Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest.

Chapter 507 I Want to Become Li Minghu

After a few days, the clearing of the secret realm finally came to an end.

The group encountered several special puppets one after another, and also took some magic weapons and materials from them. Unfortunately, they did not encounter anything as precious as the Qing Yuan Qi.

According to Zhao Yuanzhen, all things are dead in deep winter and only revive when the weather warms up in early spring. The Qingyuan Qi requires a great master of Yimu Taoism. Every year in early spring, one must collect the first ray of vitality that appears on the earth, refine and accumulate it for at least sixty years, and then gather a ray the size of a little finger.

This item is used to refine magical weapons like Yimu, Taoist methods, or even elixirs for rejuvenation, and it has wonderful uses. However, for the Zhenhai team, it is most suitable as a natural treasure to be refined into puppets.

The puppet's skeleton already consisted of Shenlong wood. Infusing it with Qingyuan Qi as its marrow allowed the wood to intertwine, resulting in a powerful self-healing effect. Even if it were shattered into pieces, glued together and reassembled overnight, the cracks would heal automatically, restoring it to its original state.

As for the additional natural treasure, it can bring higher efficiency bonus of Qi refining during breathing practice. Needless to say, just leave it to Zhao Yuanzhen to handle.

After dinner, everyone went back to rest.

If Lin Ning followed her habit, she would always take a walk outside after dinner to help digest her food. However, recently, because she had to go to the captain's place to practice at night, she suddenly had an idea and quietly ran to the door of Yan Yu's room, used the wall-walking technique to sneak in, and wanted to see what Yan Yu would do secretly in the room alone.

Then I saw him sitting on a chair, watching a video on his phone.

Tsk! Lin Ning felt inexplicably disappointed. She leaned over to take another look, only to discover that it was a live broadcast of the Secret Realm Competition.

"Is the Qing'an team fighting the Longxiong team?" Lin Ning asked after looking behind Yan Yu for a while.

"Yes." Yan Yu said.

"Why is the title of the live broadcast room 'The Second Half of the Battle of the Four Kings'?" Lin Ning asked again.

"Because the first half has already been played."

"When did the fight happen?" Lin Ning was surprised.

"The time we fought the Fire Phoenix Team."

Lin Ning finally understood that the so-called "Four Kings" were the four top teams of Zhenhai, Huofeng, Longxiong, and Qing'an, and she couldn't help but feel a little proud.

Our team is now one of the Four Kings!
Thinking of this, she also became interested in the game and dragged a stool to watch next to Yan Yu.

Yan Yu was still thinking about something when he suddenly smelled a fragrance.

Does it smell like lemon? Oh, now I remember, it must be lemon shampoo.

In the past, everyone lived together in Jinling Villa. After living together for a long time, they would often take turns to buy daily necessities for everyone. Therefore, Yan Yu knew that Ningning usually used sea salt and lemon scented shampoo, Yunjin preferred jasmine scent, and Xie Ruoxi used ginger to control oil. The scent of these three girls' hair basically did not change.

Chen Lingyun doesn't use commercially available shampoo, but instead uses custom-made products from a private workshop. The scents are complex and constantly changing. Even more complex is Zhao Yuanzhen, who rotates between the four previous shampoos—she loves to "borrow" her sisters' toiletries.

Now smelling the faint scent of lemon, Yan Yu didn't need to turn his head to look, he knew that Lin Ning was beside him, and said with a smile:
"Since when have you been interested in tactics?"

Lin Ning immediately felt dissatisfied and said with a pout:

"I can't be interested in tactics?"

"Then you tell me, who will win this competition?" Yan Yu pointed the phone at her.

"Uh..." Lin Ning immediately hesitated.

She had just watched for a while and knew that Liu Longtao was starting for the Longxiong team this time, with the other five starting later. This configuration of starting with one and then starting with five had a name: "single-sword game," and it was usually used by home teams.

The home team's front line is the first to enter the field. Unopposed, they can freely survey the surroundings and gather secret information. Three minutes later, the away team's front line enters the field second and faces a dilemma: should they seize the opportunity to capture the opponent's front line, or wait to ambush and attack the opponent's back line?

If you want to take over the front line, the other party should enter in advance to familiarize themselves with the secret environment and have the intelligence advantage. You can fight when you want and run when you want. If you really can't do it, find a place to hide. It's not that easy for you to take over by force.

If you want to ambush the rear formation, although the opponent's rear formation has just been deployed and is completely unfamiliar with the terrain, there are five of them in number. Even if you want to launch a sneak attack, it will not be easy to defeat them.

The greatest danger in military strategy is being divided and attacked. The advantage of a single-sword matchup lies in the intelligence advantage of the front line and the numerical superiority of the back line, leaving neither side vulnerable. Once the home team's back line has left the field and the six players have reunited, they can forcibly take down the away team's front line before the back line enters, essentially securing victory. Therefore, many teams prefer a single-sword configuration in the home phase, with their swordsman leading the charge.

As the away team this time, Qing'an team chose Li Minghu to start later and the other five players to start.

This kind of reversed numerical configuration is called "decapitation game". As the name suggests, it means using the numerical advantage to fight Liu Longtao hard and kill him.

By the time Yan Yu asked his question, Liu Longtao had already used his early advantage to launch a surprise attack, forcing Tao Xingyuan of the Qing'an team to retreat. Li Zhaojiang's remaining four men attempted to surround and kill Liu Longtao, but the fight remained a close one. Ye Jun led the team into the fray. The sixth man, Bo Ran, a beastmaster, had located Liu Longtao using a spirit bird and was now leading the entire team towards him.

