Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!

Chapter 281 - 49: Shadow of the Past

Zhu Ziyan sat in the plush leather chair of the spacious office, completely still.

Her spine was perfectly straight, her hands resting neatly on her lap, but beneath her calm exterior, her mind was a whirlwind of anticipation and nervous energy.

The room was quiet, smelling faintly of dried medicinal herbs and expensive ink—a testament to the eccentric habits of the office’s usual occupant.

At that exact moment, the heavy wooden door swung open with a soft click.

The sudden movement broke the silence, and Qiao Yi stepped through the threshold, her expression bright.

Following closely behind her were two figures: the majestic, imposing presence of the League Champion, and a younger man whose gaze was already locked onto the room’s interior.

Tai Yuhao followed behind her, his footsteps slightly hurried as he crossed the threshold.

"Junior sister, I’m back!" Qiao Yi grinned, her voice carrying its usual cheerful, effortless cadence that seemed to instantly lighten the heavy atmosphere of the administrative building.

Hearing the familiar voice, Zhu Ziyan immediately stood up from her chair.

She then adjusted her posture with fluid grace and cupped her hands respectfully towards the newcomers, bowing slightly from the waist. "Greetings, seniors."

The Champion smiled, his expression softening slightly as he looked at the young woman.

The sheer pressure he usually radiated was carefully drawn back, replaced by the polite demeanor of a satisfied elder. "No need to be so polite, young lady. Take a seat."

With that, he walked past her with authoritative strides and immediately sat down on the large, comfortable chair positioned behind the grand mahogany desk—the exact spot where Qiao Yi usually liked to curl up and avoid her duties.

Qiao Yi frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest in a silent protest of her seat being hijacked, but she said nothing to challenge his authority.

Instead, she just leaned back casually against the edge of the desk, swinging one leg slightly, her posture the very definition of nonchalant.

Meanwhile, Tai Yuhao just stood near the doorway, completely paralyzed.

He stared at Zhu Ziyan, stunned into absolute silence as his eyes widened, his lips parted slightly.

At this moment, he found himself utterly incapable of looking away.

She was beautiful. In fact, she was even more breathtakingly beautiful now than he ever remembered from their teenage years in the distant East.

There was a striking allure to her features that time had refined, making her look significantly sexier too.

Not to mention the way she was dressed today.

She wore a beautifully crafted, form-fitting black and purple qipao that hugged every curve of her slender yet curvaceous figure.

The deep slits along the sides of the silk dress exposed flashes of smooth, pale skin with every shift of her weight, perfectly matching the rich, glossy texture of her dark hair and the delicate twitch of her feline cat ears.

She literally oozes a level of profound femininity and maturity that the young, immature version of her from back then simply couldn’t compare to.

Truly, she had transformed from a pretty girl into a mesmerizing woman.

However, as he thought of that, as his eyes raked over the contours of her body, his heart couldn’t help but suddenly drop.

A dark, suffocating wave of bitter jealousy and suspicion flooded his chest, souring his initial admiration.

Why had she changed so much?

Was it simply because she had naturally matured and finally bloomed that she became even sexier?

Or was there a more sinister, infuriating reason?

Did she somehow gave up her chastity to some other, older nobleman so she can have food to eat and resources to use? After all, it would be impossible for her to attend this prestigious academy.

Or worse, what if she found some random, middle aged mercenary to ride with and have him protect her?

He knew his fiancee, she was a coward at heart.

If any of those things were true, then...

Fuck!

He can’t accept that!

A toxic possessiveness gripped his soul.

In his mind, she was supposed to be his property, his loyal fiancee.

Even if she truly believed that he had died during the tragic downfall of their academy back then, she shouldn’t have allowed herself to change like this.

She shouldn’t have slept with other people!

By all accounts of righteousness and loyalty, she should have remained pure and fiercely loyal to his memory, thinking of him and grieving his loss until the very day she died!

The mere thought that another man might have touched what belonged to him made him want to tear the room apart.

Zhu Ziyan, noticing the intense, unblinking weight of his gaze, couldn’t help but frown deeply as a cold prickle of discomfort washed over her skin.

Although over the years of her perilous journey across the continent alongside Huo Yue, she had become thoroughly accustomed to the common, lustful gazes of ordinary men, this particular man’s eyes were vastly different.

They were profoundly unsettling. It wasn’t just simple lust; it held a terrifying hint of deep-seated possessiveness, obsession, and a flickering edge of absolute insanity.

It felt as though he knew her, as though he believed he owned her soul.

Not even Shen Haoran stared at her like that, and he was the first man to see her naked, and the first man she had ever bathed with!

If Huo Yue was here and saw this, she would’ve ripped this man’s eyes off and feed it to him.

After all, Huo Yue already considered Ziyan as her sister, the kind where she can share her own husband with.

She will never allow anyone to look at Ziyan like that.

Qiao Yi and the Champion were also both highly sensitive cultivators, and they also immediately noticed this disturbing display.

Their expressions darkened in unison as they frowned at the young man standing by the door.

Tai Yuhao’s behavior was not just rude; it was an open insult to a guest of the League.

"Young master Yun," the Champion’s deep, resonant voice suddenly echoed through the room.

