Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Li Zhaojiang stood dumbfounded, while Su Yunjin watched with a cold eye.

Although the captain didn't show any abnormalities, Li Minghu's attitude was really too strange, almost as if he had eyes only for the captain.

Of course, perhaps this was another way to curry favor... Hmph.

"The snacks are ready," Lin Ning came over and said, "Would you like to come and try some?"

"Let's go," Yan Yu rose to his feet and said, "It's rare for us all to get together, so let's all show some respect to our team's Lin Ning, huh."

"Oh my, how embarrassing~" Though Li Zhaojiang was still making polite remarks, he moved faster than anyone else and in an instant, he was by the dining table, looking at the variety of dishes, ready to reach out and take one, saying, "You've made so much, let me try one first..."

"Ah Jiang!" Li Minghu felt somewhat embarrassed and went over to grab his arm, preventing him from snatching some food first.

Lin Ning went upstairs to call Chen Lingyun and Xie Ruoxi down, and then everyone sat down at the dining table and began to enjoy the snacks.

Zhao Yuanzhen used a spoon in her left hand, chopsticks in her right, shuttling food back and forth non-stop; Xie Ruoxi, though only using one hand, was also quick with her chopsticks, her cheeks puffing up as she chewed relentlessly.

Seeing these two beautiful girls eating so heartily made the men of the Flying Dragon Battle Team drop their reserve and shyness and started eating and drinking heartily as well.

Lin Ning, having just finished cooking, didn't have much of an appetite, and like Chen Lingyun, took a small cake and slowly ate it with a little spoon, when suddenly she heard Su Yunjin sending her a mental message:

"Ningning, what do you think of Li Minghu?"

"Ah?" Lin Ning swallowed the food in her mouth and replied telepathically, "He seems nice, and he even promised the captain to help train us... What's wrong?"

"I think she has feelings for the captain," Su Yunjin mused for a moment and suddenly said.

Find an ally.

"...Ah?" This time Lin Ning took noticeably longer to respond, "Yun Jin, how can you tell?"

"I don't really have any concrete evidence," Su Yunjin chose her words carefully, "It's just a feeling."

Her words seemed a bit mysterious. Informing on someone out of strategy always carried risks. No matter what evidence she presented, Lin Ning would inevitably wonder, "While you're observing her, could you also be watching me?" Thus, Su Yunjin could only say it was a "feeling," suggesting you can believe it or not, I'm just mentioning it casually.

If Lin Ning had nothing to hide, faced with Su Yunjin's "just intuition," she would certainly just laugh it off.

But Su Yunjin's assumption about Sister Lin was spot on; after hearing it, she quickly became restless, and without thinking, she anxiously asked,

"What should we do then? If the captain really falls for her, then... then we can't do anything about it!"
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"The captain and her are just ordinary friends for now, and he doesn't have any feelings for her beyond that," Su Yunjin said calmly.

Lin Ning breathed a small sigh of relief but still didn't realize the slight sense of relief in her heart.

"But we still have to nip the problem in the bud," Su Yunjin continued, "If the captain really gets together with the vice captain, what will become of our team?"

Lin Ning suddenly felt it was strange and asked:

"What does that have to do with our team?"

"What if there's a confrontation in the Mysterious Realm?" Su Yunjin said, "Between Zhenhai Team and the Flying Dragon Battle Team, what would the captain do?"

"He surely wouldn't side with the opposition," Lin Ning still failed to understand, "He is our captain, after all."

"Have you forgotten what happened at the Dragon Soar Mysterious Realm last time?" Su Yunjin asked lightly.

Dragon Soar Mysterious Realm... Oh, right, the captain had defeated Li Minghu last time, but she wasn't seriously injured, and the captain even invited her to join in capturing flags...

At the time, Lin Ning didn't think anything of it, but having heard Su Yunjin phrase it that way, she finally came back to her senses, feeling more and more uncomfortable—the captain's attitude towards the vice captain did seem off.

"But there's nothing we can do about it," she telepathically sighed, "The captain is free to like whoever he wants."

"Of course we can only wish him well if the captain has already fallen for someone," Su Yunjin had her response prepared, speaking slowly, "But if the captain's feelings for her haven't developed yet, if we can keep them apart and reduce their interactions, we can avoid such a situation."

"Uh," Lin Ning still felt something was wrong, because her view on love was one of destiny, believing that the progression from meeting, getting to know each other, and falling in love should all happen naturally.

Hearing Su Yunjin suggesting they interfere with someone else's destiny naturally felt off, "What I mean is, no matter who the captain likes or wants to develop a relationship with, it's the captain's prerogative. If we interfere with his and someone else's destiny, wouldn't that be too much?"

"Not at all," Su Yunjin said tactfully, "Let me give you an example."

