Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 267 - 65 I Just Looked at It Once

The next day, Yan Yu brought Xie Ruoxi to the school to meet Qi Changping in the archives room, where they encountered a messenger cultivator sent by the Pingxi Army.

The messenger took out a Pad, unlocked it, and handed it to Yan Yu; it contained the complete list of Taoism Methods currently in the inventory of the Pingxi Army.

Yan Yu was not shy about it, scrutinizing the Taoism Methods list thoroughly before suddenly asking,

"Is it a one-for-one exchange, or one for two?"

The messenger’s eyes widened in shock, seemingly unable to believe that Yan Zhanlong would make such a shameless proposition. Qi Changping quickly stepped in, explaining,

"Of course, it’s one-for-one! It’s difficult to assess the value of Taoism Methods, so the default is a one-for-one exchange."

"But these Methods of yours are kinda lackluster." Yan Yu said with a look of difficulty, complaining, "I’ve been trying to pick out a strong water-related Taoism Method for Yun Jin and can’t seem to find one."

"Why don’t you look at other types?" the messenger asked patiently, "Exchange for another strong Taoism Method first, then go to Annan or Dingbei to exchange for a water-related one!"

"That’d be such a hassle." Yan Yu waved his hand and said, "Let’s just make it simple—let me pick two Methods."

"That’s not possible!" The messenger didn’t have the authority for such a deal, and quickly refused, "It can only be one-for-one! Comrade Yan Yu, I really can’t make that decision."

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"Forget it, then. We won’t exchange," Yan Yu said impatiently, "When you have a strong water-related Taoism Method, we can talk trade then."

The messenger immediately turned pale because before departing, his superiors had instructed him, "You must secure the rights to ’Crimson Feather Nine Phoenix Fire.’" He eagerly tried to persuade Yan Yu further but was pulled aside by Qi Changping, who whispered to him urgently,

"Don’t argue with him. How about we add another Taoism Method to our offer? Let Yan Yu choose two this time and wrap things up quickly."

"But…" The messenger wanted to say "we only intended a one-for-one exchange," but realizing that without Yan Yu’s agreement, even that might not be possible, he could only silently message his superiors for instructions.

The leader responded quickly: okay.

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Yan Yu, and said,

"Alright, then pick two Methods."

"This one and this one," Yan Yu didn’t hesitate and picked directly.

The messenger and Qi Changping saw that he had chosen the only two Thunder Methods from the inventory list: Jade Pivot Thunder and Divine Sky Thunder. They suddenly realized—Yan Zhanlong had never intended to exchange for a water-related Taoism Method; he had been eyeing these two Thunder Methods from the start!

"Are you sure you want these?" the messenger asked for confirmation, "These are still under academic evaluation and might not be effective."

Manuscripts plundered from the Mysterious Realm were vast and numerous, and many of the methods contained were merely authors’ "creative ideas" or "armchair strategies" that might not actually be viable for cultivation. Hence, they had to undergo "academic evaluation" by the research departments to be deemed "practicable" before anyone could practice them.

Since there were tens of thousands of extant manuscripts, it was impossible for researchers to verify each by practicing, so rumor had it that supercomputers and artificial intelligence were being used for the analysis... Yan Yu did not understand the specifics, but he knew that any signature Taoism Methods used by others in his past life were definitely viable!

"Yes, just these two," Yan Yu confirmed.

"Okay." The messenger took out a box from his waist, remotely requested an unlock, and with a click, it opened, and he took out a USB drive.

Qi Changping hurriedly ushered him into the archives room, inserted the USB drive into the computer, and the messenger quickly dragged two files out, verified they were correct, then formatted the USB drive, ejected it, and with a Curved Curse, physically destroyed it.

Yan Yu: ......

You could say he wasn’t cautious enough since he at least formatted and destroyed the drive; but if he was being careful... why not use a Jade Slip?

"Ruoxi!" Once the messenger had left, he waved to call Xie Ruoxi, who was at a distance, "Go inside and learn the Thunder Methods."

"Copying, taking photos, or smuggling it out, all not allowed," Qi Changping also gave her a worried reminder, "You can only learn it in this room, understand? People can leave, but the Taoism Methods cannot."

"Ah?" Xie Ruoxi thought, my worst skill is studying, and with a mournful face said, "Then when can I get out?"

