Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

"Why are you here!" Lin Ning was the first to yell out.

Be it the training ground, the battlefield, or any other place, Ningning, in her role as the assault leader, was always at the forefront of the charge. There was no particular reason, other than her quick reaction times.

"Why can't I be here?" Yan Yu yawned lazily in response, "This isn't some women-only hot spring."

Lin Ning was at a loss for words, but quickly mustered the courage to retort,

"Didn't you say you weren't interested in hot springs?"

"I take that back," Yan Yu said calmly, "After fighting so many zombies in the Mysterious Realm, it's pretty normal to want to take a bath to get rid of the stench, right?"

Seeing that Lin Ning was rendered speechless, Su Yunjin also felt a bit of a headache, so she simply grabbed a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Yan Yu, saying,

"It's fine if the Captain wants to come to the hot springs, but you could at least give us a heads up, otherwise, it's kind of awkward."

"What's so awkward about it?" Yan Yu took the mineral water and asked, puzzled.

Just as Su Yunjin was about to explain, she realized she was wearing a swimsuit and bending over, so she quickly covered her neckline with her hand.

Yan Yu was speechless. Secretary Su, although you're a bit stronger than Chen Lingyun, it's not like you need to be that modest, right?

"There's no need to explain to him," Chen Lingyun said with a smile, "Be careful or he might threaten you with more training."

With that reminder, the girls all fell silent.

Since everyone was wearing bathing suits at the hot springs, it wasn't a big deal if the Captain saw them. Besides, this place wasn't specifically for women only, and there was no reason to drive the Captain away.

To avoid giving Yan Yu further opportunity to admire their swimsuits, everyone quickly submerged themselves in the hot spring, up to their necks.

Now, that felt more comfortable.

Yan Yu gulped down a few mouthfuls of mineral water, then placed the bottle on the edge of the bath, proceeding to survey everyone with his gaze.

The girls became uncomfortable again. Not that there was any lascivious intent in the Captain's gaze—if that were the case, it would have been easier to deal with, since none present had issues with their looks; they were often given second glances by passersby of the opposite sex while walking down the street, and from a young age, they were accustomed to it.

What really made everyone uneasy was that the more Yan Yu looked, the more he frowned, and his expression didn't seem too pleased, causing a sudden lack of confidence within the group, and their thoughts began to run wild.

Zhao Yuanzhen thought, "Is this rascal trying to find an excuse to pick on me again?" so she quietly brought her hands together under the water, ready to splash hot spring water in his face the moment he started to complain.

When he would be blinded by the water, she would rush over and pin him down for a wild beating, venting the many deep grudges she accumulated over the past half a year!

Su Yunjin worried, "Last time, to avoid training, I lied to the Captain about having my period, and now here I am soaking in the hot springs just a few days later. What if he remembers?"

The more she thought, the more frightened she became, nervously submerging herself further in the hot spring, only her eyes peeking out, blinking non-stop.

I'm wrong, Captain! Just look for someone else, sob sob sob, don't put pressure on me anymore!

Lin Ning thought, "Everyone's wearing one-piece swimsuits, and I'm the only one in a two-piece. Am I showing too much skin? Is that why Yan Yu keeps looking this way?"

She glared fiercely at Yan Yu, unable to tell whether she was annoyed or embarrassed, but she was determined to overpower him in terms of presence.

Only Chen Lingyun was thinking nothing at all, quietly enjoying the hot spring and letting out a long, comfortable sigh.

"Why aren't you all talking?" Yan Yu finally broke the silence, "Were you scared by the horde of zombies in the Mysterious Realm?"

"Speaking of which," Chen Lingyun said leisurely, "strong, fast, impenetrable to blades and spears... the design intent to target Cultivators is pretty obvious."

"Of course," Yan Yu replied, "Cultivators who practice necromancy naturally consider other Cultivators as their hypothetical enemies; ordinary military forces aren't worth the effort for Cultivators to specifically research evil arts to counter them."

"Moreover, the most formidable aspect of the necromancy sect is that a single Cultivator can command two to three corpses in battle. If the command standards are lowered, that number could rise to ten or even twenty."

"So, if you're dealing with uncommanded, tacticless zombies, you need to be prepared to take on as many as come at you to even meet the minimum standard. As for your performance in the Mysterious Realm this time, to be honest..."

The girls instantly grew anxious upon hearing this because, according to the usual pattern, after criticizing their performance, he often smoothly transitioned to, "It looks like we'll need more training."

