Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Lu Country's first comprehensive internal military newspaper is named "The Virtue Gazette."

The reason for this name is not the "moral thinking" of virtue, but rather the virtue described in Laozi's "Dao De Jing."

"Dao" refers to the "Way of Heaven," while "De" refers to the "Virtue of Man." The intention behind the naming is quite clear: it is hoped that while Rikoku Cultivators pursue the Way of Heaven, they will also uphold the virtues of humanity and not become despicable, doing anything for power.

However, historical experience shows that the more one subjectively hopes not to go in a certain direction, the objective reality often becomes a swift race in that very direction after a few years or even a decade... no matter the dynasty or the country, it's almost the same.

In the team's training field, Yan Yu met with the journalist team responsible for the interview, with both sides making introductions and exchanging pleasantries.

The "journalist" in charge of interviewing Yan Yu was the famous host from the original Pingjing TV station, Lu Zhiyu.

Her fame does not stem solely from her deep hosting skills, but also from her conversation style—known throughout the network for being "adept at catching explosive points" and "not afraid to ask anything."

Yan Yu had watched her "One-on-One Interview" before, where she often trapped guests with sharp and incisive questions, unafraid to confront even local magistrates.

Speculation was rampant that she had a powerful supporter behind her, which explained her fearlessness in the face of guest outbursts. Indeed, this was likely the case—otherwise, she wouldn't have landed an interview with a military cultivator, as current confidentiality regulations would block 99% of unofficial journalists.

After the greetings, Lu Zhiyu said with a smile, "Captain Yan, please have a seat. Our stage crew will need a little while longer to set things up."

"Oh, alright then," agreed Yan Yu, nodding. "In that case, I'll go home for a nap. Call me when you're ready."

"Uh," Lu Zhiyu paused, quickly correcting, "Of course, it won't take that long, we'll be ready very soon."

Letting Captain Yan go home to sleep would be risky; who knew if they could even summon him back when the time came.

With her extensive media experience, host Lu, familiar with all kinds of tricks, knew all too well the principle of "avoiding unnecessary complications." She quickly called over the stage supervisor to confirm in front of Yan Yu that the setup would take about half an hour more.

"Fine by me," Yan Yu stretched lazily. "I'll just wait here, then."

Seeing that he didn't insist on leaving, Lu Zhiyu inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and went to find the makeup artist for a touch-up.

Meanwhile, Qi Changping paced his office, still feeling uneasy regardless of his thoughts.

Although he had entrusted Chen Lingyun to keep an eye on things, what if she couldn't stop him? Once Yan Yu started acting tough, even if the Chief Commander was sitting opposite, he would remain composed and unflustered.

No, I need to go have a look.

Qi Changping arrived at the training field just to see the stage crew setting up a simple photography studio, turning it into an interview reception room.

After all, the original environment was designed for confidentiality and soundproofing, making it full of the heavy and ugly steel plate cement walls. Even saying "it's okay" would be an overstatement; it was truly unattractive.

"Hey, Old Qi!" The director on site recognized him and immediately came over to greet him.

"Old Cao? You're leading the team this time?" Qi Changping recognized the old comrade-in-arms with an initial shock, followed by delight, and then a sigh of relief.

Great, great, great! I didn't expect Old Cao to be leading the team this time!

Yan Yu, you little rascal, did you think of this? This time the director is someone I know! No matter how shocking the pompous statements you make on stage are, I just need to tell Old Cao to cut them out of the final edit! It's completely no big deal!

With this, everything was perfectly secure! Hahaha!

Qi Changping stood outside with director Cao Wendan, chatting warmly—the expression on Instructor Qi's face was one of relief, relaxation, calmness, and composure, showing none of the previous anxiety from his office.

In the studio, host Lu Zhiyu sat on the right-side sofa, adjusting the recording equipment pinned to her chest.

The audio recorded during the interview would be transcribed by the editorial team for review, refinement, and writing before being published in the military's internal print newspaper.

As for the video footage of the show, it would be uploaded to the internal website since the influence of print media was increasingly limited and even the traditionally conservative troops preferred to check the news on their smartphones during their leisure time.

Yan Yu sat in the "interviewee's" spot on the left-side sofa, absently fiddling with his phone. Chen Lingyun sat next to him, smiling without a word, secretly contemplating.

Now that the media had started internal trials among cultivators, it stood to reason that a complete lifting of social-level information confidentiality controls was only about a month or two away.

The choice to lift confidentiality at this time was due to the subjective need to adopt a more proactive approach in response to the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, as well as the objective need to closely follow international trends—after all, other countries had already fully disclosed, and it was unrealistic to continue hiding the truth from the domestic populace.

"The photography and lighting are all set up," Lu Zhiyu suddenly asked, "Shall we start then?"

"Sure," Yan Yu nodded.

"Hello, dear audience," as the offstage cue was given, Lu Zhiyu turned to the camera with a professional smile and began to recite the script smoothly, "This is 'The Virtue Gazette's' first special character interview program, and I'm the host, Lu Zhiyu. The gentleman sitting beside me is Zhendong Army's Cultivator Team Captain, Yan Yu, and next to him is the Deputy Team Captain, Chen Lingyun."

Yan Yu casually waved at the camera, signaling a greeting. Chen Lingyun nodded slightly, her smile elegant and sweet.

"Captain Yan, we've noticed that most members of your team are female," Lu Zhiyu lived up to her reputation as a professional host by grabbing the biggest talking point, "The Female Warrior Team," to start her questioning, "May I ask what criteria you used to select these female team members?"

