Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

”Die!”

Tai Yuhao roared, the raw, unadulterated fury in his chest completely burning away whatever remaining fragments of logic he had left.

The blood-red spiritual energy swirling around his physical vessel surged to a violent, chaotic peak, cracking the ancient cobblestones of the plaza with every heavy step.

Like a maddened beast unleashed from a cage, he lunged himself forward across the short distance, targeting his open, claw-like palms directly toward Haoran’s throat, his face hideously contorted with a manic desire to tear the young master limb from limb.

But at that exact second, before Tai Yuhao could even cover half the distance, Zhu Ziyan broke free from Haoran’s relaxed, possessive grasp.

Then, her beautiful purple eyes suddenly glowed with a terrifying, absolute golden light as she activated her Tyrannical Tiger Subduing Eyes.

Instantly, the ambient temperature of the grand plaza plummeted as the surrounding atmospheric space seemed to violently distort and warp.

Then, a massive, monolithic Hell Flame Demon Tiger, a beast with sleek black fur, prominent golden stripes, and volatile, deep purple flames flickering and dancing wildly across its muscular body suddenly materialized out of a gaping spatial rift.

It threw its massive head back and let out a reality-shattering roar that shook the glass windows of the surrounding commercial streets.

”Kill him,” Ziyan ordered ruthlessly, her voice completely cold, icy, and devoid of a single shred of human emotion, speaking as if her designated target wasn’t her former childhood fiance at all, but rather just a stray dog blocking her path.

The Hell Flame Demon Tiger obeyed its master instantly.

It bared its razor-sharp fangs, leaped forward with terrifying agility, and swiped its massive, burning claws directly toward the charging Tai Yuhao, tearing through the air with a high-pitched, whistling screech.

*Clang!*

A sharp, metallic explosion echoed as Tai Yuhao instinctively raised his reinforced forearms, barely managing to block the crushing momentum of the apex predator’s sudden attack.

He was forced backward by several meters, his boots carving deep, jagged grooves into the hard stone plaza.

He looked up, his bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at the cat-eared girl with an expression of pure, betrayed disbelief.

”You absolute, ungrateful bitch!” Tai Yuhao roared, his voice cracking with hysteria. ”You actually... you actually wanted to fucking kill me!? For the sake of this golden-haired bastard!?”

Ziyan remained completely silent, her beautiful face as still and unmoving as pristine marble.

She didn’t feel the slightest need to explain her actions to someone she couldn’t care less about.

However, she was actually surprised to see this man still standing.

’Hell Flame Demon Tiger,’ she thought calmly, her hand resting gracefully on her hip. ’Although I am currently only at the 7th Stage of the Golden Core Realm, that summoned beast is a genuine Rank 5 Spirit Beast, fully equivalent to a seasoned Nascent Soul Realm expert, yet he’s still able to stand.’

Demonic Beasts were far stronger than humans at the same level due to their superior bloodline, physical strength, and the like.

And most of the time, Spirit Beasts are stronger than Demonic Beasts.

What is a Spirit Beast? Well, they are demonic beast that were tamed by Beast Tamers.

And the reason why they are stronger is because their trainers would feed them various high grade resources from birth.

Of course, this is only the case for average beasts.

”Bitch! How dare you try to murder your own rightful fiance!?” Tai Yuhao roared, his ego completely shattered as he spat a glob of blood onto the floor. ”Do you truly think you are the only genius in this academy who possesses a high-grade Spirit Beast!? Come out and crush them! Golden Earth Dragon!”

At that precise moment, he took out a scroll from his storage ring and threw it into the air.

It then glowed and released something, sending it to the ground.

It was a serpentine dragon covered from head to toe in thick, heavily reinforced golden scales, boasting powerful, leathery wings connected directly to its muscular arms.

The beast was massive, its heavy claws slamming into the cobblestones with enough force to trigger a minor localized earthquake.

The creature’s suffocating, primordial dragon aura was no less powerful or terrifying than the volatile purple flames radiating from Ziyan’s Hell Flame Demon Tiger!

It was another genuine Rank 5 monster.

The scroll then shrank and flew back to Tai Yuhao’s hands as he caught it.

