Villain System: Stealing the Protagonist's Harem and Luck

Chapter 128: Engineering a Heroic Rescue; No One Bullies My Exclusive Punching Bag

The Immortal Ancient Continent was a world of vast, staggering scale. Towering immortal peaks snaked across the horizon like fossilized dragons, exhaling an aura of prehistoric antiquity that felt as though it had birthed the world itself. Thick, celestial mists billowed between the heavens, obscuring the ground where pools of liquefied Spiritual Qi shimmered like emeralds.

For the young supremes of the Upper Realm, the protocol was simple: land, regroup, and consolidate. To be caught alone was to be picked off by rivals or the continent’s lethal indigenous inhabitants.

Gu Changge descended into a flat, verdant valley with his retinue of True Disciples and followers. In the distance, a lake of pure liquid Qi sparkled like a giant jadeite.

“Master, what is our heading?” A tall, demonic creature resembling a yaksha stepped forward, bowing to Changge.

“East,” Gu Changge replied after a brief pause. He glanced back at Jin Zhou and the other True Disciples. Frankly, he found them a nuisance. These “geniuses” had their own pride and their own followers; keeping them close would only lead to squabbles over loot. Gu Changge wasn’t one to share, and he was too bored to play mediator.

“If Senior Brother Gu is heading east, we shall take the west,” Jin Zhou said, catching the hint. He wasn’t a fool—staying with Changge meant doing all the work for none of the reward. “We will regroup in the central region later.”

Gu Changge offered a noncommittal nod as they departed. This was exactly what he wanted. Now, only Yin Mei and his personal followers remained.

He hadn’t brought Yan Ji along; her cultivation was too high to enter without triggering the continent’s restrictions, and her presence was better kept as a hidden trump card. Here, in this lawless prehistoric land, there were no protectors. For Gu Changge, this wasn’t a trial.

It was a harvest.

“Let’s move,” he commanded, leading the group eastward. If his senses were correct, the Vermilion Bird Clan—and by extension, Ye Ling—was in that direction.

Master wants me to get close to Ye Ling, Yin Mei mused as she followed. He expects Ye Ling to seek me out. Deceiving that fool will be all too easy.

Gu Changge, meanwhile, was grumbling internally about his luck. Despite traversing tens of thousands of miles, they hadn’t encountered a single native soul. He began to wonder if he’d accidentally wandered into a “Forbidden Zone.” However, the land was rich; his followers were busily gathering ancient divine herbs that had long been extinct in the outside world.

“This is inefficient,” Changge muttered, frowning. He should have squeezed the Grand Elder for more specific maps.

Without further hesitation, he unleashed his divine sense. It surged outward like a tidal wave, sweeping across the horizon. Here, with no rival masters to witness him, he didn’t care about hiding the terrifying strength of his primordial spirit.

He quickly pinpointed the Vermilion Bird Clan several thousand miles ahead. But closer—much closer—he sensed the fluctuations of battle.

Divine talismans illuminated the sky as two forces clashed. At the center of the fray was a young supreme fighting a ferocious beast over a stalk of Star-Sword Grass. The plant shimmered like a miniature galaxy, its leaves etched with the patterns of the heavens, emitting a sharp, metallic ring of sword intent.

“Master, there’s a fight ahead,” a follower noted. “Should we intervene?”

“No need,” Gu Changge said indifferently. He wasn’t here to play scavenger. He was here to set the stage for Yin Mei.

He looked at her, and she understood. “Senior Brother Gu, since we’ve arrived, it’s best we separate here to cover more ground,” she said for the benefit of the followers.

“Very well. Stay safe, Junior Sister,” Changge replied with a facade of calm.

He watched her leave toward the battle. He knew Ye Ling was lurking nearby. By having Yin Mei “intervene” in the fight for the Star-Sword Grass and then fall into a disadvantage, he was hand-delivering a “Hero-Saves-Beauty” scenario to Ye Ling.

Ye Ling is so obsessed with her, he won’t be able to resist, Changge thought with a smirk. I’m such a generous benefactor, creating these tropes for him. I’m sure he’ll be grateful when I finally harvest his Providence.

Leaving the trap to spring, Gu Changge turned his attention to his true goal: the ancestral tombs of the native inhabitants. He didn’t care for herbs; he wanted an Immortal Corpse. Or at least an Emperor’s remains.

