Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The martial artist training base of Lu Guofan's previous life was headquartered in the deep mountains of the southwestern province, also considering the need for secrecy.

Mei Yingxue came to the edge of the pool, staring at the bottomless water, and asked for confirmation:

"Is it below here?"

"Yes, it's below here," Ichiro Koremune answered, "The further down you go, the greater the pressure. If you accidentally enter the Mysterious Realm at a certain depth, you will experience Divine Concealment... No one has ever come out from there yet."

Divine Concealment is the euphemistic term onmyojis use for disappearance, much like how the Cultivation World uses "fallen" to replace death. Though it's just a disappearance, most people know it's actually death inside.

Nowadays, with Mysterious Realm live-streaming technology, taking a camera inside can reveal what's happening in there, but onmyojis just refuse to tell the truth.

"Let's go." Yan Yu said secretly in a transmitted voice, "We can't count on them to help."

"Okay, let's go." Mei Yingxue quickly made up her mind.

The two then dived into the water.

The Golden Core True Man's body is resilient, unafraid of water pressure. With Divine Sense scanning, they can find their way even when the deep water is silent and without light.

As Lord Master previously said, the surrounding cave walls are too smooth, as if they were poked through tofu with uniformly thick chopsticks... It doesn't look like a naturally formed trace.

After descending about two hundred meters, the two suddenly felt their skin seemed to have some tingling pain.

"It's Sword Intent!" Mei Yingxue was overjoyed and quickly transmitted to Yan Yu, "This is Sword Intent! Definitely not wrong!"

"You mean the True Obscurity Sun Sword Intent?" Yan Yu asked.

"No!" Mei Yingxue quickly explained to him.

The sword is the king of weapons, and if an Immortal Sword is of high enough grade, it can gradually give birth to its own Sword Spirit, which develops self-awareness from ignorance.

This awareness is not a soul but is more akin to a highly energetic electromagnetic field. It can be used to store information, communicate, similar to the True Obscurity Sun Sword Intent within Yan Yu; it can also be used for attacks, consuming its energy.

The excruciating pain they felt was actually an 'electromagnetic field' unconsciously emitted by the Sword Spirit. If it regains consciousness, even a single thought could split mountains and seas with Sword Intent, a classic example of idealism "will interferes with matter."

Yan Yu doesn't really understand science or philosophy, but he is very good at capturing key points and immediately said:

"So, the body of the True Obscurity Sun Sword is asleep and dreaming, and this dream unconsciously harms people around it. If it wakes up, the damage would be even more terrifying, is that right?"

"Pretty much." Mei Yingxue said excitedly, "This is a Divine Sword of the Human Race! If I have the chance to see its true form, it would be worth it even if I die under the sword!"

"Mr. Mei, calm down!" Yan Yu quickly persuaded her, "I have been acknowledged by the True Obscurity Sun Sword Intent and am likely to gain recognition from the Divine Sword itself. If I cause you to die in the sword retrieval process, it would be too much of a loss. Don't you want to be personally taught and acknowledged by the Divine Sword?"

"You're right, I was too eager." Mei Yingxue finally calmed down, transmitted her voice, and said, "Retrieving the sword is your mission, and what I need to do is merely assist you."

"Let's proceed cautiously," Yan Yu said.

The two continued to dive down, quickly reaching the depth to which Lord Master and Ichiro Koremune had previously descended.

Beyond this point, there's no turning back.

Yan Yu and Mei Yingxue exchanged glances, reading resolute meaning in each other's eyes.

Down!

After several breaths of continued descent, a fierce undercurrent suddenly surged in.

Mei Yingxue's eyes glinted sharply, and she twisted to the side, opening a cut on her shoulder, from which blood quickly seeped out.

"Be careful!" She quickly pressed several acupuncture points around the wound, using Runescript True Essence to stop the bleeding, "The Sword Intent here already has form and the ability to harm!"

Without a word, Yan Yu immediately took out the Liangyi Sword and the Huang Tingjian.

The Liangyi Sword darted back and forth in the water, smashing the Sword Intent hidden within the currents. Though it was simply water, it emitted a clear gold and iron sound.

