Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Chapter 471: Chapter 67: I Am the Captain
 

“The new competition format isn’t entirely in your favor either,”

over the phone, Li Minghu reminded, “Your and your team’s tactical system are incompatible, which is hardly a secret. Zhang Huaide will definitely guess you’re using the 15-member setup and that you’ll take the vanguard alone.”

“So what?” Yan Yu was noncommittal, wanting to hear what Valkyrie thought.

“If I were Zhang Huaide,” Li Minghu began to analyze, “I would have Qin Meng lead the charge.”

“When it comes to individual survival ability, Qin Meng, who specializes in physical cultivation, is undoubtedly the best in the Huofeng Team, even Zhou Hongyu can’t compare to him. Even if he accidentally runs into you in the Mysterious Realm, he would still have enough self-preservation strength.”

“This time it’s Huofeng Team’s home ground. Once you and Qin Meng finish, the remaining five members of Huofeng Team will take their turns, and they will definitely try to surround you with six people before Chen Lingyun and the others enter,”

“Even for you, dealing with a six-person combined attack would be difficult. Previously in the Secret Realm of Li Palace, the reason you could handle so many superheroes was that they were all too eager to rush into the Departure Palace and had no intention of entangling with you.”

“No wonder you’re called Ah Hu,” Yan Yu laughed, “Exactly.”

Cultivators are not invincible; they also need to dodge when attacked. As long as the enemies are numerous enough, launching a continuous, saturation bombardment to keep you dodging without a chance to counter… the opponents would then stand invincible. How can one fight against that?

If Yan Yu indeed found himself surrounded by six people alone, he could only try to delay time until Chen Lingyun and the others arrived.

“By the way, you must have seen that post on Tieba, right?” Yan Yu asked.

“I only saw the screenshot Ah Jiang sent me,” Li Minghu said with a laugh, “He exaggerated your prowess too much, it feels like it’s secretly a shade under flattery.”

“That’s how high-level critics operate these days, hard to guard against,” Yan Yu laughed, “About your speculation, I think there’s still one variable.”

“Which is?”

“Zhou Hongyu,” Yan Yu said, “Now, finally, there’s a chance for a one-on-one duel at the top of the Forbidden City. Would she easily give that up?”

“Seems likely,” Li Minghu, who wasn’t familiar with the relationship between Zhou Hongyu and Yan Yu, merely said, “But even personal grievances shouldn’t overshadow the team’s collective interests, right?”

“That’s hard to say,” Yan Yu pondered for a moment, “I’ll go ask.”

“Ask who?”

“Zhou Hongyu.”

“Heh,” Li Minghu also couldn’t help but chuckle, “You’re too much, Yan Yu.”

“Just asking friendly questions,” Yan Yu opened the chat window with Zhou Hongyu on his computer and began typing.

[Win Over with Virtue]: Finally, another chance to face you. Are you excited?

[Zao La]: What do you mean?

[Win Over with Virtue]: I’m leading the vanguard alone this time. Coming? King vs. King!

On the other side, Zhou Hongyu showed the phone screen to everyone, displaying the challenge message sent by Yan Yu.

“Ignore it,” Zhang Huaide pushed up his glasses with a fingertip and said gravely, “If you agree, our lineup configuration will have no secrets for them.”

“The same goes for them,” Zhou Hongyu coldly said, “What’s your plan?”

“Qin Meng will lead the charge,” Zhang Huaide replied, “Ensure his survival while trying to engage Yan Yu as much as possible, waiting for our back lines to enter and quickly surround and eliminate him.”

The reason for formulating this tactical scheme was because Tang Xiaolian had recently acquired a set of Mother-Child Gu. No matter where the Child Gu was, as long as one carried the Mother Gu within a certain distance, its head would always point towards the direction of the Child Gu.

They would let Qin Meng carry the Child Gu first into the arena, and once everyone else entered the Mysterious Realm, they could use the Mother Gu to immediately rush to Qin Meng’s location, achieving the fastest possible rally.

“What if Qin Meng doesn’t find Yan Yu?” Zhou Hongyu questioned, “Or what if Qin Meng can’t withstand Yan Yu’s assault?”

“If it’s the former, at least we’ve completed the rendezvous and are not at a disadvantage,” Zhang Huaide had already thought it through and replied, “A fair duel will follow.”

