Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Deputy Commander Deqin, serving as the assistant to the Golden Light Sorcerer Suo Wen, of course had formidable combat abilities.

In fact, within the hierarchy of sorcerers, being an assistant was a dangerous affair. After all, many assistants harbored thoughts of usurping their superiors, who in turn never took them lightly; seizing any opportunity to utterly destroy the assistant, replacing them with someone weaker and less of a threat—it was a position not just any ordinary sorcerer could hold.

The moment his gaze caught the flash of sword light, Deqin struck the Yin token and summoned the Yin ghost he kept with him.

The Hungry Ghost!

Unlike the Hungry Ghosts of Lu Kingdom, those from the Southern Border were extremely tall and long, immensely strong, and forever in a state of furious hunger, making them the best choice for frontline meat shields.

The instant the Hungry Ghost landed, it happened to block the three sword lights charging forward, robustly shielding Deqin behind it.

Hiding behind the Hungry Ghost, Deqin did not hesitate to tap the Yin token with bent fingers, releasing two more Resentful Spirits to swiftly fly and alert Suo Wen.

Just as the two semi-transparent Resentful Spirits materialized, they were seemingly attracted by something and pulled by an invisible force towards the distance—Chen Lingyun emerged from behind a tree, holding the Nine Heavens Yin Demon Prison Banner, and sucked the two spirits into the banner from afar.

Seeing this, Deqin felt struck by lightning, finally realizing why the surroundings had fallen eerily silent: The sorcerers who were scouring the ground had been ambushed and wiped out by the Rikoku Cultivators!

No matter how confident he was in his own abilities, he wasn't delusional enough to think he could take on ten at once. He quickly urged the Hungry Ghost to lash out in frenzy, hoping to create a large dust cloud and noise to draw the attention of his comrades above.

Just as the Hungry Ghost was about to pound the ground, it suddenly became immobile; Wang Haoran's Historical Chronicle emitted a green light that ensnared the creature in place.

"Quick!" Wang Haoran transmitted anxiously, "I can't hold on much longer!"

The duration for which the Historical Chronicle could immobilize an enemy depended on the enemy's strength and level. The moment the green light restricted the large and powerful body of the Hungry Ghost, Wang Haoran felt the True Yuan within him draining away like water, urging his team to act quickly.

But just holding it for a moment was enough... Su Yunjin focused on the space behind the Hungry Ghost, silently calculating the distance and executed the Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art.

Waters of the Heavenly River surged forth over a vast area. The immense Hungry Ghost remained unmoved, but Deqin was caught off guard and swept away by the torrent.

This Yin sorcerer tried to resist desperately but was caught at a disadvantage by Zhao Yuanzhen, who pierced his forehead with the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin, felling him instantly on the spot.

The Hungry Ghost, free from the immobilization of the Historical Chronicle, was frenetically sliced by the controlled swords of Lin Ning and Jiang Hong, quickly torn and broken. It opened its mouth to roar angrily but was struck by Li Minghu's sword light that entered its mouth and pierced through the back of its head, causing the body to fall lifelessly to the ground.

Seeing that the Hungry Ghost too had fallen, the group finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Previously, their strategy of "divide and conquer" and "reducing the whole to parts" involved team members revealing themselves to lure the enemy and then intentionally scattering during their retreat, leading the enemy to divide their troops in pursuit, followed by concentrated ambush attacks—after the opponent had split their forces multiple times, their numbers advantage significantly diminished, allowing the team to completely annihilate them in just one or two rounds of surprise attacks, which was much faster than the previous "ten people against twenty" slaughter rate.

These civilian sorcerers were undisciplined, lacking formal academy education and specialized tactical training, relying solely on their numbers. Once their numerical superiority was also compromised, they were easily overrun by the individually stronger Rikoku Cultivators.

However, the sorcerer who appeared just now was able to react in the moment of ambush, unexpectedly using the Hungry Ghost as a shield, which also surprised everyone... fortunately, it ended without mishap.

"It should be all of them." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, turning to look at the team, "A break?"

