This Is What a Villain Is Like

Just then, a graceful, snow-white figure suddenly descended from the sky, landing on an exposed rock not far away.

Her black hair danced in the wind, a light veil hiding her face. Her elegant brows were dark as ink, and her eyes were clear, serene, and indifferent, seemingly devoid of all emotion.

Stains of blood, whether hers or someone else’s, dotted the hem of her dress. With her arrival, the very air seemed to grow colder.

’What a beautiful woman...’

Ye Ming looked over, a deep sense of awe flashing in his eyes before he quickly suppressed the feeling.

He could clearly sense that the woman’s power was far greater than his own.

Moreover, she seemed angry. Those clear, indifferent eyes were scanning the surroundings, as if searching for someone.

"This woman is far stronger than you. If you don’t want to die, don’t even think about getting any ideas. You won’t even know what hit you..."

The blood-red figure slowly vanished from Ye Ming’s palm.

Its old, deep voice, however, echoed in his mind.

Ye Ming gave a wry smile. ’Even if I had the inclination, I certainly don’t have the nerve.’ He immediately wanted to slip away and leave as quickly as possible.

However, a sudden gust of icy wind blocked his path.

It was accompanied by a clear, placid voice. "Have you seen a man resting here?"

Ye Ming froze. Suppressing the other emotions in his heart, he shook his head and cupped his hands. "To answer your question, Fairy, I just fled to this place. I haven’t seen anyone..."

As soon as he spoke, he felt a pair of indifferent eyes studying him, as if trying to judge the truth of his words.

Ye Ming didn’t dare to look up. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and an immense pressure welled up in his heart.

This woman was not only powerful but also dangerous—the kind of existence that could decide his life or death with ease.

"No one?" The woman seemed to be asking him, but also talking to herself.

"Then have you seen a man dressed in white?" She thought for a moment before asking again.

Ye Ming quickly shook his head. But then he suddenly recalled the scene in the Earth Palace—the figure shrouded in blood-red mist had seemed to be wearing white.

’Could this woman be looking for him?’

"Fairy, I just remembered," Ye Ming said immediately. "While I was fleeing for my life, I think I did see a man in white. He headed deeper into the Blood Red Plateau..."

But before he could finish, the woman before him vanished in an instant, transforming into a fleeting afterimage as she rushed toward the depths where the blood-red mist churned.

Though Ye Ming was baffled and a little envious, he didn’t dare to linger. Fearing the woman might return, he quickly fled the area.

The entire Blood Red Plateau began to tremble due to the world-shaking phenomenon in its depths.

A massive number of Demon Beasts stampeded. Torrents of them poured out from the various mountain ranges, a swarming black mass.

Many Cultivators who couldn’t escape in time were trampled to death.

In the depths, pillars of blood-red smoke billowed like a great whale drinking the sea. As they swirled, the sky rumbled. The sight was terrifying and astounding, the sheer scale immense.

In a city thousands of miles away, the closest to the Blood Red Plateau, Cultivators who noticed this phenomenon felt their souls tremble, utterly shocked.

Even from such a great distance, the sight was magnificent and staggering.

Pillars of blood-red smoke shot up, piercing through heaven and earth. They seemed to plunge into the firmament and reach for the starry void, as if to shake the very stars from the sky.

Immediately, the Sects that noticed this astonishing phenomenon began to dispatch their experts to investigate.

The various cities within Danzhou County also sent patrol teams and simultaneously reported the anomaly on the Blood Red Plateau to the Observatory and the Immortal Suppression Bureau.

When such a strange event occurred within Great Xia’s borders, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that some Immortal Sect Lineage or powerful Cultivator was responsible.

Although the Immortal Sects were free and unrestrained, they still had to abide by the laws of Great Xia within its territory and were not allowed to act recklessly.

Deep within the Blood Red Plateau, Jiang Lan rose from the collapsed Earth Palace. The bloody glint in his eyes faded, leaving them calm and placid.

