Villain Cultivator

Yao Lan led Jiang Lan and Xu Miao back to their room. She staggered and coughed a mouthful of blood when she got there.

The elder was lucky that Xu Xiuying didn't pursue the matter or suspected that she had stolen the secret. Or else, she might have died.

"A-Are you okay, elder?"

Jiang Lan was frightened. Xu Xiuying's interrogation was too scary. When Xu Xiuying attacked Yao Lan, she thought that the amazon elder might have died, and Xu Xiuying would kill her and Xu Miao.

"I'm fine. Young master Xu Miao, I'm so sorry for earlier. I almost crippled you."

Xu Miao felt guilty for making Yao Lan his scapegoat, "It's fine. You were following my mother's order. I can't blame you."

"Thank you… Young master, can I ask you something?" Despite being injured, Yao Lan had a question that she wanted to confirm.

"Yes, senior?"

"You have the time-and-space secret, right?"

Xu Miao smiled, "Will you believe me if I say I don't?"

Yao Lan gave him a meaningful look. A tinge of killing intent locked on to Xu Miao, but she retracted it.

"I suggest that you should give it to your mother whenever you can. Or else, our sect will face a calamity."

"… What?"

Yao Lan revealed a bitter smile. Her guess was right – Xu Miao had the secret. However, the elder chose not to pursue the matter.

"Do me a favor, young master."

"What can I do for you?"

"When things go wrong," Yao Lan paused and sighed, "Protect VY disciples. They will be the primary targets for raiders when it happens."

"…"

"I'll text you a map of our building's secret passages, so you can guide those innocent girls to a safe place. I don't care if you will violate them and steal their power as long as you have a better cultivation technique to compensate them. Can you promise me that you will take care of them in my stead?"

Xu Miao sensed sincerity and worries in Yao Lan's tone. He felt guilty. At the same time, he had concerns. His instinct cried. There was something serious that he overlooked.

'Wait a second. Isn't this a fucking death flag!?'

By connecting the dots, including Xu Xiuying's actions, Yao Lan's worries, and his novel experience, Xu Miao realized what he had overlooked.

The existence of space-and-time technique had been exposed in the previous annual exam. By now, every sect and organization should be busy gathering information about Xie Tian and his whereabouts. His existence became a trouble-magnet, which drew the attention of all greedy powerhouses, including Xu Xiuying.

If that was the case, then Yao Lan's worries and action still contradicted with this logic. She had no reason not to snitch on Xu Miao to Xu Xiuying since she could have solved her issues on the spot.

Xu Miao's face turned solemn. He didn't like it when someone put a death flag on themselves.

"You knew that I have it, but why don't you just kill me and take it? Why bother entrusting me with this task?"

Xu Miao chose to be dead honest and risked his life for once. Judging from the fact that Yao Lan cared for her VY disciples, this elder might be a trustworthy character, which might be a better potential ally than Qi Hong or Long Meifang.

Yao Lan gave Xu Miao a bitter smile. She, too, decided to be dead honest, "You're not Xu Xiuying's real son, right?"

"Yeah, I'm an adopted. I thought that everybody here knew."

"Yes. We aren't stupid. We have been working here for decades, and our mistress never has a husband. All of a sudden, you show up as her son. Of course, no elder believes it, but we chose not to speak."

Yao Lan was so circumlocutory that it confused Xu Miao.

"If you knew, why me of all people? I'm an outsider, no? Don't you afraid that I'll violate all VY disciples that you treasure?"

"Because you can be trusted."

"Pardon?"

"Have you realized that you're working for an unorthodox sect, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"Then, do you know that your mother is actually a succubus, a demoness?"

"…"

Xu Miao already knew as the system already revealed Xu Xiuying's true identity. Yet, he chose not to fret about it. He still had many things that he wanted to extract from Xu Xiuying and her goons.

Yao Lan could read Xu Miao like a book, "From your expression, you knew."

"…Yes."

"But there are a few things that you don't know," Yao Lan looked around to see if there was any eavesdropper. She guided Xu Miao into his room, so they could talk in private.

Xu Miao, Jiang Lan, and Yao Lan entered the room. Yet, Yao Lan stopped to look around. Then, she shot seven energy balls in seven different directions with her fingers.

No explosion or damage occurred in the room. However, everyone could smell that some electronic devices had been fried.

All hidden CCTV cameras were shot down.

After all hidden eyes were destroyed, Yao Lan turned to Xu Miao, "Now that nobody can eavesdrop on our conversation. I'll continue what we left off. Call Kang Yan over. You guys can listen together"

"… Okay."

Xu Miao called Kang Yan, who was cultivating on the balcony, back into the room.

When Yao Lan had apprehended Jiang Lan, she simply called her to stop cultivating and surrender. Jiang Lan yielded after she found out that Xu Miao was unconscious, and Yao Lan put her to sleep afterward.

