Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"Regarding the question of which direction to explore first," Yan Yu quickly convinced the three military cultivators to follow his advice with his agile mind.

Everyone activated their Shifting Technique and raced toward the direction of the cliff like a gale of wind.

Upon reaching the edge of the dense forest, they all stopped as if by an unspoken agreement.

An icy wind came from within the woods. When it brushed against them, everyone felt their hair stand on end and couldn't help but get goosebumps.

It seems like a demonic wind, doesn't it? Yan Yu glanced inside and saw the tree crowns blotting out the sky, the light in the forest dim, with chilling winds and ghostly shadows swirling about. It was almost as if there should be a sign outside saying "Demons and ghosts reside within these woods."

"I see trees moving deep inside; it must be a tree demon." Seeing the ladies look as if facing a formidable enemy, Yan Yu analyzed calmly, "If we enter, it's easy to be ambushed. Better to lure it out and fight. The tree demon definitely fears fire, we can trap it using the Flame Curse while leaving gaps, then attack and injure it with the Impact Curse. Actually, it's quite easy to handle."

"Trap it with the Flame Curse?" Lin Ning immediately asked, "How exactly?"

"Watch closely." Yan Yu decided to demonstrate personally, first selecting a spot to cast the Flame Curse, and flames erupted from the ground, "Chen Lingyun?"

"Got it." Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

With just a cursory glance, she had completely memorized the location and size of the fireball.

"Su Yunjin." Yan Yu interrupted the Flame Curse, then chose a spot not far to the side and released another Flame Curse, "Your Flame Curse should be cast here later."

"Okay." Su Yunjin stared intently at the ground. She did not have the same confidence in her memory as Chen Lingyun.

Luckily, the surroundings were originally covered in lush grass, which was now burned away by the Flame Curse to reveal a bald patch of land that was easy to recognize.

After dispersing the flames with a wave of his hand, Yan Yu selected two more locations, successively releasing the third and fourth balls of flame, perfectly creating a rhombus with the first two flames. He then said to Wei Yun and Feng Haiping:

"Both of you, once the demon inside the forest is lured out and reaches this position, wait for the right moment to cast the Flame Curse at these two places. The four flames will form a fiery array, trapping the demon in the middle of it. No problem, right?"

"No problem, but..." Both military cultivators hesitated as if they had more to say.

Luring the enemy into an ambush is a tactic commonly seen in the ancient military history of Lu Country, but the difficulty in executing it is still quite demanding.

Not to mention, what if the bait isn't fast enough and gets eaten? What if running too fast arouses suspicion? And what if you're wrong, and the demon inside isn't afraid of fire at all?

"Very good." Yan Yu ignored the worry in their expressions and continued to plan positioning, saying, "Zhao Yuanzhen and Officer Jiang, please stand at these two spots. Once the tree demon enters the ambush, and the four Flame Curses seal off its paths of escape, fire the Impact Curse through the gaps between the flames at it. No problem, right?"

Fire overcomes metal among the Five Elements; an Impact Curse shot into the range of a Flame Curse would be extinguished into nothingness. But judging from the range of the Flame Curse Yan Yu arranged, the gap between the two flames was completely sufficient for the Impact Curse to pass through — unless the shooting was so poor they aimed one way and hit another.

"I have a problem," Zhao Yuanzhen complained, "Isn't this too much trouble for just a tree demon?"

"Aside from that, is there anything else?" Yan Yu asked, swiftly interrupting her with a smile.

His smile had an unpleasant edge to it, and the Demonic Sect Enchantress was suddenly taken aback as realization dawned on her.

Without revealing other spells and only allowed to use the Three Arts and Five Spells against the enemy, this tactic of "forming a fiery array and fighting a simple battle" was indeed the safest choice.

Hmph, though I was momentarily careless, that thief dared to threaten me with a veiled smile. I remember this grievance!

If I have the chance one day, I too will hide a knife within my smile, making him tremble with fear of my displeasure!

Officer Jiang's brows were so furrowed they seemed about to tie into knots. To him, the tactic of using four Flame Curses to block the paths seemed indeed not very challenging to implement, after all, the boundaries were marked on the ground, easier than targeting with a hand grenade...

The real question was whether the bait could come out alive and bring the demon precisely into the ambush!

Although he wanted to protest, Yan Yu gave him no chance to speak and decisively said:

"Let's proceed with the plan."

"What about me?" Lin Ning asked anxiously.

"You're coming with me to go in and also to learn the Enemy Luring Technique," Yan Yu said with a serious look. Explore hidden tales at empire

In Chen Lingyun's team in his previous life, it was Qiu Ze, who excelled in mobility and positioning, who was responsible for scouting and luring the enemy.

Now that Qiu Ze hadn't joined the team, Lin Ning, who was supposed to be the assault specialist, would have to take on that responsibility.

