Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire

To say that Su Yunjin's suspicions had completely dissipated would not be entirely true.

But the greatest evidence before her was that Yan Yu indeed was a forthright man who disdained lying.

If he had really fallen for Li Minghu, would he need to lie to the pitiable and lowly Secretary Su?

There was no need.

All he needed was to deliver an overbearing and indifferent "You're not worthy! She is," and Su Yunjin would have been shattered to pieces in the abyss of heartbreak—but he didn't.

From this perspective, the likelihood of Yan Yu's statement, "She and I are just ordinary friends," being a lie was indeed slim, because there was simply no motive for him to lie.

Of course, just because she wasn't suspecting now didn't mean she would never doubt again in the future.

I will continue to confirm it with my own eyes!

After Yan Yu and Su Yunjin left the backyard and returned to the living room, they saw that everyone had stopped playing games and were instead gathered around the television watching a match.

It was neither-football nor basketball, nor was it esports, but a Cultivator versus match for the Mysterious Realm.

Today, the cultivator students from the four major martial arts colleges of the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest had essentially completed their formation into teams, totaling 76 teams.

With so many teams battling each other, just setting up the match schedules was a significant effort, hence it was no longer feasible, as it was at the beginning, for the Privy Council to decide match-ups on a whim.

The higher-ups had recently started working on establishing the "Cultivator Athletic League." They intended to emulate Miti's mature commercial sports system, keeping defense to defense and athletic competition to athletic competition—dividing the 76 teams into three Levels: A, B, and C. With 8 spots in Level A, 24 in Level B, and an unlimited number in Level C.

The slots were fixed, with promotion for the superior and elimination for the inferior.

Similarly, the Mysterious Realms were also categorized into three Levels according to their difficulty: Level A, Level B, and Level C.

As such, a broad framework was established for which team would tackle which Mysterious Realm and which teams would engage in mock combats with one another.

Of course, which team belonged to which level had not yet been definitively determined, but by now almost everyone had heard the rumors. Aside from the four leading teams—Zhenghai, Dragon Cavalry, Huofeng, Qing'an—the levels of the other teams were to be decided based on the results of recent matches, which is why every team was going all out in the versus games, showing off their might.

The match currently being broadcasted on the television was between the Dingbei Army's Flying Dragon Battle Team and the Zhendong Army's Golden Wing Battle Team.

"Flying Dragon Battle Team has won," Yan Yu commented, glancing at the screen as soon as he entered the living room, quickly reaching a conclusion, "Their opponent's formation is completely scattered."

"That's not certain," Li Zhaojiang had a differing opinion and retorted, "Old Yan, look carefully, the Golden Wing Battle Team has a configuration of five Sword Immortals."

"Oh?" Yan Yu expressed surprise.

As everyone knows, if one were to ask who had the strongest ability to fight alone, it would unquestionably be the Sword Immortal.

With high mobility, strong offensive power, and a wide range, they don't need to beat around the bush—a controlled Flying Sword is all about action.

Even if they lose team coordination and support, their combat strength won't be too severely limited—the commentators on the scene were explaining this to the viewers, essentially saying, "The victory is still undecided; there's more game to be played."

Since even the commentators held that belief, Yan Yu, who had originally lost interest in the match, now gave it a few more seconds of his time.

"It's apparent the captain of the Golden Wing has some ideas," he commented again, "But it's no use, they'll still lose."

"Why do you say that?" Li Minghu asked casually, walking over from the dining area with a tea cup in hand.

"They can't contain Cai Qianlong," said Yan Yu, "Young Cai's tactical awareness has improved quite a bit."

Li Minghu turned his gaze to the television screen and took a sip of his tea.

Indeed.

During the last battle in the Changping Secret Realm, which was also the first nationally televised Cultivator versus match, the Flying Dragon Battle Team was utterly defeated by the Zhenhai Team. The reason being that the captain, Cai Qianlong, failed to adequately protect the vice-captain, Shen Rui, leading to their command system being disrupted by the Zhenhai Team right from the start.

After the event, at the press conference, Cai Qianlong openly admitted his fault, and the result was naturally a barrage of criticism from the media.

Many internet users from the North who originally supported the Flying Dragon Battle Team blamed him for the defeat after the fact. Some even wrote letters to the Dingbei Army, suggesting that the Flying Dragon Battle Team should get a new team leader. For a while, almost the entire internet was against Cai Qianlong.

