Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest.

Chapter 135 Race against time
While everyone was talking, Liu Longtao and his men came up from behind.

"Sword-wielding soldiers made of wind and snow?" After listening to Yan Yu's simple words, he frowned and thought.

"After blocking the attack, it shattered itself." Yan Yu said simply and directly, "If it was a secret realm restriction, then it wouldn't be just this one attack."

"Yes." Liu Longtao turned around and said, "Everyone, be careful. Don't just rush on! Captain Zheng, please inform the soldiers to be careful."

"Okay." Captain Zheng started speaking in the channel.

Everyone stayed put for a while to get ready, digest the information about the secret realm's restrictions, and then started moving forward again.

"So that's it." Ye Jun walked between Liu Longtao and Yan Yu and suddenly said, "The enemy entered earlier than us and must have been attacked by the secret realm's restrictions."

"Even if we make a reasonable assumption," Yan Yu nodded, "if the closer they get to the core of the secret realm, the more powerful its defense mechanism will be, then the obstacles they encounter will be more severe than ours."

"That's better." Liu Longtao said coldly.

"But there's another possibility," Chen Lingyun said with a smile. "The deeper we go, the harder it becomes to advance. Under this mechanism, those who come later can quickly close the gap with those who came first. If they find that their chances are slim, they might not be so focused on seizing the secret realm's core. They might be hiding somewhere right now, trying to use the secret realm's mechanisms to ambush us!"

"Hey, that's even better." Liu Longtao sneered, "It also saves us time."

"Don't underestimate the enemy." Ye Jun said worriedly, "Although the cultivation system of Silla and Goryeo is similar to ours, they are mainly based on sword immortals. They are best at ambushes and sneak attacks in this kind of environment..."

Before she finished her words, a snowball appeared in front of everyone's sight.

After getting closer and taking a closer look, I found that it was a corpse. The body had been frozen stiff in the wind and snow. The cause of death was a sharp object piercing the abdomen. The injured person crawled in the snow and ice for a while without receiving medical treatment (behind him was a deep snow rut that had not been completely buried), but eventually died of extreme cold and blood loss.

"If we don't consider the possibility of internal strife on the other side, then this person was most likely killed by the restrictions of the secret realm." Liu Longtao said thoughtfully.

"And he was abandoned by his companions." Yan Yu said in amazement, "Even if his Dantian is injured and he may not be able to use spells for a while, if his companions use the moistening spell to help him stop the bleeding, it should not be difficult for him to survive."

"So their team is not united either." Ye Jun immediately realized.

"They're eager for quick success." Chen Lingyun narrowed her eyes, carefully observing the deceased's expression. "Or perhaps their team leader believed that obtaining the secret realm's core as quickly as possible was the most important thing, so they didn't want to waste time treating their companions... These cultivators most likely didn't know each other, and had no tacit understanding or feelings. They were simply temporarily mobilized for this operation."

"That makes sense." Ye Jun nodded in agreement. "Think about it carefully. The secret realm is located within the territory of Lu State. Even if they use underhanded tactics to seize control, won't we capture and deal with them once they leave the secret realm? Considering the worst-case scenario, it's equivalent to using the lives of these cultivators in exchange for control of this secret realm. So these people are definitely not the top elites that we're focusing on training. It wouldn't be too much of a shame to give them up."

"Yes." Liu Longtao also agreed with this judgment. "Changbai Mountain has more spiritual symbolism than practical significance to them. As long as they can gain control of the secret realm, they can accept it even if they can't develop it later."

After discussing for a while, they found that Yan Yu didn't say anything, so they all fell silent at the same time.

Yan Yu was not distracted at this time, but was reorganizing his memory.

The secret realm of Changbai Mountain in his previous life appeared before the relaxation of media control, and no information was disclosed afterwards, so he did not know what role Silla or Goryeo played in it, and how it was subsequently resolved by Liu Longtao and his team.

But he knew that Silla was a country of isolation, and its monks rarely left the country or carried out propaganda, so there were no internationally renowned and powerful monks.

