Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Amid the internal turmoil of the superheroes, there was also some instability among the Onmyoji.

Everyone had agreed to join forces in attacking the Departure Palace with the goal of plundering. They all had high morale and were full of zeal. However, halfway through the battle, Lord Shenyuan Simie was captured by the enemy, and despite our desperate efforts to "introduce a mistake" to rescue him, we could not succeed, causing a clear decline in morale.

Xiandao Jingyin also noticed the issue with morale and could only have his attendants convey a message:

"If we can rescue Shenyuan Simie, after this battle, each person will be rewarded with an Imperial Hand Pill." Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

The Onmyoji were immediately invigorated and got to work with renewed vigor.

Xiandao Jingyin had also figured out where the Elixir Medicine would come from: let the Shenyuan family bear the cost.

Under urgent circumstances, the blunder was initially Shenyuan Simie's own, and the bigwigs would surely acknowledge this expense afterward.

Now that the troops were motivated, Xiandao Jingyin was about to order another charge when he suddenly heard his subordinates cry out in alarm:

"Lord Shenyuan has appeared again! No, wait, who is that?"

Bound to the Huang Tingjian and flying out this time was a person wearing Shenyuan Simie's clothes, but he was unrecognized.

He had a large bald spot on the top of his head, sporting the typical hair loss pattern of male pattern baldness, and his eyes were painted with extremely thick eyeshadow. His lips were smeared with a heavy layer of lipstick, and his makeup looked like that of a middle-aged hostess—an obasan—or like a middle-aged uncle who had undergone a gender transformation.

Many of the Onmyoji looked away almost instantly. Although they all felt nauseated, they were still in the midst of war and had to forcefully suppress their reactions.

Xiandao Jingyin was also stunned on the spot, and for a moment even had the impulse to kill everyone present to silence them. After a long time, he bellowed:

"Kill him! Kill him quickly!"

The face of the Yin Yang Bureau's Demon King was about to be completely disgraced by this idiot!

Yan Yu continued to maneuver the Sword Flight, allowing Shenyuan Simie to endure non-fatal saturation attacks before pulling him back for treatment.

"It seems that this paper effigy substitution technique indeed requires a fatal blow to be activated," mused Ye Jun thoughtfully.

"Ye Jun," Zhao Yuanzhen called out to her, "here are your eyeliner pencil and lipstick back."

"Uh, no need to keep them," Ye Jun said, feeling a bit queasy at the thought of them being used by Shenyuan Simie, "just throw them into the pond."

"They're coming again!" Lin Ning alerted.

"I'll be right there!" Ye Jun hastily went to provide a defense shield for everyone.

Having been toyed with by Yan Yu several times, Xiandao Jingyin now began to doubt, should he prioritize killing Shenyuan Simie and rescuing him, or ignore the enemy's tactical intentions and continue to organize an assault on the Departure Palace, to put pressure on the Rikoku Cultivators?

The sensible course of action would be to rescue Shenyuan Simie first. Firstly, although he had made a blunder this time by getting captured, he still possessed Demon King-level eerie arts which would certainly be a great help if he could be rescued.

Secondly, failing to make a concerted effort to rescue him and causing him to lose face in the battle of the Departure Palace would surely draw criticism from the Shenyuan family afterward.

But the problem was that they had tried several times without success. The enemy had long guessed that we would attempt a rescue, hence they used Shenyuan Simie as a kite to distract us... If we delayed the assault on the Departure Palace because of this, it would be absolutely unacceptable.

As Xiandao Jingyin weighed his options, a messenger from the Pear Blossom Courtyard came to urge:

"Why aren't you continuing the attack on the Departure Palace?"

"I command the attack formation; you just need to provide supporting fire," Xiandao Jingyin spoke with an icy expression, which translated to "mind your own business."

The messenger from Pear Blossom Courtyard was not surprised, as the relationship between the two parties had never been good. He mocked in a roundabout way with a sneer:

"Of course, we had no intention of interfering in your affairs. After all, the one 'Sword Controlling' in the sky isn't one of our Pear Blossom Courtyard swordsmen."

Xiandao Jingyin was so angry he almost ground his molar teeth, and after a long pause, he said:

"If there's nothing else, please leave."

After dispatching the messenger from Pear Blossom Courtyard, Xiandao Jingyin made his decision:

Assault the Departure Palace!

Of course, the assault on the Departure Palace was just a front. If the enemy felt too much direct pressure, they would likely release Shenyuan Simie again to attract our fire, and then we might get an opportunity to rescue him.

