Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 850 Only today did you know that I am me

The fairy in the mirror suddenly perked up.

She stared at the screen in disbelief, only to see "Yan Yu" on the other side looking confused.
"What? I'm not anyone?"

“You’re not him,” Lin Ning murmured. “I understand now. You…you look so much like him, almost exactly the same, but you’re ultimately not him. That’s why I always have this feeling of unease…”

"You're not him!"

She abruptly pushed the table aside, ignoring Yan Yu's unpleasant expression, and hurriedly turned and left.

A month later, Lin Ning was found dead in a rented room in a city in another city. Her clothes were intact, and there were no signs of her belongings being missing. The autopsy revealed that she died of malnutrition due to starvation.

In the desk drawer, forensic investigators found her suicide note, written in Lin Ning's handwriting in a scribbled manner:

I want to fast.

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Lin Ning's tenth reincarnation begins here.

Within a month of her birth, she was able to understand the language and expressions of adults.

Six months later, he began to be able to speak complete words and sentences.

A year later, Lin Ning was able to read books and newspapers in plain text and describe their meaning more clearly.

Lin's parents were overjoyed, convinced that their daughter was a genius. They even brought in experts to evaluate her, and the results showed that she was indeed exceptionally gifted. Not only did her IQ and EQ both surpass those of ordinary people, but she also possessed the special ability to learn any field instantly.

She could memorize and understand all the math, physics, and chemistry knowledge in the school textbooks at a glance; she could also master the various jobs at her father's workplace after learning about them; and even when she went back to her hometown with her parents to see her grandmother preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, she would quietly pick up a spatula and help, and the food she cooked would taste even better than her grandmother's.

Everyone likes Lin Ning.

But Lin Ning doesn't like anyone. She seems to have a kind of aloof and detached feeling, and even her relatives and friends seem to find it difficult to get into the depths of her heart.

She skipped all of elementary school and completed junior and senior high school in three years. By the age of eighteen, Lin Ning had earned her doctorate from a prestigious university. Local television reporters came to interview this prodigy, and numerous companies offered her high-paying jobs, hoping to leverage her fame for their own promotion.

However, Lin Ning made a shocking decision:
She went to a Taoist temple deep in the mountains and became a nun.

Her parents repeatedly visited her home, kneeling and begging her to return to society, but they were unable to change her mind. The media also came to ask her why she did this, and Lin Ning spoke frankly in front of the cameras:

"This world is an illusion."

"Are you referring to brains in a vat?" the reporter joked. "Indeed, we can't rule out the possibility that we are brains submerged in nutrient solution and filled with all sorts of tubes, but what evidence do you have to prove that?"

Lin Ning didn't speak, but simply put her index and middle fingers together and formed a sword incantation.

Incantation.

Although she didn't have a clear memory of it, when she performed the action, it was as smooth and natural as if she had done it countless times before.

The sword energy severed the microphone from the reporter's hand, shaved off the brim of the photographer's baseball cap, and finally pierced the bottom of the Taoist temple's eaves, leaving a deep mark.

reporter:………………

Photographer: ………………

Faced with this inexplicable supernatural phenomenon, the production team was at a loss for how to continue the interview. They couldn't very well ask on camera, "Was that really sword energy?" That would be promoting feudal superstition.
Therefore, they could only slink back home.

A few months later, the "Approaching Science" program team arrived.

They conducted an extremely detailed interview with Lin Ning, who insisted that she was using a "spiritual incantation." The program team then conducted a thorough and comprehensive study of the entire Taoist temple, finally arriving at a conclusion:
It was all a coincidence.

The sword and knife marks under the eaves of the Taoist temple were already there; the reporter's microphone was broken from prolonged use; and the baseball caps on the photographers' heads were torn by tree branches on their way up the mountain.

This explanation did not gain public acceptance, and for a time, people from all walks of life flocked to the mountain to learn "Chongzhou" (a type of incantation). However, Lin Ning simply ignored them and chose to stay indoors, refusing all visits.

Several years later, the hype finally died down.

Lin Ning continued her immersive study of Taoist doctrines, seemingly losing interest in everything in the mundane world. Her parents initially hoped she would change her mind, but gradually they accepted reality.

By the time she turned seventy, almost all the old people in the temple had passed away, and Lin Ning, who succeeded her as the abbot, never opened the doors to new people, leaving her the only one left in the temple.

One day, a special young visitor came to the temple and introduced himself as Yan Yu:

"I've come to become your apprentice."

"What master have you come to seek?" Lin Ning asked, sitting upright on the futon without opening her eyes.

"I have come to learn immortal arts." Yan Yu put his hands together and said earnestly, "This disciple is sincerely devoted to the Dao, and begs the immortal to accept me."

