Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

High above the clouds of Leaf Green City, where the thin atmospheric wind howled like a dying beast, the air turned instantly bone-dry and suffocatingly hot.

Huo Yue reached into her storage ring and pulled out a dark crimson ruler, its surface forged from ancient star-core iron and inscribed with complex flame runes that pulsed with living heat.

She gripped the hilt tightly, her heavenly flames flaring out in a hundred-meter aura of incineration as she charged forward, clashing directly with the colossal, dragon-armored form of Shui Yi.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!

The crimson ruler slammed against the towering energy spear held by Shui Yi’s fused Dragon-Carp Spirit Avatar.

The kinetic detonation produced a visible, circular shockwave that blew away every cloud within a five-mile radius, leaving a completely barren, blue vault of open sky.

Shui Yi’s face twisted with sheer shock as the violent impact shook the heavy frame of his beast.

Hovering on top of the creature’s glowing blue forehead, he pushed down with all his 1st Stage Spirit Ascension strength, trying to crush the girl beneath the sheer weight of his superior cultivation domain.

”You brat! Know your place!” Shui Yi roared, his voice amplified like thunder through the dragon-carp’s throat. ”A Nascent Soul junior dares to fight me head-on in close combat?!”

”Heh, who says I’m just a normal Nascent Soul?!” Huo Yue laughed wildly, her fiery eyes glowing with madness!

Without hesitation, she suddenly crossed her arms, forming a rapid series of ancient, hand seals!

”Imperial Flame Transformation, Secret Art: Ignition!”

WHOOOOOOOSH—!

The four distinct Heavenly Flames residing within her dantian suddenly erupted simultaneously!

They didn’t merely swirl around her; they violently fused into her bloodline and meridians, forcefully expanding her qi pathways to their absolute limit!

Her aura exploded outward, violently surging from the early stage of Nascent Soul realm to past the late Nascent Soul stage, before crashing through the peak threshold, and temporarily skyrocketing straight into the half-step Spirit Ascension Realm.

The fiery wings on her back doubled in size, turning into massive, feathered wings of pure, incandescent plasma that burned the sky.

”What the hell is this?!” Shui Yi gasped, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead as he felt her physical pressure match his own.

”Just something that turns liquiders and their pets into vapors and fried fish!” Huo Yue mocked.

She swung her dark crimson ruler with terrifying speed, executing a sweeping strike that seem to tore through space.

CLANG! BANG! BOOM!

In a fraction of a second, the two powerhouses exchanged over fifty devastating blows in mid-air.

Huo Yue moved like an erratic, burning meteor, appearing above, below, and behind the massive dragon-carp, leaving radiant crimson arc lines in the sky as her ruler struck the beast’s armored scales over and over again.

Every time Shui Yi used his massive water domain to trap her or landed a grazing blow that cracked her ribs and cut her flesh, Huo Yue didn’t hesitate for even second, and with her free hand, she constantly flicked high-grade, Rank 5 and 6 Rejuvenation Pills, Dragon-Marrow Recovery Elixirs, and Spirit-Restoration Pills directly into her mouth, swallowing them whole like handfuls of candy.

The moment the high-grade pills dissolved in her stomach, the instant damage to her body was forcefully repaired.

Her cracked bones mended, her torn meridians stitched back together, and her depleted qi reserves refilled instantly to their absolute brim.

”Dammit! Stop eating pills, you crazy girl!” Shui Yi screamed in absolute, frantic desperation.

He was fighting a genuine battle of attrition, expending massive amounts of his finite Spirit Ascension qi to maintain the dragon-carp avatar and suppress her wild strikes.

Yet every time he managed to deal damage or wear down her stamina, she simply swallowed another handful of priceless pills and bounced right back at full health, grinning like a demon.

Despite possessing a whole higher realm of cultivation, a fused Spirit Avatar, and a peak Spirit Ascension dragon-scaled beast, Shui Yi simply couldn’t gain the slightest upper hand!

”Why would I stop when I have unlimited supplies?!” Huo Yue cackled, her crimson ruler bursting with the combined destruction of four Heavenly Flames as she raised it above her head. ”Now, stand still and let me cook you!”

Shui Yi’s face twisted in pure, desperate fury.

Sensing that his finite spiritual energy reserves were steadily draining while his opponent casually swallowed priceless high-grade pills, he knew he couldn’t afford to let this battle drag on any longer.

He gritted his teeth, biting the tip of his tongue to spray a fine mist of essence blood directly onto the glowing blue scales of his dragon-carp avatar.

”Secret Battle Art: Celestial Ocean Gathering!” Shui Yi roared at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing like rolling thunder across the heavens.

