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

After a few minutes, finally pulling himself together, An opened his eyes and relaxed his tensed body. His gaze became neutral and cold, but deep within, one could still make out the suppressed, yet still present, fear and panic.

Looking at the body lying next to him, he stared at her for a few more minutes, examining her already cooling body. For a moment, An thought he was looking at a doll, not a once-living person.

Pushing himself up from the ground with his hands, he stood up and walked toward her. Each step was heavy. It felt as if enormous boulders were chained to his legs and back, dragging him down.

Approaching the body, An hesitated only for a moment, then, bending down, he began to remove all her belongings: torn clothes, a ring from her finger, a wooden bracelet, two chains with hourglasses around her neck. He removed everything using his Qi, afraid to touch any of the items directly.

Having stripped her completely, he enveloped her in his Qi, moving the body through the air, closer to his ruined shack.

His first idea was to burn her body, using Qi to increase the flame's temperature, scattering her ashes to the wind, but he immediately changed his mind. One reason, the strong fire and large amount of smoke, which might attract attention, even though he was on his own plot, protected by the formation. The second reason, he was afraid of leaving traces. In the end, he simply didn't trust the idea of burning the body.

Lowering the body to the ground, An sat down beside it and began thinking about what to do.

Suddenly, he activated his Qi. An again enveloped the body in his energy, expanding the already existing energy membrane around it. Making sure the membrane was even, he began using Frequency Control.

Creating several additional points on the membrane, An began selecting the correct frequencies, both at those points and across the entire membrane, with different oscillations.

Using these vibrational frequencies, he began to compress the body. First into the shape of a vessel, then slowly into a deformed ball.

Listening to all the cracking of bones, the bursting of blood vessels, and the horrible wet sounds, An's face changed color several times.

With a pale face, he finally managed to compress the body into a pill shape, no larger than a volleyball.

The next step, the most important, as An considered, was to erase all traces of Yan Eli's energy from this meat ball.

He began destroying any flows emanating from the ball, but this turned out to be much harder than he thought. Erasing one Qi flow, another would take its place. An couldn't understand why he wasn't succeeding. Trying many times, and realizing it was useless, he stood up and walked to the lake.

Enveloping his legs and hand in Qi, he directed a small mass of his energy into this pill-shaped thing and drew his arm back.

"HA!" With all his might, holding nothing back, he hurled the meat ball into the lake.

Flying almost a kilometer, it fell into the water and began to sink very slowly. An stood on the shore, not taking his eyes off the spot where the ball had landed.

After a few seconds, he frowned, but continued to wait.

A full minute later, when the ball had finally sunk almost completely underwater, waves began to spread across the surface, and a thick cloud of bubbles started rising. Dozens of small fish began to appear, followed by larger ones, all trying to grab a piece of the meat ball.

Seeing this, An exhaled, and quickly ran to Yan Eli's belongings.

First, he lit his stove, and began tearing the clothes into small shreds, throwing them into the fire. When they had turned to ash, An tried again to destroy all the Qi with Yan Eli's traces emanating from the ash. After a few seconds, he had succeeded. Having destroyed all traces of her Qi, he gathered all the ash into a single pile using his Qi.

Once he was done with the clothes, he examined the remaining items: the ring, the wooden bracelet, the two chains with the pink hourglasses.

An decided to check the wooden bracelet first. Reading the information from the flows emanating from it, he understood that this was an artifact for cultivators with Fire and Water elements. All he could tell was that the artifact helped attract Qi particles of these two elements from the environment more efficiently.

Checking the bracelet several more times, An finally took it cautiously in his hand.

Putting it on his arm, An began a cultivation cycle, just for a moment. Realizing that the bracelet did not attract the Wood Element, he took it off. Just as he was about to put it into his pouch, he stopped.

'Who knows if she had a master, or what her clan is like… What if all her belongings were treated with some special technique? And due to my weak cultivation, I simply can't even find the traces of it…' An put the bracelet back with the other items.

'Her invisibility, through one of these artifacts… I could only see the chaotic connections between Qi in the spot where she stood, but not her Qi itself…' He knew that keeping the items was not safe, and didn't even pick up the hourglasses. He simply observed them for some time, making sure everything seemed to be normal, and then turned his attention to the ring.

"Hmm? Is this what I think it is? A spiritual ring, isn't it... Eh, too bad, I won't be able to keep it..." He kept flipping the ring in his hand, deciding to take just a quick peek inside.

Directing his Qi inside, he felt a barrier, blocking his entry. An intensified the power of his Qi, and pressed against the barrier.

