Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

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Yan Yu once again accelerated with his Shifting Technique, dodging the attack. The character seal struck the ground, slicing into it as easily as if cutting tofu, and continuing straight downward—his expression finally grew solemn.

Given the current limit on spiritual energy density, the Nine Heavens Yin Demon Prison Banner shouldn't have been able to unleash that character seal, and its power shouldn't have been this weak either.

It must be the nighttime bans in this Mysterious Realm that provide a cultivation boost to all specters, enabling the Ghost General to barely meet the minimum requirements to activate the Nine Heavens Yin Demon Prison Banner.

Even so, a Ghost General capable of releasing the Nine Heavens Yin Demon character seal was not an opponent that either the Zhenhai Team or the Flying Dragon Battle Team could handle at this stage—not that they definitely couldn't win, but even if they did force a victory, the cost would surely be extremely heavy.

Who was it that conquered this Mysterious Realm in the previous life? It's vaguely remembered that it seemed like it was led by Lord Master... and it must have been the Lord Master of the future, definitely not the one from the first year after the Spiritual Energy Resurgence.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, so the Dingbei Army holds me in such high regard?

If I can't defeat this Ghost General either, wouldn't you be afraid that both teams would perish here? Or is this the result some people are hoping to see?

Yan Yu spun around and hastily retreated with his Shifting Technique, while the Ghost General continued to wield the Prison Banner, shooting out the Nine Heavens Yin Demon character seal in a black arc, aiming for Yan Yu's back.

This divine seal couldn't be met head-on, nor could it even be allowed to get close, for the explosion's aftermath could damage a cultivator's soul. Yan Yu had no choice but to deploy a sword technique, controlling the Huang Tingjian to move sideways and intercept the swift-flying divine seal.

The black light suddenly exploded, and the Huang Tingjian was immediately sent flying away, with Yan Yu also experiencing a slight disruption to his vital energy—the True Yuan and Divine Sense on his Huang Tingjian had been scattered a bit.

Forget it, don't fight against the unassailable.

He could possibly still fight the Ghost General if he used all of his powerful moves like the Sword-Body Union or the Puppet Secret Technique, but Yan Yu was not so bold as to expose his true abilities in front of the whole country with a "well, if it's like this, I won't pretend any longer." So he decisively chose to flee.

Ha-ha, see ya~

Yet the Ghost General would not let him go so easily. The death warhorse beneath him neighed wildly, urging its limbs to chase after Yan Yu at a speed that was much faster than his Shifting Technique.

In just a few breaths, the Ghost General had already caught up behind Yan Yu, with a swift thrust of his long spear.

Yan Yu didn't even turn back—he clenched a sword technique, guiding the Huang Tingjian to slash horizontally through the air at the head of the Ghost General, who opted to pull back his attack last second and block with his long spear.

That long spear was not ordinary; struck from above by the Huangting Heavy Sword, it remained undamaged.

Instead, the Ghost General roared aloud, pushing upwards forcefully with his hands, directly shaking off the Huangting Heavy Sword.

The warhorse had already raised its body, its forelimbs aiming a heavy stomp down towards Yan Yu's head. But Yan Yu quickly dropped his stance, raced forward, and changed direction—using a horizontal 'V' shaped trajectory to dodge the warhorse's stomping, and in a blink, he flashed to the side of the warhorse, and unleashed the Curved Curse, stepping forward with a punch!

With the force of a cannon punch, even though the warhorse carried the heavy and powerful Ghost General, it was displaced half a meter to the side by Yan Yu's punch.

Unexpectedly, the Ghost General swung his long spear backward in a swift and swift counter-attack. Yan Yu barely managed to bring back the Huang Tingjian for defense, only to get both himself and his sword sent flying out of the observers' view.

"Yan Zhanlong is blasted away!" Both commentators were instantly stunned, with Zhou Erhe even standing up in shock, "Director, switch angles quickly, let's see how Yan Zhanlong is doing!"

In the Lingnan royal residence, the members of the Qing'an Battle Team were just as astonished. Li Zhaojiang blurted out:

"No way? That slash just now, he should have been able to dodge it!"

