Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: The Tournament

”Now,” Haoran said, his voice carrying clearly even without the artifact. ”We can finally talk.”

”You!” Shen Fei hissed, his voice trembling with a cocktail of rage and disbelief.

He slowly pushed himself up from the debris, his robes—once pristine and symbolic of his status—now tattered and covered in the chalky white dust of the pulverized pillars.

Every joint in his body ached from the weight of that diamond palm, a strike that had felt less like a martial technique and more like the sky itself collapsing to punish his insolence.

”Bastard! I’ll kill you! I’ll tear you apart!” Shen Jian roared, his self-control snapping completely.

His aura, a turbulent storm of wind and fire characteristic of the first stage of the Nascent Soul realm, erupted from his body with such violence that the sand beneath his feet turned to glass.

He lunged toward Haoran, his fingers curved like claws, ready to rend flesh and bone.

But he never reached his target.

In a blur of movement that defied the eyes of almost everyone in the stands, the Third Crown, Shen Tao, moved.

He didn’t use a flashy technique or a burst of elemental Qi. He simply stepped into Shen Jian’s path, grabbed the back of his neck with a grip like an iron vice, and slammed him face-first into the floor.

The impact echoed through the silent arena.

Before Shen Jian could recover, Shen Tao’s knee was buried in his back, pinning the Second Crown to the ground like a pinned insect.

”You! Shen Tao!” Shen Jian shrieked, his voice muffled by the sand. ”You piece of trash who couldn’t even cultivate! You branch-family dog! How dare you dirty me with your hands!? Let go! I’ll have your entire lineage executed for this!”

Shen Tao’s expression remained as calm as a graveyard. He didn’t even look at the man he had just neutralized, but instead, he turned his gaze toward Shen Haoran, who stood ten paces away, watching the spectacle with an unreadable expression.

”Apologies, young master, for the interruption,” Shen Tao said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. ”Truthfully, I have no interest in the position of the heir nor for this tournament. But I have a long-standing personal feud with this loud-mouthed fool. So, I ask that you give me permission to end him myself before the real fight begins. It wouldn’t do to have your hands stained by such mediocre blood.”

Shen Haoran remained silent.

He didn’t nod, he didn’t even shake his head. He simply stared at the two of them, his golden eyes reflecting the harsh light of the arena, looking like a judge observing a minor squabble between ants.

Just then, a frantic voice cut through the tension.

”Wait! Wait! Wait! Hold your horses!” Xiao Nanan called out, her crystalline sword wobbling in the air as she rushed toward the center. ”The tournament hasn’t officially started yet! The protocols haven’t been met! The Matriarch and her sisters, along with the Enshrined Elders, have yet to officially take their seats! No blood can be spilled until the heavens have been properly greeted!”

At those words, Shen Tao’s eyes flickered.

He looked at the high, empty thrones above, then back at the struggling Shen Jian.

After a moment of hesitation, he loosened his grip, stood up, and walked back to his designated corner without a second glance.

Shen Jian scrambled to his feet, his face a terrifying shade of crimson as humiliation burned in his chest like hot acid.

The entire Central Region, the Immortal Sects, the Immortal Clans, the Royal Families, the Imperial Family—everyone had just watched him get flattened by Haoran and then pinned like a dog by Shen Tao.

If he didn’t wash this shame away in blood during the tournament, he would have no face left to show the world.

He would be the laughingstock of the epoch.

”Ahem! Ahem!” Xiao Nanan cleared her throat, trying to regain control of the narrative. ”Now that the... little commotion is over! Everyone, please return to your starting positions! The true ceremony is about to commence!”

She turned and pointed toward the massive VIP stands, specifically toward the seven magnificent obsidian thrones placed just below the grand, central throne of the Empress.

”Ladies and gentlemen! Sovereigns and scholars! Let us welcome the seven pillars of our heritage! The keepers of our laws and the executors of our will! The seven strongest and most prestigious elders of the clan! The Enshrined Elders!”

At that moment, the very fabric of time and space seemed to buckle.

There was no sound of footsteps, no shimmering of light.

One moment the thrones were empty; the next, seven elderly figures sat upon them.

They looked like statues carved from the foundations of the world—calm, regal, and radiating a noble aura so dense it felt as though the gravity in the arena had doubled.

Xu Xiaojun, sitting in the Tian Yuan Empire’s booth, felt his throat go dry as his face looked grim, his hands clutching the railing of his balcony.

The elder behind him leaned in, his voice a frantic whisper. ”Your Highness... look closely. Those elders... every single one of them is at the peak of the Heavenly Saint Realm. They have probably already touched the threshold of the Supreme.”

Xu Xiaojun nodded slowly, his heart hammering against his ribs. ”Truly worthy of the Shen name. Even the Imperial Family, with all our history, only has three peak Heavenly Saint Realm guardians to protect the lineage. But here... they have seven. Ten, if you count Chu Xueyu and her sisters. Honestly, are rumors really reliable that they are in decline?”