The air instantly grew heavy as the full-blown, terrifying aura of a first-stage Nirvana Rebirth Realm expert flickered to life for a split second.

The atmospheric pressure shifted violently, causing the very air in the office to stagnate and grow thick as molasses.

Tai Yuhao froze instantly. The malevolent thoughts in his mind were violently crushed beneath the weight of an apex predator’s gaze.

He felt a sudden, agonizing constriction in his chest, as if an invisible, iron hand was firmly grasping his heart and choking the breath straight out of his lungs.

His face grew pale, and his knees trembled slightly under the localized gravity.

"Mind your manners," the Champion stated coldly, his eyes narrowing to sharp slits.

The warning was clear: Remember where you are, and remember who you represent.

Tai Yuhao quickly took a deep breath, forcing his erratic heart rate to calm down as the Champion reined in his spiritual pressure.

He bowed his head, cloaking his expression in a mask of submissive apology.

But deep down, in the darkest recesses of his mind, he was venomously cursing the older man.

You arrogant, old bastard. You’re just a glorified manager of a beast faction. Just you wait... once the Yun Clan rises further, or once I gain ultimate power, I will personally make you pay tenfold for this public humiliation.

"Apologies, seniors," Tai Yuhao said aloud, his voice smooth and perfectly rehearsed. "I was just profoundly surprised. After all, I truly didn’t expect Miss Zhu to have become even more beautiful than when she was still a student in Ogre Academy."

Hearing that specific name, Zhu Ziyan’s entire body froze completely on the spot. Her breath hitched in her throat, and the color drained from her cheeks.

Ogre Academy.

Those two words echoed in her mind like a thunderclap.

That was the small, tight-knit academy she had attended back in the remote, forgotten Eastern Region.

It was the place where she had laughed, trained, and dreamed—the very academy she had been forced to abandon overnight after learning that the tyrannical Spirit Hall was mobilizing its forces to utterly destroy them.

She had spent years running, fighting, and climbing her way through the ranks of the cultivation world, believing she had finally buried that bloody, painful past far behind her.

She had thought the ashes of the Eastern Region could no longer reach her here in the prosperous Central Region.

She certainly didn’t expect a random, arrogant noble scion from the Imperial Academy to actually bring it back to light so casually.

Her purple eyes locked onto Tai Yuhao, her gaze turning incredibly sharp, filled with a mixture of suspicion, fear, and confusion.

She stared at his face, trying to pierce through the unfamiliar noble clothing and the altered aura. "You... Who are you? How do you know about that place?"

Tai Yuhao saw the shock in her eyes and felt a sudden surge of twisted satisfaction.

The dynamic had shifted back into his favor.

He smirked, a patronizing, confident expression returning to his features.

"I’ll tell you everything you want to know later," Tai Yuhao said smoothly, enjoying the power he held over her emotions as he adjusted his expensive robes. "How about you meet me in the grand cafeteria down below after your business here is concluded? I’ll personally book a private VIP room so we can catch up properly without any... distractions."

With that, without waiting for her reply, Tai Yuhao cupped his hands superficially toward the Champion and Qiao Yi, spun on his heel, and left the office, closing the door softly behind him.

Zhu Ziyan stared blankly at the closed door, her mind racing.

At the final moment of his departure, as he turned his back to her, she had caught sight of an incredibly familiar gait, a specific slope of the shoulders, and a unique, arrogant posture—something she thought she had long since forgotten in the haze of her traumatic past.

A figure of a man she had thought she forgotten overlapped with that figure.

’...Tai Yuhao?’ The name bloomed in her thoughts like a ghost rising from the grave.

As she thought of that, her eyes immediately widened in profound, paralyzing shock, her pupils dilating.

’No... No, it can’t possibly be him, can it? He died. I saw the destruction of the academy, no one could’ve survived... How could he be here, calling himself a young master of the Central Region? And why does he look so different?’

"Miss Zhu?"

The soft, concerned voice of Qiao Yi broke through the fog.

Zhu Ziyan snapped out of her daze, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She violently shook her head to clear the intrusive thoughts and turned her focus back to the Champion and the former leader.

"Please accept our apologies for his disgraceful behavior. It seems that proper manners and basic etiquette are no longer a mandatory subject for these modern noble scions," the Champion said, shaking his head in deep disapproval as he rested his forearms on the desk.

Zhu Ziyan forced a fragile, trembling smile onto her face and shook her head, trying to steady her voice. "N-No, it’s quite fine, senior. Please don’t worry about it."

She slowly sat back down in her chair, her breathing still somewhat heavy, her mind temporarily fractured by the encounter.

But she knew she couldn’t afford to lose her composure now; her future and the resources she desperately needed were on the line.

The Champion observed her for a moment, letting the silence settle until her heart rate visibly slowed.

He tapped his fingers on the desk, bringing the professional atmosphere back into the room.

"Well, with that unpleasant distraction out of the way," the Champion announced, opening a heavy golden scroll on the table, "let’s talk about the details of your official contracts."

Zhu Ziyan gulped, clenching her fist.

The Champion smiled.

"Or more accurately, about your eyes."