Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Shen Xinye opened her eyes and found herself standing on a cliff, with signs of battle clearly visible all around her.

The ground beneath her boots was scorched black, deep gashes carved into the ancient stone where terrifying blasts of Qi had cleaved through the rock.

Wisps of acrid smoke still drifted lazily into the crisp air, smelling faintly of burned blood and ozone.

She frowned, her brows knitting together in sudden anxiety. Did the young master already fight that guy?

The mere thought made her heart plummet into her stomach.

Shen Haoran was powerful, yes, but for whatever reason, she just can’t stop worrying about him.

Panic surged through her veins as she immediately ran towards the stairs, wanting to reach the top as fast as her legs could carry her.

Her feet blurred across the shattered stone steps, her breath coming in fast, sharp gasps as she bypassed broken columns and crushed ancient talismans scattered along the ascent.

After a while, she reached the top.

She burst onto the summit’s wide, circular peak and skidded to a halt.

There, she saw Shen Haoran was standing, his posture relaxed, arms tucked casually inside his wide sleeves.

His golden hair swayed gently in the mountain breeze, and he was smiling warmly at her as if he had just been out for a casual afternoon stroll in a peaceful garden.

However, beside him, there was a gruesome, headless corpse slumped against a cracked stone pillar, blood still oozing lazily from its severed neck into a dark, pool on the ground.

"You made it. Congratulations," Haoran smiled, his voice as smooth and unbothered as ever.

He motioned with a slight nod toward the ancient altar behind him, where a blinding, miniature sun was floating motionless in mid-air, radiating immense heat and profound spiritual pressure.

"Go, this is your reward."

"Young master..." Shen Xinye stared at him, her eyes wide with a mix of utter relief and profound awe as a soft, genuine smile broke across her face. "Thank you."

Haoran simply chuckled, but said nothing further, maintaining his quiet, enigmatic demeanor as he stepped back to give her space.

Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, Shen Xinye steadied herself and immediately walked towards the altar.

The air grew exponentially hotter with every step she took, the oppressive heat singing the edges of her clothes.

She reached out her hand, hesitating for only a fraction of a second, and slowly touched the miniature sun.

At first, there was nothing. The miniature sun felt oddly solid, like smooth, warm jade under her fingertips.

Then, without warning, it glowed so brightly that she was forced to close her eyes as a blinding white light engulfed her entire vision, swallowing her consciousness whole.

When she opened her eyes again, the smell of scorched stone and blood was completely gone, replaced by the heavy, rich scent of burning ambergris and exotic lotus incense.

And she found herself standing in the center of a majestic throne room of impossible scale.

Towering pillars carved from solid white jade supported a ceiling painted with cosmic constellations that seemed to subtly shift and move.

And on a towering golden throne in front of her sat an incredibly handsome man.

He had long, shimmering white hair that fell like liquid silver over his shoulders, and he wore majestic gold and silver robes embroidered with intricate spatial runes.

Golden accessories glinted at his wrists and neck, and a delicate golden crown rested atop his head.

He sat majestically, leaning back with one leg crossed over the other, giving her a mischievous, teasing smile.

"We meet at last, successor of mine," he purred, his voice reverberating through the vast hall with effortless charisma.

Shen Xinye blinked once. Twice. And then, hearing that painfully familiar, infuriatingly annoying tone of voice that had been nagging her in her mind throughout her journey, her eyes widened in absolute shock.

"What the hell?!" she shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at the figure. "You’re that old pervert!? How come you’re so handsome!?"

The Binding Emperor threw his head back and let out a rich, booming laugh that echoed off the white jade pillars. He ran a hand through his silky white hair, striking an excessively dramatic posture on his golden throne.

"Ah, the eternal curse of my existence!" the emperor boasted loudly, his voice filled with overwhelming, shameless pride. "You gaze upon the divine perfection that brought the entire ancient world to its knees! Do you truly think a lesser face could have conquered the known realm? It was this exact visage, this peerless, heaven-defying countenance, that allowed me to sleep with every single peerless woman of my era!"

He leaned forward, rest his chin on his palm, his eyes glittering with unholy delight as he began to brag.

