Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist

Chapter 950: Hunting Individuals For Legacies and Resources

Three years had passed since Wang Jian’s arrival on Red Coral Island. The rented courtyard had been transformed from a temporary residence into a fortress of cultivation and depravity. The air inside the main chamber was always thick with the scent of high-grade incense and the lingering, sweet musk of indulgence.

Wang Jian lounged on a wide divan draped in scarlet silks. He was no longer the Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who had fled the war; he was now a Late Stage Foundation Establishment expert, his aura dense and terrifyingly stable.

Beside him, nestled into his sides like concubines of an emperor, were Sect Mistress Mu Lianhua and Chen Ying.

They were dressed in attire that would have made the righteous cultivators of the State of Yue suffer a Qi deviation from sheer shock.

Mu Lianhua wore a garment made of translucent, white spirit-silk that was wrapped so tightly around her mature, voluptuous body that it looked painted on. The fabric was slashed open at the sides, held together by thin golden chains, revealing vast expanses of her snow-white skin. The neckline plunged to her navel, barely containing her massive, heavy breasts. Through the thin silk, the pink peaks of her nipples were clearly visible, erect and straining against the fabric.

Chen Ying, the cold swordswoman, was dressed in a similar fashion, but in black mesh that highlighted her athletic, toned physique. Her breasts, firm and round, were pushed up by a corset-style top that left little to the imagination.

Wang Jian’s hands were busy. He didn’t treat them gently. He grabbed Mu Lianhua’s breast with a possessive, aggressive grip, his fingers digging into the soft, yielding flesh. He leaned over and bit down on her nipple through the silk, hard enough to make her gasp, tearing a small hole in the expensive fabric with his teeth to expose the pink flesh beneath.

"Ah! Master..." Mu Lianhua moaned, arching her back, pressing her breast deeper into his mouth. Her face was flushed, her eyes hazy with lust.

He moved to Chen Ying, his hand sliding down her stomach to cup her mound through the mesh. He rubbed her clit roughly, making the swordswoman shudder.

"You like that, don’t you, Ying’er?" he growled, nipping at her earlobe.

"Yes... Master... please..." Chen Ying whimpered, her cold demeanor shattered by his touch.

Just as he was about to tear the rest of their clothes off and take them right there on the divan, a soft hum interrupted the mood.

A transmission talisman floated into the room, glowing with a faint blue light. It hovered in front of Wang Jian.

He sighed, releasing the women but keeping a hand on Mu Lianhua’s thigh. He tapped the talisman.

It was a message from Qiu Yun, one of the Shadow Flowers.

"Master. We have a target. A renowned rogue Formation Master named Xuan Ji has been located. He lives in seclusion on a foggy reef three hundred miles north. He is at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm."

The message continued, detailing the prize. "He possesses the complete legacy of the ’Five-Element Tidal Spirit Lock Array’. It is a unique heritage that utilizes the elemental attributes of Beast Cores to power formations, allowing them to exceed their normal limits. Mistress Yue needs this."

Wang Jian’s eyes lit up. "Five-Element Tidal Spirit Lock... using beast cores as batteries. That is exactly what Lingshan is missing to breakthrough to Tier-6."

He stood up, adjusting his robes. "Ladies, playtime is over. We have work to do."

"Just us?" Mu Lianhua asked, adjusting her torn silk top, not bothering to cover herself fully.

"Just us," Wang Jian confirmed. "Lingshan stays here to study. Ruyan is brewing. We go, we take, we return."

They left within the hour. Wang Jian, Mu Lianhua, and Chen Ying flew north, skimming the waves.

They found the reef shrouded in a thick, artificial fog. It was a maze of sharp rocks and hidden currents.

"Traps," Chen Ying noted, her eyes scanning the water. "Explosive water mines."

"Ignore them," Wang Jian said. "We aren’t sneaking in."

They flew straight to the central island of the reef, where a small stone tower stood.

Wang Jian released his aura, slamming it against the tower’s defensive shield.

BOOM.

The shield shimmered but held.

A man flew out of the tower. Xuan Ji was an old man with wild white hair and robes covered in ink stains. He looked furious.

"Who dares intrude on my seclusion?!" he roared, summoning a set of array flags. "Do you seek death?"

Wang Jian didn’t bother with a monologue. He didn’t bow. He didn’t negotiate.

