Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 516 - 12 Ningning, you go for the solo challenge
Chapter 516: Chapter 12 Ningning, you go for the solo challenge
As Zhao Yuanzhen and the Mysterious Realm Gatekeeper fought various fierce battles, Yan Yu had roughly assessed the puppet’s strength.
It was strong, but only in terms of level and realm, lacking any advantage in technique.
For example, in the previous battle within the Secret Realm, the gatekeeper Demon Monk had an endless array of spells at his disposal, which were difficult to resist and he excelled in suppressing counterattacks. This was what made him technically formidable.
But now, this puppet was the complete opposite; even if it used sword techniques never seen by anyone before, it still mechanically followed the script, like a robot programmed with set instructions, devoid of any technical substance.
The only issue was that the concentration of spiritual energy had begun to increase, but everyone’s average level had not risen accordingly. Therefore, facing this puppet always gave them a feeling of being overwhelmed by sheer force. However, the presence of the Demonic Sect Enchantress perfectly solved this problem.
While everyone else watched as if it were a play, Zhao Yuanzhen was extremely annoyed, even contemplating luring the puppet to attack Yan Yu.
Beat up that little thief hard!
But she knew that wouldn’t work, because Yan Yu would certainly take over smoothly and then ask her, “Can’t you beat it?” No matter how Zhao Yuanzhen would explain, her sisters would not believe her, assuming she was overwhelmed and asking the little thief for help, forcibly putting on a brave face…
How could I, Miyuan the Fairy, suffer such unbearable humiliation?!
For the sake of her dignity and reputation, Zhao Yuanzhen, despite being pushed to her limits, was forced to barely hold on clumsily.
Lin Ning had been called back and, seeing Sister Zhao flounder wildly, being utterly disrupted by the puppet’s swordsmanship, couldn’t help feeling anxious.
Although Lin Ning’s realm was not higher than that of the puppet or the Enchantress, her skill in swordsmanship was much superior to the Enchantress’s. Often when the puppet made a move, Lin Ning would immediately think of a countermeasure, but upon seeing Zhao Yuanzhen’s response—it was simply a mess, utterly unbearable to watch!
Yan Yu had ordered everyone not to intervene, so Lin Ning naturally couldn’t go over to teach Sister Zhao how to wield her sword, but she could barely stand to watch her crude swordsmanship. Feeling anxious, she simply secretly transmitted a message to Zhao Yuanzhen, teaching her how to counter the sword moves.
At first Zhao Yuanzhen was quite happy, secretly thinking that Ningning was truly her beloved little sister, and even tried to follow her instructions.
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However, the problem arose: the opponent wasn’t like the Sword Array Tang Xiaolian had faced before, which always attacked in a predictable sequence. Although the puppet’s movements were rigid and mechanical, they were not monotonous, and coupled with the speed of the Flying Sword, there was simply no time to listen to instructions.
Lin Ning’s targeted advice on countermeasures would reach Zhao Yuanzhen too late, and by the time Zhao tried to execute them, the puppet had already moved on to its next move.
After trying for half a day, Zhao Yuanzhen ended up in dangerous situations and ultimately decided to block it all out.
Lin Ning realized her clever maneuver had backfired, and could only stop the transmission, turning to Yan Yu:
“Captain! Sister Zhao can’t handle it alone, let’s hurry and help her.”
“Are you up to it?” Yan Yu asked loudly on purpose. “If you’re not, just say it!”
“Piece of cake!” Zhao Yuanzhen immediately responded.
The girls all gave a wry smile. It was clear Sister Zhao was just putting on a brave face, but Yan Yu seemed to take her seriously, spreading his hands to Lin Ning:
“See? She says it’s a piece of cake, she doesn’t need our help.”
Lin Ning stomped her foot in frustration, with no other choice but to turn her head away, to avoid getting more irritated.
Unknown to her, Yan Yu’s decision to let Zhao Yuanzhen fight the puppet alone, while initially indeed intended to dampen her spirit, shifted when he noticed that the puppet was using a completely new sword technique. He then had the idea of secretly learning from it.
Since Wuyi Mountain Secret Realm was a testing-type secret realm, guessing that all these Sword Control puppets were “teaching puppets” made sense; defeating them would grant one corresponding sword techniques. But what if it didn’t?
Let the Enchantress coax out more of its moves, then defeat the gatekeeper. In case no treasure dropped in the end, at least Yan Yu would have the memory of observing and learning, allowing him to reproduce the sword technique to an extent of about seventy to eighty percent—so there was no rush to kill it; delaying was preferable.
