Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

As time gradually approached the latter half of August.

Due to the additional training sessions Yan Yu imposed, the strength and progression levels among the girls began to diverge.

The one who improved the most, naturally, was Lin Ning, for the Sword Immortal is inherently a "mid-stage" dominant profession.

As long as one's Sword Control Technique reaches a state of refined mastery, their combat power soars faster than other professions—the most typical example of this is Goryeo, where nearly all cultivators focus exclusively on Sword Immortal, treating Taoism Method, spells, and such as mere support, which has led domestic public opinion to jokingly refer to them as "stick swingers (cheap swordsmen)."

Surprisingly, the person who improved the second most was Su Yunjin.

On one hand, her basic skills indeed improved, such as defense, evasion, and other solid maneuvers; on the other hand, her progress could be attributed to her "Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art."

This spell's lethality isn't strong, unlike Zhou Hongyu's Grand Light Fire, which could cause injury or even death by mere grazing... but its control ability is excellent.

Once engulfed by the heavenly river, one's sense of direction is entirely disrupted, unable to distinguish up from down, east from west; then, as feet can't touch the ground and there's nothing to leverage, it's impossible to use the Shifting Technique to quickly escape the area; lastly, the drowning brings a series of negative statuses such as "inability to see," "inability to distinguish sounds," "inability to breathe," and so on.

To effectively use this Taoism Method, what's tested is the control over True Yuan, attention to detail, and battlefield judgment, and Su Yunjin excels on all three counts. Therefore, even if she doesn't meet the average standard of top cultivators in hardware terms, she's no longer seen as a liability in the team, thanks to the control afforded by this Taoism Method.

Compared to Lin Ning and Su Yunjin, the progress of Zhao Yuanzhen and Chen Lingyun wasn't as obvious.

Chen Lingyun had now mastered the Five Ghost Carry Technique, using it to strike from the shadows with ease, but apart from that, there hadn't been a significant increase in strength—unless she could obtain a new ghost to command.

The White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin had been handed over to Zhao Yuanzhen, but lacking the strategic thinking, the Demonic Sect Enchantress treated the treasure like a Flying Sword. She would throw it at every opportunity, never keeping it in hand.

After watching her practice for half a day, Yan Yu couldn't help but say,

"Have you ever heard a saying, 'The sword kept in its sheath is the most deadly'?"

"You mean..." Zhao Yuanzhen hesitated for a moment, "to use it for a surprise attack?"

"The energy consumption to trigger the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin is much higher than when you use Flying Sword to attack," Yan Yu explained. "Since it requires more True Yuan to use, it should at least do something that the Sword Control Technique can't do, right?"

"What's the advantage of the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin? It's that once it's shot, it automatically homes in on its target, making it unavoidable; and upon hitting, it severs the meridians, rendering the wounds untreatable. If you rashly send out the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin and it's blocked by the opponent using the Sword Control Technique, wouldn't that be a complete waste?

Conversely, when would be the most appropriate time to use the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin? Isn't it when the enemy has no way to block it?"

Zhao Yuanzhen pondered this.

Although Empress Yuanzhen often seemed disengaged in her daily life, her intelligence was always present when it came to combat. Yan Yu patted her on the shoulder, indicating for her to think it over on her own, and then went to inspect the progress of others.

Training lasted until 11 in the morning, and then it was time to rest and prepare for lunch. On their way to the cafeteria, Yan Yu suddenly received a phone call.

"Mhm, yes, alright," he rapidly responded a few times, then hung up and turned to give instructions, "Chen Lingyun?"

"Calling for a car right now," Chen Lingyun said, holding her phone.

Given the experience from the previous three times, everyone naturally wasn't completely clueless. Lin Ning confirmed, asking,

"Another Mysterious Realm confrontation, right?" Stay connected with empire

"Yes," Yan Yu nodded. "The Northeast, Changbai Mountain."

Changbai Mountain Range, located within the Taining Province, one of the three provinces of the Northeast.

Which means the opponent in this joint struggle for the Mysterious Realm happens to be Liu Longtao of the Dingbei Army's Dragon Soar Team.

————————

The Zhendong Army's plane took off from Jinling Airport, heading towards the Changbai Mountain Airport in Baishan, Taining Province.

As per team routine, deputy leader Chen Lingyun activated the plane's projector to begin briefing everyone on intelligence.

"Dragon Soar Team, led by Liu Longtao, with deputy leader Ye Jun, and three members named Ai Lu, Guo Feiyun, and Yang Linhui."

"Ai Lu, from Shangdu Prefecture of Central Plains Province, a Sword Immortal by profession. Guo Feiyun, from Weihai Prefecture of Qilu Province, also a Sword Immortal. The reason I'm talking about these two together is that during the previous Mysterious Realm confrontations, they demonstrated a high level of tactical cooperation."

"Guo Feiyun specializes in head-on assaults and is the main attacking force of the Dragon Soar Team; Ai Lu is responsible for coordinating attacks, working together with Guo Feiyun to breach the enemy's defenses.

Taken individually, these two Sword Immortals may not be as strong as Ningning, but their cooperative swordplay even managed to suppress Zhou Hongyu at one point, so their threat should not be underestimated."

"Yang Linhui, from Shangjing Prefecture of East Sea Province, a spell caster by profession, practices the 'Gang Wind Hao Qi True Art,' capable of summoning knife-like wind that wounds people on the battlefield; more aggressive than Yun Jin's Star River Secret Art but slightly inferior in terms of control."