The Onmyoji charged out once again, with the Samurai, who had the strongest defense, leading the charge, while the Ninjas and Onmyoji provided suppressive fire from the rear.

The Rikoku Cultivators had a more direct response strategy: the Taoist Method practitioners used large-scale Taoism Methods for bombardment to delay the enemy, while the Sword Immortals struck the enemies down one by one, either injuring or killing them.

With Ye Jun's Xuan Guang Ruler for protection, everyone was generally unharmed; the price paid was the inevitable pouring out of True Yuan like water.

"Should I fly another kite?" Yan Yu suggested, "You all can take the opportunity to eat Elixir Medicine and recover."

"Not necessary right now," Chen Lingyun said, shaking her head as she observed the offensive below, "they're all waiting for you to fly a kite."

"Indeed," Yan Yu observed carefully for a moment, "they haven't gone all out yet."

"Rather than that, worry more about Ruoxi," Chen Lingyun said leisurely, "later, when she teleports to the Departure Palace square and finds enemies on all sides, given her character, she's definitely going to panic."

"Don't worry," Yan Yu said calmly, "even if she throws her Thunder Method spells indiscriminately, she won't be killed on the spot. Sister Zhao and I will go to rescue her in time."

"Hope we make it in time... Huh?" Chen Lingyun suddenly paused.

Yan Yu followed her gaze, and saw a flash of white light in the square.

Who?

Where the white light passed, Ai Lu's figure emerged.

The Rikoku Cultivators, standing on the high ground of the Departure Palace, were watching the square below every moment and also took note of Ai Lu's arrival.

The moment this guy appeared, he immediately merged with the sword light and took off in Sword Flight!

However, less than half a second later, he was forcibly removed from the Sword Control state and fell to the ground, looking bewildered.

"Oh no, this fool..." Liu Longtao immediately covered his face.

If you could use Sword Flight here, wouldn't you see swords clashing in the sky as you entered? Use your brain!

Although the Allied Forces were a beat slower, they quickly reacted as well, especially the front-line professions of the superhero camp who were most excited—finally an enemy comes! They swarmed toward Ai Lu.

"Let's go save him," Yan Yu said to Zhao Yuanzhen, and the two of them charged down directly from the front steps, colliding head-on with the Onmyoji team that was attempting to move up.

Two armored Samurai wielding long blades met the enemy and were flung backward on impact! Zhao Yuanzhen activated the White Bone Heart-Locking Hammer, smashing an armored Samurai with a single blow; Yan Yu executed the Triple Cloud Strike, shattering both the person and the armor together.

"Focus fire!" Xiandao Jingyin immediately issued the instruction.

Forget the Departure Palace for now, keeping Longcheng Flying General here would have much greater strategic value than any treasures obtained from the Departure Palace!

As the Onmyoji focused their attacks, Yan Yu felt the intensifying pressure of battle and telepathically told Zhao Yuanzhen:

"You go save him, I'll distract them here."

Without hesitation, Zhao Yuanzhen dashed toward the edge of the arena, brandishing the Yin Wind Sword, to rescue Ai Lu.

Yan Yu, executing the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step, agilely weaved through enemies, dodging wave after wave of attacks.

Xiandao Jingyin could naturally see that he was delaying time. You want to save your teammate, and we want your life... so, how about we all take a step back? We let go of your teammate, and you die here, deal?

"Everyone else retreat, Shikigami forward!" she ordered.

The Samurai and Ninjas all pulled back in unison, while Onmyoji practicing Shikigami Style stepped forward, each pulling out a Shikigami Talisman Paper.

In an instant, dozens of Shikigami of various forms appeared—flying birds, massive beasts, demons, monsters... all charging at Yan Yu from every direction!

The one leading the charge was a Shikigami that looked like a woman. Her head shook, and suddenly it was a white-boned skull spewing a large amount of greenish smoke at Yan Yu, which would cause anyone it touched to ulcerate.

Right behind him, a black-furred old cat approached stealthily, its mouth full of double rows of sharp teeth opened wide to bite ferociously at his neck.

But Yan Yu's Divine Sense was scanning his surroundings constantly. As he executed the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step, his figure suddenly dove forward, dodging the cat's bite and sliding beneath its belly as if he had skateboards beneath him.

When the cat missed its bite, it raised its head only to plunge into the poisonous fog blown by the Shikigami woman, and the corrosive agony immediately made it rage, slapping the Shikigami woman to pieces with one swing of its paw.