"Suppose there's a movie tomorrow night that's garnered high praises online, and both you and Deputy Team Leader Li want to invite the captain to watch it. Even though you're aware of Deputy Team Leader Li's intentions, you still decide to ask the captain first. Is that considered interfering with the fate between him and Deputy Team Leader Li?"

"Of course not," Lin Ning replied without hesitation. "It would be different if they were both interested in each other, but in the example you've given, isn't it just Deputy Team Leader Li who wants to pursue the captain? There's not even the beginning of a relationship yet, so I don't need to make way for her in everything... huh?"

"Right," Su Yunjin said with a smile. "The captain also said that for now, he just sees Deputy Team Leader Li as a friend. There's no red thread of fate between them yet, so whatever we do, it's not like we're cutting their thread of fate—because it doesn't exist at all."

Her sophistry did not entirely convince Lin Ning. After all, the thinking she had honed from years of solving problems quickly led her to the realization, "Although you're not trying to cut the thread, you're deliberately trying to stop them from connecting. What's the difference? Aren't you still interfering with other people's feelings?"

However, the thought of Yan Yu and Li Minghu possibly being connected by a red thread of fate... Lin Ning immediately felt an indescribable sense of suffocation and, as if possessed by a demon, sent a telepathic message back:

"Fine."

"That's great," Su Yunjin exclaimed joyfully. "Then it's settled, Ningning. You can't tell anyone else, okay?"

Hmph, with Ningning, the easiest to convince on my side, only Ling Yun remains.

As for Sister Zhao and Ruoxi, their personalities are relatively innocent, so they're actually not suitable for being involved in such complicated actions—besides, preventing the captain from being chased away by outsiders is beneficial for them too, so there's no need to notify them.

Su Yunjin looked at Chen Lingyun again when suddenly she heard Wang Haoran exclaim in surprise:

"Holy shit, there's a fight breaking out in the big chat group!"

"Who is it?" Li Zhaojiang asked casually.

"Cai Qianlong and Jin Yupeng," Wang Haoran said.

Online chat groups are rife with a mix of characters, and arguments and flaming are commonplace, so there was no need to be surprised.

But for the two teams who had just finished a Mysterious Realm clash, and their team leaders personally engaging in a verbal fight, now that was truly interesting!

Everyone was so curious they immediately stopped eating and hurriedly pulled out their phones to check the big group chat.

The Cultivator big group was originally formed by Qiu Ze without restricting members from inviting others. You invite your classmate, I invite mine, and now there were nearly four hundred people, almost all the college student cultivators in the country were in it.

With so many people talking at once, the cause of the fight was difficult to trace back by scrolling through the chat, but it seemed that Jin Yupeng was a bit unhappy about losing the match, and Cai Qianlong, who liked to show off, somehow got into a conflict with him and they started calling each other out in the argument.

Jin Yupeng claimed they lost the match because of bad luck; Cai Qianlong retorted that you don't even understand why you lost, so you'll continue to lose next time; Jin Yupeng countered by saying your team lost to our Zhengdong Army's Zhenhai Team last time, so aren't you destined to lose again the next time you meet; Cai Qianlong replied at least we can beat you... blah blah blah.

Soon others joined in the ridicule, saying that the Zhenhai Team was the original progenitor god (referring to the first batch of founded teams), and it was unnecessary to compare them to the younger Flying Dragon Battle Team.

Then someone asked, both being original progenitors, which was stronger between the Dragon Soar Team and Zhenhai Team? Who was the number one cultivator in Lu Country, Liu Longtao or Yan Yu?

As more and more rubberneckers began to fan the flames, Yan Yu couldn't stand by and watch any longer. He turned to Chen Lingyun and said:

"Tell Qiu Ze to impose a chat restriction."

"I'll do it," Chen Lingyun said with a slight smile.

[Chen Lingyun]: @Mighty Peng Spreading Wings, losing is losing, no need to make so many excuses, just take this as a lesson.

[Mighty Peng Spreading Wings]: Understood.

Jin Yupeng fell silent, and seeing that Cai Qianlong also stopped since his opponent was playing dead, the atmosphere quickly returned to normal chit-chat.

Yan Yu: ???

He watched the chat group settle down and was puzzled. Jin Yupeng was not known for his good temper, otherwise, he wouldn't have fought with Cai Qianlong, but with just one sentence from Chen Lingyun, Jin Yupeng was silenced. Why? Was he bribed by her financial power?

Noticing the doubtful gaze from Yan Yu, Chen Lingyun smiled slightly and sent a telepathic message:

"Surprised, are you?"

"What are you up to?" Yan Yu asked in return.

"I'm not up to anything, I've told you before," Chen Lingyun said leisurely. "Remember back when we hadn't yet graduated from high school..."

"...we set a goal together."