Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 817: More Ni and Less Porridge
The siege of the Bohai Giant Serpent took place in the summer, but recently it has entered late autumn and the weather outside is gradually getting colder.

Having just finished setting up array nodes in the southern region, Ye Yun arrived in the highland area and was slightly disliked by the climate here—cultivators are impervious to heat and cold and have a very high tolerance for temperature changes, so she simply felt uncomfortable.

The Splendid Tang Dynasty B&B... found it.

Ye Jun landed on her sword at the entrance of the guesthouse and then knocked on the door.

"They're here," came Li Minghu's voice from inside.

She opened the door from the inside, and the two looked at each other, smiled, and hugged.

"It seems you've been in a pretty stable mood lately," Ye Yun teased her. "Is it because of the nourishment of love?"

“If you don’t work every day and take time off, your skin will naturally take care of itself,” Li Minghu said with a gentle smile.

Although it started as just to team up, the two had known each other for a while and unexpectedly found that they got along quite well: they had both served as vice-captains, were both mature and stable, and both had a "giant baby" in their previous teams who needed to be taken care of.

To be honest, there are quite a few like that here too. For example, there's the hot-tempered Hongyu, the food-loving and playful Ruoxi, Zhao Yuanzhen who has both traits, and their shared boyfriend who's obsessed with saving face and suffers for it.

"Is it hard to take care of them?" Ye Jun asked as she changed her shoes at the door.

“I didn’t take care of her much,” Li Minghu said gently. “We just chatted occasionally.”

Having extensive experience caring for overgrown children, Li Minghu was adept at reading people's expressions and moods. She could chat with Zhao Yuanzhen about food, with Xie Ruoxi about fun, with Su Yunjin about gardening, with Lin Ning about cooking, and even with Chen Lingyun, who had unique tastes, she could exchange a few words and have a conversation.

Over time, everyone became her best friend, willing to share their innermost thoughts with her. Even Yan Yu would occasionally confide in her when he had troubles—Li Minghu was practically becoming the confidante of this big family.

"You're amazing," Ye Jun said sincerely. "If I were to be this confidant, I couldn't stand having people bombarding me with negative energy every day."

“I’m not being this confidant for free,” Li Minghu explained. “Sharing secrets can actually bring two people closer psychologically.”

“But there’s no need to be on good terms with everyone,” Ye Yun said. “Actually, just getting closer to him is enough.”

“When you can gain everyone’s trust, it proves that you are someone who can keep secrets.” Li Minghu blinked. “He will naturally trust you too.”

"Hey, I'm curious." Ye Yun suddenly became interested. "What did Yan Yu tell you?"

"It's a secret."

"Just tell me secretly, I won't blab it out to everyone."

"A good 'confessional' will forget what it hears and there is no possibility of it being leaked."

"Then tell me, besides holding his secrets, does this 'tree hole' of yours hold anything else?"

"what?"

"Well... hey, have you ever heard that teenage boys sometimes stare into tree holes..."

The two whispered to each other and couldn't help but laugh.

Upon entering the common living room, one sees the girls sitting on the sofa, chatting and warming themselves around the fireplace.

"Ye Jun is back?" Yan Yu said. "Perfect timing, I saved a seat for you."

He patted the low sofa cushions at his feet.

"Thank you." Ye Jun smiled and picked up the plastic bag. "I brought mangoes for everyone from the Southern Border."

Zhao Yuanzhen and Xie Ruoxi were overjoyed and began distributing fruit to everyone.

Lin Ning took a mango, skillfully peeled and cut it into pieces with a fruit knife, stuck toothpicks in it, put it in a bowl, and placed it in front of Yan Yu.

Yan Yu only had time to pick up one piece before he saw countless hands reach out in front of him, instantly clearing out the entire bowl of mangoes.

"Wait, that's what Ningning cut for me!" Yan Yu exclaimed immediately.

“Why would I cut it just for you? I clearly prepared it for everyone.” Lin Ning immediately retorted, and the girls chuckled.

“Hey! I remember now,” Xie Ruoxi suddenly said, “There’s a saying that eating more fruits like mangoes and pineapples can make your body’s fluids taste sweet.”

"I don't think so," Su Yunjin said skeptically. "I remember that was a rumor."