In fact, it would be far more reliable to believe that the Imperial Family was the one who is in decline.

On the opposite side, Bai Wenxin’s violet hair swayed as she stood up, her eyes narrowing until they were mere slits of red. ”Ten peak Heavenly Saints... so this is the foundation they’ve hidden from the world. How can we even compete?”

She knew better than anyone the terrifying power and deterring force of a peak Heavenly Saint Realm expert.

Her own Purple Sky Immortal Sect, a force that dominated several provinces, only had two peak Heavenly Saint Realm experts—her teacher, the Sect Master, and the reclusive Grand Elder.

They had several 8th Stage Saints, yes, but the gap between the 8th and 9th stage was a chasm that few could ever leap.

It was the difference between a pond and an ocean; they existed in entirely different dimensions of power.

In fact, a Qi Gathering Realm expert has a higher chance of beating a Profound Saint than for an 8th Stage Heavenly Saint to beat a 9th Stage Heavenly Saint.

That is a gap that couldn’t be bridge by talent or combat power alone!

”And now!” Xiao Nanan’s voice rose to a scream of pure, ecstatic devotion. ”The moment the stars have been waiting for! Let us welcome the three sisters who once suppressed an entire era under their heels! The three most dazzling existences to appear since the dawn of creation! Beauty that shatters the moon! Grace that defines the wind! Power that commands the void! They stand at the absolute pinnacle! Is there anyone in the Nine Heavens who dares to disagree?! They embody the ultimate goal of all who walk the path! The figures that every woman should strive to be! Ladies and gentlemen! The Conferred Tyrant, Leng Shuang! The Empress of Forbidden Creation, Feng Yuyan! And the Ruthless Empress... Chu Xueyu!”

As those words dropped, the sky above the arena didn’t just change; it disintegrated.

The clouds swirled into a violent, multi-colored vortex of silver, emerald, and abyssal black.

Suddenly, a bridge of pure starlight manifested from the highest point of the sky, descending toward the grand throne.

Leng Shuang appeared first, descending with a step that froze the air in her wake.

With every stride, silver lotuses bloomed in the air beneath her feet, and a silence so profound fell over the arena that the beating of a hundred million hearts sounded like a drum, as if she was the winter that never ended.

Then came Feng Yuyan, and she descended in a whirlwind of green light and chaotic runes.

Thousands of illusory spirit-beasts—dragons, phoenixes, and qilin—manifested around her, bowing their heads as she passed.

The very air seemed to rewrite itself in her presence, blooming with flowers that had been extinct for ten thousand years, as if she was the spark of life and the madness of creation.

Finally, the world went dark, and a terrifying, oppressive crimson light bled from the center of the vortex.

Chu Xueyu descended.

She didn’t use a bridge of light, she simply walked on the air as if it were solid ground, her long black robes flowing behind her like a river of blood.

With every step, a shockwave of slaughter-intent rippled outward, causing the hundreds of millions of spectators to instinctively lower their heads.

It was the aura of a woman who had waded through oceans of corpses to reach her throne, as if she was the end of all things, the final destination; death.

As the three sisters took their places—Leng Shuang and Feng Yuyan on their respective seats and Chu Xueyu upon the central, highest throne—the entire Divine Arena fell into a state of worshipful silence.

Xiao Nanan, her face pale from the pressure they emitted, and her hands shaking, still looked up toward the Empresses with awe. ”Does... does Her Majesty, the Ruthless Empress, have words to bestow upon the opening of this tournament?”

Chu Xueyu did not look at the crowd, she did not look at the elders or the foreign princes, her eyes, cold and filled with an ancient, terrifying pride, fixed solely on the figure of Shen Haoran standing in the center of the sand.

She slowly stood up from her throne, her presence magnifying until it seemed to fill the entire star system.

”Haoran,” she called out, her voice not loud, yet it resonated in the soul of every living being present. ”Look around you. Look at the ’geniuses’ who dare to stand in your path. Look at the world that watches you with bated breath.”

She paused, a small, cold smile touching her lips.

”You are my pride. You are the culmination of my blood and my will. You are the very reason for my arrogance, the reason I look down upon the heavens themselves. Today, I do not ask you to compete, nor do I ask you to be fair.”

She raised her hand, pointing toward the Ten Crowns.

”I command you to dominate. I command you to crush their spirits, to break their pride, and to show this world that there is only one true sun in the sky. Do not leave a single stone standing, and let the name ’Shen Haoran’ become the nightmare that keeps the other clans awake at night. Never worry about the consequences, even if the sky falls, I will shoulder it for you. Now go. Show them why you are my son!”

The roar that followed was not from the crowd, but from the very foundations of the arena itself, as the tournament officially began with a declaration of war.