Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

”CHARGE!”

”KILL THEM!”

Shen Xun’er grinned, her sharp purple eyes locking onto the surviving soldiers surging through the lingering smoke and ash.

Her smile was wide, fierce, and brimming with unadulterated combat excitement.

The approaching guard battalion was in a chaotic disarray, after all, they were already severely weakened, traumatized, and heavily injured after suffering the horrific carnage of Shen Bai’s high-grade killing formation, so their morale was very low.

Not to mention their spirit armor was cracked, their weapons were dripping with their comrades’ blood, and their dantians were depleted from desperately trying to shield themselves from the terrifying killing formation.

The only reason why they are still able to charge like this is because of their loyalty and trust towards General Chen.

Shen Xun’er, on the other hand, was still in her top condition.

Her dark emerald martial robes fluttered in the warm night wind, her breathing completely calm, and her pristine Nascent Soul qi coursing through her meridians like a raging, uninhibited river.

Without a single second of hesitation, she kicked off the branch beneath her boots, accelerating straight toward the frontline of the approaching soldiers.

BOOM!

The ground beneath her feet shattered into spiderweb fractures as she blurred into a green phantom streak.

”Die, you brat!” a high-tier Nascent Soul officer shouted, stepping forward with his broadsword raised, channeling his remaining wood-element qi to execute a heavy downward slash straight at her head.

Shen Xun’er didn’t even bother to pull out any artifact, and as the broadsword came crashing down, she lowered her center of gravity, ducking beneath the weapon’s trajectory with fluid, terrifying grace.

She then slid right inside the officer’s guard, her right fist coiling backward near her hip as dense, vibrant green dragon scales temporarily manifested across her skin.

”Rising Dragon Talon!” Shen Xun’er roared, eyes burning in fervor!

ROAAAAAR—!!!!!

She unleashed a violent, brutal upward uppercut straight into the officer’s chin, and the moment her fist struck his jaw, her dense martial energy materialized in the form of a radiant, thirty-foot green eastern dragon rising furiously into the heavens.

The phantom dragon roared, its razor-sharp spiritual whiskers and fangs tearing through his protective helmet, shattering his jawbone into fine powder, and blasting his body fifty feet straight into the air.

Before the officer’s blood could even splatter onto the stone floor, Shen Xun’er spun effortlessly on her left heel, her body becoming a blur of continuous, fluid martial motion.

Three more guards lunged at her simultaneously from the left, right, and rear, their spears and sabres thrusting forward in a synchronized execution strike.

”Too slow!” Shen Xun’er laughed wildly, her voice echoing with pure, dominant thrill.

She leaped high into the air, her slender legs launching into a rapid, sweeping series of aerial spinning kicks that generated an absolute vortex of atmospheric pressure.

”Twin Dragon Hurricane!”

WHOOOOOOSH—!!!!!

Her high-speed spinning kicks fused her martial intent with elemental law, causing her legs to project two immense, intertwined phantom dragons—one composed of deep azure tempest energy and the other of brilliant, emerald life-tearing force.

The twin dragons coiled around each other, forming a spinning hurricane of dragon-shaped strike arcs that swept across the entire thirty-yard radius around her.

BANG! BANG! BANG! CRACK!

The twin dragon hurricane smashed directly into the three attacking guards.

Their spears snapped like dry twigs, their chest armors were utterly pulverized, and their ribs fractured into dozens of sharp fragments as the violent rotational kinetic force sent them flying backward, crashing through two heavy stone buildings before slumping into lifeless heaps.

Shen Xun’er landed lightly on her toes like a nimble feline, her green-scaled knuckles glowing with a lingering draconic power.

She didn’t pause for even a single breath of air as the moment her boots tapped the earth, she propelled herself directly into the thickest concentration of the panicked soldier ranks.

A squad leader tried to rally his men, raising a heavy iron tower shield to form a defensive wall.