"Why don't we just give it a try? Practice makes perfect," Tang Xiaolian said with a smile, picking up a mango. "Yan Yu, I'll peel one for you~"

“Then I’ll peel one for him too.” Chen Lingyun joined in the fun. “If you’re doing experiments, you definitely need to eat a lot, right?”

"You're going to do an experiment?" Ye Jun immediately became interested. "Then we have to take samples before eating, immediately after eating the mango, and then again 1 hour, 2 hours, and 6 hours after the meal."

“I’ll take the samples,” Zhou Hongyu volunteered, her expression becoming eager to try.

"That's enough," Yan Yu said helplessly. "Just meeting your daily needs is exhausting enough; there's no time left for experiments."

"Who told you to have so many girlfriends?" Li Minghu covered her mouth and laughed. "Just bear with it."

Everyone joked and laughed, but they couldn't help but have some thoughts.

There are now ten people present, which is double digits, and that's quite a lot. Even if they take turns every night, it might not be their turn even once a week.

It would be best to cut it down a bit.

It would be great if someone could voluntarily withdraw...

The crux of the problem is this: everyone can only decide what they want, but cannot control what others want, so the only thing they can do is hold on to Yan Yu tightly and compete with each other in patience!
Let's just endure it! Let's see who can last the longest! I refuse to believe you can outlast me!
From this perspective, frequently pestering Yan Yu for competitions is also meaningful. Because once he feels that his body can't take it anymore and he gets tired of the arduous life in the harem, he will find a way to actively reduce the number of people in his harem.

Collective monitoring.

Yan Yu was eating a mango when he suddenly felt unwell, as if he were being watched by a group of carnivorous beasts.

Looking up, I found everyone still chatting casually, seemingly without any sign of anything amiss.

"Lingyun," Yan Yu secretly transmitted his voice, "Is there something wrong with the atmosphere?"

"You mean something's not right?" Chen Lingyun asked, puzzled. Here it comes, something definitely isn't right!

Although Yan Yu couldn't pinpoint the source of the strangeness in his surroundings, he knew Chen Lingyun well! Just from her tone, he knew she was pretending to be clueless, waiting to see him make a fool of himself!

"Are you plotting something again?" he asked suspiciously again.

"If I were really plotting something, would I admit it just because you ask me that?" Chen Lingyun retorted.

Yan Yu paused for a moment, then asked again:
"You really didn't do it?"

“I didn’t do anything,” Chen Lingyun replied.

That's strange. My intuition is usually right, but if it wasn't Chen Lingyun's scheme, then what was going on? It can't be that they all conspired against me at the same time.

Yan Yu was deep in thought when he heard Chen Lingyun transmit her voice again:
"No matter what kind of conspiracy there is, you can actually handle it."

"Oh, why don't you tell me?"

“I’m not taking the bait,” Chen Lingyun reminded her. “Don’t forget, you promised me you’d help me rebuild the Underworld.”

"Since we've all gathered here today, let's seize the opportunity and take them directly to the Netherworld. Once we're there, whatever schemes they have in secret will be rendered useless, won't they?"

Yan Yu thought to himself, "Good heavens, so this is where they were waiting for me!"

Chen Lingyun was actually right. No matter what their plans are, they all boil down to the same thing in the end. After all, my resources are limited, and there's more supply than demand. I'll grab whatever I can.

Thinking about it carefully, my combat strength limit is one against four, but there are nine people here!

If I let them carry out their schemes, my invincible status will be in danger. In other words, Chen Lingyun calculated that although I seem to be in a stable position now, my situation is actually precarious, which is why she deliberately brought up the matter of rebuilding the Underworld at this juncture.

What's even more infuriating is that her calculations are rarely wrong, and can almost be believed without question!

Yan Yu didn't think for long before he realized he really couldn't delay any longer.

"Everyone, please listen to me." He stood up, cleared his throat, and said loudly, "I have something I need your help with."

The girls stopped talking and all turned their attention to him.

Chen Lingyun sat on a high stool behind the bar, absentmindedly stirring her coffee with a small spoon, her gaze towards Yan Yu sparkling with a strange light.

I've been betting so much on this, and today is finally the day to open the market. Who else in this world can so easily mobilize a double-digit number of Golden Core cultivators to do things for you?
Yan Yu, isn't this harem you've built also a source of my connections and resources? Hmph~
After Yan Yu finished speaking concisely, the girls were stunned.

"Wait a minute," Ye Yun asked incredulously, "Is this really something we can do? I can understand ordinary secret realms, but this is the underworld..."

