself," Yan Yu remarked after inspecting the bodies for a moment, and casually asked, "No survivors?"

"Hm, didn't pay attention," Liu Longtao composed himself and replied with a frown, "Those two assassins sprang out suddenly, gave me quite a scare, and I went in a bit too hard."

"It's fine, Ye Jun caught one alive," Yan Yu chuckled and said, "Since you're okay, I'm gonna head back for dinner then."

"You're still in the mood for dinner?" Liu Longtao was suddenly taken aback, "Old Yan, why do you think there are foreign cultivators here?!"

In his urgency, he had forgotten the formality of using 'you'.

"They're here to steal the Changbai Mountain Mysterious Realm, of course," Yan Yu replied with a look that said 'what's so hard to guess', adding, "In their country, they call Changbai Mountain 'Baekdu Mountain', the 'Sacred Mountain of the nation'.

Now that the Changbai Mountain Mysterious Realm has opened and is under the actual control of Lu Country, they can't compete against us by force and can't let go of their greed either, so sneaking attacks is their only option."

"So, you knew!" Liu Longtao was nearly at a loss for words and anxiously added, "I think so too: their purpose in sending assassins to attack us is to delay our progress, so they can take the lead in exploring Changbai Mountain Mysterious Realm!

One quarter of Changbai Mountain's eastern side falls within Silla's territory; if they mobilize troops down the eastern slope to attack and seal off the Mysterious Realm, or even send cultivators ahead of us to find the control center, then we'd really be at a disadvantage!"

"Indeed," Yan Yu nodded, "So, by 'they', do you mean Northern Silla or Southern Goryeo? Does the top brass know about this?"

Liu Longtao was immediately taken aback.

Theoretically speaking, it doesn't matter if it's Silla or Goryeo—if anyone dares to contest our Lu Country's Mysterious Realm, they must be dealt with. However, in practice, it's not possible to just march over and slaughter them… First, we need to identify who the enemy is, and second, we need authorization from higher-ups before we can make our move.

Being ambushed and defending oneself is one thing, but initiating an attack on foreign cultivators is another. Without authorization from superiors, regardless of the legitimacy of the reasons, such actions are considered 'going solo' and are a big taboo officially.

"Right?" Yan Yu said with a smile, "Even with a swift response from above, it'll probably take around twenty minutes or so. We might as well have dinner in the meantime. We can go after them once authorization comes through, it won't be too late then."

Liu Longtao wanted to argue, what if Changbai Mountain's Mysterious Realm is so small that it gets taken by the others within twenty minutes? But after all, he was a loyalist with deep-rooted allegiance, understanding the importance of following official protocols, so he repressed his impatient and irritated thoughts and followed Yan Yu into a noodle shop nearby.

"Boss, a bowl of tomato and egg noodles," Yan Yu ordered, looking at the menu on the wall, then asked, "What will you have, Old Liu?"

"Some little wontons, please," Liu Longtao replied absently, with no appetite.

As they sat down, Yan Yu called Chen Lingyun:

"How's it going over there?"

"All good," Chen Lingyun responded with a smile, "Was at the hot springs for just a short while before being rushed out, then got taken to the Dingbei Army camp to prepare for battle. It couldn't be any better."

"That's good to hear," Yan Yu said contentedly, "Eat up while you can, you might have to go out on a mission soon."

"We are already eating," Chen Lingyun chuckled, "Are you at Lord Master's place? Was he also targeted?"

"He's fine," Yan Yu replied, "Not a hair harmed."

"Oh," Chen Lingyun sighed, sounding a bit regretful.

"Can I talk to her for a moment?" Liu Longtao suddenly asked.

"Be my guest," Yan Yu placed the phone on the table and pushed it towards him.

"Chen Lingyun," Liu Longtao inquired seriously, "how's the situation at Changbai Mountain?"

"You're asking me about your own Dingbei Army's defenses now, huh~" Chen Lingyun teased with a laugh.

Liu Longtao looked at Yan Yu, and then heard Yan Yu exclaim,

"Focus on the matter at hand, who's joking with you? Speak properly!"

"Hmm," Chen Lingyun, unoffended, replied, "I heard it was a sneak attack from the east, about a dozen foreign cultivators broke in with Barrier Charms, and despite machine-gun fire rammed their way through."

"North, or South?" Liu Longtao asked gravely.

"The North says it's the South," Chen Lingyun gave a strange answer. "Yan Yu, do you believe that?"

"Of course I believe it, why not?" Yan Yu replied without hesitation, "If that's what they say, then they are not implicitly wanting to be part of the Mysterious Realm dispute. We don't need to worry about whether those cultivators are actually from the North or South, just kill them all, and that's that."

"Right, I was thinking the same," Chen Lingyun pondered for a moment, "Liu Longtao, the rules of the Mysterious Realm competition are going to change this time."

"That's a given," Liu Longtao said coolly.

The whole point of the Mysterious Realm competition was to simulate a confrontation with the cultivators of enemy countries... Now that the enemy cultivators had actually appeared, there was no reason to keep our guns pointed at our brother teams any longer.

"What about the distribution?" Yan Yu continued to ask.

"We'll wait for the Privy Council to determine the plan afterward," Chen Lingyun answered, "Yan Yu, we've finished eating, how about you?"

"I've only just started eating," Yan Yu looked at the owner bringing out a bowl of noodles from the kitchen.

"Send me your location," Chen Lingyun laughed, "We'll come to find you."