”HOLD FORMATION! SHE’S JUST A SINGLE GIRL! SPEARS FORWARD—”

”Single girl am I!? Don’t underestimate me just because I’m a girl!” Shen Xun’er shouted, sweeping her right leg across the ground in a low, crushing leg sweep. ”Coiling Dragon Whip!”

As she roared and attacked, a colossal, hundred-foot emerald dragon tail made of compressed martial energy manifested behind her leg, sweeping across the cobblestones like a battering ram.

The heavy iron tower shield, along with the twelve guards holding it, was violently swept off their feet, the massive energy tail crushing their knee joints and sending them tumbling wildly through the air like scattered leaves in a typhoon.

”Mon... Monster!” a young guard stammered, dropping his sword with trembling hands as he backed away in pure terror. ”She’s not human! This girl is not human!”

”Where do you think you’re looking?!” Shen Xun’er’s voice echoed right beside his ear.

Before the guard could even turn his head, she thrust her open palm directly against his breastplate.

”Roaring Dragon Blast!”

BOOM!

A miniature, golden-green dragon head exploded out from her open palm, its shockwave passing cleanly through his heavy steel armor without damaging the metal, yet completely shattering his heart and internal meridians into liquid paste on the inside.

The guard’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed onto his face without letting out another sound.

Moving like a storm goddess among sheep, Shen Xun’er unleashed one battle technique after another.

Every jab, kick, palm thrust, and sweeping leg strike manifested the majestic, terrifying phantom figures of eastern dragons—azure, emerald, jade, and dark gold—that roared, tore through flesh, shattered spirit weapons, and pulverized the remaining soldiers.

She was like a force of unbridled physical destruction, turning the weakened, retreating soldiers into nothing more than shattered corpses under her dragon scales.

”R-Run!”

”Run! This woman is unstoppable!”

”Hahaha!” Shen Xun’er laughed, watching the enemies retreat.

She didn’t give chase. After all, her battle techniques cost quite a lot of qi, and she’s not like Huo Yue or Shen Ying that can just swallow pills like it’s a snack.

Although those two made pills look like common weeds, they were actually truly uncommon.

She stopped laughing, wiping the sweat from her chin, ’Damn, I need to rest.’

However, at that exact, critical moment, she suddenly felt a sharp, bone-chilling cold prickling the skin on her back, and a silent figure suddenly materialized right beside her, a razor-sharp obsidian dagger already pointed directly at her exposed neck.

Her eyes widened in pure, paralyzing horror, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks as her blood ran completely cold.

It was far too late to dodge—the cold edge of the blade was already pressing against her skin, milliseconds away from slicing open her throat!

SWISH—!

SWOOOSH!

Before the hidden enemy assassin could complete the lethal thrust and kill her, Shen Hei appeared out of thin air from the shadows right behind the attacker and cleanly beheaded the enemy in a single, silent flash of his dark blade.

A fountain of dark crimson blood sprayed into the night air as the decapitated body collapsed heavily onto the blood-stained cobblestones.

Shen Xun’er instinctively took a rapid step back, heavy drops of cold sweat pouring down her back, soaking through her emerald martial robes.

She was so terrifyingly close to dying that she was still in profound, breath-robbing shock, her chest heaving up and down as her heart hammered violently against her ribs.

She stared down at the twitching, headless corpse lying in the dirt, her hands trembling slightly.

She couldn’t help but think that if it wasn’t for Shen Hei’s instantaneous intervention, the one lying there as a lifeless, bloody corpse right now would definitely be her.

Shen Hei turned his head slightly, frowning deeply at her through his dark hood, his eyes cold and critical. ”You seem a bit distracted lately. Normally, you wouldn’t be this unguarded on a live battlefield.”

Unguarded? Yeah... she definitely was.

Lately, ever since the academy trial ended, her mind had been almost constantly in a daze, pulled away by dark, creeping thoughts she couldn’t seem to shake.

But she doesn’t want to talk about it. Not here, and certainly not to him.

