Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Half an hour later.

The cool nocturnal air of the City drifted through the towering pillars of the auction house entrance, carrying the crisp, faint scent of rain and crushed spirit herbs.

The transaction had been completed smoothly in the private rooms; the warded security container housing the Heavenly Saint skeleton stone had been successfully sealed and deposited into Shen Bai’s spatial device.

And the painting also fell into the hands of Huo Yue and Shen Ying, who both decided to use the space inside to nurture herbs.

Now, the remaining members of the group were standing idly outside the grand arches of the auction house, waiting for Shen Jian, who had eagerly detached himself from the group to head back down to the bar under the flimsy pretense of delivering the promised tips to the beautiful service girls who had attended to their VIP suite earlier.

Shen Ji and Shen Cai had naturally accompanied him with wide, knowing smirks.

It didn’t take a profound master of divination to deduce that the three young masters were likely seeking a swift, indulgence-filled quickie in the private, silk-lined entertainment alcoves of the establishment before officially dragging their feet back to the Falling Blossom Villa.

”They are definitely banging,” Shen Ying stated with absolute, clinical certainty as she stood with her arms folded neatly inside her wide sleeves, her long bangs casting a dark shadow over her eyes. ”There is absolutely no logical way they are taking this long just to give some service girls a tip.”

”Heh, pretty sure they’re balls deep, not just the tip,” said Luo Mingye, a low, mischievous chuckle vibrating in her throat.

She puffed out her chest slightly, looking immensely proud of herself for weaving such a dirty, swift joke out of the terminology.

Xia Mengyao let out a long, long-suffering sigh, rolling her eyes toward the starry sky.

”...Forgive her, please. She’s a bit...” she raised her slender hand and gently motioned a small, twirling index finger directly against the side of her own temple, looking at the others with an expression of deep apology, ”... on the head. Her upbringing in the outskirts of Central Region lacked the basic filters of proper lineage etiquette.”

Luo Mingye pouted at her.

”That was remarkably good though,” said Ning Xueli, her shoulders shaking as she let out a soft, delighted chuckle.

That dirty joke resonated perfectly with her own eccentric sense of humor.

Luo Mingye immediately grinned widely at her validation and immediately raised her right hand into the air, offering a wide, enthusiastic gesture for a fist bump.

Ning Xueli smiled brightly back, stepping forward without a single second of hesitation to cleanly bump her fist against the rogue heiress’ hand, cementing an unholy alliance of vulgarity right in front of the group.

”Hmph. You are all so incredibly young, and yet your heads are entirely full of nothing but vulgar, dirty thoughts,” Shen Fei spoke from the side, his tone cold and rigid as he shook his head in deep disapproval.

He stood perfectly straight, his hands hidden perfectly within his long sleeves, looking like a stern, ancient legalist monk trapped in a den of sinners.

”Prude,” Ning Xueli immediately shot back, giving him a definitive, dramatic thumbs down with her left hand.

She then smirked at him, her eyes flashing with pure mischief. ”You seriously need to go out and get laid as soon as possible, you absolute virgin.”

Shen Fei simply let out a sharp humph, his expression entirely deadpan as he turned his face away toward the dark horizon.

”The way of the spear is all I require to satisfy my soul. Women are merely friction against the speed of my thrusts.”

”Pfft! Thrusts...” Luo Mingye chuckeld, but her sides were immediately pinched by Xia Mengyao.

Meanwhile, Ning Xueli blinked rapidly, her jaw dropping slightly as she processed the stiff response.

She stepped closer, her eyes widening in sudden realization. ”Wait... don’t tell me... you actually are a virgin?”

Shen Fei didn’t offer a single word of answer, his jaw clenching tightly as he maintained a resolute, stony silence, staring completely fixedly at a random stone pillar across the street.

”You are!” Ning Xueli burst into a loud, incredibly boisterous fit of unhinged laughter, pointing a sharp, mocking index finger straight at his chest, practically vibrating with chaotic glee. ”Holy shit! This is pure, absolute gold! The prime personal disciple of the First Enshrined Elder, the legendary Second Crown of the Shen Clan, one of the most terrifyingly talented men in this entire modern era... is actually an untouched, pure-hearted virgin!?”

Everyone couldn’t help but stare at him.

Even Shen Hei and Shen Bai, the two of the Crowns who were traditionally the absolute least interested in the pursuit of women, preferring to spend their days completely in training ground or locked inside dark research chambers analyzing ancient formation arrays—simultaneously shifted their gazes, staring at him with looks of genuine surprise.

