Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 831 The Princess Has Been Kidnapped
An unprecedented blizzard is hitting Eastern Europe.

Having devoured its way from the Northern Territory to here, the Ice Serpent has increased in size by nearly a third, completely validating Lu Guo's previous analysis and deduction: the giant serpent instinctively and without restraint devours all life around it in order to enhance its own strength and realm.

In other words, only one of the giant snake and all life on Earth can survive.

Faced with the terrifying threat of the ice serpent, the Western world has demonstrated remarkable and stable democracy.

Eastern European countries are demanding cooperation with China as soon as possible, because China is currently the only country that has successfully dealt with the giant serpent.

Western European countries, including Britain, insisted that the new world order centered on land powers was "unacceptable" and would inevitably lead to the "complete collapse of Western civilization," and that they should seek help from Mitchell across the ocean.

Several Central European countries have wavered in their stance. On the one hand, they shout slogans like "European defense, European self-determination" and are unwilling to seek help from East Asia or North America. On the other hand, they lack confidence and can only repeatedly emphasize that "it can be used to test the Shroud of Turin barrier."

The Zhou Tian Zi Yun Grand Array of the Lu Kingdom borrowed from the Shroud of Turin barrier of Europe, but was able to surpass it. The reason for this was the assistance of Mei Yingxue, a cultivator, who provided many insightful Taoist ideas during the process of overseeing the transformation.

The Shroud of Turin barrier is not like that; it was researched and updated by the best scientists in all of Europe. In fact, if we were to adopt the approach of the Lu Kingdom, perhaps it would be more appropriate to have theologians conduct the entire research.

This afternoon, the giant serpent finally broke into the eastern border of the Shroud of Turin barrier.

Layer upon layer of tangible holy light descended, quickly colliding with the icy barrier surrounding the giant European serpent, causing the abundant energy on both sides to violently compress and clash.

Numerous ice crystal fragments shattered in the blizzard, resembling countless tiny mirrors, only to be quickly melted by the even more intense holy light.

Deep in the Carpathian Mountains, a secret forward base station is in operation.

The Purple Cloud Array of the Lu Kingdom uses distributed node technology, while the Shroud of the Dead barrier is a seamless whole, covering Central Europe and a small part of Eastern Europe.

To ensure the smooth operation of such a large-scale barrier, tens of thousands of ground stations are conducting intense calculations to allocate the energy provided by the Gauls to the barrier at the front lines.

Inside the base station, people were frantically moving around, and the supervisor, sweating profusely, was trying to remain calm as he reported the situation online to the important figures attending the meeting.

"The strength of the Frost Serpent's barrier exceeds our prior expectations, far surpassing the data provided by the Lu Kingdom. We need to increase the energy output rate to over 130% of the original level to ensure that the entire barrier does not suddenly collapse, while maintaining its ability to suppress the Frost Serpent at the front lines..."

“The Purple Cloud Array of the Lu Kingdom does not have such high energy requirements,” a high-ranking official interrupted him, questioning, “nor is it at risk of sudden collapse.”

“The Purple Cloud Array uses distributed node technology, and the power generation of the Chinese nation is far higher than ours.” Another high-ranking official interrupted his questioning and stated, “I have mentioned before that adopting the mature solution from the Chinese nation is in the best interest of the whole of Europe.”

“Accepting the Purple Cloud Array is like leaving your house wide open.” Another high-ranking official interrupted his statement. “Don’t forget, only cultivators from the Lu Kingdom can manipulate the Purple Cloud Array. Do you all want to entrust your national defense and security to the people of the Lu Kingdom?”

“We can sign a comprehensive and detailed agreement with the continent to ensure that they cannot harm the interests of the European world.”

"According to your statement, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, and the Korean Peninsula were forced to submit to the Lu Kingdom because the agreements were not well-drafted and comprehensive enough."

"Didn't Europe hand over its defense to Mitch in the past? Was it because the cowboy lords of North America were particularly kind-hearted?"

The high-ranking officials argued endlessly, each seemingly having their own opinion and refusing to reach a consensus with others.

In the absence of a consensus, maintaining the status quo became the only option. Therefore, the energy supply of the Shroud of Turin barrier was quickly increased, even diverting electricity from several major cities, resulting in temporary power outages in different districts.

At the same time, almost all major powers around the world turned their attention to Eastern Europe.

If Europe can resolve the catastrophic serpent, it means that everyone is not necessarily obligated to pledge allegiance to the land-based nation; but if even the old Europe, protected by Mitch, is powerless, then everyone will have to consider who the next big brother will be.

