Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

In his previous life, Liu Longtao managed to advance from being the "number one in Pingjing" to the "number one in Lu Country" for various reasons.

Firstly, his excellent talent and ambition drove him; he was the epitome of a "genius who also worked incredibly hard." Secondly, his family helped him operate behind the scenes, providing him with significant advantages in the allocation of official cultivator training resources. Thirdly, his luck wasn't bad either, as he obtained a powerful Flying Sword and Taoism Methods early on.

In the era of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, an early advantage is like a snowball effect: The better your magical artifacts, Flying Swords, and Taoism Methods, the faster your fighting power rises, which improves your standing in the eyes of the VIPs.

As a result, they assign you to even more challenging Mysterious Realms, where you find even better magical artifacts, Flying Swords, and Taoism Methods...

It is precisely because of this that almost all the top cultivators of Lu Country's future generation, especially the most powerful ones, hailed from the "first batch of cultivators."

There were certainly strong cultivators in later batches, such as the exceptional Xie Ruoxi, but most cultivators couldn't surpass their senior fellow peers from the first batch because they couldn't get the snowball rolling as the first batch did.

After the interview, Yan Yu did not hurry to leave. Instead, he pondered over the subsequent training plans.

Chen Lingyun and Su Yunjin should practice their reflexes, Lin Ning and Zhao Yuanzhen should provide experience, and then get the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin as soon as possible for the enchantress to familiarize herself with... Hmm?

Someone patted his shoulder from behind. Discover more content at empire

"Go to the principal's office," Qi Changping said to him.

"Oh," Yan Yu responded without asking why. Since the photography studio at the training ground hadn't been completely dismantled, training couldn't proceed right away; it was as good a time as any to see what Li Weiguo wanted.

Upon arriving at the principal's office, Yan Yu saw a wooden box on the table.

The lid was open, and inside lay a bone hairpin carved with a delicate skull on its end.

The White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin.

"You got it so quickly?" Yan Yu exclaimed in surprise.

"It's a funny coincidence," Li Weiguo said, taking a sip of hot tea, "The Annan Army took a liking to an Immortal Sword from our inventory, and then the Dingbei Army specifically wanted something from the Annan Army. Both sides were rather impatient, which made this exchange go smoothly."

"I see," Yan Yu nodded, then asked, "So, which sword did the Annan Army go for?"

"It's also one that you all seized in the Dragon Spring Mountain Mysterious Realm," Li Weiguo replied. "Do you remember a sword with a lion relief on the blade?"

"Hmm," Yan Yu nodded, having guessed who might want that sword.

The Sky Flash Sword, later identified by its original name "Nine Heavens Thunder Executer," was the Valkyrie Li Minghu's personal weapon.

"I've already reviewed the interview," Li Weiguo continued, "Having a big mouth isn't a problem, but if you boast and then lose, you'll be the laughingstock."

"That's exactly why we can't afford to lose," Yan Yu said without hesitation.

"Recently, Liu Longtao has been unstoppable," Li Weiguo spoke calmly. "In the simulated Mysterious Realm battles, he has successively faced teams from the Pingxi and Annan Armies, and they've won quite handsomely. So, the higher-ups plan to arrange another confrontation for you soon to see which team is more elite.

After all, the last time the two of you fought, it was single combat; this time it will be team combat."

"No problem," Yan Yu said without a second thought, "We'll secure the victory."

"You, young man, don't you want to think it over?" Li Weiguo scolded him with a laugh, "If anyone else sat here making empty promises, I'd have kicked them out by now."

"One must disdain the opponent on a strategic level," Yan Yu chuckled, "If you worry about whether you can win before the fight even begins, how can you possibly exert your full strength?"

"Fine, fine, fine. Just as long as you take your opponents seriously on a tactical level, I'll overlook your strategic attitude," Li Weiguo said as he casually picked up a file from beside him and suggested, "Take a look at this."

Yan Yu took the file and glanced at it; predictably, it was a notice about expanding the team's organization.

Currently, there are four teams in the whole country, one for each army. However, Mysterious Realms don't care how many teams you have, for lately, they've been popping up like mushrooms after rain. Liu Longtao's team was able to clear three Mysterious Realms in a week because three appeared in the north in a single week, forcing the Dingbei Army to work overtime on clearing them.

Therefore, considering the current national situation, expanding the team's organization was inevitable.

Having mastered the Three Arts and Five Spells and learned the Sword Control Technique, the student cultivators at the academy certainly have the solid skills required; what they lack is the combat experience to apply those skills.

