Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Mei Yingxue brushed aside her wet bangs, only to realize that what was sticking her hair was not sweat.

But filthy blood.

The strategy for conquering the Mysterious Realm has yet to be fully determined. Engaging in battle leads to crushing defeat; choosing to flee results in invalidation. Hence, it seems there's only one way left—defending the Sect to the death.

However, the difficulty of this route far exceeded her original expectations.

The Demon Cult members have besieged Shushan for half a month, with each attack growing fiercer by the day. Initially, it was just small groups probing and infiltrating, but once they understood the power of the Mountain Defense Array, they began structured, continuous assaults.

They would deploy manpower eight times that of the defenders at once, using certain defense-type Magic Treasures to engage the Shushan Sword Immortals in battle amidst the Ten Thousand Swords Formation.

With the Sect right behind the Shushan Sword Immortals, they had no choice but to fight this desperate battle, hence their morale soared like a rainbow. The Demon Cult, on the other hand, was a mixed bag with uneven strength, and many had yet to form a Core. It was common for them to suddenly feel they had no chance of victory and then turn tails and run.

But they had sheer numbers.

Even though the Shushan Sword Immortals kept winning battle after battle, they never achieved any strategic goals. Even killing hundreds of enemies did not diminish the opposing ranks by even 1%.

Instead, each increase in True Yuan depletion and mental exhaustion raised the probability of Shushan's ultimate total defeat.

By the time it was Mei Yingxue's shift change, she was finally able to retreat from the frontline, returning to the Sect looking disheveled and bloodied, scaring the Outer Disciples into quickly bringing people from the Alchemy Room to treat her.

Upon careful inspection, it turned out she wasn't injured—the blood on her head was actually from the enemies and had flowed down her bangs after getting onto her hair.

For a Sword Immortal who needs insight, mixing up their own blood with the enemy's is really an unacceptable mistake. One could only say Mei Yingxue had battled for so long that her mental state had severely deteriorated.

This urgently required a quick rest and recuperation.

Fewer and fewer people were fighting on the front line, while those resting at the rear hadn't recovered, bringing the battle situation to a critical state.

The Mountain Defense Elder waved his hand, naming: Yan Yu, come with me!

This Elder's surname was Tian, first name Yue, possessing a very standard Martial Arts Sect personality, and it was said that he had even competed with Chen Yanwei for the position of the Sun Sword Master in years past but was unfortunately defeated.

According to Elder Tian, it wasn't that he was less capable than the Sect Leader, but rather that the Sun True Dullness Sword was more partial to the Chen Family—which traced back to a former Shushan Sun Sword Master who, before ascending, passed the Divine Sword to his grandson, after which the sword started "choosing Chen if there were Chen, otherwise choosing anyone capable."

What else could Yan Yu say? He could only lament that the elderly Sun True Dullness Sword was too mindful of old master's sentiments, which surely wasn't a good thing.

If I could become the Sun Sword Master in the future, I'd never treat the Divine Sword as the Yan Family's heirloom, such backward thinking!

It's better to leave a will: if something unexpected were to happen one day, just hand it over to the nation directly!

Back to the main topic, Elder Tian was at the Nascent Soul Realm, powerful enough. Even if he wasn't the Sun Sword Master, he could still fight against three or four Nascent Soul cultivators without losing ground under the support of the Ten Thousand Swords Formation.

Yan Yu was brought by Elder Tian for a very simple reason: he had the strongest combat capability.

"The reason I chose you to go with me is because among the Golden Core True Men, your swordsmanship is the most outstanding." When setting off, Tian Yue explained to him, "However, this journey is dangerous, if you regret it now, this old man won't force you into battle."

"We Sword Immortals are truly loyal." Yan Yu promptly said with righteousness, "Born to vow to defend Shushan to the death, please retract your probing words."

Elder Tian remained silent, merely continuing his Sword Control.

According to the frontline disciples' intelligence, the enemy possessed a particularly troublesome Magic Treasure which was shaped like a golden bell. Each time it was struck, it emitted waves of tangible yet intangible sound waves, which resisted the Sword Qi produced by the Ten Thousand Swords Formation.

With this golden bell Magic Treasure's cover, the enemy could disregard formation rules and brazenly increase the manpower deployed at once, easily forming overwhelming encirclements against Shushan Sword Immortals.

Therefore, Elder Tian had decided to go straight to the source and destroy this Magic Treasure.

Yan Yu expressed his concern over this, since it's unlikely the enemy wouldn't set up defenses around the Magic Treasure. If they mistakenly entered a formation or were ambushed, things could get problematic.

Elder Tian said that's precisely why I took you along. If we really run into a formation, I'll use Sword-Human Unity to envelop you in sword light and charge around in the formation, drawing the enemy's attention.

Your swordsmanship is strong enough, and your reaction speed is outstanding. Then, as the enemy is distracted, you can strike the Magic Treasure directly.

This was indeed a good idea. Although Yan Yu was only at the Golden Core Realm, his ability to seize opportunities, as well as his tricky and venomous swordsmanship, were first-rate in the world, allowing him to nearly always succeed against foes of the same level.

The Golden Core Realm cultivation became his best cover. If his sword light were fused with Tian Yue's, the enemy would likely only see the latter, unable to detect the former at all.

Therefore, the two immediately reached a consensus and sped towards the frontline with Sword Control.

At the frontline, there were only five or six Sword Immortal disciples left, surrounded by dozens of Demon Cult members, struggling to hold on. Most of these fellows were lacking in strength, with only a few Golden Core Realm Demon Summoning Cultivators being formidable, controlling thirty-six powerful corporeal demon gods, tall and robust, strong enough to repel Flying Swords with a punch.