Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

High above the chaotic streets, at the absolute apex of the Academy City Grand Library, the atmosphere was thick with the scent of ancient parchment and boundless knowledge.

On this highest floor, isolated from the common world by countless spatial wards, a beautiful, pink-haired woman with a single, striking strand of pure white hair stood completely still by the floor-to-ceiling glass partition.

She wore an elegant white and pink dress that flowed around her like cherry blossoms in spring, her sharp purple eyes hidden behind a pair of delicate, silver-rimmed glasses as she observed the escalating situation on the cobblestone street far below.

She was Ye Hongyan.

To the outside world, she was a legend incarnate—the youngest individual to ever ascend to the ranks of the Ten Sages, a terrifying 6th Stage Heavenly Saint Realm expert, and a Rank 10 Master Teacher whose lessons could alter a cultivator’s destiny.

She was also, tragically, the first and only true love of the confrontational Elder Mu.

Ye Hongyan had known for centuries that Elder Mu was always there, sitting at that specific balcony of the cafe, staring longingly at her library windows.

And because of this, she rarely ever left her office on the highest floor, intentionally staying within his line of sight, silently waiting for Elder Mu to finally muster his courage, walk across the street, approach her, and rekindle their shattered, broken love.

She was no longer the helpless young girl from a thousand years ago. She was now vastly stronger, more influential, and far more respected than her own tyrannical father—the very patriarch who had brutally broken them apart in their youth.

Not to mention, Elder Mu himself had also achieved monumental success over the last millennium, defying his commoner origins to become a peak Earthly Saint Realm powerhouse and a Rank 9 Master Teacher.

If the two of them were to officially announce their union today, absolutely no one in the entire empire would dare to say a single word of disapproval.

However, no matter how many decades bled into centuries, and no matter how long she patiently waited, Elder Mu never made a single move.

He remained paralyzed by his own deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, choosing to look from afar like a ghost.

This time, while she was deeply buried under a mountain of administrative paperwork, she had suddenly heard a violent commotion erupting down below.

At first, she simply ignored it, accustomed to the endless squabbles of arrogant disciples.

But the exact moment she heard the unmistakable, booming resonance of Elder Mu’s voice echoing through the wards, she couldn’t resist taking a look.

She stepped to the window, and it was a perfect, striking moment where Elder Mu was aggressively deploying his vast, saintly power to ruthlessly pressure the younger court juniors.

Ye Hongyan frowned slightly behind her glasses, but she did absolutely nothing to intervene.

In her mind, Elder Mu, who had permanently remained anchored in her heart, mutating over a thousand years into an unhealthy, deeply rooted obsession, could simply do no wrong.

If he was suppressing these disciples, then these students must have undoubtedly done something heinous that warranted his righteous anger and required his direct, heavy-handed action.

But then... that magnificent, blonde-haired student below suddenly reached into his ring and took out a very simple, scuffed-looking iron knife.

And in that exact second, an icy chill tore through her soul, and all the hairs on her body stood up in pure, instinctual terror.

Through her 6th Stage Heavenly Saint perception, she could see the fabric of reality actively screaming around that blade.

That mundane-looking thing was dangerous—so monumentally dangerous that it defied the very logic of the lower realms.

’I need to call Venerable Sky Cloud and the rest of the sages immediately!’

*

*

*

Back on the blood-stained streets, the atmosphere had completely frozen.

”Elder, prepare yourself,” Shen Haoran whispered, his voice carrying a chilling, melodic clarity that sliced through the heavy saintly aura.

He spun the dark, vibrating knife between his fingers, his eyes gleaming with a beautiful, chaotic madness. ”If you get even a single fraction careless during this strike... you will die a horrific death along with this entire academy dimension.”

Haoran grinned, a dark, predatory expression that promised absolute ruin as the supreme 9th Stage Earthly Saint, Elder Mu, actually took a physical step back in instinctive, primal fear, his face turning completely pale as his survival instincts screamed at him to run.

Conversely, the hundreds of graduating students whom Haoran had recently recruited, alongside those thousands who were eagerly looking to be employed, all stared at his back in pure, unadulterated amazement.

To see a freshman force a legendary Master Teacher to retreat was a sight that shattered their understanding of the world.

”Disappear!”

Haoran brought the scuffed iron knife down in a clean, vertical arc.

*BZZZZZZ—!*

The exact moment the blade cut the air, the entire world violently lost its colors.

The bright sunlight, the red blood on the cobblestones, and the blue sky were instantaneously wiped away, replaced by a monochrome, black-and-white void.

Time itself seemed to grind to a torturous, heavy halt.

Elder Mu’s pupils contracted to pinpricks.

Sensing the oncoming, world-ending erasure, he frantically tried to escape by executing a high-level spatial warping technique.

But to his absolute horror, he found that the very fabric of space and time was being so profoundly distorted, crushed, and devoured by the knife’s trajectory that it was basically impossible to control his own spiritual energy.

