Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

In the depths of the mysterious realm, halfway up the mountain.

A massive stone door was embedded in the mountain wall, forcing the Goryeo cultivators to form a semicircle as if facing a formidable enemy. They established a sword formation to protect their captain inside, who was examining and searching for a way to open the door. Experience tales with empire

"We can't go on like this!" Park Changmin, who kept glancing around, lowered his voice and said to Lee Junyong in Korean, "There's no path ahead, enemies behind us, and frequent attacks from snow demons. If we don't leave now, we'll all die here!"

"Where would we go?" Lee Junyong asked helplessly, "The military of Lu Country must already be guarding the outside of the mysterious realm. Going out now would be like a turtle caught in a jar."

"Even being caught is better than dying," Park Changmin said sternly. "Later, I'll pretend to spot an enemy and shout loudly. You follow me and we make a dash for it. We'll use the wind and snow as cover and escape along the way we came in."

"Don't be foolish!" Lee Junyong was immediately terrified. "If Jin Taishan discovers us, we'll both be subject to military law and killed on the spot!"

"Staying here is what will get us killed!" Park Changmin said fiercely. "I don't care anymore. If you won't follow, then I'll go alone!"

Just then, another sharp warning cry sounded:

"Enemy!"

Amidst the swirling snowflakes in the air, countless blades of light and sword shadows appeared. Upon closer inspection, they were densely packed wind-borne snow soldiers, wielding ice-crafted broadswords, and fiercely charging with a sky-covering malevolent aura.

The Goryeo cultivators quickly shot out their Flying Swords, and after the first volley, more than half of the snow soldiers were gone.

These creatures, made up of ice and snowflakes, had virtually no defense but their numbers were far too great. By the time the Goryeo cultivators recalled their Flying Swords to launch a second attack, the remaining snow soldiers had already reached them.

After a chaotic battle, all the snow soldiers were finally eliminated, but three of the Goryeo cultivators were wounded—two had injured arms, and one had a shoulder injury.

"Three this time?" Team leader Jin Taishan frowned when he heard the casualty report. "Damn it! A bunch of useless things! You can even get hurt fighting those frail snow demons?"

Everyone kept their faces expressionless, pretending not to hear the reprimand.

Indeed, the snow demons were easily defeated and didn't even have the sense to dodge attacks, but there were too many of them, more than double the number of the Goryeo cultivators... You kill one with your Flying Sword, and another one takes the chance to rush at you.

Moreover, Jin Taishan was studying the stone door inside the formation, demanding that they hold the line and fight to the death without retreating. How could it be possible to avoid injury?

Although everyone was seething with indignation, they dared not complain aloud, as the military hierarchy was in place; even if a superior spat in your face, you had to wait for them to leave before you were allowed to wipe it off.

After hastily bandaging the injured cultivators, Jin Taishan turned back to study the stone door.

Though shaped like a door, the stone door melded seamlessly with the surrounding mountainside, lacking a handle or keyhole, leaving Jin Taishan to tap various parts with his Flying Sword, searching for hollow spaces or mechanisms.

The Goryeo cultivators forming the formation outside remained silent, but an atmosphere of dead silence and numbness had already begun to permeate the team.

Park Changmin quickly glanced around and gritted his teeth in secret.

It was clear from Jin Taishan's attitude that he treated his subordinates like disposable resources. If they blindly charged out now, they would likely be killed outright by him as deserters, executed by his Flying Sword from a distance.

He had to find the most suitable moment to quickly disengage from the main force!

————————

Yan Yu and his companions continued to move forward. As the mountain slopes climbed higher, the path rapidly narrowed.

On the left was a mountain wall, and on the right, a cliff. Below the cliff was a snow valley of unfathomable depth. If someone accidentally fell down... they could use the Cloud Ascension Technique to fly back slowly, which wasn't a big deal. The problem was if snow soldiers arrived halfway through your flight, it would be difficult to handle.

Because of the terrain, it wasn't convenient to sprint using the Shifting Technique, and using the Cloud Ascension Technique or Wall-Penetration Technique drained too much True Yuan. Ye Jun retracted her Xuan Guang Ruler and commanded everyone to form a single-file line, quickly climbing along the narrow mountain path.

"I don't like this place," Lin Ning, who had rejoined the group, complained while walking behind Yan Yu. "If the snow soldiers attack, there's nowhere to hide."

"Then you can use the Barrier Charm," Yan Yu said methodically. "Let them smash themselves against it."

"That makes sense!" Lin Ning realized instantly and added, "Then why did you ask me to clear them out just now? Everyone could just use the Barrier Charm when they were under attack."

"Because it saves more True Yuan," Chen Lingyun answered from ahead. "If everyone uses a Barrier Charm, the total consumption of True Yuan is more than if Ye Jun alone activates her Xuan Guang Ruler; and the True Yuan Ye Jun uses is more than if you help to clear out the fodder."

"Exactly," Yan Yu nodded. "Fighting is really about doing the math, especially with more people involved."

"Alright," Lin Ning sighed.

She wasn't bad at thinking things through; she just preferred direct, close-quarters combat and straightforward assaults—win or lose, life or death, all determined within a few moves.

