Villain Cultivator

Xu Miao's eyes shone when he spotted Xie Tian. Since the latter was in a bad condition, he wanted to kill the protagonist here and end the tutorial quest for good.

Unfortunately, doing so would expose his location. The fight would be difficult if Xie Tian still had other trump cards. Moreover, an unknown girl, whose strength surpassed Xu Miao, was with the protagonist.

"Xie Tian."

"Xu Miao!"

Xie Tian bellowed and mustered his Qi, preparing to summon dragon fireballs to kill Xu Miao.

*PEOK*

Before Xie Tian could do anything, Xiong Zhenzhen punched his stomach.

Xie Tian fell face-first to the dirty sewer water. He fainted from the direct damage to his dantian.

Xiong Zhenzhen turned to Xu Miao and his slaves to apologize, "I'm sorry for his unruly behavior. He has absorbed a lot of corrupted Qi, and it influenced his decision-making."

Xu Miao grinned, "Since he's that crazy, may I do you a favor by killing him?"

"Sorry. No. I still have other uses for him. By the way, I see that you've run away from the sect as well. Are you lost?"

Xu Miao clicked his tongue. It seemed that if he wanted to get to Xie Tian, he had to defeat this stranger first. By reflex, Xu Miao gauged Xiong Zhenzhen's strength by inspecting her Qi volume within her belly and her presence.

'At least four or fifth-stage. Are you serious!?'

Sensing the overwhelming power of the girl, Xu Miao aborted the plan. For now, he aimed to complete his secondary objectives, bringing Wei Yuan with him and getting out of here alive.

"I'm heading to the Mountain Goose Sect. Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I see," She cupped her fist, "My name is Xiong Zhenzhen. I was once Xu Xiuying's legacy disciple, but I'm running away from the sect at the moment. May I know who you are?"

Xiong Zhenzhen was surprisingly polite even though it was their first meeting in a suspicious environment.

Xu Miao played along, "I'm Xu Miao, formerly known as Mao Miaomiao. I'm also running away from Xu Xiuying."

"I see. So you're her adopted son. Should I call you Mao Miaomiao or Xu Miao?"

"I… prefer the latter. I don't want others to call me like a cat."

"True. Well, at least your surname is not Miao. Or else, anyone who speaks your name will have to act like a cat," Xiong Zhenzhen giggled.

Xu Miao rolled his eyes as he imagined the scenario.

Miao Miaomiao

Meow Meow Meow?

Although his alias was made by Xu Xiuying, Xu Miao preferred to use the current name as he was tired of being called a cat.

"Tell me, what are you doing here?" Xu Miao changed the subject.

"Ah, we are trying to infiltrate the Mountain Goose Sect's prison to search for someone. Since we have the same goal, would you like to come with us?"

Xu Miao was interested. If there were many people, he could use them as human shields or baits when things go south, "That depends. How many people in your group, and what's their strength?"

"Pfft. You're not in the position to ask about our strength. I'm already being polite, you know. Do you think your entire group can contribute something when I'm around?" Xiong Zhenzhen pointed out that she was strong enough to do everything by herself since she was as strong as an elder.

Xu Miao could see Xiong Zhenzhen's face in the dark. From a glance, he could tell that her beauty and body was superior to Jiang Lan or Kang Yan. Yet, his little Godzilla refused to react to the woman for several reasons.

"Forget it. We'll move independently," Xu Miao ignored Xiong Zhenzhen and waved his hand, sending signals to Jiang Lan and others to follow him. He put back KQ into his spatial ring, and the group followed him further into the mountain goose sect's area.

Xu Miao didn't like Xiong Zhenzhen's attitude. Judging from her look, beauty, and behavior, his instinct was screaming that she was one of Xie Tian's love interests, and she was destined to support the protagonist.

Xiong Zhenzhen prevented Xu Miao from killing Xie Tian. It was obvious that the protagonist's plot armor was still as strong as ever to the point that it annoyed Xu Miao.

Despite encountering roadblocks one after another, Xu Miao still had high hope.

Xie Tian might be pampered by his mysterious fate, luck, and heaven's will. However, his charisma as a protagonist was fading. He was supposed to be an unyielding, ass-kicking, and domineering character with a big brain, aka a perfect being that novel readers liked.

