Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Chapter 239: Sitting Up in Shock on the Deathbed: The Villain is Actually Me!

Half a month slipped by in the blink of an eye.

The Nether Fiend Sect’s Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower trial was an event that usually only occurred once every ten years. It was open to everyone—from the lowest Outer Sect Disciple to the most established Inner Sect Disciple.

The premise was simple: ascend to the ninety-ninth floor, and you would automatically be promoted to a Legacy Disciple, securing the absolute best resources The Saint Sect had to offer.

Currently, less than three years had passed since the last trial. By all conventional logic, the tower should have remained sealed.

However, in honor of Patriarch Ji Qingcang’s impending grand birthday, Sect Leader Shen Honglian had explicitly ordered an off-schedule opening.

To ensure the trial didn’t overshadow the Demon Venerable’s actual birthday banquet, the event was scheduled for the day prior. This way, the newly minted Legacy Disciples could proudly march into the banquet to offer their congratulations, proving to the world that The Saint Sect possessed a thriving next generation.

In short, as long as Ji Qingcang kept his massively debilitating “slow-motion” status a secret, he was still publicly recognized as the undisputed head of the three great Demon Venerables and the absolute apex predator of The Saint Sect!

Since there was only one Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower and a limited window for the trial, the Sect couldn’t have just any random piece of trash clogging up the queue.

Before the main event, all applicants were required to pass a preliminary screening to earn an entry ticket. The screening method was brutally straightforward: survive a simultaneous, combined attack from five cultivators at your exact same cultivation tier. Win, and you get a ticket. Lose, and you’re out.

Anyone capable of surviving a 1v5 against their peers was, by definition, an elite talent. Calling them “heaven-endowed prodigies” was barely an exaggeration.

Just yesterday, Qi Yuan had personally watched the initial pool of tens of thousands of applicants get ruthlessly whittled down to a mere seventy or eighty qualifiers. He had to admit, he respected the Demonic Sect’s brutal efficiency.

Naturally, surviving a siege by five peak Foundation Building “powerhouses” was a joke to him. His only real struggle had been actively holding back so he didn’t accidentally squish all five of them into paste.

…

The morning sun broke over the horizon. After spending the entire night “discussing the Dao” with Ji Chan’er, Qi Yuan strode out of the cave abode feeling incredibly refreshed, his body practically thrumming with vitality.

Beside him, Ji Chan’er looked up, her beautiful eyes laced with genuine worry. “The tower spirits inside the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower possess no sentience,” she warned softly. “They only know slaughter. They will not hold back.”

“To secure the status of a Legacy Disciple, you only need to reach the ninety-ninth floor. Anything above that becomes exponentially more lethal. Please, do not push yourself recklessly!”

Qi Yuan offered a faint, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Fairy Ji. I know my limits.”

To spare her the anxiety, he chose not to mention his actual goal. He planned to just wing it once he was inside.

As the two strolled down the mountain paths, every Demonic Cultivator they encountered immediately bowed and scrambled out of their way.

The Demonic Sect operated on a strict, ruthless hierarchy. Status was dictated solely by personal strength and political backing, a reality that was hyper-amplified within the Inner Sect.

In terms of raw combat power, the Inner Sect was swarming with monsters. Ji Chan’er’s mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation was respectable, but hardly world-shattering.

However, her political backing was currently untouchable. The Ji Clan was at the absolute zenith of its power. Even the high-and-mighty Inner Sect Elders had to bow and scrape when dealing with core members of the Ji Clan.

While Demonic Cultivators were famous for their radical, death-defying behavior, “not fearing death” was very different from “actively courting death.” Truly brainless thugs didn’t survive long enough to reach the Inner Sect.

Stepping out of the teleportation array, Qi Yuan and Ji Chan’er arrived at the trial venue.

It was a vast, sprawling plateau carved directly out of the mountains. Dominating the center of the platform was a colossal, pitch-black structure: the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower.

The tower pierced the clouds, standing over a thousand zhang tall. It lacked any ornate carvings or decorative flourishes; its design was brutal, crude, and oppressive. Yet, it radiated an aura of profound, ancient vastness.

It looked as though it had stood there since the dawn of time, eternal and indestructible.

Looking up at the monolithic structure, Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind.

Why doesn’t this feel like a Demonic artifact? He had expected something sinister, reeking of blood and malice. Instead, the Moluo God-Slaughtering Tower exuded a solemn, majestic aura. It felt like a Peerless weapon of war—domineering, awe-inspiring, and undeniably grand.

The plateau was already packed. Thousands of Demonic Sect disciples had gathered to watch the spectacle, rubbing shoulders with numerous VIP envoys from other evil sects.

Since Patriarch Ji’s birthday was tomorrow, many foreign dignitaries had arrived early to ensure they didn’t miss the banquet. Stumbling upon the legendary tower trial was just a highly entertaining bonus.

Though the trial hadn’t officially begun, the crowd was buzzing with gossip and speculation.

