Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Time passed, and a week passed in a blink of an eye.

The grand, sweeping routines of the Imperial Academy continued to grind forward, but beneath the surface of the academic lectures and rigorous spiritual training sessions, a completely different kind of tension had been silently building.

Ye Hongyan stood just outside the heavy wooden doors of the primary classroom, her delicate fingers resting lightly against the cold stone frame as she tried to calm herself.

Her heart was beating with an erratic, fluttering rhythm that was entirely uncharacteristic of a high-stage cultivation master of the 6th stage Heavenly Saint Realm.

She closed her eyes, forcing her breathing to slow down, but the tumultuous thoughts within her mind refused to settle.

A week.

An entire week had dragged by since that fateful afternoon in her private office.

During these past few days, she couldn’t get Haoran off her mind for even a single waking moment.

The image of the young man, the tragic yet noble story he had shared about protecting his friend, the past that Gu Xunyi had shared with her, and above all, that scandalous, cliffhanger-bound romance novel he had accidentally left behind on her reading table—it all swirled together in a dizzying vortex within her psyche.

She found herself completely consumed by a profound, overwhelming curiosity.

She was incredibly curious about his past; she wanted to know more about the hidden depths of his character, she wanted to know what truly made him tick, and more than anything, she simply wanted to talk to him.

However, a deep sense of hesitation held her back.

Fearing that suddenly appearing in front of him outside of class hours would inadvertently remind him of his unpleasant memories, especially since she was a teacher herself, and Haoran still being emotional, she decided to forcefully hold herself back.

She didn’t want to inadvertently open his emotional wounds or make him feel uncomfortable around his own instructor.

However, the sheer pull of her curiosity was too great, and she really couldn’t resist herself anymore.

Unable to completely stay away, she had resorted to a rather undignified method for a respected Ten Sage: she hid from the crowds, utilizing her advanced spiritual concealment techniques to blend into the shadows of the academy courtyards, and silently watched him from afar.

And she really had to say, during the past week of clandestine observation, she had truly deepened her understanding of him.

Every time she watched him interact with his peers, she saw a young man who was patient, gentle, and utterly devoted to the well-being of his companions.

He was the furthest thing from the spoiled, arrogant noble archetype that Mu Chen so bitterly detested.

In fact, she had actually gotten a bit too obsessed with observing him over the course of the week.

Her focus had been so entirely laser-targeted on Haoran’s movements that just two days prior, she had completely and coldly snubbed Elder Mu when he had approached her in the grand corridor, holding a bouquet of rare spiritual herbs and trying to awkwardly start a conversation using the romantic lines he had learned.

She had walked right past him without a word, her eyes scanning the courtyard for a glimpse of a certain golden-eyed student.

The very moment she had realized what she did, she immediately regretted that decision.

It was incredibly unfair to Mu Chen, yet she found herself entirely unable to break free from the strange, magnetic fascination she felt toward her most diligent student.

Taking one final, deep breath to steady her trembling hands, she adjusted her silver-rimmed glasses, opened the classroom door, and entered.

The chatter in the room died down slightly as she walked toward the front.

The moment she crossed the threshold, her eyes immediately locked onto Shen Haoran, who was sitting casually near the window.

But the absolute second their gazes threatened to meet, a wave of intense embarrassment and profound guilt for literally stalking him over the past days days washed over her, and she immediately turned her gaze away, her cheeks warming slightly.

She walked to the podium, placing her leather binder down behind her grand desk, and cleared her throat to assume her professional persona.

"Alright, everyone. Today, let’s discuss about Ancient Emperors, and how they are different from the modern Supreme Emperors that we have today..."

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Time passed quietly within the sunlit hall, the hours bleeding away as her lecture flowed smoothly.

Soon enough, the deep, resonant tones of the brass bell outside rang through the air, signaling the official end of the class.

"That will be all for today," said Ye Hongyan as she began neatly arranging her scrolls and reference texts on the table, her voice returning to its normal, structured cadence.

She paused, looking up at the students who were already gathering their belongings. "Oh, and by the way, the academy has a specialized Fire Ignition Tower, currently located in the nearby Molten Rock City. It is a highly advanced training tower that can greatly stimulate your spirit circuits and internal meridians, allowing you to circulate your qi and cultivate much faster than normal. If you have free time during the upcoming days, you can check it out."

That announcement seemed to instantly pique the profound interest of most of the ordinary students in the room, their eyes lighting up at the prospect of a facility that could accelerate their cultivation breakthroughs.

However, the news had absolutely no effect on those who already knew about it beforehand, such as the top-tier heirs of the Immortal clans.

Huo Yue, however, especially looked the most excited out of everyone present.

The moment the words ’Fire Ignition Tower’ left the teacher’s mouth, her eyes literally gleamed with a brilliant, predatory light.

She had done her extensive, secretive research into the academy’s hidden assets with the help of her rival Xu Xiansu, and she knew a crucial secret that the administration kept tightly classified.

Beneath the very foundations of that ancient tower, deep within the subterranean magma rivers, there is a dormant, unrefined Heavenly Flame known as the Burning Heart Flame.

