Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Haoran and Qing’er stood before the system, their energy flaring up.

[Useless] said the system, its mechanical, layered voice echoing across the endless golden dunes of the artificial desert.

The sound didn’t travel through the air; it vibrated directly within the souls of those who heard it, cold and entirely devoid of human resonance.

[Although this host body is incredibly weak and currently decomposing from external trauma, by liquidating the entirety of the chosen one’s destiny and luck, I still possess the temporary strength of a False Immortal Realm. Your baseline metrics are fundamentally insufficient to breach my active protocols.]

Haoran frowned slightly, his sharp, golden eyes narrowing as he analyzed the strange terminology radiating from the machine.

He didn’t show a single shred of fear, even as the crushing gravity of the domain threatened to pin him to the sand.

"False Immortal?" he murmured, repeating the phrase as if testing its weight on his tongue.

[Ah,] the system blinked, its pale, glowing eyes flickering with a rapid stream of data as it calibrated its internal terminology parameters to match the local epoch of the continent. [In the current nomenclature of this specific part of the world, it should be formally called the Supreme Emperor realm. A tier of power that transcends the physical constraints of mortality, allowing for the direct rewriting of local physical constants.]

Haoran grinned, a slow, incredibly sharp smile spreading across his flawless features.

The discovery didn’t intimidate him; it thoroughly exhilarated his analytical mind.

"So you’re also originally from the upper Immortal realm. Good. Very good. Although, I am genuinely curious... if our legendary Supreme Emperors are merely called False Immortals in the grand hierarchy of the cosmos, then what are the true Immortals, as we call them in our ancient texts, truly called in your world?"

[Irrelevant data string,] the system replied automatically. [Your impending termination renders this knowledge obsolete. However, to optimize the final psychological despair parameters of this encounter and satisfy your curiosity before deletion, I shall supply the entry. The true Immortal Rank as you call it, is known across the higher cosmic dimensions as the Red Dust Immortal.]

"Red dust... the secular, mundane world of mortal life..." Haoran smiled beautifully, finding the linguistic contrast rather poetic as he stared across the vast, burning desert.

He tilted his head, his voice soft yet clear. "Immortal of the Mortal World... is that right? A being who has achieved absolute eternity, yet remains tethered to the fragile fabric of the secular plane... Yes, that is very fitting. Especially in this specific mortal world where only one true Immortal can be born every ten thousand years under the restriction of the heavenly laws. It is a title born of scarcity."

[From here on, I will no longer answer your questions,] the system stated, the metallic tone dropping into a terrifyingly absolute finality.

The pale light within Xiao Long’s eyes flared into twin beams of blinding, destructive energy.

[The allocation of time for intellectual dialogue has expired. Now, face your unavoidable death.]

The very instant the final statement was made, the system didn’t display any dramatic martial arts stances or summon complex weapons.

Instead, it merely took a single, slow step forward through the loose sand.

*BOOM!!!*

The simple movement caused the entire endless desert domain to violently buckle.

A cataclysmic shockwave of raw, unadulterated Supreme Emperor pressure erupted from its form, slamming into Haoran and Qing’er like the weight of a collapsing mountain range.

The sheer atmospheric gravity was so immensely dense that the sand beneath their boots instantly compressed into solid, cracked glass.

Qing’er, driven entirely by her unyielding loyalty to protect her master at all costs, roared as her Yin Yang Origin Sacred Physique forced its way past the suppression.

The circular symbol on her back spun with frantic, blinding speed, the runes bleeding white and black celestial light.

Then, using her flipped duality to its absolute maximum, she thrust her hand downward into the glass floor.

Instantly, an enormous, mountain-crushing fist woven from pure shadow energy erupted directly from the clear blue sky above, hurtling straight down toward the system’s head with supersonic velocity.

[Useless.] The system didn’t even bother to look up.

It merely raised its left hand, its movements looking agonizingly slow, yet completely bypassing the laws of speed.

It lightly flicked its index finger against the descending mountain of shadow.

*CRACK-SHATTER!!!*

The entire colossal fist of flipped energy was instantly, completely vaporized into nothingness, shattered into microscopic dust particles by the great casual force of a single finger.

The kinetic backlash even ripped through the spatial lines, catching Qing’er entirely off guard.

But before she could even dissolve back into her liquid shadow state, the system materialized directly in front of her chest like an unavoidable phantom.

"Not good—!" Qing’er instantly felt the threat.

But before she could react, it delivered a simple, straight punch.

Qing’er desperately activated her physique’s core defense, flipping the direction of the impact so that a front-facing punch would land harmlessly against her back.

But the absolute volume of the system’s Supreme Emperor power was so completely overwhelming that it thoroughly crushed the local laws of her physique.

