Cultivator’s Path to Infamy [Progression | Cultivation | Villain Lead]

Arriving at his plot, he saw that right in front of the formation entrance, the disciple stood up from his chair, put it back into his ring, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared intently at him.

'I completely forgot about him...' Reducing his speed, An began to walk slowly toward his plot, trying to ignore this buffoon.

"Stop!" The disciple blocked his path with a dissatisfied face.

Seeing his path blocked, An simply turned his gaze toward him and stopped, looking at him with an innocent and confused expression.

"You! Just a few hours ago! How dare you ignore me? Do you even know who I am? And who I represent?" Puffing out his chest and raising his chin as he looked down at An, the inner disciple began to threaten him.

"I apologize if that offended you. I was urgently called to the Outer Hall, and I didn't have time to figure out who you were. Besides, people get robbed here often, and it usually looks similar to what just happened." An with an innocent face spread his hands and shrugged, as if it wasn't his fault at all.

"Really? That happens? Wait! I'm here on orders!" The inner disciple quickly stopped himself, returning to business.

"My senior brother Hill Shtern, a core disciple, has decided to extend a helping hand to someone like you, and orders you to become a staff alchemist for his support group! You must understand! Such an honor doesn't come to many, only to the chosen ones!" Punching his own chest, arrogance poured over the edge.

The more this disciple spoke, the more arrogant and pompous he sounded. By the end of his speech, he even averted his gaze to the horizon and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Um, unfortunately, senior brother... How should I put this... Some time ago, I was already approached and offered to join a core disciple's group, and I was forced to agree, so... I'm truly sorry!" An began shaking his head and sighing deeply, casting a sad, sideways glance at the disciple before him.

"What?! Who! How?! When?! Who was it?! Which core disciple?! Who dared to stand in the way of the Great Moon Swordsman!" The disciple's face changed, and his eyes filled with blood.

He stared at An, on the verge of grabbing him by the collar and shaking the answers out of him.

"Um, I don't remember exactly, but they called her Senior Sister Lou, I think." An scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

"How dare she!" Raising his head to the sky, the disciple roared fiercely.

"We'll see who gets whom! You! Sit and wait here! That's my order to you!" Pointing his finger at An, he walked past him, shoving him with his shoulder.

"Senior brother! Wait, there's something brown on your nose, don't forget to wipe it off." An called out to him, and when the disciple turned to him, with an innocent smile, he pointed his finger at his own nose, showing where the supposed dirt was.

"Hmph!" Snapping, the disciple abruptly turned around and, taking out a flying sword, stepped onto it and immediately soared into the sky, trying to discreetly clean his nose, attempting to remove the ‘dirt’, but realizing there was nothing there, he still kept rubbing his nose, afraid of being wrong and ultimately losing face in front of others who might mock him if they saw a spot on his nose.

"A fool indeed..." Shaking his head, An passed through the formation and opened the gate.

'I have at most a day, maybe two... I need to get everything done in that time. And after that, it won't matter if they stand at my door for months...' He understood that shifting the blame and creating temporary confusion was his only option.

He couldn't just knock out this disciple as that would create far more problems in the future and, on top of that, create enmity with an entire group belonging to a core disciple.

In the confusion scenario, even if the groups realized that he had deceived them, they wouldn't openly start a feud, as that would mean admitting to other core disciple groups that they had been fooled by a single disciple, especially one like him.

"Baldi! I'm moving. Are you coming with me or not?" Entering, he immediately saw the rooster sitting next to his planted spirit plants.

"Bok-bok? Cluck!" Hearing and understanding exactly what this young man was saying, the rooster jumped up, nodded a few times, and ran up to him, following him without leaving his side.

Seeing his reaction, An smiled slightly.

‘I need to keep the plant roots intact.’ Approaching the planted plants, he began scanning them through the earth, trying to understand how far the roots had spread. Understanding what and how, he slowly, using his Qi Blades, began cutting around the roots to extract the plants with cubes of earth.

Slowly and carefully, he began placing them into his pouch.

‘Eh... I'll need to buy some bags for the future... So much dirt inside now...’ Looking into the pouch, he tensed slightly, watching particles of earth fly around the entire interior.

Having collected all the spirit plants, he headed toward the wine cellar.

‘Eh, I just made you... Alright, I won't dismantle you, I'll just take everything from inside. Maybe the future disciple who's lucky enough to live here will make something of you.’ He changed his mind about completely demolishing the cellar; instead, he merely opened the lid, took out all the bottles and the pill buried in the ground, then closed it back up.

Surveying the plot, he waved his hand, and his stove, maintaining its form, was pulled toward him and flew into the pouch.

"Cluck."

Lowering his head, he saw Baldi pointing his wing toward the shore, toward the fishing rod stuck in the sand.

