Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Elder Mu finally, with immense, agonizing effort, forced his head upward.

He stared at Shen Haoran for a long, heavy moment, his eyes filled with a complicated vortex of fear, humiliation, and deep, lingering resentment.

The realization that he had just been spared like a minor nuisance by a freshman, and that his ultimate cowardice had been fully witnessed by Ye Hongyan, was a spiritual wound that would take centuries to heal.

Without uttering a single word to reclaim his dignity, he turned around sharply on his heel, his figure blurring as he vanished directly into the dense, swirling crowds of the grand avenue, fleeing the scene of his absolute disgrace.

The heavy, suffocating pressure of the Saint completely dissipated from the plaza, allowing the terrified ambient atmosphere to finally breathe again.

The moment the old man disappeared, Haoran reached into his storage ring, taking out a small, intricately carved jade vial from his personal storage space.

He popped a few shimmering, translucent high-grade spiritual pills into his mouth and the moment the medicinal essence dissolved down his throat, a wave of pure, concentrated energy violently surged through his pathways, instantly repairing his strained mental faculties and burning away the severe fatigue that had been hammering against his brain.

”Young Master!” Nuo Wan immediately rushed forward toward him, his face covered in deep concern, his large hands twitching nervously. ”Are you truly okay? Did that old bastard’s aura cause any internal injuries to your soul?”

The other senior graduating students, seeing their new benefactor standing out in the open, also hurriedly swarmed forward, completely surrounding the two of them in a tight, suffocating circle of eager faces and anxious inquiries.

They were profoundly desperate to ensure the safety of the man who held the key to their future employment.

Zhu Ziyan’s delicate feline ears twitched with irritation at the sudden, overwhelming crowding.

She frowned deeply, her protective instincts instantly flaring up as she stepped directly in front of Haoran’s majestic frame.

She raised her slender hands, pushing back against the closest senior disciples to forcefully halt their advance.

”Stop! Stop right there! Back away and give him some proper space!” Ziyan commanded loudly, her voice sharp and authoritative. ”Are you all completely blind!? He literally just went head-to-head against a peak Earthly Saint Realm powerhouse and forced the Ten Sages to intervene! Let him breathe!”

At her fierce reprimand, the surrounding crowd of graduates instantly paused.

Realizing the absolute truth of her words, they sheepishly nodded their heads and took a few respectful steps back, clearing a wide perimeter around the young master.

Haoran let out a low, melodious chuckle that vibrated softly in the quiet streets as he leaned forward slightly, whispering directly into her twitching cat ears with a teasing, deeply amused tone.

”My, my... look at you now. You are acting exactly like a deeply concerned, fiercely protective wife protecting her husband from the crowd.”

Ziyan’s entire face instantly blushed a brilliant, burning shade of deep crimson as the sudden, intense heat reached all the way to the tips of her furry ears.

However, despite her overwhelming embarrassment, she remained completely silent, refusing to offer a verbal rebuttal.

She just submissively lowered her head, her gaze locking onto her own shoes as she tried to hide her burning face from his piercing golden eyes.

Haoran smiled with cold satisfaction at her reaction.

Then, without another word, he immediately walked back over to the grand throne he was sitting on earlier, relaxing his majestic posture completely as he sat back down upon the opulent cushions.

Anticipating his positioning with absolute, perfect synchronization, Ziyan instantly reached into her spatial storage ring, took out her beautiful silk umbrella, and gracefully opened it, holding it high over his golden head to shield him perfectly from the warm afternoon sun.

”Alright, everyone, let’s continue with the recruitment contracts,” Haoran announced smoothly, his deep voice carrying an effortless authority that instantly restored absolute discipline to the chaotic plaza. ”You can all completely forget about that little pathetic charade that occurred earlier. It was nothing more than an insignificant footnote.”

In an absolute flash, driven by the graduates’ desperate hunger for the grand employment opportunities of the Divine City, another massively long, strictly organized line instantly formed across the entire width of the cobblestone square.

Sitting back on his throne, Haoran’s lips curved into an elegant, predatory smile.

Although he had just miraculously received a staggering, monumental total of ten million Dao Points from Venerable Sky Cloud, who on earth in this vast, ruthless cultivation world would ever actively turn their back on wanting even more wealth?

