Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Li Minghu handed the wine gourd to the Elder of Shushan.

Elder Ding received the gourd, weighed the wine inside, and then revealed a satisfied smile.

"May I ask how the Elder is addressed?" Li Minghu asked respectfully.

"You are a disciple of Shushan, don't you know who I am?" Elder Ding appeared somewhat puzzled, and said, "I am surnamed Chen, with the Taoist name Mo Yang."

That's quite an odd Taoist name, Li Minghu thought to herself.

"Then who was that person just now..." she asked respectfully again.

"The Sect Leader," Elder Mo Yang paused for a moment and said, "If not for the Township Formation verifying your identity, I would have suspected you to be a spy sent by the Demon Cult."

"Elder, you're joking," Li Minghu joked, "I was so drunk last night, wandering outside myself, that I almost forgot my own name."

She had already noticed that this trial-like Mysterious Realm would assign her a sufficiently reasonable identity, so there was no need to worry too much about revealing any flaws during communication, focusing instead on gathering intelligence as much as possible.

Hearing Li Minghu admit to being a fellow drinker, Elder Mo Yang was unsurprisingly convinced and overjoyed:

"Oh! I often encounter such things myself, after all, in the cup lies the sun and moon, the universe, making one linger endlessly and forget oneself... It's a very normal thing!"

He originally intended to hide here and enjoy drinking, now he had a new friend, so he took out two jade cups and invited Li Minghu to drink with him.

How could Li Minghu truly enjoy drinking? Thus she politely declined, saying she was still hungover from the previous night and it was not appropriate to drink at this time.

Elder Mo Yang felt a bit disappointed and simply drank on his own, patiently answering Li Minghu's questions.

It turns out that this sect is the Shangqing Sect of Shushan, which in its heyday dominated the entire 800-mile Shushan region, seizing countless rare treasures. The disciples loved sword fighting and brawling, traveling long distances to challenge those rumored to be skilled in swordsmanship, winning and then seizing their swords, which had long since attracted countless enmities.

During the Age of Dharma Decline, the sky opened leaks, although some extraordinary individuals patched the sky, extending the life of this world, yet Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth grew increasingly scarce. The disciples Shushan recruited were less talented with each generation, and no longer possessed the prowess and experience from constant battles they once had, surviving only by intimidating nearby rogues with the Township Divine Sword, Sun True Dullness Sword.

In the current generation, the Sect Leader Chen Yanwei, being the Sun Sword Master, wasn't even in the Nascent Soul Realm, finally drawing ambitions from countless demon path monsters outside, leading mighty forces to gather endless sideline and heretical paths, claiming "Ten Thousand Gods and Demons," aiming to attack Shushan, destroy the sect's lineage, and seize the Divine Sword.

Li Minghu patiently listened and roughly understood the background information of this Mysterious Realm, asking:

"Then what should we do now?"

"What can be done?" Elder Mo Yang scoffed, "If anything could be done, I would have done it long ago, why else would I be here drinking?"

Li Minghu was speechless, noticing that this elder had become disheartened, seemingly very pessimistic about the current situation, and asked again:

"Since the Sun True Dullness Sword has kept Shushan safe for so many years, why doesn't it work now? Just because the Sect Leader, the current Sun Sword Master, is only at the Golden Core Realm?"

She had seen the power of the Sun True Dullness Sword. Even just a strand of Sword Intent, in the hands of the unformed Yan Yu, could level Tianzhu with one stroke, hence she was deeply skeptical of Elder Mo Yang's statement.

"Who knows." Elder Mo Yang coldly laughed and said, "Since he became the Sun Sword Master, he has never used the Divine Sword even once, fear of being discovered by others about the limited prowess of the current Sword Master, thus birthing thoughts of seizing the sword."

Swallowed a mouthful of old wine, sighed and said:

"This child originally had ambitions and spirit. If placed in the previous Shushan, perhaps he could have made a name for himself, but unfortunately, in this sect's crisis, the more cautiously, the more timidly one walks, instead…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but Li Minghu had already understood.

Hesitant, conservative leaders have many examples throughout the thousands of years of Lu Country's history, and their ultimate downfall proves that this personality is indeed unsuited for leadership.

A leader needs to dare to stake everything at any time, and have the courage to go all-in and gamble in critical moments, even if about to suffer great defeat, being able to face it calmly.

But Chen Yanwei is overly concerned with the identity of Sun Sword Master, and due to having only Golden Core Realm cultivation, he underestimates his abilities, resulting in a lack of daring to battle spirit, which is deadly for Shushan's Shangqing Sect.

Li Minghu pondered for a moment, then asked again:

"Elder Mo Yang, are there such these two disciples in the sect?"

She described Yan Yu and Mei Yingxue's features in detail. Elder Mo Yang listened patiently and said:

"They should currently be working under Elder Tian Yue's service, responsible for coordinating the sect's defense along with the Township Formation."

"Thank you, Elder, for informing me."

After clarifying the situation, Li Minghu bid farewell to Elder Mo Yang, and sword-controlled away.

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The flow of time in the Mysterious Realm is not entirely consistent with the outside world.

After the Purple Cloud Formation had been laid out on the Korea Peninsula, Zhou Hongyu, Su Yunjin, and Xie Ruoxi, collaborated with the Pear Blossom Courtyard swordsmen to enter the world within the belly of the giant snake, and eliminated the "Storm Demon Lord" who excelled in manipulating winds.

Thus, no more Orochi remained in the Asia region.

Europe, leveraging the Holy Shroud Barrier to suppress the ice serpent, has organized several raids into the belly world, yet all ended with the varied team members completely disappearing.