Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

They bantered idly when Mei Yingxue finally finished observing the barrier and said,

"Okay, we can go."

The group set off again, heading north. Unlike the grand arrival with "welcoming crowds", their departure was in complete silence; they didn't bump into a single Transcendent on the way.

Entering the cold Arctic region, Anna suddenly remembered how she had teamed up with Yan Yu to explore the Mysterious Realm, only for him to trick her and escape early last time, and she couldn't help but feel incredibly sentimental.

"Last time he had to find a gap to slip away, now it seems his strength has improved, and he's not even afraid that I'd forcefully keep him in the North and marry him..."

With that thought, Anna couldn't help feeling sad.

Even though I reign supreme in the North, my power is still insignificant on a global scale.

Now that Yan Yu has become Lu Country's Sword Bearer, his power is so formidable that Lu Country will definitely not send him here for a marriage alliance. Do I have to marry into Lu Country? It seems highly unlikely that they would agree unless Yan Yu insists on being with me... Who am I kidding? If I could handle this man, would I need to bother with Lu Country's officialdom?

The more Anna thought about it, the more depressed she became, remaining sullen and not wanting to talk all the way back to Lu Country's territory.

Mei Yingxue had to report to Pingjing first, while Yan Yu took Anna south to Jinling to report back to Li Weiguo.

In the principal's office, Li Weiguo wasn't surprised to see Anna, clearly having received prior information, so he asked her to sit down and personally made her tea.

Then he quietly pulled Yan Yu aside and asked with a frown,

"Why did you bring her here?"

"She wanted to visit her home country," replied Yan Yu nonchalantly, "We're close, so I invited her over to hang out."

"Then you should have just taken her to your place, with everyone turning a blind eye," Li Weiguo earnestly advised, "The Master of the North is, in terms of status, equivalent to a country's head of state. An official visit to Lu Country should involve a state banquet and the Grand Secretary... and instead, you bring her directly to my office, what's the meaning of this? Do I have the authority to entertain her? What will the higher-ups think if they find out?"

"Yes, yes, yes," acknowledged Yan Yu, realizing his lack of consideration. Even though he was very familiar with Anna, in the eyes of Lu Country she was still the Master of the North, the actual leader of the Amur Witch's Group, and had to be treated with the utmost caution.

Considering that if even the tea in the principal's office wasn't to her liking, and it annoyed Anna enough to reconsider the alliance with the North and breach the agreement, wouldn't that be Li's responsibility? So, it made sense that Li didn't want Anna over, to avoid the risk.

"So, should I take her to my place?" Yan Yu tested the waters.

"Go on, hurry!" Li Weiguo urged in a low voice, saying, "Ah, Yan Yu, you've made a great contribution this time, and I don't have much to offer you. I just got word that old Sun is sending me a box of expensive tea leaves, as soon as they arrive I will have them delivered to your place, that tea taste great."

"Alright, then we'll be going," said Yan Yu, calling out to Anna, "Let's go."

"We're leaving now?" asked Anna, puzzled, "I haven't even had a sip of my tea."

"Who cares about tea, let's go!" Yan Yu said firmly, grabbing her arm, pulling her up, and leaving the principal's office.

Li Weiguo watched, feeling uneasy, thinking, are you really taking this so lightly?

Well, I don't understand the affairs of the young; let them be.

Yan Yu brought Anna back to the Jinling Villa, she looked around curiously, noting that it seemed the same as before she left last time.

But last time, her role was as an envoy from the Amur Witch's Group seeking help; now, she had become the Chief Witch of the Amur Witch's Group...

When they reached the second floor, Yan Yu casually pointed to a room and asked,

"Do you want to stay in the same room as before?"

"Sure," Anna said, looking around the hallway, and suddenly noticed a sign with "Tang" on the opposite door, "What's that?"

"It's a nameplate," explained Yan Yu, "A girl from next door's team was here practicing swordsmanship with Ling Yun, she stayed for a while. The room was assigned to her, so they put up a nameplate, and it was never taken down after that."

