Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Yan Yu's Yin-Yang Dust Sword Formation shredded the front half of the flesh serpent. Liu Longtao immediately followed, exerting full force in the air to unleash the Five Elements Divine Dragon Dao Technique.

Black Dragon Soaring Clouds!

The black flood dragon formed by the True Yuan of the Water Element swiftly passed through the layers of falling fragmented flesh, then suddenly expanded rapidly.

Boom!

Each dragon scale shot outward with the expanding dragon body, until it collided with the fragmented serpent meat, blood droplets, the intact rear half of the body, or even distant buildings or ground, then, like raindrops splashing on hard objects, burst into small blooming flowers.

Ice flowers.

Even a liquid nitrogen bomb doesn't have such power; anything affected by the explosion range of the dragon scales will have almost all its heat absorbed instantly.

Under this extreme low temperature, even the hardest objects will become as fragile as porcelain. The fragmented meat and blood droplets cut by the Yin-Yang Dust Sword Formation are rapidly frozen at the molecular level, then shattered into particles finer than powder, swirling and dispersing in the falling air stream until completely disappearing.

Yan Yu retracted the Yin-Yang Dust Sword Formation, secretly transmitting to Liu Longtao:

"Your spell is not fast enough; there is a swelling process before the black dragon explodes, if one encounters a master, they simply dodge and it won't hit anyone."

"It's because the serpent has already been slashed by you." Liu Longtao defended, "I was just adding the final blow, no need to be so precise."

Yan Yu scanned the serpent with Divine Sense and found the chunks of meat and blood destroyed to powder level finally ceased regenerating crazily as before—if it could recombine and 3D-print a body from powder, then aside from writing a big "admire" with his Flying Sword, he wouldn't have much else to do.

"Haha, did you see?" Now that the dust settled on the battlefield, Liu Longtao finally felt proud and boasted, "Flying Sword causes physical destruction, whereas Taoism Methods bring about destruction at the energy level. I admit Old Yan, your swordsmanship is impressive, but for some abnormal enemies, pure swordsmanship alone won't solve the issue, nothing can be done…"

Before he could boast for long, both suddenly looked to the side.

There, unbeknownst to them, a girl in a white dress, about seven or eight years old, was present, eyes blank, expression vacant, mouth saying:

"Again?"

Both:.........

Yan Yu sighed in his heart, while Liu Longtao felt cold sweat emerging on his back once more.

The next second, a large number of souls appeared and surrounded them, loudly chanting:

"Again? Again? Again?"

Without an appointment, both controlled their swords and fled instantly, Yan Yu flying ahead briskly, Liu Longtao close behind, suddenly realizing and transmitting:

"I underestimated it. This flesh serpent is not the real body, merely an avatar formed by those eaten by the serpent, killing it isn't decisive."

"Understand it as a game's Life Value." Yan Yu pondered and said, "During the blood sacrifice ritual, whenever it devours a person, Life Value +1; now every person we kill, Life Value -1. Assuming a serpent consists of ten thousand people, killing it reduces Life Value by -10,000, so we have to calculate the remaining Life Value of this serpent…"

"We must estimate how many people it has devoured so far." Liu Longtao suddenly fell silent.

"Hmm." Yan Yu said, "At least four or five million dead? Or seventy to eighty million?"

"Even if millions of undead lined up for us to kill, it's unrealistic." Liu Longtao frowned and said, "Or is there a control nerve center or something which, after refining, could with one thought, directly and collectively send these souls to nirvana?"

"I don't know." Yan Yu said, "We can only assume there is."

"Then we'll slowly look for it." Liu Longtao formed a spell and energized Taoism Method, "Even if it takes ten days or half a month, could they actually wear us down?"

The crimson flood dragon rose to the sky, then plunged down like a meteor, blasting numerous souls into oblivion.

Not long after, a new flesh serpent rose again and pursued the two.

Though the souls don't have great combat power, they can instantly teleport next to you; while the flesh serpent is stronger indeed, it's only lacking the most troublesome teleportation ability, allowing us to run freely while dragging it around.

Both exchanged transmission thoughts for a moment and soon decided that Liu Longtao would lure the flesh serpent away, while Yan Yu would hide and wait for the serpent to leave, before continuing to explore this eerie world.

The serpent was quickly pulled away. Yan Yu hid inside a nearby building, repeatedly probing outside with Divine Sense, to avoid encountering more souls upon exit.

"What are you doing?" Chen Lingyun's voice sounded from behind.

"When did you get here?" Yan Yu was nearly startled. Of course, since it was "nearly," he wasn't actually frightened.

"Just when you two split up." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "I followed your tracks here and then was drawn into this world."

