VILLAINS AREN'T STEPPING STONES!C44: The Great Era
Chapter 44: Chapter 44: The Great Era
Shen Haoran was the most talented youth that had ever appeared in the history of the Shen Clan—no, even counting the entire history of the Tian Yuan Empire or the boundless expanse of the Prime Origin Realm, his talent stood at the absolute pinnacle.
Considering this status, Shen Haoran was protected and spoiled with a ferocity that bordered on religious devotion, not only by his own mother but by every Elder of the Clan.
He was the hope of their bloodline, the "True Dragon" destined to rule and shoulder the Heavens Will.
Because of this, not only does he have Qing'er, a Peak Profound Saint, shadowing his every move; his spatial ring was also a literal fortress of treasures.
It contained countless life-saving artifacts that guaranteed his safety regardless of where he wandered in the universe.
The obsidian knife he pulled out was the crown jewel of those protections.
It wasn't a physical artifact, nor was it forged from any material found in nature.
It was the hardened, materialized Sword Intent of an ancient Supreme from the Shen Clan.
It had only one function: to attack.
And although it was a single-use weapon, its power—the manifestation of a living Supreme's lethal will—was enough to obliterate Earthly Saints and leave Heavenly Saints fighting for their lives.
And what stood before Haoran was merely remnant spirit.
No matter how majestic Lei Yin had been in life, he was currently nothing more than a fading echo, so faced with the sword intent of a living Supreme, he was a candle standing before a hurricane.
"What...is that...?!" Lei Yin's eyes widened in fear and shock.
But Haoran didn't give him time to think and slashed the knife down.
For a heartbeat, the world turned a monochromatic gray, as space and time itself seemed to freeze in a paralysis of pure terror.
Then, a burning, dark purple sword intent erupted from the knife, causing to shatter as it was now done with its use.
And as the "blade" shattered, the intent transformed into a streak of absolute erasure, flying toward Lei Yin with speed that surpasses light.
There was no sound as the attack hits, there weren't even any aftershock!
It was as if the attack transcended the physical dimensions of the hall as Lei Yin was instantly engulfed by the purple void.
Once the last remnant of the sword qi disappeared, the time resumed its flow, and the world regained its vibrant color.
There were no traces of the attack left in the air, but the proof of its lethality was undeniable: the spirit of Lei Yin had vanished completely.
Xueli blinked, her jaw dropping. One moment she was glaring at the arrogant ghost, and the next, the space where he stood was empty.
"W-What happened? Did you kill him?" she asked, her voice trembling with awe.
Haoran's expression remained flat as je observed the empty space and spoke to the air. "No need to act dead. Show yourself."
"Bastard!" A cry of pure, undiluted rage echoed through the chamber.
Silver mist coalesced once more, forming the image of Lei Yin, but the "Emperor" was now a pathetic sight, his body was translucent, riddled with jagged cracks that bled motes of silver light. He was literally breaking apart.
He glared at Haoran, his spectral form flickering like a dying lamp.
"Are you going to give us your inheritance, or not?" Haoran asked again, his tone bored.
"You think I'll give you anything!? Dream on! I'll kill you here! Who cares about the Shen Clan when I'm already dead!?" Lei Yin roared, his remaining power erupting in a desperate, final surge.
In response, Haoran reached into his storage ring and pulled out a second, identical obsidian knife.
Lei Yin froze mid-roar. His spectral jaw hung open. "Y-You... just how many of those do you have!?"
"Enough," Haoran answered.
He wasn't lying. He had enough of these materialized intents to fight evenly with a Heavenly Saint in a serious sparring match.
If he truly wished, he could spam these knives to execute a Saint, though those were all simply theoretical as a living Saint could manipulate space or utilize speeds that would make it difficult to land a hit.
But against a stationary, trapped remnant spirit? Haoran could do this all day.
Lei Yin remained silent for a long time, the cracks in his form glowing a dull silver. Finally, he let out a heavy, defeated sigh.
