Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Zhao Yuanzhen had been feeling quite bored lately.

Of course, when she was in the Cultivation World, her daily life was monotonously boring as well: cultivate, perform breathing exercises, stay indoors all day, and only occasionally descend the mountain to purchase supplies. Only if a fellow sister from her sect acquired a clue to a mysterious realm and invited her to assist would she venture on a long trip.

However, after arriving in this world, everything changed.

Novels, movies, TV shows—there were so many entertaining activities that the newly transmigrated Zhao Yuanzhen quickly became addicted to the internet world of information explosion.

This blissful place, she couldn't go back now!

But now,

...so boring.

The novel she liked had an unsatisfactory ending, the movies she was interested in were all caught up, and the TV shows she was following suddenly required an extra fee for VIP members, which annoyed Zhao Yuanzhen so much that she spent a long time looking for pirated versions. After downloading them, she found she didn't want to watch anymore.

Forget it, let's go find my partner for some fun.

Zhao Yuanzhen went downstairs and saw Su Yunjin in the adjacent gym, practicing her water-based Taoism Method by the swimming pool.

An indoor swimming pool might sound luxurious, but in reality, such a large pool takes a long time to fill and replace the water, so everyone, considering it troublesome, left it unused—until Su Yunjin learned the Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art, after which the pool finally came into use again.

"Are you practicing?" Zhao Yuanzhen greeted her.

"Yeah," Su Yunjin sighed, "My control over True Yuan is still not good enough."

The Southern Dipper Galaxy Secret Art, which calls forth the waters of the celestial river to strike at one's opponent. The more True Yuan used during the spellcasting, the more powerful the summoned water flow.

But with the Spiritual Energy Resurgence still in its early stages, everyone's True Yuan capacity was limited, so they had to be economical.

If a tactical effect that could be achieved with three parts of True Yuan was carelessly executed with four or even five parts, that would be a loss.

"Sister Yun Jin, you need to practice controlling your True Yuan," Zhao Yuanzhen immediately assumed the role of a senior and began to give her advice, "It's actually quite simple. I'll teach you a trick..."

As she was finishing her explanation of the trick, she saw Yan Yu pushing the door open and saying,

"Why are you still here? Come on, it's time to claim your magical items."

After all, following the Assistant Officer path, Chen Lingyun had started to play tricks, so how could Sister Zhao go without magical items? Li Weiguo had notified them, asking Yan Yu to bring someone to collect their magical items.

"Let's go, let's go!" Zhao Yuanzhen immediately got excited.

It wasn't that Empress Yuanzhen lacked a handy magical item, it was just the habit of loving freebies stirring within her—who doesn't love magical items for free?

The two left the villa and headed to the school, where they went straight to Li Weiguo's office, as familiar with the route as if they were going home.

"Here you are," Li Weiguo said while reading a book. Seeing Yan Yu bringing Zhao Yuanzhen in, he turned his laptop to face them, "The list of supplies is all there. Also, the storages of the four armies might need to exchange items soon, with the rule being one-for-one swaps only. So, under our own list, there's also their inventory. You can browse and see."

"Their inventory?" Yan Yu's eyes immediately lit up, "If I reserve it, can I get it?"

"Of course not," Li Weiguo said leisurely, "If their own team also wants the items you want to exchange for, they definitely won't agree to the trade."

"Oh," Yan Yu started to fiddle with his phone.

"What's the matter?" Li Weiguo asked with a frown.

"I'm searching for the three captains' contacts," Yan Yu opened a chat app, "Seems like I haven't added Zhou Hongyu, but I can reach Zhang Huaide. Once I've reserved their inventory, I'll reach out to their captains to give me some face, so we don't have conflicts later."

Li Weiguo: ......

In the mind of the old general, a thought flashed through:

What do you mean 'give me some face'? You're really using this to show off?

"Cough, anyhow, you pick first," suppressing the strange thought, Li Weiguo began to drink tea.

Yan Yu began to scroll with the mouse, and Zhao Yuanzhen leaned over to take a look, suddenly pointing at the screen and saying,

"How about this?"

"Trash," Yan Yu said without hesitation, as his mouse continued to scroll.

"What about this one?"

"Trash as well."

"I think this one seems pretty powerful."

"That's just trash that looks powerful."

Li Weiguo sipped his tea, and his confusion gradually began to grow.

The common problem with these magical items produced from the Mysterious Realm was that they had to be refined by their master for activation, and one could only know their use once activated.

But the problem was that once a magical item recognized a master, it was very troublesome to change hands afterward... Therefore, none of the magical items on the list had recognized a master yet, and the database only had pictures and basic data.