Breaking through the barrier, with a strange pop, like a bursting bag, a view of the inside of the ring opened before him.

"Oh!" The first thing he saw was a huge pile of spirit stones. Without thinking, he poured them out onto the ground beside him. Continuing to search, he found several talismans and artifacts, but he didn't dare approach them with his Qi. He also found a huge number of daggers. With just a single glance at them, he immediately lost interest.

In one corner, there was a huge amount of clothing, underwear, and even several latex-like suits, with cutouts in strange places. Seeing this, he shook his head, and 'moved' on.

A little further from the suits and clearly leather whips, he found a huge pile of thick books. On the top one was written: Collection of the Best - Year 4608.

Seeing this, An suspiciously opened the book.

Seeing what was inside, his eyes went wide with surprise.

"Now I understand why she acted the way she did with Lin Xue... Even though it was suspicious from the very beginning, I thought her behavior was due to her character, not this..."

"Hmm." An clicked his tongue, and flipped a little further through the book. On each page was a gorgeous woman, sometimes even two, in various revealing poses, sometimes clothed, sometimes not.

Flipping through the first book, An noticed that underneath it, there were another twenty of the same size and type. So, he decided to flip through at least a few more books, to make sure they were all about the same.

Done skimming through the books, he sighed, shook his head, and continued looking through what else was inside the ring.

In the end, besides the pile of spirit stones, An also took out several spirit plant seeds. Everything else, he decided not to touch. Even if there were no tracking techniques on the items, he still couldn't, for example, sell these things. It was too risky and stupid.

Standing up from the ground, An gathered everything that remained of Yan Eli, even the ashes, into the ring and headed to the shore.

Enveloping the ring in Qi, he erased any traces of himself from it, wound up, and threw the ring into the lake.

As soon as the ring began to sink, An detonated one of the Qi particles on the ring, which he had deliberately left for this purpose.

Pop!

After a small pop, the ring flew even further. This repeated three times, until the ring had traveled several kilometers from the shore, and sank to the bottom of the lake.

An turned around and checked the plot. Finding any remaining traces of energy belonging to Yan Eli, he did everything to quickly erase them. Spending some time on this, he finally finished, as much as he was able.

Done with the cleanup, he walked to the center of the plot, where he had previously planted spirit plant seeds, and planted the new ones, from Yan Eli's ring.

While burying them, he remembered the seed he had bought at the gambling tent. He took the near-dead seed out of his pouch, which he had extracted from the stone. Squeezing the seed in his hand and directing his Qi straight into it, he planted it next to the other plants.

Tamping down the earth and converting his Qi to the Water element, he watered everything generously, and walked back to the pile of spirit stones.

"Cluck~"

Just as he sat down, he heard a quiet voice. Turning toward the sound, he saw Baldi's head sticking out of his burrow, looking at him with big eyes.

"You're safe now. It's all over." A tired smile appeared on his face as he turned his head back to the stones.

"CLUCK! CLUCK!"

Realizing it was safe, Baldi shot out of his burrow and started running around An, as if nothing had happened.

"Enough... Here." Not even having the strength to raise his voice, An took out several Kavana fruits and threw them next to the bird. As soon as Baldi saw them, he fell silent and quickly sat down beside him. Taking one fruit in his wings, hiding the others under himself, he began eating greedily, but quietly.

Ignoring the rooster, An began counting the spirit stones.

"500... 600... 627 stones... Isn't that a bit much for an outer disciple?" An muttered with bewilderment, looking into his own pouch at his two lonely, crooked, spirit stones.

With one quick movement of his hand, An put all the stones into his pouch. He exhaled heavily, and began to look around again, checking if everything was in order, if he had missed anything.

Just as he was about to start cultivating, he froze.

'Idiot! I forgot the most important thing! How did she find out my name and where I live?' He jumped up from his spot and began pacing in circles.

'Someone clearly helped her... Even if she bribed someone, that person knows who she was looking for.' An stopped dead in his tracks, and sweat again began to appear on his forehead.

'When her disappearance is discovered, even if the one who helped her doesn't come forward with the information... Fuuck!' An headed toward the gate. Running out, he headed straight for the Coliseum.

'If I'm in the Coliseum when the commotion starts, it could serve as my alibi.' He understood that if they started searching for Yan Eli, and someone said she had been looking for him, his alibi would fall apart, since the officers by the altars probably remembered he had left the Coliseum.

'What's even the point of this alibi… If someone suspects me, they'll just crack me open and read my memories.' Realizing the bitter truth, An's face crumbled, and he began to tremble again.

He began breathing deeply, trying to calm down. Just a few breaths in and out, and he finally managed to pull himself together. He came to the conclusion that even a bad alibi was better than none.

Arriving at the Coliseum, An went into the room with the Altar.

"You again… Give me your ticket and five spirit stones!" The Hall of Justice officer in the center of the group, seeing An, stepped forward and extended his hand.

An frowned and was about to ask why he had to pay spirit stones, when he stopped himself in time. This officer had already memorized his face, and if he started arguing, it could make things even worse, imprinting not just his face in the officer's memory, but his name as well.

He took out his ticket and five stones, and handed them over.

With a satisfied look, the officer checked the ticket, corrected it with his Qi, and handed it back to An.

"Now get moving, quickly!" Waving his hand at him, he stepped aside, letting him pass to the altar.

On the stands, the last row.

Opening his eyes after the teleportation, An turned and sat down in his old spot.

Once seated, he found it hard to focus fully on the battles in the arenas. All his thoughts were occupied by the previous events and by suppressing the panic that came to him in waves.

'Pull yourself together already! Stop acting like a fucking coward!' An clenched his hands into fists, so hard that his nails tore the skin of his palms. Blood began to slowly drip down his fists.

'It's already happened! If I had hesitated in that moment, or helped her when she was lying there dying, I would have been finished! I did everything right...' He closed his eyes, trying to return to that state of mind from when he was destroying the evidence, to that suddenly elusive calmness.

'My worries won't help me, not now, not then, not in the future! Even if I'm already a dead man walking, worries and trembling hands won't help me...' He understood that giving in to his fear and panic, that path only led one way.

He was fully aware that this would not be the last such situation. Ahead of him, many stones, both large and small, awaited on his path, and sitting down and withdrawing into himself would only make things worse.

Finally, having restored his breathing rhythm to normal, to just a few breaths per minute, he calmed down and opened his eyes. He managed to regain that calm and cold gaze, and deep within, the reflections of fear and panic were so suppressed that they had almost dissolved into that silence.

Staring at the ground for a long time, forgetting even to blink, An raised his gaze to the projection, which was now showing only one arena.

….

Arena number 1.

"Aaaaah~" Lin Xue's defenses could barely hold back the impacts of the enormous meteors falling from the sky. From the impacts and the pressure created around her by the raging Qi, Lin Xue fell to her knees, holding her ice shield with her last strength.

The skin on her hands began to crack from the energy passing through her shield. The temperature around her rose so high that her clothes began to burn, and she grew increasingly short of breath due to the lack of oxygen.

"Hehehe! I like this look of yours much better! Pathetic, weak and vulnerable! Just how I love it!" Devi Ali raised his massive axe with both hands...

"Outer Disciple Devi Ali, Primordial Purity Sect, is the winner!" The mechanical voice interrupted Devi's plan and teleported Lin Xue off the arena.

"Damn you! Hmph, even if you got lucky, I've memorized your scent... Hahaha!" Licking his teeth with burning eyes, Ali teleported off the arena, following his opponent.

….

Arena number 2.

Ruste Zen, sensing danger, instantly detonated his shield, and using the impulse from the explosion, flew backward.

<"Thank you, Teacher!"> Zen said in his head.

<"Don't get distracted! He's at the late stage, at the seventh layer, and you're only at the fifth. Don't let your attention wander even for a second! Don't take your eyes off him!"> The calm, slightly agitated voice of the old man sounded in his head. In response, Zen nodded, took several talismans from his ring, and attached them to his chest.

Immediately, five colorful membranes, each based on a different element, formed around him.

On the other side of the arena, his opponent, by the name of Dark Lu, waved his hand, clearing the smoke from the detonated energy shield away from himself.

Looking around, finding Ruste Zen, and seeing him applying talismans to himself, he smirked, and slowly, unhurriedly, began walking toward him. His whole demeanor exuding confidence in this battle.

"You… golden-haired upstart, do you think your worthless pieces of paper will help you? You know, all those rumors I've heard about your clan… I waited so long, wanted so badly to fight you. But so far, all I see is a worthless former noble with a pretty face and pretentious techniques… Come on! Show me something interesting! Show me the greatness of the Ruste Clan!" Clanging the blades of his axes together, he spread them apart, leaning on his right leg and tilting his body slightly forward. Dark Lu's eyes turned black.

"Hastening Death!" Like an arrow, spinning through the air, he flew straight at Ruste Zen.

