Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Departure

The next day.

The morning light of the Lamia Kingdom was unlike the harsh, oppressive glare of the high noon sun, instead it was a soft, filtered amber that bled through the silk curtains of the guest chambers, casting long, lazy shadows across the opulent rugs and the tangled sheets of the massive bed.

Haoran woke up feeling incredibly refreshed, a rare sensation for someone whose mind was usually a churning vortex of calculations and strategic contingencies.

For the first time in years, the ”Young Master” of the Shen Clan felt a profound sense of stillness, something he haven’t felt even with other girls he has been with.

He looked down at his chest, where Huo Yue was fast asleep, her breathing was rhythmic and deep, her head nestled against his pectoral muscle as if it were the safest harbor in the world.

Her skin, usually bright and energetic, seemed to glow with a new, iridescent sheen in the morning light, and her features, once those of a fiery, stubborn young girl, now seemed to possess a hint of mature charm that hadn’t been there the day before.

Truly, she had climbed the stairs of adulthood.

Just then, as if sensing his gaze, Huo Yue’s eyelashes fluttered.

She woke up slowly, her eyes blinking away the remnants of sleep before they focused on his face and a soft, radiant smile spread across her lips.

”Good morning...” she whispered, her voice husky and warm.

”Hmm.” Haoran nodded, his hand moving to gently caress her hair, smoothing out the tangled red strands.

This moment was perfect, and he hoped that this never ends, but the reality of his station was like a shadow that never truly vanished. ”Sorry, I don’t want to say this to you now, but I will be leaving soon. I still have many things left to take care of.”

Huo Yue’s smile froze for a fraction of a second, a flicker of instinctive loneliness crossing her eyes, but she quickly recovered.

She was a cultivator who had survived the loss of her talent and the betrayal of her peers, and she knew that strength required sacrifice.

And someone coming from a big clan in the Imperial Capital, he would surely be under in a lot more pressure.

She shook her head, dismissing his apology. ”No need to apologize, Haoran. I understand. You have your path, and I have mine. For now, they diverge, but only so they can meet at a higher peak.”

She sat up with a fluid, confident motion, fully revealing the body that he had enjoyed last night.

There was no longer any bashfulness or hesitation in her movements; she sat on his waist, her hands resting on his shoulders as she looked down at him with an intensity that rivaled the desert sun.

”I’ll go through with my new plans. Just like what I have said last night, this my oath to you. I will show you pictures and videos of my travels, documenting all the beautiful places I’ve seen through the artifacts. I’ll be your eyes in the wilderness while your whole body is in the Capital. So when we have time... let’s see them together, in person.”

Haoran sat up, his hands finding their place on her hips as he looked at her—not as a resource to be managed, but as a partner.

He smiled, a expression of genuine promise. ”Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you at the gates of the Imperial Academy. Don’t make me wait too long, or I might have to come back and drag you there myself.”

The two stared into each other’s eyes, the air between them thick with a silent vow that needed no further words.

They leaned in, sharing a final, lingering kiss that tasted of embers and promise.

*

*

*

Later that morning, the atmosphere in the wide field surrounding the Lamia palace was chaotic and emotionally charged.

Haoran, now fully clothed in his pristine, silver-trimmed robes, stood at the center of the plaza.

His expression had returned to its usual mask of detached elegance, but his eyes remained on Huo Yue.

Around them, the scene was somewhat surreal. Hundreds of Lamias—the serpentine beauties of the desert—were gathered in mass.

Many were wearing scantily clad ceremonial silks that shimmered against their scales, and nearly all of them were bidding him farewell with genuine tears streaming down their faces.

For these Lamia Race, Haoran was a figure of awe—having awakened his Infinity Dragon Divine Physique, his aura alone can scare beast and subdue those with dragon bloods, like the Lamia!

This is honestly troublesome, Haoran thought, watching a group of younger Lamias sob into their veils. But what can be done? These type and those with beast-type martial souls are the same in their emotional volatility.

In front of him, the three women who had defined his stay stood in a line: Huo Yue, Zhu Ziyan, and Queen Medusa.

Zhu Ziyan looked much more stable than she had yesterday ago, her cat ears no longer flattened in fear but twitching with a newfound alertness.

Queen Medusa stood with her arms crossed, her golden eyes unreadable, though there was a slight tension in her tail that betrayed her feelings about his departure.

Haoran nodded at them, a final acknowledgement of their shared time, after all he didn’t believe in long, drawn-out goodbyes.

With a flick of his wrist, he summoned his personal sword, a blade of exquisite craftsmanship that hummed with a cold, celestial Qi.

He threw it into the sky, where it began to glow with a brilliant azure light, expanding until it was broad enough to serve as a platform.

He jumped, his robes snapping in the wind as he landed perfectly on the blade’s surface.

”Let us meet again if fate wills it!” Haoran declared, his voice carrying across the desert floor with the authority of a sovereign.

With a low hum of power, the sword accelerated, slicing through the air and vanishing into the clouds so quietly and quickly that it seemed as though he had simply been erased from the sky.

Huo Yue watched the empty space where he had been for a long time before she let out a long, heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping just a fraction before she squared them again.

”Oh well. He’s gone. Now that the big boss has left the building, shall we continue our journey as well? We have an empire to see and take one of the ten slots at the Imperial Academy to claim.”

”What for? The desert is peaceful. Just lie down and cultivate,” Medusa said, her tone lazy but her eyes sharp. ”Why wander through the dirt when you have a palace?”

”No way! I’m leaving!” Huo Yue shook her head, her eyes flashing with a spark of wanderlust. ”I promised Haoran that I would show him the world, and that’s precisely what I plan to do! Besides, I can’t reach the Nascent Soul stage by sitting on a silk cushion. I need the tempering of the road.”

Zhu Ziyan nodded quickly beside her. After all, after the events in the throne room, she was pretty much Huo Yue’s follower and servant, bound by both gratitude and the need for a new purpose.

If Huo Yue walked into a volcano, Ziyan would likely be two steps behind her with a fan.

”Alright, as the big sister of this group! I have the final say!” Huo Yue announced, placing her hands on her hips and puffing out her chest.

Medusa let out a sharp, mocking hiss of laughter. ”Big sister? Since when did a little brat who probably hasn’t even grown a hair down there determine who is the queen and who are the servants? I have lived for centuries, little flame.”

”Because I have a bigger ’virtue’!” Huo Yue countered, almost pushing her large breasts forward as if they were a physical manifestation of her authority.

In the world of cultivators, where the physical body was tempered by Qi, her development was indeed impressive—vibrant, full of life, and undeniably ”virtuous” in the parlance of certain circles.

Medusa felt her cheek twitch as she e looked down at her own lithe, serpent-like elegance and then back at Huo Yue.

Out of the three of them, the Queen of the Lamias actually had the smallest ”virtue” in that particular department, her beauty being more focused on her lethal, slender grace.

It was a petty observation, but in the absence of Haoran’s stabilizing presence, the competitive nature of women, especially powerful ones, began to flare.

”Size is not a substitute for sovereignty,” Medusa remarked coldly, though her tail lashed back and forth with irritation.

”Maybe not,” Huo Yue grinned, sensing she had won this round of banter. ”But it’s a start! Now, pack your things, ’Little Sister’ Medusa. We have a world to document, and I’m not leaving until I’ve found a river that reflects the stars!”

As the sun climbed higher over the Lamia Kingdom, the trio began to prepare for a trek that would take them across the breadth of the Eastern Region.

They were a strange company, a fallen genius, a haunted cat-girl, and a desert queen, but as they looked toward the horizon, they saw the shadow of the man who had brought them together remained a guiding star.