Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

”SHEN HAORAN!”

The thunderous vibration of that detested name lingered like venom in the blackened basin.

The air above the ruined White Dragon Sect hissed, its spatial fabric torn by the sheer, unbridled fury radiating from Chen Feng’s newly forged Saint physique.

His fists were clenched so tightly that droplets of blood dripped from his palms, sizzling like burning hot embers as they struck the pulverized stone beneath his boots.

Every nerve in his body screamed for immediate, bloody vengeance.

He wanted to tear through the clouds, rip apart the imperial canopy of the upper heavens, and drag Shen Haoran down into the dirt by his throat.

But he knew he couldn’t do that yet. He still need to find his wives and parents.

He closed his eyes, forcing the raging, tempestuous river of Saint-qi back into his dantian.

The crimson haze in his vision gradually receded, replaced by a cold, calculating stillness.

Blind rage was a weapon meant for fools, and a genius from the upper realms like Shen Haoran never moved without leaving behind intricate webs of death.

If the White Dragon Sect had been reduced to a mass grave, if his parents and Xun Xie’er were missing from the Celestial Dragon Vault, and if Bing Wuxian had vanished into thin air, then the entire Ancient Heaven Star was already caught in an invisible, tightening noose.

”...For now, I need people. It’s inconvenient doing everything myself.”

His mind immediately thought of another woman.

And the mere thought struck his heart with the force of a divine hammer.

Da Xiaomi—the brilliant, proud, captivating matriarch of the Demonic Lotus Sect who had secretly bound her fate to his before ascension.

And their child, Chen Xu, his flesh and blood, a boy who had been forced to grow up under the shadow of his father’s prolonged absence.

If Shen Haoran was methodically pruning every branch, root, and ally associated with his name, then the Demonic Lotus Sect would undoubtedly be the next throat under the executioner’s blade!

A cold panic, far sharper than any personal fury, seized his chest.

So without hesitation, Chen Feng extended his right arm, his fingers tearing into the empty air with raw, spatial mastery.

The fabric of reality shrieked as a towering, jagged rift of dark silver light ripped open before him, revealing the turbulent currents of the void.

He stepped through without a second thought, crossing hundreds of thousands of miles across the continent in the span of a single, desperate heartbeat.

Whoosh!

The spatial tear spat him out high in the upper atmosphere, where the heavy, purple-tinted clouds of the city of the Demonic Lotus Sect.

His perception expanded downward, washing over the city, the walls, and the sprawling courtyards of the Demonic Lotus Sect.

The grand pavilions were standing.

The dark lotus pagodas reached toward the sky undamaged.

The black defensive stones were unscorched, and there were no smoking craters or pulverized mountain ranges like the nightmare he had just witnessed in the north.

It was untouched. The calamity that had erased the White Dragon Sect had seemingly bypassed this isolated sanctuary.

He sighed in relief.

”...Now, I need to talk to Xiaomi first.”

A subtle ripple distorted the space in front kf him as he disappeared.

And in less than a second, Chen Feng materialized on the crimson carpet of the central aisle, his aura suppressed to silence.

He frowned. ”Who are you? And why are you sitting there?”

The grand seat of authority—a magnificent throne that Chen Feng had personally helped made for Da Xiaomi before, was not occupied by the familiar, voluptuous silhouette of that woman.

Instead, a completely unfamiliar figure sat upon it.

Her hair fell like cascades of pure, spun moonlight across her slender shoulders, contrasting sharply with the dark velvet cushions of the throne.

Perched atop her head were two delicate, snow-white fox ears that twitched faintly with subconscious alertness, while a long, plush, pristine white fox tail curled loosely around her slender waist, its tip resting against the polished jade armrest.

She was draped in layers of flowing, celestial silk robes that accentuated her breathtaking, ethereal beauty, possessing features so delicate and intoxicating that they seemed sculpted by an artisan god.

It was Su Xishi.

Underneath her outer layer of poise, however, Su Xishi was still nursing the chaotic churn of spiritual essence in her dantian.

But the very moment Chen Feng appeared, she froze, as the air in the grand hall instantly dropped below freezing.

Su Xishi’s entire body locked in place, her fox ears pinning flat against her silver hair in a pure, instinctive reaction of primal prey detecting an apex predator.

Even though Chen Feng had concealed his overt Saint-level energy, the sheer, crushing density of his presence warped the ambient spiritual qi, suffocating the breath in her lungs.

Her sharp spiritual senses, honed by years of unorthodox cultivation, screamed at her that the man standing before the throne could casually tear the hall and her soul to shreds with a flick of his finger.

Her heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird, but decades of treacherous sect politics forced her panic beneath the surface.

But she quickly managed to calm down.

Taking a good look, she realized that this is the same guy that Haoran had humiliated when they first descended here.

’...Has he ascended to Sainthood?’

Rising from the grand jade throne with practiced, liquid grace, Su Xishi lowered her head, gathering her wide, embroidered sleeves before her chest.

She stepped down from the dais with light, rhythmic steps and offered a deep, demure, and entirely flawless Daoist bow.

”This junior, Su Xishi, greets the exalted senior White Dragon Emperor,” her voice was melodious, smooth as flowing silk, hiding the violent trembling of her soul beneath a veneer of respectful reverence.

Chen Feng ignored, his eyes bore down upon her like twin burning suns, utterly indifferent to her celestial beauty, her charming fox-like features, or her polished courtesies.

His voice was heavy, carrying an unyielding, gravelly authority that reverberated through the very stones of the palace, shaking her spiritual sea.

”I asked a question,” Chen Feng said, taking a single, slow step forward. ”You sit on the throne of this sect. Who are you? Where is Da Xiaomi? And where is my son, Chen Xu?!”

