Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Yan Yu and Zhou Hongyu, of course, had no deep hatred or significant grudge.

Old Master Yan was simply kind-hearted, couldn't stand to see a woman belittle herself, so he wanted to help her find the will to live on... Of course, he didn't seek any reward, purely out of sympathy and pity.

For a woman with a strong tendency toward self-destruction, the necessary support for her to keep living must be some intense emotion, such as love, or like hatred.

Because of the marriage between her parents that was a "great failure" from any perspective, Zhou Hongyu completely rejected love and marriage, so hatred had to be used as her motive to live.

Look at that angry little expression, probably can't wait to die together with me in vendetta, huh?

Feeling the time was about right, Yan Yu calmly dodged her ferocious lunge, activated Curved Curse, and with a twist of the body, delivered a knee strike, toppling the irrational Zhou Hongyu to the ground.

This time, he didn't hold back his strength, so she involuntarily curled up after falling, enduring the intense pain coming from her abdomen.

The Pingxi Army's medical team was already on standby at the edge of the field.

Other medical personnel would have rushed onto the field by now to carry the player away, because "loss of the ability to move" is the criterion for defeat in a competition.

But Zhou Hongyu was different; this girl was too tenacious. She could persevere in injuries that others couldn't bear, even suddenly rising to counter-kill her opponent, so before confirming that she truly admitted defeat, no one dared to interrupt the match on their own.

Yan Yu walked up to her with composure, pinned Zhou Hongyu's back with his knee, and said in a low voice,

"With such strength, better stop embarrassing yourself."

"If you want revenge, then go back and train hard. I'll be waiting for you."

More violent struggling came from beneath the knee, but the girl's strength had long been exhausted. Like a belly-pressed turtle, she couldn't turn over, only twisting her head to glare at him with eyes full of bloodshot threads and hatred.

Yan Yu stood up, looked toward the Pingxi Army's medical team outside the field, and called out,

"Aren't you going to carry her away yet?"

The crowd hesitated for a moment, then realized Zhou Hongyu really was incapacitated and swiftly swarmed into the field to transport her to the medical ward.

Calmly returning to the bench, Yan Yu saw Chen Lingyun with a smile asking,

"Had fun?"

"Pretty boring," Yan Yu answered.

"The other side definitely doesn't think so," Chen Lingyun ventured, "Were you two close in a past life?"

"It was okay," Yan Yu didn't plan to hide it from her, "When I knew her, she was already dead."

"Oh," Chen Lingyun realized suddenly, smiling slightly, "She was one to give herself away on the battlefield, right?"

"Exactly," Yan Yu sighed, "You guessed right."

Unlike the Annan Army, which had to bear the pressure of the entire Indochina Peninsula, the Pingxi Army had the Qingzang Plateau and the deserts of the Western Regions. The long geographical depth was their best defense line, and thus the number of people who perished on the battlefield each year was considerably fewer than that of the Annan Army.

Later, Zhou Hongyu's sacrifice was largely due to her self-destructive tendency. This girl had a temper like the honey badger of Africa; she never cared whether she could handle the enemies confronting her, charging into battle head-on — What if she died? Then die!

Therefore, when the heroism of Zhou Hongyu and Li Minghu was disclosed to the public, many people said, "Had we known earlier," it would have been better to switch the two girls: send Li Minghu to the less fierce western fronts for recuperation, and let Zhou Hongyu unleash her energy freely on the needy southern lines. Perhaps both might have encountered different fates and lives.

But there's always that saying: in life, there are no "had I knowns."

Yan Yu and Chen Lingyun got up, intending to find somewhere nearby to have lunch, but were stopped by Instructor Qi Changping coming over:

"Yan Yu, come with me for a moment."

"Hehe~" Chen Lingyun, seeing something, smiled and said, "Then I'll go find a place to eat on my own?"

Yan Yu didn't pay attention to this schadenfreude woman and simply followed Instructor Qi Changping toward the direction of the Pingxi Army's spectator seats, wondering if this was the other side coming to take issue with something?

Well, it shouldn't be.

In the military, known as "strength is supreme," I had defeated Zhou Hongyu in a public competition. Even if the Pingxi Army was unsatisfied, they wouldn't come to the Zhendong Army in a public setting demanding someone... Doesn't the Zhendong Army have any pride? Could they tolerate such humiliation?

Upon reaching the spectator area, Yan Yu saw the Zhendong Army's Commander-in-Chief Li Weiguo and Pingxi Army's Commander-in-Chief Sun Rongxing sit in the back rows, having a casual conversation.

Zhou Hongyu was sitting in the row in front of Sun Rongxing, her face still pale from injuries not fully healed, but her gaze toward Yan Yu was fiery with rage, barely concealed.

"Come, come, come." Li Weiguo beckoned him over, laughing, "Yan Yu, you fought beautifully in this battle! You won me a bottle of fine wine from Old Sun."

