Villain System: Stealing the Protagonist's Harem and Luck

Chapter 138: Damned Either Way; Just Providing a Shoulder to Lean On

Gu Changge’s strategy was surgical: he would systematically plunder every ancestral tomb within this region. By the time he was finished, breaking through to the God King Realm would be a formality. He could already feel his consciousness condensing toward the Saint Realm. At his current pace, reaching the Quasi-Saint Realm before leaving the Immortal Ancient Continent was well within reach.

Under the influence of his Transcendence talent, his grasp of Rules and Order would deepen into the mastery of Laws themselves, allowing him to wield the primordial power of the world with ease. Of course, the continent provided the perfect cover; unlike the outside world, any desecration here would be blamed on the ‘Demonic Art Inheritor,’ Ye Ling.

‘I suppose this expedition is primarily going to be an exercise in professional grave-robbing,’ Gu Changge muttered to himself.

He activated the Divine Concealment Talisman. Interweaving runes enveloped him in a hazy, ethereal glow, rendering him invisible to the naked eye and spiritual sense. He slipped into the void, a silent predator moving toward the ancient ruins. Despite this being only his second raid, he moved with a practiced fluidity. Perhaps, he mused, he simply had a natural talent for the macabre.

Bypassing areas heavy with powerful indigenous auras, he navigated the skeletal remains of palaces and pavilions. He eventually reached the heart of the settlement—a place where the air grew thick with a gray, star-like mist.

Suddenly, the void shivered.

Pfft!

Two dull thuds, like the bursting of old drums, echoed in the stillness. Blood sprayed across the ancient stone. The two guardians stationed at the entrance of the mausoleum stared into the distance with wide, glassy eyes, their expressions frozen in a mask of pure terror. They never even saw the man who killed them.

A single thread of crystalline sword-light had pierced their brows simultaneously, shredding their primordial spirits before they could utter a sound. Gu Changge stepped out of the void, shaking a drop of blood from his finger as he walked past the collapsing corpses.

With his current strength, dispatching two Quasi-Saints was trivial. By combining his spatial affinity with the Gengjin talent he’d devoured from the White Tiger Clan, and channeling it through the Infinite Immortal Art, his sword-light possessed a sharpness that would make even a True Saint hesitate.

‘No wonder everyone loves the sword,’ he noted, glancing back at his hand. ‘The aesthetics of slaughter are hard to beat.’

He turned his attention to the cemetery. It wasn’t the largest he had seen, but it was meticulously maintained. Hundreds of mounds of varying sizes were arranged in neat rows, each radiating a heavy, ancient aura. Some graves were already hairline-fractured, venting a visible, pressurized mist of source essence that roared like an underground tide.

‘Wait… this isn’t just an ancestral graveyard,’ he whispered, noticing a particular tombstone. ‘This is a Cemetery of Prodigies.’

He walked among the monuments, reading the inscriptions. Even as corpses, these people left behind a faint, unyielding battle intent that seemed to challenge the heavens themselves.

‘Chen Que of the Hundred-Forbidden Battle Physique.’ ‘The Saint Dragon King of Primordial Void.’ ‘God-Blood of the Tyrant Heaven.’

He recognized the ancient scripts. In the Immortal Ancient Era, these names would have shaken the world. Now, they were merely lines on weathered stone.

‘Unyielding intent, broken heavens… what use are they now?’ Changge asked the wind. ‘You died. You failed to reach the peak. In the end, you are all just fuel.’

He sat cross-legged in the center of the yard.

Buzz!

A pitch-black light erupted behind him, coalescing into the Great Dao Treasure Vase. The sky above the ruins darkened as the vase began to swallow the ambient light. Suddenly, the clouds split, and a column of concentrated sun and moon starlight fell through the gap, bathing Gu Changge in a celestial spotlight.

His skin turned to translucent immortal jade, revealing bones that pulsed with a dark, rhythmic light. He looked like an eternal deity carved from the night.

