Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The girls were beaten to the point of desperately searching for their teeth.

Searching for their teeth is just a figure of speech, it doesn't mean that everyone really lost their teeth... but they were indeed beaten quite miserably.

Even Zhao Yuanzhen, who had rich combat experience, could not gain the upper hand against Yan Yu in a pure Sword Control Technique fight, with her cultivation not fully recovered and not allowed to use any unorthodox, toxic magic.

In order to practice defensive Sword Control Technique, Yan Yu's attack moves were designed to be quite simple, the first strike would always be a slash that you could see coming and block with a horizontal sword strike.

But his second move would come extremely fast. If, for example, the Yin Wind Sword was struck from the left side by the Huang Tingjian, the recoil would push it to the right side, then Yan Yu would immediately control the Huang Tingjian to stabilize the blade at high speed and slash again from left side like lightning, not giving the Yin Wind Sword any chance to defend.

Fortunately, the Huang Tingjian was a heavy sword with a blunt edge. Plus, Yan Yu would control his strength in time, so even if someone was hit, they wouldn't be slashed into two, at most they would be beaten to rolling around on the ground.

After being beaten up repeatedly, the girls became numb to the pain and devoted themselves to research, quickly learning how to counter that move:

At the moment when the two swords clashed, immediately increase the output of True Yuan to stabilize the deflected Flying Sword quickly, that way they could just manage to defend in time.

After defending the second sword, Yan Yu's third sword would follow.

This third sword was even harder to defend against. It wasn't faster than the second one, but after being deflected it would pause momentarily before suddenly changing direction and slashing again.

Because Yan Yu's second strike was extremely fast, the girls often had to concentrate all their attention to quickly block it.

In such a highly tense state of mind, if Yan Yu had delivered the third strike at the same or even faster speed, they would basically be able to block it. But he deliberately slowed down...

this pause would inevitably cause a slight dispersion of their attention, resulting in the Huang Tingjian suddenly changing angles and slashing again, and after such a tightening and relaxing of their reactions, they completely lost the pace.

"How was it?" Seeing Chen Lingyun turned over again, Lin Ning, who was next in line, hurriedly asked anxiously.

She was up next, and she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of everyone again—though she had already been embarrassed many times before.

"How about trying to attack first?" Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly suggested.

"Attack first..." Lin Ning didn't have time to ask for clarification before Yan Yu started urging:

"Hurry up, little Ningning! They are all lining up behind you!"

Damn, we would rather wait a bit longer, okay? The same thought emerged in all the girls' minds.

"Don't call me little Ningning!" Lin Ning huffed as she went forward, thinking to herself, whatever, just try it out!

The first strike, I'll defend!

Lin Ning quickly positioned her sword horizontally to block, and the Green Bamboo Sword collided with the Huang Tingjian, before being shaken out of control and flying upward to the right.

Now's the moment! Lin Ning quickly increased her True Yuan output to stabilize the Green Bamboo Sword again, and then maneuvered it back into defense, hitting Yan Yu's high-speed pursuit head-on.

The second sword, defended!

The Green Bamboo Sword was once again deflected by the recoil, and Lin Ning forcefully strengthened her output to stabilize the sword's position, then slashed at the Huang Tingjian—which was still pausing and hadn't managed to change direction—hitting it again and sending it flying even further away.

The third sword blocked!

"Very good," Yan Yu finally showed a look of appreciation. "Someone has finally caught my three strikes."

"So the way to defend against the third sword is actually to counter-attack in advance?" Lin Ning couldn't help but blurt out emotionally, "Didn't we agree that you would attack and we would defend?"

"Nonsense," Yan Yu said as a matter of course. "The best defense is a good offense! I'm beginning to doubt whether you just luckily stumbled upon a solution."

The girls all nearly fainted. They agreed that he would attack and they would defend, and here he was, playing word games... with us, right?

"Let's go again!" Lin Ning said, huffing.

If the rules actually allowed attacking, then she wouldn't hold back against him!

"Fight what fight? I'm tired," Yan Yu retracted the Huang Tingjian, moving his arms and shoulders. "Moreover, I have to go look at houses, can't give you extra training today."

"Buy a house?" Lin Ning was taken aback.

"Yes," Yan Yu said. "Now that we have the money, we can buy a house near the school. It can also serve as our team's off-campus activity base in the future."

"Then shall we all go take a look?" Su Yunjin immediately became interested.