Inside the Jinling Mansion villa, everyone had already set up a hot pot in the living room and projected the large TV screen onto the international news channel, starting to watch the excitement from afar.

"The Shroud of Turin barrier has major problems," Ye Yun commented. "In terms of energy consumption, storage, and transmission, they completely copied the model of modern power systems, but did not consider using the structure of spiritual energy revival. In fact, they don't need to abide by the original physical laws at all."

The girls couldn't understand what she was saying, but they could roughly tell from her tone that this Holy Shroud barrier wasn't as powerful as the Purple Cloud Array of the Lu Kingdom.

"Can it defeat the giant ice serpent?" Xie Ruoxi asked curiously.

"We can beat them," Ye Yun said.

Everyone was disappointed. Wouldn't it have been better if Europe couldn't handle the giant serpent?

"I'll just eat this pot," Ye Jun continued.

"Ye Yun, don't take such long breaths when you talk next time!" Lin Ning immediately complained.

"What will they do if they can't win?" Tang Xiaolian asked curiously.

"They can only secretly ask us for help," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "just like the Southern and Northern borders did."

“Wait a minute,” Anna immediately protested. “I didn’t ask the Lu Kingdom for help. Our witch guild resolved this giant serpent crisis independently.”

“That’s right, you brought it to Europe,” Zhao Yuanzhen said. “Now the Europeans are cleaning up your mess.”

Everyone burst into laughter. Anna was a little embarrassed and started making strange remarks such as "luring them away is also a win" and "Europeans can be lured to the Arctic too."

“It’s not impossible,” Li Minghu suddenly said. “If I remember correctly, Anna lured the giant serpent from the northern border to Rakshasa. But now the giant serpent has moved westward out of Rakshasa territory. Couldn’t the Rakshasa have also used some method to lure it away?”

“I heard,” Chen Lingyun said with a smile, “that their strategy is to kill people.”

Human life?

After exchanging glances for a moment, everyone quickly realized what Lingyun meant.

In legends, Yamata no Orochi is a demonic creature that devours human lives. The giant serpent that has now separated from Yamata no Orochi, while naturally drawn to life, also has an even stronger preference for human lives.

In sparsely populated Siberia, it's possible to go a long distance without finding a single living person, so livestock can be used as bait to attract giant snakes. However, the East European Plain lacks this capability, so the only effective bait is:
People, a large number of people.

The Rakshasa Empire has a long-standing cultural tradition of treating human life like livestock.

Anna remained silent for a long time, then suddenly swore:
"Damn it, thank goodness I betrayed them long ago."

While eating hotpot, everyone watched "Live News Coverage" on the TV screen.

For security reasons, the airspace near the European giant snake has been completely closed, prohibiting any helicopters from approaching. Journalists from various countries, seated in constantly moving snow-covered communication vehicles, used drones to film the giant snake in the distance.

The ground was completely covered by a severe blizzard, making it difficult to see even the road ahead. Only when the drone ascended to a height of over a hundred meters could the colossal creature, crawling forward in the distance, be seen, shrouded in an overwhelming frost storm. The tactic of hindering the giant serpent employed in the south was completely ineffective on the European side. This was because the giant serpent had devoured too many lives along its path, and the surrounding blizzard barrier had expanded to an extremely wide area—so wide that even missiles could not penetrate it to reach the giant serpent.

Yan Yu suddenly posed a question to everyone:

"Let me test you: If you were born in Europe, what would you do if you were faced with such a giant snake?"

“Lead it away,” Anna said. “Lead it to the Arctic Ocean and let it play by itself.”

“I’ll burn everything alive around it,” Zhou Hongyu said viciously, “so it can’t eat anything and will starve to death.”

"I'll assist Sister Hongyu," Tang Xiaolian immediately chimed in.

“I will hide.” Zhao Yuanzhen said without hesitation, “and when I have mastered the demonic arts, I will come out and kill it with one palm.”

“A formation is definitely more suitable,” Ye Yun said with a smile. “The Lu Kingdom has the Purple Cloud Formation. Even if we can’t get the specific plan, we can at least imitate the design based on the concept.”

"Hmm, I think it's better to follow instructions," Lin Ning said thoughtfully. "It's true that we're better at fighting, but for things like this, it's definitely better to let the departments and institutions that specialize in defense strategy come up with a plan, taking into account the opinions of various think tanks, right?"

"I will follow the captain's instructions," Su Yunjin said softly.

"I am a sword immortal, I don't have any good solutions," Li Minghu said frankly. "Unless I am given a mission, it's not my place to worry about it."