Li Minghu was already struggling to hold on, consuming Elixir Medicine to recover True Yuan and energy, and the rest appeared utterly exhausted. No blade, even one of the finest steel, could avoid becoming blunted by endless killing, and the tense spirits of the cultivators were not made of iron either.

"No need to rest." Li Minghu, who was in the worst condition among the team yet took the most aggressive tactical approach, "Yan Team is still engaged in a fierce battle above us, let's continue our action quickly."

"That works." Chen Lingyun said leisurely.

The team had a clear overall strategy: to induce the enemy to divide their forces, thereby reducing the numerical gap. Now that the ground sorcerers had been secretly annihilated, and with roughly 300-400 sorcerers remaining in the sky, their attention nearly all diverted by Yan Yu, it was the perfect time to launch a surprise attack.

Of course, a sneak attack doesn't mean charging in blindly—otherwise, what would differentiate us from those amateur sorcerers?

Chen Lingyun led her team to a group of witchcraft squad members at the edge of the battlefield and asked:

"Is Ningning ready?"

"Bring it on," Lin Ning said seriously.

These sorcerers were patrolling the sky back and forth, watching Yan Yu and Suo Wen tug of war in the distance, when suddenly, cries of alarm rose from below.

Looking down, they saw a streak of blue sword light frantically flying through the treetops, with five other sorcerers in hot pursuit, shouting and cursing continuously.

One of them suddenly looked up and called out to them:

"Stop slacking over there! Come help!"

The person spoke the local language perfectly, and with an appearance and dress indistinguishable from that of typical sorcerers, the others had no reason to suspect anything and responded jokingly:

"Coming, coming!"

The blue sword light once again dived into the jungle, followed by the five pursuers descending, then the witchcraft squad that had been patrolling above, with over ten people following the leading group all plunging into the forest, disappearing from sight.

Silently meeting their end.

Looking at the bodies scattered in disarray, the Rikoku Cultivators also began to lament.

The previous act of pretend pursuit of Lin Ning was performed by five ghosts from within Chen Lingyun's banner. These five ghosts were adept at various forms of transformation, usually appearing as large dogs, but their ability to mimic the people of the Southern Border was equally lifelike.

However, what was truly foolproof was that they were able to communicate with the enemy—a feat ghosts from Rikoku couldn't achieve. It was all thanks to Chen Lingyun's personal teaching, which allowed the five ghosts to repeat the phrases exactly.

The fact that Deputy Leader Chen could speak the Southern Border language, and more than one dialect at that... who would have thought? It only goes to show that Zhenhai Team is indeed full of hidden talents.

With these five ghosts who could speak the Southern Border language and take on its peoples' appearance, the sorcerers in the sky really had no clue, and were successively lured into the woods to land, and then ambushed and killed. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire

The remaining sorcerers were all preoccupied with watching the battle between Yan Yu and Suo Wen and didn't pay much attention to their comrades at the edge of the battlefield slowly disappearing.

When the total number of people was reduced below two hundred, it was Suo Wen who first sensed that something was amiss: Why does it seem like there are fewer people around?

Something's wrong!

Just as he was about to call the distant comrades to gather, Yan Yu's offensive suddenly intensified, and his speed increased by more than a notch.

With the pressure mounting rapidly, Suo Wen had no choice but to continue deploying his golden light Taoism Method, creating an impenetrable shield in front of him, preventing Huang Tingjian from approaching.

Finding no way through from the front, Yan Yu quickly shifted directions, launching high-speed attacks from the side and back, moving like lightning, sweeping through like the wind, forcing Suo Wen to exhaust himself in defense, without even a chance to send out a Yin Ghost to relay a message!

At this point, Suo Wen finally realized belatedly: The adversary had actually been going easy from the start!

Being of amateur background, the sorcerers lacked experience in combating Lu Kingdom Sword Immortals. Therefore, the enemy cunningly held back on purpose, leading him to mistakenly believe they were evenly matched.

Now that the enemy had gone full force, the situation quickly went downhill, forcing him to focus on desperate self-defense with no time to give orders. Meanwhile, his subordinates in the distance, having grown complacent, continued to watch the spectacle, thinking victory was in their grasp, completely unaware that disaster was about to strike!