If Goryeo had to point to one person, it would be Park Changmin. Despite the nation's dedicated training, he was practically no more than "capable of withstanding three strikes from Liu Longtao"… Yet the Goryeo media hyped him up as the "Sword God of the Nation," to the point where the nation practically believed him. He himself excelled in marketing, even boasting at his most arrogant: "Liu (referring to Master Jing) and I are neck and neck, and we admire each other." While Lu Guo's assessment that the cultivators who entered the secret realm were bound to be unable to escape suggests they were being used by Goryeo as death squads and therefore certainly not elite warriors—this is a reasonable assumption based on facts, provided Goryeo's decision-makers exercise common sense.

However, based on his past life experience, Yan Yu strongly doubted this. After all, in his mindset, Yang Wanchun could blind Li Shimin's left eye with a single arrow, and Park Changmin could fight Liu Longtao to a draw. So, a small group of cultivators seizing the Changbai Mountain Secret Realm and then calmly fighting their way out of the Lu Kingdom's encirclement wasn't impossible!

"Since they didn't even rescue their injured companions or deal with the bodies, it means they must be racing against time to advance." Yan Yu finally came to his senses and reminded everyone, "If they want to ambush us in front, they must have as many people as possible, not so decisively."

"Yes." Liu Longtao said seriously, "If we don't consider dealing with an ambush, we can also march quickly."

The whole team rushed forward using the magic of speed, and the speed was definitely several times faster than it is now, but the price was that if the Wind Blade and Frost Sword formation or the enemy monks ambushed and attacked, the probability of being caught off guard and hit would be greatly increased.

"Let's march quickly." Yan Yu made a quick decision. "Everyone should stay together while marching, and let Ye Jun use the magic weapon to protect the main force."

Ye Jun's Xuanguang Ruler can produce light flowers to protect those inside from external attacks, but the cost is that the long-term consumption of true energy is too great. However, considering that the other party may be racing against time to enter the secret realm, Liu Longtao is not the type to hesitate and immediately nodded.
"Okay, Ye Jun?"

"Leave it to me." Ye Jun nodded.

So everyone started using their magical speed skills and rushed up the mountain quickly in the wind and snow.

Perhaps it was because their formation was too powerful, or perhaps they had begun to gradually penetrate deeper into the formation. The surrounding snow and wind became more violent and powerful, and a dozen flying snow soldiers appeared from it, whistling and swooping down to attack everyone with knives in their hands.

With Ye Jun's Xuanguang Ruler protecting them, no one was too nervous. They just watched as these snow soldiers swung their swords with ferocious faces and fierce momentum, and then were smashed to pieces by the recoil force of the light flowers. Su Yunjin, who was standing on the periphery, could even nervously see the evil ghost-like expressions on the faces of those snow soldiers, who were ready to devour anyone. The beards and hair made of snow particles were standing upright, looking lifelike.

If I use the Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Technique...

No, my true energy can’t support it.

These snow soldiers were formed by formations, small, shattered soldiers that shattered at the slightest touch. Using Daoist magic to defeat them was simply too extravagant. However, the light flower emitted by the Xuanguang Ruler could provide a 360-degree defensive shield around the entire body. It wouldn't save much energy, right?
She asked Yan Yu in the channel, and Yan Yu turned around and confirmed with Ye Jun:

"Is the endurance of the True Essence okay?"

"It's a bit difficult." Ye Jun said truthfully, "We can still hold on for a while now, but if more and more snow soldiers appear later, it will be hard to say."

Liu Longtao listened silently, knowing that activating Ye Jun's Xuanguang Ruler was like carrying a shield on the battlefield, which consumed energy (true energy). But if a few enemies came and swung their weapons at your shield (magic weapon protection), then naturally more energy (true energy) would be consumed.

"This won't work." He discussed with Yan Yu, "Someone needs to help her clean up the snow soldiers to reduce consumption."

Yan Yu nodded, turned around and said:
"Lin Ning, go and help."

"Okay." Lin Ning didn't say much, but quickly rushed out of the coverage of the light flower, and the Green Bamboo Sword rose up with a loud sound, killing directly towards the snow soldiers in the sky.

The light of her sword was cold and fierce, even colder than the wind!
　When writing this kind of transition chapter, the feeling is very smooth, just like applying a suppository.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)