Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Qing’er descended gracefully from the high golden atmosphere, her bare feet touching the floor of the master bedroom with absolute silence.

The residual arcs of multi-colored lightning and radiant saint-glory smoothly dissolved into her skin as she knelt before the bed.

”Young master, it seems that I have successfully broken through past the 1st Stage of Earthly Saint Realm and have sat firmly at the 3rd Stage of the Earthly Saint Realm,” Qing’er spoke, her low, smooth voice carrying a rare undercurrent of profound emotional warmth.

”Indeed,” Haoran murmured, his golden pupils calmly inspecting the magnificent, white-jade texture of her flesh.

His analytical mind tracked the lingering energetic frequencies inside her dantians.

The Forbidden Shadow Art truly lives up to its reputation amongst the Shen Clan. To allow even a Profound Saint to absorb the Heavenly Tribulations really proves how special it is.

Her aunt, Feng Yuyan, was really a genius for creating that.

Qing’er absorbing and filtering those nine apocalyptic strikes of the Heavenly Tribulation inside the isolated boundary of the Genesis Protocol had not only flawlessly refined and anchored her newly awakened Yin Yang Origin Sacred Physique, but the sheer, concentrated volume of the outer heaven’s spent laws had also violently, aggressively boosted her raw martial strength directly up to the 3rd Stage of the Earthly Saint Realm.

”Congratulations are certainly in order, my beautiful shadow,” Haoran spoke smoothly, his posture loose and majestic as he slowly stood up from the velvet edge of the mattress. ”You should be promoted into the ranks of Elite Shadow Guards, right?”

The Shadow Guards, as the sword of the Shen Clan’s Main Branch, all possessed Profound Saint realm cultivation.

The Elite Shadow Guards on the other hand serves only the Patriarch/Matriarch, in other words, Haoran’s mother, and all of them are at Earthly Saint Realm.

There are only 99 of them, but with Qing’er, that makes them a total of 100.

”However, I don’t want to give you away to my mother, so just stay with me.” Said Haoran.

Qing’er immediately lowered her head, ”I will forever remain with the young master, even if the time comes where you no longer need me.”

Haoran shook his head at that, ”No, that time won’t come.”

He then leaned forward, observing her.

”..forget that for now. It seems to my perception that you still seems to need to take a significant amount of time to properly stabilize the layout of your new cultivation base. I can clearly feel that the residual qi inside your primary channels is currently rather shaky and volatile.”

Qing’er offered a slow, immediate nod of her head, her lowered face serious.

Although a rapid, vertical increase in a practitioner’s cultivation base would traditionally be considered a miracle worth celebrating across the great sects, however such explosive jumps also naturally made your foundational bedrock incredibly unstable.

If a cultivator fails to meticulously compress, refine, and lock down those newly opened paths immediately following an ascension, they will inevitably find it remarkably, pathologically hard to advance further or break through higher bottlenecks in the future.

Their foundation would simply fracture under the weight of the higher realms.

The world doesn’t lack geniuses who can advance cultivation quickly, but those who can actually reach the top?

Not even 1% can reach the heavens... probably not even 0.0001% can make it.

”Well then, I’ll be heading out first to check on the progress of the alliance,” Haoran spoke calmly, taking a smooth step towards her kneeling form.

He extended his right arm, casually and gently patting her bare shoulder with a comforting familiarity. ”You shall remain here inside the sanctuary of the Babylon to quietly cultivate and stabilize your realm and physique.”

However, the exact fraction of a second his fingers began to pull away from her shoulder, Qing’er’s hand suddenly shot forward.

Moving with a sharp, instinctual desperation that completely bypassed her usual robotic discipline, she gently, tightly pinched the gold-trimmed hem of his wide royal silk sleeve.

Her head remained deeply lowered, her crimson eyes fixed entirely on the carpet as if she suddenly, deeply did not dare to meet the intense, sovereign weight of his golden gaze.

Her fingers trembled slightly, a silent, beautiful plea written across her absolute posture.

Haoran stopped his movement smoothly, staring down at her small, clinging hand and her dark hair for a few quiet, unhurried moments before a slow, remarkably indulgent smile spread across his handsome face.

”Well, now that I thought about it closely,” Haoran chuckled softly, his voice a rich, soothing rumble that instantly calmed the nervous air of the chamber. ”I also happen to need to stabilize my realm since I rapidly advanced to peak Nascent Soul realm. So... maybe I’ll have to stay here for a bit.”

The exact moment that decision cleared the air, Qing’er’s entire silhouette visibly, beautifully perked up.

Her head lifted rapidly, her sharp crimson eyes brightening into twin stars of pure joy as she looked up at his face, her fingers smoothly releasing his sleeve to embrace his boots.

*

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*

Meanwhile, deep within the bustling eastern commercial sector of the gargantuan Leaf Green City, a completely different type of energy was roaring through the crowded stone avenues.

Zhu Ziyan was walking slowly down the broad, cobblestone streets, her posture exceptionally elegant inside her form-fitting black and purple silk qipao.

Her deep purple eyes were calmly, methodically observing the massive, bustling crowds of senior practitioners, local merchants, and elite academy disciples who were all frantically selling, buying, and loudly haggling over various high-tier commodities under the shade of the grand spires.

”Step up, legacy buyers! I have a freshly harvested stalk of thousand-year-old Azure Dragon Vine! Perfect for fortifying your reptilian familiars before the seasonal migration opens! Only five hundred Dao Points!” a burly, scarred senior merchant shouted from a stone platform, his hands flaring with a green wood-qi.

