Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The military vehicle carrying Yan Yu's Team finally arrived at the targeted village beneath the veil of night.

Since there were no survivors in the village, it was pitch black inside, to the extent that one couldn't see their own fingers in front of them.

The staff of the armed forces department brought many high-powered searchlights, managing only to illuminate the roads and houses on the outskirts.

However, what rendered Yan Yu speechless was that these people had also brought loudspeakers and sound systems, allowing negotiators to shout into the village things like, "Surrender and receive leniency, resist and face severity," and "Confess and your sentence will be reduced, turn back and all shall be well"...

The murderers had slaughtered the entire village, even a stay of execution would cause public outrage, and here they were, deceiving by claiming leniency for surrender? Thinking them fools to be trifled with?

Communication is futile, only killing remains!

"You've finally arrived." The person in charge of the armed forces department rushed over to lead the way and provide a briefing upon seeing the military's arrival, "Here's the situation, our drones captured footage of a person suspected to be the criminal.

After comparison, we confirmed he is an old man from the village, last name Xu, 72 years old, a local who had conflicts with the village chief in the past, hence we suspect it's a personal vendetta that led to this mass killing..."

"That's enough." Yan Yu cut him off, "We can talk about the reasons later. Where was he last spotted by the drone?"

In his previous life, Yan Yu had heard nearly a thousand reasons for why civilian cultivators resorted to murder and was thoroughly tired of them.

After all, in the countryside it's often about mundane disputes, such as encroaching on your land, poaching fish from your pond, or your dog biting someone's child...

But in recent years, as rural populations dwindled and young people flocked to the cities, the lack of security forces at the local level made it impossible to rely on constables to deliver justice — it takes hours just to drive from the town!

In the village, power inevitably lay in the hands of those who had good relationships with the village head or who had more men in the family.

Then came the era-defining shift of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, where long-oppressed villagers suddenly gained the power to disrupt the established order, and the follow-up often involved them killing their oppressors and their entire families — such incidents were far from rare and were only set to increase in the future.

From Yan Yu's point of view, if you've been oppressed and you kill your oppressor's entire family, of course, I understand.

But after the deed, you must die.

Otherwise, the Dragon Slayer becomes the dragon.

Commoners who suddenly acquire unprecedented power and have tasted the "benefits of violence", if not apprehended and dealt with by the authorities in time, have an 87% chance of causing a second wave of serious incidents. Moreover, during these second incidents, there are generally no justifiable motives like revenge; the victims are mostly innocent, leaving no room for justification.

Yan Yu had seen too much of the dark side of humanity in his past life to have any interest in the motives behind civilian cultivators' murders. However, it was different for the girls; to avoid them getting distracted with wild thoughts before battle, it was better not to hear such reasons.

Hearing this, the person in charge of the armed forces department was taken aback, but quickly brought out a satellite scan of the village and circled an area encompassing roughly a dozen houses:

"It's here. We estimate that he's hiding somewhere in this area. But there are unidentified dangers around; the first group who went in mentioned encountering an attack before they went missing."

Yan Yu did not take the map offered to him but turned to ask:

"Chen Lingyun?"

Chen Lingyun took the map and examined it closely for a moment.

She then asked the person responsible from the armed forces department for a telescope and directed the searchlights to the indicated area, observing from a distance.

Following her gaze, Yan Yu indeed noticed unusual movements of light and distortion marks that were indistinct from afar.

Good, indeed it was a cultivator controlling ghostly entities.

However, at this stage, the number of ghosts being controlled by the opponent was excessive, indicating reliance on some sort of auxiliary magical artifact.

Could it be the Soul Summoning Banner?

"What's your take?" Chen Lingyun suddenly asked.

"Controlling ghosts," Yan Yu responded tersely, "Ghosts are semi-transparent when not attacking, making them difficult to detect on light-starved nights. The disappearance of the first group of constables after entering the village is clearly a result of being ambushed by these ghosts."

"Indeed," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "What if we wait for the sun to come up tomorrow?"

"The strength of the ghosts would slightly diminish," replied Yan Yu, "but the reduction won't be significant. The main advantage comes from the better lighting conditions during the day, which rob ghosts of their crucial stealth, thereby significantly reducing the difficulty in dealing with them."

"But we can't possibly wait all night for the sun to come up before taking action," Chen Lingyun stated leisurely.

"Correct."

"What forms of attack do the ghosts employ?"

"All kinds," Yan Yu pondered for a moment, "But civilian cultivators at this stage are mostly limited to commanding ghosts to attack physically."

"Can the ghosts fly?"

"They can. You can think of them as possessing the Cloud Ascension Technique permanently, although they can't stray too far from their master."

