Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"1 minute and 11 seconds," Chen Lingyun replied.

The course, originally designed to be completed in about 3 and a half minutes, was run by Yan Yu in a terrifying 1 minute and 11 seconds, leaving Han Zaixian with nothing but admiration—he certainly couldn\'t have done it himself.

Of course, the dignity of an instructor must be upheld, especially with all the students watching!

Han Zaixian didn\'t show any hint of "wow, I can\'t believe you ran that fast" shock. Instead, he put on a confident smile that said, "Haha, I knew you could do it," and patted the returning Yan Yu on the shoulder, laughing as he said:

"Yan Yu, you run so well!!! So, do you think there\'s still room for improvement on your time?"

"Sure," Yan Yu said indifferently, "If I use the Wall-Penetration Technique to go through the obstacles instead of using the Cloud Ascension Technique to go around them, I should be able to get close to 1 minute."

"It looks like we need to put up a notice," Han Zaixian said cheerfully, "Prohibiting the use of the Wall-Penetration Technique on the Cloud Ascension Technique training grounds."

"That\'s not necessary," Yan Yu, in front of all the students, bluntly critiqued, "The Three Arts are inherently a single system. Even if everyone practices them separately and masters each one, they\'ll still need to be reintegrated and practiced together again.

The result of practicing the Three Arts separately is that it produces nothing but test-taking specialists—you ask them to take a spell exam, and they can use each spell perfectly; but put them on the battlefield, and their performance will be a mess."

"Yeah, that\'s certainly true," Han Zaixian could only agree, having witnessed such a staggering performance. "Actually, the school has already considered this. We\'re also in the process of building facilities for the comprehensive practice of the Three Arts."

"Oh, is it already under construction?" Chen Lingyun asked with a smile.

"Under construction, under construction," Han Zaixian said boldly, thinking to himself that he would suggest it to the leadership as soon as he got back; preparation was part of the process, after all.

Seeing Yan Yu standing on an equal footing with the instructor and giving directions, the students felt no more resentment or antagonism, but instead, showed an awestruck expression that said, "Wow, he\'s really a pro."

Having all practiced the Shifting Technique, they knew the level of skill Yan Yu\'s performance indicated was terrifying.

Only the boy who earlier proposed the "call me daddy" challenge was now looking at Qiu Ze with a gloomy face.

"I think if you don\'t acknowledge it, he probably won\'t make things difficult for you," Qiu Ze pondered. "But otherwise, you\'re likely to be taunted by others... It\'s your decision to make."

After mulling it over, the boy felt that being labeled "brave in speech but not in action" was worse than simply calling someone daddy—as the former would be a moral talking point that could be used against him at any time, while the latter was just a joke that he could ignore if he had thick skin.

Just as he mustered the courage and was about to step forward and call out "daddy," he suddenly saw Zhao Yuanzhen standing behind Yan Yu, giving him a look as if she was about to kill someone.

You try calling him that, I dare you!

............

Leaving the training ground, everyone silently headed toward the dormitories.

Zhao Yuanzhen was visibly annoyed, still caught up in the irritating thought of almost having gained a son.

Su Yunjin remained calm and collected, as if it didn\'t matter to her whether Yan Yu was a top student or a bad one.

Lin Ning, however, watched Yan Yu\'s retreating figure, looking like she had something to say but hesitated.

"Looks like you\'ve made a name for yourself once more," Chen Lingyun said with raised eyebrows and a chuckle.

"Jealousy makes people ugly," Yan Yu stated flatly.

"The word \'ugly\' will never be associated with me," Chen Lingyun replied, still smiling.

"I envy you," Yan Yu sighed, "It\'s different for me; I have this ugly person who keeps bothering me."

Chuckle! Su Yunjin turned her head away, her shoulders trembling slightly, and Lin Ning finally couldn\'t help but speak up:

"Don\'t you think you\'re being a bit too harsh with that kind of talk..."

"Lin Ning," Yan Yu turned his head and asked, "What was that piece of advice you used to recite? I\'ve kind of forgotten, could you remind me?"

Lin Ning immediately blushed and started to stammer about how "early romance is wrong" and "high school students should focus on their studies," until Su Yunjin pulled her back and whispered:

"Don\'t worry about it. Look, Ling Yun isn\'t angry, she might even be enjoying it."

