Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

The morning sun over the Shen Clan’s Main City shone brightly, bathing the jade-paved boulevards in a golden radiance that seemed to amplify the inherent wealth of the world’s most powerful lineage.

The three-week-long feast was already ending, and many people have already started to leave, with only those who have business left to do remains.

"So you’re leaving?" Haoran asked, his voice a calm, low resonance as he walked.

He held his hands hidden within the broad, silk sleeves of his black-and-gold robes, his pace leisurely yet commanding.

Walking beside him were Luo Mingye and Xia Mengyao.

The atmosphere between them was no longer one of distant royalty and humble guests; the events of the kiosk had forged a strange, unspoken bond that simmered just beneath the surface of their polite conversation.

"Yes," Xia Mengyao replied, adjusting the sword-belt at her waist. "We left our sects in a hurry after the initial news of the tournament reached us. We only informed our elders through a frantic letter. If we stay away much longer, the Sect Master will assume we’ve been kidnapped or worse. So we really can’t stay out for long, despite the hospitality of the Shen Clan."

"My grandfather will absolutely kill me if I don’t show up for the Zither-Soul training this time," Luo Mingye added, letting out a long, dramatic sigh before taking a large, unladylike bite of a meat skewer she had snatched from a passing street vendor. "He’s been threatening to lock me in the Soundless Grotto for months."

"Is that so?" Haoran replied, a faint, amused smile touching his lips. "Then be careful on your way back. The roads are becoming restless with the rumors of the wilderness. Though I want to ask, are the two of you planning on attending the Imperial Academy next year?"

"Absolutely," Xia Mengyao nodded without a second of hesitation as her eyes lit up with a warrior’s hunger. "That is the gathering place for every genius in the Central Region, after all. To miss it would be to miss the chance to truly measure oneself against the heavens."

Haoran nodded, his gaze distant, as if thinking of something. "Yes, that too. But you must know that the academy is more than just a school. They will also open portals to countless ’Lower Realms’ for the students to train in—realms that are essentially isolated playgrounds of chaos. Some of those places house the legacies of Supremes from the Ancient Era, things that have been forgotten by the modern world."

"I know that one well," Luo Mingye chimed in, waving her skewer for emphasis. "My grandfather actually obtained his primary legacy, the ’Zither of the Mourning Moon,’ in one of those lower realm trials when he was a student. It’s where most of the Imperial Capital’s powerhouses find their foundations."

Xia Mengyao was about to speak, likely to mention her own sect’s history with the Academy, when she stopped, her brow furrowing as she noticed a growing commotion further down the street.

"Huh? What’s that? The crowd is getting quite loud."

Haoran stared into the distance.

There, a hundred yards away, a group of Shen Clan branch descendants and their high-ranking servants were forming a dense, cheering circle.

The sound of jeering laughter and rhythmic clapping echoed off the jade walls of the surrounding mansions.

Curious, and slightly annoyed that his walk was being interrupted by a street brawl, Haoran decided to check it out.

Luo Mingye and Xia Mengyao followed closely behind him, their hands instinctively resting on their respective weapons.

In the middle of the circle, the atmosphere was thick with hostility.

Ye Feng, the man who occupied the enviable yet dangerous position of being the husband to the 4th Crown, Shen Xinye, stood face to face with a branch descendant who looked ready to draw blood.

"Huh! A dog like you actually dared to come here and even participate in the feast? How laughable!" the Shen Clan descendant laughed, his voice dripping with aristocratic venom.

He was dressed in expensive blue silks, his Qi fluctuating at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

"A mortal trash eating at the same table as the Shen lineage? It’s an insult to our ancestors!"

"So what? There isn’t any rule written on the city gates saying I can’t come," Ye Feng said, his voice remarkably calm.

He stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, looking entirely unimpressed by the posturing of the noble before him.

Inside, however, Ye Feng was cursing his luck with the intensity of a thousand suns.

’Why did I stay?!’ he screamed at himself. ’I just wanted to see the tournament and maybe snag some of that high-grade spirit food for my storage ring. How did I get dragged into this clichéd ’bully the son-in-law’ scenario? I knew I should have gone home after the first day! Why did I stay for the entirety of this three week feast?!’