"They called me a tyrant, a scoundrel, a thief of hearts! Faction masters locked their daughters in divine array towers, yet they still leaped out of windows just to spend a single night in my arms! Ah, the empresses! The holy saints! I took them all!"

"Take Saintess Liu of the Heavenly Ice Sect, for instance—a woman renowned across three thousand continents for being an unapproachable, icy immortal. Do you know what happened when she laid eyes on this face? Her icy domain melted into a puddle! Ah, her skin was as white and smooth as warm cream, her breasts so big and miraculously soft that resting my head upon them felt like sinking into divine clouds! And when I held her close, she was so deliciously moist, trembling in my arms while begging me not to leave before dawn!"

"Or Empress Ji of the Nine Sun Empire!" he continued, gesturing wildly with a jeweled hand, entirely unbothered by Shen Xinye’s horrified expression. "A fierce warrior queen who commanded armies of millions! In public, a terrifying monarch of fire and steel; in my private chambers, a purring kitten! Such magnificent, voluptuous curves! Her hips were wide, her thighs tight and velvety, and the way she flushed red when I touched her... absolutely heavenly!"

He sighed dramatically, placing a hand over his heart as if reminiscing about a sacred treasure.

"And let us not forget the Jade Lotus Fairy, Fairy Xuan! The most virtuous woman in the righteous path! Her waist was so supple, her bosom so full and firm, perpetually glistening with sweet sweat as she succumbed to my charms! Moist, tight, and warm beyond measure—every single one of them! None could resist the Binding Emperor!"

"I’m not interested!" Shen Xinye roared, her face turning bright red—half from extreme embarrassment and half from sheer, unadulterated fury.

She covered her ears, stomping her foot so hard the marble floor vibrated. "Shut up! Shut up! Just give me the darn inheritance!"

The emperor laughed uproariously at her reaction, utterly delighted by her annoyance. "Hahaha! Very well, very well! Impatient, aren’t we? A true seeker of power!"

With a grand, sweeping gesture of his wide, embroidered sleeves, the majestic throne room shattered like glass.

The reality around them folded and twisted, the white jade pillars and golden throne melting away into a vast, boundless pocket dimension.

In an instant, the environment changed completely.

Shen Xinye’s jaw dropped as her sight was overwhelmed by mountains—literal, soaring mountain ranges—of unimaginable wealth.

Towering peaks made entirely of sparkling gold coins, refined spirit stones, and brilliant diamonds stretched as far as the eye could see.

Beside them were vast hills formed from ancient bamboo scrolls, jade slips containing forgotten Emperor-grade martial arts, and glowing talismans.

To her left, fields of legendary thousand-year herbs and divine medical plants grew in rich, glowing soil, filling the air with a fragrance so potent it made her spiritual energy surge just by breathing it in.

To her right, colossal piles of glowing pills were stacked like pebble beaches, alongside armories of high-grade spiritual artifacts, divine swords, and legendary armor that hummed with terrifying ancient power.

The Binding Emperor floated gracefully in the air above the vast sea of treasure, his golden and silver robes fluttering, arms spread wide as if presenting a kingdom.

"Here lies the accumulated wealth of my glorious life!" the emperor declared grandly, his handsome face beaming. "Every pill, every technique, every artifact that built my legend! You are my chosen successor—take whatever your heart desires! Pick as much as you want, little girl! A single mountain, or all of them!"

Shen Xinye remained silent and stared at these mountains of treasures, her mind momentarily short-circuiting as she looked at the incomprehensible fortune laid out before her.

After a while, Shen Xinye took a deep breath, calmed herself, and began to walk through this mountain of treasure.

Her footsteps echoed softly across the shimmering terrain as she navigated between soaring mounds of top-tier spirit stones, stacks of priceless ancient talismans, and rows of legendary Saint grade weapons resting casually in the dirt.

However, she didn’t even stare at these treasures, completely ignoring the glowing pills and radiant artifacts that could turn an ordinary martial artist into a dominant lord overnight.

Instead, she walked with a singular, unwavering focus, going straight to the Binding Emperor.

