Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

The rotating holographic projection of Shen Xun’er shimmered with vivid spiritual light, illuminating the vast starlit void around them.

Astraeus stared intently at Shen Xun’er’s floating visage.

He could not deny the objective fact that amongst all the hundreds of cultivators who had crossed the threshold into this secret realm, aside from Shen Haoran himself, this young girl undoubtedly possessed the highest talent and the most malleable physical vessel.

Her foundation was solid and resilient, if she fused with the Formless Void Physique, she would probably be hailed as a genius that can suppress an era.

However...

”Her innate constitution is remarkable,” Astraeus declared, his divine voice echoing with cold, uncompromising finality. ”But her Dao heart is fundamentally fractured and utterly unstable.”

That was her flaw.

Astraeus had long since noticed her since the moment she entered, and he already noticed this flaw, so he never bothered giving her a chance.

”Her mentality is currently teetering on the very verge of breaking into pieces.” He added, his tone solemn, ”She is crippled by a profound, suffocating terror of failure, and her spirit is entirely subordinate to external validation.”

Haoran agreed with that assessment. It seems this God of Space wasn’t so useless after all.

He wondered just how strong is he? A Supreme Emperor? He couldn’t really tell. The guy never gave off an energy for him to measure.

”A bearer of the Formless Void Physique must possess a heaven defying will capable of commanding the boundless emptiness. If I pour the cosmic void into a vessel whose heart is already collapsing, she will not ascend, but rather, she will simply drown in her own neurosis and implode into cosmic dust.”

Astraeus turned his starry gaze away from the floating projection, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

”So, I refuse,” Astraeus stated flatly. ”I would rather let my divine remnant dissolve into the cosmic winds without a successor than bestow my divine legacy upon a fractured, insecure girl who cannot even master her own fear.”

Hearing that, Shen Haoran did not look discouraged in the slightest and just casually let his hand fall to his side, his golden eyes narrowing with a sharp, predatory spark of ambition as he met the gaze of the ancient deity.

”Every raw diamond requires pressure to reveal its brilliance, Astraeus,” Haoran said smoothly, a dark, confident smirk playing upon his lips. ”You claim her heart is too weak, yet you have not seen what happens when a dragon is pushed to the edge of the abyss.”

Astraeus shook his head, ”I have ling longer than your entire bloodline combined. I have seen plenty.”

”Is that so?” Haoran stared straight at his eyes, ”Then, let us make a bet.”

Astraeus paused, his starry pupils locking onto the black-robed mortal before him. ”A bet?”

”Indeed,” Haoran continued, his voice calm, measured, and absolute. ”You believe she is unworthy because her mind is clouded by hesitation. Then do not hand her the inheritance on a silver platter. Put her through your most grueling, unforgiving spatial trial to test her.”

Astraeus raised an eyebrow, ”Oh? She might die.”

Haoran shoom his head, ”She won’t. So don’t worry and push her spirit to their breaking point, strip away her excuses, and see for yourself whether she shatters like glass or burns through the trial to claim her crown.”

Astraeus fell silent for several long, suspended moments, his gaze lingering between Shen Haoran’s unwavering, sovereign expression and the trembling girl displayed in the projection.

”Are you sure about this? Aren’t you worried that she will break?”

Haoran just smirked, ”If she breaks and dies, then your judgment was correct, and you lose nothing. But if she succeeds, you will guide her fusion with the Formless Void Physique and pave the way for her ascension.”

Astraeus remained silent for a few moments, before finally, a deep, resonant rumble vibrated through the cosmos as the God of Space let out a low sigh.

”Very well,” Astraeus agreed, a faint, ancient smile returning to his sculpted features. ”I accept your wager.”

In truth, his divine soul has lingered in this fragmented lower world for far too long, and he had already planned to pass on his position and mantle before his remnant fades entirely into nothingness.

Shen Haoran was actually his top candidate, and if he refused, he can find someone else.

But if this girl can truly conquer the his trials and tribulations, mend her fractured heart with her own hands, and rise above through every difficulty, then he shall bestow upon her the entirety of his celestial authority.

”Then, let us proceed.”

With a grand sweep of his starlight-woven sleeve, Astraeus channeled the boundless spatial laws of the secret realm.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!

At that instant, across the vast, primeval expanse of the Celestial Dragon Vault...

The earth violently trembled.

Mountain ranges vibrated as ancient draconic ley lines roared to life beneath the soil.

Every single cultivator who was still wandering across the diverse biomes of the pocket world, exploring glowing amber canyons, harvesting primordial spirit herbs, or hunting scaled apex beasts, suddenly paused in their tracks.

