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

Chapter 642: The Witch and the Scumbag Family
The underground river is spacious and turbulent. You can't see the end from the shore. You can only see countless stalactites hanging from the top, with Ganoderma lucidum growing on them that emit faint fluorescence.

There are a large number of wandering ghosts on the shore, migrating in groups towards the dark river.

Their eyes were dull, their steps were staggering, and they were surrounded by thick yin energy. Although they did not possess the ferocity required of evil spirits, if they were thrown to one's own ghosts to gnaw on, or used as materials for casting spells, they would be rare and valuable items.

Soon, the witches who came here started fighting for the ghost group.

The most ferocious killers are the sorcerers and the Yin magicians. The former need Yin ghosts to refine ghost magic, and the latter are never satisfied no matter how many Yin ghosts they collect. Therefore, both sides regard these ghost groups as their own. If you collect more, I will collect less, so why don't I kill you first and then take all the Yin ghosts for myself?
The comradeship that was originally in the same camp has quietly collapsed under the huge interests that are right in front of them.

Far away from the ghost group, in a dilapidated ruin, Chen Lingyun and Zhao Yuanzhen hid behind the broken walls and watched the open and secret struggles in the distance with cold eyes.

"What's the point of this?" Zhao Yuanzhen couldn't help but say, "If you're counting on them to kill each other and waste their energy, then you're naive. In my experience, after the weaker ones have mostly left, the remaining strong ones won't fight to the death. Most of the time, they'll quietly divide up these ghosts through mutual testing, intimidation, and confrontation."

"I know." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "But I didn't intend to take these ghosts in anyway~"

Zhao Yuanzhen frowned and asked:

"Then what exactly are you going to do?"

Chen Lingyun smiled without saying a word, and quietly waved the Nine Heavens Demon Prison Banner, and a beautiful young woman emerged from the banner. It was the ghost mother Yin Rou who had been taken into the banner by Chen Lingyun before.

Yin Rou had now been trained well by Chen Lingyun. She stood respectfully beside her with her hands behind her back, as if she were a servant kept in the Chen family.

"Explain it to Sister Zhao." Chen Lingyun smiled faintly.

"Yes." Yin Rou whispered, "These ghosts are filled with yin energy, but they have no intelligence of their own, nor are they ferocious at all. It's obvious that they were raised specifically to serve as food for higher-level ghosts."

"Oh, I see!" Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly realized, "You don't care about these low-level ghosts at all. What you really want is the higher-level ghost hiding somewhere nearby! If that's the case, then why are you provoking them to fight each other?"

Chen Lingyun was already laughing, and Yin Rou continued to explain:

"If you observe where these ghosts go, you'll find they're not wandering aimlessly. Instead, they're always heading towards the dark river, eventually jumping into the water and drifting downstream. This means that if we want to find those higher-level ghosts, we'll have to find a way to cross the river sooner or later."

"But the riverbank is open terrain, without any obstacles to block our vision. This means we will almost certainly be discovered when we cross the river. So we have to use the ghosts on the shore to attract the attention of these sorcerers."

Zhao Yuanzhen fell silent. She wondered if she were Chen Lingyun, the moment she saw these ghosts, she would have waved the Prison Banner to activate the Heart-Capture Technique, drawing them all into the banner. The Prison Banner was a magical tool that naturally suppressed low-level ghosts, and its incredible efficiency was unmatched by the messy magic tools of Yin magicians and sorcerers.

But I didn't expect that Chen Lingyun could think of so much in such a short time, layer after layer... Does this woman have eight hundred minds?
"Then how do you plan to cross the river?" Zhao Yuanzhen asked hesitantly, "There's a no-fly zone here. You can't fly with your sword, and your Ghost Car Bird can't take off either."

"Simple." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "Let's take a boat."

"Boat?" Zhao Yuanzhen frowned and asked, "Where is the boat?"

Then he saw Chen Lingyun staring at her red lotus bowl.

"No!" Zhao Yuanzhen immediately flew into a rage, as if someone had stepped on his tail. "This is my magic weapon! A magic weapon! How can you use it as a boat? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

"I know there's a delicious cake shop in Jianghai Mansion." Chen Lingyun said slowly, "It's only open to VIP members. Ordinary people can't even enter the store."

"What if it doesn't taste good?" Zhao Yuanzhen asked coldly.

"Then I'll recommend other stores until you are satisfied." Chen Lingyun smiled, knowing that Sister Zhao had begun to make concessions.

Zhao Yuanzhen was indeed tempted, and thought to himself that as long as I wiped my mouth and said I was not satisfied every time I went to eat, wouldn't you have to treat me to meals for the rest of my life?

