Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

For a cultivator, a year was neither long nor short.

It was merely a fleeting breath in the vast, boundless river of immortal time, a single turn of the seasons that could easily pass during a routine session of closed-door meditation.

However, when backed by the peerless wealth, bottomless resources, ancient secret techniques, and the pristine, harmonized spiritual veins of Boundless Sky City, a single year was more than enough for them to fundamentally transform and exponentially improve their strength.

Standing at the pinnacle of this meteoric rise, was Shen Haoran, who had already broken through the 3rd Stage of the Spirit Ascension realm.

Meanwhile, through relentless training, top-tier alchemical resources provided by Shen Ying and Huo Yue, along with the continuous guidance of their young master, everyone in his inner circle had already completely broken through their bottlenecks and reached the revered Nascent Soul realm.

Shen Tao, Shen Fei, Shen Xinye, Shen Jian, and Huo Yue have all reached the late stages of the Nascent Soul realm.

Xu Xiansu, Qian Yunxi, Shen Ji, Shen Xun’er, Shen Hei, Shen Cai, Shen Bai, and Shen Ying have all reached the mid stages of the Nascent Soul realm.

Zhu Ziyan, Ning Xueli, Ling Luochen, Xia Mengyao, and Luo Mingye have all reached the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm.

Every single member of Shen Haoran’s inner circle had become a terrifying prodigy capable of fighting far above their natural realm, forging an invincible legion whose unified presence commanded undisputed awe.

Only those heirs from the Immortal Lineages can actually compete with them.

At this exact moment, the group, or rather, the entire student body of the prestigious Imperial Academy were gathered at the colossal central academy yard.

Tens of thousands of elite disciples, scions of prominent immortal clans, proud senior studentz, and genius junior students stood in orderly, massive legions across the white-jade paved plaza.

Banners fluttered in the brisk mountain winds, spiritual weapons hummed with restless energy, and the ambient atmospheric pressure over the academy grounds was so dense that clouds could not form in the sky above.

Today is the day that the entire academy will be going to the lower realms for their monumental, long-awaited year-end trials.

High above the massive plaza, hovering atop nine celestial cloud platforms bathed in incandescent, heavenly light, stood the revered Ten Sages of the Imperial Academy—the supreme, legendary elders who oversaw the institution’s grandest operations.

Standing at the center, his long white beard flowing like spun silk and his eyes radiating the profound wisdom of ancient cosmos, the leader of the Ten Sages, Venerable Sky Cloud, stepped forward and began to make a booming, authoritative speech that resonated directly within the souls of every student present.

”Disciples of the Imperial Academy!” Venerable Sky Cloud’s voice rumbled like warm thunder, echoing across the boundless yard. ”The path of cultivation is not forged within the comfortable, secluded chambers of your family estates, nor is it mastered through peaceful scriptures alone. A true cultivator must temper their blade in blood, conquer untamed wilderness, and claim destiny with their own bare hands! Today, the dimensional gates shall open, and you shall descend into the trial grounds of the lower realm!”

Venerable Sky Cloud waved his wide sleeve, causing a massive, three-dimensional celestial projection to materialize in the sky above the assembly.

”The world you are going to is called the Ancient Heaven Star!” Venerable Sky Cloud announced, his sharp eyes sweeping across the sea of eager students. ”It is an ancient, primordial world brimming with dense spirit veins, forgotten secret realms, primordial beast domains, and lost inheritances dating back to the primordial eras.”

A solemn, dangerous undertone entered the Venerable’s voice as he delivered the critical context of their destination.

”You must keep your wits sharp. Despite being formally under the administrative jurisdiction and territorial claim of our Imperial Academy, the native inhabitants, ancient sects, and indigenous royal dynasties of the Ancient Heaven Star harbor immense, generational hatred toward us. For thousands of years, our academy has continuously sent waves of elite student legions to their world—plundering their sacred spirit veins, excavating their ancestral tombs, hunting their sacred beasts, and harvesting their rarest heavenly herbs to fuel our academy’s growth.”

Venerable Sky Cloud looked down at the student body with cold, unyielding realism.

”To the natives, you are not students—you are ruthless demon invaders and plunderers coming to rob their heritage once again. They will show no mercy, offer no surrenders, and will use every ancient curse, ambush array, and suicidal poison technique to butcher you where you stand.”

”Due to the restrictive world boundary laws of that lower plane, the strongest beings there are only at the Half-step Profound Saint realm expert level—yet do not let their capped realm fool you. Their top patriarchs possess centuries of brutal survival experience, ancient bloodline taboos, and home-field dominance.”

Venerable Sky Cloud raised his golden staff high into the heavens, channeling a colossal pillar of spatial light into the colossal boundary gate hovering at the edge of the yard.

”Your objectives is yo hunt, conquer, claim the hidden inheritances, and survive! The dimensional gateway is now open—descend upon the Ancient Heaven Star and let your names be carved into the firmament!”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!

With an earth-shattering roar, the massive celestial portal tore open, revealing the swirling, stormy vortex leading down into the untamed expanse of the Ancient Heaven Star!

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Ancient Heaven Star.

Within the vast, celestial boundaries of this primordial world, there stood the undisputed pillars of mortal power—the Four Sacred Grounds.

They are the four strongest forces in the realm, each one having a rich, blood-soaked history of thousands of years and having produced genuine, world-shaking Saints in the ancient, glorious past before the sky was chained.

The Sacred Sword Pavilion.

The Divine Wind Palace.

The Xuan Heavenly Sect.

And the Murong Clan.

Right now, in the tranquil seclusion of a floating mountain summit veiled in misty clouds, the four heads of these respected forces are having wines under a blooming, ancient peach blossom tree.