WHOOOOSH—!

In an instant, the ambient temperature high above the clouds plummeted.

Every trace of scattered moisture, humidity, and cloud vapor across a twenty-mile radius was violently drawn toward his position by an irresistible, gravitational water law.

Tens of thousands of microscopic water droplets condensed instantly, transforming the thin, dry atmosphere into a dense, super-pressurized aquatic domain.

The surrounding air became as thick and heavy as a deep ocean trench.

Streams of torrential, high-pressure water swirled wildly around the Dragon Scaled Carp, coating its glowing energy armor in an impenetrable, liquid shield that constantly absorbed and neutralized the searing radiant heat radiating from Huo Yue’s divine flames.

”Die, you insufferable brat!” Shui Yi screamed, channeling the newly gathered oceanic domain directly into his avatar’s massive, armored spear.

The Dragon Scaled Carp thrashed its colossal tail, executing a terrifying, high-velocity charge.

Surrounded by swirling torrents of pressurized water, it tore through space, driving its hundred-meter energy spear straight toward Huo Yue’s chest.

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

Huo Yue swung her dark crimson ruler to block, but the sheer, hydrostatic weight of the condensed aquatic domain combined with the beast’s immense physical momentum slammed into her like a falling mountain.

The terrifying kinetic force shattered her flame barrier, sending her flying backward through the sky like a broken kite.

CRACK!

Several of her ribs fractured instantly under the crushing pressure, and a trail of bright crimson blood spilled from her lips, evaporating into steam before it could even hit her robes.

”Hahaha! Do you see it now?!” Shui Yi laughed maniacally, his eyes wide with triumphant madness as he commanded the dragon-carp to press the advantage, launching a barrage of water-drills and crushing hydro-tail swipes that kept her pinned on the defensive. ”Under my Celestial Ocean Domain, your flames are suffocated! Your speed means nothing in the deep sea! No amount of petty tricks can save you now!”

Floating backward in mid-air, her robes torn and her chest heaving as she absorbed heavy blow after heavy blow, Huo Yue’s lips curled into an even wider, more unhinged grin.

She wiped the blood from her chin with the back of her hand, her fiery golden eyes dancing with absolute, sadistic delight.

”Oh? Gaining an advantage, are we?” Huo Yue chuckled softly, her voice dripping with pure mockery. ”You really think you’re the only one who can stack power-ups, you stupid liquider?”

Without skipping a single beat, her fingers flicked open a glowing jade flask from her spatial ring.

She pulled out a pitch-black, glowing crimson pill that emitted a faint, roaring dragon roar, an ancient recipe known for its ultra-volatile effects, Rank 7 Berserk Dragon Ignition Pill.

This is something she had made with the help of her master before they parted ways.

Without a shred of hesitation, she tossed the ancient pill directly into her mouth and swallowed it whole.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!

The moment the Rank 7 pill dissolved in her dantian, a catastrophic, blood-red pillars of divine fire erupted from her skin, shooting miles into the sky.

Her physical strength, spiritual capacity, and flame output didn’t merely recover—they exploded outward, doubling her temporary pseudo-Spirit Ascension aura instantly.

The massive feather wings of divine plasma on her back burst into wild, multi-colored infernal plumes, forcefully scorching away the dense aquatic domain surrounding her.

”W-WHAT?!” Shui Yi gasped in absolute, horrified shock, his dragon-carp avatar recoiling from the sudden, terrifying heatwave! ”What kind of pill is that!? You look like you’re about to explode! Are you insane!?”

”Insane? I’m just getting started!” Huo Yue cackled wildly.

Before Shui Yi could re-establish his liquid domain, Huo Yue reached both hands into her spatial storage ring, pulling out dozens of strange, dark-purple metallic alchemy spheres.

Instead of eating them, a wicked, cruel smirk stretched across her face as she hurled them all at Shui Yi like a hail of lethal meteorites.

”Take a taste of my special homebrewed recipe! Nine-Toxins Spirit-Corrosion Pellets!”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The metallic alchemy spheres detonated upon impact against the dragon-carp’s glowing blue energy armor.

They didn’t produce fire or kinetic shockwaves—instead, they instantly burst into a thick, suffocating, sickly purple mist that expanded at blinding speed, completely enveloping the fused avatar and Shui Yi inside a hundred-meter cloud of lethal, airborne poison.

”Tsk! Poison?!” Shui Yi sneered, trying to use his water qi to blow the cloud away. ”My water domain can easily cleanse mundane toxins—”

He stopped mid-sentence as a sharp, excruciating burn seared through his lungs.