“I have nothing to teach you,” Lin Ning said.

“Master is too modest. Who doesn’t know that you could unleash sword energy with a mere flick of your wrist, and that even a falling leaf or flower could injure someone?” Yan Yu insisted. “If Master is willing to take me in, I will serve you tea and water, sweep your bed with a broom, and treat you as my own mother.”

Lin Ning stood up, walked up to him, carefully examined his face, and shook her head.
"It looks exactly like him, but a fake is still a fake. It almost made me fall for it just now."

Yan Yu paused for a moment and asked:

When did you recognize me?

“I don’t know either.” Lin Ning pondered for a moment and said, “In this last life, as I grew older, various memories slowly surfaced. But you also said that in the world of consciousness, what you think about appears and what you think about is what you get. I am the omniscient and omnipotent master of this world, so it’s not surprising that I could break through the seal you set, right?”

“It’s not that simple,” Yan Yu said with a smile, his voice now reverting to that of the Mirror Immortal. “Most people’s will is not strong enough, and they are easily lost in the dream they construct themselves. Those who can pass the test are usually those who hold fast to their Dao heart and have never wavered from the beginning. I have never seen anyone like you who breaks through and then rebuilds.”

“I almost got lost in this cycle of reincarnation too.” Lin Ning remained silent for a long time before sighing, “Ten lifetimes of reincarnation, ups and downs, and today I have finally seen my true self. Looking back, it all seems like a dream.”

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was already on the Reincarnation Platform.

On the Reincarnation Platform, a flying sword was stuck in the ground. It was completely broken and its luster was gone, as if it had survived a great calamity.

Lin Ning recognized it at a glance; it was the Dan Yan Sword she had obtained back then.

"So, this is your true form?" she asked, frowning slightly. "You've been pretending to be an immortal trapped in a mirror, lurking by my side all this time?"

“I always have to be careful,” the sword spirit said. “The science and technology of your world are too dangerous. If you capture me and seal me underground, and then scan me with all sorts of high-energy rays, or even sample my material to study it, I can’t withstand it.” Lin Ning made a sword incantation with her hand, and the Dan Yan Sword flew back to her side. She could use it as easily as she used her arm.

With a slight shift in his mind, he realized that this sword was of the same rank as the Sun True Ignorance Sword, and was called the "Taiyin Pure Cry Sword".

In the Dharma-ending Age, Mount Shu is facing a shortage of talented individuals. The Sun True Ignorance Sword, dutifully fulfilling its duties, gradually lowered its requirements for choosing a master. The Moon Plain Cry Sword, however, has a free-spirited nature and, taking advantage of the lack of a master, simply left Mount Shu to travel and play throughout the world.

Without the support of the sword master's true essence, the Taiyin Suming Sword finally exhausted its source after thousands of years. It planned to disguise itself as an ordinary flying sword and find a sword master with abundant true essence to choose from, but found that the quality of cultivators today was not even as good as it was a thousand years ago.

Her ambition was no less than that of the Sun True Sword; otherwise, she wouldn't have left Mount Shu directly. Now, however, she had no choice but to stay in a secret realm, unwilling to compromise. So she found a place to stay temporarily, waiting for someone destined to find her.

Another unknown amount of time passed, and still no one found her location, so much so that the Taiyin Suming Sword, whose source was depleted, became increasingly dilapidated, and its intelligence was almost gone—until the Lu Kingdom cultivators entered the secret realm.

"Since your source is depleted and you urgently need to replenish your true essence, why don't you find a cultivator to recognize you as your master as soon as possible?" Lin Ning felt baffled. "Why bother designing such a complicated test?"

“Choosing a master for a divine sword is a very serious matter,” Taiyin Suming Sword explained. “Once it recognizes a master, it cannot betray him. We can only change to a new master when the sword master has perished or ascended to heaven. Therefore, we must consider it carefully and prefer to have none rather than accept a bad one.”

"Besides, if I choose a master casually and the sword master's strength falls too far behind that of the Sun True Essence Sword Master, how can that be acceptable?"

Lin Ning felt that the last sentence was her true thought.

However, among the current sword immortals of the Lu Kingdom, only Yan Yu, Li Minghu, and myself are truly outstanding. Others, such as Liu Longtao and Zhang Huaide, are not sword immortals in the pure sense; they can only be considered "cultivators who possess flying sword offensive capabilities."

"Then why didn't you choose Li Minghu?" Lin Ning continued to ask. "Her swordsmanship talent... should be better than mine, right?"