It is conceivable that when the six members of the Longxiong team gather together, the four members of Li Zhaojiang's side will fall into a disadvantage - the commentator in the live broadcast room has also made a judgment, believing that the Qing'an team will most likely lose, because the Longxiong team is well-known for its strong offensive capabilities, and it has the defensive magic weapon Xuanguang Ruler, and it has the advantage in numbers. The Qing'an team has already lost one person, so how can it turn the tables?

"Uh." Lin Ning was, after all, a problem solver, so while she agreed with the commentator's judgment, she only said cautiously, "I think it's going to be difficult for Team Qing'an to win."

"Why?" Yan Yu asked with a smile.

"Aren't they missing one person?" Lin Ning asked uncertainly.

"But the Longxiong team is missing two people," Yan Yu replied. "Do you know Li Zhaojiang's magic?"

"Oh, the Yuanci Divine Light!" Lin Ning suddenly realized, "The Yuanci Divine Light can attract flying swords, so it can restrain the two sword immortals Ai Lu and Guo Feiyun, right? But the Longxiong team will definitely prepare in advance. The commentator also mentioned that the two sword immortals must have backup methods. It's impossible for them to stand aside and watch this time because of concerns about the Yuanci Divine Light."

"They probably prepared some kind of magical weapon to temporarily compensate for the lack of their flying swords," Yan Yu replied. "With their damage output significantly reduced, they're trying to steal Tao Xingyuan from the start, then leverage their numerical advantage and Ye Jun's Xuanguang Ruler's defense to wear down the opponent, essentially trading casualties. Team Longxiong's tactical intent is clear, but Team Qing'an...it all depends on what Li Minghu, who enters the game later, will do. I don't think she's caught off guard by this situation."

"Li Minghu..." Lin Ning asked tentatively, "Captain, are you optimistic about her?"

"She is a rare all-round swordsman who possesses both combat talent and tactical thinking." Yan Yu replied.

Lin Ning felt a little disappointed for no reason, but it was difficult for her to deny anything, so she could only patiently accompany Yan Yu to watch.

Three minutes later, Li Minghu finally entered the venue.

At this time, the Longxiong and Qing'an teams were still fighting fiercely. Li Minghu quietly approached the perimeter of the battlefield, checked for a moment, but did not join the battle. Instead, he turned and left.

"Eh?" Commentator Zhou Erhe suddenly became confused. "Deputy Captain Li didn't join the battlefield. What is she going to do? An ambush on the periphery? But the opponent has Ye Jun's Xuanguang Ruler. With the blessing of defense, even if you strike unexpectedly, ordinary sword attacks will hardly be effective!"

"No, she's getting further and further away from the battlefield..." Xu Dongming suddenly realized and exclaimed, "I understand! She's going to steal the BOSS!"

"I see." Yan Yu saw this and smiled, "Ningning, do you understand?"

"What?" Lin Ning was confused.

"Li Minghu was on the periphery just now, not waiting to see whether to join the battlefield." Yan Yu explained to her in detail, "but secretly communicating with her teammates through voice transmission. I guess someone told her the location of the boss."

"So she really wants to steal the BOSS?" Lin Ning was more and more unbelievable.

"Team Longxiong's multi-sword immortal configuration was countered by Li Zhaojiang's Yuanci Divine Light. Their insufficient output made it difficult for them to force a kill, so they decided to fight a protracted battle to win. This was something we could have deduced beforehand," Yan Yu said with emotion. "Since it's a protracted battle, it will drag on for a long time. Even if Li Minghu enters last, he still has a chance to steal the boss... Now it depends on when Team Longxiong can react."

Lin Ning finally understood and continued to stare at the live broadcast without blinking.

A few minutes later, because Li Minghu, who should have arrived long ago, had not yet arrived, the Longxiong team finally reacted and quickly sent two sword masters, Ai Lu and Guo Feiyun, to rush to check on the situation of the secret realm goalkeeper.

It turned out that the goalkeeper was not in his original position at all, but was led to another place by Li Minghu.

In the window opened by the director, one can see Ai Lu and Guo Feiyun anxiously searching separately, slowly approaching Li Minghu's position, while Li Minghu pulled the goalkeeper to hide in a remote corner of the secret realm, fighting with him in a methodical manner using sword-controlling techniques.

This time, the Secret Realm's goalkeeper wasn't particularly strong, and compared to the Fire Phoenix Team's demon monk, it was practically a world of difference. Li Minghu fought alone, and although the battle was extremely strenuous, he never fell into danger due to a single mistake.

Finally, just when Guo Feiyun was about to come over, Li Minghu finally killed the goalkeeper of the secret realm, took the secret realm center, and quickly used invisibility to slip away.

A few minutes later, the Longxiong team also eliminated the remaining four members of the Qing'an team and began a full-court search for Li Minghu.

Unfortunately, the sixth person, Boran, despite being a lord, was actually a "beast master" who used spirit birds, and his reconnaissance abilities were slightly inferior to those of insect masters or ghost masters. Li Minghu was even more resourceful and clever, finding a lake within the secret realm and hiding beneath it to cultivate her core. The spirit birds, unable to enter the water, were completely unable to find her.

"Team Qing'an has made a comeback." Yan Yu turned off the live broadcast room. "The rest is garbage time, there's no need to watch it. If you want to watch it, use your own phone."

"Captain." Lin Ning was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Li Minghu is amazing."

"Yes." Yan Yu thought to himself, do you need to tell me this? I already knew it.

"I want to learn tactics." Lin Ning said suddenly.

(End of this chapter)