“The trial doesn’t allow PvP, and hitting the ninety-ninth floor is enough to guarantee a Legacy Disciple spot. But let’s be real—the lunatics qualified to enter are all arrogant maniacs. Unless they are literally bleeding out, none of them will tap out early.”

“Exactly. Plus, the Sect offers massive bonus rewards to encourage climbing. Whoever pushes the highest will be crowned the champion of the trial. All eyes will be on them.”

“So, who’s the favorite to take first place this year?”

“It has to be Senior Brother Wu Hengshan,” someone declared confidently. “I heard that to prepare for this trial, he literally sacrificed his entire extended family to temper his blade! That’s how he mastered the Heaven Fiend Absolute Blade Slash. With that kind of ruthless dedication, who else even comes close?”

The crowd erupted in a chorus of morbid awe.

“Hiss… I had no idea Senior Brother Wu possessed such terrifying resolve. You have to respect the hustle.”

“Using the blood of your own kin to forge a Peerless blade technique… that takes a special kind of madness. He deserves to soar to the top!”

Even among a crowd of mass-murdering Demonic Cultivators, a guy willing to butcher his own grandparents for a stat boost commanded a certain horrified respect.

Suddenly, a black-robed Demonic Cultivator sneered, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Senior Brother Wu is strong, sure, but butchering a bunch of defenseless old people and children is just brute force. When it comes to true, terrifying methods, he can’t hold a candle to Senior Brother Chen Tianhuan.”

The crowd leaned in as the man continued. “Rumor has it that Senior Brother Chen cultivated a horrifying divine ability. Every time he murders the person he loves most, the ability levels up.”

“Now, there are plenty of skills like that. What makes Chen terrifying is that no one even knew he was practicing it until he had completely mastered the technique!”

The crowd murmured uneasily as the implication set in.

“Exactly. It means Chen didn’t just have a heart of stone—he was a master of psychological manipulation. Think about it: the dozens of Dao Companions and Fellow Daoists he butchered over the years probably died with smiles on their faces, completely unaware that the man they trusted most was the one slitting their throats.”

“Tsk, tsk… now that is true sinister ruthlessness. Senior Brother Chen is a menace.”

Fear flickered across the faces of the listening Cultivators. A brute who killed his family in a manic rage was scary, but a smiling sociopath who would date you for five years just to harvest your soul for a buff? That was true terror.

Just then, an Outer Sect Disciple couldn’t hold back anymore. He stepped into the center of the debate, his chest puffed out.

“Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, you are all clearly out of the loop,” he announced loudly. “Our Outer Sect recently produced a heaven-defying, natural-born demonic anomaly. His name is Big Qi.”

The crowd fell silent, their interest piqued.

“On his very first day,” the disciple proclaimed, “this man completely eradicated Blood Refining Peak! Hundreds of our fellow disciples were butchered, their souls ripped out and refined on the spot.”

“Anyone who so much as looks at him funny dies a horrific death within days. And he doesn’t just kill the offender—he systematically hunts down their entire family and every friend they’ve ever had, pulling them up by the roots.”

The disciple leaned in, his voice dropping to a dramatic whisper. “Elder Geng of Blood Refining Peak merely criticized him in passing. Result? Chopped into pieces while fully conscious. He didn’t even leave the man’s soul behind.”

“But the most terrifying part? After the massacre, this ‘Big Qi’ waltzed right up to the Outer Sect Enforcement Hall and intentionally provoked them! He trolled the Enforcement Elder so hard the old man suffered Qi Deviation, lost his mind, and got executed on the spot by Senior Sister Shen!”

The disciple raised his hands to the towering structure before them. “The tower spirits scale their power to match the challenger’s cultivation level. Therefore, raw cultivation means nothing; it’s all about methods, lethality, and sheer willpower. In my humble opinion, Big Qi is the undisputed favorite to take first place!”

As his words echoed across the plateau, absolute, pin-drop silence descended upon the crowd.

Every single Demonic Cultivator looked horrified.

A brand-new Outer Sect Disciple, currently sitting at the Foundation Building realm, had already committed such a staggering list of insane, psychopathic atrocities? If a monster like that was allowed to mature, wouldn’t he drown the entire world in blood?

At the exact same time.

Qi Yuan, who had been quietly trying to blend into the crowd to gather intel, stood frozen, dark lines forming on his forehead.

I… I think I’m the villain.

Are you kidding me?! Qi Yuan screamed internally. What kind of Olympic-level mental gymnastics does it take to pin all that crap on me?!

The absolute worst part was that every single accusation was technically true. The timeline matched, the events matched, and there were literally hundreds of witnesses for each incident. He couldn’t even try to deny it if he wanted to.

Compared to his new reputation as the “Natural-Born Demonic Anomaly,” the guy who butchered his own family and the sociopath who farmed his girlfriends actually seemed like upstanding, well-adjusted members of society…