HUMMMMMMMMM—!

From the very geographic center of the secret realm, a colossal, blinding pillar of incandescent silver and deep-violet celestial light violently erupted straight into the heavens.

The radiant beam pierced through the cloud layers, illuminating the entire realm with a brilliant, star-like luminescence that washed over every forest, river, and plateau for tens of thousands of miles.

A dense, suffocating ancient aura swept across the atmosphere, tugging at the spiritual senses of every living soul in the secret realm.

Without a shred of hesitation, greed, ambition, and burning curiosity ignited within the hearts of the gathered disciples.

”Look at that light!”

”An ancient inheritance has definitely awakened at the center of the realm!”

”Move! We must claim the divine fortune before the other sects arrive!”

Instantly, the cohorts of the ten illustrious sects, along with the scattered independent cultivators, abandoned their minor hunts and immediately ran towards the central epicenter at breakneck speed, using their movement techniques at its fullest potential as they surged across the terrain.

Even the still depressed Shen Xun’er came.

Her steps were heavy, her head slightly downcast, and her hands clenched within her torn crimson sleeves.

The stinging memory of Haoran’s disappointed frown still echoed like a phantom ache in her soul, yet the instinctual, magnetic pull of the celestial light drew her forward through the wilderness, her boots dragging across the stone out of a quiet, desperate need to find a way to redeem herself.

Before long, breaking through the dense forest perimeter and climbing the jagged grey plateau, everyone stood in front of the colossal, ruined divine temple.

The shattered fluted pillars, the cracked star-forged obsidian flagstones, and the ancient statues of forgotten cosmic deities stood bathed in the swirling silver light, waiting in silent judgment as the cultivators of the Ancient Heaven Star gathered before the grand, ruined archway.

Whistling, high-altitude mountain winds whipped across the shattered obsidian flagstones, carrying the dense, scent of ancient spatial arrays and primordial starlight.

High above the broken pediments and fallen fluted pillars, the blinding pillar of incandescent silver and deep-violet celestial light continued to pulse, shooting straight into the firmament and casting long, dancing violet shadows over the assembled cultivators of the Ancient Heaven Star.

Murmurs and urgent whispers broke out almost immediately, rippling through the ranks like an uncontainable brushfire as everyone began to discuss this place.

”Look at the masonry of these pillars... this isn’t an architecture known in our continent at all!” One of the sect elders muttered, his eyes wide as he traced the eroded celestial glyphs carved into the nearest obsidian block.

Another one nodded beside him, ”I have traveled the four seas and the eight wastelands, and there is no architecture similar to this one.”

”Could it be an architecture from a long forgotten era?” a rogue cultivator with a tattered gray beard chimed in, stroking his chin with trembling fingers. ”I have read fragmented scrolls unearthed from the wesy speaking of an era when celestial deities walked the mortal plane, shaping mountain ranges with divine words before ascending beyond the nine heavens! This might not just be a simple secret vault... this could be the ancestral tomb of an authentic ancient god!”

”Nonsense! Are you really a cultivator? In this world, ’gods’ are merely what mortals called us, those who possessed boundless power over them.” scoffed a burly elder.

Another one chuckled, ”Gods he said. Can’t believe a cultivator believe those myths. What’s next, are you going to say that the world is round?”

One elder chimed in before an argument escalates, ”Whatever is inside this temple, the energy radiating from that central pillar carries an ancient power. If anyone of us can secure whatever is releasing this power, then perhaps we can become another White Dragon Sect!”

As the theories grew more extravagant, the ten Spirit Ascension elders from the major sects could no longer contain their burning ambition.

Exchanging wary, competitive glances, the elders stepped forward toward the ruined temple’s towering archway.

The silver and violet light swirled between the broken stone doorposts like an ethereal, liquid veil.

”Step aside, juniors!” One of the elders roared in threat, drawing a radiant silver broadsword. ”Allow us to clear any ancient defensive formations first!”

”Tsk, as if we’d let you!”

”Don’t leave us behind!”

With explosive bursts of Spirit Ascension qi, three of the most impatient elders surged forward simultaneously, their qi flaring like brilliant miniature suns as they thrust their sword and palms straight into the swirling gateway!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZT—BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The instant their attacks crossed the threshold of the archway, the ambient spatial fabric violently twisted!

A deafening, bell-like metallic chime reverberated across the plateau, and the swirling silver veil detonated with a colossal shockwave.

The laws of the temple did not even attempt to engage their martial arts; instead, a localized gravitational rebound slammed into the three elders with the force of an exploding mountain range.

”GAAAH!”

