Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 75: Departure

Deep within the serene, mist-shrouded peaks of the Flower Mountain Sect, a place renowned for its drifting cherry blossoms and righteous sword cultivators(and infamous for their wines), a young man sat slumped over a desk in a lavishly decorated manor.

This was Ye Feng.

To the outside world, he was the mediocre son of a prominent City Lord, a man whose presence in the sect was tolerated only because of his father’s heavy donations.

At twenty-five years of age, he was a laughingstock among his peers, having only scraped his way into the 1st Stage of the Foundation Establishment realm.

In a world where true geniuses reached Core Formation by twenty, he was essentially a decorative ornament with a pulse.

However, the "Ye Feng" currently staring at the wall was no longer the original, as just a few hours prior, the original Ye Feng had suffered a violent Qi Deviation while trying to force a breakthrough, causing his soul to shatter into nothingness.

In the vacuum left behind, the soul of a modern college student—one who had literally worked himself to death while cramming for final exams—had slipped into the empty shell.

It took less than an hour for the new Ye Feng to realize the sheer absurdity of his situation, and when he finally did, he panicked.

He realized that this wasn’t just a simple cultivation world, but that he was inside the pages of a novel he had once read to relieve stress: "The Abandoned Prince’s Counterattacks."

In the story, the "Protagonist" was a man named Xiao Chen, and like Ye Feng, he was a transmigrator, but unlike Ye Feng, he was not a college student but a high-flying office worker, and he reincarnated as the neglected prince of a falling kingdom.

After suffering through the typical tropes of bullying by concubines and the tragic death of his mother, Xiao Chen had fled into the wilderness.

There, through sheer "plot armor," he witnessed two Heavenly Saints killing each other and looted their remains, kickstarting his meteoric rise to power.

And Ye Feng? In the novel, he was a third-rate villain—a stepping stone designed to be crushed.

He was destined to be killed by Xiao Chen early in the story simply because he had the audacity to leer at the main heroine, Xia Mengyao, the woman who had rescued the prince and brought him to the Flower Mountain Sect.

When the new Ye Feng first realized this, his survival instinct screamed at him.

He need to run. Now.

Perhaps going to the Desolate Eastern Region, buy a farm, and live as a mortal is not a bad idea.

He don’t want any part of this protagonist-heroine drama!

But just as he was packing his spirit stones, a mechanical chime echoed in his mind, and a blue screen floated in front him with words that says the "Diary System" had awakened.

The system functions are very simple: write a daily entry, receive a reward.

’Fine,’ he thought back then, sitting back down. ’If I can get strong without leaving my house, I’ll stay. I’ll just be the ultimate hermit.’

Now, he had just finished his very first entry and he couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed because as he wrote, the stress of his previous life and the terror of his current one had merged, making him incredibly emotional.

Wirh that, he had spent half the diary slandering the "heroines" of the novel for their illogical behavior.

He especially tore into Luo Mingye, calling her a lovestruck idiot for allowing her clan to be wiped out for the sake of a man who viewed her as a tool for revenge.

As he closed the book, the system’s interface flickered.

{Congratulations Host for writing your first Diary entry!}

{Rewards are being distributed...}

{Obtained: Foundation Strengthening Pill x10, Core Forming Pill x10, Golden Core Pill x10}

"That’s it?" Ye Feng muttered, staring at the small jade bottles that appeared on his desk.

He felt a wave of disappointment, after all as the son of a City Lord in the resource-rich Central Region, he could practically buy these pills with his pocket change.

He had expected something world-shaking, like a Divine Physique or a Saint-Grade weapon.

{Host, rewards are based on your diary’s word count and the emotional depth of the entry.}

"Ah, so that’s how it is. It’s a quantity and quality game," Ye Feng mused, his eyes narrowing. "Then can I write another one right now and increase the count? I have plenty of opinions on the other characters."

{Host can only write a diary entry once per day.}

"Damn. If I knew that, I would have been way more descriptive," Ye Feng grumbled. "I would have scolded Luo Mingye for another three pages and probably dragged that ’Prince charming’ Xia Mengyao into it as well."

Xia Mengyao was a peculiar case. In the novel, she always dressed in men’s clothing and hid her gender to maintain her position in her family.

