Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Lin Ning and Xie Ruoxi, having been respawned in the mountains on the outskirts of the Netherworld, were the last to arrive at Ghost Town.

The two entered Ghost Town from the west, where residents, threatened by Evil Ghost Street, had long since fled underground. Thus, as they made their way, they were constantly vigilant, treading carefully and never ceasing their Divine Sense scanning; it was as if they were engaged in a battle of wits with the air itself, exercising caution to an isolating extent.

"Ningningningning..." Xie Ruoxi called out timidly, "Why do all these houses have no windows?"

"Don't mimic the way I talk or echo my name!" Lin Ning subconsciously used irritation to mask her fear.

"No, no!" Xie Ruoxi grew even more frightened, "If there were NPCs, it'd be fine, but there's not a soul here, I'm scared..."

"You have the Jade Pivot Thunder, what are you so scared of!" Lin Ning cried, "Get ready for battle! I'll alert you if anything happens!"

"Okay okay okay." Xie Ruoxi said repeatedly, "Then you must alert me early, I react really slow, just so you know."

"Oh, come on!" Lin Ning was immensely annoyed, but she was powerless to do anything but increase her scanning with Divine Sense, in case a formidable enemy appeared and frightened Ruoxi into submission in an instant.

In fact, Evil Ghost Street in the west of the town used to patrol with ghosts, specifically to catch those who defied the Ghost King's rule. However, now under Chen Lingyun's command, the evil ghosts had all sallied forth to attack the Papermen, withdrawing all the forces nearby.

As the two wandered around, suddenly they heard a little girl call out:

"Over here! Over here!"

Lin Ning reacted the fastest, swiftly looking towards the source of the sound, and saw a little girl perched on the top of a wall, waving anxiously at them.

"Where's that voice coming from?!" Xie Ruoxi panicked, not yet having spotted the person.

"Over there!" Lin Ning, at a loss for words, could only point it out to her.

Relieved to see it was a child, Xie Ruoxi breathed a sigh of relief but immediately grew suspicious:

"Ningning, that child could be a ghost, right? Could she be luring us over there to harm us?"

"Just be ready for battle, that's all." Lin Ning couldn't be sure either.

The little girl withdrew below the wall. The two then activated the Wall-Penetration Technique and passed through the wall, only to see several withered trees surrounding a dry well in the courtyard. The little girl stood by the well, waved at them, and then jumped down into it.

"Let's go down and have a look." Lin Ning quickly decided.

Before Xie Ruoxi could respond, Lin Ning added,

"We have to go, afraid or not. Otherwise, we'll just roam around here for ages without meeting anyone. How will we find our leader and the others?"

She led the trembling Xie Ruoxi, and together they activated the Cloud Ascension Technique, descending from the top of the dry well. Upon landing, they saw massed groups of lone ghosts either sitting or standing, staring blankly on both sides of a channel—just as Yan Yu and Li Minghu had previously witnessed.

After speaking with an old cultivator's soul, the two learned exactly what was happening in the Netherworld and that Yan Yu and Li Minghu had visited earlier but had already left.

Hearing this, Lin Ning didn't give it another thought and immediately made her decision:

Since the captain had infiltrated Evil Ghost Street to locate the Nerve Center, then she and Ruoxi would create havoc in Evil Ghost Street to cover for their leader and the others!

Having no opinion of her own, Xie Ruoxi simply went along with Lin Ning.

Meanwhile, the rest of Qing'an Team, after being repelled by the ghost army under Chen Lingyun's command, returned to the Paperman Workshop to rest temporarily and reported the frontline situation to Yin Rou.

Upon hearing this, Yin Rou cursed inwardly:

What kind of fool helps that stupid dead ghost... Is it a hole in their head, water in their eyes, or what?

With things as they were, she could only first calm everyone down, suggesting they rest properly outside the courtyard.

After Li Zhaojiang and others left, Yin Rou secretly made a spell gesture to activate her senses. She discovered that several outer Papermen had been taken out, confirming that Evil Ghost Street had launched a full attack on the Paperman Workshop; they were surely out to capture her permanently, which only fueled her anger.

Her skills were primarily in swordsmanship; it was a pity that her Flying Sword had been taken by the Sword Sect people when she died. Without a physical body and her personal Flying Sword, most of her abilities were useless. Now, she could barely fend off enemies with the low-grade Paperman spell—a truly hateful situation!

The only plan now was to make good use of these foreign cultivators and confront the Ghost King head-on!

Not long after, Su Yunjin and Zhao Yuanzhen also returned.

With her mind made up, Yin Rou naturally didn't dare delay and personally went to welcome the two ladies, spouting some insincere words. She mentioned that the Ghost King was a local despot with ruthless methods. It was normal for newcomers to struggle against him, and she urged them to rest well. She would gather her forces to launch a total attack and ask for their help in seizing the opportunity!

Su Yunjin and Zhao Yuanzhen were assigned a courtyard to rest briefly, only to hear Zhao Yuanzhen angrily say:

"I knew her intentions were not pure from the start. It's all because some naïve person insisted on trusting her, even making her the deputy leader! Now, look where that's got us? She's probably revealed our detailed whereabouts, what spells and Magic Treasures we specialize in, to that Ghost King. How are we supposed to fight now?"

Without showing any expression, Su Yunjin silently transmitted:

"Lingyun is just feigning surrender to incite conflict between both sides so we can benefit from it."

"What?" Zhao Yuanzhen was instantly dumbfounded.

"Don't make that face!" Su Yunjin hurriedly transmitted, "Papermen might be watching us right now!"

Although Zhao Yuanzhen was straightforward, she was very sensitive about such matters. She immediately schooled her face into a mournful expression and, after pretending for a moment, transmitted: