Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 98: 1 Year

Northern Continent, deep within a mountain range, in a cave hidden by dozens of powerful formations.

Elder Ji of the Golden Cloud Immortal Sect sat against the rocky wall, his breathing rhythmic but heavy with a lingering fatigue.

His entire injuries, though fully recovered through the miracle of Heavenly Saint regeneration and countless pills, still felt a phantom itch whenever the wind whistled through the cave’s entrance.

Not to mention his soul and foundations has been broken, and he couldn’t muster any strength stronger than Profound Saint at his current state at all.

But still, for the past twelve months, he had watched over the charred and broken form of Jiang Chen.

The youth had not stirred once, still locked in a deep, comatose state as his Formless Void Divine Physique worked in the silence of his marrow to repair the damage dealt by the Supreme’s Sword Intent.

Elder Ji let out a long, weary sigh and reached into his robes, pulling out his jade communication artifact and tapped the crystalline surface, but it remained dull, lacking the warm glow of a connected signal.

"Still nothing," he muttered, his voice raspy from disuse. "The sect hasn’t answered a single message in a year. Not the Sect Master, not even the Hall of Records... nothing. I wonder what has happened back in the Imperial Capital? Has the Shen Clan’s found out about our involvement and put pressure on us that they have severed our Sect’s ties to the lower realms? Is that why they couldn’t communicate with me?"

A flicker of dread crossed his weathered face, but he quickly suppressed it.

Of course, no matter how much he overthinks, not once did it occur to him that the Shen Clan would actually declare their intent to annihilate the entirety of Golden Cloud Immortal Sect.

He turned his gaze toward the boy lying on the stone floor and couldn’t help but be amazed.

Despite being unconscious, Jiang Chen’s presence had changed over the course of the year, with the ambient Qi of the forest having been violently sucked into the cave, forming a miniature vortex around the youth.

"Impressive," Elder Ji whispered, a trace of genuine awe in his eyes. "Even in a coma, this child’s body still keep advancing and he has actually crossed the threshold and broke through into the Foundation Establishment Realm without even opening his eyes. If this is the speed of his recovery and cultivation, then the future of the Golden Cloud is truly secured."

But his musings were cut short when suddenly, the cave began to groan.

The very foundations of the mountain trembled with a low-frequency hum that made the elder’s blood vibrate.

Elder Ji’s eyes widened in shock as he felt a massive displacement of spatial energy nearby.

"This sensation...? It’s too concentrated to be a natural disaster!"

Without hesitation, the old man blurred, his form streaking out of the cave like a golden comet.

He landed on a high branch of an ancient, gnarled tree and looked up at the sky, his heart hammered against his ribs.

There, in the center of the Northern Continent’s sky, the clouds had been torn asunder by a pillar of blinding golden light was shooting upward, piercing the atmosphere and connecting the earth to the firmament.

"A secret realm!?" he gasped.

As a Heavenly Saint, he could read the fluctuations of the world’s laws, and the energy pouring out of that rift was ancient, sophisticated, and terrifyingly dense.

"Judging from the complexity of these spatial anchors, this should at least be a secret realm belonging to a Heavenly Saint powerhouse from the era of the Saint Wars! Perhaps even a half-step Supreme!"

Under normal circumstances, Elder Ji would have been overcome with joy. After all, a treasure trove of that magnitude, appearing right in his backyard? With his strength, he could have entered and emptied the entire realm before the local sects even realized what was happening.

However, now, he felt nothing but a cold, paralyzing fear.

"The opening of such a realm... it’s like a beacon in the dark," he hissed, his eyes darting toward the horizon. "It will surely attract the attention of the Conferred Pagoda and that person. And the moment they arrive to investigate, our concealment formations will be useless."

His decision was instantaneous. "We have to leave! Now!"

He turned and streaked back into the cave, intending to grab the unconscious Jiang Chen and flee deeper into the uncharted frozen wastes of the North.

But as he reached for the boy’s shoulder, he froze.

Jiang Chen’s forefinger twitched.

Then, with a suddenness that made the elder recoil, Jiang Chen’s eyes snapped wide open.

And much to the Elder’s shock, they weren’t the eyes of a confused youth who had just woken up from a year long coma, they were the cold, sharp, eyes filled with a dark, crystalline light of a seasoned expert..

He sat up in one fluid motion, his neck cracking as he surveyed the cave with the caution of a wolf, before his gaze eventually landed on the old man.

"You are..." Jiang Chen started, his voice dry but carrying an undeniable weight. "The elder who saved me from the Shen dogs?"

Elder Ji let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping. "Indeed, boy. I am Elder Ji of the Golden Cloud Immortal Sect. You can say that there is a deep, ancient karma between our lineages, that is why I risked my life and my cultivation to snatch you from the jaws of death. But there is no time for gratitude. You have been asleep for a year, and the world has moved on. Look outside! A Saint-level secret realm has opened nearby. Its aura is too strong and it will surely attract the Young Master of the Shen Clan. We must leave this place immediately before the hunt begins anew."