The punch hit her straight in the sternum.

*BANG!!!*

The sound of the impact was like a divine bell cracking.

Qing’er’s defensive barriers were instantly shattered into splinters, and she was violently tossed away, her body flying backward at terrifying speeds across the desert floor, cutting a deep, fifty kilometers trench through the golden sand before she crashed heavily into a massive dune, coughing up thick, crimson blood.

Haoran stared at that, his expression turning thoroughly grave as he realized the sheer, unbridled disparity in their physical weight classes.

"So this is what a Supreme Emperor is like."

He didn’t hesitate for a single second.

Gripping his massive Black Imperial Sword, Azathoth, with both hands, he channeled every single ounce of his gold and purple dragon qi into the blade.

The dark metal of the sword thrummed with a hungry, world-tearing resonance.

’Imperial Art: Nine Heavens Severance!’

He swung the sword with a ferocious, horizontal arc, unleashing a massive, crescent-shaped wave of pure, condensed energy that tore through the sand dunes, fully capable of cleaving an entire mortal kingdom in half.

The system merely stood its ground, its expression completely deadpan.

As the mountain-cleaving wave of golden-purple energy reached its chest, it didn’t dodge or deploy a shield.

It simply reached out with its bare hand, its fingers wrapping directly around the edge of the flying energy crescent.

Then, with a cold, effortless twist of its wrist, it physically squeezed the massive Imperial strike until the energy violently imploded within its palm, dissolving into harmless sparks of light.

"....well, that’s to be expected." Haoran muttered, showing no ounce of surprised.

Before he could even recover his balance from the swing, the system appeared directly beneath his guard, its mechanical eyes locking onto his face from mere inches away.

"... tsk." Haoran clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He realized then that it was completely toying with them, moving at a conceptual level of speed that made even Qing’er and his reactions look like static statues.

*BOOM!*

The system delivered a swift, brutal kick directly to Haoran’s midsection.

The sheer, concentrated physical force bypassed his dark and gold robes entirely, shattering his internal defensive layers in an instant.

Haoran let out a sharp gasp as the breath was violently forced from his lungs, his body being launched like a cannonball straight up into the clear blue sky.

He flew higher and higher, the dry wind roaring in his ears, but before his upward momentum could even slow down, a cold presence manifested directly above him.

The system was already there, hovering effortlessly in the void, looking down at him with a chilling, machine-like indifference.

[Executing concussive trauma protocols,] the system stated flatly.

It brought both of its fists down in a heavy, synchronized hammer-strike squarely against Haoran’s back.

The immense physical weight of the blow sent him plummeting back down to the earth at terminal velocity, crashing violently into the glass-ground below with an explosion of shattered fragments and golden dust that rose three stories high.

At that moment, a blur of silver and black flashed as Qing’er lunged out from the sand dunes once more, her face pale and covered in blood, yet her loyalty driving her to push past her physical limits.

"Die." She launched a barrage of hundreds of flipped shadow daggers, creating a chaotic storm of flying steel that rained down upon the system from every conceivable angle.

The system merely drifted down from the sky, its arms crossed casually behind its back.

And as it descended through the storm of daggers, the weapons would simply shatter upon coming within three feet of its form, unable to even scratch the absolute passive barrier of its False Immortal state.

With a simple, dismissive sweep of its arm, it unleashed a wave of compressed atmospheric pressure that caught Qing’er mid-air, punching her heavily away once more, sending her skipping across the sand like a flat stone across water until she lay motionless near the perimeter of the domain.

The system landed softly on the glass ground right at the edge of Haoran’s crater, looking down at his battered form with a cold, absolute superiority.

They were completely, thoroughly helpless—unable to land a single strike, unable to defend against a single movement, completely at the mercy of a mechanical god.

Shen Haoran lay flat on his back within the center of a massive, smoking crater, his breathing was shallow, his dark robes covered in golden sand and dirt.

But just as he braced his elbows against the rubble, intending to casually stand back up, the system immediately hovered directly atop him in the air.

Without a single word, the system expanded its vast reservoir of Supreme Emperor level qi, channeling a column of absolute, dense gravitational force downward to completely suppress his physical movements.

BOOM!

The air imploded.

It felt as if an entire, fully realized universe was being slammed directly into his chest, pinning his muscles and anchoring his bones to the shattered stone with a weight that could flatten mountains.

The ground beneath him caved in another ten feet, the rocks grinding into fine powder.

"Young master!" Qing’er, completely bloodied, her clothes torn and her body heavily injured from the continuous, brutal impacts, let out a desperate, ragged shriek.

She forced her broken limbs to move, trying to desperately rush towards his side to shield him.

But the system didn’t even turn to face her, it just casually raised its left hand, a single finger twitching in her direction.

