Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Chapter 323: Chapter 19: Demonic Sect Enchantress, Yet A Good Person
 

Yan Yu was shocked as he listened to Zhao Yuanzhen’s speech, thinking to himself: Could it be that I was mistaken, and Ningning is not the proudest member of our team?

Is there another ultimate, peerless, proud character?

No, no! The Empress Yuanzhen of the previous life wasn’t like this at all!

It’s not that I’m confused by preconceived notions; rather, anyone who had actually seen the Empress Yuanzhen of the previous life in her arrogant state would never believe she’s some kind of “cold on the outside, warm on the inside, seemingly proud but actually kind-hearted girl”.

She, who boasted about her own life in documentaries, whose private scandals were spread everywhere, then straightforwardly tracked down her critics through the Internet to kill them, and after the murder, she even shouted for the Privy Council to clean up her mess… No matter how you look at it, she’s a capricious and insane woman who is ruthless on the outside but frail on the inside and who disregards human life, order, rules, and authority.

But when her clone revealed her innermost thoughts, it turned out to be a kind-hearted girl who knows right from wrong and is grateful…@@novelbin@@

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!!

The battle between Empress Yuanzhen and Zhao Yuanzhen was still fierce, with various treacherous spells being exchanged in rapid succession. They were evenly matched, with each move met by a counter.

Due to the concentration of the Spiritual Energy Resurgence, her strength was only at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Zhao Yuanzhen’s actual strength was also at the Hua Fu Stage, the difference between her and Empress Yuanzhen being only that between “not yet complete” and “complete” within the same stage, which in reality wasn’t a significant gap.

Moreover, the opponent had to split her focus on Flying Swords, puppets or magical treasures, to entangle Yan Yu and put pressure on Lin Ning’s side. Therefore, the fight against Zhao Yuanzhen was in a stalemate, and she was even beginning to fall behind.

Lacking in strength, she made up for it with her mouth, after professing her feelings in turn to Yan Yu, Chen Lingyun, and Lin Ning, she brought up Xie Ruoxi:

“Ruoxi, among the teammates, the one I have the closest relationship with is you. You and I are like two peas in a pod, and I’ve seen full well the moments of inferiority and loneliness that you sometimes show. Perhaps in this world, there aren’t many who can truly understand me, but fortunately, you are one of them.”

“Sister Zhao!” Xie Ruoxi was still healing, her face contorted in pain, but when she heard Empress Yuanzhen’s touching speech, she immediately became so excited that she burst into tears, unable to help herself from exclaiming, “Sister Zhao! I also think of you as my own sister!”

“Pfft!” Zhao Yuanzhen almost gagged with disgust, her technique faltering for a moment, nearly allowing Empress Yuanzhen to make a comeback. She quickly steadied her offensive and defensively yelled, “Nonsense! Rubbish! The only reason I’ve been hanging out with you is because I saw you were new and timid, like a wild rabbit being taken in for the first time, and I simply took pity on you for having no friends!”

Xie Ruoxi: ………

She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, her sorrow turning to laughter, and said to Chen Lingyun and Lin Ning beside her:

“Sister Zhao really likes to say one thing and mean another. If her clone hadn’t said these things herself, I’d never have known that this is what she really thinks.”

“Indeed.” Chen Lingyun, always one to enjoy a good disturbance, immediately chimed in with a laugh, “So Sister Zhao actually wants to get close to me, but didn’t dare to say it because she felt inferior. What’s the big deal? Honestly, when I first saw Sister Zhao, I also felt she was as friendly as the girl next door.”

Zhao Yuanzhen was so frustrated she felt like spitting blood, trembling with anger, her performance getting worse and worse, nearly being turned around by Empress Yuanzhen.

Lin Ning saw her predicament and hurriedly advised:

“Enough already! Stop picking on Sister Zhao! Keep these words in your heart, don’t say them out loud and affect her performance!”

“Right, I won’t say anymore.”

“Exactly, just silently be grateful.”