He simply floated there, looking bored.

"I heard you have a formation legacy," Wang Jian said, his voice amplified by Qi. "The Five-Element Tidal Spirit Lock. I want it."

Xuan Ji scoffed. "You want it? Boy, I have killed Core Formation cultivators in this array! Begone before I—"

"Elder Mu," Wang Jian said quietly.

The Sect Mistress stepped forward. She dropped her concealment.

The crushing pressure of a Peak Late-Stage Core Formation expert descended on the reef like a physical hammer. The fog evaporated instantly. The sea went flat calm.

Xuan Ji froze. His array flags dropped from his hands. His knees buckled, and he fell out of the sky, crashing onto the rocks below. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He could only stare up in absolute terror at the woman in the torn silk dress who looked like a goddess of death.

Wang Jian descended slowly, landing next to the paralyzed master.

"Your legacy is too good for a hermit living on a rock," Wang Jian said, looking down at him. "My wife needs it. And I would acquire anything that she needs. It is that simple."

He nodded to Mu Lianhua.

"End it."

Mu Lianhua pointed a finger. A beam of Azure Sky-Heart Flame pierced Xuan Ji’s forehead. Instant death.

They raided the tower. They found jade slips, ancient flags made of sea-beast silk, and centuries of research notes detailing the interaction between elemental cores and ambient mana.

When they returned, Wang Jian presented the legacy to Yue Lingshan.

"I found this," he told her with a warm smile. "Some rogue cultivator left it behind. I thought it might help your studies."

Yue Lingshan hugged the scrolls to her chest, her eyes shining with gratitude. "Oh, husband! This is exactly the breakthrough I needed! The theory of using beast cores as capacitors... it changes everything!"

She kissed him, willfully ignoring—or perhaps simply not questioning—where he had ’found’ such a priceless treasure in the middle of the ocean.

Four years after their arrival, the group’s hunger for resources had only grown.

A report came in from Su Ning, embedded in the Blood Shark Hall. A rare herb, the "Deep-Sea Spirit Lotus", was appearing in a black market auction on Blackwater Island.

"It improves soul and mental energy," Wang Jian mused, reading the report. "Essential for resisting mental attacks and increasing reaction speeds. We need it."

"The starting bid is fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones," Su Ning’s message added.

"Too expensive," Wang Jian scoffed. "Why buy when you can take?"

The Shadow Flowers tracked the buyer. It was a young master from the "Iron-Shell Sect", a mid-tier organization. He had bought the lotus to heal his father’s soul injury.

Wang Jian and Chen Ying intercepted his flying ship in open water.

There was no speech. No duel.

Wang Jian blasted the ship’s rudder with a Stellar Qi beam. As the ship spun out of control, Chen Ying boarded. She moved like a whirlwind of wind and steel. Her Seven Absolutes Sword Art had evolved. It was no longer just sharp; it was invisible, riding the wind currents.

She slaughtered the crew. The young master tried to activate a distress beacon, but Wang Jian crushed his hand before he could crush the jade slip.

They took the Spirit Lotus. Then, they sank the ship, ensuring no witnesses remained.

Back at the courtyard, Wang Jian took the lotus into his private garden inside his spatial ring. He planted the seed in the special spirit soil.

He activated his Verdant Eternal Spring Essence. Green light flooded the soil. Time accelerated for the plant.

Within a month, the single Spirit Lotus had bloomed, withered, and dropped ten seeds. Wang Jian repeated the process. Soon, he had a harvest of twenty mature Deep-Sea Spirit Lotuses.

He gave them to Mu Lianhua. "Refine them. Soul-Cleansing Pills."

The pills were distributed. The group’s mental defenses skyrocketed. They could now react to attacks before they physically happened by sensing the intent.

But Wang Jian didn’t stop there. He took the excess pills—ten of them—and gave them to Bai Xue at the trading guild.

"Sell them," he ordered. "Slowly. One by one. In different auctions."

He made a fortune selling the very item he had stolen, profiting from the theft twice over.

Five years.

Five years of hunting, killing, refining, and consuming.

Wang Jian stood in the center of the courtyard. The air around him distorted slightly, unable to bear the weight of his presence.

He had reached the Late Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. But his foundation wasn’t just solid; it was monstrous. His Stellar Qi was so dense it was almost liquid. He could fight Early Core Formation experts head-on and win.