”PFFFT—!”

All three Spirit Ascension elders were violently repelled, hurled backward through the air for hundreds of paces before crashing hard against the obsidian flagstones.

Their boots carved deep, smoking trenches into the stone, their protective qi barriers shattered into twinkling dust, and their faces flushed a violent, sickly crimson from the sudden internal backlash.

The entire plaza fell dead silent.

The disciples gasped in terror, stepping back as they watched their supposedly invincible sect pillars struggle to push themselves up from the dirt.

Other elders sneered.

Serves them right. You think such an inheritance can be easily pry open with force?

”An age restriction array...” one of the repelled elders rasped through gritted teeth, clutching his violently trembling chest. ”This temple definitely have a defensive array that actively identifies the spiritual age of the soul! Anyone who has cultivated for more than a single century is treated as a foreign invader and forcibly repelled by the this defensive array!”

The older experts frowned in deep, bitter frustration.

To stand right at the doorstep of a primordial inheritance capable of shaking the entire realm, only to be barred entry by the unstoppable passage of time, was the ultimate torment.

While the elders were nursing their pride, a young, ambitious sword cultivator from one of the ten sects stepped forward from the front ranks.

”If the elders cannot enter, then the fortune belongs to our generation!” the youth shouted, his eyes blazing with desperate hunger for power.

Gritting his teeth, the brave disciple summoned all his courage, channeled his 3rd-stage Nascent Soul qi into his legs, and leaped directly toward the swirling light.

WHOOOOOOSH—

The expected violent explosion did not occur.

The moment his youthful body touched the silver veil, the light rippled gently like calm water.

A soft spatial current wrapped around his frame, and without the slightest resistance, he was instantly sucked in, his silhouette vanishing into the temple’s depths like a pebble dropped into an endless well.

”He made it through!”

”The restriction didn’t harm him!”

Seeing this, several more disciples from the the ten sects hurriedly tried to enter, rushing the archway in rapid succession.

One by one, every disciple under the age of a hundred was effortlessly enveloped by the soft silver mist and cleanly sucked across the planar threshold, while another older wandering rogue who attempted to sneak through was violently blasted fifty feet away, coughing blood.

And right now, standing on the outskirts of the plaza, the ten Spirit Ascension elders gathered their remaining disciples, their expressions grave and full of heavy solemnity.

They quickly gave their juniors strict warnings and deep caution regarding the unknown dangers lurking beyond the veil:

”Listen well, disciples!” An elder commander, her voice sharp and clear. ”This spatial realm predates our historical records. The trials within will not conform to standard sect examinations. Do not let greed blind your judgment, watch your companions’ backs, and if you encounter an inheritance beyond your capacity, retreat immediately! These ancient experts do not offer mercy to the weak!”

”Kill anyone from the opposing sects who tries to hoard the primary spatial cores,” one of the elders whispered ruthlessly to his armored disciples. ”Enter, claim the glory, and bring our lineage to the apex!”

The young cultivators nodded with grim, resolute determination, their hands tightening around their weapons as they began marching through the archway in organized cohorts.

All the while, standing alone at the very back of the gathered independent cultivators, Shen Xun’er stood with her head slightly lowered, her hair rustling in the cold mountain draft.

Her fingers clutched the frayed hem of her robed, her purple eyes staring at the swirling violet light with a fragile, aching intensity.

The icy, venomous memory of Shen Haoran’s disappointed frown remained carved into her mind like a brand of shame.

Her heart still throbbed with the suffocating terror of his parting words in the lower hold of the profound ark.

The thought of being left behind, of watching his silhouette walk into the higher heavens while she remained a useless, forgotten failure in the dirt, tore at her soul with relentless agony.

’An inheritance...’ she thought, her breath trembling in her chest as she watched the swirling spatial vortex swallow the passing disciples. ’A place that even Spirit Ascension elders cannot enter...’

A sudden, desperate spark ignited within her fractured, insecure heart.

’If I go in there... if I overcome whatever monstrous trials are waiting inside and obtain the ultimate spatial inheritance...

Maybe... maybe then, my young master would finally look at me again.’

’Maybe he would smile. Maybe he would see that I’m not a coward, that I’m not dragging the Ten Crowns down, that I’m worthy of walking in his shadow.’

’I have to get it. I have to prove to him that I am still a dragon.’

Clenching her trembling fists until her fingernails drew fresh beads of blood against her palms, Shen Xun’er pushed aside her lingering terror.

Without looking back, she took a deep, shuddering breath, stepped past the remnants of the watching elders, and threw herself directly into the swirling silver and violet light of the ruined temple.