To prevent him from uttering those diabolical words, Chen Lingyun quickly deployed a topic-changing trick and laughed, "But come to think of it, could there be corpse poison on these zombies?"

"Corpse poison?" Yan Yu paused, then answered, "There is such a thing, but at this stage, it's not something to worry about. With your frail little bodies, if you're scratched by a zombie, you'd be dead anyway, so why worry about getting infected with corpse poison? The focus should be on being absolutely certain you won't get scratched.

Judging by your performance in the Mysterious Realm, while there's the factor of being unfamiliar with new things, your ability to deal with emergencies is still relatively weak..."

Zhao Yuanzhen had already understood the hint and hurriedly pounced over to catch Yan Yu, saying,

"First, let me check and see if you got scratched, if there's any residual corpse poison left it'll be terrible!"

"Nonsense!" Yan Yu said irritably, "Even if you got scratched to death, I wouldn't be hurt!"

"Just to be safe. It's inevitable to get hurt sometimes, and being extra careful never hurts," Zhao Yuanzhen casually said, her hands wandering over Yan Yu's chest and back, but he caught her wrists, looking at her suspiciously,

"What are you doing? Ingenuity without cause is either sinister or thievery!"

Being questioned about her motives right in front of everyone, the Demonic Sect Enchantress almost exploded in anger, and she swore silently in her heart:

"This scoundrel questions my intentions and diminishes my fairy dignity in front of them today, such a towering hatred, I shall not let it go easily! Once I find an opportunity to turn the tables, I must humiliate him thoroughly in front of them to vent the hatred in my heart!"

Su Yunjin was also startled by Zhao's overly deliberate and exaggerated behavior, which provoked the captain's suspicions, and she quickly spoke up to smooth things over,

"Captain, Sister Zhao is just concerned about you. By the way, do you need bath salts? I saw some self-service bath salts at the entrance, should I get some for you?"

"Bath salts?" Yan Yu, who trusted Secretary Su more, didn't think much of it and was just surprised when he asked, "Aren't bath salts for back scrubbing? You girls can help each other with that. I don't need it."

Su Yunjin was immediately deflated, and Lin Ning quickly came to the rescue:

"No problem, I'll scrub the captain's back! Yun Jin, you go get the bath salts!"

In order to divert the captain's attention, Sister Lin simply went all in.

Her readiness to sacrifice herself for the cause obviously influenced Su Yunjin, who said "okay" with a solemn expression and climbed out of the bath, then wrapped her wet body with a long bath towel and quickly walked outside.

Yan Yu also felt it was rather odd and asked in confusion,

"Aren't you from Minhai? Do people there also have a tradition of scrubbing in baths?"

Lin Ning, who had been somewhat embarrassed about insisting on going through with it, actually got annoyed first when she heard this, and exclaimed,

"Cut the crap! Turn around!"

Without further ado, she turned Yan Yu around to face his back toward her, then demanded,

"Towel!"

Zhao Yuanzhen immediately went to fetch a towel, simultaneously giving Lin Ning a meaningful look that said:

Scrub hard! Scrub a layer of skin off his back!

Lin Ning received the towel, rolled it up roughly, and with the vigor of a novice painter, grasped the rolled up towel with both hands and scrubbed up and down along Yan Yu's spinal column.

"How's that?" she asked, huffing, "Is the pressure okay?"

"Mm, not bad," Yan Yu commented.

Of course, it couldn't compare to the technique of a professional bath scrubber, but the fact that she was willing to exert force was comforting—But Lin Ning is actually giving me a back scrub!

What's going on? Does she want a favor from me? Or did she make some mistake and is trying to lay the groundwork for making amends?
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"The bath salts are here," said Su Yunjin, wrapped in a bath towel, returning with a small bag of milk bath salts, placing it beside Lin Ning's left hand.

Seeing Yan Yu enjoying the scrubbing service and seemingly forgetting about the extra training for the moment, she also let out a quiet sigh of relief and smilingly said,

"Would the captain like to drink something else? I'll go get it for you."

"Just pick any beverage," Yan Yu ventured.

"Okay." Su Yunjin turned and began to pour a drink for Yan Yu.

Seeing her so obedient and compliant, Yan Yu was finally able to confirm that for some reason, they must be in a state of "wanting to please me."

So…

"Zhao, come over and give my shoulders a massage. And my arms, too, they're really sore today," Yan Yu commanded without any hesitation, "Chen Lingyun, go outside and fetch some fruit for me. Grapes, cherry tomatoes, make sure they're washed clean, peel them for me and put them on a plate to bring back."