"Very well... you win. The Shen Clan's foundation is truly... terrifying."
Haoran smiled, but he didn't put the knife back, he held it casually, the dark purple intent flickering like a flame. "Good choice. Now, have Xueli inherit it."
"This girl...?" Lei Yin observed Xueli, his gaze critical. "Well... her luck is sufficient, and her will is hardened. I can make do."
Haoran's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why do you look so reluctant, anyway? Is there someone more suitable to inherit your legacy? Xueli is a diamond in the rough. With my assistance, she will shine even in the heart of the Imperial Capital."
Lei Yin sighed, looking toward the distant stars visible through the hall's ceiling. "Well, I guess I can tell you. You see, when I was alive but already on my deathbed, a Seer, a true master of the Heavenly Secrets, came to see me. He told me that I should leave behind my legacy not for the strongest, but for the 'Fated One.' He said a Great Era is coming, an era where the heavens will weep and the earth will be reborn."
Haoran frowned, finding it rather familiar.
"He told me," Lei Yin continued, his voice growing distant, "that the one meant to take my mantle would be a boy born of the stars, someone who would rise from nothing to challenge the very foundations of the Prime Origin Realm. And if I played it right, I may even have big chance of being revived."
Haoran's brow furrowed, his golden eyes darkening with a contemplative shadow.
A Great Era... The prophecy also aligned too perfectly with the whispers echoing through the halls of the Shen Clan.
The Great Seer of his own clan—a man who had blinded himself to see the threads of fate—had predicted that the Immortal Gates, shut for eons, would finally groan open in this very generation.
Not only that, but the memories of his cousin tells the rise of the Flame Empress, where she would rise suddenly and burn like a wildfire, suppressing the geniuses of every continent, shoulder the Heavenly Will, and finally ascend to the Immortal Gates to claim her throne among the stars.
As for those 'fated ones'... they are undoubtedly the anomalies, Haoran thought silently. It seemed the masters of the ancient times had peered into the river of time, seen the arrival of these "protagonists" who appeared in droves, and made their preparations.
But a cold, sharp question pierced his mind: Did they see me? In their visions of the fated heroes, did they also see me who would track them down and strip them of their luck?
He kept his expression a mask of indifference, not showing any intention to ask.
He had dabbled in Clairvoyance as part of his study of the Six Great Professions, and he knew the first rule of the craft; never talk about them, especially if you mention their names.
Seers are the most mysterious and sensitive of all practitioners.
And just speaking their name or question their vision would likely result to something of a bell ringing in their ears, allowing them locate you, regardless of the distance.
Some incredibly power seers can even peek into the past, present and future.
"Well, whatever that prophecy is, it is now void," Seijirou said, his voice cutting through the Emperor's nostalgia. "Basic rule of Cultivation world; any good things belongs to those with the strength to take it."
Lei Yin looked at Haoran, seeing a terrifying conviction in the boy that no prophecy could account for.
The phantom let out a long, weary sigh, his spectral form beginning to glow with a brilliant, starlight intensity.
"Very well," the spirit whispered, his voice gaining a sacred, ritualistic cadence. "Let us begin. I will now give you my legacy, girl. Whether you can carry the weight of the stars remains to be seen."
Lei Yin drifted toward the center of the platform, his arms spreading wide as the silver coffin behind him shattered into a million sparkling shards, which didn't fall but began to orbit the phantom in a beautiful, lethal dance.
The very air then began to hum with the frequency of a thousand dying suns.
"Come forward," Lei Yin commanded.
Xueli looked at Haoran one last time,and seeing his silent nod of approval, she stepped forward with her chin high.
From this moment on, she will no longer be a girl from a desolate region anymore; but a rising star ready to ascend to the apex.
"Sit," Lei Yin ordered. "I will first teach you my cultivation and engrave the first three volumes directly into your sea of consciousness. If your will falters for even a second, your mind will be burned away by the starlight."
