Forced to become a pure and innocent female pharmacist in order to cultivate immortality.

As darkness fell completely, the thugs were finally about to strike again.

"Police outside, please clear the way. However, we will leave in three groups. One group will leave with the money and several hostages. We will release the hostages only when our people are completely safe. Don't refuse; you have no right to refuse," the leader of the gang announced again.

The police outside were on edge at that moment. This was not a good situation. If they were to withdraw in multiple batches, it would only increase the pressure on them.

However, just as these criminals said, they had no bargaining power and could only rescue one group at a time.

The perpetrators couldn't possibly take all the hostages away; they would only take a few at most.

"You two, come with me," one of the thugs suddenly said to Lin Aoxue and the other female clerk.

Lin Aoxue's expression changed, and she cursed her bad luck inwardly.

"Aoxue, I'm scared." Another female clerk was terrified.

"I... I'm scared too, but what can I do? I'll just have to take it one step at a time." Lin Aoxue said dejectedly, and then, at the man's command, she opened the door and walked out of the bank.

Ye Liuyun, who had been watching the situation closely from a distance, looked extremely grim upon seeing this.

"How could this happen? If they take Aoxue away, it will be too dangerous." Ye Liuyun wasn't an idiot. These people were not kind. There was a high probability that they would kill the hostage after escaping for their own safety.

"See that? This is the consequence of your wishful thinking. Are you sure you still want to take chances? Are you planning to hand Aoxue's life over to these thugs? Wake up." Ye Liuyun's inner self began to provoke Ye Liuyun's external self once again.

Ye Liuyun, watching from the outside, felt extremely anxious as Lin Aoxue was forced into a van along with another teller under the coercion of the thugs.

"You, you can really help me?" Ye Liuyun could only turn to illusions for help.

That's how people are. When there's really no other way, even if it seems impossible, they'll still try. How will they know if they'll succeed or not if they don't try?

"That depends on your own willpower. See how strong your love for Aoxue is," Ye Liuyun reminded him again from within the mental prison.

Ye Liuyun was at her wit's end. She watched as the van Lin Aoxue was sitting in slowly drove away, and gritted her teeth.

"Okay, I believe you and will help me, but how will you help me rescue Aoxue?" Ye Liuyun asked.

As soon as she said those words, cracks suddenly appeared in the mental prison within her body, but it was still not enough. However, Ye Liuyun also saw a glimmer of hope.

"I told you, you have to trust me completely and without any doubt in order for me to be able to help you. You clearly still have doubts, so how can I help you?"

Hearing this, Ye Liuyun saw the car carrying Lin Aoxue drive away from the roadside. Instinctively, she followed the road and chased after it, placing her hopes on the unknown mysterious person.

"I really believe you, help me, help me, please help me..." Ye Liuyun shouted anxiously.

"Help me now!" Ye Liuyun practically shouted. And as soon as those three words left his mouth, the mental shackles in Ye Liuyun's heart shattered with a thud.

As the body shattered, the original body's consciousness finally entered this body, and Ye Liuyun's expression and temperament quickly changed to those of the Divine Continent.

"Damn it! This inner demon trial is disgusting. It made me watch a movie for so long, and I'm finally free. But it seems the trial isn't over yet? But why? Didn't I already escape? Is the breakthrough point not myself?" Ye Liuyun wondered again.

However, since she hasn't escaped, it means that breaking the deadlock doesn't mean the end is over. She hasn't found the real way to escape yet.

As her memories returned, Ye Liuyun's power also began to recover. She started to run faster and was no longer hindered by her attire.

As for the situation at the bank, she couldn't care less. She had to ensure Lin Aoxue's safety first. She wondered if the key to breaking the deadlock wasn't with her, then it might be with Lin Aoxue in this world.

Anyway, I have to give it a try.

The police did not completely give up the pursuit of these criminals. Drones were seen tracking them from the sky, and satellite positioning was also used. Plainclothes police officers were also pursuing them from places where the criminals could not see them.

However, since the criminals on the other side had not yet taken action, they could only focus on tracking and dared not take any action at all.

Ye Liuyun moved through the night at an extremely fast speed. As for the reactions of the people around him, Ye Liuyun didn't care at all. After all, this was just an illusionary world.

"We need to find an opportunity. These guys can't just keep driving around aimlessly. They must have a meeting point. Judging from their operational capabilities, they obviously didn't prepare for a long time. The police might be outmaneuvered by them," Ye Liuyun thought to himself.

Meanwhile, on the other side, another group of thugs began to move. They agreed to grab a group of people and walked out with several bags full of money.

"I'm warning you, don't try anything funny. This is the second group. There's another group inside. They'll leave once we're safe. They'll tell you how they're going to leave then." The second group of thugs left with these words, then took the two female hostages with them.

The police were furious, so they had no choice but to send another group of people to secretly follow them.