"You were originally in the external world, how did you see us?" Yan Yu asked in bewilderment.

"Hmm, based on my current speculation," Chen Lingyun calmly said, "there are a total of two worlds: one is the real world of Earth, and the other is the world inside the giant snake's belly."

"The spaces of these two worlds overlap through the giant snake's avatars. Therefore, these avatars appear in the Earth world as strange, invisible entities and in the belly world as writhing, fleshy monsters."

"When you approach the fleshy giant snake, you essentially step into the overlapping area of the two worlds, which is why you're observed by the real world."

"Your conclusion seems to make some sense," Yan Yu nodded and said, "Most of the time my phone has no signal here, but once I get close to the giant snake, the signal situation improves."

"After all, there are no satellites in the belly world to serve as signal relay stations," Chen Lingyun said with a sly smile. "Only the Earth world can handle communication."

"You can still laugh!" Yan Yu irritably scratched his head, "As long as this fleshy giant snake isn't within the borders of Lu Country, whatever destruction it causes isn't our concern. The problem is we're trapped here and can't get out. Since you've analyzed the mechanics here, have you thought of how we can return to the real world?"

"I have thought of it," Chen Lingyun replied.

"Then why haven't you quickly thought... you have thought of it?" Yan Yu asked.

Well, I feel like I should show disbelief here, but considering the impression she built for me in my past life, whatever extraordinary things this woman does never surprise me.

"Do you know how I got dragged into this belly world?" Chen Lingyun leisurely asked.

"Hmm, you probably chased my projection in the real world and got dragged in," Yan Yu quickly answered, "just like I did to Lord Master."

"Not quite accurate," Chen Lingyun smiled and said, "I chased after you, then the nearby invisible giant snake noticed me and swallowed me, thereby transporting me here—this is why I named this place the world inside the giant snake's belly. So earlier, when you heard this name, your mind was blank, right?"

Yan Yu: ...........

This woman actually dares to mock me? Damn, if this weren't the Earth world, I would have already enforced family discipline!

"It's not the Earth world, but it doesn't matter," Chen Lingyun seemed to see through his thoughts and said with a smile, "Frankly, I'd love to try it in this world."

Her petite body leaned closer, looking up at the slightly frowning Yan Yu, and she exhaled softly:

"I'm very curious."

"What could you be curious about?" Yan Yu tried to push her away. "Has your memory palace, filled with vast knowledge, now been occupied by yellow waste materials?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm curious about," Chen Lingyun wagged her finger. "I just want to know if the lives that die inside the giant snake's belly become enslaved souls and ghostly apparitions, then what about the lives born inside the giant snake's belly?"

Yan Yu remained silent for a very long time and finally said:

"I do not wish to discuss the answer to this question with you."

"That's really a shame," Chen Lingyun sighed, "I thought you had at least a spirit of inquiry."

"It's not that I lack a spirit of inquiry, but I don't want to abandon my ethical and moral boundaries," Yan Yu said impatiently. "You've never had boundaries, so this isn't a problem for you. So how exactly do we get out?"

"To go from the real world of Earth to the world inside the giant snake's belly, the way is to be swallowed by an invisible giant snake from the real world," Chen Lingyun said calmly. "So by analogy, how do we go from the belly world back to the real world on Earth?"

"Uh..." Yan Yu tentatively replied, "Be swallowed by the fleshy giant snake of the belly world?"

"Even an elementary school student can easily complete this logical deduction, right?" Chen Lingyun snapped her fingers.

"But how do you ensure if the former is true, the latter must also be true?" Yan Yu questioned skeptically. "What if there's no logical connection here? What if the only result of being swallowed by the fleshy giant snake is turning into a lump of crap in its intestines?"

"Then I'll be a widow for you," Chen Lingyun said.

"Damn you..." Being teased, no, provoked by her over and over, Yan Yu felt his fist clenching tightly.

But if he immediately subjected her to family discipline, it would undoubtedly fall into her provocation—she would love nothing more! So one annoying thing about Chen Lingyun is her ability to precisely touch your red lines and then repeatedly test the edges, leaving you in a state of near-explosion without being able to explode.

Yan Yu finally restrained his emotions and coldly said:

"You try it."

"Sure," Chen Lingyun smiled sweetly, "Would you be willing?"

"Of course I would," Yan Yu boasted shamelessly, "because I'm confident you wouldn't act recklessly and risk your life without certainty."

"If that's the case, then you should trust me a bit more," Chen Lingyun's smile grew sweeter.

"But when it's something with no threat to your life but allows me to entertain you with mischief, you never hesitate," Yan Yu asserted. "In this case, it must be you who tries it."