Xueli nodded sat cross-legged, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"I'm ready!"
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VILLAINS AREN'T STEPPING STONES!C45: Thief
Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Thief
Lei Yin's phantom drifted closer to the edge of the altar, his silver hair billowing in a non-existent wind as he cast a sideways glance at Haoran, his expression unreadable.
"The process of engraving my legacy into her soul is not a brief affair," the spirit noted. "To inherit everything I have, it will take a minimum of one year—perhaps two at the maximum if her spirit proves stubborn. Do you truly intend to remain here, guarding this desolate summit for that long?"
Haoran didn't even blink.
"Yes," he replied with a tone that brooked no argument. "I'll wait here."
Lei Yin nodded, a faint trace of respect flickering in his spectral eyes. "Very well. You have the patience of a mountain. It is a rare trait in the youth of today."
Back then, when he was at his age, he was incredibly foolish and arrogant, offending a lot of people and ancient clans, which caused his journey to be filled with rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.
Although, he'd argue that it is precisely because of that arrogance of his that made him into an Emperor.
He then turned his focus back to Xueli, who was already deep in a meditative trance, her body beginning to glow with the first sparks of starlight Qi.
"Although," Lei Yin added, his brow furrowing as he scanned her internal structure, "you really gave me a problematic inheritor. Her bloodline and potential are completely messed up because of whatever crude method her ancestors used to alter their spirit and blood. The 'Spirit Possession' was it? The new cultivation method of this region... it is like trying to build a palace on a foundation of mud."
Honestly, he was appalled at the crude method that the people of this era had thought of.
Although it would be fine in the first few generations, and they might even produce geniuses that can leave their name in history, but that would be it.
After ten or so generations, their potential would wane, and they might even find it hard to advance to Nirvana Rebirth.
"I will have to reconstruct her physique, her bloodline, and her very soul from the ground up," Lei Yin continued. "Don't worry; it is nothing harmful. I will use the essence of the stars to wash away the impurities and reconstruct her as a True Vessel. There will be no negative effects, only a complete rebirth."
Haoran offered a curt nod.
He was well aware of the limitations of the Eastern Region's popular cultivation methods, after all, he had personally studied it when he first arrived in Cao Yin Kingdom.
If Lei Yin hadn't offered to fix her foundation, Haoran would have been forced to take her back to the Central Region to have his mother, the Matriarch, perform a similar reconstruction.
This saved him a considerable amount of effort.
Then, without another word, Haoran turned back toward the edge of the 999th step, and immediately felt the pressure pressing down on him.
He sat down cross-legged, his back straight as a pillar.
He didn't close his eyes entirely; instead, he allowed the crushing imperial pressure of the stairs to force his Qi to circulate and condense, using it as a tempering tool for his newly awakened Infinity Dragon God Divine Physique.
Lei Yin observed him for a final moment, noting the terrifying focus of the boy, before turning his full attention to the long, arduous task of forging Xueli into a successor.
Although that Seer told him that his successor would possess heaven defying luck, capable of turning misfortunes into fortune... This girl, having been favored by the heir to that hegemon, can also be considered to have the luck that defies the heaven, right?
So technically speaking, the prophecy of the Seer was already fulfilled.
*
*
*
While the summit remained in a state of sacred stillness, the lower chambers of the palace were a theater of violence and greed.
In a vast, secondary hall filled with the glint of spirit stones and the dust of ancient artifacts, the air hummed with the remnants of a high-level clash.
Ao Long stood victorious in the center of the room, his blue sword trembling slightly in his grip as he pointed it at Jin Pei's throat.
The Crown Prince of Blue Wind was in a sorry state, his robes were tattered, his chest was heaving, and blood seeped from a dozen shallow cuts, but a massive, triumphant grin split his face.
"I won... Prince of the Sun Bird Kingdom," Ao Long wheezed, his lungs burning.
