Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 838 Observations from the Outside World
Su Yunjin and Xie Ruoxi stood in the air on their swords, watching the giant lightning serpent land in Australia in the distance.

Before reaching Australia, the giant snake passed through several countries in Oceania, devouring a large number of people along the way.

No one cares.

From the perspective of all humanity, even weak countries should be protected. After all, the Yamata no Orochi is like a gluttonous snake; it cannot be allowed to eat too much, or it will become difficult to control.

But the reality is that everyone is only concerned with self-preservation. After the spiritual energy resurgence, the secular regimes in these countries collapsed rapidly, and extraordinary individuals in various regions divided up territories and exercised brutal self-governance, with even basic diplomatic activities completely ceasing.

For a major power, even if it were to discuss the issue of repelling snakes with the locals, it wouldn't even know who to approach for cooperation, so naturally, nothing would come of it.

Australia fared slightly better in this regard, as their situation was similar to Mitchell's. With no indigenous peoples and a lack of mystical cultural foundation, they did not produce any native superhumans during the spiritual revival era, instead drawing in marginalized individuals from Europe.

Besides, people don't want to come. Because your crappy place has no secret realms, no extraordinary resources, why would I come here to be your property security guard?

This is why secular regimes are indeed stable, but when it comes to dealing with external enemies... Oh dear, Europe, save me!

Europe is currently preoccupied with its own problems, as the Ice Serpent continues its rampage through Eastern Europe. They're too busy dealing with their own troubles to care about others. Mitchell is also engaged in battle with the Light Serpent, and has even intercepted some of the white superhumans who were supposed to be supporting Australia, leaving Australia effectively isolated and without support.

If we don't consider the Lu Kingdom.

In this Earth-like world, the relationship between the Land Kingdom and Australia is rather delicate—to put it metaphorically, it's like having a secret rendezvous with a married woman.

Australia, on the surface, is like Mrs. Mitchell, constantly saying, "I have nothing to do with Mr. Lu next door," and even every now and then, she has to put on a show of arguing and having a conflict with Mr. Lu next door in front of her husband to prove that she is innocent and virtuous.

Then, when her husband was not home, she would feel lonely and restless late at night, and would secretly go to meet up with her neighbor, Lao Lu.

Regarding the attack on Australia by the giant lightning snake, the Privy Council of the Chinese government has issued instructions:
Don't get involved, just observe first.

Without the Purple Cloud Formation, even if Yun Jin and Ruo Xi worked together, they wouldn't be able to break through the lightning barrier surrounding the giant serpent. Gathering intelligence was the more important task.

Looking out, Su Yunjin saw dark clouds gathering and lightning flashing in the distance. A huge, dark figure stepped onto the land, crushing the constructed coastal walkway, and the bricks collapsed into the churning sea.

The giant serpent landed in a seaside city with houses arranged in neat rows. It seemed that some of the population had been evacuated, but not all of them had.

There were many fearless citizens around taking pictures of the thunderclouds with their phones, but the giant snake moved as fast as a tsunami, appearing far away but closing in on them in an instant.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared within the barrier, with various explosions echoing continuously. Those who were unable to escape and were swept into the barrier vanished without a trace.

"So weak," Xie Ruoxi suddenly said. "They don't even have a single superhuman. How have they survived until now?"

"They mainly export resources and raw materials," Su Yunjin, who reads a lot, explained to Ruoxi. "In terms of industry, they basically don't compete with us, and there's no intense conflict of interest between us."

"Then why not wipe them out and seize their resources?" Xie Ruoxi asked innocently. "Isn't robbing more cost-effective than buying?"

Su Yunjin felt somewhat embarrassed and tried to explain using the knowledge she had gained from the book:
"They probably did the calculations and figured that the cost of directly using force to seize the goods and then organizing the resumption of production was less than the cost of buying directly from them. After all, recruiting workers and maintaining order are quite troublesome."

"Why recruit workers and maintain order?" Xie Ruoxi's eyes shone with a clear thirst for knowledge. "Wouldn't it be simpler to just capture foreigners and enslave them?"

Su Yunjin: ………………

The captain only assigned me to guard the first level of hell, while Ruoxi was able to become the guardian deity of the entire hell. There must be a reason for that.

The giant serpent in the distance was still moving towards the land. Its body was so huge that it took five or six minutes just to get it all ashore. After landing, it finally stopped moving straight ahead and turned towards the most densely populated area.

Crushing roads and knocking down houses, amidst the dust and black smoke rising from the collapse, the giant lightning serpent, like a pangolin that had strayed into a termite mound or a carnivorous electric eel that charged into a school of fish, let out a melodious and satisfied cry.