"It was on purpose," Li Minghu calmly reminded from the side, "Wall-Penetration Technique."

Indeed, as the director switched angles the next second, everyone saw Yan Yu, who had been sent flying, swiftly pass through walls, buildings, and other barriers as if his body was merely an intangible illusion.

"Very clever!" Xu Dongming, who had suddenly caught on, hurriedly explained, "As everyone could just see, the Ghost General on horseback was way faster than him! He wouldn't have been able to escape in an open terrain, so he purposefully let the Ghost General knock him away, using the momentum and Wall-Penetration Technique to quickly increase the distance!"

"The Ghost General can't use the Wall-Penetration Technique," Zhou Erhe also said with a laugh, "To catch up, he would need to take a detour, how long would that chase be? I fear he'll just be toyed with by Yan Zhanlong's kite-flying tactics..."

Before the commentators finished speaking, they saw the Ghost General once again wave the banner, conjuring dense clouds of Yin energy below the horse, lifting both the ghost and the steed high into the sky. Soon after, aiming at Yan Yu's location, he dispersed the clouds and plummeted down like a meteor!

Xu Dongming: ..........

Zhou Erhe: ..........

After a moment of silence, Zhou Erhe suddenly had a flash of insight and called out first:

"Old Xu, you really jinxed it! You dared to jinx Yan Zhanlong?"

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"Don't talk nonsense! When did I ever coddle him?" Xu Dongming's eyes bulged, "Who knew it could ride the clouds and fog! My conclusion was based on the situation, logical and proper!"

The crew outside flashed a sign, indicating to the commentators to stop arguing and get back to work.

"Alright, let's continue observing the Mysterious Realm." As the external crew intervened, Zhou Erhe, who had already passed the buck, quickly brought the conversation back on track as if nothing had happened, "The Ghost General rides the clouds and mists to catch up with Yan Yu! A downward strike from the metal halberd! Blocked! A diagonal slash! Blocked! A triple slash!

Yan Zhanlong blocks them all! Yan Zhanlong tries to escape, the Ghost General pursues! They clash again!"

Although he tried hard to describe the intensity of the battle, his vocabulary was still too poor, nowhere near as fierce as the actual fighting.

The Ghost General's combat skills were extremely strong, his metal halberd aiming to strike vital points at the throat and belly with each blow, powerful enough to even send Huangting Heavy Sword flying. The drawback was its lack of agility, but that was completely compensated for by the underbelly ghost horse.

Whenever Yan Yu tried to escape, it chased swiftly; when Yan Yu went behind, it turned rapidly; and when the Ghost General's metal halberd thrust grew sluggish, it would stomp with its forelimbs or kick with its hind legs, preventing Yan Yu from taking the chance to attack from behind.

So loyal in protecting its master, Yan Yu was moved and decided to avoid the Ghost General for the moment, instead controlling his sword to land several heavy blows on the ghost horse, causing it to stagger, its soul fire flickering in its eyes, infuriating the Ghost General.

In rage, he slammed the Nine Heavens Yin Demon Prison Banner firmly on the ground, activating the countless divine runes on it!

One, two, three—a total of three Nine Heavens Yin Demon divine runes burst out of the banner, then exploded like thunder striking the ground, transforming into tangible Yin Demon energy, accompanied by shockwaves spreading rapidly in all directions.

In an instant, it covered an area of two to three hundred meters in radius, engulfing even Yan Yu, who couldn't escape with his Shifting Technique in time, completely swallowed by the vast purple-black smoke!

The Nine Heavens Yin Demon Secret Thunder!

Then came incessant explosions, as the vast, sea-like Yin Demon energy lashed and coiled amid the purple-black smog, churning, dancing, and strangling! From the aerial drone's perspective, it was impossible to see the direction of the sinister energy below—only the surrounding houses exploding! Walls exploding! Floor tiles exploding! Rubble exploding! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

As if everything within the smog's reach, from brick and tile to sand and stone, had been fitted with tiny timed bombs, either being blasted away by the surrounding explosions or being directly hit by the Yin Demon Secret Thunder and shattered to pieces!

