Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

”So, have you considered my offer...Su Xishi?”

”Apologies, Lady Da Xiaomi,” Su Xishi spoke, her melodious voice ringing out with crystalline, lighthearted clarity that cut cleanly through the brooding gloom of the hall. ”I prefer to live a free and spirited life. I have no interest in romance, so I would like to decline.”

Da Xiaomi frowned, her purple fox ears twitched as her fox tail stopped swinging, the lazily swaying tail froze mid-arc, its tip bristling with a sudden, sharp discharge of dark qi that snuffed out three of the nearest candles.

The mature fox woman narrowed her purple eyes, leaning forward, resting her chin upon a pale, manicured hand decorated with sharp, lacquered black nails.

”You possess the most honorable bloodline amongst fox-kin, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox,” Da Xiaomi said, her voice dropping into a low, purring octave that carried the suffocating weight of an ancient demonic grandmaster. ”A supreme, mythical existence that has not walked the mortal plane since the ancient times. Meanwhile, my son possesses my Nether Spirit Fox bloodline alongside the bloodline of the White Dragon Emperor, Chen Feng. Your union would surely be blessed by the heavens!”

Da Xiaomi’s tone hardened, laced with the unyielding insistence of an ambitious mother.

”A marriage between the Nine Tailed Demon Fox and the White Dragon’s prime seed! The child born from your union would inherit the supreme constitution of dragons and the boundless spiritual charm of the highest celestial foxes! It would be a peerless genius capable of reigning over both the beast domains and the human empires! How can you brush aside such a glorious destiny for the childish whim of ’freedom’?”

Su Xishi just smiled, and did not answer.

She kept her hands politely folded within her wide, peach-trimmed sleeves, her gaze steady, her smile placid, beautiful, and completely impenetrable.

Beneath that polite, angelic mask, however, Su Xishi was sneering with cold, boundless mockery.

’Blessed by the heavens? A glorious destiny? What a joke.’

Her thoughts drifted back to the chaotic beginning of this ordeal.

The memory was still sharp in her mind.

That violent spatial turbulence had torn through the battlefield like an executioner’s axe, separating her from her companions and spitting her battered body out into the dark, poisonous marshlands of this demonic borders.

Weakened from the battle and spatial displacement, her spiritual sense disoriented, she had been encircled by the patrol squads of the Demonic Lotus Sect.

Stripped of her storage rings and artifacts, she had been dragged in iron chains straight into this very Gothic hall, forced to kneel before the reigning Nether Spirit Fox matriarch.

Thankfully, they didn’t know about her being from the upper realms, so she wasn’t killed on the spot.

But the moment Da Xiaomi’s spiritual sense had probed her meridians, the mature fox woman had nearly lost her mind in ecstatic disbelief.

The pure lineage of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox hummed within Su Xishi’s blood like a golden star!

To an ordinary fox kin that had languished on the fringes of the territories, possessing such an apex ancestral bloodline was an opportunity granted once in ten thousand years.

So without hesitation, Da Xiaomi immediately asked Su Xishi to be her disciple.

Which, because she wanted to survive, she agreed on the surface.

Su Xishi was no reckless, hot-headed fool who screamed of pride while a blade was at her throat.

She understood the golden rule of the cultivation world: when one is weak, one bows, smiles, and sharpens one’s claws in the dark.

She had readily accepted the tea ceremony, bowed her head, and called this purple-eared fox her ”Master” with all the sweet, obsequious deference of a devoted junior.

And for five long years after that, she had played her role to flawless, terrifying perfection.

She attended every ceremonial sacrifice, smiled sweetly at the grotesque elders, mastered the sect’s auxiliary demonic techniques while secretly refining her own arts, and performed every mission with ruthless, graceful efficiency.

Her prestige among the disciples soared until she was formally crowned with the Black Lotus diadem, elevated to the sacred position of Saintess, commanding thousands of demonic cultivators beneath her hem.

Unfortunately, another trouble came.

Da Xiaomi actually wanted her to marry her son!

No way!

Su Xishi’s inner voice screamed with venomous revulsion, her nails digging into her palms hidden inside her sleeves.

Even though she’s from a dual cultivation sect back in the Tian Yuan Empire, that doesn’t mean she’d casually just dual cultivate with someone!

She wanted to be like her real master, the Sect Master of Blissful Immortal Coupling Palace, and reach the Supreme Emperor realm.

Most people were profoundly ignorant.

Once they heard the words ”dual cultivation”, they will immediately envisioned vulgar, lecherous brothels where cultivators rolled in the mud, throwing away their vitality for shallow physical pleasure.

What an utterly blind fools.

The true, supreme path of the Blissful Immortal Coupling Palace was the exact opposite of vulgar hedonism.