It was officially ranked 13th on the legendary Heavenly Flame rankings.

It was an incredibly unique and bizarre anomaly among primal forces.

It was a completely colorless flame that possessed neither the searing burning capabilities nor the destructive, explosive power of other high-ranking Heavenly Flames that a flame of its immense level should naturally have.

It couldn’t incinerate an enemy or melt divine iron as effectively as other flames, however, it possessed a very special, borderline miraculous ability.

And that is it could automatically and continuously absorb natural qi from the surrounding atmosphere, purifying it instantly and circulating it directly into its master’s body without requiring active focus.

In other words, if someone managed to successfully refine and tame the Burning Heart Flame, even when they were sleeping, eating, or walking down the street, their internal spirit circuits would be operating as if they were sitting in deep, active meditation, cultivating non-stop twenty-four hours a day.

For a pill fanatic who treats cultivation as secondary and profit-driven mind like Huo Yue, such a flame was incredibly important, an absolute treasure that she was fully willing to obtain at any cost—even if it meant breaking every rule in the academy or plunging the entire surrounding realm into absolute chaos.

At that exact moment, as every single student stood up from their desks and prepared to leave the classroom to discuss the new location, Ye Hongyan’s voice rang out once more, carrying a slight tremor of hesitation.

"Student Haoran, can you stay behind for a moment?" asked Ye Hongyan, her eyes fixed entirely on her desk to avoid looking him directly in the face.

The moment the request echoed through the room, Haoran’s inner circle reacted instantly.

Gu Xunyi smirked widely, a highly amused, knowing glint in her crimson eyes as she playfully elbowed Haoran in the ribs, while Huo Yue didn’t even notice, her mind already rapidly calculating exactly how much profit and power she could earn from the betting pool.

Shen Xinye just let out a soft, long sigh seeing Huo Yue’s intensely focused, greedy expression, shaking her head as she knew with absolute certainty that her friend was already thinking entirely about massive corporate profits.

Meanwhile, near the doorway, Shen Jian and Shen Ji both turned back around, flashing Haoran a well-hidden, highly supportive thumbs-up from behind their backs, only to receive a swift, painful bonk on the back of their heads from the stoic Shen Tao and the mature Shen Fei, who dragged them out by their collars.

"You guys go on ahead," said Haoran, offering a calm, casual nod towards Huo Yue and the remaining girls to let them know he had everything under control.

With that understanding, they quickly left the room, closing the door softly behind them.

After a while, all the other students had fully exited the room as well, the fading sounds of their footsteps leaving an absolute, heavy silence inside the large classroom.

Only Haoran and Ye Hongyan remained inside.

Haoran stepped forward, stopping a respectful distance away from the podium. "Do you need something specific from me, Teacher Ye?"

Ye Hongyan looked deeply conflicted, her fingers tightening around the edge of her desk as she wrestled with her emotions.

But eventually, she let out a quiet sigh, nodded, and reached into her binder, handing him the book that he had deliberately left behind a week ago.

"You... you accidentally left this in my office," she murmured, her voice soft.

"Oh." Haoran nodded casually, reaching out to take the novel from her hand, his golden eyes looking appropriately complicated and slightly troubled as he stared down at the cover.

He obviously had been thoroughly informed by Gu Xunyi that day about exactly what she had told the teacher during their brief encounter outside the villa gates, and now, he just had to play his part in this grand psychological performance with absolute perfection.

"I... I happened to meet with Student Xunyi yesterday morning," said Ye Hongyan, her voice shaking slightly as she confessed to her actions.

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with a deep, maternal sympathy. "And... she told me a bit about your past, parts of what you went through during your childhood, and..."

Haoran suddenly narrowed his eyes, his expression freezing into one of sharp, guarded defensiveness. "She did, didn’t she? She always talks too much."

"Please, don’t get mad at her. She was truly just looking out for you and wanted me to understand your circumstances," Ye Hongyan said hurriedly, stepping forward from behind her desk, her hands raised slightly in a placating gesture. "But, Student Haoran—"

Haoran shook his head, cutting her off with a bitter, self-deprecating smile that perfectly conveyed a young man trying to carry a heavy burden alone. "Enough, teacher. There is no need to say any more. Don’t worry, I won’t act on my personal feelings anymore. I know my boundaries as a student now, and I promise I won’t try and get close to you outside of class as well. I don’t want to cause any more trouble between you and Senior Mu."

"No!" Ye Hongyan hurriedly said, the word flying out of her mouth before she could even consciously process it.

Even she herself was deeply surprised and startled by the sudden, desperate intensity of her own voice.

She took another step toward him, her heart aching at his sudden emotional withdrawal. "That’s not what I want at all! You’re... you’re still hurting inside from all the rejection and the pressure, right? That... I can help with that. I want to help you."

"Help?" Haoran murmured, his tone dropping into a low, smooth cadence.

Before she could even realize what was happening, he took a sudden, decisive step forward, closing the remaining distance between them in a fraction of a second.

He pinned her with his intense golden gaze, his face stopping mere inches away from hers, close enough that she could feel the steady warmth of his breath against her skin.

"How exactly would you help me, teacher?"