The commentators fell silent, the audience was hushed, and even the incessant barrage of live comments came to a standstill.

Although no one wanted to believe it, amidst such enormous and frequent explosions, it seemed impossible to imagine anyone surviving.

How could he survive? Why should he survive?

Zhou Erhe opened his mouth, wanting to make a conclusion but hesitated. Suddenly, the Ghost General moved within the mist.

The Ghost General began to spur his horse into a furious sprint! Heading towards the edge of the fog! What could he possibly be chasing? What was worth his pursuit? Could Yan Yu really still be alive?

"Yan Yu is still alive!" Xu Dongming blurted out reflexively, and the live comments woke up like from a dream, the screen filling with a unanimous chant of "Rise again, my Yan Zhanlong brother", until Yan Yu's figure truly broke through the edge of the Yin Demon energy and the ambiance in the live room boiled over at that moment.

"Explosions in a chain couldn't kill him! Yin Soldiers and Ghost Generals couldn't kill him! Even a Flood Dragon couldn't kill him!" Xu Dongming screamed until he was hoarse, "This is the Zhenhai Team's Yan Zhanlong! The miracle maker, the unbeatable Yan Zhanlong!"

In front of the big screen, everyone from the Qing'an Battle Team fell silent, until Jiang Hong was the first to snap back to reality and asked in horror,

"How... How did Yan do that? Can a Barrier Charm block those explosions? Or did he use Wall-Penetration Technique to hide underground?"

It was well known that the Earth-Element Sturdiness Curse could withstand most physical damage, such as the slashing and stabs of the Flying Sword, but it was useless against Taoism Method-type damage. As for those dense explosions with obscure mechanisms and a sinister demonic aura, they were clearly not merely physical in nature.

As for wall penetration, firing it up for half a second to pass through a barrier then turning it off was fine, but to hide underground for so long, the consumption of True Yuan was simply too great, even more impossible.

"Hmm," Li Minghu also couldn't understand and guessingly said, "These chain explosions seem to cover the entire field, but they don't cover the entire field at the same time, so he might have used the time difference between them to promptly switch and move to a spot where the explosions hadn't occurred..."

This explanation was too fantastical, to the point where she couldn't even continue herself, like sliding to avoid a pouncing tiger, or jumping at the moment an elevator hits the ground—it sounded theoretically possible but was practically nonsense.

As for how exactly he did it, it seemed that they could only wait to ask Yan Yu afterwards.

Everyone turned back to the screen, only to see Yan Yu having burst out of the ruins, hopping from house to house, swiftly moving along the rooftops.

The Ghost General was too heavy to get onto the rooftops and chose to drive his warhorse to smash through everything, regardless of whether it was a courtyard wall or a house—like a dump truck smashing everything to pieces, closely following right behind Yan Yu.

A deadly pursuit!

A Nine Heavens Yin Demon Secret Thunder was shot out, Yan Yu sidestepped as if teleporting, and with a backhand gesture of a sword technique, the Huang Tingjian fell from above. Explore new worlds at empire

The Ghost General raised his spear to block, but underneath him, the warhorse burst into blood and cried out—it was Yan Yu who had leaped from the rooftop, spinning in mid-air, and with repeated strikes of the Metal-Element Impact Curse, wounded the demon horse, then landed on another rooftop across the street and continued his swift escape, enraging the Ghost General who once more lifted the banner, ready to strike the ground again.

"He's going for another big move!" Xu Dongming stared intently at the screen and loudly warned, "Every time the Ghost General raises his flag to strike the ground, he's about to unleash a big move! The longer the pause before striking, the fiercer the big move! He's still charging up! He's about to release his ultimate move! Yan Zhanlong, hurry and get ready… Huh?"

"He put the flag back on his back!" Zhou Erhe shouted in addition, "What's going on?"

No one needed to answer him, as the abruptly increasing brightness of the screen had already given the answer.

Dawn approached, as the long night was about to brighten.

Daylight had come.