Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Wuyi Mountains in Nanping Prefecture, Minhai Province, is a national-level scenic area and a well-known tea distribution center in the country.

Yan Yu and his team of five arrived deep in the mountain area by helicopter and saw that the Zhendong Army had already set up layers of defense at the entrance to the valley below.

Not only were several roads into the valley blocked with barbed wire, but there were also drones patrolling the skies above the nearby forests, a clear sign of a tightly guarded area.

In front of the barbed wire, one could see a dozen or so locals blocking the mountain road, seemingly in a standoff with the stationed soldiers.

"It looks like the landowners." Lin Ning leaned over to look below, explaining to her teammates, "Many of these mountaintops have been contracted out to nearby villagers for tea cultivation. Now that the military has designated areas around the secret realm as off-limits, it's inevitable that some landowners' territories have been included, so conflicts are unavoidable."

"There should be state compensation, right?" Su Yunjin asked with concern.

"That's anybody's guess," Chen Lingyun replied with a smile, "But these landowners are not just any ordinary country folk. If they really escalate the dispute, it will be a headache for the troops as well."

"It's none of our business," Yan Yu interrupted the discussion, "Our mission is to explore the secret realm. Let the local troops handle the rest."

The team reached the sealed-off depths of the valley and saw that command tents of various sizes had already been set up on the open ground by the stream.

In front of the largest command tent, a certain military official was taking a call on his phone.

His expression was extremely agitated and frantic, and his tone was exceedingly harsh, nearly roaring into the handset:

"I can't control it, I can't control it, I already said this is a military secret! Secret! Do you even understand what a secret is?! We're now demanding your unconditional cooperation, and you need to properly handle the local populace and absolutely prevent any further escalation! If you don't understand anything, call the Minhai Province Governor yourself!

You're not cleared for this level of confidentiality, I can't answer your questions!!!"

After ending the call with enough force to seemingly crush the phone, the official turned around indifferently to face Yan Yu leading the team of five.

He seemed to want to maintain an impassive facade of icy indifference, but his wariness and distrust were so painfully apparent that there was no need to try to discern his thoughts at the moment.

Definitely not a friendly first impression, anyway.

"Captain Jiang Weiming?" Yan Yu cut straight to the point, speaking rapidly, "We are the first tactical team dispatched by the Zhendong International Scholarly Faction, here to confirm the situation inside the Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm."

"Confirm the situation?" Captain Jiang Weiming struggled to twitch his mouth into a forced cold smile, "I have already submitted all relevant intelligence reports. What, didn't you do your homework before coming here?"

"We've looked over the materials you submitted," Yan Yu calmly replied, "There was no intelligence from inside the secret realm."

"That's because the cultivators from our military who went inside have all lost contact, so there's no intelligence to report back," Captain Jiang said coldly, seeming to forcefully suppress his anger, "If you had actually read the documents carefully, you wouldn't be asking such redundant questions."

"As a matter of fact, this is precisely one of the questions I wanted to ask," Yan Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, an expression of surprise on his face, "In my understanding, your military cultivators shouldn't be that weak."

"What did you say?" Captain Jiang Weiming's gaze immediately became hostile.

With subordinates missing and potentially dead; superiors pressing him without any consideration; locals trying to cause trouble; and local officials who seemingly cooperate but actually do nothing...

Captain Jiang Weiming's head had been nearly exploding with all the hassle these past few days, how could he have the patience to play internship games with these "college student cultivators" who had just reached adulthood, who had never received proper military training, and who hadn't even graduated from the academy yet?

If it wasn't for the orders from Jinling headquarters demanding cooperation, he would have ordered these college kids to be blasted out of the camp the moment they set foot in it.

"Captain?" Su Yunjin tugged at his sleeve from behind, worried, signaling that he might have provoked Captain Jiang on the other side.

We are here to explore the secret realm, not to start conflicts with them.

"Alright," Yan Yu patted her hand and then softened his voice, speaking more gently, "If your military cultivators are really up to the task, then why are they losing contact in the secret realm? Right now, I am quite skeptical of your abilities, and consequently, I doubt the reliability of any information you can provide.

Please immediately dispatch three military cultivators to accompany us into the secret realm for an investigation."

