Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Night operations are most hindered by limited visibility.

Ghost creatures naturally possess night vision, something humans cannot achieve, so even if the armed patrol's constabulary forces a way in, there would inevitably be significant casualties—perhaps this is why the illegal cultivator dares to hold a position in the deserted village.

But clearly, he was unaware that the nation had long begun training military cultivators.

Lin Ning took the lead in entering the empty village, and started to sprint according to the predetermined route.

Wearing a tactical helmet with a searchlight on her head, a casual sweep of the area revealed three or four ghost creatures charging toward her with a ferocious intent to kill.

These ghost creatures had semi-transparent bodies, and their flying speed was nearly as fast as a human running, but they were clearly no match for a cultivator's Shifting Technique.

With just a few light and nimble changes in direction, Lin Ning shook them all off behind her, and the tension from her initial encounter with the ghost creatures quickly dissipated.

No, they are just ghost creatures, no different from demons!

After making a round according to the original route, she finally rushed into the house arranged by Chen Lingyun.

Calling it a house was perhaps an understatement—it was more of a two-story building. There wasn't much in the spacious ground floor hall, just a bare cement floor, clutter piled in the corner, and a corpse lying across the center of the hall.

It seemed to be a middle-aged woman who lived here, holding bowls and chopsticks at the time of her death, with broken pieces and leftover food scattered everywhere.

Lin Ning quickly passed over the corpse, skidding to a stop and turning around.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The first ghost creature had already rushed in and was torn apart by her Impact Curse, letting out a piercing scream.

Without any hesitation, Lin Ning's gaze moved beyond the shattered semi-transparent ghost, already seeing countless vengeful spirits undulating in the background, continuously charging toward the house.

Her fists clenched tightly, her True Yuan surged swiftly from her dantian along her meridians—Flame Curse!

Flames erupted vehemently at the main entrance, indeed scaring the ghost creatures enough to keep them at bay, with not a single one daring to rush through the fire.

The position was precise, the range just right to blockade the doorway—it was a Curse Technique well cast!

Before Lin Ning could take pride in her work, she suddenly heard the sound of breaking glass from upstairs.

Oh no! They could come in from the second floor!

Lin Ning wasted no time guarding the front door, hurriedly turning back and rushing to the back room, only to see ghost creatures already descending the stairs.

The stairway was located in the center between the front and back rooms. To use the Impact Curse against the ghost creatures coming down from the second floor, she would first have to dissolve the route of the Flame Curse running through her body.

But doing so would leave the ghost creatures at the front door unobstructed by flames, allowing them to charge in en masse.

Sister Lin's reaction was quick—she immediately realized that holding this position meant being trapped, and she absolutely could not continue staying here!

The back room was a kitchen setup; she swiftly moved into the kitchen, and then immediately produced another Flame Curse, blocking the kitchen's only doorway.

The only way left for escape was through the kitchen window behind her.

Outside, on the roof, Su Yunjin stood quietly at the edge, intently watching the window below.

She watched Lin Ning move from the front room to the stairway, then retreat to the back room and thought that Ling Yun must have foreseen the current situation in advance, which is why she asked me to guard Lin Ning's only escape route to prevent her from being trapped in the house.

Ling Yun's mind is truly impressive… I also need to step it up and not let down her carefully designed tactics.

Ghost creatures had already started to enter the lane below—their intention seemed to be to encircle and kill by entering through the kitchen window.

Yet no sooner had they entered the lane than Su Yunjin shot and killed them all with her Impact Curse.

If one were to consider the three houses Chen Lingyun had designated as the center, at this moment Lin Ning and Su Yunjin were positioned to the north. Looking down from above, a large number of ghost creatures wandering in the village were all converging towards their position, like fish in a lake flocking to someone tossing breadcrumbs.

Chen Lingyun and Yan Yu, stepping cautiously from the south, infiltrated quietly, only to hear her commanding over the channel:

"Alright, Sister Zhao can set off now."

"Let's make it quick." Zhao Yuanzhen had long grown impatient and, upon hearing the orders, immediately charged into the battlefield.

She rushed in from the northeast, instantly intercepting the large number of ghost creatures that were heading towards Lin Ning and quickly engaged them in fierce combat.

"Okay." Chen Lingyun climbed to the rooftop, barely able to see Zhao Yuanzhen amidst the fray, "Sister Zhao, you can disengage now, stick to the route."

Zhao Yuanzhen immediately made a run for it. She darted into the adjacent alley, and casting a glance back, said:

"They didn't pursue."

Obviously, the necromancer behind them must have thought that Zhao Yuanzhen's appearance was to alleviate the pressure on Lin Ning and the others, so he was not lured away by her feint. Instead, his resolve to quickly besiege and kill Lin Ning was strengthened.

