Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

The next morning, Yan Yu and the others were picked up by a private car at the villa's doorstep, heading towards Lingyan Pavilion.

Lingyan Pavilion's grand conference hall, a place where the soldiers and officers of Lu Country dream of receiving honor, is used for the highest level of medal awarding, commendations, and rewards. Of course, it is also used for other ceremonies, but we will not discuss those here.

The award ceremony was quite simple: in front of the cameras of the official media journalists, a senior official shook hands with Yan Yu, offered a few words of encouragement, and then personally pinned the medal on him.

Longcheng Flying General!

Though it seemed to draw inspiration from the anecdote of the Han general Li Guang, it was actually merely a blend of "Yan Zhanlong" and "famous general," as well as a hope for his continued defense against foreign enemies in the future...

To be honest, Yan Yu wasn't dissatisfied and went along with the official's encouragement, saying a few auspicious phrases with positive energy, much to the relief of Li Weiguo, who was attending the meeting.

The ladies also lined up to receive their medals, each receiving a badge as well, but their titles were "Longcheng Heroic Generals," presumably representing the spirit of valiant and majestic women.

Besides the medals, there was of course a cash reward: 40 million yuan for each person.

This amount actually included the rewards from the previous confrontation with the Flying Dragon Battle Team, combining both into a single disbursement—it also set a clear guiding price for the remuneration system for cultivators nationwide: about 10 million yuan domestically and 20-30 million yuan internationally.

This was the supremely generous treatment provided to cultivators by the current dynasty!

Especially for most of the team cultivators at the current stage, they are not involved in the life-and-death struggles abroad (that's for the most powerful first-generation teams to handle), but domestically, if they fight in ten matches, they'll immediately have assets over a hundred million—tax-free, pure profit, and the value is self-evident.

And above all, it wasn't a loss either. Through commercial operations similar to the Superhero Alliance, currently just the auction of the broadcast rights for the mysterious realms domestically and abroad brings in 1 to 2 billion yuan in revenue per month. After paying the cultivators' salaries, there's still profit to be had.

It was like retracing the path of the Olympic Games (which started off losing money with each edition, until one time it became commercialized and then made a fortune).

With money and honor all in place, cultivators were naturally eager to pledge their loyalty to the country.

Only Yan Yu knew that at this stage, neither fame nor profit was the most valuable but cultivation resources...

The resurgence of Spiritual Energy was like an endless marathon. You might be able to keep up with the large group now, but you never know when you might be completely left behind.

Moreover, because Lu Country had far fewer Transcendents than the international average, everyone would have to fight desperately on the battlefields later on, and there would be no escape.

If you managed to get the medal of Longcheng Flying General, you'd better truly maintain the strength of a Longcheng Flying General, because in the future you will definitely be asked to fly around all over the place to put out fires—the medals aren't that easy to get, are they?!

After the award ceremony ended, Zhenhai Team was sent back to Jinling and was not retained for a celebratory feast as was customary.

It wasn't for any particular reason, mainly because the international situation was getting increasingly tense, and it was inappropriate to delay their tactical training.

As everyone took off from Pingjing on their swords, Yan Yu suddenly said,

"You guys go back to Jinling first, I have some matters to deal with Su Yunjin."

"Ah?" The girls were all taken aback.

"It's official business," Yan Yu emphasized.

Oh, since it's not about taking Su Yunjin out for fun, but for official business, then it's alright.

Zhao Yuanzhen and Xie Ruoxi didn't think too much and nodded in understanding. Chen Lingyun, as always, smiled with her eyes curved, showing no particular emotion.

Only Lin Ning had a subconscious reaction similar to Zhao and Xie, but soon felt a strange emotion:

Could it be that the captain really was going to handle official matters, but Yunjin... might take the opportunity to also deal with personal affairs?

As for what personal affairs, she herself wasn't clear and didn't dare to think too deeply about it, just sullenly followed the team as they left.

"Ningning," Chen Lingyun suddenly moved closer on her sword and whispered, "You look like you are troubled, is there something on your mind?"

"Haha, what troubles could I possibly have~" Lin Ning didn't want Chen Lingyun to notice her unhappiness and feebly glossed over it.

"Mm-hmm, that's good then," Chen Lingyun's tone became cheerful, "If there's something bothering you and you want someone to talk to, you can tell me right away~ I won't tell anyone else."

"Oh? Oh..." Lin Ning muttered in confusion.