"Shining Hope!" Zen took his sword in both hands, and activated his technique. The tip of his sword first ignited with golden flames, then with a bright white, blinding everyone who looked at it.

"HA!" Sensing the threat, Dark Lu stopped abruptly, and held his axes in front of himself.

"AGH! Bastard!" A wave of blinding white flame crashed into him, consuming him entirely, trying to melt both his defenses, his axes and himself.

Focusing his defense, Dark Lu, thanks to his high cultivation, managed to withstand the all-consuming flame. But what greatly alarmed Lu was the speed at which the flame was eating away at his defenses, and on top of that, the longer the flame raged on him, the stronger it became.

Just as Dark Lu was about to use his technique to destroy the flame, he threw a glance at the spot where Ruste Zen had been. Realizing he was no longer there, fear flashed in his eyes for a moment.

Scanning around himself with his eyes, he felt something approaching rapidly from behind. Ignoring the pain of his skin peeling away, he turned sharply to face his opponent.

"Dragon's Tail! Second Form!" Without wasting time, Ruste Zen increased his speed as he closed in and activated his strongest attacking technique.

"Ha!" Swinging his sword, a fiery wave burst from it, hurtling toward Dark Lu at tremendous speed.

Feeling the very air begin to boil, Dark Lu panicked. He could sense the furious power hidden within that strike. If not for the flame consuming his defenses, he could have blocked it without any serious problems, but now, he understood, he had no chance.

Activating all his Qi into his axes, he positioned one behind his back, ready to strike, and fixed the other in front of himself, to meet this fiery dragon's tail.

"I... I can't lose to a mid-stage bastard... Disgrace!" Expecting the impact of this attack, he suddenly felt a strong burning sensation on his leg.

Dropping his head down, he saw a small talisman attached to his leg, having bypassed all his defenses. "What the! Damn it!"

Just as he was about to tear off the talisman, the hieroglyphs on it lit up.

"Aaah!" He felt an electric charge travel from his leg straight to his heart, freezing him for a few moments.

"N-no…" Crumpling from the pain, he felt the skin on his face begin to crack from the furious heat, brought by the wave of energy in the shape of a dragon's tail, the very tip of which had already touched his chest.

"Outer Disciple Ruste Zen, White Dragon Sect, is the winner!" The mechanical voice rang out, not even giving Dark Lu a chance to slide off the barrier, into which he had crashed and almost broken the formation, losing consciousness in the process.

<"Thank you, Teacher! You were right, if an opponent is watching the hands, they won't think to look at the legs."> Ruste Zen thanked the teacher in his head.

<"Hehe, what good is a teacher if not to teach his best disciple?"> The old man’s chuckling echoed in his mind.

….

On the stands, among the crowd.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?"

"At the fifth layer, defeating a seventh-layer cultivator..."

"Ha! What's the big deal! I can do that too!"

"Shut up! You ugly thing! How dare you compare yourself to a genius like Ruste Zen? Huh?!"

"Who are you calling ugly?! You... you crooked-face!"

In the stands, everyone was in shock. Such things happen very rarely, when a cultivator two layers below can defeat an opponent, especially when different stages separate them.

Many admired Ruste Zen, but there were also many who watched it all with undisguised envy. They understood that his path after this Four Nights Festival would be like a walk in the park, without any difficulties, with an abundance of resources and techniques. Realizing this, they compared their own situations, and pure envy and dark thoughts filled their heads.

Spectators, dressed in luxurious robes adorned with precious stones, began taking out artifacts and sending messages to their clans and families, understanding that if they could build a relationship with this boy in advance, it could help their clans in the future.

….

On the stands, the last row.

Throughout the entire battle, An only watched the Ignito, the Immortal Flame, which Ruste Zen had integrated into his techniques.

What interested him was how the Qi worked during the execution of the techniques, specifically, the path the Qi took inside Zen's body.

Usually, a cultivator takes Qi from their dantian, redirects it through a specific path through their body, and 'releases' their energy outward, but not Zen.

He activates his Qi, releases it from his body outward, and immediately sends it back toward his heart, and then this same Qi exits his heart and is used in the technique. Only at the exit, the energy is already modified, denser and the presence of the fire element is more pronounced. An understood that the Immortal Flame was located in the heart, or somewhere in that area, near it.

He also noticed something else interesting, several times during the fight, a barely noticeable Qi flow appeared near Zen, the same kind he had seen during the Alchemy Tournament.

Afraid of a repeat, An did not try to read or even pay any attention to such flows. But he was now certain that Ruste Zen also had his 'cheat’.