However, after this group of people left for about ten minutes, the police were puzzled because there was no movement inside the bank for a long time.

"Hey, you guys inside, what else do you want? Aren't you going to release them?"

But after asking, no one responded. Those who were on edge glanced behind them out of the corner of their eye, only to find that there was no one there at all.

"What? Ah! They've all left?" The remaining hostages in the bank breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that no one was behind them, and then collapsed to the ground.

The police officers outside, seeing this scene, all turned extremely grim.

"Damn it, we've been caught!" The police chief was furious, and immediately ordered his subordinates to keep a close watch on the criminals.

However, as the first group of people were chasing after the trash can, an unexpected incident occurred at an intersection. The trash can suddenly exploded, causing a great commotion and disrupting the surrounding order.

The plainclothes police officers who were pursuing them were stuck and unable to continue the chase.

The drone was immediately interfered with and circled in place. The van carrying Lin Aoxue and the others took the opportunity to slip into a densely built area and escape the satellite lock.

When they reappeared, they were already in an underground parking garage. This was clearly an escape point they had arranged in advance. They took Lin Aoxue and the other person hostage, changed into a new car, and then drove out of the underground parking garage.

Alright, that means they've lost track of the first batch of thugs.

"What?! Damn it!" The police chief exclaimed, his face contorted with rage.

They reacted hastily, unaware of the other party's identity and origin, let alone how the other party had planned their escape route.

This group of criminals was completely different from the criminals they usually encountered; they were organized and everything was planned.

Jiangzhou is such a big city, it would be extremely difficult to find someone, but we still have to keep looking.

They're not worried about the money right now. They just tallied it up, and only a little over ten million was taken away. Compared to four lives, ten million is a small matter. If something goes wrong and the money can't be recovered, then she probably won't be able to continue as the police chief.

"Block all exits from the city," the police chief ordered hastily.

Now let's talk about these guys. They came to a sparsely populated and abandoned office building.

"Ah! That feels good. Bring the person out." The leader of the thugs reached out and removed the hood from his head, revealing the face of a middle-aged man.

The others also took off their headgear, and Lin Aoxue and another female clerk were also taken out of the car.

When Lin Aoxue saw them take off their hoods, she knew they were doomed.

If they hadn't taken off their hoods, they might have been allowed to leave. But now that they've removed their hoods and seen their true faces, it's basically game over.

"Why haven't you released us yet?" another female clerk asked anxiously.

Upon hearing this, the thugs immediately burst into a grotesque laugh.

"Little girl, you're really naive," the middle-aged thug in the lead sneered.

The female clerk wanted to say something, but Lin Aoxue stopped her.

"Stop talking. They never intended to let us go from the beginning," Lin Aoxue said calmly.

Being afraid is useless now, and death is probably a luxury. Who knows what these guys will do to the two of them next?

"You're quite the calm and collected little girl. I didn't want to take you hostage, but you're just too pretty, so I couldn't resist and chose you," a young thug said with a wicked smile.

Upon hearing this, Lin Aoxue's expression changed, and she mustered her courage to angrily retort.

"Shameless, scum of society, only good at bullying ordinary people. That's all you are. Don't think you'll have a good end. The long arm of the law will catch you. You will eventually face the consequences of your actions."

Lin Aoxue's words immediately made these people's faces turn ugly, after all, people who do such things are most afraid of retribution.

"You brat, still dare to talk back?" One of the thugs couldn't help but raise his hand and slap Lin Aoxue across the face.

Lin Aoxue was so frightened that she quickly closed her eyes and turned her face away.

But just as Lin Aoxue thought the slap was about to land on her face, something unexpected happened.

A figure appeared beside the thugs at lightning speed.

Before they could even react, Ye Liuyun had already struck them hard. They cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground with incredulous expressions.

"Phew, thank goodness." Ye Liuyun breathed a sigh of relief.

As for Lin Aoxue, after hearing several people cry out in pain, she immediately opened her eyes, but as soon as she opened them, she was stunned.

"This? Liu Yun, you, what are you doing here?" Lin Aoxue was taken aback.

Unable to explain, Ye Liuyun could only hurriedly say...

"We'll explain this later. Let's get out of here quickly."

Lin Aoxue glanced at the unconscious thugs. She had many questions she wanted to ask, but it was best to leave first.

After arriving at a crowded place, Ye Liuyun spoke to another female hostage.

"I'm leaving with my friend. You can call the police yourself." After saying that, she didn't care about the woman's reaction and pulled Lin Aoxue away from sight.

"Wow, what a cool girl! How did she do that? She took down several thugs all by herself in an instant. That's awesome!" the female clerk murmured.

Ye Liuyun and Lin Aoxue went straight back and did not go to the police station.