How was Yan Yu judging whether they were "trash" or not, or was he just showing off again?

Li Weiguo decided to keep quiet and first see what this kid would pick in the end.

Yan Yu finished browsing through the Zhendong Army's inventory and then began to flip through the Annan Army's inventory. Zhao Yuanzhen beside him scratched his head, twirled the hair by his cheek with his fingers and then let go, his mouth slightly open as if about to speak yet he held back, repeating this several times, which made him secretly frustrated:

"Today this thief is choosing magical items for me, completely disregarding my opinion, just twirling that mouse wheel... Keeping me hanging, how hateful! I'll remember this grudge, and when I am in charge one day, I'll make sure to hang him out to dry too, let him see but not touch!"

As for how exactly he would hang Yan Yu out to dry, the Demonic Sect Enchantress did not ponder thoroughly, so let us not delve into that for now.

Speaking of Yan Yu, after he finished looking at the Annan Army's inventory and the Pingxi Army's inventory, he finally stopped on a page in the Dingbei Army's inventory.

He touched his chin and silently stared at the screen, pondering something. Zhao Yuanzhen also leaned forward, looking at the screen with equal tension, but before he could see clearly what magical item it was, Yan Yu scrolled past it with the mouse wheel.

Zhao Yuanzhen withdrew his gaze in disappointment, only to see the screen stop suddenly. He quickly leaned in to look, only for the screen to start scrolling again... Angered, Zhao Yuanzhen gritted his teeth and decided to simply lower his head to play with his phone instead.

After playing with his phone for a while, Yan Yu suddenly picked up the phone beside him and initiated a voice chat with Liu Longtao.

"Hey, Old Liu."

"Old Yan, it's rare to hear from you, what brings you here?" The other side quickly picked up.

"I'm eyeing one of your Dingbei Army's magical items for a resource swap, just wondering if your team has any needs."

"Oh, which magical item?" Liu Longtao asked nonchalantly, "I need to check with Ye Jun."

In fact, Ye Jun had already submitted their team's needs in advance. The magical items they'd reserved weren't even on the list provided by the Dingbei Army for the swap.

"Item number DBR-007." Yan Yu opened the detailed entry and spoke to the person on the phone, "It looks like an ivory hairpin with a miniature white bone skull carved on it."

"You want that one, huh." Liu Longtao stroked his chin, confirming he had no impression of this so-called White Bone hairpin, "Is that magical item very powerful?"

"Old Liu, that's boring." Yan Yu said with a laugh, "If I said it was powerful, would you believe me?"

"Of course, I would." Liu Longtao laughed heartily, "As long as you say it's powerful, I'll have Ye Jun reserve it right away. Which team wouldn't need a powerful magical item, right?"

"Indeed, but it's not that simple." Yan Yu calmly responded, "These magical items are useless without a master, so who would know whether it's powerful? It's basically like opening a blind box, guessing the function based on the appearance. With a hairpin, it's mostly used for attacking from a distance like a Flying Sword, that's my guess."

"Hmm." Liu Longtao was well aware of this, and continued to inquire, "But don't you guys have an Immortal Sword? Why do you need that hairpin?"

"It's just a safer bet." Yan Yu said openly with a smile, "If you pick a gourd, a mirror, or a vase, who knows what they're really for? You might find out they're pretty mediocre once they're refined, and then it would be a waste of this rare swap opportunity. On the other hand, hairpins are likely used to stab people, less variety, so it's a safer choice."

Liu Longtao remained noncommittal, although he didn't have much doubt—only Ye Jun in their team followed the Assistant Officer's path, and for this selection, they had chosen a ruler from the Pingxi Army's inventory. Why? Because the ruler's shape is straightforward, probably useful for smacking people, not hard to guess.

But if you chose a gourd magical item thinking it was for absorbing people and sealing them inside, only to find out after refining it that it endlessly refills your wine... then that would be a waste of the swap opportunity, right?

"Alright then." Liu Longtao made a quick decision and said straightforwardly, "I just checked with Ye Jun, nobody in the team wants that hairpin, you just go ahead with the procedures on your side."

"Thanks a lot, we'll chat another time." Yan Yu ended the call nonchalantly, smiled faintly, and said to Li Weiguo and Zhao Yuanzhen, "Then I'll reserve this one."

With Lord Master's character of valuing face, there's no way he would go back on his word once it was out there, something wholly unlike the petty women. Moreover, from Liu Longtao's perspective, it was indeed hard to discern the hairpin's effect, which was quite normal.

If one really insisted on quibbling, Yan Yu hadn't actually lied to him; the White Bone Heart-locking Hairpin was indeed for stabbing people.

It's just that it stabbed a bit too fiercely.