Although they didn’t really find the concept of physical sex to be anywhere near as intoxicating or intellectually satisfying as pure training, formation array research, or resource accumulation, they had still casually indulged in the services of their maids and prostitutes a few times in the past.

Even the aloof, majestic Shen Tao couldn’t help but slowly turn his head to take a long, critical look at Shen Fei’s stiff profile.

Although he himself didn’t look like he was currently interested in any woman within the academy’s borders, that was strictly because he had already promised his heart and his name to his beautiful childhood friend back in the clan domain.

In fact, they had already thoroughly cooked the rice, finalized their physical bonds, and sealed their vows right after the grand conclusion of the Heaven’s Choice tournament more than a year ago.

...But this formidable Shen Fei was actually still an untouched virgin?

The contrast between his fierce reputation and arrogant behavior with his pure bedroom record was nothing short of a comedic anomaly.

Xu Xiansu stared at the bickering heirs and slowly shook her head in deep, weary exasperation, rubbing her temples. ”What a pathetic bunch of high-born perverts.”

She took a few deliberate steps to the side, choosing to stick as close as humanly possible to Qian Yunxi and Shen Xinye, who currently appeared to be the only two normal, rational, and mentally stable human beings left within this entire chaotic group.

Huo Yue stared at the group for a moment, then shifted her gaze back toward the grand entrance doors of the auction house, letting out a long, practical sigh as she checked looked up the night sky.

”Well... shall we just head back to the villa first?” Huo Yue suggested. ”Those three playboys inside are probably not going to return with us tonight anyway. They’ll likely crawl back into the courtyard at dawn smelling of cheap perfume and alcohol.”

Everyone looked at each other, weighing the options, and firmly nodded their heads in unanimous agreement.

There was no point in standing outside like bodyguards for three horny playboys.

”Alright, let’s go,” Huo Yue said, spinning around on her heel as she took the lead of the procession, her robes rustling against the stones.

However, before her boots could even clear the outer perimeter of the grand plaza, a sharp, echoing voice suddenly called out from the dark avenues to their left.

”Wait! Please, excuse me, honored cultivators!”

The entire group paused their strides simultaneously, their high-level cultivation senses instantly activating as they turned their heads to the side.

Emerging rapidly from the shadows of a row of traditional stone archways was a strictly organized group of seven Confucius scholars, their loose scholar robes fluttering wildly as they ran toward them across the wide cobblestone square.

The individual leading the small faction was a relatively sturdy, intense man with a completely bald head that gleamed brightly under the soft moonlight.

He stopped a few paces away, smoothing down his academic sashes, and hurriedly cupped his hands together in a formal, respectful greeting.

”Greetings, fellow students of the Imperial Academy,” the bald man spoke, his voice clear and highly articulated. ”I am Ma Bahu, a registered scholar of the Confucius School of Thought and this is my third decade in this institution. Please forgive our sudden, rude interruption, but I wanted to ask, are you perhaps the specific group of honored guests from VIP Room 012 who successfully purchased the painted scroll of the Rivers and Mountains earlier tonight?”

Huo Yue crossed her arms firmly beneath her chest, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked down at the bald scholar with an expression of cold indifference.

”So what if we are the ones who bought it? The transaction is finalized, and the points have already been given. What business is it of yours?”

Ma Bahu nodded his head rapidly, a polite, highly diplomatic smile playing upon his lips as he took a cautious step forward.

”Forgive me, but is it perhaps possible for us to formally negotiate a private purchase of that specific painted scroll from your hands? Our faction is more than willing to compensate your investment. We can easily add an extra five hundred Dao Points on top of the points you spent, ensuring you make a swift, effortless profit—”

”Not interested in the slightest,” Huo Yue shook her head decisively, completely cutting through his long winded pitch before he could even finish the numbers.

She spun back around, preparing to walk away. ”The item is already spoken for. Go find your toys elsewhere.”

The remaining members of the villa group cast brief, cool glances at the scholars before casually following right behind her heels, treating the group like an insignificant footnote.

Ma Bahu’s face flushed slightly with anxiety at her absolute, rapid rejection as he immediately hurried his steps to keep pace alongside them, frantically trying to deploy his academic eloquence to persuade her.

”Please wait, young lady! Think of the grander picture! Our Confucius School holds immense sway within the empire’s laws and moral codes! If you graciously sell the painting to us, we can easily deploy our immense cultural influence across the entire empire to widely spread your righteous names! Within a week, every single student in the academy will know of your grand, benevolent virtue!”

Unfortunately, he was completely, and utterly ignored.

