Raising the Villain in Wrong Way

She wiped the sweat from her brow, looking back at the rogue. "Seriously! Have you ever thought about joining a sect? The Celestial Sword Sect would kill to have a vanguard with your reaction speed!"

Blue stepped over the serpent’s carcass, his dark eyes fixed on her.

"I have no interest in sects, Ji’an," Blue replied, his voice a smooth, low hum. "I find their rules... stifling. I prefer to choose my own company."

"Well, whoever you choose to travel with next is going to be incredibly lucky," Ji’an smiled, turning back to the trail, entirely missing the dark, obsessive flare that ignited in his eyes at the word ’next’.

’There is no next,’ Wangchen vowed internally, his gaze tracing the line of her spine beneath her gray robes. ’There is only you. Forever.’

As the morning sun began to pierce the thick canopy, casting long, golden rays through the oppressive mist, the dense jungle abruptly and unexpectedly ended.

They broke through a final wall of massive, twisting vines and stepped out onto a wide, sweeping expanse of smooth, white river stones.

Before them lay a massive, raging river.

It was not a normal river.

The water was a deep, swirling, terrifying shade of violet, churning with violent rapids and massive whirlpools that promised instant death to anyone foolish enough to fall in.

The far bank was obscured by a thick, impenetrable wall of swirling gray fog that completely blocked any view of what lay beyond.

"Whoa," Ji’an breathed, stepping up to the edge of the riverbank, feeling the spray of the violet water against her face.

The ambient spiritual pressure radiating from the river was staggering.

It felt heavy, ancient, and deeply hostile.

«The Abyssal Current,» the Nekomata projected, its mental voice losing its usual haughty tone, replaced by a note of genuine, primal caution.

The kitten stood up on Ji’an’s shoulder, the fur on its spine bristling slightly. «This is the absolute boundary of the Wastes. The waters are infused with the chaotic runoff of the fractured leylines. Even I do not cross this river.»

Ji’an pulled out her mission scroll, unrolling the parchment.

"My quota is full," Ji’an announced, looking at the glowing tallies on the scroll. "We’ve hunted twenty-five Rank 5 beasts, three Rank 6, and that one ape. I officially have enough merit points to buy the quartermaster’s entire inventory."

She looked out over the violet, raging river.

"But..." Ji’an muttered, her eyes narrowing as she stared into the impenetrable gray fog on the opposite bank.

Her culinary curiosity, a dangerous, reckless trait that had nearly gotten her killed on multiple occasions, began to itch. "What do you think is over there, Blue? Past the fog?"

Blue stepped up beside her.

He stood close enough that their shoulders were nearly brushing.

He looked across the violent, churning water, his dark eyes piercing the mist with a cultivator’s terrifying perception.

He could sense the danger.

He could sense the ancient, dormant monstrosities that slumbered in the unmapped territories beyond the river.

It was a place where rogues died, and where even Sovereign Elders tread with extreme caution.

But he didn’t look at the danger. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He looked down at the guy standing beside him, her silver-flecked eyes shining with the insatiable, beautiful, reckless fire of adventure.

"Whatever it is, Young Master Ji’an," Blue murmured, his voice a low, steady promise against the roar of the rapids. "If you wish to cross... I will carve the path for you."

Ji’an looked up at him.

The morning light caught his fiery red hair, illuminating the sharp, handsome angles of his face and the dark, unwavering intensity in his eyes.

For the second time on this trip, Ji’an’s heart fluttered.

The gigolo rumors of the capital suddenly flashed through her mind, and a bright, furious blush crept up her neck.

She quickly looked away, staring back at the river, desperately trying to ignore the sudden realization that she was currently in the middle of nowhere with a man who was dangerously, effortlessly stealing her attention.

"Let’s... let’s just take a break here for now," Ji’an stammered, frantically pulling her wok out of her spatial ring to give her hands something to do. "I need to boil some water. I need to cook. Yes, cooking is good. We’ll figure out the river after breakfast."

As Ji’an frantically busied herself with starting a fire on the riverbank, desperately trying to cook away her sudden romantic panic, Blue stood by the water’s edge, a slow, victorious smile curving his lips.

The river was dangerous.

But the true trap had already been sprung, and the chef was finally beginning to realize she was getting caught in a storm.

***

A temporary alliance in the treacherous, monster-infested, sanity-draining borders of the Azure Empire was usually a fragile, paranoid arrangement.

Rogue cultivators were notorious for plunging a dagger into their partner’s back the moment the loot was stacked.

But Lin Ji’an and the red-haired rogue known as ’Blue’ had achieved a bizarre, unprecedented, and terrifyingly efficient harmony.

They had spent five grueling, blood-soaked, heavily seasoned months together.

Five months of trudging through the Eastern Coastal Wastes, the Sunken Canyons, and the shifting, illusory borders of the deep jungle.

They had slaughtered Rank 6 and Rank 7 beasts with the synchronized harmony and the grace of a two-person apocalyptic event.

Ji’an would dictate the culinary requirement, "Don’t puncture the liver! I need the bile for a reduction!", and Blue would execute the surgical, kinetic strikes necessary to drop the beast without ruining the premium cuts.

For Blue, the arrangement yielded high efficiency in hunting and cultivation.

At least, that was the flimsy excuse he gave her.

In reality, Xie Wangchen had spent five months living in a constant, intoxicating state of proximity-induced euphoria.

He had guarded her while she slept; they took turns every time, but he took over most of the duty; he also ate meals cooked by her own hands every single night.

He had stood beside her as they watched the sun rise over oceans of toxic mist.