Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 788 - 38 Little Brother-in-law, how are you feeling now?_2
Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step zigzagged around, casting one after another shadow image, flinging all the red and blue sword light behind him.
Just as the cave entrance was before him, Yan Yu swept his Divine Sense behind and was startled to find that the red and blue sword light had merged into one. The Gatekeeper Taoist had harbored the intent to kill, unleashing the formidable Sword-Human Unity technique that sped towards Yan Yu with terrifying might!
At this critical juncture, Puppet Azhen arrived again, spewing forth the Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire, not spreading it to slash but shooting the golden thread straight at the sword light.
The sword light clashed with the fiery thread, only to slightly stall for a moment before completely shattering the golden thread — infamous for its armor-breaking prowess, the Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire was so fragile under the Golden Core Sword Immortal’s Sword-Human Unity technique that it could not withstand a single blow, a clear sign that True Yuan was being thoroughly overwhelmed by the opponent.
Fortunately, Yan Yu was also adept at seizing opportunities; taking advantage of the momentary delay of the opponent’s sword light, he had already carried Li Minghu and leaped out of the cave entrance.
The pursuing sword light reached what seemed like an invisible boundary behind him and suddenly vanished.
Yan Yu: ......
He helped Li Minghu to his feet and looked back at the Swordsmanship Competition Venue. The Gatekeeper Taoist had disappeared without a trace, as if he had never been there from start to finish.
The two sat down on the spot to rest, taking some Elixir Medicine to recover their True Yuan. Li Minghu then said:
"The Swordsmanship Competition Venue just now had bricks on the walls, floor, and ceiling, forming a neatly octagonal room structure. The cave we’re in now only has traces of the ground being polished smooth. From this, we can infer that we’re on the outskirts of the Zhenmei Sword Sect now, not in an area where sect disciples reside long-term."
"To enter the inner part of the Zhenmei Sword Sect, we’ll have to defeat the Gatekeeper Taoist first."
"Hmm." Yan Yu agreed with her reasoning, looking back at the Swordsmanship Competition Venue and said, "He didn’t comment when we joined forces with our swordsmanship; but as soon as I used the Puppet, he immediately flew into a rage, suggesting that the purpose of this challenge is to require multiple Sword Immortals to cooperate to overcome him."
Challenges that required multiple people were naturally not something that could be handled by a single swordsman alone.
"But it seems to me he wasn’t holding back when he attacked," said Li Minghu with a frown, "this is definitely not a test-type Mysterious Realm."
"Not all challenges are set in test-type Mysterious Realms," Yan Yu said. "Even the Demon Sect would set challenges for their disciples, just with a more brutal cost for failure. For now, we should try to explore as much as possible, preferably to reunite with our teammates."
"Yeah," Li Minghu nodded in agreement, "then let’s keep moving."
The two followed the cave passage out. It wasn’t long before they arrived at a natural platform on the mountainside.
The platform sat on the side of a cliff, with a narrow path extending from the edge of the platform, ducking under a waterfall opposite. Unfortunately, due to long periods of disrepair, several long sections of the cliff path had collapsed, rendering it basically impassable without the ability to fly.
The waterfall cascaded down into a lake at the bottom of the cave, while the opposite shore of the lake led to a semi-circular open space connected to the end of the cliff path. There was also a cave entrance at the edge of the open space, indicating that under normal circumstances, Zhenmei Sword Sect members leaving the sect grounds would spiral down the cliff path to the lake at the bottom and then exit through that cave entrance.
Yan Yu gauged the distance to the bottom with his eyes, which was roughly thirty to forty meters, and given the physical condition of a cultivator, falling into the water should be harmless.
But that was assuming the lake was deep enough. From this height, the clarity was poor, and if what was termed a "lake" was merely a shallow layer, jumping down would be akin to a hard fall, even if one landed in water.
How about letting Puppet Azhen give it a try? She had limbs made of Divine Dragon Wood, so her bodily hardness wasn’t an issue. If jumping down proved to be a bad idea, she could always climb back up the rocks.
While Yan Yu was pondering, he suddenly saw two people walk into the cave entrance below.
"When will this damn tunnel ever end," Li Zhaojiang was complaining to Xu Jin when suddenly he heard a shout from above:
"Li Doujiang!"
What Li Doujiang! Li Zhaojiang was enraged but looked up and immediately his expression turned to ecstasy:
It was Old Yan and his sister! Great, we’ve finally found you guys!
"Sis, are you okay?"
"I’m fine!" Seeing her brother, Li Minghu was also overjoyed, her face flushing with an unnatural red, "Are you guys injured? Is it just the two of you?"
