Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The two of them walked along the tunnel, and although they had gone a considerable distance, the air was not the least bit stuffy.

"There seems to be something on the wall," Tang Xiaolian suddenly said.

"Indeed," Yan Yu used his flashlight to illuminate the wall and indeed saw many murals carved on the cave wall.

These murals intersected with the natural patterns of the cave wall, making them appear as a mass of intricate, meaningless lines under the scan of Divine Sense. However, if light shone from a certain angle, a portion of the lines started to reflect brightly, outlining images with clearly defined meanings—this was a visual mechanism that only the human eye could clearly perceive.

The test had already begun from here. Was it testing whether I had enough vision for the environment around me?

"How about that, I'm quite helpful, aren't I?" Tang Xiaolian put her hands on her hips, waiting for Yan Yu to praise her.

But Yan Yu did not pay her any mind, instead bringing his phone's light source closer to take a careful look at the contents of the carvings on these murals.

Seeing that he ignored her, Tang Xiaolian puffed up her cheeks, and her gaze also fell on the murals, suddenly exclaiming:

"Is this a Sword Technique?"

"No, it's a Sword Move," Yan Yu corrected.

"Isn't a Sword Technique the same as a Sword Move?" Tang Xiaolian asked, puzzled.

"They are quite different," Yan Yu said intently, staring at the murals, "A Sword Move refers to individual moves with clear meanings, like Cang Song Ying Ke, Bai Niao Chao Feng, White Rainbow Across the Sky, for example, they are like words."

"A Sword Technique, on the other hand, is about modifying and connecting Sword Moves to form a complete set of Sword Control combat systems, akin to sentences and articles composed of many words, understand?"

"I see," Tang Xiaolian realized, "So this is like a dictionary carved on the wall."

"You could say that," Yan Yu paused for a while, "But these Sword Moves... I'm a bit unable to understand them."

"Captain Yan, you're a professional Sword Immortal, and even you can't understand them?" Tang Xiaolian teased.

"If you had seen advanced textbooks on Sword Control Technique, you would know that the commonly recognized Sword Moves consist of thirty-six moves," Yan Yu said without turning his head, "But looking at the quantity of these murals, it far exceeds thirty-six..."

He suddenly laughed dryly, adding: Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

"What am I telling you all this for? You're not a Sword Immortal."

"I'm really sorry for not being a Sword Immortal!" Tang Xiaolian got angry again.

But getting angry was useless, as Captain Yan clearly didn't take her bait. She could only take out her phone to help light up the area, so Yan Yu could see more clearly.

Yan Yu walked along the corridor of murals, occasionally stopping to look, and soon reached the end of the corridor.

"Did you figure anything out?" Tang Xiaolian asked curiously.

"A total of fifty-four moves," Yan Yu pondered, "Besides the known thirty-six, eighteen more moves were added. The sword paths are rather complex and odd, not very versatile."

"That seems normal," Tang Xiaolian agreed, "If they were useful, why not widely recruit disciples to pass them on, instead of secretly carving them in this sunless place?"

"You're not a Sword Immortal, you wouldn't understand," Yan Yu glanced at her again, "Looking at the style of the sword paths, the existing thirty-six moves should have been simplified from these fifty-four. Many details were omitted, which is why the threshold for mastering Sword Control Technique significantly decreased."

"But in fact, if swordsmanship were to reach a higher level, it would actually require simplifying the complex back to these original fifty-four moves to have a chance of further progress."

Old man with long eyebrows, is this why you led me here? Anticipating that your Lineage Succession would undergo reductions and simplifications in the Age of Dharma Decline, so you specifically left an original copy here?

"There seems to be another stone door here," Tang Xiaolian suddenly said, "Just like the one we broke from the outside earlier."

Yan Yu went over to confirm for a moment, his hand forming a Sword Technique, and Huang Tingjian struck the stone door.

Only a muffled sound was heard, and the stone gate remained immovable, completely unscathed.

"Ah? Why doesn't it work?" Tang Xiaolian, taking pleasure in the misfortune, said with a mischievous smile, "Is that all a professional Sword Immortal is capable of?"

Yan Yu ignored her and took out a light source, shining it briefly before noticing two seal characters carved on each side of the stone gate.