Besides, these graduating senior students all uniquely contained subtle traces of historical destiny and heavenly luck within their souls.

Having them formally work for the external enterprises of his clan would not only expand his personal balance of points, but it would also directly help them stabilize and nourish the clan’s ancestral fortune.

Unfortunately, in his current state of triumphant satisfaction, he remained completely oblivious to the fact that because of his incredibly wild, reckless actions in the academy today, the upper echelons of his clan were currently experiencing a massive, catastrophic headache.

Especially his majestic great-grandmother, Shen Daiyu, who was currently pulling her hair out trying to fortify the ancient, flickering concealment arrays and doing the job of three Supremes all on her own.

*

*

*

A few hours later.

Far away from the chaotic political center of the academy, in a completely different sector of the metropolis.

Leaf Green City, a bustling commercial street dedicated almost entirely to the trade of premium spiritual herbs, pills, and medicinal arrays.

”Phew~”

Huo Yue let out a bright, ecstatic grin, her beautiful eyes sparkling with unadulterated joy as she stared intently at the glowing, holographic blue screen floating directly in front of her face, elegantly displaying her updated personal data from her Academy Identification Token.

However, what truly caught her absolute attention, causing her heart to race with heavy excitement, was that one specific data readout blinking at the very bottom of the ledger.

[Dao Points: 25,914]

That three-digit transformation was a literal fortune! In the generic conversion rates of the Central Region, that amount of premium academic currency was equivalent to more than a staggering 250 million high-grade Spirit Stones!

’No wonder alchemists were universally considered to be the absolute richest, most financially terrifying people out of the Six Major Occupations in the world!’ she thought, a surge of profound pride blooming within her chest.

A single afternoon of selling her premium, newly refined pills to the desperate, resource-starved students of the inner courts had yielded a windfall that could fund a minor clan for centuries.

She slowly turned her head to the side, a smug, highly triumphant smile spreading across her face as she looked over at Shen Ying, who was currently sitting right next to her on the wooden market bench.

Shen Ying looked exactly as she always did: completely gloomy, cloaked in a quiet aura, and entirely expressionless as she stared blankly at her own token.

”So? My dear little Ying’er,” Huo Yue asked, her tone dripping with a deeply playful, patronizing sweetness. ”How many points did you actually manage to rake in today from your station?”

”18 thousand,” Shen Ying stated flatly, her voice entirely devoid of any emotion or inflection as she casually deactivated her holographic screen with a wave of her slender wrist.

”Buwahahaha!” Huo Yue instantly burst into a loud, incredibly boisterous fit of mock-evil laughter, pointing her finger directly at her companion’s face without a single shred of restraint. ”Oh, this is absolutely rich! You acted so intensely arrogant and cold earlier, constantly bragging to me that your alchemy skills and theory are leagues better than mine! And look at the results! Didn’t I earn significantly more points than you today!?”

Shen Ying slowly turned her head, her gaze piercing through the heavy layers of her long bangs to lock onto the laughing girl.

Then, she spoke, her tone remained completely clinical and analytical. ”The disparity in our earnings is not a matter of professional skill, Miss Huo Yue. It is entirely a matter of physical aesthetics. It is because you shamelessly choose to show off your vulgar beauty and reveal your figure at the front of the stall, so desperate male cultivators are naturally more likely to approach your station, buying your thoroughly inferior products just to catch a glimpse of your skin.”

”Hah! My beauty is a divine gift from the highest heavens,” Huo Yue huffed, crossing her arms proudly under her ample chest, completely unfazed by the insult. ”Besides, don’t say such things as if I am showing off my body for money, you’re making me sound dirty. It’s just that, beautiful people will naturally attract attention absolutely everywhere they go. It’s an immutable law of nature.”

She elegantly flicked her glossy hair over her shoulder, giving a confident, blindingly radiant smile to the passing pedestrians.

Shen Ying rolled her eyes behind her long hair, letting out a faint, dismissive sigh. ”Whatever you say to comfort yourself. But if we are strictly discussing the concepts of facial structure and symmetry, I firmly believe that I am far more beautiful than you.”

Huo Yue raised a sharp eyebrow in genuine surprise, but she didn’t feel the slightest bit offended by the bold statement.

