Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

After returning to Lu Country, everyone went their separate ways.

Li Minghu returned to the Wudang Mountain base, Liu Longtao went to Pingjing, while Yan Yu, Chen Lingyun, and Su Yunjin went back to Jinling Villa, waiting for the missions assigned from above.

During the days Yan Yu was not around, the girls lived in peace.

Every morning, Zhou Hongyu went out for training in the yard behind the villa, practicing military boxing vigorously; in the afternoon, she went back to the villa and filled the indoor swimming pool, used by Yunjin for practicing Taoism, with water to swim back and forth a dozen times; at night, she returned to her room to chat with Tang Xiaolian over the phone.

Zhao Yuanzhen, on the other hand, slept in the morning, then went out in the afternoon to enjoy food and drinks, and in the evening watched movies and ate snacks with Xie Ruoxi in the living room on the first floor… her schedule completely offset with Zhou Hongyu's, thus no conflicts occurred.

Until Yan Yu returned home, the two who had originally kept to themselves began clashing immediately.

"You can't handle this level of spiciness?" Zhou Hongyu sneered, "Wimp."

Zhao Yuanzhen's eyes were ablaze—not from anger, but from the heat—the days when Su Yunjin and Lin Ning were not around, meals were solved by turns through deliveries. When it was Zhou Hongyu's turn to order, she deliberately chose super oily and spicy Sichuan restaurants, driving the Enchantress mad.

Not eating them is hard, as the aroma of red oil is truly tempting, Zhao Yuanzhen couldn't resist such temptation; but if she forces herself to eat, she'll soon be overwhelmed by the heat, sweating all over. She believes she can handle spicy food quite well, so suspects Zhou Hongyu is deliberately messing with her, adding insane levels of chili to prevent her from enjoying her meals.

What infuriates her even more is that her good friend Xie Ruoxi feels no spicy sensation at all, happily eating beef with red oil and dipping it in chili powder, enjoying it without breaking a sweat.

"Don't worry, Sister Zhao, you're already quite capable of handling spicy food." She chewed beef and comforted Zhao Yuanzhen, "Eat a bit more and you'll be like us."

Zhao Yuanzhen's face turned ashen: What do you expect me to do? For every piece of beef I eat, I have to chug half a bottle of soy milk just to suppress the heat in my mouth. By that time, you've eaten all the beef, leaving hardly any for me!

Damn it, how can the body of a Golden Core True Man be so fragile! Shouldn't I automatically ignore excessive spiciness?

If Mei Yingxue were here, she would tell her that "sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, salty" are the five tastes of humans, unrelated to illness. Golden Core True Man may be immune to all diseases, but not to the point of filtering human tastes; it just ensures no damage to intestines or fiery backlash from consuming too much spicy food.

Yan Yu had just returned home when Zhao Yuanzhen rushed over to complain, implying that Zhou Hongyu knew her ability to eat spicy was inferior, and purposely served super spicy dishes to bully her, asking her husband to intervene.

What's there to intervene? If you can't eat spicy food, order yourself a non-spicy delivery. Who's forcing you to eat spicy with Hongyu?

Yan Yu, impartial like a stern judge, certainly won't entertain her unreasonable accusations. He was about to speak when he saw Zhou Hongyu looking over provocatively, her chin slightly raised, asking:

"Care to join in the eating?"

Yan Yu thought it through and realized that just listening to Zhao Yuanzhen didn't reveal the full picture, so he couldn't make a rash conclusion based on one-side testimony. Thus, he picked up a chopstick, dipped it into red oil, and put it into his mouth for confirmation.

Hmm...

Is this industrial-grade chili essence? Hongyu, are you attempting to murder Sister Zhao, eliminating the competition?

Yan Yu turning to look at Xie Ruoxi, found her eating with great vigor, neither drinking water, only breathing heavily in satisfaction and exclaiming 'great!' having no sign of struggle.

Could it be my understanding of spiciness is flawed?

"Eat spicy if you wish to," baffled Yan Yu couldn't clarify much, so he decisively resolved the matter, turned around, and instructed, "Yunjin, I want Yangchun noodles with braised intestines and sautéed eel toppings."

"Alright, I'll go buy." Su Yunjin took out a phone, "What about the others?"

"I want fried pork chop." Chen Lingyun said with a smiling squint.

"Then I want marinated pork belly." Zhao Yuanzhen immediately switched sides, no longer competing with Zhou Hongyu, gleefully exclaimed, "No spicy oil at all!"

"I'll eat noodles with everyone." Xie Ruoxi stood up too, apologetically said, "I haven't eaten enough."

Zhou Hongyu slightly furrowed her brows, not realizing that Yan Yu had bypassed the spicy food debate with one sentence, effortlessly pulling everyone over to his side.

Now within Yan's household, girls from north, south, east, west, all around, have gathered. Naturally, their dietary habits differ greatly. If Yan Yu's stance is even slightly lenient, allowing them to argue and bicker over trivial matters, there'll be no peace later.

What one bowl of water is evenly distributed? Not necessary. I decide what happens here, and how this house is run!

Zhou Hongyu, however, wasn't opposed to his tough approach. In fact, if Yan Yu was the kind of man who whimsically pampered girls without boundaries, she wouldn't be interested!

After dinner, returning to the bedroom, she dialed Tang Xiaolian to discuss the event.

"Darn, I haven't yet crossed tribulation." Tang Xiaolian said frustratingly, "Otherwise, I'd come over and help you."