"How far is too far?"

"It depends on the level of cultivation; at this stage, I estimate the limit is around 10-20 meters."

"That simplifies things," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, marking a circle on the map, "One of these three houses, we choose from them."

Yan Yu wasn't surprised she could come to a conclusion so quickly. After all, despite her annoying traits, her mind was indeed useful, or else she wouldn't have secured the top spot in the Zhendong Army for so many years in her previous life.

"What about the specific tactics?"

"If it were up to me," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "I would just call for mortar fire nearby and blow up all three houses."

"No," Yan Yu immediately rejected the idea, "What if the mortars damage their magical artifacts?"

"Are you sure about that?" Chen Lingyun asked with a surprised smile.

"It's probably some kind of Soul Summoning Banner," Yan Yu paused for a moment, "There's an old saying, do you want to hear it?"

"Go ahead."

"Every cultivator who plays with ghosts should have their own Soul Summoning Banner."

"Hmm." Chen Lingyun neither agreed nor disagreed, simply saying with a smile, "In that case, let's change the plan."

She doodled on the map and murmured with Yan Yu for a moment before turning to call over the rest of the girls to start arranging the tactics.

"I want to ask first," Chen Lingyun said with a charming smile, her voice crisp, "Do we have any directionally challenged people in our team? You know, the kind that can't tell north from south, east from west, the kind that forgets left and right after being told, and who could get lost even while following a map."

The three girls looked at each other but none of them spoke.

"That's fine." Chen Lingyun spread the map out on the ground and explained, "Our target this time is a cultivator who commands ghosts. Don't worry, they are not the kind of ghosts from movies that defy physical laws and are unsolvable; think of them as some sort of translucent thing that can be killed with curse techniques."

"I'll add a tip: Flame Curse and Impact Curse are very effective against ghosts," Yan Yu added from the side.

"Once the action starts, everyone gather here," Chen Lingyun continued, "Ningning, wait for my command, then immediately run along this route as fast as you can. You'll definitely be attacked along the way, so be careful to protect yourself. Finally, enter the house here."

"If I'm not wrong, the enemy will definitely mobilize its forces to chase after you once they are alerted."

"Try to make good use of the narrow terrain inside the house to avoid being surrounded. If you really can't hold them off, jump out through a window at the back. I'll have Yun Jin outside to meet you."

"Sister Zhao, you'll lie in ambush here and wait for my command. Then arise from this alley to kill a portion of the enemy, and leave via the opposite alley. I'll keep an eye on you the whole time and remind you of your specific moves."

"You're planning to lure the enemy into action, then force them to divide their forces," Zhao Yuanzhen was no fool and quickly understood Chen Lingyun's intentions.

Lin Ning running around would inevitably attract the enemy to surround her. Zhao's surprise attack from halfway would change their target from one to two, and typically, they would subconsciously choose to split their forces to pursue.

"Exactly," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "Of course, if the enemy doesn't divide their forces, then Ningning will be under more and more pressure. I give you and Yun Jin permission to retreat along this route to the edge of the village at any time if the situation feels wrong, and the military cultivators will cover your retreat."

"And if the enemy all come chasing after me?" Zhao Yuanzhen continued to ask.

"Then they'll find they've kicked an iron plate." Chen Lingyun said beamingly.

The Demonic Sect Enchantress was very pleased with this. No matter how numerous the ghostly entities were, what harm could they do to me?

"Finally, our esteemed team leader," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "This time you'll be my bodyguard, escorting me to carry out the decapitation mission. No problems, right?"

The reason for choosing a surprise decapitation was, of course, because of the Soul Summoning Banner in the enemy's hands. Otherwise, if they chose to outright destroy the artifact and then commit suicide upon finding themselves outmatched, that would be a great loss for everyone.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Fine, I'll escort you," Yan Yu nodded.

"Ling Yun?" Su Yunjin was a bit worried, "Going directly, are you sure it's okay?"

Chen Lingyun was not like Lin Ning, who had problems with slow reactions in the heat of the moment—a fact Yan Yu had not hidden from the team.

Now she was going to be on the front line, and it was the most dangerous decapitation mission. Could there be an accident?

"It's okay," Chen Lingyun reassured her, "Don't forget, we have our invincible team leader."

"Invincible is a bit of an overstatement," Yan Yu said seriously, "At this stage, I can probably only defeat 99.99% of the cultivators in this world."

"Leaving out the 0.01% makes you seem humble, doesn't it?" Lin Ning teased him with a roll of her eyes.

"Then how about I just go for 99%?" Yan Yu sighed deeply, indicating a compromise.

"There's practically no difference!" Lin Ning exclaimed.