Shen Hei didn’t press her any further. He turned his gaze back towards the remaining disorganized enemies, his dark mantle fluttering silently.

”Don’t just stand there staring. We still have enemies to kill.”

With that, his body dissolved into liquid darkness and he vanished into the shadows once more.

Then, right under Shen Xun’er’s stunned eyes, Shen Hei began a silent, terrifying slaughter—beheading enemy after enemy while seamlessly disappearing into their own shadows.

He moved like a living nightmare, reappearing behind officers and soldiers, slitting their throats or taking their heads before sinking back into the darkness beneath their boots.

The terrifying rate at which he slaughtered the enemy battalion far surpassed her own loud and exhausting martial arts.

Then, a short distance away, Shen Bai slowly stood up from his kneeled position, having finally rested his depleted meridians and formed another killing formation on the ground.

Although this new array was much weaker and smaller in scale than his initial formation he used to ambush them, it was still more than enough to easily deal with the exhausted, heavily injured, and low-morale enemies left on the field.

SWISH! SLASH! BANG!

Slowly, the surrounding soldiers were screaming in utter despair as the new killing formation activated its spectral blades, slowly killing them one by one until none of them were left alive on the avenue.

Then, at that exact moment...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!

A massive, apocalyptic explosion occurred in the high sky above.

The towering four-armed red Spirit Avatar of General Chen shattered completely into millions of fading sparks, and Shen Ying came floating down through the smoke, riding her dark crimson dragon fire and coming out completely victorious.

Shen Xun’er subconsciously clenched her fist tightly until her knuckles turned white, her fingernails biting painfully into her palms.

Just like Shen Hei said, she is indeed a bit distracted lately.

And it was because... after the academy trial concluded, she painfully realized a harsh, suffocating truth: amongst the Crowns... she was not that special at all.

She doesn’t have the extraordinary Alchemist talent of Shen Ying, who could casually throw together volatile cauldrons to bridge entire cultivation realms.

She doesn’t have the grand talent of a master Formation Master like Shen Bai, who could lock down an entire army with a flick of his wrist.

She doesn’t have the brilliant talent of a grand Artificer like Shen Cai, who could forge cannons that shattered souls.

She doesn’t have the terrifying talent of an assassin and shadow arts like Shen Hei, who moved unseen in the dark.

She doesn’t have an indestructible Sacred Physique like Shen Ji and Shen Fei, making them immovable fortresses.

She doesn’t have the legendary Supreme Bone like Shen Jian, destined for martial dominance.

And she certainly doesn’t have such heaven-defying, unheard-of talent to create their own completely independent cultivation system like Shen Tao.

In fact, amongst all the Crowns in Young Master Haoran’s inner circle, she was the one who was the closest to Shen Xinye.

Because just like her, Shen Xinye didn’t possess any jaw-dropping special talent or divine body, so they naturally bonded over their shared, mundane standing.

But now, during the trial, Shen Xinye actually received the ancient, complete inheritance of a legendary Supreme Emperor—a great being who had actually managed to shoulder the Heaven’s Will and ascend to true Immortality.

In a single night, Shen Xinye had leapt far beyond their shared status, inheriting a divine destiny.

What does that leave her, Shen Xun’er? What was actually special about her?

Her strength? Her martial arts?

The bitter truth was that the only reason why she was able to hold the rank of 6th amongst the Crowns in the past was simply because those ranked lower than her didn’t bother or want to use their true, deadly trump cards during internal sparring matches.

When it comes to a true, uninhibited fight for survival, she was undeniably the weakest of the Crowns.

Just like Shen Ying, if she really wanted to, taking the third or fourth seat amongst the Crowns was no trouble for her.

Even Shen Bai could probably take the second seat if he was given enough time to prepare his formations.

And now, standing in the middle of the blood-stained, silent battlefield, surrounded by the overwhelming genius of her peers, a cold, dark terror settled deep inside her chest.

At this rate... would she eventually be left behind?

Would she one day become completely useless... and be abandoned by Young Master Haoran?