Sending them to handle some of the simpler Mysterious Realms would not only help them grow quickly but also address the problem of having too many Mysterious Realms — the only issue being the inevitable casualties. However, this was simply an unavoidable circumstance.

"What's your opinion?" Li Weiguo asked leisurely.

"I wholeheartedly support it." Yan Yu put the document notification back on the desk, "Nowadays, there are more and more mysterious realms, and it's urgent to expand our manpower."

"Do you know any students at the academy, who you think are quite capable?" Li Weiguo asked with a smile, "Feel free to recommend anyone."

"Qiu Ze and Sun Ziyi," replied Yan Yu, "These two are pretty strong. If it weren't for the overlapping roles in the team, I would have wanted to recruit them in the first place."

"Hmm," Li Weiguo nodded, "I'll consider it."

The two names recommended by Yan Yu were also on the list provided by the instructor team at Qi Changping's side.

According to the instructors' evaluations, Qiu Ze's strengths were his quick reactions, fast change-up speed, and his ability to fight, run, and support, which made him a candidate that the instructors jointly believed had the potential to become "the next Yan Yu."

Sun Ziyi, similar to Chen Lingyun, was the kind that looked for opportunities to strike, with very accurate judgment and awareness.

So if Qiu Ze were to become the captain and Sun Ziyi the vice-captain, it would seem like they were copying the configuration of Yan Yu's team—considering that Yan Yu's Team did indeed achieve considerable success, it was only natural for the instructors to take note of them.

"Would you like some tea?" Li Weiguo offered as he poured some tea.

"No, no need." Yan Yu quickly stood up, "I understand the implication of offering tea to see a guest out. Please continue with your work; I won't disturb you any further."

He was about to leave the office when he suddenly heard Li Weiguo say from behind:

"For subsequent publicity needs, all battle teams need to have official team names by the end of the month and report them to the academy instructors for registration."

"No problem," Yan Yu turned back and said, "I'll discuss it with Chen Lingyun."

"Don't pick any messy names," Li Weiguo said again as he picked up his cup of tea, speaking slowly, "It will be in the media, so be serious."

Going into the media... so the secrecy regulations are being completely lifted, huh?

After leaving the administrative building, Yan Yu called Chen Lingyun:

"Our team needs a name, what do you think?"

"If I were the captain," Chen Lingyun replied, "I'd call it 'Spirit Transport Team'."

"Directly using the captain's name, huh? Using my name doesn't seem too good," Yan Yu said dismissively, "Another one?"

"Then what's your idea?" Chen Lingyun asked with a smile.

"Like 'Strongest' or 'Apex' or something," Yan Yu replied, "We should lean towards that direction as much as possible."

"'Strongest' is too tacky, and the 'Advertising Law' doesn't allow it, oh," Chen Lingyun said with a light laugh, "'Apex,' don't you think it has a homophony with 'Sheep Epilepsy'? It's like how you don't want to use your name to call the team 'Yan Yu's Team'."

"If you want to make associations, any name could be twisted into a bad connotation," Yan Yu wasn't concerned, "What do you think we should call it then?"

"If you want a name that sounds good, then you have to look to history," Chen Lingyun pondered for a moment and then replied, "Among the many military governors of the Tang Dynasty, Jiangbei and Jiangnan were under the jurisdiction of the 'Pinghai Army.' Later, Qian Liu, who established the Wuyue Kingdom and governed Lin'an Prefecture in Jiangnan Province, was originally the 'Military Governor of the Pinghai Army'...

What about calling it 'Zhenghai Team'?"

"That's not bad; after all, we belong to the 'Zhendong Army,' and our future enemies are mainly 'overseas' from the heavy cherry and Miti," Yan Yu thought for a while and then suddenly said with caution, "You're not implying some malicious metaphor of warlord segmentation at the end of the Tang Dynasty, are you?"

"Not at all~" On the other end of the phone, Chen Lingyun said with a laugh, "I just think it's nice and has a historical reference, or do you have a name you prefer more?"

"Since we're going to deal with the heavy cherry and Miti," Yan Yu tried to change his line of thinking, "how about 'Cherry Blossom Cutting Team' or 'Miti Crushing Team'?"

"So, 'Slaughter Cherry and Exterminate Miti,' huh?" Chen Lingyun laughed uncontrollably, "I have no problem, but do you think it will pass the organization's review?"

"... Then let's stick to Zhenghai Team."