Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Yan Yu had been feeling something strange lately.

For some reason, starting from some time ago, his classmates began to view him with peculiar opinions... The girls often gossiped about him behind his back, but when Yan Yu asked them, they flat out denied it, allowing him to catch only snippets of words such as "cheating," "player," among half-whispered conversations.

The boys, on the other hand, would slap him on the back, laugh and joke, throwing around baffling comments like, "When did you get a girlfriend, man?" "Not even a word to us, are we still brothers?" "With that on your mind, can you still focus on your college entrance exams?"

Though Yan Yu had no proof, he was certain:

It was definitely Chen Lingyun's doing!

Wait, the reason this wretched woman hasn't contacted me recently wouldn't be because she's waiting for me to beg her, would it?

Dream on!

The physical examination for college entrance is about to start, and I will become a Cultivator then. Do you think I would care about what these high school classmates think?

————————

About two weeks later.

One day, after school, as Yan Yu returned home alone, he suddenly saw Chen Lingyun, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, standing at his doorstep, waiting.

Today, the young lady was dressed in a simple white dress with high-heeled boots, standing pretty as a freshly blossomed water lily.

"Why are you here?" Yan Yu took out his keys to open the door, asking in surprise, "How long have you been waiting?"

"Not long," Chen Lingyun said with a smile. "Considering the time school ends and the walk here, it's not difficult to estimate when you'd arrive home."

"Then come in," Yan Yu sighed and said.

Once inside the house, they saw Zhao Yuanzhen lying on the bed, sound asleep, with her unladylike white legs shamelessly exposed.

This Demonic Sect Enchantress isn't meditating at home, but instead snoozing away here!

If she keeps this up, her personality is truly going to waste.

"Hmm." Chen Lingyun gave a faint smile, took out a small bag she carried with her, and pulled out documents such as an ID card and household registration book, raising her eyebrows and saying, "I've taken care of everything. Here it is."

Yan Yu took a look at the ID card, and the name astonishingly read "Zhao Jiuzhen"—you only changed one character!

"This won't get recognized, will it?" he asked again with a dubious look. "Wait, you don't mean the moment you enter these into the database, they'll notice right away, do you?!"

"Nope," Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

As for why that wouldn't happen, she didn't intend to explain, instead adopting an "believe it or not" attitude.

Yan Yu silently gathered the materials and heard Chen Lingyun say:

"Senior high students just need to participate in the physical examination for college entrance. For someone like her without school records, a social idler, she needs to go to a specific hospital for certain tests to confirm the presence of Spiritual Energy."

"Are you planning to get her into the college as well?" Yan Yu asked, stroking his chin.

"The comprehensive cultivation plan due to inter-college competition has been set by the top," Chen Lingyun said with a smile. "Since we are planning to enroll at Zhendong College, it's obviously better for Zhendong College to have as many Cultivators as possible. Besides, she was born in that world. Even if it's just the knowledge in her mind, it might not be less important than Mei Yingxue."

"That makes sense," Yan Yu muttered, deep in thought when suddenly Chen Lingyun leaned in close and asked with breath as fragrant as orchids:

"Haven't contacted you recently, did you miss me?"

"Not at all," Yan Yu stated bluntly. "But my classmates sure miss you. They're all very curious why I would date such a wretched 'girlfriend'."

"I went back to Jianghai Prefecture a while ago," Chen Lingyun said with a faint smile, "Today, I'm here to get her physical examination done to ensure she can also enroll smoothly."

"After this is over, I still have to rush back to Jianghai tonight."

"You're going back tonight?" Yan Yu was slightly surprised, "Are you that busy?"

"I knew you can't bear to part with me," Chen Lingyun said with a beaming smile, her eyes curving into crescents.

Yan Yu couldn't be bothered to argue with her and just listened as she explained:

"Military cultivators were the first batch of cultivators, and I am part of the second batch, which is university student cultivators. Since I had confirmed my Spirit Root in advance, I have to cooperate with the military cultivators in a series of experiments to see if their training methods in the army are applicable to university students."

"I remember they didn't fully use military training methods in the end," Yan Yu pondered solemnly, "The reason seemed to be due to changes in Mitchi Country."

"Yes, it was just at the end of this month that Mitchi Country introduced new policies," Chen Lingyun nodded, "They have publicly announced the recruitment of Transcendents from all over the world and established two organizations. One is the 'Superhero Alliance' and the other is the 'Homeland Strategic Bureau'."

"The Superhero Alliance plans to become a professional league like the NBA, using a large amount of fame and wealth to attract foreign Transcendents to participate in combative spectator sports; whereas the Homeland Strategic Bureau is an official agency and will select elites from the Superhero Alliance to join and become the country's official military Transcendents."

"That's so Mitchi Country," Yan Yu couldn't help but remark, despite already knowing the world's trend, "They have such a developed commercial mindset."

"In short, ever since Mitchi Country's Transcendent introduction plan came out, it's basically thrown the rest of the world into disarray," Chen Lingyun said, chuckling, "Cultivators are different from scientists.

If scientific talents are poached by other countries, it won't cause a fundamental harm, but if cultivators are enticed away by fame and wealth, one issue is the complete leakage of cultivation systems and training models, and the other is the fear that in the later stages of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, some cultivators will possess the terrifying strength to dominate battlefields.

In that case, we would certainly lose out big time."

"So there's been internal debate lately about whether to continue with strict militarized training or to also introduce fame and wealth to deeply bind cultivators," Chen Lingyun continued thoughtfully, then asked with a smile, "Never mind, let me guess, in the future we will opt for a dual approach, right?"

"Of course," Yan Yu replied nonchalantly, "No matter the occupation, if the compensation can't match that of foreign counterparts, even the most patriotic will have complaints. Plus, with cultivators truly possessing the power to defect forcefully, it would be strange if the authorities felt reassured, wouldn't it?"

"You're absolutely right," Chen Lingyun smiled delightedly, "That means as long as we can become the most powerful cultivators, power, fame, benefits—all will follow suit. Doesn't that make things even more interesting?"

"Hmm," Yan Yu responded, though he seemed less than enthusiastic.

Power, fame, wealth—they don't just fall from the sky. You pay a dear price for these things... with your life...

Seeing him like this, Chen Lingyun didn't ask further but went over to wake Zhao Yuanzhen and planned to take her for a medical checkup.

Zhao Yuanzhen, half-roused by the push, mumbled in a daze:

"Stop messing with me~ let me sleep a bit more."

Chen Lingyun turned around, her face devoid of any smile, and asked indifferently:

"Oh? How do you usually mess around?"

"The same way you mess around with others," Yan Yu replied just as expressionlessly.

"I see." Chen Lingyun appeared thoughtful, "Then demonstrate it for me."

Yan Yu walked over to the bed and pinched Zhao Yuanzhen's nose.

Zhao Yuanzhen kept her eyes closed, simply opening her mouth to breathe. Yan Yu then covered her mouth, and yet this Demonic Sect Enchantress still didn't open her eyes... she actually went straight into a state of suspended animation and continued to sleep.

"Looks like she won't wake up," Yan Yu let go of her mouth and nose and sighed, "Then it's just the two of us going for hotpot."

"Okay, hubby!" Chen Lingyun was overjoyed and responded loudly.

Before the two had even reached the door, Zhao Yuanzhen smacked her lips and suddenly sat up abruptly on the bed, yelling:

"Who's going for hotpot without me!"