"I'll need a doorplate too," Anna said.

"Sure," Yan Yu went to the study next door to get a doorplate, ready to write, "So, what should I write on it? 'An'?"

"Just write 'Dai,'" said Anna, "It's my father's surname."

"So you're basically Diana, aren't you?" Yan Yu laughed.

After hanging the "Dai" sign on the door, the two walked downstairs to the living room, just in time to see Mei Yingxue entering from outside.

Anna immediately scowled, but Mei Yingxue seemed to not notice, or rather, didn't sense her mood at all, and simply greeted them casually:

"I hope I'm not intruding. I still have some swordsmanship questions to ask, and as we discussed before, I need to stay here for a while."

"No problem," Yan Yu said.

Everyone sat down on the sofa, and Mei Yingxue took out a notebook, starting to ask questions earnestly.

Yan Yu was responsible for conveying the answers of the True Obscurity Sun Sword Intent, while Anna idly cracked pistachios to eat, secretly observing Mei Yingxue's facial expressions.

...She looked very serious, as if she had truly come just to ask questions.

Of course, Anna absolutely didn't believe this. From her own perspective, she was convinced that the other party definitely had some ulterior motives, and because of the difficulty in winning over a man like Yan Yu, she had packaged it under a polite exterior of "I wish to seek your advice," attempting to deceive and fish in troubled waters.

Apply what you learn! I gotta apply what I learn!

After all the questions were asked and Mei Yingxue finished her notes, she sincerely thanked them, then turned to go upstairs—she wanted to digest and integrate the knowledge while the inspiration still lingered.

Anna pondered for a while, then suddenly said:

"I have some questions for you as well."

"Questions for me?" Yan Yu puzzledly asked, "I'm not a witch. How can I answer your questions? Isn't your battle technique primarily based on witchcraft? The methods of Lu Country cultivators don't really align with those of witches; there's probably nothing I could teach you."

"It's about Mana Transformation," Anna said.

When moving from the first major spiritual realm to the second, Lu Country cultivators call it "Core Formation," while the Rakshasa Witch system has an equivalent term called "Яга." The translation is quite difficult, but Anna has named it "Mana Transformation," so let's call it that.

A cultivator undergoing Core Formation has to cross the heavenly tribulation, a process with an extremely high mortality rate. The Rakshasa Witch's Mana Transformation is similar; it's said that once the transformation begins, all the bones and muscles will gradually dissolve over several days, organs will slowly degenerate, and eventually, the person becomes a soft connective tissue filled with pure mana.

Then, from this mass, the body, limbs, head, and various necessary human organs will differentiate once again, except these organs are composed of witch's mana rather than flesh and blood. It's said that the danger level of this "Mana Transformation" isn't less than a cultivator crossing tribulation; one has a long time span, while the other faces the risk that if anything goes wrong during the process—deformities, extra limbs, a missing eye—it's considered the lighter end of the spectrum. The real fear is issues with thought, spirit, and memory, which are almost always incurable.

In her previous life, the Eclipse Queen had no accidents during Mana Transformation, and the process went so smoothly that it didn't even make international news headlines, indicating that Anna's talent and foundation were sufficient in this aspect. Theoretically, there was no need for any interference. Despite this, Yan Yu patiently listened to her explanation, then asked:

"So, what is your question?"

"As I said earlier during Mana Transformation, I will become a giant flesh egg," Anna said. "At that moment, I am quite vulnerable, even a child stabbing my body with a knife could interrupt my transformation process, so the location I choose to transform must be absolutely secure."

"You want to cross tribulation here?" Yan Yu asked with surprise, "I mean, transform?"

"I hope you can provide me with an anchor point during my transformation," Anna said.

"Hmm," Yan Yu responded noncommittally, "What exactly do you need to do?"

"First," Anna grabbed his hand, placing it on her soft chest, "you need to familiarize yourself with my body."

"Just like a surgeon familiarizes themselves with the human body."