Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The next morning.

Yan Yu was woken up by the alarm clock, got dressed, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

From outside came Lin Ning's voice, faintly audible saying, "I'll go call him."

Yan Yu immediately stood by the door with toothbrush in mouth, waiting for the first knock to sound, and swiftly pulled the door open.

Lin Ning, not having enough time to knock a second time, was startled on the spot.

Regaining her composure and realizing it was the captain's prank, she kicked him gently— but the kick wasn't hard, just a tap with the tip of her shoe, conveying more the message that she was not to be trifled with.

"Why did you kick me?" Yan Yu was bewildered.

"Because you hid behind the door on purpose to scare me," Lin Ning said huffily.

"So, you were scared?" Yan Yu raised an eyebrow.

"No!" Lin Ning said defiantly, "Hurry up and come out to have breakfast, everyone is waiting for you!"

She stamped her foot and ran off.

Yan Yu closed the door and went back to the bathroom to continue brushing his teeth.

Time truly flies. The day he met everyone at the school seemed like yesterday, but when he really thought about it, it had been over three months.

Now, unlike in his previous life, he had Zhao Yuanzhen as his cultivation partner, Lin Ning, who was serious and often made sarcastic comments, and Su Yunjin, who was gentle, reserved, and silently worked hard. He really didn't have to hang all his hopes on Chen Lingyun alone.

Just that the future was bound to be tumultuous, and for the time being, Yan Yu also didn't have the time to seriously pursue romance with a girl.

Forget it, let nature take its course.

After breakfast, they all took a car to Fengdu County.

"Speaking of which," Su Yunjin holding a book, suddenly spoke up, "It's actually a misconception that the Ghost City is in Fengdu. The Ghost City called Fengdu and this place called Fengdu are two unrelated, independently existing matters."

"This just proves a point," Chen Lingyun said meaningfully, "If a lie is told often enough and believed by enough people, it ultimately becomes the truth."

"No way?" Lin Ning asked puzzled, "How can a lie become the truth just by being told repeatedly?"

"This Fengdu is not that Fengdu, but say it enough times, and the Ghost City Fengdu seems to appear right here~" Chen Lingyun said with an evasive smile.

"The Luofeng Mountain recorded in history should be located in the far north," Su Yunjin added, "On this point, I agree with Ling Yun. The type and manifestation location of a mysterious realm are likely related to the local folklore and the subjective perceptions of the people here, rather than being an objectively immutable presence."

Lin Ning furrowed her brows, still feeling a bit confused. In her understanding, the mysterious realm should have been hidden here all along, only to suddenly appear at some point.

"Hold on," Yan Yu suddenly interjected, "We are here."

The girls looked outside the car window, only to see the cordoned-off bridge crossing the river ahead, while the mountain across the bridge was enveloped in black mist, barely revealing the silhouette of the mountains.

Zhou Hongyu and others had already arrived at the bridgehead and were currently standing on the shore looking across.

"Are there many ghosts?" Yan Yu asked Zhou Hongyu, gazing toward the other shore.

Zhou Hongyu didn't look at him, while Zhang Huaide explained:

"Water ghosts have already entered the water. If we can't control the mysterious realm quickly, I'm afraid this shipping lane will also have to be closed off soon."

"Alright then," Yan Yu nodded, "let's not delay any further and get going... it's your home turf this time, do you go first?"

"Let's go together," Zhang Huaide said with a smile, "There are many ghostly creatures on the way. We'll cooperate and clear them out as we go, and once we find the entrance to the mysterious realm, we will enter first." Discover exclusive tales on empire

Chen Lingyun smiled to herself, thinking that Deputy Captain Zhang was really not willing to miss out on any advantage.

If the Pingxi Army chose to lead the way, they would deplete more True Yuan than the followers and would reveal many subtleties of their combat style to the Zhendong Army trailing behind. But if both teams went together, these concerns wouldn't exist.

Taking into account the probing at last night's dinner, it was clear that Deputy Captain Zhang Huaide had a tactical style that favored collecting intelligence and precise calculation.

"Alright," Yan Yu didn't fuss over the details and nodded, "Ling Yun, you'll command."

"Okay~" Chen Lingyun said cheerfully, "Ningning, lead the way, Sister Zhao, please support. Yan Yu, stay at the back to ensure safety for me and Yun Jin."

Zhang Huaide, listening from the side, realized that his plan to observe the opposing team's tactical style under the guise of "jointly clearing the way" was unlikely to be successful.

Because, among the members of Yan Yu's Team currently, Chen Lingyun and Su Yunjin were the least understood.

Chen Lingyun was going down the path of an Envoy, but her Servant Envoy was a complete unknown. What use was the banner she was holding? Unknown.

Su Yunjin had chosen a spell-casting profession, but what Taoism Method did she possess? Also unknown.

In the last confrontation with Li Zhaojiang's Team, neither of these two had used their treasures or spells, so there was a total lack of intelligence in this aspect.

Now that Chen Lingyun has openly stated, "Let Yan Yu protect me and Yun Jin's safety," it means that they don't plan on taking any action before entering the Mysterious Realm.

"Let's go." Just as Zhang Huaide was deep in thought, he heard Zhou Hongyu say from behind, "Ultimately, it all comes down to strength."