Yan Yu sent the location and then, regardless of Liu Longtao's expression, started to eat his noodles without any concern.

He had eaten half of his bowl when suddenly someone patted him on the back.

"Let's go," Chen Lingyun's cheerful voice rang out, "Authorization has come through, the helicopter is outside, we need to leave immediately."
Experience more on empire

"You couldn't possibly have urged the pilot to rush over just so that I wouldn't be able to finish my noodles, could you?" Yan Yu immediately asked suspiciously, as the arrival seemed too timely.

"That's right!" Lin Ning said puffily from beside them, "We were eating compact biscuits in the camp, and you were secretly eating noodles here!"

It wasn't that there were no self-heating military meals in the camp, but everyone thought that the war authorization could come at any time, and once it did, they would have to leave immediately, so nobody was in the mood to cook and just grabbed some compressed biscuits to fill their stomachs.

"It's not my fault you guys made a dumb decision," Yan Yu mocked nonchalantly, but very quickly his left arm was held by Lin Ning and his right arm by Zhao Yuanzhen. The two hoisted him up, one on each side, and dragged him toward the helicopter.

"Captain Liu," Ye Jun came to Liu Longtao's side, "Everyone is in the cabin now."

"Okay," Liu Longtao wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.

"Wait, you haven't paid yet!" The owner chased out from the kitchen, and upon seeing the helicopter outside, was left somewhat shocked and speechless.

"No need for change," Ye Jun had no time to ask about the price and then scan a code to make a transfer. She simply left a hundred-yuan bill and then quickly followed Liu Longtao out.

Inside the cabin, Yan Yu and Chen Lingyun were informed of what had happened and were speechless.

The entrance to the Mysterious Realm opened at the northeast side of Heaven Lake at the summit of Changbai mountain, only a few hundred meters in a straight line from Silla territory.

After the entrance appeared, the Dingbei Army immediately took control of the area around Heaven Lake to prevent tourists from both countries from getting close.

Afterwards, Lu Country sent an official note to Silla, implying that since the entrance to the Mysterious Realm appeared within its borders, it belonged to Lu Country's "natural territorial resources," and they would deploy troops to guard it for security reasons.

Silla, at that time, did not even know about the appearance of the Mysterious Realm at Changbai Mountain, and began to haggle with Lu Country. The specific details of the negotiations remain unknown, but from Lu Country's perspective, it seemed like Silla acknowledged the fact that the entrance to the Mysterious Realm was under Lu Country's control.

The only reason they did not formally admit it was due to concerns about domestic public opinion, which is why they dragged their feet.

As the Dingbei Army sealed off the area around Heaven Lake and evacuated the tourists on Lu Country's side, the tourists on the other side refused to leave, merely crowding outside the blockade line, shouting, and taking pictures. If you tried to disperse them by force they would flee, but as soon as the dispersion was done, they'd come back.

In the end, the Dingbei Army had no choice but to let them stay outside the blockade line, as long as they did not try to break in without permission.

Then, the unfamiliar cultivators launched their surprise attack.

Mixed in with the tourists, the cultivators suddenly broke through the blockade line and charged towards the entrance to the Mysterious Realm. There were about thirty of them, all cultivators with clear roles. Some engaged the Dingbei Army cultivators, while others mindlessly rushed towards the entrance, constantly using the Earth-Element Sturdiness Curse.

Ordinary firearm bullets barely scratched them, causing no damage.

Thankfully, the on-site commander of the Dingbei Army was shrewd and quickly adopted the confrontation tactics common between the Pingxi Army and Tianzhu along their border: forming a human wall.

You're constantly using the Barrier Charm? My bullets can't kill you, but you also can't use an Attack Spell Technique. So I'll let the regular soldiers form a human wall to physically block you outside, and then our military cultivators will take you down one by one.

If you dare to switch to an Attack Spell Technique, there's no need for cultivators to act, the precision marksmen staged outside will shoot you dead.

Using this crude method, the Dingbei Army managed to keep most of the foreign cultivators outside, but still, sixteen or seventeen managed to break into the Mysterious Realm—after all, the attack was sudden and it was impossible to do any better.

After listening to Chen Lingyun finish the account, Liu Longtao looked at Ye Jun.

Ye Jun silently nodded her head, indicating that the information she had obtained was essentially correct and matched the explanation given by the Dingbei Army.

Liu Longtao's face darkened as he looked through the helicopter window down at the mountains below and suddenly said,

"Old Yan, how about a competition?"

"A competition about what?" Yan Yu asked curiously, "The combat competition has already been canceled."

"About who kills more foreign cultivators after we enter the Mysterious Realm," Liu Longtao said with a cold laugh, flashing his white teeth.

"Let's not," Yan Yu shook his head, "I'm not interested in a killing game. Defending the country and killing enemies is the duty of a soldier, how can it be treated as a game?"

Liu Longtao was taken aback. But since the other party appealed to greater righteousness, he had no immediate comeback and could only change his proposition,

"Then let's see who can reach the core of the Mysterious Realm first, how about that?"

"After we take down those cultivators?" Yan Yu pondered with his chin in hand, "That could work, but Old Liu..."

"What?"

"You already lost to me once. If you lose again this time, you'll be okay with that, right? No psychological shadows or anything?"

Liu Longtao:......

"Rest assured," he once again flashed a standard amiable smile, "Just feel free to let me witness your strength."