Haha, this is a great bargain!

So the two of them quickly reached an agreement and continued to squat in the ruins for half an hour. They saw that the wizards in the distance finally couldn't hold back and started fighting each other.

"Get started." Chen Lingyun ordered.

Yin Rou took out yellow paper and deftly folded out a dozen paper figures. She blew on them, and immediately these paper figures seemed to come alive and quickly scattered into the battlefield from all directions.

Driven by the prospect of profit, the sorcerers, blinded by their own desires, unleashed a multitude of tactics. Spells clashed, black magic flew, zombies and demons darted through the air, and the scene became a chaotic mess. Hiding in the shadows, Yin Rou deliberately took sides, commanding her paper sword soldiers to launch a surprise attack on whoever gained the upper hand. Soon, the group was unable to focus on both ends, forcing them to resort to reckless killing.

Chen Lingyun and Zhao Yuanzhen took the opportunity to leave the ruins, activated the invisibility spell, and headed towards the underground river.

Arriving at the river, Zhao Yuanzhen took out the Red Lotus Bowl, which became large enough to accommodate the two girls, and then dropped it into the river - it floated steadily, which made the two of them feel at ease.

After getting on the bowl-shaped round boat, Yin Rou folded two paper figures with oars and acted as boatmen to row.

Not long after, Yin Rou suddenly said:

"Master, the river water here is filled with gloomy and muddy water. It's difficult to paddle, and the sailing speed may be slower than expected."

Zhao Yuanzhen immediately became worried. If we don't get away from the shore quickly, doesn't that mean we could be discovered by the sorcerers at any moment? They're in a chaotic battle, they're not blind, and invisibility can't hide the Red Lotus Bowl. If someone looks over, we'll be exposed in a moment! There's no cover or room to maneuver in this river!

Chen Lingyun's expression remained unchanged as she instructed:

"continue."

Zhao Yuanzhen looked down and saw that the river water was dark green and the yin energy was extremely heavy. The paper boatman seemed to be paddling in paste and could not row fast enough. There was nothing he could do.

Finally, someone noticed the bowl-shaped boat floating on the river in the distance and began to shout loudly.

Sporadic attacks flew over and landed in the water near the bowl, and the two didn't even need to respond.

"If only Yun Jin were here," Zhao Yuanzhen sighed. "She has the Heyuan Jingping (Purifying Bottle) with her. She can just siphon the water and then spit it out. Why would we need to paddle so slowly?" Chen Lingyun didn't care, just quietly looking down. Unfortunately, the river was so deep that the bottom was completely invisible.

As the shouting spread, more and more wizards finally realized that while they were fighting on the shore, someone had secretly taken a boat to the center of the river.

You don't want to see so many souls on the shore, but run deeper into the river? There must be some treasure in there!
So without any communication, everyone turned their spearheads towards the river and poured out all kinds of spells, black magic and evil spirits.

"What should we do!" Zhao Yuanzhen shouted loudly.

She excelled at offense, not defense. The Yinfeng Sword, the Bone Locking Hammer, and the puppet Ami weren't suitable for use as a tank. The alms bowl could summon red lotuses, but only within the bowl itself; they couldn't fly out to block attacks.

"The bowl has become bigger." Chen Lingyun said lightly.

Zhao Yuanzhen hurriedly activated the magic weapon, and saw the bowl getting bigger and bigger. The corresponding bowl wall also began to rise, turning into a nearly four or five meter high wall, blocking all attacks from afar.

Eh?
The demon woman was a little dumbfounded, thinking that she had forgotten that the Red Lotus Bowl can be used as a shield not only to summon red lotus, but it is also an extremely powerful defensive magic weapon.

The sorcerers on the shore became more and more angry. For a moment, they didn't even care about continuing to be hostile to each other. They just launched an overwhelming attack, wishing to sink the bowl immediately.

Ghosts flew in, but Chen Lingyun waved the prison banner to fend them off. Attacking spells and black magic, Zhao Yuanzhen used the Red Lotus Bowl to resist them. Countless crashes could be heard against the bowl's walls, and for a moment, there was no sign of the magic weapon itself failing. However, Yin Rou reminded them just in time: the bowl, propelled by the numerous attacks, was actually accelerating.

Good, good, good! Zhao Yuan was really happy: Just keep attacking me, my ship is not fast enough!
After a few minutes, some sorcerers noticed something was amiss. Not only was the bowl showing no signs of breaking, but why was it actually getting further and further away?