Smiling, he pulled it over and put it into the pouch as well.

‘I think that's everything.’ Looking around, he realized that after such a long time spent here, he didn't have that many things.

"Heh, I hope the new disciple who settles here won't hold it against me..." Looking at the house missing one wall, at the several small collapsed structures, he smiled and, turning around, walked toward the exit.

"Bok-bok?"

Leaving the plot together with the chicken, An picked him up and carried him under his arm like a sack of grain.

"You clearly don't have any bloodline ability related to speed... And besides, I'm not sure you even have any bloodline at all. So with your speed, it's easier for me to carry you. Besides, I'm not sure that belly of yours would even let you run more than a few meters."

"Bok-bok…" Hearing the bitter truth, Baldi lowered his head and began to quietly crow under his breath, with sadness mixed with irritation and resentment at the bluntness of this heartless young man.

"Hold on tight!"

"Cluck?"

BOOM!

"CLAAAAAK!"

Activating his Qi to its maximum, An launched from his spot, tearing through the air around him.

He rushed toward the main staircase leading up to the Inner Platform.

Not expecting such terrible speed, Baldi's head, unable to withstand the G-forces, was pressed hard against An's shoulder, and due to the strong pressure, he couldn't even move it. The piercing sound of tearing air around them muffled the chicken so much that his head began to hurt. The only thing left in the bird's power was to scream in fear.

Flying across the Outer Platform, completely ignoring the shouts of people around, An circled the entire complex and rushed toward the base of the stairs.

Without any hesitation or second thoughts, without slowing down or descending to the ground, he began to climb upward through the air, using his Qi Legs and Qi Clouds techniques.

Climbing higher and higher, passing through the thick layers of clouds, he finally saw massive walls over a hundred meters tall looming before him, heavily overgrown with vines, plants, and small spirit beasts.

At the end of this massive staircase, stood closed gates and two huge statues of armored stone monkeys with spears, standing guard.

Flying closer and closer, he felt the foundation of a formation right before the massive wall. Reading the information from it, he understood that it was only defensive, restricting flight above the gates.

"Stop! On what basis has an outer disciple arrived at the Inner Platform gates?" Next to one of the statues, on a cushion, sat an old woman with a wrinkled face, yellow hair and eyes. In this pose, she looked too comical, especially considering she was very short and very plump, somewhat resembling Baldi.

If not for the blue robes she wore, An would have thought a large talking lemon was sitting next to him.

"I'm a new inner disciple, here for official status registration." He extended his personal plaque.

Extending her short and thick hand, the old woman pulled the plaque toward herself and began to check it.

"Ho! So young, and already a Practitioner of Alchemy! Not bad, not bad! Very well indeed…"

"What do you think about joining the Fallen Angels support group? Someone like you would be very useful to us! Hehe!" Without letting go of the plaque, the old woman smirked and examined the young man before her with greedy eyes.

"Thank you, but I've already accepted an invitation from another group." Without changing his expression, An forcefully tore his plaque from the old woman's hands using Qi.

Seeing it fly out of her hands, the old woman opened her eyes as wide as the dozens of wrinkles would allow.

"Hehe! What a pity. Which group, if it's not a secret?" With a smirk, the old woman tilted her head slightly.

"The Moon Swordsmen. Core disciple Hill Shtern's group." Having said that, he walked past her.

"Oho! The Moon Swordsmen?" Watching his back, specifically the fat chicken under his arm, the old woman smiled.

"Disciple An... Hmm, I think I will remember your name..." Watching him approach the huge gates, she muttered to herself.

"By the way, you can call me Old Vi, remember that for the future! And don't forget to come buy a beast pouch for your chicken! Hehe!" The old woman began shouting after him, so he would definitely hear.

"Bok-bok?" Hearing about the beast pouch, the rooster, still with his head spinning, turned with a puzzled look at An.

Ignoring both the old woman and the puzzled chicken in his arm, he approached the gates. Only upon approaching them, An saw familiar changes in the Qi around him, it was teleportation.

Stopping and examining the huge gates, he found many invisible runes across their entire surface.

Approaching closer, right before him on the gates, a spatial door appeared, on the other side of which he saw a huge stone platform with white slabs and dark red, gray inlays.

In the center of this platform, in the distance, he saw a huge building, several times larger than the Outer Hall. On either side of the structure stood a huge number of similar constructions, just as massive in scale.

All the structures were designed in the same style: huge white blocks with red columns at their bases, with dark green or light green roofs. All the buildings were decorated with various patterns and figures made of precious metals, making each, though similar, building unique.

Taking a step with his eyes closed, An felt a radical change in Qi: its density, its purity, were many times different from what was on the Outer Platform and in the Trading City.

Opening his eyes, he was already standing in the very center of this Platform.