Chen Lingyun and Xie Ruoxi immediately nodded, their agreement falling on Zhao Yuanzhen’s ears like thunder, infuriating her to the point of almost exploding. She threw caution to the wind and launched an all-out assault, pouring all sorts of attack techniques, along with her full fury and resentment, straight toward Empress Yuanzhen!

With a sound like a silver urn shattering, Empress Yuanzhen staggered back five or six steps, while Zhao Yuanzhen was sent flying.

Just then, still in the process of healing, Xie Ruoxi suddenly raised her hand and fired a Jade Pivot Thunder!

The Empress was about to dodge when she suddenly found herself unable to move her feet.

Yin Ghosts? When did they get so close? Why didn’t my Divine Sense detect them?

With sudden confusion and surprise, her upper body was struck by the Jade Pivot Thunder and instantly exploded into pieces.

The deep purple sword light and the puppets all vanished without a trace. Yan Yu immediately went to check on Zhao Yuanzhen’s condition. Thankfully, she was not in danger of losing her life, though she was seriously injured.

“Well done,” he said, turning back to the others.

“It’s because we worked well together,” Chen Lingyun said with a smile.

To guard against Chen Lingyun’s stealthy Yin Ghosts, Empress Yuanzhen’s Divine Sense had been continuously scanning the surroundings. However, whenever Chen Lingyun threw the Divine Evil Prayer Beads in an attempt to lock onto her deep purple sword light, the Empress had to switch the positions of her Flying Sword and puppets to avoid being targeted by the beads.

At that moment, since the Empress was both using the Sword Control Technique and employing the String-Pulling Technique to manage the puppets, as well as facing off against the near Zhao Yuanzhen, she inevitably had no time to use her Divine Sense to scan the area.

Therefore, Yan Yu intentionally drew the battlefield to the other side. When Empress Yuanzhen moved her sword light and puppets, it allowed the Yin Ghosts to approach her from behind while invisible—considering the swift speed of both the sword light and the puppets, which could cross over a dozen meters in less than a second, the window of opportunity for action was incredibly narrow. Even a half-second delay could lead to detection on the spot.

Although Chen Lingyun’s reaction speed was lacking, as long as she wasn’t under the pressure of battle and could wait at leisure, her ability to seize the moment was undoubtedly top-notch. The reason he had Lin Ning come over to act as a dedicated bodyguard seemed like tying down an important combatant but actually created the opportunity for Chen Lingyun’s critical strike.

Yan Yu briefly explained, and both Lin Ning and Xie Ruoxi had an epiphany.

After a short period of regulating her breath, Zhao Yuanzhen, with her body covered in wounds, got up from the ground, gritting her teeth and saying:

“Finally resolved… Hmpf, I thought it would be more formidable than that!”

“Sister Zhao!” the three girls surrounded her, chattering away, “We had no idea you thought of us that way!”

“I didn’t! That’s not what I meant! Stop making things up!” Zhao Yuanzhen vehemently denied, her face flushing and ears reddening, wishing she could catch Empress Yuanzhen again and shred her into eighty thousand pieces to vent her frustration.

“Oh come on, we all know now, no need to be shy about it,” Lin Ning cheerfully interjected.

“Exactly,” Xie Ruoxi added, with a satisfied expression that said “Who would have thought you were like this, Sister Zhao,” nodding incessantly. “I knew from the very beginning that Sister Zhao is a very gentle and kind-hearted good person.”

“Er… Er… Er… Er… Er…” Struck by the proverbial ‘nice guy’ card, Zhao Yuanzhen, who prided herself on being ruthless, couldn’t help but let out groans that sounded like a machine on the verge of breaking down.

“Since we all know, we can’t keep Yun Jin in the dark,” Chen Lingyun delivered the final blow with a gleeful smile. “After we get out of here, we’ll tell her about this so she can also change her perspective on Sister Zhao a little bit.”

Zhao Yuanzhen rolled her eyes and suddenly fell backwards, collapsing.