If Yan Yu was buying a house for his own living or investment, it naturally had nothing to do with her, but if it was for the team's base... Great~ She had just ordered a batch of paper books online, and her dormitory room was almost too cramped to fit them. Temporarily storing them in the team base wouldn't be a problem, right?

"Everyone, let's go," Zhao Yuanzhen also said enthusiastically.

If she lived off-campus, she wouldn't need to use the Invisibility Technique every night to sneak into the boys' dormitory to practice dual cultivation with Yan Yu, yay!

"Ling Yun, are you going?" Seeing Chen Lingyun hadn't expressed her opinion, Lin Ning asked.

"Go ahead," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, but her mind was still pondering the swordsmanship practice she had just completed.

Although Yan Yu did not provide detailed theoretical teaching, his sword strikes followed a fixed set of three moves, which clearly directed the battle.

The first strike needs no explanation; it's meant to have you watch the path of the sword and block accordingly. The second strike is more sophisticated.

In the moment when the swords clash, due to the Flying Sword's substantial force, the resulting collision can cause the sword to become unbalanced, rebound, and be knocked away, leaving the swordsman briefly losing control of the Flying Sword.

As long as the Sword Control Technique remains active and True Yuan keeps flowing in, this loss of control will quickly end, and the repelled Flying Sword will stabilize in mid-air once again.

However, in higher-level sword fights, even half a second of lost control could lead to defeat and death. Therefore, during each moment of collision-induced loss of control, one must immediately increase the flow of True Yuan to regain control of the Flying Sword faster than the opponent.

Whoever can stabilize their uncontrolled Flying Sword more quickly can launch the next attack sooner, seizing the initiative on the battlefield!

Yes, the initiative.

Yan Yu's third strike, transitioning from a high-speed slash to a pause and change of direction, was a rhythm change from fast to slow, which was difficult for the girls with limited combat experience to handle.

But why must you respond to it?

Once you grasp the essence of the second strike, you'll understand just how important it is to seize control of the battlefield in a sword fight.

You want to change the pace from fast to slow, but why should I give you the chance?

I will go on the offensive! I'll take back the initiative!

Thus, linking these three strikes together, the educational significance becomes very clear:

Struggle for the initiative.

Chen Lingyun pondered this quietly, filing it away in the sword information library of her mind palace, and then smiled and said:

"Yan Yu, which villa are you planning to buy?"

"Prioritize one close to the school," Yan Yu replied, "and then as many rooms as possible, with a big balcony, garden, swimming pool, basement, garage, the more the merrier. Few neighbors, or at least distant ones, would be good. Price is not an issue."

"Then I'll arrange something," Chen Lingyun said, taking out her phone and starting to type.

Yan Yu: ?

What are you arranging?

After a moment, an unfamiliar account requested to add him as a friend, with the note "Jiang City Group Real Estate Sales, Xiao Fan."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yan Yu chatted with the person for a while and, scratching his head, said to the girls:

"She says she's driving over to take me to see the house."

"Wrong," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "It's us."

————————

The villa's location was indeed good, with the Qi Xia Mountain to the south and the Yangtze River to the north, truly a "half facing the mountain and half beside the river."

A big balcony, check.

A garden, check, and it's a large lawn in both the front and back yards.

A swimming pool, check, indoors.

A basement, check, connected to the underground garage.

In total, there were fifteen rooms on the ground floor, not including the kitchen, bathrooms, and storage rooms. Yan Yu looked over the layout and deduced there should be ten bedrooms, leaving one study, one walk-in closet, one game room, one movie room, and one gym, making a total of fifteen rooms.

Isn't that a bit too many bedrooms?

"You said you wanted many rooms," Chen Lingyun said cheerfully.

"What I meant was seven or eight rooms for storing treasures, books, meditating, and watching match videos would be about right," Yan Yu said irritably, scratching his head, "Ten bedrooms! What do I need so many bedrooms for?"

"One master bedroom for the couple, two rooms for the two kids, two more rooms for the parents from both sides," Chen Lingyun said leisurely, "A chef, maids, a driver, a butler, guest rooms, aren't ten rooms just perfect? I think it's actually not enough."

"What are you talking about, some kind of medieval noble manor lifestyle?" Yan Yu couldn't help but retort, "I don't need as many servants as your place does!"

"No, you need them," Chen Lingyun said with a glowing smile.