Villain Cultivator

The next day morning, Ma Ping and Jia Shan gathered the crew for another meeting.

Luo Cheng and the succubi also participated as they were now their semi-prisoners. As for Xu Xiuying, she was sealed and imprisoned in a storehouse. Ku'er and Ma Moxi were in charge of monitoring her, so they couldn't join the meeting.

Ma Ping got to the point, "We're going to visit this so-called royal vault. First, we've already sealed Wang Yun and Liu Bian's meridians, and we shall bring them to the vault. Miaomiao, Ju Shoufen, you two will escort Liu Xie to the place with us. As for Master Lu, I need you to stay here and watch over Luo Cheng and the succubi."

In short, Miaomiao, Ju Shoufen, Ma Ping, and Jia Shan would escort Mike, Liu Bian, and Ju Xie to the rumored entrance to the vault. As for the others, they had to stay in the guesthouse to watch over Xu Xiuying and her team.

Miaomiao didn't like Ma Ping's idea as it weakened their team's overall combat strength. Without Lu Fengxian and Ma Moxi, their firepower decreased by at least 50 – 70%.

This was not a good idea!

"Can I suggest something?" Miaomiao raised his hand.

"What is it?"

"Why can't we bring the others with us? How about we take everybody to the vault or whatever portal?"

"And do you want to repeat what had happened yesterday?"

"But yesterday, we have both Ma Moxi and Master Lu with us. The only reason we could defeat the lich was because of them."

Ma Ping nodded as he understood what Miaomiao was worried about, but he disagreed, "I know. But look at Wang Yun and Liu Bian now. Their meridians have been sealed, so there's nothing to worry about. However, those girls are a hindrance, and they couldn't even contribute to the fight. We have to leave them here since there's nothing they can do. Also, we don't want extra people to the vault."

"… Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Have you heard of it?"

"That's a pessimistic way of thinking. Don't you have faith in me and your mentor at all?"

Miaomiao wanted to say the truth that he didn't have faith in their decisions, but he was afraid of Jia Shan's evil smile.

"Fine. We'll go with just us. By the way, Liu Xie is now Ju Shoufen's and my adopted son. His name is now Ju Xie."

The elders stared at Miaomiao and Ju Shoufen in shock. Then, they looked at the child emperor, who had been clinging to Ju Shoufen's hand.

Unlike before, he seemed cheerful.

"I see. That suits you," Ma Ping and Jia Shan ignored the weird relationship between Ju Shoufen and Miaomiao as they were used to it.

Ma Ping proceeded with the agenda, "Now, Wang Yun, or should I call you Mike?"

Mike shrugged, "Any name is fine. If you have a hard time pronouncing my name, you can still keep calling me Wang Yun."

"Alright. Wang Yun, Liu Bian, where is the entrance?"

Liu Bian glared at Ma Ping for a moment. Then, he snorted, "Inside the shadow realm that we had entered yesterday. The entrance to the vault is inside the tornado."

Hearing that they had to enter the shadow realm again, everybody glared at Liu Bian, wondering whether he had an ulterior motive.

"Miaomiao," Jia Shan looked at his disciple.

"Yes, master?"

"Use Vampiric Touch on him. Steal every bit of his Qi and element Qi. Then, cripple his dantian."

"Cool!"

Miaomiao had no qualms about beating an arrogant child or protagonists. He seized Liu Bian's neck and activated his favorite skill, Vampiric Touch.

Remnant of Liu Bian's power entered Miaomiao's palms, arms, and body. Not many strands were left inside Liu Bian's dantian, but Miaomiao emptied it anyway.

Then, Miaomiao tried to absorb Liu Bian's Heavenly Fate Fragment. He focused his sense on the 13th-meridian of Liu Bian.

Ding

[Warning, I've detected strange energy within Liu Bian's Heavenly Fate Fragment.]

[It is recommended not to absorb anything strange into your dantian. Are you sure you want to take it in?]

Miaomiao stopped what he was doing on the spot. He stared at Dion's messages. Then, he glanced at Liu Bian, who had been staring at his face in resentment.

Liu Bian spat, "Go ahead and absorb my luck, you thief! You're just lucky to have so many good heroes and champions backing you! Without them, you're nothing!"

"That's rich coming from a salty emperor wannabe. Had you played it cool and avoided trouble for a few years, you could have built an unstoppable undead army and dominated the continent. You screwed yourself for revealing your cards too soon."

