Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

The physical reality of the Imperial Academy was something that completely, utterly defied the standard geographical logic of the lower mortal realms.

It was an institution of an impossibly vast, near-limitless scale, entirely situated within a completely separate, independent pocket dimension that had been painstakingly carved out of the cosmic void by the foundational ancestors of the empire tens of thousands of years ago.

The grand massive gate that the youths had frantically fighting to breach outside the capital walls was not actually a structural entrance to a collection of campus buildings at all.

It was merely a highly sophisticated, spatial transit gateway leading straight through the dimensional rifts and into this entirely separate realm of existence.

At this exact, breathtaking moment, all thirty-six of the surviving elite students stood closely together upon the surface of a semi-solid, highly dense white cloud.

The cloud drifted lazily through the azure sky of the dimension, acting as a massive floating platform that allowed them to clearly observe the sprawling, jaw-dropping layout of the massive academy city situated directly down below their boots.

It was an absolutely monumental, staggering place to behold.

The sheer, uncoiling radius of the stone walls, the towering heights of the jade pagodas, and the vast networks of floating terraces stretched so incredibly far toward the misty horizons that the city was easily, probably vast enough to be considered its own independent, fully functional country.

The ambient spiritual energy rising from the streets below was so densely concentrated that it actively condensed into a thin, shimmering rain of liquid qi that constantly nourished the architecture.

Venerable Sky Cloud, his long white hair and beard fluttering majestically within the high-altitude winds as he stood at the absolute front of the floating cloud platform, slowly turned his blue eyes to look over his new vanguard.

When he spoke, his deep, raspy voice carried an effortless, carrying resonance that perfectly cut through the roaring wind.

”Look upon the stones below, juniors. This central territory is known across the realm as the Academy City, the primary sanctuary where all accepted students of our institution will officially reside, train, and learn how the path of going against the heaven.”

”It houses absolutely everything you could possibly need to refine your baseline foundations, immense gravity training fields, sprawling academy buildings, state-of-the-art lecturing classrooms, infinite libraries containing billions of unrolled manuals, and hidden breakthrough chambers lined with ancestral arrays.”

”Aside from this central hub, there are also hundreds of other independent, fully populated cities scattered across the vast geography of this pocket dimension, built entirely to facilitate various other miscellaneous stuff required by growing practitioners.”

”There are dedicated auction cities where cosmic treasures are traded nightly, gambling cities where entire clan fortunes are won or lost on a roll of spiritual dice, and blood-soaked fighting cities where students can openly settle their mortal feuds without administrative interference.”

”Anything you can possibly think of or desire across your journey, this realm already houses it within its borders. For now, all of you may take this time to rest your minds and heal your physical vessels. The official instructional classes will formally begin a week from now. Farewell.”

With that, Venerable Sky Cloud turned around and prepared to leave.

However, just as Venerable Sky Cloud’s white robes began to shimmer with a faint, spatial light, signaling that he was about to instantly leave the cloud and return to his high sanctum, one particular student from a minor central military family suddenly, nervously raised his right hand into the air, his voice cracking slightly as he asked a highly practical question.

”Um... honored Teacher, if I may be so bold as to ask... where exactly do we go to find our assigned student dormitories?”

Venerable Sky Cloud paused his spatial activation, his majestic white head slowly turning back around toward the youth.

A faint, cold, and thoroughly dangerous smirk played briefly across his ancient lips as his blue eyes scanned the anxious faces of the crowd.

”Dormitories?” the old sage muttered, letting out a low, dry chuckle that carried a trace of absolute, historical amusement. ”Juniors, every single square inch of usable piece of land inside the boundaries of this pocket dimension is already thoroughly and permanently owned by the senior students, elite faculty teachers, and ancient elders of the institution.”

The young man blinked, completely confused. ”Then...then where are we supposed to stay?”

Venerable Sky Cloud looked at him as if he was an idiot, and continued. ”If you want a safe, private place to live and rest your heads during your tenure here, you actually have only two choices available: you either have to violently and physically fight a senior student for a piece of their territory to make your own shelter, or you must choose to humble your pride and join one of the established student factions ruling the lower streets.”

”What!?”

A collective, horrified gasp violently rippled through the ranks of the thirty-six geniuses.

Several young masters from wealthy regional lineages instantly turned pale, their eyes widening in absolute, unadulterated shock as they realized the sheer, lawless nature of the school’s internal layout.

Venerable Sky Cloud stared coldly at the students’ thoroughly shocked expressions, slowly shaking his white head from side to side with a look of stern, unyielding discipline.

”Do not be so pathetic as to show shock before the basic realities of the world, juniors. The Imperial Academy is designed from the ground up to be a perfect, brutal miniature cultivation world.”

Chu Yan stared at Venerable Sky Cloud, before turning towards Qian Yunxi.

He remembered this fact perfectly clear in the novels.

”Here, within these dimensional walls, we explicitly want to simulate the absolute, savage law of the jungle as much as humanly possible. If a cultivator cannot even defend the physical ground beneath their boots from their peers, they have absolutely no business trying to conquer the heavens.”

