Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Yan Yu ultimately did not block Chen Lingyun.

It wasn't because he was afraid she would seek out his sister and dig up his embarrassing childhood history, but because he didn't want to stoop to the level of such a despicable woman.

After all, if he stooped to another's level of pettiness, the result would only spiral into greater pettiness, which was really not advisable.

After the four finished dinner in the cafeteria, they walked slowly along the path outside.

The combination of one male and three females, especially since all the girls were quite attractive, undoubtedly drew the attention of many passing students and staff members.

As a leaf among the flowers, Yan Yu also received such curious and inquisitive gazes. Thankfully, they were mostly out of curiosity and investigation, and there were no death stares from single dogs attempting to glare him to death.

"Walking with three beauties must be a lot of pressure, right?" Chen Lingyun was, as expected, bringing up the awkward subject again, her annoying knack for observing words and colors at play.

"What are you talking about? There are only two beauties here," Yan Yu glanced at her sidelong.

Even the gentle and demure Su Yunjin, who never forgot to focus on her reading while walking, and Lin Ning, couldn't help but prick their ears up quietly from the sidelines.

Who are you talking about?

Who has been kicked out of the ranks of beauties?

It better not be me, or else I will...

"So, who is it that's not a beauty?" Already guessing what he was going to say, Chen Lingyun asked with a smile, "Think carefully before you speak~"

"Of course, it's someone who's not even 1.6 meters tall," Yan Yu said very calmly, "That height clearly belongs to an elementary school student. Calling her a 'young lady' is really a stretch. If she went to an internet cafe, she wouldn't even have the chance to show her ID before being kicked out."

Su Yunjin sighed beside them, as she had already seen that Yan Yu wasn't really engaging in personal attacks, since Chen Lingyun didn't look the least bit insulted or hurt.

To be exact, this seemed to be some sort of "special communication where insulting each other strengthens their relationship." According to the descriptions in novels, this type of conversation typically occurred among very close male friends...

"Judging a woman by her height is petty," Lin Ning interjected suddenly.

Su Yunjin felt suffocated for a moment. With just one sentence, this child managed to attack two people at once—was she missing some common sense?

The smile on Chen Lingyun's face remained unchanged; she only raised her eyebrows slightly, looking at Yan Yu.

Yan Yu glanced at Lin Ning and saw her looking down at the path with a cold expression, completely ignoring him. He took a deep breath and then spoke with feeling:

"Indeed, because physical appearance possesses the charm to make one an appealing member of the opposite sex, confessing without knowing the person's character is hardly likely to result in a lasting relationship. And let's not forget, as high school students, our main focus is still supposed to be on studying.

I'm happy that you like me, but as the class president, I still need to have a serious talk with you about this..."

As Yan Yu recited his deep feelings, Lin Ning's expression quickly changed from cold to shocked, then from shocked to fearful, and from fearful to wanting to dig a hole to hide in out of embarrassment—and a type of anger that wanted her to annihilate herself and him right there and then, her neck and ears turning completely red.

"You you you you you! Come here!" She yanked Yan Yu's arm forcefully, dragging him toward a small grove, calling out in embarrassment and anger, "Stop reciting! Come with me!"

The two of them busied themselves going into the grove. Su Yunjin was silent for a moment before sighing and saying:

"Is it really okay?"

"It's okay," Chen Lingyun's smile was very cheerful, "I'm confident he knows where to draw the line, and..."

"...besides, it's quite interesting, isn't it?"

Less than a minute had passed before Yan Yu and Lin Ning emerged from the grove. The former strutted back with an air of triumph, while the latter wore an expression that screamed, "I'm so mad but have to restrain myself" like she had been thoroughly put in her place.

"Let's go," said Yan Yu, waving his hand.

Su Yunjin walked beside them, furtively checking if their clothes were disheveled, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Zhendong National Defense Academy's campus was extremely large; apart from the dormitories, administrative buildings, and lecture halls that are standard for universities, there were outdoor training fields and the mountain behind them.

Only by following Chen Lingyun deep into the mountain did everyone realize that the inside of the mountain had been hollowed out long ago, and a large number of rooms had been carved out.

