Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

*ROOOOAAARRRR!*

A massive elephant demonic beast roared, its earth shattering bellow shaking the golden sand dunes of the desert trial grounds.

The creature was covered in thick, obsidian like stone scales, its six giant tusks gleaming like ivory blades under the scorching sun as its heavy feet trampled the earth, creating miniature sandstorms with every violent step.

Just then, Shen Xinye stepped forward, her eyes flashing with a sharp, brilliant golden light.

Channeling her newly acquired spatial and restraint insights she inherited from that perverted emperor, she created a long, glowing ruby rope made entirely of her own refined qi, imbued with the grand unyielding principles of the Dao of Invincibility.

She shot it straight towards the colossal beast, the radiant cord weaving through the air like a living serpent before wrapping tightly around the elephant’s heavy legs, its trunk, and its massive torso in an intricately complex, humiliatingly tight bind that completely locked its movement array.

Then, leaning her weight back with great confidence, she pulled!

”Get over here!” she shouted, her voice echoing with crisp, commanding authority.

The massive beast roared in sheer shock as its massive, thousand ton body was lifted clean off the desert floor, pulled involuntarily flying through the air directly towards her like a helpless toy!

As the colossal creature hurtled toward her through the sky, Shen Xinye’s posture didn’t waver for a single microsecond.

Her other hand formed a casual finger gun aimed straight at the incoming target, as she fired a relentless stream of razor-sharp sword intent bullets continuously from her fingertips!

*RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT—!*

The desert air shattered with sharp, metallic pops as tiny, dense beams of concentrated sword intent pierced through the sky.

The massive elephant demonic beast roared in agonizing pain as its nearly impenetrable stone scale hide was riddled with hundreds of glowing, blood spurting holes in a fraction of a second!

Then, the exact instant the falling beast reached a few paces close to her position, Shen Xinye’s right hand swept back.

She created a massive, five-meter-long broadsword made entirely of pure, shimmering sword intent and cut the beast cleanly in half with a single, flawless horizontal slash!

*SWISH—!*

The colossal body of the peak Nascent Soul beast was neatly divided into two equal halves, falling to the sand on either side of her with a heavy, thunderous ”BOOM”, before its form dissolved into glowing trial points that flowed smoothly into her token.

Shen Haoran, standing a few meters away holding the iridescent golden crown in his hands, watched her fluid execution from the side and nodded with genuine approval.

It seems this ancient inheritance was really suited for her.

She was actually able to come up with a creative, deadly way to use the spatial restraint rope that perfectly complimented her aggressive, long and close quarters fighting style.

Shen Xinye turned around, a bright, beautiful smile bursting across her face, her cheeks slightly flushed as she ran back towards him with light, joyful steps.

”Young master, what do you think of that combination?”

Shen Haoran smiled at her warmly, his golden eyes filled with praise as he looked at her relaxed demeanor. ”Your control over the restraint technique is surprisingly refined already. You can probably take on an ordinary peak Nascent Soul realm cultivator without much trouble now. If you want, you can go ahead and try to challenge Shen Fei when we return. You probably have a very good chance of taking his place as the second seat of the Crowns.”

Shen Xinye listened to his evaluation and nodded in agreement, but then softly shook her head, her smile turning thoughtful. ”It will still be very difficult. Once Shen Fei activates his Sacred Physique, my current fighting style will be completely useless against him.”

Haoran thought for a moment, analyzing the inherent matchup between their abilities, and nodded in agreement.

Shen Xinye’s newly forged fighting style relied heavily on using spatial ropes to bind, control, and forcibly pull her opponents into her lethal melee range.

However, Shen Fei’s Sacred Physique possessed an ancient, terrifying trait that granted him incredible weight and density, giving him an unshakeable, mountain like weight that could bend ambient gravity itself.

Shen Xinye simply wouldn’t be able to pull or displace him no matter how strong her ropes were.

”Let’s go, the trial time limit should be ending soon,” said Haoran as he handed back the glowing golden crown to her and began walking smoothly toward the central extraction array.

”Mn!” Shen Xinye took the crown into her hands, cradling it gently against her chest, and happily followed right behind his footsteps.

*

*

*

Back in the Ye Family Stadium, VIP Room.

The primary projection screens hovering over the stadium floor began to flicker with glowing blue countdown runes, signaling that the hours allotted for the grand Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Ascension, and Nirvana Rebirth branch trials were coming to their final, official conclusion.

The Ten Sages turned their heads towards Venerable Sky Cloud, who sat quietly in his grand floating chair, his long white hair resting over his robes.

”Venerable, the trial should be ending soon,” one of the elder Sages spoke respectfully, bowing his head. ”The final point rankings have already stabilized. Should we send it out now?”

Venerable Sky Cloud slowly opened his eyes, a calm, authoritative light gleaming within them as he gave a firm nod. ”Do it. Make the Academy’s Mandate appear above the central arena.”

The Academy’s Mandate was no ordinary prize or simple token of victory.

It was a supreme, official decree crafted from ancient green jade, given exclusively to exceptional students who proved their strength and dominance during the grand exams, granting them the official authority to formally establish their own independent student factions within the Imperial Academy!