"Liu Yun, aren't we going to the police station? Also, what happened to you? How did you suddenly appear here? And how did you subdue those thugs so easily?" Lin Aoxue asked curiously.

The two were already in a taxi.

Ye Liuyun didn't speak, but looked out the window with a deep gaze, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

Seeing that Ye Liuyun remained silent, Lin Aoxue did not press the matter further.

Half an hour later, they returned to their lodgings.

However, once they returned to their residence and entered the house, Ye Liuyun said something very strange.

"Hey! You've done your acting, haven't you? How much longer are you going to keep fooling me? Enough already, this game isn't fun at all," Ye Liuyun said with a gloomy face, clearly displeased.

These words stunned Lin Aoxue, who had just escaped danger.

"Huh? Liu Yun, are you talking to me? What do you mean, 'how long have you been paralyzed'? I don't understand what you're saying." Lin Aoxue looked around and then asked with a questioning expression.

Ye Liuyun seemed to be getting impatient. She suddenly turned around and raised a finger.

The next moment, a white light pierced through Lin Aoxue's brow at an extremely fast speed. Ye Liuyun had actually attacked Lin Aoxue, and he had even tried to kill her.

Lin Aoxue collapsed to the ground with an expression of disbelief, lifeless.

Ye Liuyun walked up to Lin Aoxue, grabbed her by the neck, lifted her up, and held her in the air.

"I told you to stop pretending. There's no point in playing dead. You don't think I'm an idiot, do you?" Ye Liuyun roared angrily at Lin Aoxue's corpse on the ground.

Under Ye Liuyun's furious rebuke, Lin Aoxue, who had been dead, suddenly let out a series of sinister laughs.

"Hehehe... How did you find me?" Suddenly, Lin Aoxue's body transformed into a wisp of black mist, breaking free from Ye Liuyun's grasp. She then gathered in front of Ye Liuyun, staring at him with a sinister laugh and crimson eyes.

Indeed, in fact, Lin Aoxue was the key to breaking through this inner demon trial; the way to pass the trial never lay with Ye Liuyun from the very beginning.

This inner demon trial was not born naturally, but was created by external interference.

They are usually conducted by focusing on the mental weaknesses of the test takers.

Ye Liuyun's biggest weakness is Lin Aoxue. The inner demon knows that Ye Liuyun would never harm Lin Aoxue, so it hides the key to breaking the deadlock in Lin Aoxue.

"I originally thought that the breakthrough point was in myself. You created so many things to influence my judgment and make me overlook a problem: this inner demon trial is not a real inner demon illusion. Since it is artificially set up, it must be designed."

"The person I care about and love the most is Aoxue. If you want to trap me and prevent me from escaping, Aoxue is the best restraint for me," Ye Liuyun said coldly.

Honestly, she was very unhappy. Her inner demons were using the person she cared about most to disgust her, and if she wanted to break the deadlock, she had to kill Lin Aoxue.

Even though it was an illusion, Ye Liuyun hesitated for a while, but ultimately decided to take action.

"Oh dear, that's really ruthless. But you've cleared the game," the inner demon chuckled, then said.

As the inner demon announced that Ye Liuyun had passed the level, the world around him began to change.

"Ah! If only it were real, but it's a fake world." Ye Liuyun looked at the collapsing space around him, slowly closed his eyes, and soon everything returned to nothingness.

Chapter 354 Survival Trial (Part 1) (6500 words)

Meanwhile, outside, Lin Aoxue, Yan Yu, and the others were anxiously looking around, because the third trial of the Heart Demon had begun its countdown to the end.

There is still half an hour left, but there are less than a thousand spots left. That means more than 49000 people have already passed the test, and in ten minutes at most, the quota will reach 50,000.

"What's wrong with Third Sister? This shouldn't be happening. Although I haven't spent much time with Third Sister, based on my understanding of her, it's impossible for her to be trapped in the Inner Demon Illusion for so long, right?" Yan Yu said, staring at the people around her who had just been teleported out of the Inner Demon Space.

Lin Aoxue fell into deep thought. Although Ye Liuyun would not join the Supreme Response Sect, she instinctively hoped that he could continue to participate, so that they could spend more time together.

After all, once she joins the Supreme Response Sect, it won't be so easy to meet again. She doesn't think the Supreme Response Sect will allow her to travel freely between the Southern and Northern Regions.

However, she also understood that once her cultivation level was higher, it wouldn't be a problem. But she was currently only at the Foundation Establishment stage of the Dao Palace, and she didn't have an exact time in mind for how long it would take to enter the Four Extremes Secret Realm.

"There are only 300 spots left, Third Sister, you'd better hurry!" Chen Yao said anxiously.

Lin Aoxue looked at the countdown in the sky, which seemed to flow like water, and felt somewhat helpless. In fact, she understood that Ye Liuyun was not the kind of person with particularly strong willpower, and perhaps he really couldn't get through this.