"Tsk! As if you know how it feels to be manipulated by ambitious cronies! Try living under the thumbs of several 6th-stage and 7th-stage cultivators since birth! Had I not acted, they would have killed me and enthroned Liu Xie!"

Miaomiao burst into laughter, "Oh, please. Instead of worrying about the throne being stolen, you could have abdicated the throne and escaped! Then, you could have come back like a proper 3rd-rated protagonist."

"You can say whatever you want when you grew up being spoiled by so many powerful experts, you trash!"

"Hah! You know nothing! You have no idea how it feels to live under the same roof as a 6th-stage demoness, serving as her toy! At least, you were born a prince, so you have a status as a shield for your ass. In my case, I was a 1st-stage nobody when I was captured. I had to struggle daily and hope that I wouldn't have been killed and thrown away like a stray dog. Me, a spoiled young master? To me, you're the rotten young master, your highness."

"…"

Liu Bian didn't understand what kind of life Miaomiao had been through, so he had no idea what Miaomiao was bragging about.

On the other hand, Jia Shan glanced at Miaomiao and nodded as he understood where he came from. It was already a miracle that Miaomiao had escaped from Xu Xiuying's grasp and even rescued him from Wei Huang's prison.

"Enough chatter. Have you finished, Miaomiao?"

Being warned by Ma Ping, Miaomiao stopped talking and looking at his system screens. He needed to make the decision now.

Miaomiao talked to Dion in his mind.

'Don't absorb the Heavenly Fate Fragment.'

[Affirmative.]

[You have absorbed 40 strands of Shadow Element Qi.]

[You have absorbed 150 drops of Twilight Essence.]

[Twilight Essence has been purified by your blood. You have obtained 75 drops of Life Essence.]

'Hmm.'

Miaomiao released his hand, but he delivered a gut punch to Liu Bian's stomach.

The prince crumbled to the ground, vomiting yellowish fluid.

However, Miaomiao wasn't done yet.

He kicked the ground and seized Mike's neck. Then, he used Vampiric Touch on him!

"You!"

Mike was surprised that Miaomiao suddenly drained his remaining Qi.

Ding

[You have absorbed 1,500,000 strands of Shadow Element Qi!]

[You have absorbed 2,130,000 strands of Poison Element Qi!]

[You have absorbed 1,700,000 strands of Metal Element Qi!]

[Your dantian cannot handle new Element Qi due to the lack of element crystals!]

[Shadow Element Qi, Poison Element Qi, and Metal Element Qi has been stored in your secondary dantian.]

[You have absorbed five billion liters of Yang Essence.]

[Yang Essence has been purified. You have obtained 50 million liters of Life Essence.]

Mike groaned as his energy had suddenly been drained, and he was left with an empty tank. Although he still had spare Qi and Essence in his nascent soul, Miaomiao's action practically crippled him, not leaving a path for him to fight back or escape.

Even though Miaomiao had finished sealing the fate of these prisoners, he hadn't done with them yet. He injected several strands of Dragon Fie Qi into their hearts and brains, implanting bombs inside them.

Then, Miaomiao released both Liu Bian and Mike.

"Yeah, I'm done."

Ma Ping and Jia Shan nodded in approval of Miaomiao's action, "Okay. We'll leave for whatever vault it is!"

The gang carried Mike and Liu Bian back to the imperial palace, where a proper entrance to the underground pylon tower was located.

…

The group visited the emperor's palace, where it was surrounded by the four season palaces.

As soon as they arrived, Li Jue brought his royal guards to welcome them. The mask old man still looked calm even after the mass-abduction incident.

"Welcome back, seniors. Also, welcome back, your majesty. What had happened yesterday, if I may ask? Also, where is Lord Dong Zhongying?"

Ma Ping waved and shooed Li Jue away, "There was an unexpected incident, but we've taken care of everything. The emperor has returned in one piece, but that fatty is dead."

Li Jue nodded. He was happy about Dong Zhongying's death since the fat lord had always gotten on his nerve. However, his eyes fixated on Liu Bian, whose disguise form had been undone. He was now wearing a ragged grey cloth, and his hands were tied by a rope.

"So, is this the heretic prince, Liu Bian?" Li Jue sneered at his former boss, "Who could have thought that seniors would be so capable. You even captured the heretic for us. We don't know how to express our gratitude for your contribution."

"Stop with the flattery. We are escorting the emperor to his room. Show us the way!"

"Then, I shall take the prisoner-"

Ma Ping stopped Li Jue from reaching his hand toward Liu Bian. The war hero's killing intent soared as he intimidated Li Jue, "We will take care of the princes. As for you, lead us to the emperor's chamber, then you can leave."

