Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Upon the steps of the Departure Palace, Lin Ning once again launched her Flying Sword, piercing directly through the throat of the ninja below.

Thanks to their regular training, her coordination with Su Yunjin was exceedingly tacit. As the Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art had just fiercely flung the enemy from the steps, Lin Ning seized the moment their balance was lost, accurately striking a vital point with her Green Bamboo Sword.

The number of ninjas and Onmyoji she had killed had reached seven, but compared to the total number of enemies below, it was still a mere drop in the bucket.

If it were one-on-one combat, Lin Ning was confident that she could defeat each of them. However, once their numbers stacked up, even with Su Yunjin's mass control providing protection, Lin Ning often found herself with a heart-racing fear.

Dealing with enemies like Onmyoji was very different from the sorcerers of the Southern Border.

Although they did not have the numbers or strength of the southern sorcerers or the battle skills of the Rikoku Cultivators, falling squarely in the middle, their well-trained nature alone could maximize their numerical advantage during combat, which homegrown sorcerers could not.

Why couldn't Lu Country learn to nurture talents like the Yin Yang Bureau… Such a thought flashed through Lin Ning's mind, but she quickly suppressed it.

Putting aside the feasibility, the Yin Yang Bureau's approach involved elite training from the top echelons, using a mix of stick and carrot for non-elites, who had to trade their lives as cannon fodder on the battlefield for cultivation resources.

If Lu Country also adopted this system, then someone like me, who is not on the level of Yan Yu or Liu Longtao, would surely have to struggle fiercely like these fearlessly charging cannon fodder for better Elixir Medicines and Flying Swords...

At this thought, Lin Ning's fighting spirit became even more resolute.

The Southern Border's hands-off approach, letting civilian cultivators grow wildly, is definitely a dead end!

The Yin Yang Bureau's focus on nurturing elite cultivators and suppressing ordinary ones is also completely wrong!!

Having received the training of a Lu Country Cultivator, I must defeat them! Topple them all! I have to prove that only Lu Country's way is the viable path!

As a strong sense of cultural pride surged in her chest, Lin Ning's focus grew even sharper as she targeted the tough warriors.

These samurai were fully armored, but for the sake of agility, the joints and similar areas were left unprotected.

My Flying Sword can penetrate their armor, but the protection greatly reduces the damage inflicted, making it difficult to deliver a fatal blow. I should aim for their vulnerable spots instead!

Of course, the enemy would guard their weak points, but it didn't matter! I have Yun Jin! Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

Su Yunjin coordinated with Lin Ning to trap the enemies while unobtrusively dividing her Divine Sense to covertly keep an eye on the situation with Yan Yu.

Yan Yu plunged into his pursuers as if entering a realm without adversaries. Raising his Huang Tingjian, he delivered a crushing blow akin to Mount Tai bearing down, shattering the skull of an approaching Berserker, followed by a swift turn with Phoenix Dance to the Heavens, attacking the ninja waiting to strike.

The ninja hastily retreated, forming a Substitution Straw Man Technique in mid-air, just as his hand seals were about to complete, sharp pain shot through his wrist—it was Yan Yu's precise Metal-Element Impact Curse, interrupting the final step of his spell.

The Huang Tingjian seized the opportunity with a blazing thrust, cleaving the ninja into two halves in the air.

Although Ai Lu felt immense pressure from the battlefield, the sight of Yan Yu's exquisite tactical maneuvers still compelled him to spare a fraction of his Divine Sense: two Berserkers roared towards him, one swinging diagonally, the other with a horizontal strike, effectively blocking his path.

About to warn Yan Yu, Ai Lu saw Yan Yu suddenly ascend with his Sword Control, evading the diagonal and horizontal strikes.

Upon reaching the height limit of the flight ban, he forcefully disengaged Sword-Human Unity, and upon landing, instantly unleashed the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step, lightning-fast, circling behind one of them, activated Curved Curse, and delivered a fierce blow to the elbow!

The Berserker, still in the motion of a horizontal strike, had his elbow viciously hit, causing his right hand to uncontrollably thrust the massive sword forward, stabbing into his ally's chest.

Yan Yu leaped again, twisted his body, and with a back kick, the Berserker couldn't stabilize his core and stumbled forward, driving the sword deeper into his comrade. Yan Yu, meanwhile, took advantage of the momentum to soar higher, clearing the crowd, and neatly landed in front of Ai Lu and Zhao Yuanzhen.

"Yan God!" Ai Lu exclaimed with joy. If it weren't for the ongoing battle, he looked as if he wished to prostrate himself on the ground in reverence.