These precious mandates allowed a student leader to officially form or even given their own city within the Academy Dimension which they can govern, and extract taxes from.

Furthermore, the mandate automatically generated and distributed daily Dao Points directly to every registered member of the faction, depending on the overall growth, population, and economic prosperity of their controlled territories.

For those senior students who already possessed a faction and previously earned mandates, winning another one was equally life changing.

They could still use the newly acquired mandate to significantly increase the daily Dao Points distributed to their members, or use it to expand their territorial domain to have even more cities under their direct control.

Not to mention, in the ruthless, dog-eat-dog environment of the Imperial academy where faction wars were explicitly permitted and is even a test, having a larger territory with more cities under your flag made it far harder for your main capital city to be targeted, besieged, or completely destroyed during territory wars.

This is important because once you formed a faction and owned a city, once that main city was captured, the conqueror can literally enslave you and your faction if you cannot pay sufficient compensation.

This is the reason why an official student factions that possessed official mandates and those weak, informal groups who did not were on a completely different level in terms of resources, power, and prestige!

Hearing Venerable Sky Cloud’s decisive order, the Sages immediately hurried to follow his command, moving to activate the ancient, sky-spanning array that would forge the glowing Mandate Tokens and announce the victors to the entire realm.

*

*

*

At this moment, back with Shen Haoran and Shen Xinye.

The golden sands of the desert trial realm stretched out quietly under the artificial sun, the dust from the fallen elephant beast slowly settling into the dunes.

Shen Xinye was adjusting the glowing golden crown in her hands, her eyes bright with satisfaction as she walked half a step behind her young master.

Suddenly, as the two of them walked, the entire dimension suddenly trembled!

*RUMBLE—!*

A deep, violent earthquake rippled through the fabric of space itself.

The sky turned from a pale desert yellow into a swirling vortex of deep emerald light.

The golden dunes beneath their boots buckled and shifted as ancient spatial formations activated across the entire realm, pulling the atmospheric qi toward a single, central coordinate.

Then, on the very center of the world, the earth tore wide open, and a massive pyramid staircase suddenly appeared!

The monument rose like an ancient mountain, constructed from thousands of steps of polished black obsidian that gleamed with faint, silver runes.

It stretched thousands of meters into the sky, piercing straight through the cloud layer.

And at the very top of the pyramid, hovering right above the flat summit, a massive jade token was glowing with a blinding, majestic green light.

The divine aura emanating from the token was so dense that it cast long, emerald rays across the entire pocket dimension, visible to every single surviving participant no matter where they stood.

Then, the profound, thunderous voice of Venerable Sky Cloud echoed directly from the heavens, vibrating through the sky and sounding clearly within the minds of every student.

[”Attention, disciples of the Imperial Academy! The timed elimination phase of this grand trial has officially reached its conclusion. However, the ultimate reward of this realm remains unclaimed.”]

[”Look upon the top of the Pyramid before you! Hovering at its peak rests the Academy’s Mandate—a supreme decree forged from the foundation stone of our academy’s core spatial array. This mandate grants its holder the absolute, undisputed right to formally charter an independent student faction, lay claim to an entire city within our vast territory, and automatically collect daily Dao Points generated by the prosperity of your domain! For those who already lead established factions, acquiring this mandate will increase your dao points distribution and expand your sovereign borders!]

[”However, the stairs leading to the top of the Pyramid are protected by ancient gravity and soul-pressing formations. Only those disciples who have accumulated at least 10,000 Trial Points, earned specifically through the righteous act of saving, protecting, and relocating the native servants that we sent to this realm—possess the qualifications to set foot upon the stairs and climb to the top!”]

[”If you possess the required points, step forward and climb! Fight for your glory, prove your dominance, and claim the mandate for your path! And if you do not, then kindly exit the dimension, for you have no place here.”]

The ancient voice faded into the wind, leaving behind a heavy, electric silence that hung over the entire trial world.

Across the vast forests, mountain ranges, and deserts, every elite student who held enough points looked toward the glowing green beam of light rising from the pyramid, their eyes burning with intense, unbridled ambition.

Shen Haoran stopped in his tracks, looking up at the towering black pyramid in the distance, the emerald light reflecting off his calm, deep eyes.

Then, a smooth, subtle smirk touched his lips, as if he thought of something interesting.

”There is only one token, meaning everyone who wanted it will have to fight for it,” Haoran murmured softly, his tone filled with amused intrigue. ”It seems the academy elders truly know how to incite a proper test.”

He thought of the battle for the Heaven’s Will, was this the Academy’s way of training its student to prepare them for the appearance of the Heaven’s Will?

How interesting. This academy truly deserves to be called the best academy in the empire.

He turned his head slightly, glancing at Shen Xinye, whose posture had instantly sharpened, her eyes locked onto the distant structure.

”Now, this trial suddenly got a lot more interesting, don’t you think so?” Haoran spoke smoothly, stepping forward as his dark robes fluttered gently in the wind. ”Let’s go, Xinye. Everyone should be gathering in that pyramid soon.”

”Mn!” Shen Xinye nodded firmly, clutching her Imperial Artifact crown securely as she fell into step right beside him, the two of them transforming into twin blurs of light as they sped across the desert dunes toward the center of the world.