Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 736 - 18: Complete Collection Plan for Souvenirs

Discussing team culture development, the Huofeng Team really stood out—they dined and drank together frequent enough that other teams had heard about it.

Pingxi Defense Academy had even gathered intelligence about which restaurants were likely spots to encounter the Huofeng Team during meal times. A student had tried her luck once and indeed ran into them, but before she could ask for an autograph, Zhou Hongyu’s icy gaze scared her into pretending she had entered the wrong private room and made her flee.

When they were eating, they preferred to close the doors to avoid disturbances, waiters and wine bearers excepted.

Among the team members, Zhou Hongyu enjoyed both food and drink immensely, liking spicy dishes while Zhang Huaide was the total opposite, very restrained in eating and drinking; however, Meng Qingxi speculated that the vice-captain’s drinking capacity was immense, definitely a heavy drinker.

Qin Meng, Meng Qingxi, and Hou Qing enjoyed drinking, chatting, boasting, bantering, and even hurling playful insults at each other; as for Tang Xiaolian, although she indulged in food and drink, her appetite was small. However, she was adept at using her female charms to mediate conflicts, such as making playful remarks to calm down the men when they argued while drunk.

Now that Tang Xiaolian was cultivating at Mount Wutai, everyone inexplicably missed her, so they took time off and headed to Sanjin Province to invite her out for a meal.

At the restaurant, Tang Xiaolian felt somewhat speechless because they were at the exact same restaurant where she had previously invited Yan Yu, even in the same private room!

Memories flooded back! She had shed tears here!

She instinctively wanted to leave quickly, but with the entire team there, it was difficult to explain, so she had to sit down with forced smiles.

After a few bites, she couldn’t resist sending Yan Yu a message.

[Miaojiang Maiden Tang Lingling]: Yan Yu, it’s all your fault!

[Win Over with Virtue]: What did I do now?

[Miaojiang Maiden Tang Lingling]: The team came to get me for a meal, and it just had to be the same restaurant as last time!

[Win Over with Virtue]: What’s wrong with that? Just order from the same menu, some dishes were quite good.

[Miaojiang Maiden Tang Lingling]: Rerun the same script, huh? Don’t believe I’ll cry right now for you to see?

[Win Over with Virtue]: You can confess to Zhou Hongyu, who knows, she might agree, then you can rewrite what happened last time.

[Miaojiang Maiden Tang Lingling]: No way! Without Joyful Sound, I would never do anything foolish.

While Tang Xiaolian was messaging, she suddenly heard Zhou Hongyu ask:

"Xiaolian, what’s wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," Tang Xiaolian calmly locked her screen and placed her phone face down on the table, "just chatting with Chen Lingyun, I told her I’d be back late."

"You seem to have a good relationship with Chen Lingyun," Meng Qingxi chuckled, "That’s great, I heard she holds significant sway in the Zhendong Army, at least half of the team captains report to her, Tang Xiaolian, you’re climbing high branches."

"After all, she’s the Governor of Jiang Hai’s only daughter," Qin Meng also commented, "If Captain Yan wins her over, he probably won’t have to struggle for the rest of his life."

"Is it Captain Yan winning her over, or she taking Captain Yan?" Hou Qing pondered, "Lu Country’s top cultivator, the Jiang Hai Governor’s only daughter, which holds more value?"

"Different tracks," Zhang Huaide remarked. "If those two got together, it would be a complement of resources."

"Stop talking nonsense," Zhou Hongyu suddenly said, "Those two have no connection."

Everyone immediately looked at their captain.

Aware of her slip-up, but always maintaining a stern expression, Zhou Hongyu managed to nonchalantly say:

"Don’t gossip about other teams."

Everyone exchanged glances, thinking, haven’t we always gossiped about other teams? Why suddenly can’t we talk now?

Zhang Huaide adjusted his glasses and suggested:

"Let’s discuss something important. The situation in Chongying is unstable, the Dragon Soar Team is already preparing to move out; Tianzhu is invading the Southern Border, Qing’an Team has also rushed there. It won’t be peaceful at the year’s end, we need to be fully prepared. Xiaolian, how long do you estimate before you reach the Hua Fu Stage?"

"About a week," Tang Xiaolian answered, feeling somewhat apologetic for holding back the team.

"Those who haven’t advanced yet, focus on reaching the Hua Fu Stage," Zhang Huaide instructed all, "In case military orders come down, they won’t care if you’re days away from advancing. Those who have advanced, train hard to get in shape."

"Exactly," Zhou Hongyu, already anxious about being found out, was relieved when the vice-captain shifted the topic, and she authoritatively added, "On the battlefield, no one is allowed to drop the ball!" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Everyone expressed their determination to strive hard, only Tang Xiaolian frowned, staring at Zhou Hongyu’s profile.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that the captain was bothered by something about the relationship between Yan Yu and Chen Lingyun... even though she herself was bothered.

Without a sound, she lowered her head, picked up her phone, and sent a message to Yan Yu.

——————————

Meanwhile, the Qing’an Team was doing exceptionally well with Su Yunjin’s collection efforts, having almost completely gathered all the Acquired Water Element Elites.

The next step was refining and purifying. This process was also laborious but no longer depended on timing or weather, nor required traveling across Jiangnan. Therefore, she had returned to Jinling Prefecture.

People organized a banquet to welcome and cleanse her from her travels, and Lin Ning rolled up his sleeves to cook personally, preparing over twenty grand dishes—initially planned sixteen, but accounting for potential "serving losses", they decided to prepare extra.