"You took so long to get here!" The Demonic Sect Enchantress, ever blunt, complained, "If you'd been later, I would have killed them all by now!"

"Weren't you being chased around like a dog just now?" Yan Yu teased, making her laugh, "Alright, alright, I won't lift a finger, go on and finish them all yourself."

Zhao Yuanzhen secretly seethed, thinking if only I weren't concerned about exposing my puppetry techniques, could these small-fry stand a chance against me? This thief knows my true strength and yet pretends ignorance, publicly ridiculing me before the national audience, despicable!

The national audience… Hm? Something seems off?

She subconsciously felt as if she had neglected a very important issue, but the battlefield conditions were not yet safe, and she also lacked the time to ponder it thoroughly. She simply urged,

"Quick, break out of the encirclement with us!"

"Easy as pie!" Yan Yu let out a hearty laugh and, looking at the Onmyoji swarming in from afar, he said loudly, "I'll clear the way, you all follow closely!"

He performed the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step once more, charging left and right in the front, and commanded the Huang Tingjian to execute the Triple Cloud Strike.

The essence of the Triple Cloud Strike was in its accelerating arc, with each consecutive strike stronger than the last. The Onmyoji caught in its path couldn't dodge in time, and one was cleaved in the head by his sword. The Huang Tingjian continued its relentless path, grazing the ground in an arc, abruptly rising to strike another Ninja.

That Ninja meant to use the Substitution Straw Man Technique to escape, but his spell was interrupted again by a Metal-Element Impact Curse. His jaw, hit unexpectedly by the Huang Tingjian, twisted and broke his neck completely.

The Huang Tingjian soared high, gathering the speed and power from the previous two attacks, and descended with the might of thunder, targeting the closest Berserker squad leader—Lukarl.

Although Captain Lukarl was not wearing armor, baring his torso, his chest muscles were marked with runes symbolizing "Tenacity" and "Protection," which could even withstand small-caliber bullet shots head-on.

Facing the crushing force of the Huang Tingjian like a mountain bearing down, he channeled the blood energy in his chest and let out an earth-shattering roar, hacking upwards with both hands wielding his sword.

He intended to chop the yellow-skinned Flying Sword in half by sheer force!

However, at the moment of the metallic clash, the Berserker felt an almost irresistible mighty force transmitted through the blade, nearly causing the hilt to fly from his grip. In a panic, he could only hold onto the hilt with all his might, turning the intended hack into a block.

Even as he put forth all his strength, the terrifying pressure on the blade surged, pressing on him so hard that Lukarl clenched his teeth, almost squeezing blood from his gums.

All of a sudden, the force in his hands went slack, and before he could react, the Huang Tingjian had chopped into his right shoulder.

My sword... broke?

Lukarl could hardly believe it as he looked down to see a piece of the broken blade on the ground, followed by a sudden shift in his point of view as he fell.

He, marked with the runes of "Tenacity" and "Protection," had been cut into two along with his sword by the opponent?

Is this... the strength... of the Longcheng Flying General?

Lukarl's consciousness quickly slipped into darkness, as Yan Yu kicked away his remains, with the Huang Tingjian swiftly returning before him.

As he looked up again, the circle of Berserkers around him dared not meet his gaze, many of them even stepping back half a step in the shadows, watching to see if any of their comrades would take the initiative to step forward.

But as they retreated, the remaining comrades were naturally left "exposed" at the front.

Seeing their companions stepping back, these comrades finally snapped to attention and hastily retreated along with them. Not one dared to face the edge of the Longcheng Flying General!

Xiandao Jingyin, watching from afar with an ashen face, hurriedly urged the Onmyoji to step forward and fill the gaps the Berserkers had left.

But the nearby Onmyoji had already been slain by Ai Lu and Yan Yu, and this gap was not something that could be filled so easily.

Taking advantage of the time when not a single Berserker dared to step forward, Yan Yu calmly broke through the encirclement and headed towards the Departure Palace. He even had the leisure to turn his head back to Ai Lu and Zhao Yuanzhen and laugh,

"Haha, didn't I say it would be a piece of cake?"

Ai Lu was thoroughly impressed, standing beside Yan Yu as if filled with boundless confidence. Even the Onmyoji when approached no longer seemed threatening.

Zhao Yuanzhen, however, was deeply moved and thought to herself:

"Although this rascal is showing off, he is showing off impressively! A supreme being should act just like this!"

"Given time, I will surely be able to take his place!"