Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Qing Yan stared up at the dark, damp stone ceiling of the cave, his eyes completely blank and hollow, his body feeling like it had been run over by a herd of wild stampeding beasts.

He lay limply on the sleeping gorilla’s massive, rhythmically heaving stomach, completely naked, his entire skin sticky, bruised, and covered in a foul-smelling combination of sweat, mud, and ape secretions.

After he had been violently dragged into the gorilla’s remote mountain nest, Qing Yan was subjected to an absolute nightmare—a relentless, terrifying reverse mating press that lasted for so long that he had completely lost all sense of time, sanity, and dignity.

*Ding!*

A translucent, glowing blue status screen suddenly materialized right before his vacant, bloodshot eyes, ringing with a cheerful, upbeat chime that sounded like a cruel, twisted mockery.

[Congratulations Host, for capturing your first goddess!]

[Reward Issued: Missing Arm Restored, 1x Set of Basic Linen Clothes, and 1x Bar of Standard Soap!]

A soft, warm light flashed over his left shoulder socket. In an instant, his bone, flesh, and skin regenerated at a visible rate, restoring his severed left arm back to its original state.

Yet, rather than celebrating the miraculous return of his limb, Qing Yan’s eyes immediately reddened with burning, violent fury—not from tears of overwhelming joy, but from pure, unadulterated anger.

He gritted his teeth so hard they bled, shouting hysterically inside his mind:

’System, what the actual fuck do you mean?! How come I only got THIS as a reward?! A bar of soap and a set of cheap rags for sacrificing my blood, my soul, and my dignity to a six-meter monster?! Where is my divine cultivation technique?! Where are my rank-9 pills?! Where is my heaven-defying artifact?!’

[Host, although the System generously lowered its threshold to accommodate your absolute desperation,] the system’s monotone voice chimed back smoothly, [that creature was still a hideously ugly, overgrown mountain monkey. I am officially designated as a Goddess Capturing System, not an ape or monkey capturing system. Given the astronomical discrepancy between her physical appearance and the universal definition of a ’Goddess’, this issued reward is mathematically and logically fair.]

”Fair...?”

Qing Yan stared at the glowing blue text, his vocal cords trembling.

He didn’t even know what to feel anymore, his s heart was so drowned in profound despair, humiliation, and unbearable agony that tears began streaming silently down his cheeks while a raspy, unhinged laughter burst out of his throat at the exact same time.

He was literally weeping and laughing like a madman in the dark cave.

[Host, I strongly advise you to put on your clothes and leave immediately,] the system interrupted his breakdown, its voice flashing with a mild yellow warning indicator. [This female mountain gorilla’s internal circadian rhythm indicates she will wake up from her post-coital slumber in any minute now.]

Hearing those words, Qing Yan shivered violently from head to toe.

The manic laughter instantly evaporated from his throat, replaced by a cold terror.

He didn’t want to experience that same unfathomable pain, torture, and physical torment ever again in his life!

Suppressing the excruciating aches in his waist and legs, he grabbed the linen clothes and the bar of soap from the system inventory, hurriedly slipping the pants on.

He slowly and delicately crawled down from the gorilla’s massive, hairy stomach, stepping onto the cave floor with microscopic, feather-light precision so as not to rustle a single piece of straw.

He tiptoed past the beast’s giant, twitching snout, slipping out through the narrow cave entrance like a ghost.

The moment his feet touched the damp soil of the outer forest and he felt he was far enough from the nest, he let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

Then, without looking back for even a fraction of a second, he bolted at maximum speed!

”System, find me a river somewhere! Right now!” Qing Yan screamed mentally, running through the dense foliage while furiously scrubbing his sticky skin with his hands. ”I need water! I want to take a bath and wash this nightmare off my body!”

[Just continue heading straight for another two kilometers, Host,] the system guided unemotionally. [A clean mountain stream is located directly ahead.]

Qing Yan wasted no time, pushing his Golden Core qi into his feet to sprint through the trees like a man fleeing from the depths of hell.

*

*

*

Meanwhile, while all of that horrific madness was transpiring in the lower forest, back in the Nascent Soul trial realm.

A subtle ripple tore through the scorching air, and the spatial continuum folded back on itsel as Shen Haoran materialized smoothly on top of a sweeping, golden sand dune, stepping out of the spatial vortex alongside Shen Xinye.

The desert sun beat down mercilessly, casting brilliant rays over the boundless expanse of shimmering sand.

Shen Xinye stood beside him, her robes fluttering gently in the dry desert wind.