‘This isn't Hope Peak... This is a completely different place.’ Turning around, he saw behind him, seven huge teleportation gates, arranged in a circle in the center of the platform. Each gate led to one of the Sect's peaks.

Turning his head, he saw behind him the largest building on the Platform, with a huge sign: Sect Inner Affairs Hall.

The structure was built in exactly the same style, but without any patterns, only two huge flags with the image of a floating island in the clouds.

Continuing to turn his head, he finally saw the signs on each building.

On the right side of the Sect Inner Affairs Hall:

Hall of Justice: a building decorated with the Sect's flags, like the Main Hall. On both sides of the main gates, rows of statues slightly taller than a person, with different types of weapons. On the walls, a huge number of sheets with missions for capturing or eliminating cultivators committing evil acts on territories belonging to the Heavenly Soul Sect.

Hall of Martial Arts and Instructions: what immediately caught the eye were the palm prints, fist marks, and blade cuts on the building's walls. Under each such mark, the name of the trace's owner was left. What was unique about this structure were the columns at its base. They were made in the shape of swords and spears. The outer side of the roof visually resembled a bow at rest.

Next to the Hall of Martial Arts and Instructions, a wide path made of red stone led to two huge towers, their length exceeding everything around. On one, a sign reading:Tower of Trials. Made in grey tones, but in the same style as the other buildings. However, its ancient appearance made it clear that the building was much older than the others.

The second tower was the Tower of Comprehension, built in the shape of a very thin cultivator sitting in a lotus position.

Farther to the right, several paths led through forests to huge structures visible above the treetops of colorful trees. And closing the right side of the Platform were two paths: one leading to the Inner Disciple Abodes, and the second to the Inner Reserves Abodes.

‘Inner Reserves... If I'm not mistaken, these are inner disciples who have reached Foundation Establishment and have not chosen the path of becoming elders, but continue to pursue the path of cultivation.’ An examined everything in detail with curiosity, every building, absorbing everything new around him.

Having looked over most of the buildings on the right side of the Platform, he turned back to the Sect Inner Affairs Hall and began studying the left side of the Platform.

Scripture Archives: the walls were decorated with patterns of scrolls and writing instruments. The base columns were carved in the shape of rolled scrolls.

Three huge buildings connected into one with a huge sign reading:Artifact Hall. Each of them was made of metallic materials, yet visually they did not differ from the rest of the surroundings. Everything was decorated with forges, forging tools, and items typical of this craft. At the main entrance to the central building of the three, flags with a sledgehammer and anvil, surrounded by clouds, fluttered in the wind.

Next to the three Artifact buildings stood a smaller building, located almost adjacent to them. The Engraving Workshop, a hall with teachings on runes. All the walls and floor around the building were covered with millions of runes, each one periodically lighting up and fading, creating a very dim, muted effect reminiscent of flickering fireflies.

Hall of Formations and Talismans: a very long building, divided in half by a strip of talismans glued to the wall. Half of the Talisman Hall was covered in glued talismans, each for a different purpose and made from different materials, indicating the rank of that talisman. Right under this wall, a huge number of inner disciples were sitting and studying these talismans. Along the length of the second half of the hall, a massive serpentine chain of text stretched around the building, weaving a unique formation. Each separate part of this snake was a separate written explanation of a formation, and this entire snake consisted of hundreds of thousands of such small explanations of individual formations.

Hall of Spirit Beasts: was a building that more closely resembled a huge pen with massive open gates everywhere. All the walls were decorated with images of different spirit beasts. At the main gates lay a huge lion over several dozen meters long, and even lying down, its height was over five meters.

"Cluck."

Feeling the pressure from the beast, Baldi, frightened, hid his head between his wings, following the logic: If I don't see it, it doesn't see me either.

Examining the huge lion with interest, while several inner disciples were feeding it, An averted his gaze further.

Alchemy Hall: a huge long building with a slightly different design. At the base of the structure, were huge grey boulders protruding from the ground. All the walls were covered with different colored sheets.

Looking closer, he realized that these were missions for alchemists: white sheets, for Apprentices, yellow for Practitioners, grey for Masters.

He expected to see many disciples next to this wall, grabbing missions, but in reality, no more than a dozen people were examining these tasks.

But what greatly surprised him, was how the sheets were torn from the walls and flew inside the Alchemy Hall through the main gates, and new sheets flew out to meet them and attached themselves to the empty spots on the wall. Even though there was nothing special about this, he was specifically surprised by the structurization of the process, which he had not seen on the Outer Platform.

Further along the left side, was a very wide path, most likely leading to the fields with spirit plants, according to the sign on the wooden gates above the path: Gardens of the Heavenly Soul.

And after this path to the Gardens, everything was completed by the same two paths leading to the Abodes.

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