"Ye Jun, from Jinmen Prefecture, Assistant Officer. Her magical artifact is a ruler that reportedly can produce a light that envelops its surroundings with her at the center, forming a shield-like defensive effect capable of blocking Flying Swords and Taoism Method attacks,"

"Lastly, there's Liu Longtao, from Pingjing, known as 'Lord Master', a profession of Sword Immortal, wielding an Immortal Sword named 'Ying Long'..."

"Wait a minute!" Lin Ning exclaimed in surprise, "Does this mean that their team has three Sword Immortals?"

"Exactly," Chen Lingyun said with a twinkling smile, "Actually, from this, you can tell that Lord Master's team places a very strong emphasis on offense. Excluding the Assistant Officer Ye Jun, each of the three Sword Immortals and the cultivator could be a main force in an assault."

"But the trade-off is that there's not much room for tactical play." Seeing the girls become nervous, Yan Yu smiled dismissively and said, "They defeated Zhou Hongyu's team by relying on Liu Longtao's absolute power to knock Zhang Huaide out early; defeating Li Zhaojiang's team was done by Liu Longtao's aggressive attack on Li Minghu, forcing Li Zhaojiang to go for the rescue."

"A fierce attack on the command center," Su Yunjin also realized, "Once the command center is disrupted, the rest can only fight independently. This situation is very advantageous for the Dragon Soar Team, which has multiple assaulters."

"That's right," said Chen Lingyun with a light smile, "Think about it, we have also crossed swords with the other two teams. Huofeng Team has only the vice-captain Zhang Huaide who is suitable for commanding, and Qing'an Team's vice-captain Li Minghu, once in crisis, the captain Li Zhaojiang will surely rush to the rescue.

Both of them are essentially the soft ribs of the teams; once they are targeted, it leads to dysfunction in the team's operation."

"But we don't have such a weakness," Yan Yu added, "Chen Lingyun and I can both take command. Even if we both are out in the endgame, don't we still have Yun Jin?"

"Ah? I can't do it," Su Yunjin quickly waved her hands to refuse, "I've never commanded before."

"Yun Jin can do it," said Chen Lingyun with a smile, "Sister Zhao and Ningning are the main combat power, so the only one who can be a temporary command replacement is you."

"...All right," Su Yunjin resignedly accepted.

Secretary Su's personality was such: she liked to harmonize. If you told her "there's an important task for you," her first reaction would definitely be "I can't do it well, give it to someone else"; but if you said "everyone else has more important tasks," then she'd be willing to take on the task.

Though it's in her nature, the fact that Chen Lingyun could so effortlessly manipulate Secretary Su showed that she was indeed as shrewd as they come.

"Yun Jin, you don't have to worry," Lin Ning consoled her, "With a team captain as bossy and invincible as him, how could he possibly be eliminated early? I bet even if all four of us were down, it'd be him who would stand until the end."

"It's Little Lin Ning who understands me," Yan Yu immediately burst into laughter.

"Little your head!" Lin Ning feigned a punch at him, "So what exactly is the tactic?"

"It's simple," Chen Lingyun explained with a smile, "Yan Yu will tie up Liu Longtao, pulling him out of the opposite team's tactical framework; Ningning and Sister Zhao will each busy Ai Lu and Guo Feiyun, preventing these two Sword Immortals from coordinating, and then single them out for defeat. Yun Jin and I will together deal with Ye Jun and Yang Linhui, it should be like that."

Seeing that Chen Lingyun was confident and the tactical arrangement was quite straightforward, everyone finally relaxed and went back to their seats to rest.

Yan Yu was gazing out the plane window at the clouds when suddenly he received a message from Chen Lingyun on his phone, a private chat.

[Chen Lingyun]: Not much room for tactical play? Really?

[Yi De Fu Ren]: What I mean is, they're not a team that specializes in tactics; it doesn't mean they're not good at using tactics. The configuration of three Sword Immortals indeed seems a bit too focused on output, but with a competent command, they can still fight very flexibly.

[Chen Lingyun]: So they're still hard to deal with.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: But I can't say that directly to everyone, it might dampen the spirits a bit.

[Chen Lingyun]: In fact, I suspect both Liu Longtao and Yang Linhui are holding back their trump cards. Yang Linhui's Taoism Method is likely both offensive and controlling, and Liu Longtao… I'm just guessing he's not an ordinary Sword Immortal; otherwise, in the previous life, he couldn't have reached the status of 'Number One Master of Lu Country' as you mentioned.

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Yeah, you wouldn't miss something like that. Yang Linhui's Taoism Method indeed combines offense and control, but his control is an all-encompassing strike, not as precise as Su Yunjin's. As for Liu Longtao, he should be a dual cultivator of spell and sword.

[Chen Lingyun]: He has learned Taoism Method?

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Right, 'Five Directional Dragon's Purple Sky Scripture', a pretty awesome Taoism Method.

[Chen Lingyun]: Dear, please tell me you've also kept a trump card for this occasion, okay?

[Yi De Fu Ren]: Do I need a trump card to face him? I'm dying of laughter, who do you think I am?

[Chen Lingyun]: That's right, you're the strongest Yan Yu of this world~

[Yi De Fu Ren]: But you should be a little careful, Ye Jun is not easy to deal with. Her Xuan Guang Ruler is actually more powerful for control than defense, and you shouldn't get caught in the light.

[Chen Lingyun]: Since she's hiding her skill, surely it's specially prepared for you, what do I have to worry about?