Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 475 - 71 Zhou Hongyu’s Obsession

Chapter 475: Chapter 71 Zhou Hongyu’s Obsession

“Very arrogant?” Xie Ruoxi asked puzzledly, “How arrogant?”

“Watch the video.” Chen Lingyun said.

She played the video on the big screen, and the girls curiously gathered around to watch. They saw Hou Qing and another Sword Immortal exchanging offensive and defensive moves, sometimes being at a disadvantage, sometimes regaining the upper hand.

At a certain point, Lin Ning suddenly took the mouse, dragged the progress bar back a few seconds, and asked in astonishment:

“Cang Song Ying Ke interrupted and then followed by White Crane Spreads Wings? What kind of sword technique is he using?”

“It’s not a sword technique.” Yan Yu said, “Look here: his sparring partner, the angle at which he thrust the sword was a bit too high. Hou Qing originally wanted to use Cang Song Ying Ke to intercept, but halfway through, he suddenly realized that his opponent made a mistake by raising the sword too high, so he quickly switched to White Crane Spreads Wings to sweep at his opponent’s lower body, forcing the opponent’s Flying Sword to return for defense.”

...

“So that’s how it is.” Lin Ning quickly shook her head, “Still, it’s not right. Having already started Cang Song Ying Ke, changing to White Crane Spreads Wings should be too late, the time window is insufficient.”

“Hence, to put it nicely, it’s ‘he’s very imaginative’, or to put it in a harsh way, ‘his skills are a bit arrogant’.” Yan Yu said with a smile, “This is a Sword Immortal who likes to take advantage by seizing the opponent’s weakness with sharper-than-average acuity and persistence. However, his combat experience isn’t enough; often, although the opponent carelessly exposes a weakness, the timing or his own ability doesn’t allow him to capitalize on it, yet he subconsciously insists on grabbing for it, therefore his displayed skill level is inconsistent, sometimes seizing the opponent’s mistake to win with one strike, and other times, in the pursuit of exploiting weaknesses, he loses rhythm and throws away a great advantage.”

“Impressive.” Chen Lingyun’s eyes shone with appreciation, “This is indeed why the Huofeng Team recruited him. The exact words from Zhang Huaide to me were, ‘Hou Qing has very sharp perceptions, but his judgment is slightly lacking’.”

“Without any distinguishable talent, he wouldn’t have caught the eye of the Huofeng Team.” Yan Yu stated matter-of-factly, “Given Zhang Huaide’s commanding style, he favours those who take the road less traveled; he likes individuals whose strengths and weaknesses are both highly pronounced, which he skillfully manages with his tactical acumen to their advantage.”

“Indeed.” Su Yunjin said thoughtfully, “Zhou Hongyu and Qin Meng also fall into the category of having very obvious strengths and weaknesses.”

“Given this, I think we could set a trap and catch Hou Qing off guard.” Chen Lingyun said with a sweet smile, yet her words were incredibly sinister.

“There’s no need.” Yan Yu shook her head, “Since Zhang Huaide has told you all of this, he is not afraid of you messing with him. If you try to scheme against him, it’s easy for him to see through it, or even use it against you, which would be pointless.”

“I don’t think Zhang Huaide would be so delusional as to scheme against me,” Chen Lingyun cheekily said, “Given his personality, his willingness to share this information with me suggests it’s more likely that ‘we know Hou Qing has these shortcomings, you find a way to teach him a lesson, so I can use that to educate him afterwards’.”

Yan Yu thought about it more carefully, and it seemed to make sense.

In the previous life, Zhang Huaide indeed had this kind of approach: he would first point out your shortcomings. If you didn’t listen, he would let you be, waiting for you to fail and suffer, and then he would seize the moment of your regret to reiterate the lesson.

This method did indeed work on most headstrong individuals, except for Zhou Hongyu. Zhou herself was the type to be consumed by her obsessions and required harsh medicine to be properly disciplined, rather than long-term strategies or careful planning—she might not even survive long enough, potentially meeting her end on any given day.

No one understands Zhou Hongyu better than I do! No one!

“Now that we’ve gone over the intelligence, let’s discuss tactics.” Chen Lingyun said leisurely, “This time, as the visiting team, our entrance order will be like this.”

“The home team’s front row enters first, followed by the visiting team’s front row after 3 minutes, then the home team’s rear row enters after another 4 minutes, followed by the visiting team’s rear row after 3 more minutes.”

“This means.” Lin Ning quickly deduced, “Starting from the Huofeng Team’s front row entry, until our whole team finally enters, there is a 10-minute interval… Aren’t you afraid they’ll try to steal our goalkeeper?”