Jin Pei let out a dry, raspy chuckle from where he lay on the floor. He was covered in his own blood, his golden fire extinguished. "You won. I admit... at this moment, I am inferior."
In truth, their strengths were nearly identical, and if the fight happened before they went to this inheritance realm, Jin Pei was confident that he has a higher chance of winning because his flames were far more aggressive.
As for why he thinks that, it is because Jin Pei had never fully recovered from the spiritual blow he took when Haoran humiliated him at the gate.
His foundation was shaky, and his confidence had been fractured. So he really was not at full power when the two of them fought.
However, as a prince, he didn't make excuses.
A loss was a loss.
Ao Long retracted his sword and offered a hand.
Jin Pei stared at it for a second, then grinned and took it, allowing the other prince to pull him to his feet.
"Well, that technique is yours by right of combat," Jin Pei said, leaning against a pile of gold coins to catch his breath. "I'll go find other things. There's plenty of scrap to go around."
But as Jin Pei turned to leave and Ao Long watched his back, still relishing the victory, a shadow that had been perfectly camouflaged among the piles of gold suddenly detached itself from the floor.
Before either of them could react, the shadow moved with lightning speed, a blur of violet-black Qi snatching the cultivation technique from the altar.
"Yun Li!" Ao Long roared, his jealousy and rage exploding as the figure skidded to a stop at the entrance of the room.
It was indeed Yun Li. He held the book in his hand, his eyes gleaming with a manic, opportunistic light.
"Give it back!" Ao Long glared at him, his sword-hand twitching. "You have no right to take that technique, you thief!"
"That's right," Jin Pei added, his voice low and dangerous. "He won it fair and square. If you wanted that, you should've joined the fight like a man instead of hiding in the trash!"
Yun Li merely grinned at them, his aura flickering with the strange, foreign power of the Falling Immortal Sutra. "This is the inheritance of an Emperor! Whoever is lucky and has the ability can claim the spoils! I took this technique with my intelligence and outsmarted the two of you. Why should I care about your 'fairness'?"
With a mocking wave, his body dissolved into a dark mist and he vanished into the corridors once more.
"Bastard!" Ao Long stomped his foot, the stone beneath him cracking.
He tried to make a move to chase, but for some reason, a strange sensation washed over him—a weird, sluggish thought telling him it was dangerous to pursue a "small" thief while he was injured.
Although, realistically, he knew that a newly promoted Core Formation, no matter how strong, couldn't possibly outrun or beat a Golden Core Cultivator.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to give chase.
He shook his head, clearing the odd feeling, and spat on the ground. "Once I return to the kingdom, I will ensure the Royal Family completely suppresses the Yun Clan! I'll strip them of their titles and their military!"
Normally, his father would never agree to such a move, especially since the Yun Clan had a new Saint, and with how Yun Li was rumored to be quite close with Lio Mingye, the Luo Clan might also offer help to the Yun Clan.
But during their time in this realm, Ao Long had noticed that Luo Mingye actually wasn't that close with Yun Li, in fact, she seems to be closer to that Heaven's Chosen of Flower Mountain Sect than Yun Li.
Which means, if the royal family suppressed the Yun Clan, there is a very little chance that Luo Clan will interfere.
And without the Luo Clan's support, the Yun Clan was just a child with a knife. Dangerous, but manageable.
"Well man, sorry about that," Jin Pei said, patting Ao Long's shoulder with a sympathetic grunt. "That brat is a slippery one. Once we return to the Central Region, let's have a drink. My treat."
Ao Long sighed, his shoulders dropping as the adrenaline faded. "Alright. Anyway, there are hundreds of rooms in this place. Let's just go and search for other treasures."
"Alright," Jin Pei grinned, and the two former rivals walked out of the room together, leaving the empty altar behind.
As for the gold and spirit stones? They don't lack those.
Maybe if they still have time, they'd take them once they found another powerful treasure.
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