He then grinned viciously, a manic, triumphant laugh escaping his lips as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Although his fractured soul couldn’t fully muster or control the true, devastating cultivation strength of this stolen physical body, thankfully, the original owner of this vessel, the young master Yun Chi, had been a highly trained, prodigal beast tamer.

The spiritual contract binding this golden dragon to himself was already fully active and absolute.

It was this beast that he had uses to bluff his way out from being discovered as a fake.

”Kill them both! Tear them into bloody pieces!” Tai Yuhao ordered frantically, pointing his bleeding finger directly toward Haoran and Ziyan.

In his twisted mind, he was already vividly imagining the delicious, gruesome scenario of how his majestic golden dragon would cleanly rip apart Ziyan’s tiger, crush her arrogant lover’s bones, and force her to crawl back to his feet in tears of despair.

However, contrary to all of his grand, delusional expectations, the Golden Earth Dragon didn’t move a single inch forward.

Instead, the moment its massive, slit-like draconian eyes locked onto the two people in front of it, the creature’s entire body violently stiffened.

It then let out a low, pathetic whine, its massive wings folding tightly against its flanks as it simply lowered its massive head all the way to the stone floor, trembling uncontrollably as if it had just stared directly into the eyes of its creator.

It didn’t dare to move a single millimeter.

”Hm? What the hell are you doing!?” Tai Yuhao blinked in complete, utterly paralyzed confusion, his jaw dropping open. ”I gave you an order, you useless lizard! Attack them—”

He didn’t get to finish his frantic words.

Seizing the absolute, glaring opening in his defense, Ziyan’s Hell Flame Demon Tiger lunged forward once again with blinding speed.

It slashed its sharp, burning purple claw directly across his exposed torso, the impact sending his physical body flying backward through the air like a broken ragdoll.

*Boom!*

Tai Yuhao crashed violently into the brick facade of a nearby cafe building, the structural wall shattering into a cloud of dust and debris upon impact.

He coughed up a thick mouthful of crimson blood, his expensive silk noble robes torn completely to shreds, revealing his pale chest bleeding profusely from three deep, burning, and agonizing claw scratches.

Ziyan calmly walked over and gently patted her tiger’s massive head.

The terrifying Rank 5 beast instantly purred like a harmless household cat, lowering its massive body to let her rest her hand comfortably against its fur.

However, despite her victory, she stared at the shivering golden dragon in profound, unreadable confusion.

’What on earth is going on?’ she thought, her brows furrowing. ’Why did a prideful dragon completely disobey its own master’s own command?’

At that moment, Shen Haoran let out a low, deeply amused chuckle as he casually walked past Ziyan and her tiger, his hands clasped loosely behind his back as he stepped directly toward the massive, trembling Golden Earth Dragon.

He extended his right hand, completely ignoring the creature’s row of razor-sharp teeth, and gently caressed its golden snout with a calm, comforting motion.

”Lower yourself even further, little lizard,” Haoran commanded softly, his voice carrying an ethereal, echoing weight that resonated directly within the creature’s genetic memory. ”You are currently standing in the absolute, undeniable presence of your King.”

The Golden Earth Dragon let out another soft whimper.

It immediately lowered its massive body completely flat against the cobblestones, closing its eyes in a display of absolute, unquestioning submission, entirely surrendering its will to the golden-haired youth.

Ziyan looked even more thoroughly confused, her cat ears twitching in bewilderment.

’Was young master Shen secretly a Beast Tamer as well? How could he dominate a dragon with a single word?’

Of course he isn’t.

Just like ordinary people who has learned any of the Six Major Occupations, he looked down on secondary occupations like Beast Tamers and didn’t bother learning them.

Instead, the reason why he was able to dominate this dragon was because it was part of the abilities of his Infinity Dragon God Physique.

It naturally exerted a permanent, absolute concept of bloodline suppression against any and all creatures carrying even a single drop of draconian or reptilian blood.

It was also because of this hidden, absolute aura that the powerful, warrior-centric Lamia Tribe that Queen Medusa ruled back in the desert regions had been so inexplicably subservient and loyal to him during their initial encounters.

