Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"...So, what do you all think?" Chen Lingyun finished explaining all the intelligence and asked with a smile.

The girls exchanged glances.

Although Chen Lingyun did not come to a direct conclusion, everyone was smart enough to infer that the intelligence pointed to the conclusion that aside from Cai Qianlong, the other four members of the Flying Dragon Battle Team were "of ordinary cultivator standards".

"In other words," Lin Ning said bluntly, "if we can tie down Cai Qianlong with one person, and quickly take care of the other four, we could directly secure our victory."

"But Cai Qianlong should also be able to see this point," Su Yunjin, who had a cautious personality, speculated, "He will probably set traps for this. The question is, what kind of traps?"

"Let Yan Yu go one-on-one with Cai Qianlong, no matter what traps he has, just smash them all," Zhao Yuanzhen said nonchalantly.

Chen Lingyun smiled as she listened to everyone's opinions and finally turned her gaze to Xie Ruoxi, who was sitting in the corner.

The rest of the girls followed her gaze.

Xie Ruoxi sat alone at the back, her petite body clutching the huge Tianyuan Qi Sword, giving her the appearance of a character from a 2D mobile game (girl + greatsword).

As everyone's gazes turned to her, she suddenly snapped out of her daze and said:

"Ah? With Yan Zhanlong's strength, couldn't he just steamroll over them?"

Everyone was speechless. This kid had been thoroughly handled by Yan Yu just a few days ago, yet she was still his unabashed fan. Her approval didn't seem to drop; it probably crystallized already.

"Exactly," Yan Yu, who had just finished a phone call, returned to the middle of the group and said, "We need to anticipate what tactics they will use, but don't put too much pressure on ourselves."

"Even if our predictions are wrong, with our current raw strength, just steamrolling them at that time will do."

As he said this, the girls really relaxed, began to chat and laugh.

Chen Lingyun observed everyone's expressions and understood that although they hadn't said it outright, they still felt pressure inside—not from the Flying Dragon Battle Team, but from external public opinion from all walks of society. Find adventures at empire

Many people outside were calling Zhenhai Team the "Harem Team," and naturally, everyone wanted to prove they were not just "harem vases," hence the urgency to "win at all costs."

However, Yan Yu was indeed right. As long as the Flying Dragon Battle Team didn't resort to dirty tricks, their chances of winning were actually very slim.

Reversing the thought process, if the other side wanted the Flying Dragon Battle Team to win, then they would inevitably have to employ underhanded tactics...

Chen Lingyun took out her phone unobtrusively and began to send messages.

The charter plane arrived at Taihang Mountain Airport at noon, and as soon as the team members disembarked, they saw media teams outside, fiercely snapping photos with their cameras.

Of course, doing interviews at the airport was out of the question. The reporters were pressing the shutter so madly mainly to get the most eye-catching photo for the "Zhenhai Team Arrives in Sanjin Province" newsflash.

This showdown between the Zhenhai Team and the Flying Dragon Battle Team was touted as a national event, with the entire country watching; even a mundane news brief like "team's arrival" could garner a ton of traffic!

Meanwhile, under the almost boiling public opinion of the whole society, invisible undercurrents were also surging.

At 11:24 AM, the official Weibo account of "The Daily" published an article titled "Who Will Supervise the Battle Team Captain?" claiming that currently, the appointment of internal personnel in the cultivator battle teams is entirely up to the team captain's decision. What if the captain himself is problematic?

The battle teams are formed using military funds; who can supervise the captains to ensure these funds are not misused? How can the selection of the team's talents be fair and just?

The article stayed on Weibo for only 11 minutes before being retracted at 11:35 AM, but it had already been wildly shared before then. Many Weibo influencers started to stir up attention, accusing someone of "using military funds to create a harem" and "turning the military into a party"… Although there were barely any direct references, the comment sections all knew who they were talking about.

The other side had already fired the first shot, sparking a nationwide frenzy of criticism against someone, and naturally, we weren't made of mud either, beginning to play our hidden cards.

At 12:00 PM, Shixin Live Streaming started a warming-up event in Jianghai Prefecture, inviting two very famous live streamers: Xu Dongming and Zhou Erhe, to serve as professional commentators for tomorrow's confrontational match and today's warming-up program.