They cultivate the ancient, divine art called Pristine Primordial Yin! It taught the philosophy of total, transcendent emotional detachment—using the illusion of intoxicating beauty and supreme spiritual charm to toy with the desires of the entire world, while one’s own physical body remained completely pure, untainted, and untouched.

So to cultivate that to its peak, she had to remain chaste.

Her master, the peerless Empress of the Immortal Coupling Palace, had stood at the pinnacle of the Supreme Emperor realm precisely because she had cultivated the Art to absolute perfection.

Her primal yin was an unbreached celestial furnace; not a single drop of her foundational female essence had ever been leaked to a mortal man!

Of course, it is true that most disicples cannot resist the temptation and fall into depravity, but Su Xishi isn’t like that!

The moment she surrendered her virginity, the pristine circulation of her ancient nine-tailed divine core would crack, the pure celestial light of her cultivation would be muddied by foreign yang, and her path to the Supreme Emperor threshold would be permanently severed.

Why would she give up her future just for some guy from this backwater realm?

To throw away her dreams of immortality, to discard the sacred teachings of her real master, just to become the breeding tool of a regional demonic lineage in a dilapidated, lower-plane swamp?!

She would rather slit her own throat and burn her soul into ash!

Besides...

Su Xishi’s heart gave a sudden, involuntary thud, a fleeting, breathtaking image flashing across her mind.

If she had to lose her virginity, then it can only be with someone like Shen Haoran.

The young master of the Shen Clan, the terrifying monster completely suppressed this generation, whose eyes held the cold, untouchable majesty of an emperor looking down upon a world of dust.

A man whose strength could split the heavens, whose presence made ancient gods tremble, and whose peerless yang vitality was purer than the celestial stars.

Only a supreme apex predator like that, a man who stood above all living things, was worthy of conquering her!

CREEEEEEAK—

Just then, the heavy, iron-studded obsidian doors at the rear of the throne room opened.

The hollow echo of boots against polished marble broke the tense silence, and a handsome man with silver hair and purple eyes walked in.

He moved with a quiet, graceful confidence, his tall, slender frame clad in high-collared robes of midnight-blue silk embroidered with subtle, coiled white dragons along the sleeves.

His hair was a striking, luminous silver that framed a face of delicate, aristocratic elegance, carrying the sharp, noble jawline paired with the soft, mesmerizing contours of the fox-kin.

His eyes, a pair of fathomless pools of deep, glowing amethyst, carried a refined, gentle sorrow that seemed entirely out of place in this bloody, demonic sanctuary.

This man is Chen Xu, the son of Chen Feng with Da Xiaomi.

He walked past the towering candelabras, his gaze flicking briefly toward Su Xishi with a look of quiet warmth, before coming to a halt directly at her side, facing the elevated throne.

”Mother, I told you, do not force her to marry me,” he declared, stopping beside Su Xishi.

His voice was firm, resonant, carrying the natural authority of a dragon scion, completely devoid of hesitation as he looked up at his mother.

”Sister Su has her own path, her own Dao to seek. Marriage is not something to be bartered like spiritual stones or sect territory. Besides, right now, I’m focused on my cultivation so I can help my father; I have no time for romance.”

Chen Xu clenched his fist inside his sleeve, his purple eyes burning with solemn, filial determination.

Da Xiaomi stared at him.

The mature fox woman looked at her son’s stubborn, resolute face, the firm line of his jaw, and the absolute sincerity in his eyes.

She let out a long, heavy breath, and sighed.

”You... Child... Haaa, alas.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, her plush purple ears drooping slightly in exhausted defeat.

She loved her son dearly; he was the proudest achievement of her life, the living proof of her bond with the White Dragon Emperor.

If the boy himself refused to accept the prize, forcing the issue would only breed resentment between them.

”You are old enough to decide things,” Da Xiaomi muttered, shaking her head with a weary, affectionate chuckle. ”You have your father’s stubbornness in your chest. Very well, your mother won’t interfere anymore. Go.”

She waved her hand dismissively, the wide violet sleeve fluttering in the candlelight.

Chen Xu cupped his hands and bowed respectfully before the dais.

”Thank you, Mother.”

He rose, turning his handsome face towards Su Xishi, offering her an easy, reassuring smile.

”Sister Su, let’s go.”

Su Xishi cupped her hands at Da Xiaomi, executing a flawless, graceful bow of sect decorum.

”Disciple takes her leave, Master.”

With that, she turned on her heel, her white and peach skirts fluttering like blooming petals as she left the throne room with Chen Xu.

*

*

*

Outside the grand hall...

The oppressive, suffocating gloom of the throne room was replaced by the cool, refreshing mountain air of the inner sect peak.

