Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

After obtaining the information from Park Changmin, there was only one question left:

Could it be a trap?

"It doesn't seem like a trap," Chen Lingyun said with a smile. "That person doesn't seem the type to sacrifice himself."

If the information were true, Park Changmin still had a chance to survive afterward; if it were false, the Rikoku Cultivators would definitely be the first to kill him on the spot. Therefore, the authenticity of the information essentially depended on whether Park Changmin dared to willingly face death for his country.

Since Chen Lingyun judged it to be unlikely, then the remaining task was quite simple.

Take them out!

"There's another thing," Yan Yu suddenly said. "Those cultivators who had their throats ripped open before, did he confess what had attacked them?"

"He did," replied Chen Lingyun, smiling faintly. "They didn't see clearly, but it seemed to be a very fast black figure."

A black figure? On hearing this, everyone was momentarily stunned.

No, not a black figure. Yan Yu immediately realized it must be referring to a body exhibiting decay-like blackness, which indeed is a typical physical feature of a zombie.

The domestic policy towards ghost cultivators was lenient, but towards corpse cultivators, it was extermination without exception; after all, the "insult to a corpse crime" was evident, and the moral red line was not something anyone dared to cross.

However, a large number of corpse cultivators called "Necromancers" emerged from the Indochina Peninsula in his previous life, so Yan Yu was not entirely ignorant about corpse cultivators.

Zombies have four levels, dubbed gold, silver, bronze, iron. Above these, entities like Walking Dead Rakshasas and Flying Sky Yakshas have essentially gained spiritual intelligence and are considered a different kind of cultivator, so they are not included in this discussion.

The kind of zombie that might appear at this stage would likely be an Iron Corpse, which had three main characteristics: fast speed, immense strength, and impervious to swords and spears. Impervious in the literal sense, present-day cultivators would find it very difficult to breach their defense even with Flying Swords... Hmm?

Wait, what are the thought habits of an Iron Corpse?

It's over, it's been too long since I last fought a low-level zombie, I'm having a hard time remembering...

Due to partial memory loss, Yan Yu could not deduce where the Iron Corpse was hiding or where it would launch an attack first. Rather than ponder too much, he decided to simply continue moving forward with the team.

Just as Park Changmin had said, after the group passed through a large forest and dealt with two more rounds of attacks from the Wind Blade Frost Sword Formation, they finally reached the summit of the gentle slope.

Beyond the top of the slope were the Goryeo cultivators, blocked outside by a stone gate.

Without showing any signs, Chen Lingyun gently waved the Soul Summoning Banner, and a large dog responded by landing on the ground, instantly transforming into a white Arctic fox that charged uphill along the snow slope.

Ye Jun, watching from behind, thought to herself how indefensible it was to use ghosts for scouting!

In official Mysterious Realm confrontations, let alone a small animal like a fox, if one transformed into a beetle, a dragonfly... boldly flying over to scout out your tactical layout, how would you defend?

Could you exterminate all insects in the vicinity?

Here, Ye Jun was actually overthinking it. Ghosts had restrictions on the size they could transform into, with a fox being the limit; smaller creatures like rabbits were not possible.

Transformations like Sun Wukong's, which could become anything and even sneak into a sister-in-law's belly, belonged to the extremely advanced techniques of Xuanmen Zhengzong and were not something any random cat or dog could achieve.

However, at this moment with the snowstorm raging, even if it was a small animal like a fox, who would notice?

The ghost transformed into a white-haired fox and brazenly ran a circuit atop the slope, taking in the Goryeo cultivators' formation below in full view, then ran back to the group.

It transformed into a stern-faced maid, broke off a branch from the side, and used it to detail the terrain ahead, the number of Goryeo cultivators and their positions, describing and explaining everything thoroughly on the snow-covered ground.

To put it simply, to prevent attacks from the Wind Blade Frost Sword Formation, the Goryeo cultivators ahead had formed a tight semi-circular formation with their backs against the stone gate, leaving no blind spots in their field of vision. Thus, stealth infiltration was unlikely, and direct confrontation was the only option.

Seeing the maid transform into a mist and swiftly return to the Soul Summoning Banner, even Liu Longtao, confident in his own team, couldn't help but ponder: should he let Su Yunjin cross-train as an Envoy?

He didn't expect her to command Servant Envoys in battle, but just this scouting ability alone was worth practicing.

"This simplifies things." Chen Lingyun said cheerily, "What do you think?"

Liu Longtao turned to Yan Yu:

"Shall we split them half and half?"

"Agreed," Yan Yu nodded.

"Commander Zheng," Liu Longtao turned and instructed, "Please split half of our brothers to take over the perimeter of the site and stand guard, to prevent any unexpected emergence of snow soldiers and other unexpected factors."

"The rest of you, maintain distance and freely attack with your Flying Swords to keep up the pressure,"

"There are fifteen opponents. The Dragon Soar Team will take care of annihilating the left side, and you, Zhenghai, are responsible for wiping out the right side. I'll handle the leader, Jin Taishan. How does that sound?"

"Fine." On such trivial details, Yan Yu didn't want to make things too complicated—where in the world is that Iron Corpse hiding?

"Let's go with that." Liu Longtao stood up, "Let's move!"