"It's alright, they aren't threatening me." Zhou Hongyu said indifferently, "Focus on preparing for your tribulation, don't worry about my situation here."

Tang Xiaolian thought they weren't threatening you? They were just giving face to Yan Yu, not making things difficult for you. Given Captain Zhou's emotional intelligence, if someone dug a trap, she'd step right into it without noticing.

"By the way, the Gonggong plan seems to be at a deadlock." Tang Xiaolian suddenly said, "The previous solutions all failed, and next, they might send strong Magic Cultivators to test, probably notifying you to go in the next few days."

"Really?" Zhou Hongyu asked in surprise.

"Didn't your assistant tell you?" Tang Xiaolian was speechless as well. Captain Zhou, ever since you moved over there, it's like you're completely out of the loop.

Actually, this wasn't Zhou Hongyu's fault. In the Huofeng Team, she was the type to focus solely on practicing the Flame Fist, oblivious to the outside world. All the liaison and communication work with the Pingxi Army was handled by Deputy Captain Zhang.

Now that the team had disbanded, Zhou Hongyu didn't stay in touch with her assistant much, so her sources of information were completely cut off.

After Tang Xiaolian's reminder, she contacted her assistant to inquire about the Gonggong Plan.

"Yes." The assistant didn't hide anything from her and said directly, "Anything approaching the snake-like giant creature is attracted by massive gravity and veers off course, sometimes being forcibly torn apart. So currently, we're considering using Taoism Methods to launch long-distance attacks from outside the gravitational range."

"Will they call me?" Zhou Hongyu asked.

"You and Su Yunjin are both on the list of potential recruits," the assistant replied. "Notification will probably be sent out tomorrow morning, and the plan is to depart in the afternoon."

"Alright." Zhou Hongyu was slightly displeased. Yan Yu just got back today, and I have to leave tomorrow. Did they really not purposely mess up our schedules?

The Lu Country's Privy Council had no such intentions, and they were quite foresighted. They had already arranged for Yan Yu and his group of girls to stay together, a typical preventive measure, which was why Zhou Hongyu was only "slightly displeased" now.

She had to find Yan Yu in the evening to properly grumble.

Despite priding herself on being independent and strong-willed, the original Zhenhai Team's base was still there, surrounded by the original team's girls. Zhou Hongyu instinctively chose to keep a low profile, sneaking to Yan Yu's room around midnight when everyone should be asleep, phasing through the wall.

She ended up seeing Zhao Yuanzhen and Yan Yu grappling with each other. They awkwardly turned their heads to look at Zhou Hongyu, their eyes vacant as they met her gaze.

Zhou Hongyu: ........

Her face instantly turned ashen, followed by a burst of fury, which she forcibly suppressed into an icy silence. Then the fury gradually receded, revealing a thoughtful expression, and finally, she looked over with a playful glint.

Yan Yu, temporarily restrained by Zhao Yuanzhen, couldn't decipher Zhou Hongyu's entire thought process from her richly expressive face. But a sense of crisis poked him like a sharp pain, setting off a warning alarm. It quickly transformed into boundless fighting intent, as he provocatively beckoned Zhou Hongyu over with a finger.

Come on then, I'm on a tight schedule!

Zhou Hongyu pressed a hand against her collar, her disdainful gaze looking down as if observing a bug. She marched in with long strides.

——————————————

The next day.

Su Yunjin was making breakfast in the kitchen when she looked back to see Yan Yu slowly coming down the stairs, holding his waist, his complexion somewhat haggard.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Yun Jin put the bowl of wonton on the table and approached with concern. "Did you sustain an injury while confronting the flesh-and-blood giant snake yesterday?"

"Hmm." Yan Yu mumbled, "I didn't feel much during the day, but realized last night that my vitality was severely depleted. Thankfully, the battle didn't last long, or I might not have been able to get out of bed today."

"Do you want me to take a look?" Su Yunjin asked while placing a hand on him without waiting for a response.

Yan Yu: ........

The Runescript True Essence probed within him for a moment, and Su Yunjin's expression gradually turned cold.

"Yes, it's indeed vitality depletion." She sighed softly, then seriously added, "Captain, even though Golden Core True Men are immune to diseases, you still shouldn't waste your body recklessly. You understand that, right?"

"I do." Yan Yu admitted sheepishly, "But I also have reasons that make fighting unavoidable."

"Next time this happens, you can come to my room." Su Yunjin said sternly, "There's no shame in escaping; taking care of yourself is the right thing to do!"

"To your room?" Yan Yu couldn't help but chuckle wryly. What difference does it make? The required vitality depletion remains, only varying in degree.

"At least I won't be as overbearing as them," Su Yunjin murmured, "and I'll consider your feelings."

"What?"

"Nothing." Su Yunjin shook her head. "I just got notified; I'm heading north this afternoon to join the Gonggong Plan against that giant snake in Bohai."

"Yes, I heard about it too." Yan Yu nodded, "If objects can't approach the target, the priority should be to consider Hongyu's purely energy-based Taoism Methods. Your Tianhe Water might not be effective either."

"Since I've been called, I'll give it a try." Su Yunjin was casually compliant when it came to work, with no intention of shirking responsibility. "Before I leave, come to my room, and I'll help you treat the symptoms of vitality depletion."

"Wait." Seeing Yun Jin come over and grab his arm, about to drag him upstairs, Yan Yu quickly confirmed, "You're not talking about that kind of fight-fire-with-fire treatment, right?"

"You'll find out when you get there." Su Yunjin said without room for discussion, "Let's go."