"But it\'s not right for him to make such a joke..."

The two young ladies fell behind, muttering to each other. Chen Lingyun, walking ahead, suddenly said:

"The matter we discussed last time has been settled."

"Are you referring to the trip to Shengjing, or the matter of renting a house outside the school?" Yan Yu asked.

"To Shengjing." Chen Lingyun smiled slightly, "Although there hasn\'t been an official notification yet, it\'s essentially settled: this weekend, the four major magical colleges will hold an exchange competition at the Dingbei Cultivator College in Shengjing. Each college will send one representative to show their strength."

"Hmm." Yan Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Is it that the higher-ups want to review the troops?"

"To be precise, they want to reassess the strength and value of the four major colleges," Chen Lingyun corrected, "You know, the resources the nation currently invests in cultivating cultivators have far exceeded the cost of establishing any one type of military branch. With so much money, even if it were thrown into the water, you\'d expect to hear a splash, right?"

"Furthermore, budgetary funding projects typically involve a game of one-upmanship; it\'s even less likely that the four major colleges would be treated equally. Anyway, as long as you perform excellently in front of the councilors this time, our Zhendong Army will then have more leverage to ask for additional funds for the college."

"You mean to bring honor to the school, right?" Yan Yu realized, glancing at her sideways, "So this was settled a long time ago, and previously you just took advantage of the situation and used the information gap to bluff me?"

"Who knows?" Chen Lingyun sang out, "Maybe it was all designed and arranged by me?"

"You don\'t have the skill to plot against the cabinet." Yan Yu fell silent for a moment before asking, "The Zhendong Army plans to send me out, what about the other colleges?"

"You should be able to guess the representative from the Dingbei Army," Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

"Lord Master Liu Longtao?" Yan Yu guessed.

"After all, he also started training a month in advance, and no students of the same year can compete with him," Chen Lingyun said leisurely, "Unless the Dingbei Army can produce another unexpected Yan Yu."

"What about the Annan Army?" Yan Yu showed no particular reaction and continued.

"Li Zhaojiang," Chen Lingyun replied, "You\'re familiar with that name, right?"

"I am," Yan Yu considered and said, "However, when it comes to fighting, his sister Li Minghu should be somewhat stronger."

"Well, that I don\'t know," Chen Lingyun said lightheartedly, "I\'ve heard his sister has lung disease."

"Yes, the kind that currently can\'t be cured," Yan Yu said nonchalantly, "but that doesn\'t affect her strength, which you\'ll see in the future."

Chen Lingyun made a note of the name "Li Minghu" to investigate later, and with a smile on her face, she continued:

"By asking about the representative from the Annan Army first, are you suggesting that the Pingxi Army is relatively less of a concern?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, the representative of the Pingxi Army should be Zhou Hongyu," Yan Yu said slowly, "It means there\'s no threat."

"But I\'ve heard that this Zhou Hongyu is very strong," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "At least in terms of fame, stronger than Annan Army\'s Li Minghu."

"Fame means nothing." Yan Yu dismissed, "To put it nicely, she has a fatal flaw in her character; to put it rudely, she\'s a blockhead—she deliberately dresses up looking ferocious like a mace, but is actually quite dull."

"So you\'re confident you can triumph completely this time?" Chen Lingyun blinked.

"Or else?" Yan Yu retorted, "Unless you were hoping they could beat me?"

As everyone arrived at the crossroads, only to hear Chen Lingyun say with a laugh:

"Not at all. Rather, I\'m looking forward to seeing your performance, Yan Yu."

"I\'ll enjoy watching you cutting a swath through your opponents~"

She headed in the direction of the female dormitory, with Su Yunjin and Lin Ning following behind her, bidding farewell to Yan Yu:

"We\'re off then." "Yan Yu, goodbye~"

Zhao Yuanzhen wanted to accompany Yan Yu to the men\'s dormitory, but was forcibly dragged away by Lin Ning.

Yan Yu strolled leisurely back to his dormitory. Just as he had said to Chen Lingyun before, no matter how many hidden dragons and crouching tigers there were among these college cultivators, that was a matter for the future.

At this stage, no one was his match.