"Oh, it's quite simple," Yan Yu, who had answered this question before, responded methodically, "The establishment of the war team is to carry out combat missions, so when I select members for the team, I only look at two criteria: one is strength, and the other is potential..."

Seeing Yan Yu's earnest and stable official-like statement, the last bit of worry in Coach Qi Changping's heart watching from the sidelines completely dissipated.

This kid, although he often speaks to the commander-in-chief without much respect, seems to be much more proper in front of the camera.

That's right, after all, being cautious and conservative in front of public media is a normal and reasonable thing to do. What in the world was I worrying about before?

Ah, the matters of this world are indeed nonexistent, it's just the meddlesome people who create their own troubles. It seems I've made an unnecessary fuss.

My mistake!

With the interview proceeding this way, there definitely won't be any problems later on. I should head back to the office.

After exchanging a few more words with Director Cao, Qi Changping was about to excuse himself and leave when he suddenly heard Lu Zhiyu in the studio interrupting:

"Captain Yan, my impression is that you actually prefer female cultivators, right?"

Yan Yu: ???

Qi Changping abruptly stopped in his tracks, looking back at the scene with irritation.

Damn! Just when that kid was making a serious statement for once, I can't believe this damn host is causing trouble here!

"Why would you say that?" Yan Yu didn't react immediately and asked with a frown.

"Currently, in the four armies' war teams, it's generally a situation of having more men than women," Lu Zhiyu said with folded hands and a gentle smile, "The Annan Army and the Dingbei Army teams each have only one female cultivator. The Pingxi Army has two cultivators, but still fewer than men."

"Of course, I also believe that in the military 'everything is based on strength'. So perhaps the other three team captains believe, or subconsciously tend to think, that male cultivators have higher growth potential and malleability and are more valuable for long-term development."

"But you have made a completely opposite choice; apart from yourself, all other cultivators in your team are females... So, do you believe that female cultivators are not weaker than males? Or perhaps, are you trying to prove this point to the outside world?"

"Cough cough," Chen Lingyun quietly coughed beside him. Yan Yu and she shared a tacit understanding; he immediately picked up her hint: be careful of the trap within the question.

After pondering for half a second, he cracked a brilliantly fake Ling Yun-brand smile and asked:

"Why do you ask that? If I wanted to prove to the outside world that women are stronger than men, then I'd just let Chen Lingyun here be the captain. But does she have the abilities for that? After all, our team speaks through strength, not gender. It doesn't matter how the captain views you; what matters is whether your strength is up to the challenge.

As long as you can fight, it doesn't matter if your gender is an armed helicopter."

Hearing this response, Qi Changping's heart that had been in his throat finally began to settle down.

This question, after all, touches on gender factors, and no matter how you answer, it will stir unnecessary controversy. So the best way to handle it is not to answer. But if you beat around the bush too much, while you might recover from making a mistake, you'd appear to be someone who can't grasp the main point and lacks caliber.

Yan Yu used "I am the captain, and Chen Lingyun can only be the vice-captain" as his reply, denying Lu Zhiyu's leading question while also avoiding the controversial topic of "which gender of cultivator is stronger", which contains implicit opposition. It was a decent and appropriate response.

However, before Qi Changping could completely relax, he saw Lu Zhiyu, who didn't know when to stop, continue to probe:

"So, may I interpret it this way: Captain Yan, do you think that among the male cultivators within the Zhendong Army, aside from yourself, there is not a single one whose strength or potential for growth meets the standards for joining the team? That only female cultivators meet the criteria?"

"Which team are you asking about?" Yan Yu calmly responded, "If you mean teams in a broader sense, I believe that the future Zhendong Army will not have just one team. Many excellent male cultivators will certainly be able to quickly stand out by virtue of their strength after joining their respective teams."

"As for my team, if you want to ask about the entry standards... It's not just about male cultivators, even extending to the entire Zhendong Army, no one meets the standards I've set."

"To give you an analogy, it's like a university final exam for a major subject. Everyone's supposed to pass with 60 points, yet everyone scores only in the teens or twenties, so the professor can't fail all the students, right? They've got to lower the passing line and pick the four who scored in the twenties as passing. Do you get my meaning?

In such a case, whether those four who passed are male or female doesn't really matter. The key issue is why most students performed so poorly, and that is what's more worth discussing. Don't you think so?"

Lu Zhiyu was rendered speechless by Yan Yu's argument and, for a moment, couldn't find any words to refute him.

You see, Yan Yu dared to openly say "whether it's male or female cultivators, they're all rubbish in my eyes" because he is the number one cultivator in the Zhendong Army, and he has the confidence to be arrogant, disdainful, and to offer guidance.

But if Lu Zhiyu dared to catch onto his words, she would inevitably offend the cultivator factions of the Zhendong Army. Not to mention that even the always agreeable commander of the Zhendong Army, Li Weiguo, might just send an accountability call to her boss's boss.

How could she dare to respond to that?!

"Well... let's switch to another question and ask Vice Captain Chen," feeling a bit overwhelmed, Lu Zhiyu quickly deployed the host's ultimate technique of changing the topic.

Outside, Qi Changping's face darkened as he asked Director Cao Wendan beside him:

"Can this segment of the dialogue be cut in post-production?"

"Why cut it out?" Cao Wendan asked in puzzlement, "The question is explosive, and the answer was quite brilliant, isn't it great?"

"It's a bit insulting," Qi Changping said implicitly, feeling increasingly helpless inside.

The strongest cultivator of the Zhendong Army insulting its own cultivators - what kind of situation was this?!