She held the magnificent, iridescent golden crown—the fragment of the Imperial Artifact she had inherited from the Shameless Binding Emperor—firmly in her slender hands.

She stared at the subtle, ancient runes pulsing across its surface, feeling the newly acquired, vast pool of spatial and restraint knowledge settling within her consciousness.

She looked up at Shen Haoran, her large, expressive eyes shining with an eager, radiant light.

”Young master,” Shen Xinye spoke, her voice filled with a confident, joyful charm, ”I, I actually wanted to test out my mew skills. Is it possible for us to search for some beasts that I can practice on?”

Shen Haoran turned his gaze toward her, looking at her eager expression with a soft, warm smile.

This is the first time she had actually made a request, before, she had been so timid and insecure that she doesn’t even dare to question him.

It seems this trial really help her in more ways than one.

He reached out, gently patting her head in an approving manner.

”Alright, let’s go,” Shen Haoran nodded smoothly, his golden eyes scanning the vast, shimmering horizon of the trial grounds. ”We also need to collect some points along the way to secure our standing.”

”Mn!” Shen Xinye beamed brightly, hugging the crown against her chest, as the two of them set off across the golden sands together.

*

*

*

Qing Yan was trembling violently as he dried himself with a coarse piece of cloth, his hands shaking so hard he could barely hold it, feeling like his newly regenerated skin was dirty, tainted, and completely ruined.

After awhile, he quickly put on the simple linen clothes provided by the system, but even after scrubbing himself raw in the freezing mountain stream, he couldn’t stop.

He kept frantically scratching at his arms, his neck, and his chest, his fingernails digging deep into his flesh as if he wanted to physically peel away his skin to erase every lingering memory of what had just happened to him.

[Host, once you’re done washing, you need to start searching for more targets immediately,] the system’s cold, unfeeling voice chimed directly into his head. [Your current points are in the negative due to the loan, and my core energy is still critically low. To ensure our mutual survival, you must find another female target.]

Qing Yan flinched as if he had been slapped across the face. Then, he gritted his teeth so hard his gums bled, his chest heaving violently, and his eyes turning blood-red with unbridled, explosive rage.

”SEARCH FOR MORE TARGETS?!” Qing Yan shrieked, slamming his fist against a nearby boulder. ”ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?! YOU ABSOLUTE PIECE OF TRASH SYSTEM! YOU TRICKED ME! YOU DAMNED PIECE OF SHIT! YOU TOLD ME ANY FEMALE WOULD WORK AND YOU LET A SIX-METER MONSTER MOLEST ME FOR HOURS! MY ENTIRE BODY IS RUINED! MY DIGNITY IS GONE! I AM NEVER, EVER FOLLOWING YOUR BULLSHIT ORDERS AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME?! GO TO HELL! UNBIND FROM ME! DELETE YOURSELF! I DON’T CARE IF I DIE, I WOULD RATHER DIE A THOUSAND TIMES THAN LET YOU CONTROL ME OR TAKE ME NEAR ANOTHER FEMALE IN THIS CURSED WORLD! YOU ARE A TRASH CHEAT, A FRAUD, AND A DEMONIC CURSE!”

He stood by the riverbank, screaming a barrage of foul, desperate curses at the sky, unleashing every ounce of hatred and trauma built up inside his soul.

[...]

The system was silent for a long, heavy moment.

Then...

*BZZZZZZZZT—!*

Without a single word of warning, an excruciating, high-voltage electric shock suddenly struck Qing Yan directly in his spiritual sea and nervous system!

”AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Qing Yan let out a blood-curdling scream of pure agony.

His muscles locked up instantly, his eyes bulging out of his head as arcs of violent, jagged blue lightning surged through his veins.

He collapsed onto the riverbank, writhing in absolute agony as he rolled around in the wet dirt, foaming at the mouth and convulsing uncontrollably.

The pain was far worse than having his arm ripped off—it was a direct, soul-rending torture designed to tear his consciousness apart from the inside.

After a few agonizing minutes that felt like eternity to Qing Yan, the electric shocks finally stopped.

He twitched weakly a few times in the mud, his body steaming, before letting out a long, trembling breath of relief.

Gasping for air like a drowning man, he slowly crawled across the ground on his stomach, dragging himself toward a large, ancient oak tree.

He propped his back against the rough trunk, sitting down heavily and leaning his head back against the bark, completely drained of all strength.

”You—!”