Of course, Lin Ning had not yet realized the team leader's good intentions, but her character as a straight-A student made her subconsciously choose to obey authority.

No matter what kind of test you give me, I'll just keep my head down and do it.

"Okay," Lin Ning said, suddenly feeling nervous again at the thought of being assigned the most dangerous task as a decoy.

"There's no time to lose, let's go." Yan Yu was also very decisive in his actions, not giving the military cultivators a chance to question or obstruct, and quickly rushed into the dense forest with the Shifting Technique, followed closely by Lin Ning.

At this moment, the effects of practicing the "Shifting Technique emergency stop" for several weeks became evident.

The two moved rapidly through the dense forest with the Shifting Technique, and when confronted with obstacles like roots and bushes, they would quickly switch to the Cloud Ascension Technique to stop abruptly and change direction, then switch back to the Shifting Technique to continue sprinting at high speed.

Yan Yu was naturally flawless in this basic skill operation, and Lin Ning, although a newbie who had just begun to learn, managed to keep up with him, which even made Yan Yu see her in a new light.

Look at that, keeping up with my speed on her first time, Sister Lin truly has the makings of a good assault trooper.

Whether it was her innate reaction speed or the Cutting Spell speed she had trained, she had already far surpassed her peer cultivators by a great margin.

"Don't focus your attention on moving," Yan Yu instructed as he saw her eyes locked on the ground, "You need to completely integrate this mode of movement into your memory, making it a part of your combat instincts. Your attention should be on your surroundings, with eyes and ears open in all directions."

"Okay," Lin Ning said nervously.

"When you can't sense the enemy's position," Yan Yu continued instructing, "try to maintain high speed to make enough noise, which can entice the enemy to attack and thereby reveal their position."

"What if the enemy doesn't fall for it?" Lin Ning asked.

"Then that's a different situation," Yan Yu replied, "The tree demon we're dealing with this time is of low intelligence and has not yet awakened its spiritual wisdom, so it shouldn't be too cunning."

"As long as we enter its territory, it will definitely provoke an attack... here it comes!"

Before he finished speaking, a tree root suddenly blocked their path, lashing out at them like a whip.

With an abrupt stop and change of direction from Cloud Ascension Technique and a renewed burst of speed with the Shifting Technique, it was just a simple two-step switch that allowed Yan Yu to effortlessly dodge the tree root's attack, ignoring inertia and darting to the side like a spectral figure.

As for Lin Ning, although her on-the-spot reaction was half a beat slower than Yan Yu's, her well-practiced combination of Cloud Ascension Technique and Shifting Technique was instinctive and swift, allowing her to beautifully avoid the tree demon's attack as well.

This is the confidence gained from a problem-solver's routine training!

After dodging the attack, Lin Ning realized what she had just achieved, and her expression was immediately replaced by disbelief.

I... I did it!

"Beautiful!" Yan Yu shouted his praise, and with another emergency stop and change of direction, he charged directly at the tree demon.

He began to execute the Enemy Luring Technique.

"What should I do next!" Seeing that all of the tree demon's attacks were drawn toward Yan Yu, Lin Ning hurriedly asked loudly.

Yan Yu had no time to answer, for as he closed the distance rapidly, the tree demon's hostility reached its peak, and dozens of thick tree roots broke through the soil, smashing down around him.

However, Yan Yu's speed completely surpassed them.

In just three or four seconds, it was impossible to see clearly how many times he had made emergency maneuvers—Lin Ning roughly estimated at least more than ten times. Accompanied by his dizzyingly swift dodges left and right, up and down, and back and forth, each sprint only covered a short distance of a single step or even just half a step.

After narrowly evading the nearby tree root lashings, he would immediately perform an emergency stop with Cloud Ascension and then accelerate with the Shifting Technique for the next sprint.

The dozens of tree roots swung and smashed in rotation, their attacks as dense and rapid as a sudden storm, yet Yan Yu, like a futuristic swift, dodged all the tree roots' lashings with an incomprehensible speed and agility and advanced to within ten meters of the tree demon.

He raised his right hand to shoulder height, bringing together his index and middle fingers in a sword gesture, and charged the Metal-Element Impact Curse.

Fire!

A 30-centimeter-long gash, with unknown depth, suddenly appeared on the thick trunk of the tree demon.

Wood chips and sap flew in all directions, and Lin Ning couldn't help but hold her breath. She saw the tree demon become rigid like it had been electrocuted.

What followed was a complete loss of control and an outpouring of rage.

Innumerable tree roots began wildly thrashing around, breaking and snapping many trees. Lin Ning hadn't yet had time to consider whether to stay put or temporarily retreat to avoid the fray when she saw Yan Yu burst out from the flying dust caused by the tree roots' thrashing, covered in dirt.

"Let's go!" he shouted to Lin Ning.