Looking back at the match, the formation of the Golden Wing Battle Team had been thoroughly shredded, and the credit went to the vice-captain in charge of commanding, Shen Rui.

The opposition naturally tried everything they could to take down Shen Rui, but while Cai Qianlong was dueling with the Golden Wing Battle Team's captain Jin Yupeng in swordsmanship, he still had the spare capacity to deflect several attacks aimed at vice-captain Shen Rui using Sword Control.

It was evident that this man was not only uninfluenced by the detractors but had indeed learned a profound lesson from the previous defeat.

"Jin Yupeng didn't put enough frontal pressure on Cai Qianlong," Li Minghu also concluded.

"It's not about the lack of pressure, he got deceived," Yan Yu, however, saw through it with a discerning eye and chuckled, "Haven't you noticed? Little Cai is now more cunning."

"Oh?" Li Minghu took a closer look and indeed discovered some clues.

In terms of swordsmanship level alone, Jin Yupeng was only slightly weaker than Cai Qianlong, but not by much; if it came to a one-on-one duel, the match could have been hard to call.

However, the match performance told a completely different story. Cai Qianlong's defense was on the brink of collapse, not only being thrown into disarray by Jin Yupeng but also executing his sword techniques in a chaotic manner, with the entire fight fraught with danger.

However, it might have been precisely because Cai Qianlong showed weakness that Jin Yupeng believed the other party was affected by negative public opinion and was performing abnormally.

As a result, Jin Yupeng had a confident look on his face, not only failing to intensify his offensive to pressure the opponent but also using petty and irritating tactics from time to time to play with and provoke the opponent, showing an arrogant demeanor of "a strong person should humiliate the weaker ones."

This guy was overconfident.

"I see," Li Minghu had an epiphany, "In that case, the Golden Wing Battle Team indeed has no chance."

"What do you mean he got deceived?" Li Zhaojiang was confused and interrupted to ask.

Seeing his sister and Yan Yu talking back and forth, even without a detailed explanation, they had arrived at the same conclusion—Why can't I see it?

"Jiang, your ability to read the game still needs improvement," Li Minghu said with a smile, not offering an explanation.

Sure enough, as the Golden Wing Battle Team had one player eliminated first and rushed out by the medical team, the Flying Dragon Battle Team finally began to unleash their fury.

Under Shen Rui's command, two players took advantage of the numerical superiority and managed to send another opponent off in less than half a minute, turning the situation into a 5 versus 3.

The Golden Wing Battle Team also realized something was off, as the gap in overall strength widened too quickly. They could only desperately attack, hoping to take down an opponent and even the disadvantage.

Jin Yupeng hastily brought out his full strength, and the sword light of his Sword Control flying slash surged, attempting to crush the opponent directly.

But Cai Qianlong's sword light also surged, promptly suppressing the opponent's offensive once again.

Previously, Cai Qianlong was worried that Jin Yupeng would limit his ability to coordinate with his teammates, so he had to pretend to be performing poorly to show weakness. But now, the situation had completely reversed, and it was his turn to fully contain the opponent from aiding his teammates.

Cai Qianlong had Jin Yupeng so preoccupied that Shen Rui comfortably commanded the other three teammates. With a 4 on 2 advantage, they slowly took care of the two opponents and then joined Cai Qianlong to gang up on Jin Yupeng.

The commentator guests were stunned for a while, and now they began to find excuses, claiming that the Golden Wing Battle Team had made a blunder, losing two people in an instant, and that the match was no longer contestable with the outcome already decided.

"See that?" Yan Yu chuckled to Li Zhaojiang, "If the Golden Wing Battle Team hadn't been configured with five Sword Immortals, and had an Assistant Officer or Envoy to contain the opponent, even with the loss of one person, there would still be a chance to fight back.

But the methods of Sword Immortals lack versatility; strong is strong, weak is weak, overcoming the strong when weak is too difficult for Sword Immortals."

"Alright, alright, you're right," Li Zhaojiang, facing the result of the match, didn't have the nerve to argue otherwise and could only noncommittally agree.

"It's not just about admitting you're wrong," Li Minghu added sarcastically, smiling, "You also have to take note of what Yan said and reflect on it after you go back."

"Damn, it's not me who lost!" Li Zhaojiang felt wronged and nearly in tears, "Sis, whose side are you really on?"

"Of course, I'm on the side of victory," Li Minghu said with a slight smile.