Everyone swiftly crossed the hilltop and the moment they came into view of the Goryeo Cultivators, they quickly seized the initiative to attack.

Countless Flying Swords shot towards the enemy. Most were blocked by the Goryeo Cultivators who had managed to react and control their swords, but a few found their marks—Yan Yu surveyed the scene quickly, about three had fallen, though it was uncertain if they were dead.

Even though the Rikoku Cultivators had taken the initiative, dealing with sudden situations is a Sword Immortal's forte. The fact that the rival team from Goryeo consisted entirely of Sword Immortals did give them an advantage. After overcoming the initial chaos, they quickly began to exchange casualties with the Rikoku side.

In a battle involving more than forty people, the field changes every second, and commands can't be refined fast enough. Therefore, Chen Lingyun simply stopped speaking and just signaled for the girls to follow her Purple Extreme Sword.

The girls worked together flawlessly, honed by frequently teaming up with Yan Yu to gain experience. As soon as Chen Lingyun's Purple Extreme Sword targeted someone, everyone immediately controlled their swords to focus fire on them, with a speed that was almost inconceivable.

The Goryeo swordsman who was fighting Lin Ning had just blocked the downward slash of the Green Bamboo Sword with his Flying Sword when he saw two Flying Swords approaching from different angles. Startled, he hastily recalled his Flying Sword, wanting to engage in close defense, only for his vision to suddenly whirl.

Su Yunjin, who was hiding at the back, stealthily unleashed Jiaochong. The stream of water blasted the Goryeo swordsman into the air, and Chen Lingyun's Purple Extreme Sword seized the chance to pierce diagonally into his throat, beheading him.

Lin Ning retracted her Green Bamboo Sword, her peripheral vision catching sight of the Purple Extreme Sword changing direction and striking towards another Goryeo Cultivator on the left...

Without hesitation, she quickly performed a sword technique with her hands, and the Green Bamboo Sword turned into a streak of green light, flanking the target to provide a supporting attack.

Struggling against the siege of two swords, the Goryeo Cultivator dared not be careless and hurriedly called his Flying Sword to his front for short-axis defense, only to see Zhao Yuanzhen closing in like a specter and with a palm strike, he sent him flying away.
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The Purple Extreme Sword and the Green Bamboo Sword swiftly caught up, each stabbing into one side of his chest and abdomen, rending his internal organs to shreds.

Yan Yu methodically disposed of his opponent. With a heavy downward slash from the Huang Tingjian, he performed what amounted to a craniotomy on the other.

Glancing over at his teammates, the cooperation between Chen Lingyun, Lin Ning, and Su Yunjin was impressively tight-knit, truly befitting a group that often outperformed stronger adversaries in their past life. This was the first time the Demonic Sect Enchantress was let loose in battle, and she was thoroughly enjoying the slaughter.

His gaze quickly scanned the flank and saw that Liu Longtao's team also had the upper hand on the battlefield.

The joint attacks of the two Sword Immortals, Ai Lu and Guo Feiyun, were executed with great proficiency. Sometimes Ai Lu would entangle the opposing Flying Swords, allowing Guo Feiyun to carry out the kill. Other times, it was Guo Feiyun who would break through the enemy's defense with brute force, and Ai Lu would sneak in for the strike.

Liu Longtao's swordsmanship was even more simple and brutal. Relying on his excellent innate talent and robust True Yuan, his Sword Control Technique was powerful and heavy, crushing the opposing team's leader Cultivator.

Jin Taishan could be the leader of this team because his swordsmanship was significantly better than that of other Goryeo swordsmen, but he was still far from a match for Lord Master. Each time their Flying Swords collided, the Ying Long Sword was barely pushed back while his Flying Sword needed all the force he could muster to barely stabilize.

With an expressionless face showing no impatience for beating weaker opponents, Liu Longtao methodically used the simplest moves to forcefully breach and penetrate Jin Taishan's defensive swordsmanship, and then with one strike, he severed his neck bone, splitting the corpse into two.

Jin Taishan was killed on the spot, and the remaining Cultivators quickly lost their will to fight, forced to retreat while fighting, with their formation rapidly deteriorating.

In the end, at the cost of seven injured Rikoku military Cultivators, all the foreign Cultivators who had intruded into the Mysterious Realm were annihilated.

Liu Longtao looked at the bodies littering the ground, his expression finally easing.

These enemies were not difficult to deal with; the main issue was that they seized the initiative, entering the Mysterious Realm half an hour before the forces from Rikoku, which posed the risk of the control center being stolen—now, at least, the issue had been resolved.

Speaking of which, where is the guardian of the Mysterious Realm? And where is the control center?

He looked at the giant stone door embedded in the cliff face, fitting tightly without any gaps. His first instinct was the same as Jin Taishan's, to tap it with the Flying Sword in search of hidden mechanisms.

"Old Yan," Liu Longtao searched aimlessly for a while then turned to speak, "Take a look at this... Huh?"

Among the scattered bodies, unbeknownst to them when, another figure had appeared.

The person was dressed completely in black and squatting next to a Goryeo Cultivator's corpse, using sharp nails to slice open the chest and pull out the still-warm heart, cradling it in both hands as he began to devour it greedily.

Although it was filthy and bloodied flesh, he ate as if it were incredibly sweet, seemingly oblivious to any stench.