Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

I always feel like this guy\'s personality is getting farther and farther from Empress Yuanzhen in her previous life... Crap, didn\'t I bring back the wrong person that night?

Taking Zhao Yuanzhen to eat at Haidilao, however, went incredibly smoothly.

In front of the hotpot, this Enchantress sprang back to life, personally picking out items like tripe, throat, Basa fish, fatty beef, duck blood, frozen tofu, fried dough sticks, kelp, enokitake mushrooms, noodle soup, shrimp paste, and claypot rice. Watching her, Yan Yu\'s eyelids kept twitching, and he nearly wanted to give her an ultimatum right then and there.

So, you just keep ordering endlessly when it\'s not your money, huh!

"Isn\'t the food here yet, Yan Yu?" After finishing her order on the phone, Zhao Yuanzhen began to fidget, sitting restlessly and tapping her foot, "So slow!"

Yan Yu silently pressed her white leg down firmly to prevent her from making a hole in the floor.

Chen Lingyun sat across the table, laughing, her eyes shaped like crescents and her eyebrows slightly raised.

So, when this sassy woman\'s eyes are crescent-shaped, she\'s happy, and when she raises her eyebrows, she\'s unhappy. But what does crescent eyes plus raised eyebrows mean?

Enjoying the pain?

"I\'m going to fix the sauce," Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly said, "Get some fragrant vinegar."

"Make it quick!" Yan Yu urged, "If you\'re not back in 3 minutes, for every 10 seconds you\'re late, I\'ll take away one of your dishes!"

"A minute is more than enough!" Zhao Yuanzhen retorted coldly, stood up, and with a whoosh, she disappeared.

Yan Yu was still somewhat worried. This woman had only seen people ordering from Haidilao in short online videos, and now she was about to operate for real. Should be fine, right?

He craned his neck towards the sauce area, only to hear Chen Lingyun say out of the blue:

"It seems you two get along quite well."

"Are you jealous?" Yan Yu deflected with a counter-attack.

"Hehe." Chen Lingyun just supported her cheek with one hand, elbow leisurely propped on the table, smiling as she watched him.

"If you\'re jealous, just come out with it. How would I know if you don\'t say it?" Yan Yu continued his assault, taunting her, "If I don\'t know you\'re jealous, how can I make fun of you?"

"The Three Arts and the Five Spells." Unable to bear it anymore, Chen Lingyun changed the subject, asking, "Which should I learn first?"

"You need to learn them all," Yan Yu answered.

"I\'m asking about priority," Chen Lingyun said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"They\'re all priorities," Yan Yu countered, "In arithmetic, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division— which do you think should be learned first? You\'re already a cultivator, asking such a basic question. Aren\'t you ashamed?"

"Jinling is currently setting up a Cultivator training program," Chen Lingyun said with a light smile. "They think it\'s more appropriate to start with the Shifting Technique and the Barrier Charm."

"Idiots," Yan Yu bluntly judged.

"Among the Three Arts, the Shifting Technique can boost movement speed; of the Five Spells, the Barrier Charm can make one invulnerable to blades and bullets," Chen Lingyun elaborated slowly. "It\'s not unreasonable for them to make that choice."

"The Shifting Technique is greatly limited by terrain," Yan Yu responded coldly. "In an urban combat environment, if the enemy is sniping from a high-rise building and you don\'t have the Cloud Ascension Technique, you\'re going to climb dozens of floors up the stairs, right?

If the enemy blocks a strategic pass, without the Wall-Penetration Technique, are you going to charge right into a bullet-saturated zone?"

"But there\'s the Barrier Charm," Chen Lingyun reasoned, smiling still, with an answer already in mind, "Activate the Barrier Charm, withstand the damage, and charging through isn\'t impossible."

"The Barrier Charm consumes True Yuan," Yan Yu stated disdainfully. "Among the Five Spells, it requires the most energy. How much True Yuan do you think you can afford to waste?"

"Hmm~" Chen Lingyun responded noncommittally, "Then among the Five Spells, which is more useful?"

"For offense, the Metal-Element Impact Curse is the best," Yan Yu said. "It shoots Sword Qi, penetrating the enemy, with the least True Yuan consumption. If the opponent uses the Barrier Charm and takes the hits, you use hit-and-run tactics against him, firing an Impact Curse every 1-2 seconds, forcing him to maintain his Barrier Charm constantly without letting up.

