Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 40: Suppression

The heavy, metallic scent of ancient silver, and the lingering power of an ancient expert hung in the air as Mengyao, Mingye and Yun Li arrived at the deepest section of the inheritance space.

And as the three of them stepped into the hall, they were immediately greeted by the sight of the two princes—Jin Pei and Ao Long—standing frozen at the base of the colossal staircase.

Their arrogance had been replaced by a stiff, wary tension, like soldiers standing at the edge of a precipice, or a subject standing before their emperor.

"Is this all of you?"

The voice descended from above, reverberating as if it was a low growl of a dragon that made the marrow in their bones shiver.

Yun Li looked up, his neck craning, as high above, seated upon the 999th step as if it were a throne of the gods, was Shen Haoran.

He looked down on them with a gaze of absolute, frigid detachment, while a hundred steps below him, the girl in blue sat in deep meditation, her body wreathed in the shimmering light of her own breakthrough.

6th Stage Foundation Establishment? How is this possible?! She was at first stage earlier! Was she purposely hiding her cultivation? Thought Yun Li.

"That’s right, Young Master Shen," Mengyao replied, stepping forward and cupping his hands in a respectful salute. "The others were... preoccupied. Some are likely still fighting over the herb garden, while the rest are struggling within the first two trials. Only we five have made it this far."

"Hmm. And you are?" Haoran raised an eyebrow.

His golden eyes, now sharpened by the awakening of his Infinity Dragon God Divine Physique, swept over Mengyao.

’This man... no, that is a woman,’ Haoran thought instantly, his heightened senses pierced through the auburn hair, the bound chest, and the artificial Adam’s apple.

’Why is she disguised as a man?’ though he was curious, he kept the observation to himself; in the Central Region, everyone carried a mask, and her secrets were currently of no consequence to him.

He had even heard that some perverted ancestors would disguise themselves as a woman just so they can openly peek and molest women without much consequence.

"Greetings, young master. I am Xia Mengyao, Heaven’s Chosen of the Flower Mountain Sect," she replied, her voice steady. "I once had the honor of seeing the Young Master during your sixteenth birthday celebration at the Imperial Capital."

Flower Mountain Sect? Haoran’s memory shifted through the vast archives of his mind.

He immediately recalled the name—a powerful Second-Rate entity that sat on a mountain of resources, merely waiting for a Heavenly Saint to emerge so they could ascend to the First-Rate ranks.

If he remembered correctly, they are incredibly popular because of their wine, where it is said that beautiful wood spirits uses their jade feet to crush the grapes to make that particular wine.

He doesn’t know if it’s true or just propaganda, but it was certainly very popular.

He offered a curt nod of acknowledgment before his gaze turned cold and inclusive of the entire group. "The final trial is to climb this staircase. But understand this: I will crush anyone who attempts to ascend. There are many side chambers in this place filled with treasures I have neither opened nor explored. You are free to take whatever you find within those rooms, but this inheritance... this heart of the Emperor... is mine."

Hearing that, Jin Pei and Ao Long exchanged a glance and gave a stiff nod.

They have already thought of this outcome, or rather, this is even better than what they have thought.

Truthfully, they actually hope that Haoran would be generous enough to give them even a single piece of Saint Grade Artifact or something, but they didn’t expect that Haoran would only take the emperor inheritance and give everything to them!

As for thinking of taking that inheritance for themselves... are you joking? With Shen Haoran’s strength and background, there are far quicker and more painless method to kill themselves.

Mengyao and Mingye similarly dipped their heads.

This outcome was better than they expected. At least they would have something to bring back to their sect and clan.

They were about to start moving when the silence was shattered by a voice trembling with indignant rage.

"That’s unfair! This inheritance should fall to those with true ability and luck! Not to those who simply rely on their backgrounds to bully others!"

Yun Li stepped forward, his face flushed, his finger pointed accusingly at the figure on the golden heights.

Jin Pei and Ao Long turned to look at him as if he were a pig that had suddenly sprouted wings and begun to recite poetry.

Buddy, are you serious? they thought in unison. Who speaks about fairness in a world where the strong eat the weak? If you have the "ability," then climb! Don’t stand there acting like a righteous martyr.

Ao Long himself felt a surge of genuine bewilderment.

He couldn’t believe Luo Mingye had even spared a glance for this fool, a guy who would talk about "background" in front of the literal number-one talent of the Empire was the height of delusional idiocy.

It was like a village boy challenging a storm to a wrestling match because the wind wasn’t being "fair."

"Unfair? Abilities? Luck?" Haoran snorted, the sound echoing like a crack of thunder.

He didn’t rise from where he was sitting, but his Dragon Core pulsed into life, and suddenly, a golden-purple aura burst from his body with such density that the air itself seemed to shatter.

Boom!

The spiritual pressure was so immense that his Qi began to liquify in mid-air, manifesting as a heavy, shimmering rain that fell throughout the hall.

Each droplet carried the weight of a boulder; to be touched by this "rain" was to feel as though one were being drowned in a sea of molten lead.

"If you have them, then come," Haoran declared, his voice a low, terrifying growl. "If you can take even a single step upon these stairs while I am here, then I shall admit defeat and hand you the legacy."

Jin Pei, Ao Long, and Mengyao groaned, their legs shaking.

Even though as Golden Core experts, they were still able to hold their ground, but even so, they still felt like they were undergoing a form of water torture, with every breath already a struggle against the drowning weight of Haoran’s Qi.

As for Luo Mingye, a 9th Stage Core Formation cultivator, and Yun Li, who was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, were both utterly devastated.

They felt as though a primordial dragon had gripped them and plunged them into the depths of a dark abyss.

"You cannot even handle the weight of my presence, yet you dare speak to me of ability?" Haoran’s gaze was emotionless, looking at Yun Li as one might look at a speck of dust. "Crawl your way out of this hall. I have no patience to teach an infant how to breathe."

Under the sheer, tyrannical force of the aura, Yun Li collapsed, his knees hit the stone with a sickening crack.

Then, his eyes began to roll back into his head, showing only the whites, and blood began to leak from his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes.

He clutched his throat, his mouth agape as he tried to gasp for air that had been squeezed out of the room.

Jin Pei, Ao Long, and Mengyao roared, releasing their own Qi in a desperate, joint effort to shield themselves, with Mengyao immediately standing before Mingye to try and shield her from the sheer suffocating pressure.

But, despite their efforts, their legs started buckled, their spines curving under the weight, and they were now seconds away from a total collapse.

Haoran noticed this, and concluded that if he increased the intensity of his aura for just a tiny bit, they will surely start bleeding and pass out.

"Hmph." Haoran snorted, and as quickly as it had appeared, the crushing pressure vanished.

Immediately, the group fell to all fours, gasping for air like landed fish, their chests heaving in the sudden vacuum.

Haoran stared at them before he began to turn his head away, his voice cold. "I don’t want to repeat mysel—"

He stopped, his brow furrowed as his newly awakened senses picked up a strange, discordant frequency.

There, within the broken, bleeding body of Yun Li, a hidden power was beginning to circulate.

It wasn’t the standard Qi of this world; it was a dark, resilient energy—the Falling Immortal Sutra—reacting to the near-death experience.

It was rapidly knitting Yun Li’s internal injuries together and, more importantly, it was using the remnant pressure of Haoran’s Draconic Qi to hammer Yun Li’s foundation, forcing a sudden, violent breakthrough.

What... is that? Haoran wondered, his eyes narrowing. That energy... it doesn’t belong to this world’s Laws.

This boy...could he be an anomaly as well?