I'm about to cause a huge scene!

"Are we really not going to make a move?" Xie Ruoxi asked, eager to try.

“No.” Su Yunjin calmly straightened her hair. “Besides, without the Purple Cloud Formation, we can’t break through the lightning storms around it.”

"I actually really want to try it," Xie Ruoxi said regretfully. "My Thor's Cone can attract and deflect lightning."

"Let's not try it. The higher-ups told us not to interfere..." Su Yunjin said, then suddenly looked up into the distance.

The missile's engine trailed white smoke as it instantly plunged into the lightning barrier, then exploded in the storm into a blooming flower of flames—though the spectacle was immense, it was still quite a distance from the giant serpent.

"It's magnetic field active!" Xie Ruoxi suddenly said, "A sufficiently powerful electric current will generate a terrifyingly powerful magnetic field. In such a magnetic field, any metal object... no, any object will be instantly blasted apart!"

"Ruoxi?" Su Yunjin was greatly surprised, not expecting that Xie Ruoxi would actually know about electromagnetism.

"I also learned it from anime," Xie Ruoxi said seriously.

Anime gave me the power of knowledge!

“In that case,” Su Yunjin looked at the giant snake in the distance again, “they will eventually realize that conventional military means are ineffective against the giant snake.”

After watching the giant snake continue its rampage and wreak havoc in the city, the two slowly crawled along the coastline towards the southeast.

--------

Today, five giant serpents remain in the world, located in Eastern Europe, Korea, Australia, North America, and South America.

A new session of the UN Security Council has convened to discuss how the world should respond to the threat posed by the Yamata no Orochi.

As is well known, the federation is usually unable to unite, as the opinions of all parties are almost diametrically opposed.

The representative from the Central Plains reiterated that the key to jointly combating the Yamata no Orochi lies in building a new world order based on concerted efforts and unity—it's time for a responsible and accountable new leader to emerge in this chaotic martial arts world!

Mitchell strongly objected, claiming that the most important task at present was to combat the serpent, not to redivide the global order—Man! I'm not dead yet! It's too early to plot a coup!
The two sides argued fiercely, eventually leading to a vote. The proposal to establish a new world order, spearheaded by the Lu Kingdom, received an overwhelming majority of votes.

Then it was vetoed by Mitchell. After the meeting, the representative from China left without saying a word.

Then, outside the venue, they were surrounded by ambassadors from all over the world, who frantically inquired about the price.

Among these countries, some are so-called "pre-modern states," that is, those that still maintain the rule of secular governments and the structure of modern society; others are "post-modern states," that is, those where superhumans have come to power but still employ professional civil servants to govern the country.

Others are "alliances of extraordinary tribes," where secular regimes are completely overthrown, and extraordinary individuals in different parts of the country rule their own territories in a feudal-like system. They then elect a representative similar to a witch king to form their own ministerial team to govern the country...

In either case, at least when it comes to the threat posed by the Yamata no Orochi, most countries have expressed great concern and vigilance, hoping that the Lu Kingdom can cede the technical solution for the Purple Cloud Formation, with the price negotiable.

The representatives from the Western world walked away expressionlessly from the group of Chinese representatives, but their hearts were in turmoil.

It seems the world is truly about to change.

Although Mitch vetoed the so-called "new world order" proposal, China could still secretly reach bilateral alliances and cooperation agreements with other countries, exchanging the Purple Cloud Formation for control of their defense, and ultimately still achieve the status of a world hegemon in effect.

What's the point of your veto? Reality isn't a game of rules and fantasy!

When news of the talks reached Lu Guo, many people were overjoyed. The fact that the Zhou Tian Zi Yun Grand Array could travel across the ocean and even spread throughout the world in the foreseeable future seemed to indicate that the era of Mitch's regional hegemony was coming to an end, and the hegemon of the Eastern world was returning to its rightful place.

Ye Yun's mood wasn't so cheerful, because the Privy Council had given her another task:
A stripped-down version of the Purple Cloud Array design for defense exports.

The Purple Cloud Grand Array has now been established as a core national defense project, alongside the Ordinary Warriors Project, one focusing on external defense and the other on internal stability. The former guards against external national defense threats, while the latter suppresses internal destabilizing factors.

While there are many researchers in the Martial Arts Project, there are very few in the Purple Cloud Array Project. This is because the field of array formations is too difficult to enter. The minimum requirement is that one must be a cultivator, otherwise one cannot even understand the teaching materials.

Lu Guo spent a long time recruiting and training them, and only managed to cultivate a dozen or so array masters. However, their abilities were still significantly different from Ye Yun's, so most of the work still had to be done by Teacher Ye.