As everyone knows, it's not easy to find professional commentators for Transcendents' confrontations. After all, you have to understand their power systems to make accurate judgments based on the real-time battle situation.

As for these two special guests, Xu Dongming was a professional sports critic and basketball commentator; Zhou Erhe, on the other hand, was an eSports player who later turned into a big game streamer—both were thoroughly amateurs in this field. So it was obviously suspicious how they could get their hands on so much knowledgeable material related to Cultivators at this stage.

At this moment, in Shixin's official live broadcast room, the big screen in the background was playing the popular video "Yan Zhanlong's Aesthetics of Violence," with the two professional commentators explaining it to everyone.

"This method of movement from Yan Zhanlong is actually his signature technique," Xu Dongming said earnestly. "We know that a Cultivator has three moving techniques, namely 'Shifting Technique,' 'Cloud Ascension Technique,' and 'Wall-Penetration Technique'..."

He started off seriously, briefly introducing the Three Arts, and then began to explain Yan Zhanlong's signature technique. As he spoke, he began bragging habitually, and his voice started rising:

"The Shifting Technique can accelerate from a standstill to 16 meters per second instantly, and the Cloud Ascension Technique can negate inertia to stop abruptly and return to a standstill. You can think of these two as a car's gas pedal and brakes."

"Gas and brakes, not just professional drivers, any driver knows how to use them. But only Fujiwara Takumi can drift around the hairpin turns of Mt. Akina in succession using the throttle, hand brake, and steering wheel combination!"

"So Yan Yu, the captain of the Zhenhai Team, is the only Fujiwara Takumi in the world of Cultivators! He is the real Drift King of Mt. Akina!!!"

"Hold on a minute!" Zhou Erhe squinted and grinned, "Comparing Yan Yu to Fujiwara Takumi, isn't that a bit off? Fujiwara Takumi is an innocent virgin, played by that... what's her name... Mogi Natsuki. Yan Yu obviously isn't, right? Everyone outside is saying that Yan Yu is forming a harem team."

"Ah, what harem team, don't listen to the nonsense people are spreading," Xu Dongming immediately argued passionately, "Fujiwara Takumi might be an innocent virgin, and that's as good as his driving gets. But Yan Zhanlong is a Transcendent; do you know how much Superheroes, like those in Miti's Superhero Alliance, earn each year at his level of combat power?

Do you know how many women are in the private lives of those sports stars?"

"If Yan Zhanlong really wanted to start a harem, he wouldn't make a move on his team members. If he openly called for girlfriends nationwide, just the initial sign-ups would require queuing and lotteries, and he could change partners every day for years without any repeats..."

The staff offstage were bewildered, thinking: I asked you to help clear his name, not turn the program into something so vulgar it gets banned! They quickly signaled the crew to stop the broadcast.

Zhou Erhe, upon receiving the message from offstage, quickly said:

"Alright, let's leave aside the rumors of a harem team for now. Let's continue watching the video..."

Although the two commentators swiftly moderated their tone, as they were experts in playing up live broadcasts on the internet, those witticisms quickly spread, giving the "Yan Nest" fans powerful ammunition for counterarguments.

"If Yan Zhanlong really wanted to start a harem, why would he only have four people?"

"What an ignorant old peasant, to think that an emperor would use a golden carrying pole to haul manure over crops, that's hilarious."

"Yan Zhanlong is now the number one Cultivator in Lu Country, how could he be encumbered by romantic entanglements?"

"Which is more fun than cultivating?"

Yan Yu, however, had no idea that the outside world was in an uproar; he was merely staying at a local hotel with the girls, preparing to attend the afternoon press conference.

Since they had to appear in front of a large number of media, makeup was naturally an essential step.

Xie Ruoxi was fully energized at this point and volunteered to take on the role of makeup artist.

"The spokesperson will be Chen Lingyun; you can handle it, right?" Yan Yu casually asked.

"No problem," Chen Lingyun said with a sweet smile, just after Xie Ruoxi had applied lipstick for her. "But if they specifically ask the captain to answer, I won't be responsible, okay?"