Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

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The junk time was upon them.

The Dingbei Army cultivators came over to clean up the site, confirming the location of the central hub within the ruins of the Mysterious Realm and carefully extracted it.

Only after a specialist refined it could the Zhenhai Team and others leave the Mysterious Realm.

If it had been an esports competition, there would have been thunderous applause outside the Mysterious Realm by now, countless dazzling spotlights shone, and tens of thousands of media cameras would be aimed here, waiting for the team members to step onto the award stage where a heavy trophy—too big to be lifted with one hand (designed to be hoisted by the entire team)—was placed...

But there was none.

Lin Ning shifted her gaze around, observing that people in the military camp were still methodically going about their work, like precise gears turning in a massive machine.

This cooled her tiny sense of vain pride from claiming victory just a bit.

So it seems, the seemingly glamorous cultivators are just a few parts of this colossal machine after all.

"What are you thinking about?" Su Yunjin noticed her falling behind and stopped to wait for her.

"No, nothing." Lin Ning hurried to catch up.

After a while, she suddenly spoke up:

"The captain clearly stole the show, so why can't I see a single expression of joy on his face?"

"Perhaps because for him, this really isn't an achievement worth boasting about," Su Yunjin speculated thoughtfully.

"Is that so…" Lin Ning also pondered quietly.

What then is the true accomplishment that I should seek and strive for?

After getting checked by the medical team, everyone returned to the hotel they had stayed in the day before to rest and rejuvenate.

Yan Yu returned to his room, took out his phone, and saw that many friends had sent congratulatory messages. Since there were too many, he decided to set them aside for now and reply when he got home...

Huh?

[The Proud and Quirky One has sent you a video invite.]

What does my little sister want?

Yan Yu, puzzled, tapped to accept the call, and his sister's face instantly appeared on the screen... the background seemed to be her school.

Oh, right, school has started again.

"Big brother," Yan Jing beamed, "you worked hard in this competition."

Yan Yu instinctively wanted to scoff and say "Worked hard my ass," but on second thought, he wondered, She's making a video call from school just to tell her big brother he worked hard?

I don't buy it! That's not like her at all!

"What's up?" Yan Yu asked seriously.

Yan Jing didn't disappoint him. She moved her face away from the screen to reveal three or four junior high school girls behind her and boasted:

"Ta-da! See, this is my brother Yan Zhanlong! I didn't lie to you, did I?"

Watching the girls' expressions change from surprised, to astonished, to shocked, and then to eyes gleaming with excitement, Yan Yu was momentarily dumbfounded, then somewhat speechless.

Damn, Jingjing, you're only in junior high! How come you've started showing off your brother already? Where did you learn this braggadocious trait!!!

Seeing that Yan Yu didn't know what to say for a moment, Yan Jing's face quickly reappeared on the screen and chuckled:

"Alright, that's it, you can hang up now."

Yan Yu irritably ended the call, lay back on the bed and played with his phone for a while longer, then he suddenly heard knocking.

"Yan Yu!" Lin Ning called from the other side of the door, "We have a press conference to attend shortly, Ruoxi is calling you over for makeup."

"Okay," Yan Yu got up.

Opening the door, he saw that Sister Lin had already put on her makeup. Her makeup was more radiant than Su Yunjin's, focusing on accentuating eye lines and highlighting plump lips, and her hair, which Lin Ning usually likes to tie into a single ponytail, was now exceptionally let down (styled with a curling iron), adding fashionably playful curves to her innocent face, enhancing her beauty.

"What are you looking at?" Lin Ning felt a little uncomfortable.

"Isn't your makeup a bit too heavy?" Yan Yu frowned and asked.

"Eh, is it?" Lin Ning quickly took out her phone to check herself in the selfie camera.

"I think it's too much," Yan Yu said, "You could compare with the others."

"Does the captain prefer the no-makeup look?" Lin Ning asked tentatively.

"I like my girlfriend without makeup, so it's less likely to eat lipstick when kissing," Yan Yu replied nonchalantly.