"It's okay," Chen Lingyun said with a slight smile, "Ningning can go with Yun Jin, and you all should evacuate toward the outskirts of the village."

"Sister Zhao, continue along the original route; they will soon come after you."

Yan Yu followed her gaze and saw Lin Ning breaking through a window, joining Su Yunjin on the rooftop with the Cloud Ascension Technique, and the two began to retreat eastward at high speed toward the outskirts of the village.

As they retreated, they looked back to see the rest of the specters initially in hot pursuit. But soon, as if they received an order, they suddenly turned around and stopped chasing in unison.

Because Zhao Yuanzhen had already made an arc, approaching the three houses from the north.

Yan Yu witnessed this and couldn't help but inwardly exclaim in admiration.

Lin Ning and Su Yunjin were retreating to the east, leading a large number of ghosts in that direction; at that moment, Zhao Yuanzhen suddenly approached from the north, rapidly closing in on where the necromancer was hiding.

The army of specters that entered the eastern side of the village had to hastily give up the pursuit to return and protect their master, but they couldn't get back in time to defend him. So what could the necromancer do?

He could only use the remaining specters that were patrolling near his hiding place and swiftly send them north to intercept Zhao Yuanzhen, buying time for the returning ghostly army from the east.

The previously omnipresent ghostly defensive line throughout the village had nearly collapsed by more than half due to Chen Lingyun's tactical movements to the east and then to the north—if you look closely now, there were absolutely no specters on the south side of the hiding place; all were summoned by the cultivator to the north to block Zhao Yuanzhen!

"Shall we go?" Chen Lingyun asked with a smile.

"Hmm," Yan Yu replied modestly with a nod.

She couldn't praise this cunning woman's intelligence; otherwise, she would become unbearably arrogant.

The two ran swiftly on the rooftops, their Shifting Technique so fast it was as if they were flying, and they soon arrived at the location of the three houses.

"You take left, I take right?" Chen Lingyun asked smilingly.

"I'm the bodyguard," Yan Yu declared proudly.

"All right." Chen Lingyun chose the house on the right, activated the Curved Curse, and burst through the door, "Ah, what luck~"

Yan Yu also charged into the house and saw an old man cowering in the corner, his eyes filled with panic as he looked over.

In his hands, he clutched a filthy banner—the kind fortune-tellers in period dramas like to hold, with the words "Iron Mouth Direct" written on it—and then, as if he had made up his mind, he began to shake it vigorously.

The Heart Capturing Technique.

The Heart Capturing Technique is a method used by 'Envoys' to sacrifice ghosts. Its effect is to initially control spirits, which can then be refined and made one's own with ease.

But such a thing was not effective against cultivators... Chen Lingyun casually stepped forward and slapped a RuneScript onto his Dantian through his clothes, completely subduing the old man.

She then reached for the Soul Summoning Banner. The old man stubbornly refused to let go until Chen Lingyun, with the Curved Curse still active, chopped at his wrist with a hand knife, causing him to scream in agony and drop the banner.

"This needs to be cleaned," Chen Lingyun remarked as she picked up the Soul Summoning Banner again, frowning at the black handprint on the pole.

"Even if it needs cleaning, it won't be you doing it. The research personnel will take care of it," Yan Yu said, looking at the old man huddled in the corner, clutching his severed right hand and wailing in pain. She spoke in a low voice, "He's not the first and he won't be the last."

"Are you referring to the village massacre?" Chen Lingyun feigned ignorance and asked curiously.

"Take this necromancer as an example," Yan Yu said as she left the house, exhaling a long breath of stale air.

"Casually killing a person and sacrificing their living soul into a banner results in an additional ghost under one's control. This costless method of recruiting forces brings a sense of rapid growth in one's power—how many people from the lower classes could withstand this, when most can't even give up the minor pleasure of a cigarette?"

"If we neglect civilian cultivators and don't manage them, the slaughter of mortals will only increase—this is my stance on illegal cultivation among civilians."

"I'm not disagreeing with you," Chen Lingyun followed her out the door, saying in a light tone, "But what can you do about it?"

"As the resurgence of spiritual energy progresses, more and more civilians will secretly enter the path of cultivation. Currently, there's no way to completely stop it."

"Even pessimistically speaking, who can guarantee that the official cultivators, once they have truly grown, will always listen to the authorities in the future?"

"The industrial revolution bred great capitalists, forcing the nobility of the old to step off the stage. If the future belongs to cultivators, even if they are morally corrupt, insane, treat mortals like animals, or even as consumables, yet possess the power to oppose nations... my dear, what can you do about it then?"

"I will become the strongest cultivator in this world," Yan Yu stated with a cold, decisive expression, "and then kill them all!"