Pink and white petals drifted gently in the breeze, dancing across the jade-carved table where cups of glowing, thousand-year-old nectar sat untouched.

There was the Sword Saint, head of the Sacred Sword Pavilion, with eyes as sharp as ancient blades and an aura that naturally cleaved the mountain winds.

Beside him sat the Wind Emperor, the head of Divine Wind Palace, draped in azure-green silk robes that fluttered with ethereal, tempestuous currents.

Opposite them was the Xuan Yuan Saint, the head of Xuan Heavenly Sect, an old man radiating the profound, unyielding weight of ancient cosmic scriptures.

And finally, leaning back with a dark, predatory grace, was the Nine Lives Demon King, the head of the Murong Clan, whose eyes flickered with the untamed, monstrous heritage of an apex predator.

The Sword Saint lifted his porcelain cup, letting the fragrant liquor swirl under the falling petals, his voice low, steady, and razor-sharp.

”Counting the time, those otherworldly demons should be arriving, yeah?” said the Sword Saint.

The Wind Emperor let out a cold, bitter sneer, the ambient breeze around him sharpening until several falling peach petals were sliced cleanly into microscopic dust.

”Every thousand year, without fail,” the Wind Emperor spat, his knuckles tightening around his cup until the stone groaned. ”The celestial portal opens, and those parasitic disciples descend upon our land like a plague of locusts.”

The two realms actually have different time, where one year in the Prime Origin Realm is one thousand years in Ancient Heaven Star.

”They call it an ’academy trial,’ a ’rite of passage’,” Wind Emperor shook his head, ”To them, our sacred lands are merely a playground, and our ancestral heritage is nothing more than points on a wooden token! How infuriating!”

The Xuan Yuan Saint slowly closed his eyes, a heavy, ancient sorrow washing over his weathered face. ”The sufferings of our ancestors under those otherworldly devils are carved into the very bones of this world.”

The Sword Saint chuckled dryly, ”Tell me about it. Our sacred peaks were leveled, our ancient dragon veins were forcefully ripped from the crust, and our most sacred scriptures were plundered and burned. Tens of thousands of years ago, our world breathed with the boundless vitality of heaven and earth. True Saints walked among us, illuminating the continent with their sovereign grace.”

Everyone couldn’t help but looked at the sky, imagining that golden age where Saints walked with mortals, the heaven and earth qi brimming with vitality.

If they could live in that era, they wouldn’t be stuck at Half-Step Profound Saint and would’ve already ascended to Sainthood.

”What a shame. Look at us now,” the Nine Lives Demon King growled, his deep, rumbling voice vibrating through the roots of the peach blossom tree, his crimson pupils narrowing into lethal slits. ”After their continuous, merciless plundering, our realm had become so barren that no Saints have appeared for the past ten thousand years! The spiritual density has withered, our natural laws have been damaged, and the strongest among us can barely step into the Half-step Profound Saint realm because we lack the necessary energy to advance!”

Indeed. To ascend to Profound Saint realm, having Qi isn’t enough.

They must absorb Saint Qi and use it to forge a new body capable of handling the power over space.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Ancient Heaven Star was filled to the brim with Saint Qi, but after years of continuous plundering, their world had slowly dried up.

Now, just reaching Half-step Profound Saint requires enormous resources that only the Four Sacred Grounds can afford.

”They treat us like cattle in a closed pen,” the Sword Saint stated, his gaze looking up through the branches into the pristine blue sky, ”They harvest our herbs before they can mature, hunt our divine beast lines into extinction, and slaughter our most promising prodigies whenever they show a spark of supreme talent. All to ensure that the Ancient Heaven Star never births a powerhouse capable of tearing down their cage.”

Of course, this was just their theory. In truth, the Imperial Academy couldn’t care less about them.

They only exist as a testing ground for their students, and even if there is a genius capable of ascending, the Imperial Academy, a place that gathered majority the luck of the entire Tian Yuan Empire, wouldn’t be afraid of them.

Of course, these people doesn’t know that.

After all, they are fogs in a well.

The Xuan Yuan Saint opened his eyes, their cloudy depths suddenly flashing with an eerie, cold, and ancient resolve.

”Ten thousand years of kneeling,” the Xuan Yuan Saint whispered, his voice dropping into a cryptic, chilling cadence. ”Ten thousand years of watching our ancestors weep in the underworld. But the wheel of fate does not spin in one direction forever. The celestial alignments have shifted, and the slumbering roots beneath the nine abysses have finally awakened.”

A dark, knowing smirk spread across the face of the Nine Lives Demon King. ”The bait has been laid in the southern tombs and the northern wastes. Those arrogant brats from the upper realm believe they are descending to harvest easy fortunes, unaware that the soil they walk upon has already been soaked in the primordial blood of the Ancestral Eclipse.”

The Wind Emperor smiled faintly, raising his wine cup into the air. ”The arrays are in place. When the sky turns crimson and the nine stars align above the shattered seal, the hunter and the prey shall trade places. Let them send their so-called geniuses, let them send the pampered heirs of their greatest clans, and we will show them the might of our land.”

”The price must be paid in full,” the Sword Saint said softly, a terrifying sword intent humming within his throat as he raised his cup to meet the others. ”Not with pleas, and not with endurance. But with the severed heads of their brightest stars. This time, none of those otherworldly devils shall return through that gate alive.”

”For the revenge of the ancients,” the Xuan Yuan Saint toasted in a cryptic murmur.

”For the collapse of the false heaven,” the Nine Lives Demon King echoed with a feral grin.

CLINK.

The four porcelain cups met beneath the falling peach blossom petals, sealing an ancient, bloody conspiracy in the quiet shadows of the mountain peak as the distant sky began to violently tremble.