However, Zhao Yuanzhen seemed not to grasp Yan Yu’s painstaking intent. After over a hundred rounds of fighting, her defense began to falter, clearly her focus and reactions were not keeping up.
Noticing her decline, the puppet immediately exploited this advantage, dispensing with its diverse and clever sword techniques. It launched a relentless assault with one White Rainbow Across the Sky after another, intending to use sheer force to break through her defense.
“Ningning,” Yan Yu said quickly, “You’re up.”
“Ah, me?” Lin Ning was taken aback.
“Don’t you want to help?” Yan Yu sneered, “Go deal with that puppet.”
Lin Ning: ……
Ultimately, the gap in the level was there: this translated directly to the Flying Sword’s force and speed being completely overpowering. If she couldn’t even handle an ordinary puppet, only managing to dodge ceaselessly with the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step, how were you asking me to single out a Gatekeeper?
When I mentioned helping, I meant all of us attacking together!
But the captain had already given his order, and it was not good to disobey, so she steeled herself and yelled, “Sister Zhao, I’m coming to help,” before charging forward with the Cloud Dividing Eight Trigrams Step.
Zhao Yuanzhen felt relieved and, without caring whether Ningning could win or not, immediately drew the Gatekeeper’s attention her way to hand it off and hurriedly retreated.
Returning to her team, she took an Elixir Medicine, regulated her breath, and recovered before she finally relaxed.
It had to be said that Lu Contry was indeed much stronger than Qiansi Sect, where she had come from. The Elixir Medicine were plentiful enough to be treated like jelly beans, more than sufficient whether for cultivation or replenishing True Yuan.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yuanzhen glared fiercely at Yan Yu:
You little thief! Making me suffer all that humiliation earlier, I won’t rest until this score is settled!
Yan Yu ignored her annoyance and hostility and simply continued to watch Lin Ning’s swordsmanship combat with the puppet.
It must be said, Ningning’s level of swordsmanship now far surpassed that of the Demonic Sect Enchantress.
But the level gap was still there, and while your opponent could dismiss with a simple White Rainbow Across the Sky slash, she had to perform the Eagle Strikes the Sky triple strike just to neutralize the force of that one slash, forcing her to compensate for the discrepancy in power with more operations, adding a considerable burden on Lin Ning’s mind and spirit.
However, perhaps it was precisely because Lin Ning’s level of swordsmanship was high enough and comprehensive in response that the puppet’s swordsmanship became more agile, with endless changes and complexities, which proved to be even more formidable than what Zhao Yuanzhen had faced before.
Yan Yu watched intently, secretly memorizing and learning from the puppet’s sword techniques, while Lin Ning was internally complaining non-stop. Yet her pride would not let her call for help, and soon she ended up in the same situation as Zhao Yuanzhen — pulling her Flying Sword back in front of her to defend up close, completely defensive, dragging out the time.
Since the puppet felt no fatigue, as the fight dragged on, it was Lin Ning who started to falter. Seeing her sword technique becoming slightly disordered, Yan Yu instructed:
“Yun Jin, Ling Yun, restrain it a bit.”
“Got it.” The two girls then employed their spells, Tianhe Water and Five Ghosts rushing towards the opposing puppet.
This change from one-on-one to three-on-one markedly shifted the pressure on the battlefield. The puppet Gatekeeper had to dodge the torrential waters and evade the assault of the Five Ghosts, making its handling of the Flying Sword considerably more rigid.
Lin Ning finally got a chance to breathe, her tense spirit relaxing and beginning to counterattack the puppet, while casting a glance towards Yan Yu that carried a hint of gratitude and joy.
I knew the captain wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for me, forcing me to duel it alone, huh.
Seeing that Lin Ning had adjusted her state and was ready to continue, and the puppet Gatekeeper struggling to cope with the attacks of three people, its sword techniques no longer smooth, Yan Yu, who had wanted to watch and learn a little longer, furrowed his brows and instructed:
“Stop, let her continue the duel alone.”
Su Yunjin and Chen Lingyun exchanged looks and had no choice but to cease their attacks.
With the puppet no longer controlled, Lin Ning’s pressure on the battlefield suddenly increased, immediately darkening her facial expression as she shot Yan Yu a look that seemed nearly ready to bite.
You’re deliberately messing with me, aren’t you?