The Huang Tingjian acted like a shield in front of them. Even some tiny streams concealed sharp Sword Intent-like blades that struck with dense, frequent resonance against the sword.

Mei Yingxue also wielded her sword for defense.

Her swordsmanship was equally exceptional, scanning the turbulent undercurrents with Divine Sense and accurately breaking the killing moves in the Sword Intent. However, for the minor streams, there wasn't much she could do—surrounded by water on all sides, one couldn't expect the water not to flow.

As a result, her robes soon became tattered, though the injuries weren't severe, they looked alarming.

Seeing that she seemed somewhat helpless, Yan Yu called her to come closer, then used the Huang Tingjian and his own body, like two pieces of bread in a sandwich, to sandwich her for protection.

Mei Yingxue indeed ceased to be harmed but felt a bit embarrassed. Considering the urgency, repeatedly using Runescript to heal the wounds would surely affect the speed of the dive and sword retrieval, so she set aside her thoughts, focusing on accepting Yan Yu's protection and assisting him in breaking through the water currents.

The cooperation of two formidable Sword Immortals naturally yielded far greater efficiency than solitary actions.

With the increasing descent, the Sword Intent within the water currents grew even more fierce, reaching the level of a full strike from a Golden Core Sword Immortal.

Yan Yu struggled greatly to withstand it and thus decisively used True Yuan to set up a Yin-Yang Dust Sword Formation around them.

Numerous Sword Qi lines moved and cut around them, shredding the Sword Intent within the water currents, while he and the Huang Tingjian clamped Mei Yingxue in between, pushing forcefully downward.

As the dizzying sensation hit, they finally entered the Mysterious Realm.

Surrounding them were flowers in full bloom and lush green trees, no longer the underwater world, as they arrived at a mountain forest.

Just as Yan Yu scanned the surroundings with his Divine Sense, he heard Mei Yingxue exclaim with joy:

"It's the Emei Sword Sect! This is San Emei Mountain!"

She quickly went to the edge of the cliff, pointing to the distance and said:

"Over there is Da Emei Mountain, Er Emei Mountain, and the opposite Si Emei Mountain. No mistake, this is definitely the Emei Sword Sect. Even if all the trees were cut down, I would still recognize it!"

Following her direction, Yan Yu saw three more peaks nearby. Counting the one they were on, four mountains formed a field character, resembling an orange split into four segments.

"It's said that the four mountains were originally one mountain." Mei Yingxue explained, "An ancient powerful Sword Immortal, due to unfair treatment by his sect, split Emei Mountain into four with just two strikes of his sword."

"I can see that." Yan Yu nodded, "It indeed looks like it was split by a Heavenly Sword—and that sword must be at least several thousand meters long."

"A Sword Immortal's casual strike, unleashing a Sword Gang several thousand meters long, is quite normal." Mei Yingxue asserted confidently.

Even in the Mysterious Realm, being back at her long-missed sect's residence brought her evident joy. She pulled Yan Yu with her Sword Control, ascending into the air toward the sky.

"Da Emei Mountain, Er Emei Mountain, San Emei Mountain, and Si Emei Mountain are respectively the locations of the Ancestor Hall, Sword Control Field, Sword Immortal's Residence, and Sword Storage Hall." Mei Yingxue continued, "It's said that during the sect's peak, the entire Shushan region was under Sword Sect's control, each Nascent Soul Elder occupied a mountain peak, with groups of disciples residing at various places in between, their sword light crisscrossing the sky gracefully."

"But after the sect lost its dominant position, they could only hold onto the four Emei Mountains."

"The Sun True Dullness Sword might be hidden in the Sword Storage Hall!" Yan Yu speculated.

"Let's check it out," Mei Yingxue said, nodding, "The Sun True Dullness Sword might just be there!"

The two transformed into sword light and descended, flying towards the Sword Storage Hall on the opposite side.

As they flew, a transmission came from within that sword light addressing them as senior siblings: "Senior Brother, Senior Sister!"

It was the voice of a young Sword Immortal disciple, urging, "There are a hundred thousand demons! Why are you still wandering around? Master is urging you, hurry to the Ancestor Hall!"