But now, Xie Tian's condition and attitude degraded to that of an edgy teenager. He seemed moody, weak, and unreasonable. Even if he got a bit stronger, Xu Miao could tell that Xie Tian's protagonist charisma would soon reduce to that of an arrogant main character, who could be discarded at any point in a story.

In most stories, protagonists were protected by invincible barriers called [Plot Armor]. It came in various forms, such as overprotective parent-figures, grandpas in rings, OP items, god-like spirits in artifacts, stupid villains, unreasonable luck, supreme intelligence, system cheats, future knowledge, and etc. It was Xu Miao's job to peel these plot armors, one layer at a time, before he could downgrade Xie Tian's existence to a local cultivator, who he could kill.

'I don't believe your luck can save you forever, Xie Tian. Let's see how long you can rely on this girlfriend of yours. Hell, if this girl shows an opening, I'll fucking brainwash her!'

…

Xiong Zhenzhen gazed at the leaving group while she bit her lower lips. She regretted that she had chosen the wrong words.

'What was I thinking!? Why did I have to say that!? I didn't want to look down on them, but I ended up offending them. ARHG! WTF BRAIN!?'

After days of recuperating, Xiong Zhenzhen's strength recovered back to her prime, but the mental illness relapsed. She had difficulties coming up with the right sentences during a conversation. Sometimes, she had dark thoughts and said something without thinking.

During the previous conversation, Xiong Zhenzhen wanted to give an excuse to tag along with them so that they could work together. Unfortunately, her arrogant side took over and annoyed Xu Miao.

Xiong Zhenzhen facepalmed and sighed. She carried Xie Tian on her shoulder and walked away from Xu Miao.

'I'm not in the condition to help Xie Tian or anyone. If my fucking brain acts up again, I might do something stupid and jeopardize everybody.'

The heroine followed the sewer way northeast, heading toward the Sky Duck City, where Yao Lan and others had gone. She planned to rejoin them and leave this place as soon as possible.

…

The dark sewer maze led Xu Miao to another roadblock. It was not a dead-end since the remaining path became a vertical way. From this point, only one person could squeeze into the pipe and climb upward.

Brown water and traces of fecal dropped down from the sewer way and made the tunnel slippery. Xu Miao's face distorted as he imagined himself climbing this shit hole.

Jiang Lan and others also had the same thought. They looked at their master, praying that they wouldn't have to use the tunnel.

"Girls, wait for me here. I'm going alone."

Kang Yan, Jiang Lan, and the slaves heaved a sigh of relief. Walking through the dirty dark water was already torturous. If they had to climb the hole, they would rather die. Everybody but Xu Miao backed away from the hole.

Xu Miao jumped up. He pressed his palms and his feet to the tunnel surface as if he were a contestant in the American Ninja Warrior show.

The slimy surface almost sent Xu Miao back to the ground several times as he pressed himself upward. The path was 300 meters long since it was the main sewer pipe from the sect, which was located a couple of kilometers above the sea level.

Had Xu Miao never known Qi or a body strengthening technique, he would have gotten tired and dropped to the ground. He circulated his Qi to boost his muscle strength and got himself to the upper level of the sewer system.

*Zaaa*

As Xu Miao was crawling into the small tunnel, a wave of wastewater and several pieces of feces hit his face. Someone might have just flushed down a toilet.

Xu Miao closed his eyes and covered his mouth as he braced the shitty things. He kept crawling and reached an exit.

The sewer space got wider and Xu Miao could get back on his feet again. He wiped unknown pieces and dirt from his face and took off the wet wedding clothes.

With only wet pants, Xu Miao looked around and proceeded forward.

After another hour, he ran into similar passageways. He kept climbing upward and questioning himself why he had to use this path.

But at long last, he reached a dead end. The waterway was too small for him to access. If he had to proceed further, he had to start digging his own path.

Xu Miao had been counting how high he had climbed. From a brief calculation, he guessed that he had climbed at least a kilometer upward.

'Where should I go next? Should I start digging myself upward?'

Xu Miao took out his smartphone from his spatial ring to light the way. As he was looking around, he heard someone's voice.

"Who's down there?"

Xu Miao immediately closed his smartphone. He was scared that one of the Wei clansmen might have noticed him.

However, the voice was weak and hoarse. Xu Miao had heard it before, and he remembered this iconic voice.

Xu Miao reopened his phone flashlight and tried to search for the source of the voice.

"Senior Jia Shan?"