While Gu Changge hunted for graves, Gu Xianer was having the time of her life.

The big red bird on her shoulder was a natural treasure-seeker. With its guidance, she was digging up ancient mountain treasures left and right. Her strength had soared during her recent training, and she swatted aside Conferred King Realm beasts with ease.

However, her luck took a turn when she ran into a group of blue-haired cultivators who reeked of the sea.

“Little girl, are you alone?” the leader asked, his eyes roaming over her with ill-concealed lust. He was a Conferred King, surrounded by a dozen followers. “It’s dangerous out here. Why don’t you join us? We’ll take real good care of you.”

Gu Xianer’s brow furrowed. She was already in a foul mood thanks to Gu Changge’s recent coldness, and these bottom-feeders were the last thing she wanted to deal with.

“Get lost,” she said, her voice like cracking ice.

“Haha, a feisty one—”

He didn’t finish. Gu Xianer’s white jade fist blurred. Though she looked slender and frail, her physical strength was monstrous.

BOOM!

A single punch sent the group flying. Several exploded into mist instantly. Gu Xianer didn’t stop. She shifted like a ghost, an ancient sword talisman appearing in her hand. A divine blade of pure light slashed down, turning the valley into a slaughterhouse.

“Seeking death,” she muttered, casually collecting their storage rings before vanishing into the mist.

Minutes later, a woman in colorful feather garments with scales on her forehead arrived at the scene. Her face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.

“Who did this? Who dared kill my brother!” she shrieked. This was the Seventh Princess of the Sea King Palace, a power that ruled the Endless Seas of the Upper Realm.

She grabbed a nearby beast and performed a brutal Soul Searching technique, ripping the memories from its mind.

“A girl in green…” the Princess hissed, her body trembling. “I don’t care who she is. I will hunt her down. I will make her beg for death!”

The news spread like wildfire. The Sea King Palace had declared a hunt for a mysterious “Girl in Green.”

In a mist-shrouded valley, Wang Wushuang of the Wang Family heard the news and chuckled. “A girl in green? Could it be Gu Changge’s little cousin? If the Sea King Palace clashes with him, I might just get to watch a very expensive show.”

Elsewhere, Peng Fei of the Gold-Winged Great Peng Clan frowned. “Gu Changge and his cousin have a blood feud, but will he let outsiders kill her? The Sea King Palace is a hornet’s nest.”

Meanwhile, on a golden grassland, Gu Changge stood over a group of terrified natives. He had just crushed their legs with a mere flick of his aura.

“Where is your village?” he asked, his voice flat. He held a dark-skinned man by the throat like a discarded toy.

“Master,” a yaksha follower approached. “There are rumors. A girl in green—likely Lady Xianer—has killed the brother of the Seventh Princess of the Sea King Palace. They are hunting her.”

Gu Changge paused. He let out a low, thoughtful hum. “The Sea King Palace? They’re just deliverymen bringing Xianer some experience points. She’s a Daughter of Providence; she won’t die that easily.”

He wasn’t going to be her nanny. If she got chased through the mud for a bit, it would only make her more “motivated.” However, he realized he could use this. After his last “sacrifice” for her, he’d been ignoring her. It was time for a reappearance.

“Besides,” Gu Changge added, a cold, dark light flickering in his eyes. “She is my exclusive punching bag. Who gave those fish the right to touch her?”

He looked back at the terrified natives. “Take me to your village. Now. Or I’ll see how many of you can survive being turned into mist.”

Soon after leaving this area and heading east, Gu Changge saw many grand, ancient structures that had fallen into ruin. Among them were stone carvings and insights into the Saint Realm, their brilliance soaring into the sky with divine radiance, offering rare opportunities for cultivation and enlightenment.

In these places, the number of outsiders and native inhabitants had increased, leading to fierce battles. Gu Changge glanced casually and quickly lost interest.

The natives guarded the secrets of the Immortal Ancient Continent, where the Immortal Spirit had been nurtured to this day. Before joining the Daootian Immortal Palace, he had already calculated the timing.

When the Immortal Spirit emerged, the entire Immortal Ancient Continent would be thrown into turmoil, and even the old monsters outside would be alarmed and rush here.