“We still need to take precautions.” Chen Lingyun said with a smile, “If they adopt an aggressive 5-1 formation, leaving Qin Meng for last—though it’s unlikely, to prevent them from targeting our goalkeeper, Yan Yu, after you enter, you absolutely must not slack off, okay? You have to find their front row as quickly as possible.”

“Nonsense, do you think I’m like you?” Yan Yu retorted.

“If you can’t find the opponent’s front row, search for their goalkeeper.” Chen Lingyun continued, “If there’s no sign of the goalkeeper, it means the opponents might have chosen to hide, waiting to regroup with their team. At that time, you’ll act accordingly, with self-preservation as your priority.”

“Understood.” Yan Yu said.

“Everyone else will follow me in the rear row.” Chen Lingyun put away her smile and said indifferently, “After entering, link up with our captain at the first opportunity, then adjust our strategy based on the situation. Got it?”

“Got it!” the girls responded in unison.

The plane finally landed at the airport of Military Manor, and after disembarking, everyone checked into a local hotel.

It didn’t take long for guests to arrive.

Although it wasn’t a written rule, it had almost become a tradition for the two teams who were about to compete to visit each other at the hotel, although no one knew who started this custom.

“Captain Yan, good to see you.” Zhang Huaide held up a large pot of butter tea, “Issued by the military, to prevent altitude sickness.”

“Thank you,” Yan Yu nodded.

For cultivators who had entered the Marrow Cleansing Stage, the likelihood of altitude sickness was naturally minimal, but it was not completely absent, for example, Li Minghu… This girl shattered the myth of “Cultivators are immune to illness,” prompting the Military Manor to attend to cultivators as if they were nobility, even requiring a record for a visit to the infirmary for a common cold.

“Is there something bothering you, Huaide?” Yan Yu asked, seeing Zhang Huaide put down the teapot but not leave.

A moment passed before Zhang Huaide spoke slowly:

“It seems that Captain Zhou is quite obsessed with the idea of ‘defeating you.’ I’m not sure why.”

“Oh, you’re asking about that,” Yan Yu laughed, “I think it’s mainly because Little Zhou hates to lose. Ever since she lost to me during the four institutes exchange match, she’s held a grudge.”

“If that’s the case, then we’ve actually lost to the Dragon Soar Team more times,” Zhang Huaide said, puzzled, “But Captain Zhou doesn’t seem to harbor similar animosity towards Captain Liu.”

“Maybe it’s because Liu Longtao isn’t as handsome as I am,” Yan Yu said.

Zhang Huaide fell silent, mulling over this internally:

Could that really be a possibility? That Captain Zhou’s obsession with Captain Yan actually stemmed from a secret crush on him?

Hmm, judging from Captain Zhou’s behavior, it seemed unlikely.

But just to be on the safe side, it was still necessary to make sure… If it really was about love, things would become complicated.

“I see, thank you for letting me know, Captain Yan,” Zhang Huaide replied with a slight smile, “I look forward to our match.”

He politely took his leave and, as he opened the door, he saw Chen Lingyun approaching from the corridor.

After watching Zhang Huaide leave, Chen Lingyun entered the room, asking Yan Yu:

“What did he come here for?”

“He brought us some butter tea,” replied Yan Yu, nodding towards the teapot on the table.

“Probably probing for information as well,” shrugged Chen Lingyun.

But it didn’t matter anymore; this time, we were leading with our captain, and there was no need to hide anything.

Meanwhile, Zhang Huaide returned to the Huofeng Team’s floor and stopped at Zhou Hongyu’s door, knocking on it.

Zhou Hongyu came to open the door and welcomed her deputy inside, asking:

“Well?”

“Captain Yan didn’t probe; he doesn’t care who our vanguard is,” Zhang Huaide answered, “He will probably go into battle alone.”

“I told you so,” Zhou Hongyu said, unsurprised, her tone cold, “In the end, it all comes down to strength.”

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“There’s another issue,” Zhang Huaide said.

“Ask.”

“It is unrelated to this match, but it’s very important for the future of our team,” Zhang Huaide asked earnestly, “Captain Zhou, do you feel differently about Captain Yan? Aside from the desire to defeat him.”

Zhou Hongyu’s eyes flared as if she was ready to erupt in anger, but quickly, her expression turned to one of cold disdain and disgust, and she retorted:

“Did he tell you that?”

“It’s my guess,” Zhang Huaide said.

“Cut the crap,” Zhou Hongyu said.

“Very well,” nodded Zhang Huaide, taking his leave.

She didn’t outright deny it… Was it disdain for the question, or a reluctance to admit it?

How troublesome, I’m not good at dealing with these kinds of things. I’ll just have to observe and see how it unfolds.