"…"

Behind the wooden white mask, Li Jue squinted his eyes as he found Ma Ping's action suspicious. Then, he glanced at Mike, who seemed to be another prisoner.

Li Jue thought to himself, 'I've seen this guy before. He should be Liu Bian's right-hand man. But how did a 7th-stage expert get caught so easily?'

The mask old man's attention shifted to Ju Shoufen next. He ogled her petit body for a moment before he coughed, pretending to be friendly.

"Please follow me. I shall lead you to the emperor's chamber."

…

When the group arrived at the emperor's chamber, Ma Ping chased Li Jue away.

The latter left quietly, but he paid attention to the suspicious activities. He assembled remaining royal guards and mercenaries, who still worked for him.

Li Jue looked at his men and gave them the emergency order, "We'll leave this city and contact the Yuan Clan."

"Sir?"

Several 5th-stage royal guards looked confused. They wondered why they had to leave this city since their jobs required them to protect the palaces.

"The emperor has been killed! All Liu Clan's bloodline in this continent has been purged! We shall inform Yuan Shaoqing!"

"B-But, wasn't that Emperor Liu Xie?"

Several guards had seen the face of Ju Xie and recognized him. They protested as the order didn't make sense.

Li Jue bellowed, "That was an imposter! Yesterday, the real emperor was abducted, and the culprits were none other than the former war hero and the sword saint! And now, they brought the heretic prince and a stranger over, disguising them as prisoners, but they just entered the emperor's chamber! Do you think their action makes any sense!? They're definitely thieves, scoundrels, rebels, or bandits! We shall inform this to the Yuan Clan and ask for their aid!"

The guards were thrown into an uproar. They looked at each other, gossiping in low voices as they found this new intel unbelievable.

Among the crowd, a 7th-stage cultivator had been lurking there. Although he had been wearing earth-grade plate armor like everybody else, his stature stood out from the rest as he was a physique cultivator with golden skin.

Qiang Sui was among them!

Qiang Sui didn't say anything, but he sneaked a glance at the imperial palace, where Jia Shan and others had entered. He spread his Qi sense to check where they were.

Unfortunately, he couldn't feel them inside the emperor's chamber.

"Hmm?"

…

Among the group of royal guards, Zhang He, a transmigrator who had devoured Zhang Junyi's soul, was there, listening to Li Jue's order.

While his iron helmet hid his expression and sweaty face, his eyes focused on the semi-transparent screens, reading the notification messages.

Ding

[Yuan Hua is currently relaying her order to Yuan Shaoqing and Myriad Cauldron Sect.]

[Yuan Hua has given you new orders!]

[First order, sneak out of the platoon and burn the entire Red Sun City! Make sure nobody finds you!]

[Your second mission is to accompany these royal guards to Yeet City. After that, you must leave the royal guards and report yourself to either Han Wenjie or Yuan Shaoqing.]

Zhang He gulped. His life had been chaotic after his soul transmigrated to this world.

Still, this otherworlder enjoyed the adventurous life. It felt a lot rewarding than sitting in front of a computer all day.

'Alright. What about my reward?'

Ding

[Yuan Hua has promised to give you essence cores and a few immortal-grade cultivation techniques.]

[Also, Yuan Shaoqing's agents will take you to the Holy Land Continent, which has a better environment for cultivation.]

'That's great!'

As Zhang He was communicating with his system, the royal guards dispersed and went to their quarters to pack their belongings.

Realizing that everyone was gone, Zhang He sneaked out of the inner palace, heading out toward the city to finish his mission.

But his feet stopped. Zhang He had doubts since the mission was somewhat evil, 'The mission is the burn the entire city, but do I have to kill the civilians here?'

Ding

[All civilians here are heretics and evildoers. They support the evil prince, Liu Bian. You must eradicate them before they reveal their true forms.]

'What are their true forms?'

[Undead monsters. Don't you think it's odd that corpses and trash in the city always disappeared overnight? It was their doing all along!]

'…'

Zhang He was skeptical about this since the system messages didn't have the feel of an A.I. or the robotic nature of systems. Instead, he felt like he was chatting with someone.

Moreover, the request was dubious. He didn't know if he should complete it.

[The reward for the first task is an immortal-grade cultivation book and 100,000 essence cores.]

Zhang He grounded his teeth and clenched his fists. He felt wrong. However, for the sake of his advancement, he had to dirty his hands.

"Fine! I'll do it!"