"I..." Xie Ruoxi racked her brains, then suddenly had a brilliant idea, "I'll fly directly above the giant snake and throw lightning bolts down. Surely the blizzard can't freeze the lightning too?"

Everyone looked at Chen Lingyun, who answered last, and saw her smiling as she said:
"If I were born in Europe, I would go to the Lu Kingdom, which has already dealt with the giant serpent, find a guy named Yan Yu, seduce him, and find out how the Lu Kingdom did it."

Everyone was speechless. It's like a teacher quizzing you on how to solve a problem, and you say, "It's in the textbook, I'll just copy it from the textbook..."

"What about the captain?" Lin Ning suddenly asked. "What would you do?"

“I will kill the giant serpent before it fully forms,” Yan Yu said earnestly. “Difficult problems are what make a challenge meaningful, but I’d rather solve it by skipping class. Remember that.”

After finishing their hot pot meal, everyone continued to lie on the sofa and watch TV.

Feeling a bit bored, Yan Yu went upstairs to his room to rest.

The girls exchanged glances for a moment, then Chen Lingyun, as if fearing chaos in the inner quarters, spoke first:
"Alright! The bidding for the time to serve you in bed tonight begins!"

“Those who went to Tianjin last time, let’s exclude them first,” Zhou Hongyu said seriously. “You’ve all slept in, so move on to the back of the list.”

"Second it! Second it!" Everyone except Yun Jin, Yuan Zhen, and Ye Yun shouted.

“Then after we come back, those who slept with the captain will have to be relegated to the back of the list,” Xie Ruoxi retorted.

"Second it! Second it!" Zhao Yuanzhen shouted immediately, looking at Zhou Hongyu provocatively.

After two rounds of selection, only Xie Ruoxi, Chen Lingyun, and Anna remained.

"If you guys can't handle it, just call me over." Zhao Yuanzhen secretly transmitted his voice to Xie Ruoxi, "Ruoxi, it's not that I look down on you, it's just that neither you nor Lingyun are very good at fighting, and Anna alone is no match for the little thief."

"Lingyun, Ningning and I are both free tonight," Su Yunjin whispered to Chen Lingyun. "Feel free to contact us anytime if you need anything."

Clearly, everyone felt that these three people couldn't handle Yan Yu.

The three girls walked up the stairs, and Xie Ruoxi then said in a huff:

"What? They all look down on us!"

"They all think we're no good, so we're going to beat Yan Yu and show them, right, Sister Lingyun?"

“Yes.” Chen Lingyun smiled. “I’ll leave it to you to do.”

"Huh?!" Xie Ruoxi was dumbfounded.

"What are you planning to do?" Upon reaching the second floor, Anna didn't rush to Yan Yu's room but turned to ask the two, "Take turns, or launch a direct attack?"

“Anna, you’ve seen it before,” Chen Lingyun said with a smile. “Our competition with Yan Yu is scored.”

“I know,” Anna said with amusement. “So you want the three of us to keep track of the total score? If I remember correctly, neither of you did very well individually, right?”

Xie Ruoxi pursed her lips, only to hear Chen Lingyun say:

"Yes, but the team can use tactics."

“Sister Lingyun was our team’s vice-captain back then!” Xie Ruoxi immediately said. “She devised all the team’s tactics, and even the captain highly approved of them!”

Anna didn't really have a knack for tactics, but since even Yan Yu acknowledged Chen Lingyun's intelligence, she became somewhat interested.

"Well then, tell me, what are your thoughts, Vice Captain?"

"Anna, you can write screenplays, right?" Chen Lingyun smiled slightly.

"Yes, you want to participate too?" Anna asked in surprise.

“The script is a wonderful thing,” Chen Lingyun said leisurely. “All tactical intentions can be perfectly concealed; a simple ‘that’s how the script is written’ is enough.”

"I see." Anna roughly guessed what she meant and invited, "I have a lot of discarded scripts in my room, why don't you... come to my room and pick one?"

"Let's go." Chen Lingyun winked at Xie Ruoxi.

Yan Yu lay in his room playing on his phone, wondering why they hadn't come to launch their night raid yet. Were they all afraid of me?

Haha, my powerful virility makes them tremble with fear just thinking about it!
Just as he was feeling smug, someone suddenly pushed the door open and came in.

It was Xie Ruoxi, dressed in elaborate cosplay attire, who cried out in a panic:
"Oh no, warrior! Her Highness the princess has been captured by a succubus!"

(End of this chapter)