[Host, let me make this painfully clear,] the system’s voice echoed in his mind, carrying a freezing, sadistically calm tone that made his blood run cold. [I do not require your permission, your approval, or your emotional stability to function. I am the Goddess Capturing System. If the Host does not find and successfully harvest affection points from another female target within a week, the System will continuously shock the Host’s soul 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.]

[I will amplify your pain receptors by two hundred percent. I will simulate the sensation of thousands of flesh-eating maggots crawling through your brain, skinning your soul alive while keeping you completely conscious. I will turn every waking second of your existence into a living, endless hell until your mind completely shatters into irreversible madness. Do not test my patience again, Host. Move your legs and find a target.]

Qing Yan shivered violently, a cold, suffocating terror gripping his heart.

He curled his legs up to his chest, completely broken, and couldn’t help but cry silently.

He stared up through the rustling leaves of the tree canopy at the pale violet sky above, his chest aching with a profound, soul-crushing sense of grievance.

Why? Why was his life like this? In his past life, he was an ordinary college student, he has friends who will go through thick and thin with him, he has a loving family who cares for him.

Yet in this world...he has nothing.

He thought it was fine, since transmigrating with a system would finally make him the grand protagonist of his own story—a cool, invincible young master who lived freely and conquered the world, and once he reached the peak, he will search the grand cosmos and find Earth to return to his family.

Instead, within twenty-four hours, he had been abandoned, beaten half to death, had his arm violently ripped off by a terrifying classmate, violated by a giant, hideously ugly mountain gorilla, and now he was being sadistically tortured and threatened by his own supposed ”golden finger”!

A single, bitter tear rolled down his dirty cheek as he sobbed in quiet, helpless despair under the tree.

*

*

*

Back in the Ye Family Stadium, VIP Room.

The atmosphere in the grand pavilion remained heavy, the surrounding Sages still recovering from the sheer absurdity and horror of what they had witnessed earlier before the broadcast was cut.

Venerable Sky Cloud, who had been resting his eyes calmly with his hands tucked in his wide sleeves, slowly opened his eyes and looked at the other sages.

”Switch back the image to that young man,” Venerable Sky Cloud commanded smoothly.

Hearing his words, everyone in the room shivered simultaneously as a collective wave of goosebumps broke out over the backs of the Sages, Ye Liuman, and Ye Fan.

They couldn’t help but imagine the horrific, tragic state the poor boy must be in right now.

He... he was probably still trapped together with that giant gorilla, wasn’t he?

Cold sweat trickled down the necks of the surrounding elders as they looked at Venerable Sky Cloud with a mixture of profound awe and deep, lingering fear.

Just what on earth had this poor, low-born boy done to so deeply offend this ancient Venerable?

Not only was he left to be brutally assaulted by a wild beast without any salvation, but now his utter disgrace and breaking point were going to be broadcast live on the central projection screen for millions of spectators in the stadium to see!

However, no one dared to question or disobey the Venerable’s firm command.

The sages quickly bowed their heads nervously, and switched the primary projection image back to Qing Yan’s coordinates.

The central screen flickered, clearing away the spatial clouds—

And everyone in the VIP room was completely stunned.

The giant projection screen did not show a dark cave, nor did it show a grotesque scene of a beast claiming a victim.

Instead, it showed Qing Yan resting quietly under a peaceful oak tree by a pristine, flowing mountain river.

His clothes were clean, his severed left arm was completely restored without a single scar, and he possessed no visible physical injuries whatsoever!

Apart from looking a bit tired and weeping silently, he was completely whole!

”This...” One of the Sages gasped, his eyes widening in pure disbelief. ”Did he... did he actually escape from a peak Golden Core Demonic Beast on his own?!”

”How?!” another elder blurted out, leaning forward in his floating chair. ”His arm was ripped off just a short while ago! His dantian was severely damaged! How did he regenerate a whole limb and escape a mountain-sized beast in such a short amount of time without any external aid?!”

The entire VIP room erupted into hushed, bewildered murmurs.

However, amidst the utter shock of the crowd, Venerable Sky Cloud just sat comfortably in his grand throne.

He slowly stroked his long white beard, a knowing, triumphant smile spreading across his aged face.

He had known it all along. He was right!

Qing Yan really was such a hidden, heaven-defying genius!

He had deliberately hidden his true strength, allowed himself to be dragged away to fool the public eyes, and then seamlessly used his hidden treasure or ancient secret arts to heal his fatal wounds, restore his limb, and escape without leaving a single trace behind!

Venerable Sky Cloud leaned back, thoroughly pleased with his own divine foresight, completely convinced that he had just witnessed the secret rise of a future supreme ruler of the realms.