It was as if the spatial coordinates were turning to ash!

At that exact microsecond, he truly felt the cold, bony hand of death claiming his soul.

But right before the monochrome void could expand to erase his physical vessel entirely...

”That is enough!”

A massive, booming voice carrying the absolute, immutable authority of the academy’s foundation suddenly resounded from the heavens.

The voice carried a conceptual, reality-stabilizing law, and the moment it echoed, Haoran’s powerful, world-ending attack instantly dispersed into nothingness, like a fragile candle flame being casually blown out by a sharp gust of wind.

The vibrant colors of the world instantly snapped back into place.

Haoran frowned deeply, his golden eyes narrowing into razor-sharp slits as a massive wave of mental fatigue hit his brain.

He slowly raised his head to look up into the sky.

Floating majestically in the air directly above the plaza were ten imposing figures.

Standing at the very front, leading the group with a calm, unyielding presence, was Venerable Sky Cloud.

Clustered tightly behind him were the remaining nine individuals who represented the absolute pinnacle of authority, law, and martial power within the institution.

They were the legendary Ten Sages.

”Y-You...” Elder Mu stammered, his body trembling as he stared directly at the beautiful, pink-haired figure of Ye Hongyan, who was hovering silently right behind Venerable Sky Cloud.

His throat went completely dry. He opened his mouth to speak, to explain, to say her name—but in the end, the crushing weight of his centuries-old inadequacy and shame completely choked the words back.

He said absolutely nothing as he slowly lowered his eyes to the floor, clenching his fists as he stood there like a scolded child, feeling profoundly ashamed that she had witnessed his pathetic near-death state.

”Young Shen, let us permanently end this bloody dispute here,” Venerable Sky Cloud spoke, his deep voice carrying a tired, diplomatic sigh as he looked down at the golden-haired young master. ”You have already ruthlessly killed the specific individual you wanted to kill today, did you not? For the sake of the academy’s future, spare this old man’s life.”

Haoran smiled elegantly, tilting his head in a mocking, beautifully arrogant gesture as he slipped the dull knife back into his ring. ”That is simply not how a proper transaction works, Elder. If you want my compliance, you need to properly name your price. After all, you can buy absolutely anything in this corrupt academy if the funds are sufficient, right? Buy my cooperation to spare his pathetic life. How much do you think the immortal life of a peak Earthly Saint Realm powerhouse and a Rank 9 Master Teacher is worth on your ledger?”

Venerable Sky Cloud let out a long, heavy sigh, knowing the background of the Shen Clan made threats useless. ”Take out your identity token.”

Haoran happily, swiftly took out his sleek jade token, a wide, victorious smirk playing upon his lips.

With a wave of his sleeve, Venerable Sky Cloud also took out his own high-grade administrative token.

He tapped the surface with his spiritual imprint and directly transferred a staggering, monumental total of 10 million Dao Points straight into Haoran’s balance.

”I cannot possibly give you more, Young Shen,” the leader of the Sages warned dryly. ”If I transfer any more than this, the entire economic system of Academy City will completely collapse by tonight.”

”Understandable,” Haoran shrugged his shoulders with an air of effortless grace, thoroughly pleased with the massive financial windfall.

He then looked back toward the trembling, silent scholar. ”Take your broken old man and leave this plaza immediately. But hear me well... if he ever dares to show his face or project his annoying aura near my presence again, I will personally cut his head off and feed it to the beasts.”

Venerable Sky Cloud didn’t offer a rebuttal as he simply waved his wide sleeve, and with a collective ripple of spatial laws, he and the rest of the Ten Sages instantaneously vanished from the sky, leaving the streets as if they couldn’t care less about Elder Mu’s fragile pride.

Only Ye Hongyan remained floating in the sky for a few seconds longer as she stared down at the solitary, broken figure of Elder Mu, whose head remained tightly lowered toward the cobblestones, his shoulders hunched in deep, defensive shame.

Looking at the man who had occupied her heart for a millennium, she let out a soft, profoundly heartbreaking sigh that was swallowed by the wind.

”A thousand years of starlight washed away, Yet in your frozen heart, the shadows stay.”

”You watch my window through the passing years, But lock your soul away in silent fears.”

”The chains of ancient shame you cannot break, No single step for love you dare to make.”

”A thousand years have passed into the red, And still, you do not dare to raise your head.”

Elder Mu just lowered his head even further, feeling a massive sense of humiliation and embarrassment.

Ye Hongyan stared at him for a few moments before sighing.

Shaking her head in utter disappointment at his permanent cowardice, she spun around with a rustle of her pink-and-white dress and dissolved into a cloud of spiritual petals, returning straight to her lonely office in the library.

Meanwhile, on the silent street, Haoran stood perfectly still as he lazily stared at the pathetic, motionless figure of Elder Mu, then shifted his gaze across the street toward the grand facade of the Academy Library, and a beautifully devious, knowing smile slowly spread across his handsome face.

He had just found the next thread to pull.