One by one, the graves cracked open. The corpses of the ancient geniuses—men and women of every form and era—were pulled from the earth. They floated in the starlight, their residual essence being siphoned away. The Great Dao Treasure Vase acted as a cosmic forge, refining their ancient talents and raw power before injecting it directly into Gu Changge’s meridians.

His soul expanded. His cultivation surged. The road to the God King Realm was being paved with the ashes of the past.

While Gu Changge was busy consuming the dead, Ye Ling’s group remained outside the city walls, paralyzed by indecision.

Chi Ling and Yin Mei had ordered their followers to stay behind, knowing that a large group would be detected instantly by the indigenous Heavenly Gods and Quasi-Saints patrolling the ruins.

‘Chi Ling, this is madness,’ a handsome man with peacock-feathered robes argued. This was Kong Yang, a young genius of the Peacock Clan who had become one of Chi Ling’s followers—and a not-so-secret admirer—after she defeated him in a duel. ‘Ye Lin wants us to sneak into a fortress of the natives. There are God Kings in there. Why should we risk everything for a goal he won’t even explain?’

Kong Yang had been ‘face-slapped’ by Ye Ling earlier and was eager to find a flaw in the man’s armor. To him, Ye Ling’s behavior was suspicious. The boy seemed to have an unnatural instinct for avoiding danger, as if he were reading a script of the continent’s secrets.

‘I trust him, Kong Yang,’ Chi Ling replied firmly. ‘If something goes wrong, the rest of you flee. That is an order.’

‘But why take only you and Yin Mei?’ Kong Yang pressed, his teeth clenched in jealousy. ‘He’s leading you into a trap.’

Chi Ling didn’t bother to answer. She turned and walked toward Ye Ling.

‘Despicable brat…’ Kong Yang hissed, his eyes burning with resentment. ‘I’ll see what you’re really up to, Ye Lin.’

On the other side of the clearing, Ye Ling was consulting the Old Turtle. ‘You’re sure the scouting function of the Reincarnation power has a seventy-percent success rate? If we’re caught, there’s no running.’

‘The Heavenly Sovereign mastered Time, boy,’ the Turtle grumbled. ‘His legacy included guardians. If you pass his test, they will submit to you. If you fail… well, try not to fail.’

‘Ye Ling, we’re ready.’

A melodious voice broke his concentration. Yin Mei approached, her movements as graceful as a lotus in the wind. She wore a bright, captivating smile that made Ye Ling’s heart skip a beat. He offered a confident grin in return, completely oblivious to the cold calculation behind her eyes.

Chi Ling, however, was watching their interaction with increasing discomfort. Yin Mei was the fiancé of Ye Ling’s ‘beloved’ brother, Bai Lie. Seeing them trade such intimate glances—knowing that Ye Ling had rushed to her rescue earlier without regard for his own safety—felt wrong.

Did they conspire together? the thought flickered in Chi Ling’s mind. Does he even care that his brother is dead?

‘Chi Ling, stop daydreaming. We move now,’ Ye Ling commanded.

The group of three transformed into streaks of light, slipping toward the ruins under the cover of a pitch-black stone talisman Ye Ling had produced. The artifact pulsed with runes that dampened their presence, masking them from all but the most sensitive indigenous senses.

‘This will hide us,’ Ye Ling whispered. ‘As long as we’re quiet, the locals won’t find us.’

He caught Yin Mei’s gaze and felt a surge of pride. In his mind, he was the hero, the man of destiny who would provide a shoulder for these beautiful women to lean on. He was sure Bai Lie’s spirit would understand.

As the trio successfully infiltrated the city, they were unaware of the activity in the central hall.

Several ancient elders, their skin marked with shimmering, non-human patterns, were huddled together. They were the true masters of this ruin, possessing powers at the Quasi-Saint level and beyond.

In their hands, a strange, ancient rune was flickering—brightening and dimming in a rhythmic, mysterious pulse. The guardians of the Sovereign’s legacy had finally sensed the return of their master’s power.