A sprawling, open-air bridge carved from translucent white jade spanned between the central palace and the floating lotus pavilions, suspended high above a sea of rolling, purple-hued spirit clouds.

The moon hung round and luminous in the twilight sky, casting a silver sheen across the winding waterways of the gorge below, where giant, dark purple spiritual lotuses bloomed upon the water like floating lanterns.

Su Xishi took a deep, liberating breath of the mountain breeze, feeling the lingering tension completely drain from her shoulders.

She then turned towards Chen Xu, her ruby lips curling into a bright, genuine smile. ”Brother Chen, thank you back there.”

Chen Xu slowed his pace, walking beside her along the jade balustrade, his hands tucked loosely behind his back.

He let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh, shaking his head, ”Don’t mention it, Sister Su. In truth, I should be the one apologizing to you. My mother means well, but her temperament has always been... aggressive. She sees everything through the lens of bloodlines, alliances, and sect preservation. She doesn’t understand that a free spirit cannot be locked in a gilded cage.”

”Oh?” Su Xishi tilted her head playfully, her eyes sparkling with mischievous, fox-like amusement as she leaned lightly, peering up at him. ”If Lady Da Xiaomi hears you, she might double your daily meditation hours in the ancestral pool.”

”Please, spare me,” Chen Xu chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender, his handsome face lighting up with relaxed warmth. ”If I spend another four hours soaking in that freezing Nether-spring, my skin will turn into an icicle before my cultivation even advances. I already have to dodge the elders’ lectures about breathing every morning; having my mother chase me with marriage scrolls is simply too much for my fragile heart to bear.”

Su Xishi chuckled softly, a clear, chiming sound that seemed to make the blooming lotuses below sway in delight. ”A young dragon who dares openly defy the Sect Master in her own throne room claims to have a fragile heart? You sell yourself short, Brother Chen. I suspect if a real battle came, you’d charge into the front before anyone else could even draw their swords.”

”Only if it’s to protect what matters,” Chen Xu replied softly, his tone softening into a quieter, more earnest one.

He looked at her, his purple eyes reflecting the moonlight, taking in the exquisite, untouchable beauty of her face, the way the night wind stirred her midnight bangs, and the radiant, independent fire burning in her pupils.

”I know you don’t belong here, Sister Su,” he murmured, his voice gentle as falling leaves. ”You have a light in you that doesn’t fit the shadows of our demonic valley. You dream of the sky, of realms far beyond this border. I would never want to be the chain that ties you to the earth.”

Su Xishi’s smile remained bright, though a faint, subtle trace of appreciative distance entered her eyes.

She knew him well enough to know he was being entirely sincere.

Chen Xu was gentle, noble, and fiercely loyal—far too pure-hearted for a demonic sect, and infinitely better than the arrogant, lecherous scions who usually populated the Imperial Academy.

In an ordinary world, a maiden would have considered herself blessed beyond measure to have such a man look at her with such tenderness.

’Unfortunately,’ she mused quietly, ’I am not an ordinary maiden.’

”The sky is vast, Brother Chen,” Su Xishi said smoothly, taking half a step backward, creating that polite, insurmountable chasm of sect etiquette between them. ”And we all have our own stars to chase. I should return to my pavilion now, the spiritual essence of the full moon is ideal cultivation tonight.”

Chen Xu blinked, the subtle, unspoken boundary falling between them not escaping his sharp perception.

His smile faltered for a fraction of a heartbeat, but he quickly recovered, cupping his hands with flawless, gentlemanly grace.

”Of course. Do not let me keep you from your cultivation. Rest well, Sister Su.”

”You as well, Brother Chen,” Su Xishi smiled, offering a crisp, elegant bow.

With that, she turned on her heel and glided down the winding jade bridge, her robes billowing gracefully as her slender silhouette gradually melted into the soft purple mist of the southern pavilions.

Now standing alone upon the high bridge, Chen Xu didn’t move.

The mountain wind howled softly around his robes, fluttering his silver hair across his brow.

Chen Xu stared at her receding back, his purple eyes full of gentleness and love—an unrequited, bottomless affection that he had buried deep beneath his ribs for five long years.

He loved her quick wit, her untamed pride, her radiant laugh, and the fierce, burning independence that refused to bow to his mother’s throne.

He loved her so much that he was willing to stand before the entire sect and lie through his teeth, claiming he had no time for romance, just so she would never be forced into a cage she despised.

He watched until the last flutter of her white sleeve vanished beyond the bamboo gates and sighed.

The sound was heavy, quiet, and laden with the bitter, lingering ache of a dragon who had fallen in love with the wind—knowing all too well that the wind could never be caught, and would never stay.