The emperor blinked, his confident smirk wavering slightly as he watched her pass up a fortune that could buy three mortal empires without so much as a glance.

Before he could utter a word of confusion, Shen Xinye reached out her hand and immediately grabbed his crown right off his long, silver hair.

She held the intricate golden ornament tightly in her hand and grinned up at him. "You said I can take anything I want, then I’m taking this."

The emperor blinked once again, frozen in utter surprise. Then, he threw his head back and laughed loudly, his voice ringing through the boundless pocket dimension. "Oh! Now, this is new. Everyone’s usually so afraid to get close, as expected of someone from the Shen Clan."

Shen Xinye blinked, "You know of our clan?"

The Emperor nodded, "In my era, they are a powerful clan filled with lunatics. Although they weren’t an Immortal Clan then, they were still top tier force despite having no Supreme Emperor guarding them. But enough that. Why did you choose this?"

Shen Xinye also decided to not dwell about the past and turned the crown around in her palms, admiring its subtle, mysterious warmth. "I don’t know. I just feel like I need to take this. Like, this is the most important treasure here."

The emperor stopped laughing. He stared at her in silence for a long moment, his piercing gaze scanning her soul, before he softy chuckled.

"You are not wrong."

Shen Xinye smirked at that, tossing the crown lightly into the air and catching it firmly. "Then I will be taking this."

The emperor stared at the crown in her hands, his playful demeanor vanishing into a look of quiet, nostalgic reflection as he let out a long sigh. "Did you know, once you ascend to Immortal rank, you will have to discard your physical body? So technically speaking, I have died."

Shen Xinye stopped fiddling with the crown and stared at him, listening intently to every word.

"That crown was my Natal Artifact," the emperor continued, his tone carrying the immense weight of countless millennia, "but it was broken during the battle for the Heaven’s Will. When I emerged victorious, I obtained a true Immortal Artifact similar to it, and no longer needed it. But obviously, I couldn’t bear to part with it. It had bled with me, fought with me, and conquered the world with me."

He paused, a faint, melancholic smile touching his lips. "So I collected the shattered parts, and created nine different artifacts with them. That crown is one of them. The rest were scattered across the lower and upper realms over time. If you want to take the crown, you can... but I have a request. Please find the other parts."

Shen Xinye locked her eyes straight onto his and nodded solemnly, her voice steady and resolute. "I will."

The emperor remained silent for a moment, letting her promise settle in the vast expanse of the spatial realm.

Then, the somber atmosphere shattered as a brilliant, arrogant grin burst across his ridiculously handsome face.

"Good! Now, is that all you wanted to take?"

Shen Xinye nodded without hesitation. "Yeah."

The Emperor chuckled, shaking his head at her utter lack of greed. "Fine. That crown still contains a spiritual library that has some of my techniques, and other knowledge, so you can take a look whenever you please."

Suddenly, the space around them began to crack and splinter like brittle glass.

Brilliant golden light ruptured through the realm, signaling that the inheritance trial had officially come to an end and her consciousness was being pushed back into the mortal world.

"Ah, time’s up!" The Binding Emperor struck a sweeping, overly dramatic pose, throwing one hand over his eyes as if swooning, while his majestic gold and silver robes billowed dramatically in a non-existent wind.

"Farewell, my lovely successor!" he announced in a ringing, theatrical boisterous voice, his white hair flowing wildly. "Go forth and shock the universe! Spread my glorious legacy, conquer the heavens, and above all else—never forget to appreciate true beauty! If you happen to meet any stunning holy maidens, tell them the handsome Binding Emperor sent you! Ah, I shall miss my own dazzling face!"

Shen Xinye’s solemn mood instantly evaporated.

Her jaw dropped in sheer disbelief, her eyebrows twitching violently as she stared at the ancient legendary figure currently whining about his own handsomeness like a toddler losing a toy.

"You narcissist old pervert!" she yelled, her voice straining as the golden light enveloped her entire vision, pulling her away from the pocket dimension. "Get lost already!"

The Emperor’s booming, delighted laughter was the very last thing she heard before the dimension vanished completely, leaving her consciousness to snap back into reality.

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