"You, you!" Lin Ning blushed with embarrassment, kicked out forcefully but was nimbly dodged by Yan Yu. Feeling somewhat aggrieved by the insinuation, she didn't continue to chase him but rather protested, "How can you say such a thing!"

```

"What are you talking about?" Yan Yu also showed a baffled expression, "You asked me what type of makeup I like on girls, and I told you. Besides, this is just my personal aesthetic preference, so why did you hit me?"

"I'm not trying to—!" It was then that Lin Ning realized something wasn't right; it seemed like she might have let her imagination run wild… No, he's trying to trick me!

"I didn't ask what makeup you like, I was asking what makeup you think looks better on me," she quickly regained her composure and spoke with conviction, "But you brought up things like girlfriends, kissing, eating lipstick— isn't that making lewd comments and harassing a teammate?"

"You're spouting nonsense!" Yan Yu immediately got angry, "You clearly asked about my preference!"

"Where's your proof?" Lin Ning stretched out her fair hand and said with a sly smile, "Do you have any evidence? Do you have a recording?"

"I'm the team captain," Yan Yu declared with authority, "My word is evidence."

"Hmph." Lin Ning turned her head away, pretending she wanted nothing to do with him, but her eyes stealthily glanced at his facial expression. Seeing Yan Yu didn't react, she suddenly stretched out her leg like lightning and stepped on him, then quickly dashed away to a distance.

Yan Yu: .........

Are you a grade schooler or what?

When Lin Ning ran back to Xie Ruoxi's room, she peeked out to make sure Yan Yu hadn't followed her, and only then did she slowly relax.

That annoying captain is always teasing girls with his words! That kick was your punishment!

"Where's Yan Yu?" Xie Ruoxi was doing Chen Lingyun's eyebrows when she saw Lin Ning return and asked.

"He'll be here in a bit," Lin Ning composed herself, hiding her little emotions and sitting beside Chen Lingyun.

After a while, she said softly:

"Ruoxi, I think my makeup is a bit heavy now, I'd like to switch to something lighter."

"Sure," Xie Ruoxi said nonchalantly, "Which parts would you like to be lighter?"

"I want to change to a natural makeup look," Lin Ning murmured as she looked at herself in the mirror, "No lipstick, just use lip balm instead."

"How come you're suddenly making decisions about your makeup?" Chen Lingyun asked with a smile, "Didn't you just go along with whatever Ruoxi said last time?"

"Yeah," Lin Ning replied nonchalantly, "If you put on too much lipstick, it's bothersome when you eat and some of it gets into your mouth."

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After the match, the Flying Dragon Battle Team still attended the press conference first.

The home team attends first before the game, but the losers attend first after; since the Flying Dragon Battle Team was the home team that lost, they had to attend first both times… Although it sounds unlucky, considering that the second teams from the other three military branches have gone through the same, there's no need for special sympathy towards them.

The journalists were, of course, merciless. As soon as the Q&A session began, someone threw a very sharp question:

"Who do you think should bear the main responsibility for this defeat?"

Vice-captain Shen Rui, with a microphone in hand, devoid of any dejection or annoyance from defeat, simply said with a smile:

"Everyone watched the live broadcast, right? The primary reason for the Flying Dragon Battle Team's defeat was that I was taken out by the opposition too early, leading to the collapse of our team's command system..."

Before he could finish his self-criticism, Cai Qianlong, who could no longer bear it, snatched the microphone away.

"It's my responsibility," Cai Qianlong said, suddenly standing up and bowing to the journalists present, "The defeat can't be blamed on Shen Rui because he wasn't strong enough to withstand Zhenhai Team's concentrated fire."

"Being up five to four at the start, we had the advantage in numbers, but to make the most of it, the command has to be smooth. As the team captain, I should have ensured during the battle that Shen Rui wasn't targeted by the opposition, and I failed to do that. Therefore, I bear the responsibility for this defeat."

The journalists silently watched him. In a movie, the entire audience would probably erupt in applause now, admiring the captain's spirit of taking responsibility.

But reality is that not everyone might be sympathetic, but they definitely have brains. What you said is correct; the defeat is indeed your responsibility, and your public admission has saved us a lot of effort in writing news articles… So they started to conceptualize their reports, and the atmosphere turned somewhat chilly for a moment.

"But just because we lost this time, doesn't mean we'll lose next time!" After admitting defeat, Cai Qianlong suddenly regained his spirit and shouted, "Next time we face Zhenhai Team, we won't be defeated so easily!"

Now the atmosphere became lively again. Journalists love conflict and tension, and as the host signaled for the next question, immediately seven or eight hands shot up.

"Captain Cai, Zhenhai Team chose a tactic of four against five this time, with team captain Yan Yu going alone to challenge the Mysterious Realm Gatekeeper. Do you think this was an act of contempt towards the Flying Dragon Battle Team?" the journalist who got the chance to ask a question instantly fanned the flames. Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire

"Yes," Cai Qianlong said earnestly, "But that's the truth. Because our current strength is indeed not the match of Zhenhai Team, and we don't have the ability to incite team captain Yan Yu's interest!"

"Captain Cai," another journalist inquired, "how would you evaluate Zhenhai Team's captain Yan Yu?"

"Yan Yu is very strong," Cai Qianlong stated seriously, "Extremely strong. I once sought guidance from Liu Longtao, the number one person from the Dingbei Army, and of course, he's also very strong, but I think he's a notch below Yan Yu. Yan Yu might be currently the strongest Cultivator in the whole Lu Country."

We should have interviewed Captain Cai earlier! Journalists with the hot quote teared up with joy and eagerly raised their hands, indicating they had more questions.

In the military academy of Shengjing, everyone watching the live broadcast suddenly fell silent, each stealing glances at Lord Master's expression, secretly snickering to themselves.

"It's not so bad," Ye Jun came out to ease the tension, "At least he didn't say it was a tie when he fought you."

Liu Longtao's face darkened before he finally said:

"So, everyone is latching onto that, huh?"