"Yes," Xu Jin responded with a shout, "I met the captain six hours ago, and I haven’t encountered anyone else, before or after that!"
"Big sis, I’m coming right over!" Li Zhaojiang was already too impatient and turned his head to rush up the cliff path, eager to get to his sister’s side.
Although it was a good thing to see his sister safe and sound, the problem was that the lecherous Yan Yu was right by her side. Li Zhaojiang naturally wanted to be there as soon as possible to protect his sister from the bad guy’s covetous gaze, as this was the duty and mission of being a brother!
However, halfway there, he saw that the path ahead had collapsed, and he was momentarily dumbfounded.
The collapsed section was about 15 meters long. If there were no restrictions here, it would just be a matter of using the Cloud Ascension Technique... or he wouldn’t even need the Cloud Ascension Technique, just controlling the sword to fly over would do the job.
Now, as soon as Li Zhaojiang stepped off the broken path, daring to use the Cloud Ascension Technique even for one second would immediately get him suppressed by the prohibition. Therefore, aside from using spells, it seemed like he had no choice but to physically climb over.
This first section of the collapse wasn’t completely thorough, as there were still quite a few protruding remains of the path along the inner wall of the cave. Li Zhaojiang spotted a foothold, didn’t say a word, and just jumped, scaring everyone into hastily persuading him:
"Ah Jiang, don’t take the risk!" Li Minghu immediately became anxious.
"Captain!" Xu Jin also yelled from below, "You can’t make it across! Come back!"
"Comrade Li Zhaojiang, please don’t try to imitate a mountain goat!" Yan Yu joined in persuading, "Your chubby figure is not suited for such high-risk activities!"
He intended not to add fuel to the fire, but by saying this, it only strengthened Li Zhaojiang’s resolve, and he fixated on the second foothold.
He jumped with all his might!
He didn’t reach it!
He fell into the water!
Luckily, the lake was not too deep, submerging him only up to his waist. Li Zhaojiang got out of the water and onto the shore in an embarrassed state, while Xu Jin quickly ignited a Flame Curse to help dry his soaking wet clothes.
Li Minghu, from above, anxiously asked if he was alright, and upon hearing that Li Zhaojiang had timely used a Barrier Charm, only then did she relax.
Li Zhaojiang was warming himself by the fire when he heard Xu Jin say from beside him:
"Captain, this cliff path has three collapsed sections, and the collapsed areas are easily ten to twenty meters each. Captain Yan is right, we are not mountain goats, we can’t jump over like this."
"It’s okay, let me give it a try," Li Zhaojiang replied, "We need to join up with them somehow. If jumping doesn’t work, we can think of another way. What about free climbing? With a cultivator’s strength and physique, there shouldn’t be a problem, right?"
"The ledge where Captain Yan and Deputy Li are is next to a waterfall, so the mist is dense, making it rather moist." Xu Jin took off the glasses from his nose bridge and meticulously wiped them with a cloth, "I observed the cliff below them just now and found that it’s mostly covered with moss and lichen, which is probably very slippery and difficult to get a grip on... You can try if you want, captain, but please be careful."
Li Zhaojiang looked carefully and indeed saw the dark green moss. Better forget it, he didn’t want to fall off a cliff again.
"If only we had climbing axes," he sighed.
"Perhaps we can use Flying Swords as a substitute," Xu Jin suggested with a spark of ingenuity, "If I use the Flying Sword to stab the rock wall, making sure to drive it in and leave just the hilt for stepping on, it should be able to sustain the captain’s weight."
"Good idea!" Li Zhaojiang’s eyes lit up as well, "I’ll use my Flying Sword too! We can alternate inserting the swords into the rock wall, providing places to step!"
"We still need to check the hardness of the surrounding rock wall to see if it can bear the weight of an adult," Xu Jin began forming a Sword Technique with his hands.
Li Minghu stood on the edge of the platform above, watching her brother and Xu Jin sitting opposite each other, discussing, when she suddenly felt a bit dizzy.
The Elixir Medicine from the Joy Sect she had taken earlier was supposed to strengthen the foundation and nourish the origin, but it also contained many strange herbs and spiritual medicines for excitement. Others might have been able to suppress it with True Yuan, but Li Minghu was already physically weak and had previously been fully focused on sword fighting with the Gatekeeper Taoist. Now that she had noticed something odd in her body, it was too late, and she weakened and fell into Yan Yu’s arms.
"I think I can definitely drive it in... What the fuck!" Li Zhaojiang was still evaluating when he suddenly exclaimed, "Old Yan! What are you doing!"