Jiang Chen looked toward the cave entrance, sensing the massive surge of energy in the air and a slow, arrogant smirk began to spread across his face, his purple aura flickering with a new, Foundation-level strength.

"Elder Ji, I, Jiang Chen, thank you for your protection during my slumber," he said, standing up and dusting off his charred robes. "But why leave? The heavens themselves have opened this door for me. This secret realm is my opportunity to regain what was lost and to surpass that brat who stepped on my face."

He recalled the scenes of the fight—the humiliation, the lightning, and the way the world itself had moved to shield him.

Yes, that’s right, even the heavens themselves does not want him to die!

His arrogance, fueled by his status as a former Heavenly Saint and number one genius of Tian Yuan Empire, returned in full force.

’If the heavens don’t want me to die, then the world will become my playground,’ he thought. ’Every treasure in that realm is mine by divine right.’

"Elder, we are not leaving," Jiang Chen declared. "We are going to that realm. We will empty it before those Shen dogs even arrives. I need the legacies inside, besides, you need it as well to heal yourself, don’t you?"

Elder Ji hesitated. His logic screamed at him to run, but his greed was a powerful beast.

A Heavenly Saint’s legacy... it could contain the pills he needed to repair his shattered soul-foundation or even improve his cultivation!

He looked at Jiang Chen’s confident expression and eventually nodded.

"Very well," Ji said, his voice tightening. "But we move in shadows. If push comes to shove, I will not hesitate to knock you unconscious and carry you away again. We are not gambling with our lives today."

*

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*

Meanwhile, on the Southern Continent, a serene forest was currently being subjected to a cataclysmic transformation.

Qing’er and Ling Luochen stood on the bank of a wide, rushing river that fed into a towering waterfall.

They were several hundred meters away from the base of the falls, their expressions filled with a mixture of awe and professional vigilance.

Under the crushing weight of the descending water, the silhouette of Shen Haoran was visible, sitting in a meditative cross-legged position.

Suddenly, Qing’er’s brow furrowed as she looked up toward the North, her Saint-level senses picking up the distortion in the fabric of the realm.

Ling Luochen, whose demon-forged body was becoming more sensitive to spatial changes, noticed her master’s reaction. "Miss Qing’er? Is something the matter? Has the Jiang trash been found?"

Qing’er turned her gaze back to the waterfall, her red eyes reflecting the sunlight as she shook her head.

"Nothing that concerns you yet," she said simply.

At that exact moment, the air around the waterfall began to vibrate as a sound like the synchronized beating of a thousand drums echoed through the forest.

Then, a massive, purplish-golden Qi erupted from Haoran’s body, surging outward with such violence that the air itself turned into a physical shockwave.

Ling Luochen was forced to cross her arms and dig her heels into the dirt to keep from being blown away by the sheer pressure of the Qi eruption.

Shen Haoran stood up. The force of his breakthrough was so immense that his black silk robes were shredded into ribbons, revealing the intricate, glowing dragon tattoo that wound around his torso and arms.

He then let out a roar that was not human—it was the guttural, soul-shaking cry of a celestial dragon.

Behind him, the air warped and solidified into a phantom image of a dark-gold Eastern Dragon.

The dragon let out its own roar, a sound that carried the weight of the Infinity Dragon God Physique.

The shockwave caused by that roar was so powerful that it didn’t just disturb the river—it completely evaporated the water for miles.

The waterfall and the river was completely erased, leaving only a dry, smoking cliff-face.

A moment later, the phantom vanished, and the world fell into a stunned, absolute calm.

Haoran stood in the center of the now-dried riverbed.

He was completely naked, his skin glowing with a metallic, golden luster, but he remained utterly unconcerned and just slowly clenched his fist, feeling the new, crushing power flowing through his meridians.

"Finally," he murmured, his voice echoing in the silence. "The peak of the Golden Core Realm. My foundation is now perfect."

"Congratulations, Young Master," Qing’er said, appearing before him in a blur of shadow.

Ling Luochen followed, keeping her eyes respectfully lowered, though she was internally reeling at the raw power he had just displayed.

To evaporate an entire river for miles away with a breakthrough? It was unheard of in the history of the Southern Continent.

Qing’er immediately pulled a fresh, midnight-blue robe from her storage and draped it over his shoulders, helping him dress with the practiced efficiency of a shadow.

"Where is our next stop, Qing’er?" Haoran asked, tying the sash of his robe. "We have completely emptied the entire Southern Continent now. Since we haven’t found those people yet, they should be in another continent."

"The Northern Continent, Young Master," Qing’er replied, her hands steady as she smoothed the fabric over his shoulders. "A secret realm belonging to an ancient Heavenly Saint has opened there. The spatial fluctuation is immense, and perhaps it is the largest event this realm has seen in countless years."

Haoran smirked, his golden eyes flashing with a predatory light as he looked toward the North, sensing the distant pull of destiny.

"The Northern Continent it is, then," Haoran said, his smile sharpening. "Let’s go and see if the rabbit has been brave enough to crawl out of his hole for a carrot."