The walls and floor were all lined with steel plates, every room was brightly lit, and there were surveillance cameras everywhere, making it look like the top-secret military laboratory seen in TV shows. It wouldn't seem out of place if a section of the floor suddenly opened to reveal automatic guns that would mow down everyone as intruders.

What was even stranger was that there was not a single staff member in sight.

"We... shouldn't be considered as illegally breaking in, right?" Su Yunjin started to get cold feet.

"Obviously, we're not," Yan Yu said, speechless, "When she brought us in, she used a key to open the door."

"Having a key doesn't necessarily mean legal entry, right?" Lin Ning seriously criticized, "It could be a key obtained through illegal means, or it might be unauthorized entry during a forbidden time period without approval..."

"Preaching." Yan Yu said somberly.

"Okay, I'll stop preaching!" Lin Ning shouted irritably, "Anyway, if we get caught, I am definitely going to tell the truth!"

Seeing her give up on herself, Chen Lingyun had more or less completed her "personality portrait" of her and quietly took out her phone, typing out a message.

Yan Yu also took out his phone and saw the new message from Chen Lingyun:

"Gentle and delicate little jade? Serious and competent with long black hair?"

Almost smashed my phone... This wretched woman does have a good memory, I had almost forgotten.

"What, are you jealous?" Yan Yu replied and asked.

"Heh," was the inscrutable response.

"Alright, this is the place." Chen Lingyun, having put away her phone, led the three of them into a spacious hall, which appeared to be... a shooting range?

"This is the practice area for the Metal-Element Impact Curse. You can freely shoot at the targets in the distance, but you absolutely must not aim at people~" She turned on the control panel nearby, fiddled with it for a while, and the targets in front began to move.

There were large and small targets, stationary and moving, straight-line, curved, reciprocating, and irregular in every possible pattern.

Lin Ning took out her textbook she always carried with her and started to learn and research casting spells on the spot. Su Yunjin leaned in to watch as well.

"Ah, it looks like you've already practiced it," Chen Lingyun said with a covered laugh upon seeing Yan Yu not studying on the spot, "How about giving it a try?"

"Hmm," Yan Yu replied, hands behind his back, calmly, "Let's see yours first."

Chen Lingyun put her two fingers together and extended them forward. Immediately, a muffled sound emerged from the distant target, and the display screen hanging from the ceiling showed "Target 14, Score 7."

Meanwhile, Su Yunjin and Lin Ning also put down their books. Clearly, compared to cramming on the spot, watching someone else cast spells in person seemed to be more valuable.

"Your turn to try?" Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

"Then you'd better watch closely," Yan Yu replied confidently as he walked toward the shooting position.

————————

While Yan Yu and his companions hadn't seen any staff when they entered, this was not a normal situation. Rather, it was because, 20 minutes before, the commander-in-chief of the Zhendong Army, Li Weiguo, had made a surprise visit, and most of the staff had gone to the practice field to assist with the demonstrations.

Leaving the Earth-Element Sturdiness Curse training area, Li Weiguo continued to instruct the school principal beside him:

"...With rubber bullets, there's still a fatal risk if hit in a vital area by accident. Our military has a quota for training casualties, but these university cultivators are far too precious to lose in training accidents, so it's best to switch to liquid buffer rounds instead."

"Understood, we'll make the changes right away."

"What's the next facility we're inspecting?"

"The central control room. It's staffed 24 hours a day, and we can see everything happening in all the training fields. If any students get injured, we'll find out immediately."

Surrounded by a large group, the commander-in-chief and the school leaders made their way to the central control room. Just as they reached the door, they heard exclamations from the on-duty staff inside:

"Wow, look at this one!"

"Is that one of the army's elite snipers?"

"No, that's clearly a university student. But given that level of skill, it wouldn't be surprising if they were from the military..."

Hearing the unrestrained discussion inside, the school leaders' faces darkened as they hurriedly pushed open the door and coughed loudly.

The on-duty staff quickly stood up, only to see Li Weiguo stride powerfully into the control room. His gaze swept across the room, and he immediately caught sight of the surveillance screen for the Metal-Element Impact Curse training field.

His expression turned solemn, and he fell silent, his mind churning with shock and awe.