“She is not of pure human blood,” Taiyin Suming Sword replied. “Although I think a half-demon sword master wouldn’t be bad, I don’t really like snake demons.”

A half-demon? Are you referring to Li Minghu?
Thinking of Li Minghu's striking, blood-red hair, Lin Ning asked thoughtfully:

"So, you can help me kill Orochi, right?"

"Hmm, it's hard to say." Taiyin Suming chuckled. "If my source energy is still abundant, then it's just a matter of a sword aura."

"How many more sword energies can you unleash from your remaining source energy?" Lin Ning asked.

"Well..."

"Could it be that it's completely exhausted?" Lin Ning asked in shock.

"There should still be one-tenth of the sword energy remaining," Taiyin Suming said helplessly.

One-tenth of a sword aura... Lin Ning was utterly speechless.

In other words, it can't release sword energy at all!

"Don't make that face," Taiyin Suming Sword quickly said. "A luxury car without gas is still a luxury car. Even if the energy is insufficient, at least my grade is there. Even if it's just the unity of man and sword, the impact and destructive power will surpass that of an ordinary flying sword. There's no need to worry about it being destroyed by external forces. These are all benefits that I can provide to the sword master!"

"Besides, as long as you supply me with true essence every day and persevere, even if you are only at the Golden Core stage... given time, I will definitely be able to recover my original strength. It's just around the corner, and the future is promising!"

Therefore, in the end, it was not possible to eliminate the Yamata no Orochi with a single sword strike, just like Yan Yu did with the Fallen Head Demon.

Lin Ning was not discouraged and comforted herself: If she could really kill the snake with one sword, it would not show her ability. At that time, people would only know that the one who killed the snake was the Taiyin Sword Master. Who would know that the Taiyin Sword Master was Lin Ning, the True Person Lin?
Even if it can't unleash sword energy, whether this divine sword can defeat the giant serpent will be found out with a test.

Leaving the illusionary world, Lin Ning opened her eyes, only to find herself still in the corridor outside the auditorium where the Golden Core cultivators had previously held their meeting.

There was no one around.

Lin Ning flew out of the window on her sword. It was noon, but there were few vehicles and pedestrians on the road. The whole city seemed to be in an eerie silence.

Strangely, I took out my phone, intending to call my companions to ask, only to find that they had sent me a large number of unread messages.

Looking at the time again, it had been almost a month since the last Golden Core cultivator meeting.

The migration and refugee work in the land kingdom was not yet fully completed, while Europe had already been destroyed by the attack of the giant serpent of light. More than 70% of the mortals were slaughtered, and only a few who hid in the deep mountains and forests survived.

The giant serpent of light has now traversed Central Asia and just entered the western border of the Lu Kingdom yesterday. The Golden Core cultivators are currently intercepting it to buy time for the last remaining people to seek refuge.

Lin Ning sent a message to the girls, and then rode the Suming Sword into the sky.

Looking down from high above, she saw empty highways, abandoned railways, deserted towns that had become ghost towns, and large cities transformed into silent steel forests, resembling a post-apocalyptic world after the extinction of humanity.

Even the cell phone signal became very unstable, intermittent, sometimes there and sometimes no signal.

A moment later, Su Yunjin suddenly sent a voice message:

"Ningning, you're back?"

"Where are you?" Lin Ning asked succinctly. "I've come to help."

"Okay, I'll give you the location address."

Su Yunjin was still using her phone when she heard Zhou Hongyu's voice message:

“What are you still doing there? Let’s go. We, the practitioners of Falun Gong, are on the front line.”

The main force suppressing the giant serpent of light was the Zhou Tian Zi Yun Grand Array laid out in the northwest inland, followed by large-scale spells from magic cultivators.

Even if we can't break through its protective barrier, as long as we can slow down its movements, we've achieved our strategic objective.

Su Yunjin followed the others and took off on her sword. Facing the dazzling, sun-like light source in the distance, she made hand seals, circulated her true energy, and began to unleash her Daoist magic with all her might.

The first wave of attacks hit, but the giant serpent remained unharmed. It withstood the fierce bombardment of various magical techniques, forcibly tearing open the purple clouds, and its massive, mountain-like body charged into the formation.

Ye Yun's calculations were accurate; the Purple Cloud Formation was now powerless against the giant serpent.

The Privy Council quickly halted the subsequent attack plan and implemented a diversionary tactic: massively mobilizing mortal troops into the battlefield to use overwhelming numbers to lure the life-devouring serpent of light away.

These soldiers had already written their wills, intending to exchange their lives for more time so that the people in the rear could continue to migrate towards the secret realm.

As the army was about to embark on its migration, Lin Ning, wielding the Su Ming Sword, finally arrived at the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)