The protagonist, Xiao Chen, was so dense he didn’t realize she was a girl for years, even going through a crisis of orientation because he found "him" so attractive.

According to the original plot, they were supposed to have shared a life-defining moment two years ago where Xiao Chen found out her true gender and eventually confessed his feelings, and they made a promise to be together once he made a name for himself and can stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Wait," Ye Feng paused, tapping his chin. "According to my memories, that incident already happened. In the novel, everyone in the sect gossips about them being a couple. But from the original Ye Feng’s memories, although Mengyao still maintained a degree of closeness, she still kept him to an arms length."

In the novel, they were inseparable and "lovey-dovey" at this stage, but in this reality, Xia Mengyao seemed to be maintaining a strange, deliberate distance from Xiao Chen, as if she were terrified of being misunderstood.

"Is it a butterfly effect?" Ye Feng wondered. "Did my soul crossing over ripple back in time? Or is this world just... slightly different?"

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Whatever. It doesn’t matter. As long as she stays away from me and the protagonist stays in his lane, I don’t care if they get married or become enemies. For now, I have pills to swallow. I need to reach Core Formation before the ’script’ tries to kill me."

*

*

*

Meanwhile, countless of miles away in the Eastern Region, the atmosphere was far more grand.

At this moment, the Seven Treasure City was now back to being a hive of activity, but the central courtyard of the Ning Clan manor remained quiet.

Shen Haoran stood with his hands behind his back, his expression one of calm indifference, and beside him, Qing’er stood like a silent shadow, her red eyes fixed on the horizon.

In front of them, a poignant family scene was unfolding as Ning Xueli was currently enveloped in a group hug with her father, Ning Xiao, and the two elders, Old Jian and Old Hu.

"Xueli, remember, you must look after yourself in the Central Region," Old Jian said, his voice thick with uncharacteristic emotion. "Don’t let those city snobs look down on you. If they do, tell them your grandpa Jian is coming for their heads."

"Hmph, you do not need to worry about us," Old Hu added, patting Xueli’s shoulder with a bandaged hand. "This old guy have a new body and I also gained some opportunity. We can handle the sect, so you just focus on reaching the top."

Ning Xiao stepped forward last, his eyes glistening as he placed his hands on his daughter’s shoulders and smiled a father’s bittersweet smile. "Be good, okay? You are entering a world far larger than this one. You must not allow yourself to slack off. Always be diligent, cultivate well, and remember who you are. Alright?"

Ning Xueli smiled brightly, her eyes shimmering with tears she refused to let fall. "I know, Dad. I’m not a child anymore. I’ve literally vaporized an army, remember?"

"Shush," Ning Xiao laughed softly, pulling her in for one last embrace and kissing her forehead. "You will always be my little girl, no matter what you do."

"Dad, you’re embarrassing me!" Xueli grumbled, though she hugged him back tightly.

She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes darting toward Haoran to see if he was watching.

She was worried he would find her "childish" or sentimental.

Haoran caught her gaze and simply smiled—a small, genuine tilt of the lips that lacked his usual clinical coldness.

Xueli felt a massive surge of relief before she turned back to her family, a determined grin on her face. "Dad, don’t worry. I’ll come back and visit you from time to time. And when I do, I’ll be so strong you won’t even recognize my Qi!"

The three men nodded, their hearts full of pride and a touch of sorrow.

"We’ll be going now," Xueli said, walking toward Haoran’s side.

Haoran turned toward Qing’er and gave a slight nod.

The shadow woman didn’t move her lips, but the air rippled as she summoned the Profound Ark—a massive, jade-encrusted vessel that manifested from a spatial rift, hovering silently above the courtyard.

Haoran gave a final, polite nod to Ning Xiao and the elders. "Until next time."

He boarded the ark with practiced elegance as Xueli followed him, pausing at the top of the ramp to wave one last time at the family she was leaving behind.

"Goodbye! Stay safe!" she shouted.

Qinq’er stepped onto the vessel last.

Then, the ramp retracted, and the protective formations of the ark began to hum with a low, rhythmic power.

Ning Xiao, Old Jian, and Old Hu watched as the massive vessel hovered for a split second, then, with a silent burst of speed that defied the laws of physics, it disappeared into a trail of golden light, heading toward the heart of the empire.

The "Desolate" Eastern Region was behind them, now the stage of the Central Region was waiting.