Instead, a deep, burning sense of intense curiosity instantly ignited within her mind.

Shen Ying had always, without a single exception, meticulously hidden almost the entire upper half of her face behind her thick, heavy bangs.

Even during their private visits to the villa’s natural hot springs—where it was shockingly revealed to the group that her hidden physical body possessed a set of curves and a bust size that was completely comparable to the magnificent likes of Huo Yue and Xia Mengyao themselves—she still refused to pull back her hair.

So, hearing her words now, Huo Yue couldn’t help but wonder: was Shen Ying actually not bragging? Was there a peerless, breathtaking visage hidden beneath that dark curtain of hair?

Subconsciously, driven by a sudden, playful impulse, Huo Yue reached her hand out across the bench, her fingers darting forward to flick away Shen Ying’s long bangs to see the truth.

But Shen Ying’s reflexes were incredibly sharp as she stood up and took a swift step back, tilting her head out of reach as her expression cooled. ”What exactly do you think you are doing?”

”Oh, come on, let me see!” Huo Yue frowned slightly, her lips pouting in a childish display of annoyance. ”You confidently claim that you are more beautiful than me? Prove it right now! Show me your true face, sister Ying.”

”No,” Shen Ying replied instantly, her tone absolute and leaving zero room for negotiation.

She turned her body around, ignoring the pouting girl, and began to neatly pack up her remaining medicine bottles and administrative equipment into her spatial storage pouch, preparing to officially close down the stall and return to the safety of the Falling Blossom Villa.

”Stingy,” Huo Yue muttered under her breath, though she didn’t choose to insist any further.

Instead, she just quickly packed up her own chaotic pile of cauldrons and spirit herbs, preparing to head back to their residential villa alongside her companion as the sun began to slowly dip below the horizon.

However, just as the two of them stepped off the commercial platform and were about to exit the main marketplace avenue, they suddenly noticed two very distinct, highly prominent figures walking leisurely down the center of the stone street.

The surrounding crowd of shoppers naturally parted around them, completely unaware of why they felt the sudden urge to move out of the way.

”That’s... Haoran!?” Huo Yue called out, her eyes widening in absolute shock as she recognized the brilliant golden hair and the majestic black-and-gold robes. ”And Ziyan is right there with him too!”

Without a single thought for public decorum, her face lighting up with pure, unadulterated ecstasy, she immediately hopped and bounded forward across the cobblestones like a joyous rabbit.

”Haoran! Ziyan!” She called out.

Shen Haoran and Zhu Ziyan paused and immediately turned towards her, with Ziyan immediately feeling shy, remembering the kiss earlier.

Huo Yue immediately threw herself straight into Haoran’s path, burying her face deeply against Haoran’s firm, broad chest as she inhaled his familiar scent.

Haoran smiled warmly at her sudden, enthusiastic arrival, entirely unfazed by the public display of affection.

He extended his strong arm, placing his large hand securely and possessively around her slender waist to hold her close to his side.

Shen Ying followed slowly behind her energetic companion, her posture returning to one of impeccable, formal discipline.

She stopped a few feet away, folded her hands neatly within her wide sleeves, and cupped her hands respectfully toward the youth.

”Greetings, Young Master,” she spoke softly, bowing her head in a flawless display of lineage etiquette.

Haoran offered a brief, calm nod of acknowledgment toward her. ”Hm. It seems the two of you have had quite a successful and highly profitable afternoon in the markets.”

”Right! Right!” Huo Yue nodded her head repeatedly, ”I made more than 25 thousand points today! This should be enough to participate in the auction, after all, that’s worth 250 million high grade Spirit Stones!”

Haoran smiled, ”Impressive. As expected of my Huo Yue.”

Huo Yue looked smug, ”Of course. Who do you think I am? Alright, since I’m feeling generous, let’s go out and eat. My treat.”

”Is that so? You really are a bleeding heart of generosity.”

”Aren’t I?”

Zhu Ziyan almost face palmed.

She wanted to say that Haoran obtained ten million points, but decided to remain silent, curious about Huo Yue’s expression later.

She turned her head, and noticed Shen Ying staring at Huo Yue’s back.

Feeling her stare, Shen Ying turned and nodded at her.

Zhu Ziyan blinked and nodded back.

Well, this girl was rather silent, eh?