"Whenever you learn it is when you’ll be let out," Yan Yu added viciously from the side, "If you don’t learn it by morning, no lunch for you; if you don’t learn it by the afternoon, no dinner for you; if you don’t learn it by evening, you’ll go hungry until dawn."

Seeing that Xie Ruoxi’s face had turned white with fear, Qi Changping was about to speak up and explain when he heard Yan Yu’s psychic message:

"Instructor Qi, don’t interfere too much. Xie Ruoxi is a member of my team, and it’s not your place to meddle with our team affairs."

With "meddling in team affairs" being mentioned, Qi Changping felt it wasn’t his place to intervene anymore. To Xie Ruoxi, who took Yan Yu’s threatening words to heart, there was no choice but to enter the archive room looking as if she had already died a little inside.

Yan Yu and Qi Changping stepped outside and chatted idly for a moment until the instructor asked:

"What’s the deal with this Xie Ruoxi? You were the one who brought her here originally. After all this time, why are you still establishing your authority over her?"

"Can’t help it with a lazy bone," Yan Yu sighed and said, "Three days without a beating, and she just slacks off."

"Carrying on like this isn’t a solution," Qi Changping said after a moment of silence, "We have similar slackers in our troops. To be honest, using force doesn’t always work; sometimes you have to be gentle. It’s easier to talk when you’ve drawn closer."

"How should I be gentle?" Yan Yu countered.

"Xie Ruoxi has parents, and she has an elder brother," Qi Changping suggested, "Try to work on her family, see if you can find a way to motivate her, to establish the right values in her."

"She hasn’t told her parents about becoming a cultivator," Yan Yu hesitated, "I think her relationship with her family is quite delicate. Approaching it from this angle, I’m afraid I might backfire if I’m not careful."

"How delicate?" asked Qi Changping, frowning.

"Hard to say," Yan Yu shook his head, "She didn’t take the college entrance exams after graduating from high school; guess why?"

"Hmm," Qi Changping pondered, "I’ve looked over her mock exam scores at school, and if she performed normally, she’d probably struggle even to get into a tier-three university. From this perspective, maybe she just simply didn’t want to study any longer..."

"You see," Yan Yu spread his hands, "That settles it, doesn’t it? In other families facing such a situation, wouldn’t the parents force the child to at least get a diploma from a technical college? And what if there’s a chance to transfer from a college to a university? I think her family might also be somewhat biased towards males."

"Wait, this is different," Qi Changping hastily said, "Her academic grades weren’t good, and if she’s discouraged and doesn’t want to study, her parents might also think she’s not cut out for it; giving up on higher education makes sense. But cultivating is different! Her talent for cultivation is excellent. Haven’t you told her?

Such a waste with such good conditions, that would be unacceptable, right?"

"How could I say such a thing to her!" exclaimed Yan Yu, his eyes widening, "She’s already slacking off and won’t listen; now you want me to tell her how talented she is, to make her think she’s got grounds to negotiate and argue with me?"

Qi Changping fell silent.

He personally believed that you couldn’t keep such things secret forever. If you deceive her, bully her, play tricks on her, and when she finds out she’s actually amazing, wouldn’t she come straight back at you for revenge?

However, this was an affair of the Zhenhai Team, and Qi Changping couldn’t overstep his bounds. He nodded and said:

"As long as you are aware..."

Before his words had faded away, a massive explosion suddenly erupted from the archive room!

The shockwave instantly broke through the walls, sending countless bricks and stones bursting and scattering. Yan Yu had already soared into the air with his Sword Control like lightning, while Qi Changping, half a beat slower, was completely engulfed by the dust and smoke.

Yan Yu ascended to avoid the explosion, his Divine Sense sweeping through the dust. He then quickly rushed in, only to find Xie Ruoxi sitting in the ruins dazed... Seeing her captain rushing to her side, she quickly got up and sobbed as she threw herself into his arms:

"Wahhh, Captain, I was wrong, wahhh!"

"Wait," Yan Yu quickly checked her from head to toe to ensure she wasn’t injured before asking urgently, "What happened with the explosion just now? Who attacked the archive room?"

"It was me," Xie Ruoxi said timidly, stammering, "Didn’t you say I could leave only after I had learned the Thunder Method?" Stay updated via novelbuddy

"I read through those two articles on Thunder Method, and I wasn’t sure if I understood them correctly, if that counted as having learned it, so I just tried to use it..."