”Five hundred?! You robber, that vine’s root is visibly damaged! I’ll give you three hundred and fifty points, not a single crumb more!” a young mistress from a student faction countered aggressively, her fingers slamming her identity token onto his counter.

”Selling high-tier Fire-Swallowing Lizard scales! Freshly scraped! Perfect for crafting light protective armor for your vanguard mounts! Come and inspect the textures!” another voice echoed from a nearby shop.

Zhu Ziyan watched the chaotic commercial exchanges with a calm, detached analytical focus.

She casually reached into her storage ring, took out her golden academy identity token, and smoothly pressed her thumb against the central array node, instantly triggering the translucent blue Maps Function interface to float into the air before her face.

This device was truly, remarkably convenient for a newly arrived freshman.

The spatial arrays woven into its metallic circuit could flawlessly, dynamically pinpoint a student’s exact geographical location within a few inches, and could even cleanly display the entire topographic map of the Academy’s vast dimensional domain, tracking every district, guild house, and public arena in real-time.

She followed the shifting blue lines of the digital grid through a series of narrow, affluent alleyways, eventually finding herself standing firmly in front of a colossal, beautifully constructed 9-story pagoda made entirely of dark, iron-hard spiritual wood and polished jade tiles.

Hanging directly over the grand arched entrance of the building, there was a massive, dust-laden plaque carved from the bone of an ancient monster, displaying three deeply etched words in a fierce, wild script: Pocket-Beast League.

”So... this is officially it,” Ziyan whispered softly to herself, a sharp spark of quiet enthusiasm flaring within her purple pupils.

She smoothly closed her hand to dissolve the holographic interface, pocketed her golden token back into her sash, and confidently crossed the threshold to enter the grand building.

The instant her boots cleared the inner entryway, her senses were completely, utterly overwhelmed by a chaotic torrent of loud shouting, frantic running, and overlapping roars of minor spiritual beasts.

The interior of the massive pagoda looked less like a traditional academic guild house and more like a frantic military command center during a global war.

”Hey! In the name of the ancestors, does anyone across this floor have any high-grade Healing Potions or Vitality Pills left in their inventory?!” a panicked student yelled from the central counter, his clothes slightly singed.

”Are you an absolute fool?! No one has spare potions left to sell you!” an older senior shouted back from a leather couch. ”Every single medical item across the city sectors is on critically short supply right now, with the grand Beast League tournament happening just around the corner!”

”Yeah, you’re right!” a young noble grinned fiercely, polishing a small bronze token in his hand. ”This time around, I will absolutely gather all 8 Pagodan Tokens from the regional trial zones and permanently secure my qualification to participate in the final championship league!”

”Hah! With that pathetic, low-tier 5th Rank Spirit Beast of yours?!” a nearby sword cultivator let out a loud, mocking laugh of pure derision. ”Don’t make me laugh, you trash! As if the arena arrays wouldn’t instantly grind your pet into fine red paste within the first round!”

”Quiet down, fools! Did you see the latest data posted on the central forum boards?” a quiet disciple whispered to his companions near the pillar. ”I heard that the prime young master of the supreme Yun Clan, Yun Chi, has officially been verified as the absolute top favorite genius to completely win the entire league this cycle and become the brand-new supreme Faction Leader of our guild.”

’What in the hell is actually happening inside this place?’ Zhu Ziyan couldn’t help but wonder to herself, her brows knitting together into a line of deep confusion as her mind failed to find any mention of these specific tournament parameters or ’Gym Tokens’.

Just then, before she could take another step forward to inspect the central directory board, she felt a sudden, gentle tapping sensation manifesting directly against her right shoulder.

Zhu Ziyan smoothly spun her body around on a single heel, her purple qipao rustling softly as her spatial perception flared defensively.

In an instant, her gaze locked onto a remarkably beautiful young woman standing a few paces away.

The stranger possessed exceptionally vibrant, long pink hair that fell in soft curls around her shoulders, a pair of bright, deeply compassionate blue eyes, and was dressed in the clean, white and light blue medical robes of a high-tier guild officer.

”Hello there, junior!” the pink-haired woman smiled incredibly warmly at her, her voice sweet and welcoming. ”I am the resident medical officer known as Healer Qiao Yi. I noticed you standing near the threshold looking a bit lost... may I perhaps help you navigate our halls today?”

”Ah... greetings, Senior Qiao Yi,” Ziyan replied politely, cupping her hands in a brief sign of respect. ”I came here because I highly desire to officially register myself as a part of the league. Is that process okay to initiate today?”

Qiao Yi’s blue eyes instantly brightened with a sudden, intense light of pure professional joy. ”Of course it is! We always fiercely welcome new talent to our ranks! Tell me, junior: do you already actively have a few established Beast Companions contracted within your spiritual soul-space? Or would you perhaps prefer to start from the absolute beginning and learn the baseline structural concepts of the craft?”

”Ah... To be honest, I already successfully possess a few high-grade beasts,” Ziyan answered smoothly, her mind thinking of the unique spatial creatures she had bound during her region trials. ”But I admittedly find myself completely lacking in regards to the basic, orthodox knowledge and technical vocabulary of this academy’s specific beast system. Can I still ask to learn the baseline lectures?”

”Of course you can! That is exactly what our association is built to facilitate!” Healer Qiao Yi laughed happily, gesturing with her wide sleeve toward a grand jade staircase leading up to the second floor. ”Please, follow directly after my lead, junior! I will personally help you file your registration documents at the primary counter, issue your league Tamer ID, and thoroughly teach you all of the absolute basics of the craft!”