Xu Xiansu clenched her fist. This is the first time she had heard of this...well, it’s understandable since she didn’t join the academy in her previous life.

Still, she is only at the first stage of Golden Core realm, how is she supposed to fight against those established powers?

Should she just join them?

Or...

She turned towards Haoran.

Well, if she had to joing some powers, then she’d rather stick to this man. But would he let her be with him?

”Of course... if you truly do not possess an ounce of confidence in your own direct combat capabilities to seize a piece of land, there are some enterprising senior student factions who have opened up private, array-fortified dormitories within their districts. You can always choose to pay them a standard fee to temporarily live under their protection.”

Hearing that final, structural loophole, some of the less physically aggressive students and those lacking monstrous bloodlines finally began to let out a long, breathless sigh of deep relief, their shoulders dropping as they realized they wouldn’t be forced to sleep in the open dirt on their very first night.

Even Xu Xiansu breathe a sigh of relief.

However, before the relief could even fully settle within their chests, Venerable Sky Cloud continued speaking, his tone dropping into a drippingly condescending amusement that instantly froze the blood in their veins.

”Do not celebrate so early, fools. Let it be known right now that common Spirit Stones, imperial gold coins, or any other form of outside currencies originating from the secular empires are absolutely, under no circumstances, accepted or recognized as valid tenders here inside this dimension.”

”What!?”

The crowd erupted into a fresh wave of panic, a young master from a wealthy clan nearly choking on his own breath. ”Then... then honored teacher, if our family vaults are entirely useless inside these walls, then how are we supposed to pay for our basic food and shelter?!”

Venerable Sky Cloud turned towards him.

”This supreme academy exclusively utilizes a singular currency known as the ’Dao Points’,” he explained, his long fingers gesturing toward the grand spires of the central city below. ”It is a virtual currency that represents a cultivator’s contribution to the natural laws of the institution. These points can be fluidly used to purchase absolutely anything you can think of within this academy, from high-tier Saint-grade pills to ancient weapons, provided you can afford the right price.”

Several students looked at each other in absolute, panicked confusion, their aristocratic backgrounds completely failing to give them an advantage in this new economic system.

Finally, another student, his eyes narrowing as he calculated the parameters, stepped forward and asked.

”Then, honored teacher... what is the official baseline method for a newly arrived junior to successfully get their hands on these Dao Points?”

”The grand Academy City houses a central imperial bank where you can manually exchange rare material items, spiritual herbs, or monster cores for points,” Venerable Sky Cloud replied smoothly, his blue eyes gleaming with a sharp, predatory light. ”The official exchange rate set by the elders is Ten Thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones is exactly equal to 1 single Dao Point. And if you truly desire to pay a student faction for a temporary bed inside their dormitories, the market rate usually costs anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 Dao Points for a single, solitary night.”

The moment those mathematical figures fully crystallized within the minds of the thirty-six geniuses, the entire floating platform went completely, deathly silent.

Not to mention those poor, friendless rogue cultivators who didn’t possess a single strong background to back their paths, even the high-born scions and young masters originating from the core Immortal Lineages couldn’t help but stare blankly at the old sage in absolute, reality-shattering shock.

One thousand Dao Points for a single night!?

According to the bank’s exchange rate, that meant a student was required to spend an absolute minimum of ten million high-grade Spirit Stones just to secure a basic bed for a single night!

That astronomical sum of wealth was more than enough to completely purchase an entire mountain, build a fully functional minor sect, or finance an entire provincial army for a year in the cardinal regions!

To demand that level of wealth just for a few hours of sleep inside a faction house was an absolute, daylight robbery designed to strip them of their ancestral riches.

Venerable Sky Cloud stared calmly at their trembling, horrified expressions, his gaze slowly, deliberately trailing across the crowd until it finally landed directly upon the golden-haired figure of Shen Haoran.

To the old sage’s immense satisfaction and deep appreciation, the youth stood perfectly still, his strong arm still casually wrapped around Huo Yue’s waist, his gold-tinted eyes looking completely, utterly as calm as a pool of still water, as if the concept of ten million stones was nothing more than a speck of dust to his house.

Then, the ancient Master Teacher slowly turned his body around, the silver spatial light completely enveloping his silhouette. ”If that is all, then the initiation is concluded for the morning. Farewell, juniors. Let us see how many of you are still breathing after a week.”

With that final, chilling declaration, the Venerable Sky Cloud instantly, completely disappeared from the cloud platform, his Saint aura vanishing into the upper stratosphere.

*HUMMM.*

The moment his presence departed, the massive white cloud carrying the thirty-six students began its rapid, automated descent, smoothly sailing down through the mist before gently landing squarely in the center of a colossal, white-stone square located inside the absolute heart of the Academy City.

The concrete path of their new lives had officially reached their boots, and the law of the jungle was already waiting for them in the shadows of the streets.