As for Kang Yan, Yao Lan left her alone. She didn't disturb her cultivation process since it might disrupt or injure her dantian. Thus, she didn't examine her disciple's strength thoroughly.

Now that Kang Yan stopped cultivating and entered the room, Yao Lan found an anomaly.

Kang Yan's cultivation base, which should have been level 10 of the Bone Refinement Realm, dropped to level 6. Moreover, Yao Lan couldn't sense her secondary dantian.

"So you've taken her virginity."

Xu Miao shrugged, "Your VY cultivation technique sucks. I gave her a better technique. Within a week, her strength shot up from level 1 to level 6, and she can enjoy being a woman."

Amazed by her disciple's achievement and Xu Miao's secret, Yao Lan wanted to know the cultivation technique or the thing that Kang Yan was using. However, she restrained her greed.

Yao Lan only nodded at Kang Yan, "Good for you. So you all have found a better technique."

Kang Yan and Jiang Lan fidgeted. They were reluctant of telling the truth or reply to the elder.

Breaking the dead air, Xu Miao reminded Yao Lan of her purpose, "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"Ah, right. I want to tell you about the purpose of this sect and the danger that my disciples are in."

"Yeah. Other sects or a bunch of assholes will attack this sect for the time-and-space technique, right?"

"Yeah, that's a part of it, but the real concerns here are your foster mother and other JY elders."

"What about them?"

Yao Lan's expression turned solemn. Her bitter smile disappeared. She stared into Xu Miao's eyes, trying to convey her worries.

"All JY elders are trying to convert VY disciples to become dual-cultivators, and those dual cultivators are practicing demonic arts. Sooner or later, they will be corrupted and become one of the succubi like your mother. I don't want my precious disciples to become demons."

This was the first time that Xu Miao heard that local cultivators could mutate into demons by practicing enough demonic arts.

Yao Lan continued, "I don't think that our sect will be easily taken down by just random cultivators since everyone is afraid of our main branch's sect master and high-rank elders. But I want to use this chance to evacuate those innocent girls outside of this city. I want them to stop practicing all demonic techniques of Xu Xiuying!"

Yao Lan finally revealed her motive. She was rebelling against Xu Xiuying.

"So, you want to use the safety pretense as a legitimate reason for the evacuation. Then, you will banish those lovely girls out of this sect to save them."

"Yes. Listen, I won't ask you much, but if you have the slightest pity for those innocent girls, please bring them out of here when the brothel is under siege," Yao Lan took out her phone and sent Xu Miao several image files, which revealed the underground level maps.

Complex passages were like a giant maze. In the maps, it revealed all details about traps, arrays, hidden paths, and various exit points.

Xu Miao rubbed his eyes when he read the note of an exit passage.

Sky Duck City

The local's naming sense was so bizarre that it irked Xu Miao. He wouldn't be surprised if nearby cities had similar names, such as Wind Peacock or Sea Chicken.

Yao Lan ignored Xu Miao's distorted expression. She gave him a jade token, which had an imprinted symbol, [Zhu].

"Zhu?"

Xu Miao squinted his eyes. Seeing the character, [Zhu], the face of Zhu Qiao came to his mind. He wondered if the token related to her.

"There's another branch of silver phoenix sect in the sky duck city, but the executives, elders, and their disciples are from Virgin Yin School. The Zhu Clan is running the branch, and they advocate man-woman relationships, including JY practices. I want you to lead all my VY girls there if possible. If you can't, please hide them somewhere. Turn them into your yin slaves if you want, but you have to share the cultivation technique that Kang Yan and Jiang Lan are practicing, okay?"

Xu Miao's face twitched. If Zhu Clan existed, Zhu Qiao might be a member of that clan. Rather, she might be a hidden heroine, an MC's love interest, or someone he had to be wary of.

He nudged his temples as he had a headache. He didn't like being pushed around. Moreover, Xu Miao still had to kill Xie Tian, who got imprisoned here.

"I'll think about it."

"Please do. I'll take my leave."

Yao Lan left the room. She didn't request for Kang Yan's special cultivation technique or the space-and-time secret, which revealed her selfless trait.

Xu Miao made a mental note. This elder had the potential to be a trustworthy ally. She might be useful for him in the distant future when he got strong enough to break free from Xu Xiuying.

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Meanwhile, on the 20th floor, Xu Xiuying was grinning from ear to ear while she was reading the scroll that Xie Tian had written.

There was not only one scroll about the space-and-time technique, various skills, such as dragon fireballs, dragon bombs, and details about his dragon bloodline were in other scrolls.

The writer, Xie Tian, was sweating profusely. He was fighting against Xu Xiuying's mysterious drug's effect and pretending to be intoxicated. He wrote one scroll after another, laying traps for this greedy woman.