"That's true." Zhang Huaide said with a relieved smile, "It all comes down to strength."

"Qin Meng, team up with Lin Ning to lead the way, with Little Tang supporting from the side. Captain, you stay at the rear to cover our backs."

"Mhm." Zhou Hongyu responded indifferently.

The group quickly passed through the military defense line and began charging toward the bridge on the other side.

Lin Ning and Qin Meng killed side by side at the forefront, with Zhao Yuanzhen and Tang Xiaolian covering the flanks, while the rest fell to the back, enclosing the Zhendong and Pingxi armies' medical teams in the middle for protection, with Yan Yu and Zhou Hongyu as the core forces of the security team.

Before even crossing half the bridge, the visibility around them had severely decreased. The obstruction of light was not caused by mist made up of tiny droplets, but according to instrument detections, it seemed to be some kind of electromagnetic field that affected light... Yan Yu heard "shasha" white noise in his earpiece, but fortunately, communication did not seem to be cut off.

The medical team took out their equipment and launched reconnaissance drones into the sky. These drones were equipped with highly sensitive thermal imagers, capable of breaking through the surface environment's dark fog and capturing clear images of distant scenes.

The red and yellow heat sources, naturally, were the team's members, while those ghostly creatures in the distance showed up as black silhouettes in the imagers—meaning that they were the complete opposite of humans, even absorbing the heat radiation from the environment.

Lin Ning, using her Shifting Technique, sprinted ahead, with the heavy Green Bamboo Sword resting against her back, providing her with a subtle sense of security.

The next adversaries would be the ghostly creatures. Saying I'm not scared would definitely be a lie.

But I'm not the same as I used to be—Captain trained me well!

Hah! Demons, face my sword!

A figure emerged from the dark fog ahead. Before Qin Meng could react, Lin Ning had already cast a Sword Technique.

The Green Bamboo Sword became a gleam of green light, piercing through the figure in an instant.

Qin Meng watched with a slightly furrowed brow, thinking how quick Lin Ning's reflexes were!

The opponent's body fell forward to the ground, motionless as if it were dead. When the group reached nearby, they saw the deceased ghost, looking like an emaciated person with gray-green, sharply contoured skin, as if carved from wood or stone.

"How is it?" Chen Lingyun suddenly asked.

Yan Yu knew what she meant; she was asking if this creature was worth collecting into my Soul Summoning Banner. After pondering briefly, he responded in a low voice:

"This is a 'Wraith,' a ghost from the mountains, with decent defensive strength, but that's about it."

"Hmm~" Chen Lingyun got his implication in a flash: Just high defense, without the value of cultivation. As a cultivator playing with ghost creatures, one should nurture those with special abilities.

The group finally crossed the grand bridge over the river and reached the opposite bank.

Due to the traffic blockade, the road on this side was also empty, with only the occasional bursts of cold wind and the blurry, indistinct human-shaped silhouettes in the distance.

Qin Meng thought it was his turn to act, about to charge forward at high speed and show off a display of a body-cultivating man tearing apart ghosts, only to see Lin Ning silently accelerating her Sword Technique, urging the Green Bamboo Sword to become a stream of green light, one, two, three times, knocking down all the human-shaped silhouettes.

Qin Meng: .........

Zhang Huaide observed silently from the back, feeling that Lin Ning's swordsmanship was truly formidable, not inferior even compared to the strong swordsmen in the Dingbei Army.

Although Zhou Hongyu's team had two sword immortals, neither followed the mainstream path of sword immortals. Qin Meng was a Body Cultivating Cultivator, preferring to wield his sword for hacking over Sword Control; Deputy Captain Zhang had much to do and would not usually serve as the main output, more often cooperating with Zhou Hongyu's Taoism Method for precision strikes.

That is to say, his own ability in the Sword Control Technique sufficed for finishing moves usually, but if he were to confront a professional sword immortal like Lin Ning in a ranged swordplay offense and defense... he would be inadequate, having suffered in this respect during a previous clash with the Dingbei Army.

Once the battle in the Mysterious Realm started, a way to restrict Lin Ning's long-range swordplay was essential; he could not afford to repeat the previous defeat.

Zhang Huaide quickly made a decision and turned back to whisper to Zhou Hongyu:

"Plan C."

Zhou Hongyu silently nodded, aware that Yan Yu was her arch-nemesis and deeply cognizant of his unpredictable and formidable strength. Hence, no amount of caution was excessive before battle.

On the right side of Pingxi Army's team, Chen Lingyun also watched the battle ahead closely, silently calculating in her mind.

Compared to Qin Meng, the body cultivator, Lin Ning, the authentic sword immortal, fully exploited her advantage in reach—just look at Qin Meng unable to snatch a single monster.

If things continued this way, by the time they reached the entrance of the Mysterious Realm, Qin Meng's True Yuan would barely be depleted, and his skill level would remain unproven, while Lin Ning's capabilities would have been thoroughly exposed to the other side.

She looked at Yan Yu expressionlessly.

The glance was quite ambiguous, yet Yan Yu still guessed what she was thinking and said softly:

"Let Lin Ning perform well."

Let her perform well? What does that mean?

Chen Lingyun's mind raced, quickly arriving at an answer.