Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Fire Red City.

A city that is quite close to the Leaf Green City, but unlike it, this Fire Red City is more...dark.

A city full of gambling dens, shady merchants, illegal auctions, and prostitution.

Of course, all of it were in the dark, as the city still look completely normal in the open.

At this moment, Chu Yan walked down the grand stone avenues of the Fire Red City like a wandering, hollow ghost.

The vibrant morning sun beat down on the red-tiled roofs and the bustling crowds of disciples, but to him, the world felt completely gray, cold, and profoundly isolating.

Last night’s catastrophic blunder at the Leaf Green City Auction House had left his emotional stability entirely fractured.

He had managed to barely pay the staggering sum of sixty thousand points for the Heart-Shaped Immortal Rose, but to do so, he had been forced to practically empty out the absolute entirety of the remaining, unspent reserves belonging to his Chu Clan’s local gambling businesses in this academy dimension.

When he had crawled into the branch treasury office to force the ledger transfer, the senior clan descendants had looked at him with icy, silent glints in their eyes.

And although those people didn’t openly voice their absolute rage due to their conditioning, he could be one hundred percent sure that they absolutely despised his very existence for it.

In fact, he was completely sure that if it weren’t for his status as the absolute young master and heir of the Chu Clan, those brutal, wealth hungry business managers would have already torn his physical flesh apart right there in then.

”Damn it all to hell,” Chu Yan muttered venomously under his breath, his fingernails digging into his palms as he navigated the crowd.

Why did everything in this world turn out exponentially worse for him the moment he tried to use his script knowledge?

Was it simply because that manipulative bitch Xu Xiansu was currently traveling alongside them?

Did having a primary female lead or a protagonist on your designated side basically mean that your group wouldn’t suffer a single loss or setback, no matter how stupidly you played your cards?

If that’s the case, then isn’t he doomed?

”Damn it... how on earth is any of this fair?”

The book’s main character and the absolute final villain of the entire book had somehow inexplicably teamed up before the school year even formally began.

Aren’t they basically invincible now?

They can probably turn this entire academy upside down!

A protagonist’s ultimate, reality bending plot armor combined flawlessly with a supreme final villain’s family background and financial wealth... you might as well just wrap the entire Prime Origin Realm neatly with a beautiful silk ribbon and hand it straight over to them on a silver platter!

What was an ordinary transmigrator supposed to do against a broken configuration like that?

What was he truly going to do now to rebuild his path?

He let out a long, heavy sigh of absolute exhaustion, raising his hand to aggressively scratch his unstyled hair.

”Ah, whatever. The past is the past, nothing I can do about it. For now, I need to focus on what I can actually control. I need to go meet up with Elder Mu immediately. If I can’t compete in wealth, I have to leverage connections. I need to teach that old scholar some advanced modern skills on how to properly pick up chicks.”

Although he himself was an absolute, untouched virgin in both his previous life on Earth and his current life in this cultivation realm, having never possessed a single real girlfriend since the day of his birth, he had spent his past life playing through hundreds of complex Japanese eroge games, visual novels, and hardcore dating simulators.

Teaching a socially awkward, emotionally stunted old man from ancient times a thing or two about psychological manipulation and romantic timing shouldn’t be a problem for a veteran otaku like him, right?

Just then...

”Young man, I see from your stance that you happen to possess quite an extraordinary, heaven defying set of dao bones. Would you perhaps like to learn the true laws of the heavens under my personal guidance?”

The sudden, smooth voice shattered his internal monologue.

Chu Yan paused mid-stride and turned his body around sharply, his left eyebrow rising in deep suspicion and irritation.

Standing just a few paces behind him on the crowded street was an exceptionally handsome, tall man with pristine white hair that fell loosely around his shoulders, his striking red eyes gleaming with a highly unusual, calculating light.

He wore the dignified, embroidered robes of a middle-ranking academic official.

”And who are you supposed to be?” Chu Yan asked, his tone dripping with caution as his hand rested near his spatial ring.

”Xiao Long,” the white-haired man introduced himself smoothly, his voice carrying an aloof, airy confidence as he adjusted his sashes. ”I am a formally registered Master Teacher of this institution, and one of the instructors assigned to guide the newly arrived freshman this semester.”

However, although Xiao Long looked exactly like he was staring directly into Chu Yan’s face with a grandfatherly, mentoring expression, his internal focus was actually fixed entirely on a translucent, floating blue screen that was currently hovering right in front of his eyes.

A screen that only he could physically see.

[Target Identified: Chu Yan]

[Age: 30]

[Current Cultivation Base: 1st Stage Nascent Soul Realm]

[Unique Traits: Transmigrator, Minor Plot Foresight]

[System Evaluation: Possesses a decent, above-average talent for martial arts. However, due to his intimate knowledge of the future timeline, his ultimate fate is still highly volatile and uncertain.]

’A transmigrator... and he possesses Plot Foresight!’ Xiao Long’s heart violently leaped into his throat, his red eyes widening slightly behind his calm expression as his mind began to spin at a terrifying speed. ’This Chu Yan kid is just like me! He’s a transmigrator!’

He too was a transmigrator who had taken over this body in this fantasy world several months ago.