After all, snakes are a very distant relatives of dragons.

In fact, even Medusa herself was continuously, deeply affected by it on a subconscious level; though, because of her rather high cultivation base, she could actively suppress the biological urge to kneel, resulting in her just becoming incredibly annoyed and irritated whenever she was forced to stand near him for too long.

But since Haoran had barely ever encountered any true, pure-blooded dragons since his arrival in the academy, this specific passive trait was almost never utilized.

It was quite amusing to see it work so flawlessly on a student’s pet.

”Y-You!” Tai Yuhao stood up, breathing heavily as he bled profusely, dragging his feeth, ”What have you done!? Is it hypnotism!? Have you hypnosised my dragon!? Did you use that to hypnotize Ziyan as well!?”

Ziyan frowned at that, and was about to argue when Haoran raised his hand, stopping her.

”I won’t even bother arguing with a fool,” Haoran murmured smoothly, turning his cold, piercing golden eyes back toward the rubble of the shattered building. ”Since you possessed the audacity to launch a lethal attack against my person in broad daylight, that should naturally mean you must also be fully prepared to be retaliated against in kind.”

Haoran lazily raised his finger, pointing it directly toward the bleeding protagonist. ”Golden Earth Dragon, was it? Go. Kill your former master.”

The Golden Earth Dragon instantly rose up, its submissive demeanor vanishing as its eyes turned completely feral under Haoran’s absolute command.

It let out a furious roar of betrayal, spun around, and rushed with terrifying speed directly toward the man who had summoned it.

”H-Hiiieekkk!” Tai Yuhao shrieked in absolute, unadulterated primal fear.

He frantically scrambled backward through the dust, trying desperately to escape the oncoming jaws of his own beast, but his trembling legs gave out, causing him to stumble down patheticially onto his back.

But at that exact, life-or-death moment...

”Stand down.”

An incredibly deep, ancient, and immensely authoritative voice suddenly resounded across the entire plaza.

The words carried a physical, crushing weight, causing the rampaging Golden Earth Dragon to be violently pressed down flat onto the cracked ground by an invisible, suffocating gravitational force, its limbs pinned instantly.

From the edge of the crowd, a middle-aged man with long, snow-white hair tied neatly into a scholar’s bun, wearing a plain, unadorned white robe, calmly stepped through the spatial ripples.

It was Elder Mu.

The ancient scholar looked directly at Haoran, his eyes calm yet carrying the unyielding weight of a mountain. ”Young man, this is the sovereign territory of Academy City. Fighting and cold-blooded killing are strictly forbidden within these walls. Lower your hand.”

Haoran’s handsome face immediately frowned, his golden eyes narrowing into razor-sharp slits.

At this precise moment, deep within his chest, he was starting to get profoundly, intensely annoyed.

Over and over again, some random native elder or self-righteous enforcer kept interrupting his business whenever he wanted to cleanly teach these damned, irritating protagonists a permanent lesson in mortality.

*

Meanwhile, on the open-air cafe balcony just a single street away.

Chu Yan stood completely paralyzed, his hands trembling violently as he stared at the middle-aged white-haired man who had just materialized in the center of the plaza.

He looked back at the empty wooden chair sitting right in front of him, and then looked back across the street to the man currently confronting the terrifying young master of the Shen Clan.

At that exact moment, a wave of dark, paralyzing despair completely clouded his heart, his mind fracturing under the sheer absurdity of the unfolding situation.

’No! What in the absolute hell, Elder Mu!?’ Chu Yan screamed frantically within the absolute silence of his internal thoughts, his face turning completely pale as he gripped the balcony railing. ’Why on earth are you casually walking out to confront the final, ultimate villain of the entire novel so damn early in the story!? Are you truly so profoundly lonely and tired of living that you actively wanted to court your own immediate death!?’

He had planned to use the old man’s tragic past to secure a powerful, saint-level backer for his own protection.

But now, before he could even utter a single line of his prepared matchmaking script, his intended protector had casually walked straight into the jaws of the most dangerous predator on the continent!

’Goddammit! That certain ninja was right! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world!’