"I shouldn't have become a formation master in the first place," Ye Yun complained to Li Minghu. "With Teacher Mei gone, all the work has fallen on my shoulders."

"The capable should be given more responsibilities," Li Minghu said with a smile. "In a while, I'll promote you to the chief architect of the country and make you an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"As long as you don't overwork yourself to death, it'll be fine." Ye Yun waved her hand with a smile.

The two flew over the plains of the underworld on their swords and saw endless rows of worker tents below, many times more than the last time they came.

Groups of ghosts passed by, carrying bricks engraved with arrays to the two ends of the Gate of Hell to build structures.

Then, ghost messengers flew through the air, capturing all the ghosts entering the underworld and sending them to the prison banner for refining. On the way, they encountered Ye Yun and Li Minghu, and bowed deeply in utmost respect.

"Speaking of which," Ye Yun suddenly thought, "what will happen to all those ghostly workers once the Gate of Hell is finished? Will they all be sent to the Reincarnation Platform to be reincarnated?"

“I think, given her personality…” Li Minghu said tentatively.

The two looked at each other for a moment, and each read the answer in the other's eyes.

impossible.

Ghosts are the best laborers. They don't need to eat or sleep, they don't complain, and they have no ability to cheat or shirk their duties. After being given a bowl of Meng Po soup, they become dazed and confused, and do whatever they are told.

After building the Gates of Hell, they can then proceed to construct Fengdu City. Once Fengdu City is completed, it can be sent to an assembly line factory in the mortal realm, reducing labor costs to zero in one fell swoop. Given Chen Lingyun's personality, it's not impossible for her to do it.

Theoretically speaking, after drinking the Meng Po soup, a person's attributes are completely formatted. From this point onward, through reincarnation, through the fetal stage, and until birth, the Lu Kingdom does not recognize that the person possesses human attributes.

Since a fetus in the womb is not considered a person and can be aborted, then legally speaking, a ghost is even less of a person and can be ordered around and enslaved at will. It sounds reasonable... but it just feels a bit strange.

The two crossed the Gates of Hell and arrived at the River of Oblivion.

After several improvements by Zhao Yuanzhen, the Naihe Bridge has become quite sturdy. It is no longer in its original form, like driftwood, but has been polished into a seamless whole, connecting the two banks, and remains unmoved no matter how the river water washes over it.

It is said that the River of Oblivion is the boundary between the human and the ghost. If a person whose lifespan has not yet ended mistakenly enters the underworld, they can turn back to the mortal world before crossing the Bridge of Helplessness. However, once they cross the bridge, they can never turn back.

After crossing the River of Oblivion, you will reach Wild Dog Mountain and Golden Rooster Ridge.

These two mountainous areas are extremely large and filled with yin energy. They are often inhabited by demons born from yin and filth, who lurk on both sides of the mountain roads and ambush the ghosts on their way to reincarnation, seriously disrupting the normal order of the underworld.

Now that it was Li Minghu's turn to patrol the heavens, Ye Jun accompanied her as she flew around on her sword, clearing out all sorts of monster lairs.

After their patrol, the two did not rush to leave, but instead headed to Fengdu City—they had heard that Lingyun was inspecting the city that day.

In this underworld, Chen Lingyun is practically an emperor. As an emperor traveling incognito, the procession is naturally grand. Every household in the city hangs white lanterns, and the city management team sweeps the streets, cleaning up all the paper money along the way, presenting a clean and tidy cityscape for the visiting Lady Lingyun.

“Those living in Fengdu City now are all Yin officials of considerable rank under Lingyun,” Ye Yun said casually to Li Minghu. “She mentioned last time that if any of our relatives or friends unfortunately pass away in the future, we can arrange accommodation for them in the city so that we won’t completely sever ties after reincarnation.”

"Is it really more suitable for the souls of the dead to live here for a long time than to be reincarnated?" Li Minghu frowned slightly.

"I don't know," Ye Yun shrugged. "I need to find some time to go home and ask them for their opinion."

Li Minghu looked down at Fengdu City again.

In an era of spiritual revival, the line between life and death has become blurred, and it's hard to say whether this is good or bad for most people.

The two landed at the entrance of the Judge's Hall and saw Chen Lingyun, who was surrounded by various underworld officials, waving and greeting them with a smile.

"Have you finished all your work?" Ye Jun asked.

"There's nothing to do," Chen Lingyun said casually. "I'm just here to show my face, so these underworld officials won't forget about me."

The surrounding underworld officials quickly smiled apologetically and said they dared not.

(End of this chapter)