However, unlike Chu Yan, he didn’t possess any knowledge of the world’s original plot or future events, making his situation a bit worse in terms of strategic planning.

But on the other hand... he possessed a system!

That simple thing should be more than enough to eclipse whatever future knowledge this other transmigrator has.

”Xiao Long?” Chu Yan’s brow violently furrowed into deep lines of utter disgust the moment the name crossed his ears.

’Wait a damn minute... isn’t that... isn’t that that exact pathetic, perverted Master Teacher who tries to sexually assault and drug Xu Xiansu during the expedition group selection arc in the original novel?’

A worthless piece of garbage character who was only scraping by at the absolute Peak of the Spirit Ascension Realm and had only managed to secure a minor teaching position within this elite academy through the underhanded political connections of his distant noble house?

Chu Yan stared at Xiao Long with an expression of profound, unadulterated disgust, treating him like a literal piece of human trash, before abruptly turning his back on him and walking away into the crowd without saying another word.

There is no way he will listen to a single word of this guy.

Fuck him!

However, before he can get far...

”Your current Nine Rivers Core Qi Technique is completely riddled with three fatal structural flaws,” Xiao Long spoke aloud, his voice dropping to a calm, clinical, and immensely authoritative tone that cut through the street noise, forcing Chu Yan’s boots to instantly freeze flat against the cobblestones.

”The moment your qi passes through the sixth node of your primary spiritual circuits, it creates a minor backflow because your ancestral manual incorrectly commands you to compress the energy before it clears the meridian. It is causing a silent, permanent degradation of your life essence.”

Chu Yan’s heart skipped a violent beat, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead as he spun his body back around.

’How on earth did this trash character know that!?’

That specific meridian flaw was a highly guarded, absolute secret of his Chu Clan’s core lineage manual!

Not even his own personal instructors knew about its existence!

Xiao Long smirked elegantly, seeing his shock as he crossed his arms behind his back, looking every bit like an ancient, untouchable grandmaster. ”If you want to permanently fix the structural degradation and instantly double the circulation speed of your internal spirit circuits, the solution is remarkably simple. The next time you circulate your qi, completely bypass the fifth auxiliary point, guide the energy directly into your spinal column line, and unleash it through your shoulder blade nodes instead.”

Chu Yan hesitated for a brief, tense moment, his mind weighing the psychological risks.

But the sheer curiosity was too much to bear!

He stood perfectly still right there in the middle of the crowded avenue, closed his eyes, and quietly directed a tiny, slender strand of his internal Nascent Soul qi to follow the exact, radical path the white-haired teacher had just detailed.

The exact instant the energy cleared his shoulder blades, Chu Yan’s eyes violently snapped open in absolute, unadulterated shock.

The chronic, dull ache that had plagued his lower spine for years had completely, instantaneously vanished!

The pure qi flowing through his meridians and spiritual circuits was suddenly so much smoother, faster, and infinitely more dense than it had ever been in his entire life!

He stared at Xiao Long, his mind completely short-circuiting as his understanding of the novel’s script was violently demolished once again.

”Who... who exactly are you?”

He could be absolutely, one hundred percent sure from his memories of the novel text that the original, perverted Xiao Long in the book absolutely did not possess this level of diagnostic ability.

’Could it be... could it be that this guy is a fellow transmigrator as well!?’ Chu Yan thought frantically, a wave of existential dread washing over him. ’Why on earth are there so many damn transmigrators running around in this single academy!? Is the boundary wall of the universe made of wet paper!?’

”I usually like to just quietly maintain an incredibly low profile within these walls, avoiding the flashy, annoying spotlight of the major factions,” Xiao Long spoke smoothly, putting his hands behind his back as he looked up at the clouds with an aloof, profoundly mysterious, and untouchable expression. ”However... as I passed by you today, I couldn’t help but notice that your innate talent and your spiritual bones are remarkably extraordinary. I found myself unable to watch a genius ruin his own path due to an incorrect manual. Therefore... I am willing to temporarily break my solitude to officially take you as my primary personal disciple.”

’I see! It all makes perfect sense now!’ Chu Yan’s eyes suddenly widened into massive plates as a wave of absolute, self-deluded enlightenment washed over his features.

In his mind, the puzzle pieces clicked into a beautiful pattern.

So in the original trajectory of the novels, the reason why Xiao Long looked like a weak, perverted piece of trash was simply because he didn’t want to interfere with the natural flow of the world and just wanted to quietly keep a low profile!

The truth was, he actually is an ancient, hidden boss masquerading as a pig to eat tigers!

No wonder he acted like a throwaway character in the text; the author just couldn’t see his true depth!

With a powerful, highly influential hidden master backing his path, why should he ever fear Shen Haoran again?

Without a single second of further hesitation, Chu Yan stepped forward, adjusted his sashes, and bowed deeply from his waist, cupping his hands together in a formal show of absolute submission.

”Disciple Chu Yan greets the Honorable Master! I thank Master for saving my path!”

Xiao Long’s lips curved into a wide, triumphant grin behind his white hair as a crisp, mechanical sound echoed directly within his own mind.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations Host! You have successfully accepted your very first Fate-Blessed Disciple: Chu Yan!]

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