“As for the latter, Qin Meng, if you really feel you can’t hold on, you can choose to retreat and protect yourself, trying to delay until we enter the arena, so it would be almost the same as the former.”

“This time our advantage lies in being able to complete the full team assembly faster than the Zhenghai Team. The principles of military strategy are nothing more than acting fast against the slow and striking the few with the many. Why abandon the advantages we have?”

Zhou Hongyu still disagreed, declaring firmly:

“I will take Qin Meng’s place, and all other strategies will proceed as you have outlined.”

Zhang Huaide pondered.

Qin Meng had an advantage over Zhou Hongyu, as he focused on cultivating his physique and had strong defenses. Even if he couldn’t keep up with Yan Yu’s speed and reactions, taking a few hits wouldn’t be a problem, and he was most likely able to last until regrouping with the team.

If Zhou Hongyu were to lead the charge, the tactical thinking would have to change: it wouldn’t be about defending and delaying but about maximizing pressure on Yan Yu…

It wasn’t impossible.

Of the two plans, from a tactical standpoint, Qin Meng taking the lead undoubtedly had a higher success rate. The problem was that in considering issues, one mustn’t only look at the present. Given Captain Zhou’s current display of strong obsession, she seemed to still hold a grudge about being defeated by Captain Yan before, almost to the point of developing a heart demon.

Even if her participation was limited by the team’s interest, it would be like compressing a spring slightly, only for the rebound to come back even more fiercely next time.

The outcome of one battle is trivial; dealing with Captain Zhou’s heart demon is the real issue.

If this time she could truly defeat Yan Yu… no, even if it was just Captain Zhou venting her combat desire sufficiently, subsequent ideological work would be much easier.

“Okay,” Zhang Huaide replied, “On the other side is Chen Lingyun, who will surely guess that we’re leading with Qin Meng. Let’s do the opposite then. Captain Zhou, after you find Yan Yu, focus on putting pressure on him to exhaust his True Yuan…”

“To defeat him,” Zhou Hongyu corrected.

“Yes, to try and defeat him,” Zhang Huaide reluctantly amended, “and on that basis, force him to counterattack, don’t let him simply dodge and conserve his True Yuan.”

“Okay,” Zhou Hongyu said.

The group exchanged looks, secretly thinking, Captain Zhou’s obsession with Captain Yan is truly fearsome. How long has it been since last year’s four-college exchange tournament, and she still hasn’t gotten over the humiliation Yan Yu left her with?

“Qin Meng,” Zhang Huaide continued, “this time you’ll stay in the rear to guard the whole team.”

“Understood!” Qin Meng said.

“Hou Qing,” Zhang Huaide issued the order, “your role will shift from assisting a support attack to leading the main attack. Until you rendezvous with Captain Zhou, you are responsible for leading the team’s main assault.”

“Understood!” Hou Qing also nodded.

“Captain Zhou, don’t reply to Yan Yu yet,” Zhang Huaide turned and said, “Tang Xiaolian, go have a casual chat with Captain Yan, just mention that I and Captain Zhou had a disagreement. Captain Zhou wants to take the lead, and I disagreed, which led to an argument between us.”

“Don’t,” Tang Xiaolian refused, “I don’t want to lie to people.”

Everyone immediately stared at her, thinking, sister, you’re a member of the Huofeng Team, not the Zhenghai Team!

“It’s not lying,” Zhang Huaide explained patiently, “Captain Zhou requesting to lead is a fact, and my initial disagreement is also a fact. You’re not lying. Just don’t mention that I later compromised and readjusted the plan.”

“Still no,” Tang Xiaolian persisted, “Even if it’s because I only tell half the story, if he misunderstands, won’t he come after me later?”

“Enough,” Zhou Hongyu interjected, “Huaide, let’s solve battlefield problems on the battlefield. There’s no need to play any minor tricks off the field.”

“But Captain Yan used these kinds of tactics first, didn’t he?” Hou Qing pointed out, “I’m not targeting Captain Yan, but it was indeed him who came to chat first, forcing us to give up using the Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu.”

“That’s not really a trick,” Zhang Huaide agreed, “It’s merely a psychological tactic…”

“Do as I say,” Zhou Hongyu insisted, her tone leaving no room for argument, “I am the captain!”