The others headed south back to Jinling, while Yan Yu took Su Yunjin northward, flying toward the direction of the Western Regions province.

According to the meteorological map Ye Jun provided, there were places with rainfall all over the country, but the places with snowfall—especially the first snow of the year—had to be sought in the north.

The north was divided into North China, Northeast, and Northwest. Considering that the goal was to collect Rootless Water as purely as possible, efforts had to be made to avoid chemical substances in the air from dissolving in the rain, which would affect the subsequent distillation of True Yuan from the water.

North China had industrial clusters, and the Northeast had old industrial bases, both inevitably emitting pollutants, so it was necessary to find the least industrially developed Northwest.

The two soon reached the Yellow River and then continued upstream. Su Yunjin did not ask much during the journey; she just quietly followed the Sword Flight of Yan Yu.

According to the meteorological map, the cold air from Siberia was about to reach the provincial capital, Luntai Prefecture, and then be blocked by the Tianshan Mountains stretched across.

North of Luntai Prefecture lay vast plains, and farther north was a desert basin, with almost no industrial presence, making it an ideal place for collecting the first snow of the season.

Yan Yu, leading Su Yunjin with Sword Control Technique, arrived in Luntai Prefecture and then headed north. They deliberately avoided the highway and saw only withered grass, bushes, and piles of stones below, scarcely a hint of green to be seen.

Finally, before reaching the desert area, they began to see snowflakes gradually falling from the sky.

Surprised, Su Yunjin looked up at the sky and silently took out her phone to take pictures—she had seen snow only a few times in her life.

Yan Yu also released his Divine Sense to scan the area.

The absence of industrial pollution didn't mean the snow was entirely clean, as the falling snowflakes unavoidably collected dust and haze along the way.

So they had to fly higher.

The two controlled their Sword Light and ascended into the high altitude, feeling the surrounding temperature gradually cool down. Su Yunjin shivered a bit but then heard Yan Yu say,
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"This should be high enough."

"Listen carefully: To collect Rootless Water, it is best to do so as soon as it appears, to minimize impurity contamination."

"We do not seek speed or efficiency, only purity. A single drop of pure water is more useful than a hundred drops containing impurities."

"To collect the water, first expand your Divine Sense as much as possible. This place is a battleground between warm and cold air, where the water vapor will condense into snow upon rapid cooling. Use your Divine Sense to lock onto these tiny snowflakes, and then attract them with the Sword Control Technique.

Of course, the incantation of that technique is specifically for Sword Control, which isn't quite suitable for controlling snow, so some parts need to be adjusted."

He recited several hundred words of modified content, roughly changing the Sword Control incantations into an object control technique, which surprised Su Yunjin. She couldn't help but ask,

"Yan Yu, that incantation isn't in the textbooks, where did you learn it from?"

"A secret." Yan Yu had anticipated her question and had prepared a "pretext for Su Yunjin," saying nonchalantly, "Everyone has their secrets, but now it's a secret between the two of us. Don't tell others, okay?"

As expected, the moment he played the "exclusive secret between me and Yan Yu that no one else knows," Su Yunjin couldn't resist and laughed helplessly, saying,

"Alright, I won't ask anymore and won't tell anyone else."

She closed her eyes and began to extend her Divine Sense in all directions, drawing the surrounding snowflakes toward her.

"Draw the snowflakes into the palm of your right hand, without processing them further," Yan Yu continued, "Cover the right hand with the left, palms facing each other, leaving half a finger space between them. Use True Yuan to heat the snowflakes, causing them to melt, evaporate into vapor, rise, and condense into water droplets upon touching the left hand.

This process removes the impurities mixed with the snowflakes, yielding pure melted snow water, which you then draw into the fish border acupoint of the left hand for absorption."

That was the great advantage of being a prophet. In the previous life, it took Lu Country a full eight years to properly understand how the "Essence of the Five Elements' purity" was of utmost importance for the "Tao Transformation."

It might seem that Yan Yu only added one step, but in essence, it was the result of eight years of scientific research, countless sample experiments for comparison, from which the most critical variable was discovered among many cultivation methods—without this step, if you find after five or six years of cultivation that your Tao Transformation level is not advancing, then correcting that isn't just a matter of doubling the work, but rather a hundredfold more effort...

not an exaggeration at all.

Su Yunjin did not understand why it had to be done this way, but seeing Yan Yu's serious expression and tone, she dared not be negligent and put her palms together, spacing them half a finger apart, beginning to focus intensively on refining the Rootless Water.