[Freeze.]

Instantly, the local space surrounding Qing’er turned into a solid block of invisible spatial ice.

Her running form was completely, instantly frozen in mid-air, suspended in space like a fly trapped in clear amber, unable to move a single muscle despite the wild, furious glare burning in her red eyes.

Haoran slowly turned his calm gaze towards Qing’er, scanning her form and carefully confirming that she was securely trapped but otherwise safe from immediate threat of death.

Once satisfied, he slowly turned his head back to face the hovering entity, then, moving with a steady, unhurried rhythm, he began to stand up.

He didn’t struggle, he didn’t scream, and he didn’t even look strained. He simply rose to his feet as if he weren’t feeling a single shred of the universe-crushing effects of the Supreme Emperor’s suppression.

Deep within his chest, the heart of his Infinity Dragon God Physique was thrumming with a deep, ancient resonance, its nigh-infinite reservoirs of primordial purple qi circulating rapidly through his meridians to completely neutralize and counter the heavy gravitational pressure.

The system’s pale eyes widened by a fraction, its analytical expression breaking as it raised a cold eyebrow in genuine surprise.

[Infinity Dragon God Physique... how exceptionally rare. To find a pure manifestation of this bloodline in a lower, mortal realm is statistically anomalous. Though, looking at your core soul signature, that specific physique doesn’t seem to naturally belong to you. It was forcefully integrated.]

Haoran tilted his head slightly, patting the dusts off his robes, his smirk returning. "Oh? You actually know of this specific physique? Tell me more."

[It contains the condensed, primordial fragments of the legendary Nine-Headed Dragon God,] the system replied, its mechanical voice dropping into a solemn register as it recited ancient cosmic lore. [He was the true father of all dragons, the oldest, most ancient sentient being to ever exist in all of cosmic existence before the splitting of the realms.]

"Fragments..." Haoran muttered, his sharp mind immediately latching onto the specific word, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Does that mean there are other distinct types of dovine physiques similar to this one across the universes?"

[Nine in total,] the system stated, providing the data with machine-like efficiency. [Each individual physique corresponds directly to one of the Nine Heads of the original Dragon God, with each head embodying and controlling entirely different core concepts of reality; Infinity, Void, Chaos, Order, Eternity, Singularity, Origin, Reality, and Cosmos. Combined, they represent the absolute blueprint of creation.]

Hearing the specific names of the nine conceptual powers, Haoran’s golden eyes seemed to instantly light up with a brilliant, predatory fire.

This was information his clan’s archives didn’t fully possess.

The value of this system was skyrocketing by the second.

[However, that supreme physique is entirely wasted on a lower being like you,] the system concluded, its hand extending downward toward his chest as a dark, devouring array began to form across its palm. [You are someone who isn’t favored by the heavens. Therefore, I will be forcefully taking it from your corpse to upgrade my host.]

"Oh yeah?" Haoran let out a soft, mocking chuckle, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. "Aren’t you even a little bit afraid of exactly what my clan will do to your fragile host if you take it and kill me? You are indeed currently wielding the temporary power of a Supreme Emperor, but you should know... my Shen Clan has a lot of them sitting in our ancestral halls."

[Irrelevant threat,] the system responded coldly. [Unless a literal, living god personally steps into this pocket dimension right now, I can still comfortably protect my Host from any external physical retribution and escape into the void.]

"Is that so?" Haoran’s smirk widened into a sharp, terrifyingly confident grin as he reached up, casually adjusting his torn collar. "Well, I guess it’s finally time to use that classic, dramatic trump card when you’re supposed to be in a tight pinch."

The system frowned, confused.

"....Genesis Protocol."

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The words hadn’t even fully left his lips when a catastrophic, reality-shattering explosion of absolute energy tore through the golden sands.

[Hm?] The system frowned deeply, its processing units instantly flaring with warning alerts as it looked around.

The clear blue sky of its personal desert domain was suddenly, violently being eaten away, devoured from the outer edges by a massive, advancing wall of a dark, crimson-red sky.

Beneath their feet, the golden sand was being rapidly overwritten, replaced by a cold, black metallic earth that hummed with a terrifying, unknown power.

The system’s absolute domain was being aggressively crushed, compressed until only half of its original size remained, forced to share the space with this new, invading reality.

[A domain? No... this energy signature is completely anomalous.]

Haoran spread his arms wide open, his tattered robes flowing around him like a king welcoming a guest to his grand court, his golden eyes locked onto the system’s stunned face.

"You said that unless a literal god personally appeared before you, you could easily protect your host from any danger, right?"

Haoran’s voice echoed, no longer human, but carrying the heavy, overlapping resonance of a thousand ancient deities.

"Then... I formally welcome you, to the Kingdom of God."