It took Captain Jiang Weiming a full half-minute to restrain himself from smashing his fist into Yan Yu's nose, only managing to squeeze out one word through gritted teeth:

"Fine!"

He left in a flurry, and only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"Yan Yu, why did you have to provoke him?" Lin Ning couldn't help but complain, "Who starts a conflict with someone we're supposed to cooperate with as soon as we meet them!"

"I reckon he didn't have any intention of cooperating in the first place," Yan Yu answered calmly. "Or are you planning to use a beauty trap to persuade him to work with us properly?"

"What beauty trap?!" Lin Ning immediately became embarrassed and annoyed, saying angrily, "Keep talking like that, and watch out for my kick!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Speaking of which, the other side's attitude really is problematic," Su Yunjin said tactfully. "If we could communicate well, there might still be room for discussion. But now that we're short on time, the captain's use of reverse psychology is not entirely unfounded."

"If we're short on time, why not just kill him (Search his soul)?" Zhao Yuanzhen asked abruptly.

The suggestion of the Demonic Sect Enchantress was so shocking that the other girls were taken aback, unsure of how to respond to the question.

"That's not entirely impossible," Chen Lingyun said with a smile. "Killing him would be too wasteful, it would be better to beat him half to death and then ask whether he wants to die or cooperate with us."

"Great, leave it to me," Zhao Yuanzhen replied eagerly.

"That's enough," Yan Yu said impatiently. "She's teasing you, can't you see that?"

Zhao Yuanzhen was taken aback for a moment, then glared angrily at Chen Lingyun.

"You're wrong, I'm not joking at all," Chen Lingyun said unafraid, even going as far as to wink at her.

"Really," Lin Ning said helplessly while holding her forehead. "We're talking about beating up a military officer in public and using violence to extract information. If we get called out on it later, are we going to push Sister Zhao forward, Ling Yun? You really know how to give advice."

"Little Lin Ning can even speak sarcastically now," Su Yunjin pretended to be moved on the side. "If you always criticize with a straight face, everyone might get tired of it eventually."

"I've told you not to call me Little Lin Ning..." Lin Ning said weakly.

The girls chatted and laughed, and the atmosphere gradually became relaxed and cheerful.

In fact, Yan Yu was not surprised by the hostility shown by Military Officer Jiang.

In the beginning of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, Lu Country's plan was to recruit cultivators entirely from the military, but then they found the success rate of recruitment to be extremely low. Only after consulting and communicating with Mei Yingxue did they learn of the existence of "Spirit Root", leading to a change in recruitment to "17-18-year-olds".

As a result, the current group of cultivators in Lu Country was actually divided into three factions: military cultivators, college student cultivators, and civilian cultivators.

Considering that civilian cultivators had not yet made a significant appearance, they could be temporarily ignored. Comparing military cultivators with college student cultivators, it became clear that the former was almost entirely behind in terms of treatment.

The specific reasons were complicated. On one hand, the potential of military cultivators was relatively lower (the older average age meant that their innate endowment was deteriorating), making them unworthy of substantial resources for focused training. On the other hand, military cultivators were more disciplined, obedient, and ideologically aware, eliminating worries about loyalty...

Anyway, due to differences in treatment and the fact that college student cultivators had not yet shown a stronger overall strength, many military cultivators harbored resentment towards them.

It was similar to how old colleagues who were promoted within a company would feel upon seeing new employees earn several times more than their own salary—this was something that could not be more understandable.

Contrary to the cheerful atmosphere among Yan Yu's team, the furious Military Officer Jiang had already stormed into the command tent, unable to conceal the anger on his face:

"Wei Yun! Feng Haiping! Come out with me!"

Wei Yun and Feng Haiping were both assistants in the mission to handle the Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm with Jiang Weiming, and they were also among the strongest military cultivators present. Hearing the call, they stood up: Discover stories with empire

"What's the matter, Old Jiang?"

"Some fearless fools have arrived!" Military Officer Jiang said furiously. "They want to explore the Secret Realm as soon as they arrive!"

"The three of us have to accompany them inside, so they don't get themselves killed and cause us to face disciplinary action!"