The group didn’t even slow down their collective stride, their footsteps rhythmic and steady.

”We can grant you exclusive, unmonitored access to browse the restricted chambers of our Grand Scholar Library!” Ma Bahu yelled out, desperation finally creeping into his voice as he chased her shadow. ”As incredibly talented martial cultivators, you probably believe you don’t care about common books, but miss... you must understand the primordial truth of this world! Knowledge is power!”

The exact second those three specific words left his mouth, Huo Yue’s boots suddenly ground to a complete, violent halt against the cobblestones.

Ma Bahu’s eyes instantly brightened with a flash of triumphant joy, a wide smile breaking across his bald face as he stopped behind her.

He firmly believed in his heart that his philosophical hook had successfully snagged her interest—after all, no one could ever resist the allure of knowledge.

”Knowledge is power?” Huo Yue murmured softly.

She slowly, deliberately turned her head over her right shoulder, her sharp, cold gaze staring directly into his eyes through the silver moonlight.

Her expression was completely devoid of its usual playful warmth. ”Is that truly what you just said to me, scholar?”

Ma Bahu nodded his head firmly, straightening his academic posture to look imposing. ”Indeed, young lady. It seems that beneath that fierce exterior, you possess the noble, refined heart of a true scholar who respects the depth of ancient texts. Then, how about we formally agree to a contract—”

”Seize him,” Huo Yue spoke, her voice dropping to a low, commanding whisper that carried an absolute, chilling weight.

*Boom!*

The shift in reality occurred so incredibly fast that Ma Bahu’s brain couldn’t even process the spatial displacement.

Before the air could even ripple, the majestic figures of Shen Tao and Shen Xun’er materialized out of absolute nothingness directly behind his back.

With practiced, brutal martial precision, Shen Tao’s iron hand clamped onto the scholar’s left shoulder while Shen Xun’er grabbed his right arm, violently twisting his limbs behind his back with a sharp, agonizing *crack*.

With a ruthless downward surge of their physical qi, they slammed him face-first onto the hard cobblestones, forcing him to kneel on the ground in a posture of absolute, crushing submission.

”Gah! What is the meaning of this violence!?” Ma Bahu screamed, his face pressed against the cold stone, his cultivation base instantly suppressed to zero by the twin auras locking onto his meridians.

”Elder Brother!” the remaining six Confucius scholars behind him roared in panic, their righteous qi exploding outward as they instinctively reached into their robes to draw their weapons and defensive talismans to intervene.

But before their hands could even touch their weapons, a solid wall of absolute destruction materialized right before their eyes.

Shen Hei, Shen Bai, Shen Xinye, Shen Ying, and Shen Fei instantly shifted their positions, appearing like five immovable mountains directly in front of the panicked scholars.

Shen Fei’s hands didn’t even leave his sleeves, yet the sheer, suffocating mountain of pure power radiating from his physical form was so dense, so intensely sharp, that it literally formed a visible, shimmering perimeter of silver light in the air, threatening to crush them into meat paste if they advanced a single millimeter.

The surrounding atmospheric pressure plummeted to an absolute freezing point, the ambient noise of the city marketplace vanishing as the tension on the plaza violently rose to its absolute peak.

The six scholars stood completely frozen, their faces pale with genuine terror as they realized they were standing before a group of five elite apex predators.

Huo Yue slowly spun her body around completely, her robes catching the wind as she walked back toward the kneeling bald man.

She looked down at him with an expression of profound, chilling disdain.

”Break his legs.”

Ma Bahu’s eyes widened in fright as Shen Tao and Shen Xun’er immediately raised their legs, intending to break his own legs.

But...

”Stop.” Huo Yue spoke, and Shen Tao and Shen Xun’er immediately stopped, a mere inch away from hitting Ma Bahu’s legs.

Seeing the relieved and fearful expression on Ma Bahu’s face, she couldn’t help but smiled lightly, ”You know what, I changed my mind. Let him go.”

Shen Tao and Shen Xun’er immediately let him go, and he dropped to the ground with a painful thud.

”Alright, that’s enough. Come back.” Said Huo Yue, waving her hands.

At her words, Shen Tao, Shen Xun’er, Shen Fei and the others all walked back behind her, but their gazes remained fixed on the scholars.

Huo Yue lowered her body used a finger to lift the chin of Ma Bahu, making him stare at her.

”...Power, is power.” She whispered, ”See the difference?”

With that, she let go of his chin, as he once again fell down to the ground.

She straightened up, patted her robes, and continued walking.

The rest stared at the scholars before finally walking after her.

This time, there was no interruptions.