The current situation, being restrained by formation and passively taking hits if an enemy appeared, was really not to Lin Ning's liking.

Fortunately, this section of the mountain path wasn't very long. After some time, the group eventually passed through it and reached a relatively flat gentle slope.

Looking ahead, they saw an endless snow-covered coniferous forest. The howling wind and snowflakes passing through the trees severely obscured their vision, almost entirely concealing what was within.

If there were ambushers...

"I'll continue to lead the way," Liu Longtao suggested to Yan Yu. "Old Yan, would you like to guard the rear?"

Leading the way might mean you encounter the enemy first, and guarding the rear could lead to meeting enemies attempting backstab ambushes. These two most dangerous tasks naturally fell to the strongest cultivators in the team.

"Good," Yan Yu said, "let the Sword Immortals stand on the outside of the formation. If you see anything, don't hesitate, just send your Flying Swords to strike first and foremost."

"Proper," Liu Longtao nodded in agreement.

Everyone quickly adjusted the formation, still moving forward in a tight group. They let Ye Jun open the Xuan Guang Ruler to protect everyone, while Liu Longtao and Yan Yu stood outside the barrier, one in front and one behind, vigilant of their surroundings as they progressed.

Yan Yu, trailing behind the team, looked around the surroundings with boredom, thinking it was less about covering the rear and more about using me as bait to see if we can draw out any ambushers that might be nearby.

After all, if there really was an ambush, instead of forcefully attacking Ye Jun's Xuan Guang Ruler barrier, it would obviously be more suitable to sneak attack those outside.

On that note… Ye Jun has been activating the Xuan Guang Ruler up to now, and she hasn't run into any issues with her stamina. This girl's got some skills.

To maintain such a large magic protection barrier, if she hadn't consumed Elixir Medicine, it's estimated that by the time we arrived at the mountain path previously, her True Yuan would've nearly been depleted, so Ye Jun undoubtedly must have secretly taken some Qi-supplementing Elixir Medicine.

Elixir Medicine isn't like the blue potions in games where you just eat it and immediately recover True Yuan. You need to wrap it in True Yuan in your stomach to refine it, then guide the Qi into your Dantian for it to work.

This means Ye Jun needs to divide her attention to refine the Elixir Medicine; otherwise, she can't replenish her True Yuan. Yet, at the same time, she also needs to maintain the barrier of the Xuan Guang Ruler and adjust it in real time to coordinate with the movement of the main force... Actually, there's quite a lot of knowledge involved here.

In the future, there's even a specialized Cultivator course called "Stamina Coordination Studies", which teaches what "safe moments" are permissible for a cultivator to momentarily distract themselves during real combat, fitting the "refining of Elixir Medicine" process into these safe moments like puzzle pieces.

Mastering this stamina skill means that as long as one has enough Elixir Medicine, they can fight for three days and three nights without running out of True Yuan.

Ye Jun's flawless activation of the Xuan Guang Ruler for such an extended time indicates she has indeed studied this aspect of endurance. The specific reason isn't hard to guess; after all, with the four main attackers in the team being strong men, the only role she could play in critical moments was defense and containment, which put enormous pressure on her True Yuan...

Lord Master, this friend of yours, I'm locking this down! If you ever decide you no longer need a vice-captain, would it be good to transfer Ye Jun to me?

As Yan Yu was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard the clanging sound of swords and blades from afar.

Here they come again, this Wind Blade Frost Sword Formation really doesn't want to give us a moment's peace...

Yan Yu leisurely urged the Huang Tingjian, slaying some of the Snow Demon close by while the rest crashed into the barrier of the Xuan Guang Ruler, scattering into innumerable snowflakes that fell to the ground.

Hm? What's that...

"Come out, friend," Yan Yu suddenly called out loudly.

The advancing team immediately stopped, with Liu Longtao also halting in his tracks and squinting into the distance.

All they saw was the howling cold wind and dense trees, without a single person in sight.

Liu Longtao fell silent for a moment before, looking back over the team at Yan Yu, calling out:

"Hey, Liu."

"What's up?" Liu Longtao responded.

"How do you say 'come out quickly' in Goryeo language?" Yan Yu asked.

Liu Longtao: ......

"I don't know Goryeo language," he said, seemingly confused.

"Let me try," Ye Jun took a deep breath and called out into the distance, "neyirinawa!"

After a moment, there was no response from afar.

"Ye Jun, what you said isn't right," Yan Yu laughed, "look, they don't understand it."

"It should be correct though," Ye Jun said doubtfully, frowning. Although she had taught herself Goryeo language, such a short phrase shouldn't be incorrect.

"Don't waste your time anymore," Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly said, "I'll do it."

Everyone: ?

Especially the girls from the Zhenhai Team, like Su Yunjin and Lin Ning, who at this moment were staring incredulously with wide eyes.

Sister Zhao? She actually can speak the Goryeo language?

Although she indeed enjoyed watching Goryeo TV dramas and variety shows, given her level of intelligence, self-learning... they still found it a bit unbelievable.

Zhao Yuanzhen walked out of the barrier to Yan Yu's side and asked:

"Where did you see the person?"

"Over there," Yan Yu pointed.

"Okay," Zhao Yuanzhen chuckled coldly.

She drew her sword and charged forward.