He didn’t continue his cultivation. For one, he had already absorbed most of the blood-red mist in the area; there wasn’t much left.

For another, the disturbance here had already alerted the various Immortal Sect Lineages and drawn the attention of Great Xia.

If he stayed, he would inevitably be discovered. In particular, that girl Li Mengning would definitely come looking for him out of worry.

’For now, I can finally say I have some real strength...’

Jiang Lan was very satisfied with his trip to the Blood Red Plateau.

His Destiny Dao Fruit was only in the first stage of its maturation, yet in such a short time, it had completely absorbed and devoured the Qi and Blood Power that had accumulated here for thousands of years.

This terrifying speed was far from its limit.

Jiang Lan himself wasn’t sure to what extent his Spring of Life had expanded compared to before. He suspected that even describing it as "massive" would be a gross understatement.

He could clearly feel that his physical body and soul had undergone an earth-shattering transformation, akin to a rebirth from fire.

After all, the Infinite River of Destiny was no ordinary Cultivation Technique. It was a method that converted the energy of the world into a Spring of Life, and then used that Spring of Life to generate Magical Power.

Therefore, his Spring of Life was equivalent to the Spirit Sea that Cultivators established.

Generally speaking, when a Cultivator in the Spirit Sea Realm first established their Spirit Sea, a scope of a thousand feet was already considered exceptionally talented.

A scope of ten thousand feet could be called a prodigy favored by the heavens.

A scope of one hundred thousand feet was rare in all of history.

But Jiang Lan’s Spring of Life was simply endless and boundless. The concept of scope didn’t even apply.

In this world, the Cultivation Realms were divided into: the First Realm of Body, the Second Realm of Qi Cultivation, the Third Realm of Spirit Sea, the Fourth Realm of Illuminating Nether, the Fifth Realm of Soul Palace, the Sixth Realm of Divine Techniques, the Seventh Realm of Dharma Aspect, the Eighth Realm of Tribulation Bridge, and the Ninth Realm of Feather Transformation...

According to this division of Cultivation Realms, since he had not yet used Illuminating Nether to condense his Divine Soul, he could at most be considered to be in the Third Realm, the Spirit Sea Realm.

’Now my realm can’t keep up with my Magical Power...’

’In other words, I have all this terrifying brute force, but I don’t know how to wield it with any finesse.’

’But that doesn’t seem to affect me too much.’

Jiang Lan felt that with the current immensity of his Magical Power, if he caught them by surprise, it would be more than enough to kill a Fifth Realm expert or even heavily injure a Sixth Realm expert with a single palm strike.

After all, he had absorbed the Qi and Blood Power that had accumulated on the Blood Red Plateau for thousands of years.

The strength of his physical body and soul was enough to support him wielding such vast and powerful Magical Power. If one palm strike didn’t kill them, he could just use a second, then a third... Supported by his potent Life Force, even if his body was destroyed, it would quickly recover.

As for raising his Cultivation Realm in the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about bottlenecks at all. He just needed to proceed step-by-step, and success would come naturally.

A despair-inducing health bar, a ridiculously overpowered Recovery Power, and a Blue Bar that was nearly inexhaustible...

Jiang Lan felt that if he could just bolster his Divine Soul’s strength and become immune to fatal blows, he would have the complete standard-issue boss template.

Then, with a slight flicker, his figure left the Earth Palace. When he reappeared, he was already in a narrow rift valley outside the Blood Red Plateau.

Not far away, chaos reigned. A dark tide of Demon Beasts surged outward, kicking up a sky full of dust.

In the distance, streaks of rainbow light—fleeing Cultivators—streaked across the sky.

Jiang Lan resisted the impulse to test his newfound strength.

After this great increase in power, his control over his Life Force had become even more profound and terrifying.

He felt that with a single thought, he could easily reap this herd of Demon Beasts like cutting grass, harvesting them for nutrients.