He looked at his family.

Yue Lingshan stood by the array controls. She was now a Late Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. But more importantly, she had become a Tier-6 Formation Master. She could lay down arrays that could trap even Mid-Stage Core Formation experts, using the environment itself as a weapon.

Chen Ying was sharpening her Gale-Severing Frostblade. She too was at the Late Stage. Her sword art had reached the fourth stage of the Seven Absolutes. She could launch wind-blades that were invisible to the naked eye.

Liu Ruyan was a master Alchemist, capable of refining pills that boosted cultivation speed by fifty percent. She was also at the Late Stage.

The Shadow Flowers were all at the Middle-to-Late Stage, deeply embedded in their respective organizations, feeding Wang Jian a constant stream of intel.

Even the five maids had broken through to the Initial Foundation Establishment Realm, forming a competent, loyal guard force for the home base.

And Mu Lianhua... she was radiant. Her skin glowed with health. She was still at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm, the bottleneck to Nascent Soul proving stubborn, but her combat power had increased thanks techniques she and Wang Jian had developed.

"We have stabilized," Wang Jian announced, looking at them with pride. "We are strong."

He turned to the projection array where the Shadow Flowers were reporting in.

"Report," he commanded. "Is there any chaos? Any sect on the brink of destruction?"

Bai Xue’s face appeared in the projection. She looked disappointed. "None, Master. The region has been unusually stable. The Myriad Ocean Palace has enforced a strict peace treaty for the last year. No wars. No collapses."

Wang Jian frowned. "Peace is bad for business."

"If there is no chaos..." he murmured, tapping his finger on the table. "We must be ready to create it. Or move to where it is."

Just then, Bai Xue’s expression changed. She pressed a hand to her ear, listening to a transmission from her guild.

"Master!" she said urgently. "New intelligence. It just came in."

"Speak."

"There is a sect," she said. "The Fragrance Melody Sect."

"Fragrance Melody?" Wang Jian raised an eyebrow. "Sounds... soft."

"It is," Bai Xue confirmed. "It is an all-female sect located on the Isle of Whispering Petals, about three teleportation jumps east of here. They have no male disciples. Their Sect Mistress is an Initial Stage Core Formation beauty."

"Go on," Wang Jian said, his interest piqued.

"They specialize in information gathering, arts, music, and... charm techniques," Bai Xue explained. "They form connections with powerful sects by providing their disciples as concubines, dual cultivation partners, or wives. They are essentially a high-class brokerage for beauty and talent. They are an affiliate of the Myriad Ocean Palace."

"And the trouble?"

"They are being targeted," Bai Xue said. "A demonic sect from the Abyssal Trench Coalition—the Iron-Blood Hall, led by a Late Stage Core Formation expert—has been harassing them. Recently, the Iron-Blood Hall ambushed a Fragrance Melody convoy. They stole a shipment of Heavenly Wood."

Wang Jian leaned forward. "Heavenly Wood?"

"Yes. My sources say it was a fragment of Phoenix Fire Wood. Ancient. It only grows where three phoenixes have died in the same spot. It contains pure Yang-Fire essence."

Wang Jian sat back, a slow smile spreading across his face.

This was perfect.

A sect full of beauties in distress. A demonic aggressor to fight (and loot). And a piece of legendary wood that would be perfect for Liu Ruyan or his own fire-attribute root.

"Phoenix Fire Wood," he mused. "That is a treasure worth moving for."

He looked at his group. "Pack your bags. We are going on a diplomatic mission."

Later that evening, in the privacy of their bedroom, Wang Jian told Yue Lingshan the plan.

"The Fragrance Melody Sect?" Lingshan asked, brushing her hair. "Why them?"

"They are useful, Lingshan," Wang Jian said smoothly, coming up behind her and kissing her neck. "They are information brokers. They have contacts in every major sect, even the Myriad Ocean Palace. If we help them, we gain access to that network. It will be the perfect stepping stone for us to expand our influence."

"I see," Yue Lingshan nodded, trusting his strategic vision. "And we can help them against the demonic sect?"

"We can," Wang Jian promised. "We will save them."

He didn’t mention the beauties. He didn’t mention the harem potential. He just smiled, kissed his wife, and blew out the candle.