Su Xishi’s body suppresed the shudder as her mind went into overdrive, her thoughts spinning at terrifying speed, processing the fatal reality of her predicament in a millisecond.

Shen Haoran had just killed Da Xiaomi.

Shen Haoran had also killed Chen Xu

And she, Su Xishi had accepted Shen Haoran’s command to manage the enslaved ruins of this very sect while he was off on his conquest.

If Chen Feng discovered that Da Xiaomi had been murdered by Haoran...

If he discovered that the elders of this sect were acting normal outside but actually branded with a forbidden imperial slave brands burned into their skulls...

If he realized that she had willingly opened her legs to his greatest enemy—Chen Feng would not merely kill her, he would rip her soul out of her physical body and burn it for ten thousand years!

Survival. She had to survive. She had to construct a lie so seamless, so grounded in their existing relationships, that it would completely deflect his suspicion and send him far away from this mountain he noticed anything strange!

As she quickly came up with an answer.

”So it’s you, exalted father-in-law, please forgive this junior’s blind eyes!” Su Xishi suddenly cried out, her voice dropping into a tone of breathless, emotional revelation as she dropped to her knees, bowing low with profound piety.

She raised her head, her delicate purple eyes glistening with expertly feigned moisture, perfectly balancing fear, relief, and filial respect.

”I am Su Xishi, the Saintess of the Demonic Lotus Sect! For the past 8 years, under the personal decree of Sect Master Da Xiaomi, I was secretly betrothed to Brother Chen Xu! We took the ancient vows before the ancestral shrine, so I am Chen Xu’s rightful fiancée!”

She paused, letting the fabricated revelation settle before hurriedly delivering the critical misdirection with desperate, trembling earnestness.

”Years ago, dire news reached our mountain regarding the strange silence surrounding the Celestial Dragon Vault and the disappearance of your honorable parents! Mother Da Xiaomi was beside herself with grief and worry! She refused to sit idly while the Chen clan’s fate hung in the balance. Taking Brother Chen Xu with her, she mobilized the elite vanguard and set out toward the northern rifts! Before departing, she specifically left the sect’s grand seal and the administration of the inner mountain in my care, commanding me to hold the fortress and maintain the disciples until they returned with news of you and your parents!”

Every syllable fell from her lips with absolute, impassioned conviction. She painted the picture of a dutiful, loving daughter-in-law holding the home front while her mother-in-law and betrothed braved the wilderness to rescue their family.

Chen Feng’s expression softened.

The suffocating killing intent that had permeated the throne room slowly dissipated.

The icy chill in the air dissolved, replaced by a warm, sorrowful sigh that parted Chen Feng’s lips.

Looking at the beautiful, snow-haired girl kneeling earnestly on the stone floor, his sharp scrutiny dissolved into profound relief and familial warmth.

A fiancée for his son... his little Chen Xu had already grown into a man capable of taking a wife, of shouldering the responsibilities of a grand lineage.

And Da Xiaomi, loyal and fiercely protective as she had always been, had immediately charged into danger the moment his parents went missing.

It made complete sense. Why else would this vixen beauty be seated upon the sect master’s throne with full administrative authority, if not by the explicit command of Da Xiaomi herself?

”Stand up, child,” Chen Feng said, his tone turning remarkably gentle, carrying the dignified warmth of an elder greeting his son’s future bride. ”You have carried a heavy burden in our absence. Maintaining an unorthodox sect during times of great upheaval is no easy task. You have done well. Guard this mountain, protect our people, and maintain the sect well until we return.”

Su Xishi bowed her forehead to the ground once more, hiding the cold sweat that was drenching her inner garments.

”This junior shall guard the Demonic Lotus Sect with her life, father-in-law!”

Chen Feng smiled and nodded, ”Then, I shall be taking my leave.”

A subtle silver flicker passed through the hall, and Chen Feng vanished from the chamber as if he had never been there at all.

The moment his presence completely faded from the mountain range, Su Xishi’s legs gave out.

She collapsed backward onto the cold stone floor, panting heavily, her chest heaving violently beneath her robes.

Her long white fox tail wrapped tightly around her trembling knees, its fur bristling with residual fear.

”Heavens...” she gasped, pressing a trembling palm against her racing heart, her forehead dripping with cold perspiration. ”A Saint... Those damn old fogies said that Saints couldn’t be born here...what the hell...”

She had danced on the edge of the abyss.

A single slip of the tongue, a single suspicious movement, and she would have been obliterated into dust.

She had survived by the narrowest margin imaginable, feeding the desperate father a web of lies that bought her, and Shen Haoran’s interests, precious time.

*

*

*

High above, thousands of feet above the sea of clouds, Chen Feng stood upon the winds, his hair fluttering against his determined face.

The brief reunion with his son’s fiancée had provided the first ray of light in the suffocating darkness that had enveloped him since his return.

His family was not dead; they were definitely still alive.

The only clue he has now to finding his parents was Da Xiaomi and Chen Xu, so he decided to search for them.

If Da Xiaomi had taken Chen Xu to trace his parents’ footsteps, she would not have walked the common paths.

So he decided to try the only place in the world that is most likely to be searched, the desolate desert.

It is an endless expanse of scorching wasteland spanning millions of miles, filled with ancient ruins from the mythological era, subterranean dragon dens, and fierce spatial anomalies where even high-level cultivators frequently lost their way.

His eyes flared with resolve as the space around his boots folded inward like crushed parchment.

Without hesitation, he flew straight towards the place.

BOOM!

A terrifying sonic boom shattered the upper atmosphere.

Chen Feng transformed into a brilliant streak of silver lightning, slicing through the clouds and tearing across the continent, charging relentlessly toward the scorching dunes of the desert to track down his wife, his son, and the truth behind his family’s peril.