"One with a system that gives him all sorts of goodies for breakthroughs. Another has a gramps in a ring and the Immortal Flame from the start... Eh... Main characters everywhere..." As soon as Ruste Zen and Dark Lu teleported off the Arena, the projection shifted its focus to another battle.

While watching the new battle, An began analyzing the Qi flows that had come out after being modified by the Immortal Flame in his head.

….

Arena number 4.

"You... are you trying to break through? Right in the middle of a battle?" A disciple named Fittu, seeing his opponent risking everything to break through, stopped pressing on the energy shield, so as not to interrupt or harm him during his breakthrough.

"Don't be an idiot! This is too dangerous!" Fittu tried to reason with him.

"Wuh…" Releasing the air from his lungs, Mo Fan opened his eyes, renewed.

His eyes burned with the desire to test his new power.

"HA!" Shouting, he released his Qi outward, creating pressure around himself.

"So fast? So easily? I would never have believed it…" Fittu lowered his sword in bewilderment, how was this even possible? To achieve this feat, a cultivator must be calm and focused, otherwise there could be big problems, up to and including a ruptured dantian. But Mo Fan, without any difficulty, had managed to break through during their battle.

"Heh… Heh! Hahaha! Congratulations, Junior Brother Mo, you’re now at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation! Now let me help you get used to your new strength!" Fittu's eyes lit up as did Mo Fan's. Raising his sword above himself, without any hesitation, he launched into the attack.

Mo Fan smiled, and also rushed straight at Fittu.

….

On the stands, among the crowd.

Seeing a participant break through during a battle, the spectators became very agitated. Everywhere, shouts began, supporting Mo Fan and cheering for his victory.

The spectators in luxurious robes took out their artifacts again, and began contacting their families, only this time, regarding Mo Fan.

….

Arena number 4.

"Outer Disciple Mo Fan, Heavenly Soul Sect, is the winner!"

"That was an excellent battle, Junior Brother Mo! I hope it won't be the last! Haha!" Fittu folded his hands in a gesture of respect, and laughed.

"You're right, Senior Brother Fittu, and I hope we meet again soon!" Mo Fan also showed a gesture of respect, and smiled.

Both teleported off the Arena.

….

The center of the Arena.

Mo Fan teleported to the awards square. Looking up, he saw before him the four hovering Sect Leaders, but behind them, there were no longer any elders.

Turning his head from side to side, he saw that beside him stood Devi Ali and Ruste Zen.

Turning to Devi Ali, he saw the latter looking at him with a huge grin and chilling eyes.

"I hope you've been taking good care of my trophies? Just a little more… and you will know what true pain is!" Devi Ali whispered, pointing his fingers at Mo Fan's eyes.

"Hmm... Congratulations to the three of you on your guaranteed spots in the top three of this Four Nights Festival's Combat Tournament! I won't be long-winded, I will simply say, well done! You have achieved what millions can only dream of!" Gu Bai flew closer to them, and carefully examined all three, pausing for a moment on Mo Fan.

"We will give you some time to recover, both physically and mentally. While the main finalists are resting, we will determine fourth and fifth place!" Gu Bai smiled slightly, and looked toward the arenas, next to which stood five participants, who, any minute now, would be competing for fourth and fifth place.

Following Gu Bai's gaze, Mo Fan turned his head back...

….

On the stands, the last row.

Watching the battles, An realized he was starting to get bored. Analyzing battles in his head was becoming unnecessary, since the same disciples were fighting on the arenas, using the same techniques. He could see that almost all the remaining finalists were hiding their true strength, or holding back, not giving it their all. And sitting and waiting for a few more hours, waiting for a few bright moments, for one or two techniques he could analyze, he decided was simply a waste of his time.

After watching the battle between Mo Fan and a guy named Fittu, he decided it was time to leave.

Tapping his pouch, he thought about the huge number of spirit stones. And he decided that today, he would buy a vast selection of goods on the shopping street: plants, techniques, and anything else that caught his eye.

Nodding, convincing himself that this was the right decision, he stood up and teleported to the room with the Altars.

Standing in the group, the head officer heard the formation activate and turned toward the altar. He hadn't expected anyone to decide to leave during the main finals. If not for the mission imposed on him by the sect, he would be sitting on the stands right now, sipping dark rum and eating sweet fruits.

"Hmm? Did any of you see who just teleported off the Arena?" Looking around, and seeing a multitude of people hurrying to the altars to get inside for the finals, he couldn't find who had teleported here.

The colleagues standing next to him all shook their heads in unison.