The purple mist was not mundane—it was a highly refined, gaseous alchemy poison specifically designed by a master alchemist to feed on spiritual energy.

The moment the toxic mist touched his blue water domain, it didn’t wash away; it actively consumed his water qi, using his own spiritual energy as fuel to multiply its potency.

COUGH! COUGH!

Shui Yi suddenly coughed violently, spraying a mouthful of dark, purplish blood onto the dragon-carp’s forehead.

His vision blurred, his dantians burned with an agonizing, paralyzing numbness, and the smooth flow of qi supplying his Spirit Avatar began to stutter and crumble.

”Agh! My... my merdians...!” Shui Yi choked out, his hands trembling as he struggled to maintain his footing.

The massive Dragon Scaled Carp let out a pained, weakened roar as the toxic mist seeped through its golden scales, melting its internal meridians and causing its brilliant energy armor to flicker violently like a dying lamp.

”Hahaha! How does it feel?!” Huo Yue mocked, hovering effortlessly above the toxic purple cloud with her crimson ruler resting casually on her shoulder.

Her fiery eyes looked down at the trembling, coughing Spirit Ascension expert with total, predatory satisfaction.

”My poison doesn’t care about your high cultivation or your wet water shield! The more qi you try to use to push it out, the faster it eats your soul from the inside out!”

Shui Yi looked up at her through his bloodshot, tearing eyes, his breathing ragged, his body trembling as the poison rapidly eroded his strength, leaving him completely exposed and rapidly weakening in the sky.

”You... You... You evil woman!” Shui Yi wheezed out, his trembling voice dripping with desperate hatred.

Cough, cough!

Shui Yi coughed up another heavy splatter of dark, purplish blood that hissed as it splattered onto the dissolving blue scales of his Dragon Scaled Carp.

The toxic mist was burning through his meridians like acid, his dantians growing colder and more unresponsive by the second.

His vision swam with dizzying black spots, and the majestic Spirit Avatar that had once hovered around him like a god was now flickering violently, crumbling into scattered particles of blue light.

The wild, manic laughter on Huo Yue’s face gradually faded away.

The mocking smirk vanished, replaced by an expression of cold, unyielding seriousness.

Her fiery red eyes locked onto the dying Spirit Ascension expert with a sharp, heavy stillness.

”Evil?” Huo Yue spoke, her voice dropping into a low, level tone that carried clearly over the howling winds above the clouds. ”This is a battle. In a battle between enemies, if you lose, you die. Using every single tool, poison, pill, and trick at your disposal to kill your opponent and ensure your own survival... isn’t that what every real cultivator does?”

As she looked down at the trembling, coughing man, her mind briefly drifted back through the dark, violent tapestry of her past.

She remembered the long, grueling months she had spent traveling across unforgiving lands alongside Zhu Ziyan and Queen Medusa before they ever joined Shen Haoran.

She remembered the relentless, blood-drenched nights spent hiding in damp caves, listening to the footsteps of hostile bounty hunters and that Shadow Hall searching for them.

She recalled the brutal ambushes, the venomous assassinations, the constant betrayals from people who pretended to offer aid, and the sheer, bone-chilling terror of barely surviving fights against older, far more powerful cultivators who sought to strip them of their lives.

They had bled together, starved together, and fought tooth and nail through mountains of corpses just to earn the right to see another sunrise.

In the real, unforgiving world of cultivation, mercy was a luxury for the dead, and naivety was a swift death sentence.

”Sorry, but I’m not some fragile girl kept safe inside a cozy greenhouse,” Huo Yue said coldly, raising her dark crimson ruler and pointing its heavy, rune-inscribed tip directly at his blood-stained chest. ”I survived the real world. And the real world is far more crueler than this one you grew up with. In my eyes, this place is just a game.”

She shook her head, ridding herself pf those thoughts, ”Now, let’s talk about the Spirit Nurturing Flame. If you tell me exactly where your faction is keeping it hidden, I might just give you the antidote to purge that poison from your dantians before your meridians dissolve completely.”

Shui Yi coughed up more blood, his body shuddering as the corrosive toxins continued to devour his remaining spiritual energy.

He looked up at her through his bloodshot, tearing eyes, seeing no trace of hesitation, weakness, or pity in her posture—only the cold, sharp resolve of a seasoned killer who would strike his head off without a second thought if he refused.

”You... you are one scary woman...” Shui Yi rasped, his raspy voice trembling with a mixture of bitter defeat and profound awe.

He let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to drain the very last drop of his martial pride.

His head slumped forward, his eyes slowly closing as he gave a single, defeated nod.

”Very well...”