"A useless mortal like you?" the descendant sneered, stepping closer until he was inches from Ye Feng’s face. "Just stepping foot in the Shen Clan Domain is a blessing that should have you on your knees in gratitude. But you actually dared to come here, into the Main City itself?! Don’t think that just because you managed to trick Shen Xinye into marrying you that you have the same authority as her! You don’t deserve her at all! You’re a blemish on her reputation!"

Ah, Ye Feng finally realized the root of the issue.

This man didn’t care about the fact that he was a mortal attending the feast, instead, he was likely one of the many suitors who had been rejected by the cold and beautiful 4th Crown.

And he was just taking out his romantic frustration on the "easy target", the poor old mortal husband of Shen Xinye.

’Well,’ Ye Feng thought, his eyes narrowing, ’if you don’t want to be polite, then I don’t have to be a victim.’

"So what if I don’t deserve her?!" Ye Feng grinned, a sudden, sharp edge appearing in his voice. "The fact remains: I’m the one married to her, and you’re the one shouting in a street like a jilted concubine. That’s that."

Before, Ye Feng might have been genuinely afraid of a Golden Core expert.

But now? After several weeks with his own secret Sign-in System, his confidence had reached a new peak.

As long as a Saint didn’t personally descend to crush him, he was confident in his ability to flee—or even win.

The rewards he had received from his Sign-in System were no joke!

His inventory even contained a Peak Nirvana Rebirth Experience Card, a trump card that, for a whole ten minutes, would allow his power to reach the absolute zenith of the Nirvana Rebirth realm.

He could flatten this entire street with a wave of his hand if he truly wanted to.

"You bastard! You deserve to die!"

Just then, the jeering crowd suddenly went silent as a cold chill swept through the circle, and the people at the back began to scramble out of the way.

"Y— Young Master!?"

"It’s Young Master Shen!"

"What!? Who!? Move, move!"

"It’s Young Master Shen Haoran!"

At the sound of the name, even Ye Feng and the branch descendant froze as they turned their heads as the circle of people surrounding them suddenly parted, creating a wide, respectful opening.

There, Shen Haoran was walking toward them as he moved with a grace that made the jade tiles beneath him seem unworthy.

Behind him, the two beautiful heroines followed.

"What’s going on here?" Haoran asked, his frown deepening. "Didn’t you know that fighting and public disturbances are strictly forbidden in the Main City? Are you trying to prove the branch families are as undisciplined as they say?"

"Y-Young Master... I was just... he... he’s a mortal!" the descendant stuttered, his face turning pale as he immediately dropped to one knee, his arrogance vanishing like smoke. "He doesn’t deserve to be here!"

Haoran stared at him for a single, terrifying second, and the man went silent, his breath hitching.

Then, Haoran turned his gaze toward Ye Feng.

For the first time in a long time, Haoran’s expression shifted to one of genuine confusion.

He analyzed the man before him and found out that this so-called Ye Feng was... ordinary.

Too ordinary.

In a world where every servant had a trace of Qi and every noble radiated an aura of pride, this man felt like a blank space in reality.

’He just said, that this guy is... a mortal?’ Haoran thought, his golden eyes narrowing. ’No. Even a mortal has a presence. This man feels like he has been professionally scrubbed of all significance.’

Honestly, he looks like someone who would stand in the middle of a crowd shouting that he is ’just an ordinary man’ just to blend in—which is the most suspicious thing someone could possibly do in the Shen Clan.

Who is he?

"Young master! Please don’t believe him! He attacked me out of nowhere just because I am married to Shen Xinye!" Ye Feng immediately said, his back cold from fear.

He had seen the tournament, and he knew just how absolutely terrifying this man before him is!

Even if he has a system, it won’t amount to nothing in the face of someone who can command Heavenly Saint Realm experts!

Besides, his dream was to hug the thighs of his wife and enjoy a carefree and debauched life in this new world!

Offending the young master of the arguably strongest family in the universe would surely erase that dream!