"Don't even mention it." Sun Rongxing waved his hand generously and said, "You've been eyeing that bottle of Fengyun Maotai at my place for a long time now, haven't you? I'll give it to you this time, just stop dropping by my place so often."

"What do you mean 'give it to me'?" Li Weiguo glared and said, "I clearly won it in a bet."

Sun Rongxing didn't continue to argue with him, but instead asked Yan Yu:

"You just had a go with Zhou Hongyu, what do you think of her?"

"Classmate Zhou is pretty brave," Yan Yu chuckled.

Zhou Hongyu's eyes widened even more, as if she wished she could devour him alive right then and there with her gaze.

"What, no other evaluation?" Sun Rongxing laughed heartily, "Aside from being brave, she's got nothing to show for, is that what you mean?"

"To be precise, bravery isn't even her strong suit," Yan Yu said seriously. "The military has three main requirements: dare to fight, know how to fight, and be able to win battles. Daring to fight is just the most basic requirement for a soldier."

"Do you hear that, Xiao Zhou?" Sun Rongxing turned his head and said to Zhou Hongyu, "I'm not trying to dampen your spirits, but you really need to think about where exactly you lost this time."

"Understood," Zhou Hongyu said expressionlessly, her gaze still fixed intently on Yan Yu.

"Losing a battle is nothing to fear," Li Weiguo chimed in cheerfully from the side. "If you can reflect and learn from your loss, and eventually grow from it, that's actually more valuable than winning."

"Don't talk so dispassionately, Old Li," Sun Rongxing said with a chuckle. "Why don't you have Yan Yu deliberately lose to Liu Longtao tomorrow? Let him grow a bit too."

"That won't do," Li Weiguo immediately countered. "As soldiers, we must strive for victory with all our might on the battlefield."

"Xiao Zhou," Sun Rongxing instructed, "take Yan Yu out for lunch and learn from him properly, any problems with that?"

"No problem," Zhou Hongyu continued to stare at Yan Yu, forcing a grim smile.

Although she tried to look ferocious, her natural beauty and valorous charm made her seem more adorably like a squirrel baring its teeth.

After they left the training field of the academy, and were out of the commanding officers' sight, Zhou Hongyu immediately strode ahead, as if she couldn't wait to leave Yan Yu behind.

Yan Yu followed with a calm and composed air.

Arriving at the cafeteria, they joined the line for food, still without exchanging a word with each other.

Looking at Zhou Hongyu's emotionless but pretty profile, Yan Yu thought, I recall in my previous life, wasn't there a guy in the Annan Army who was hopelessly pursuing her?

Too bad, this girl is an ascetic; she's destined to be uninvolved...

Zhou Hongyu silently waited for him at the end of the line after getting her lunch.

Yan Yu glanced at her tray, a dish of Guo Bao Meat, one of crispy pork, stir-fried cabbage, and a full bowl of rice – she had an appetite that belied her delicate feminine appearance.

"Let's go," he said, lifting his tray.

Zhou Hongyu silently went to a corner of the cafeteria and sat down at a table.

Sitting across from her, Yan Yu also discerned the attitude of this girl: I'm sitting with you because the boss told me to have lunch with you, so don't overstep and start chatting with me.

"Hongyu Jie!" A crisp female voice called out from a distance.

Zhou Hongyu ate her meal in silence, and Yan Yu looked toward the source of the voice to see a young man and woman walking over with their trays.

The girl was just over 1.6 meters tall, with an innocent and pleasant appearance, her hair tied in twin ponytails, eyebrows curved and eyes smiling, at first glance appearing as a lively and cute beauty—if one thought so, they would fall right into her trap.

Tang Xiaolian from Sangchuan Prefecture, Nanjiang Province, earned the nickname "Beauty Snake". The "beauty" part is self-explanatory, while "snake" refers to her prowess in various poisoning techniques, causing not just enemy Cultivators to dread her, but even her own teammates to feel uneasy around her.

The Cultivators who died by her hand might be fewer than those beaten to death by Zhou Hongyu, but at least the latter would leave behind a whole body. Beauty Snake, on the other hand, didn't care for life or limb in battle, ensuring the enemy would be left without an intact piece of flesh, with damaged eyes and noses being a common occurrence...

Of course, at this point in time, only a small corner of the curtain of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence had been lifted.

So Tang Xiaolian hadn't yet mastered the dazzling array of unguardable poisons; at present, she was just a freshman with mediocre mastery of the Three Arts and Five Spells.

As for the young man beside her, Yan Yu recognized him too.

Qin Meng, from Qin Prefecture, Long Right Province, followed the path of body refining.

Yan Yu remembered him because he finally recalled.

The man who, in his past life, was hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with Zhou Hongyu, was none other than this fellow right here.