“No,” Chen Lingyun said. “With our strength alone, to say that we can recreate the legendary underworld is indeed a pipe dream.”

"However, it is certainly feasible to establish an alternative functional institution on the original site of the underworld. What we need to do is go from 0 to 1, not jump to 100 all at once."

“Speaking of which, if we could rebuild even the simplest form of the Underworld, it would be beneficial to everyone, wouldn’t it?” Su Yunjin chimed in. “Don’t forget, although we are cultivators with long lifespans, our parents are just mortals, you know? They will eventually reach the end of their lifespans.”

At this point, everyone fell silent.

The fear between life and death is immense; no one wants to see their parents or loved ones suddenly leave this world one day. However, the finite lifespan of mortals is a fact, and since it cannot be changed, we can only silently accept it.

Now the opportunity for change has arrived.

Since all mortals return to the Netherworld after death, rebuilding the Netherworld is, in a good way, equivalent to finding the souls of one's parents after their death; in a bad way, not rebuilding the Netherworld is equivalent to letting them reincarnate randomly in a state of spiritual ignorance.

What if it gets thrown into an animal?
Aside from Zhou Hongyu, no one wanted to see this happen. As for Hongyu… she simply shook her leg impatiently and said bluntly:
"Are you done talking? If you are, hurry up and leave!"

Once everyone reached a consensus, they set off on their swords. To prevent the Privy Council from being surprised, Yan Yu even sent a message to Chen Tianming, telling him that he was taking his family to a secret realm in Nanchuan Province for a team-building trip, and that he didn't need to pay too much attention, and that if there were any questions, he should ask his daughter.

Chen Tianming: ………………

Regardless of Chen Tianming's reaction, the group headed to the Shuanggui Mountain Secret Realm in Nanchuan Province, venturing into the eerie and ghostly atmosphere of the realm.

Not long after they started walking, they suddenly encountered a group of unfamiliar cultivators at a bend in the mountain road ahead. There was one man and three women, all of whom were quite young.

"Who goes there?!" the leading male cultivator roared, his flying sword already in motion. "State your identity... Holy crap, Yan Shen!"

"It really is!" The female cultivators behind him rushed forward, exclaiming in surprise, "Zhou Hongyu is there too!"

"It's Su Yunjin and Tang Xiaolian!"

The four rushed forward in ecstasy, like enthusiastic fans meeting their idol. The male cultivator in the lead had already taken out a pen, intending to ask Yan Yu for an autograph.

"Wait, bro, who are you?" Yan Yu asked, both amused and exasperated, as he signed his autograph. "Not just anyone can come in here..."

"I'm your fan, Yan Shen!"

Yan Yu: ………………

"I'm asking about your identity!"

"Oh, we are civilian cultivators, graduates of the 2nd promotion class." The male cultivator quickly introduced himself, "We are currently serving in the 172nd cultivator unit of the Pingxi Army. Since we are all ghost cultivators, we have been approved by our superiors to come and capture a few ghosts for self-defense."

The Promotion Class is a new system recently implemented in the Lu Kingdom, aimed at conducting a deeper screening and absorption of cultivators from the civilian population.

As is customary, blood tests for advanced training and blood tests for enlistment are currently the main ways to recruit officially trained cultivators. If one cannot become an officially trained cultivator, then if one can reach the Transformation Realm cultivation level on their own through their own strength (and luck), then they can be recruited by the four major military prefectures with special approval.

Now there is another "promotion class", which means that folk cultivators who have been assessed and confirmed to meet the qualification standards but whose cultivation level has not yet reached the Huafu stage can participate in the official promotion training class. Once they reach the Huafu stage, they can be enlisted smoothly.

The premise for such reforms is, of course, the explosive growth in the production of pills and flying swords, which in turn relies on several technical breakthroughs that were completed at any cost to help top-tier cultivators overcome tribulations... So technological development is like this, with each link connected to the next. If you falter even slightly in the early stages, you may fall behind later.

In its previous life, the Lu Kingdom was constrained by the rift in trust caused by the cultivators' rebellion and the defense pressure brought about by enemies on all sides, so its development was not as rapid as it is now.

The fact that Lu Kingdom has embarked on such a completely different path is entirely thanks to me!

With this in mind, Yan Yu accepted the four cultivators' effusive praise and generously gave each of them an autograph.

(End of this chapter)