Considering the concept of \'metal being born from earth,\' his True Yuan will definitely run out before yours."

"Since they promote the Barrier Charm and defense above all else, just focus on practicing the Impact Curse. Give them a little \'Five Elements shock\'."

"So how should one deal with this kind of continuous Impact Curse tactic?" Chen Lingyun pondered.

"You can use the Flame Curse," Yan Yu responded, "Use the blaze to obscure the opponent\'s vision, and at the same time, the Impact Curse won\'t be able to penetrate the Flame Curse that is being cast. The Metal-Element Sword Qi will be restrained by the fire element."

"However, the best method is still the Shifting Technique + Cloud Ascension Technique, using precise movements to dodge attacks, and more importantly, to close the distance quickly for an offensive. It\'s meaningless to just think about counter tactics; offense is the best defense. As long as you take the opponent down first, whatever tactics they have lined up next are irrelevant."

"Hmm~" Chen Lingyun nodded, her smile turning more joyous, "That means you were quite formidable in your past life, huh?"

"I could pin you to the ground and beat you up without a problem," Yan Yu scoffed and replied.

"Who are you going to beat up?" Zhao Yuanzhen came back with a small bowl of sauce and looked at Chen Lingyun with a hint of malice, "Count me in."

The waiter served the dishes, and the three of them started to eat.

It wasn\'t until they had their fill and the plates were empty that Chen Lingyun took a sip of tea and suddenly said:

"Actually, I\'m quite looking forward to it."

"Looking forward to what?" Yan Yu lazily asked.

"Looking forward to you pinning everyone to the ground and giving them a good thrashing," Chen Lingyun said with a smile brimming with anticipation, "But you still need to pass the physical examination to get your enrollment qualification first."

She stood up, grabbed her designer handbag, and said:

"I have to go now, I have a high-speed train ticket for 8 o\'clock tonight."

"Next time we meet, it\'ll be in Jinling~"

"Can\'t it be a video chat?" Yan Yu deliberately asked, trying to stir things up.

"Nope." Chen Lingyun shook her finger naughtily and laughed, "I\'ve been really busy lately."

"See?" Yan Yu pointed at the heartless woman across from him and said to Zhao Yuanzhen, "Such a heartless woman, thinking about becoming a faction leader. No one is going to accept her, right?"

"Mhm, mhm, mhm." Zhao Yuanzhen was still busy picking the last of the noodles from the pot to eat.

Though not interested in their conversation, seeing it was on account of the food, she might as well go along with the little thief.

"Just kidding." Chen Lingyun spoke leisurely, "Remember to video call me, bye-bye~"

She flashed a sweet smile, waved gently, and then left.

"You\'re not allowed to video call her," Zhao Yuanzhen said suddenly after finishing the noodles.

"Why not?" Yan Yu asked with an amused smile.

"You\'re my cultivation partner," Zhao Yuanzhen said seriously as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, "You can\'t be flirting with other women."

"I\'ve told you, a cultivation partner is just a companion for cultivating together," Yan Yu chuckled coldly, "It\'s not a marriage. Can you get your role straight?"

The jealousy was practically oozing out. Empress Yuanzhen, old vinegar much? We only cultivated together for two months, without practicing any bedroom arts, and already you consider me your possession? A perfectly good cultivation partner, and you\'ve turned it into objectification. Disappointing!

"I still don\'t agree," Zhao Yuanzhen huffed, "Am I less attractive than her, or is my figure worse? Since you\'ve already cultivated with me, there\'s no need to waste time on other women."

"It\'s not about her looks or figure... forget it, you wouldn\'t understand," Yan Yu shook his head helplessly and said, "You should focus on recovering your strength. And speaking of which, where\'s our puppet?"

"It\'s in the works," Zhao Yuanzhen said somewhat sulkily, just looking at the still bubbling hot pot, her mind beginning to wander.

This is so annoying, that damn thief! Can\'t he be nice to me for once?

Hmph, once I fully master my divine power, I\'ll capture that Chen Lingyun, soul-snatch her right in front of him!

I want to see him kneeling and begging me to let her reincarnate!