On the left was "White Rainbow" and on the right, "Across the Sky."

He altered his sword technique once more and executed the White Rainbow Across the Sky. As expected, the stone gate shattered in response.

Tang Xiaolian stared, dumbfounded. How could the hardness of this stone gate change? Earlier, it hadn't even shown a mark from the strike, and now it's as brittle as tofu.

"This is what a professional Sword Immortal is," Yan Yu stated indifferently, walking in with his hands behind his back.

Damn it, he managed to show off!

Tang Xiaolian followed closely behind, and the two passed through a corridor, indeed encountering a second stone gate with four seal characters carved from right to left: "Cang Song Ying Ke."

So that's how it is. The mural earlier taught fifty-four moves, and the subsequent stone gates were there to test them. One must master all the moves to pass through. If one is not a Sword Immortal Cultivator capable of performing the complete fifty-four moves, they would inevitably have to leave in disgrace.

With a sudden insight, Yan Yu led Tang Xiaolian with unstoppable momentum, breezing through fifty-three stone gates, until light finally became visible ahead.

They were out!

Upon suddenly seeing the light of day again, Tang Xiaolian could not help but tears filled her eyes, following Yan Yu out of the cave, only to see a picturesque valley outside.

Distant steep mountains surrounded the area, coniferous forests dense as silk, with great rivers flowing down from the mountains, nourishing the fields on both sides of the secluded valley and everywhere golden flower fields in bloom.

In the middle of the flower field, a winding path led all the way to the majestic palace on the side of a distant mountain.

Tang Xiaolian, unable to wait any longer, urged Yan Yu to set off quickly. The two walked down the mountain path, entering the golden flower field, only to smell a sweet scent, unlike the rich fragrance of flowers… In fact, it was somewhat reminiscent of the aroma of grilled steak fats.

"This flower has a strange scent." Curious, Tang Xiaolian went to smell it, and before she could get close to the golden flowers, Yan Yu suddenly pulled her back.

She staggered and lost balance, plunging into Yan Yu's arms, just about to scold in embarrassment, but then saw Yan Yu forcefully pulling her behind him with his left hand while his right hand was continuously forming sword techniques. The Huang Tingjian sword shot out, clashing with a metallic clang.

Only then did Tang Xiaolian see clearly that at her previous standing spot, a golden beetle had been sent flying by the Huang Tingjian sword, yet it remained unscathed and angrily buzzed for a moment before diving again in a different direction.

What kind of Gu Insect is this! It's not even afraid of being chopped by the Flying Sword?

Tang Xiaolian's expression turned to one of great alarm, and though Yan Yu's face was expressionless, he was also fully on guard internally.

He recognized this golden beetle as none other than the infamous Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu from his previous life!

Impervious to knives and fire, capable of devouring metal fully, ordinary Cultivators bitten by this ferocious bug, even if they escaped immediately, would succumb to the poison and die within three quarters of an hour.

In his past life, there was a famous folk Cultivator called Dai Zongwei, known as "Insect Emperor," who staved off many with just three Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gus.

Later, he was recruited by the Annan Army and remained arrogantly rampant, claiming he wanted to become the foremost Cultivator of the Annan Army — until Immortal Venerate Xie's Thunder Method shattered his views, turning him into a loyal follower of the Immortal Venerate, tirelessly serving without a grudge.

After being recruited, this man had never betrayed them and was considered straightforward. Moreover, since there were no Gu-using Cultivators in Yan Yu's group, he hadn't intuitively targeted those Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gus. Yet, unexpectedly, he encountered a mature one here!

The Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu could only be tamed during its egg stage; once hatched, there was no chance of domesticating it again. In addition to its immunity to most physical attacks and spell damage, it consequently became the natural enemy of most Transcendents.

Yan Yu maneuvered his sword technique, executed a Cang Song Ying Ke to intercept the raging Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu, then turned and said:

"Run."

"What?" Tang Xiaolian was perplexed.

"Run fast!" Seeing her still dazed, Yan Yu didn't have time for explanations, continuing to use the Huang Tingjian sword to intercept the Golden Silkworm Gu with his right hand, while grabbing Tang Xiaolian's hand with his left and sprinting forward along the flower field path.