Let us help you push the boat, right?
Immediately, someone started yelling, "Stop fighting!" But firstly, the Southern Territory wizards came from various countries and didn't fully understand each other's languages. Secondly, they were all unruly and unruly. "Why should I listen to you?" So, some even fought even harder.

It was not until the Red Lotus Bowl was pushed to the center of the river that even the sorcerer with the longest range was helpless, and the sorcerers all suddenly realized what was going on.

be cheated!
"You can shrink it back now." Chen Lingyun ordered.

Zhao Yuanzhen activated his magic weapon, shrinking the bowl back to its original size as a two-person boat. The two paper boatmen raised their oars and began paddling again.

The river had originally been quite wide, but as it reached its lower reaches it narrowed and became increasingly turbulent. The banks on either side disappeared completely, and the rock face at the top dropped rapidly – it seemed as if the two were entering a true cavernous river.

Chen Lingyun stood at the bow of the bowl boat, looking out at the wandering ghosts floating on the river. They lay facedown like floating corpses, with only the back of their heads and parts of their backs visible above the water, seemingly devoid of any sense of self.

"Hey." Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly shouted, "Be careful, don't fall."

"Don't worry about me." Chen Lingyun turned around and smiled, "I'm fine."

"Don't be so self-indulgent. Who's worried about you?" Zhao Yuanzhen rolled his eyes. "If you fall in, I'll have to pull you out! And you're so small, you'll be swept away by the river. Can you be more aware of your own safety?"

"Yeah, I'll pay attention." Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

"So where will this underground river take us?" Zhao Yuanzhen asked unhappily.

"I don't know." Chen Lingyun said.

"I don't know?" Zhao Yuanzhen said irritably, "Then why are you asking me to row the boat along the river?"

"It doesn't matter. We'll find out soon." Chen Lingyun said happily, "This sense of accomplishment from gradually exploring the unknown is the most attractive, right?"

"I don't want to explore anything unknown," Zhao Yuanzhen complained. "I just want to be teleported to the secret realm's treasure house immediately. There, in front of me are a large number of top-level flying swords, magic weapons, jade slips, and elixirs. I can take as many as I want."

"We have to explore the depths of the secret realm first." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "Our goals are the same."

"You don't have to tell me this." Zhao Yuanzhen said impatiently, "We are members of the same team. This is the only reason why I am willing to travel with you."

"Yes, yes, I shouldn't have said that." Chen Lingyun clasped her hands and smiled, "After all, we are family."

Zhao Yuanzhen felt that although this statement was very heartwarming, there seemed to be something wrong. He was about to ask a few questions when suddenly the bowl under his feet vibrated violently and started spinning!
But it was a dark river that reached the back. The top of the cave in front was completely submerged by the river water. The cave passage was very narrow and could not allow the enlarged Red Lotus Bowl to pass through!
Chen Lingyun lost her balance and almost fell to the ground. She used the pole of the prison flag to maintain her balance. Just as she was about to continue standing, her arm was suddenly grabbed by Zhao Yuanzhen.

"Hold your breath!" she said quickly.

As soon as she finished speaking, she took the Red Lotus Bowl back.

The two fell into the gloomy river, feeling an uncontrollable, bone-chilling chill surging through every pore. While cultivators were immune to cold and heat, and feared no drowning, encountering this intensely yin energy without special magical tools would inevitably damage their meridians and cause their cultivation to decline.

Zhao Yuanzhen gritted his teeth, waved his hand and shook out a silver pill, which turned into a beautiful puppet exactly like himself, pulling the two of them and swimming forward quickly.

Suddenly, a cool feeling came from the palm of his hand. It was Chen Lingyun who finally came to his senses. He cast out a Nine Heavens Yin Demon Seal, which flew up and down around the two of them, forcing back all the invading Yin energy from all around.

What kind of secret method is this... Zhao Yuanzhen resisted the urge to ask, but just used all his strength to urge the puppet Ami forward.

After an unknown amount of time, the two finally surfaced.

The demon woman from the Demon Sect quickly threw out the red lotus bowl and "fished" the two men out of the water. Then they began to meditate, breathe, and regulate their true energy.

Chen Lingyun retracted the Nine Heavens Yin Demon Seal, stabilized and calmed his internal breath, and then opened his eyes, and saw that the underground river extended to the end of the river in the distance, turning into a huge waterfall pouring down.

Below is an underground lake. Mist is curling above the surface of the lake, making it difficult to see clearly. One can only barely judge that the lake is extremely wide and boundless.

Farther away, the towering dome of a man-made pass stands out from the surrounding white mist.

Chen Lingyun's mind moved slightly, but it was the Black Impermanence in the prison banner who was trying to get in touch with her mind.

(End of this chapter)