Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 81: The Chase

Southern Region.

Huo Yue, Medusa, and Zhu Ziyan were walking into a deep, ancient forest with trees that reaches several thousand feet high.

"Why are we here?" Medusa asked, her voice dripping with the characteristic arrogance of a desert queen who found the humidity of the forest beneath her station.

She crossed her arms over her chest, floating a foot above the damp soil.

Her skin glistened as she glided forward, her legs hovering a feet above the ground, as if to her, touching the dirt was a disdainful act, a chore reserved for those without the strength to defy gravity.

"From what I heard, this place is called the Starlight Spirit Forest," Huo Yue replied, pushing aside a massive, glowing fern. "Apparently, the trees in this forest acts similar to a starlight ores that absorbs the light of stars and reflect them. At night, they reflect the constellations so clearly it looks like you are walking in a sea of stars. It’s said to be a very popular tourist spot for those visiting the Southern Region."

"For the strong, maybe," Ziyan whispered, her voice barely audible over the rustle of leaves.

She clenched her fist, trembling, her cat ears twitching at every snapping twig as she thought of the gauntlet of high-level demonic beasts they had navigated just to reach this clearing and couldn’t help but shiver.

It was a sobering reality, really, that if Medusa, a genuine Nirvana Rebirth Realm expert, weren’t acting as their guardian, they would have already been reduced to snacks for the rank-5 and 6 demonic beasts that prowled the perimeter.

"Also, didn’t that tour guide in the last village say a vicious demon was sealed here?" Ziyan added worriedly, her tail fluffing up in anxiety.

"Pssshh!" Huo Yue waved her hand dismissively, flashing a confident grin. "Ziyan, do you actually believe every ghost story a drunken guide tells you? Look at this place, it’s so peaceful. There is no way a ’vicious demon’ would be sealed in a forest this beautiful. It would ruin the aesthetic."

"I don’t know about that," Medusa interjected, her golden eyes narrowing as she came to a halt in mid-air.

Everyone turned toward her and saw her pointing toward a massive, moss-covered boulder that sat in the center of a strangely circular clearing.

The grass around the stone was unnaturally short, and the air felt heavy, as if the oxygen had been replaced by lead. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Curious, they walked closer, their footsteps silent on the soft earth.

Once they arrived a few feet near it, they noticed something at the base of the boulder; a weathered stone tablet, with the characters carved into it glowing with a faint, ominous crimson light:

"Do not press the stone button."

Huo Yue blinked, her head tilting to the side as she turned her gaze toward the center of the massive boulder, where a single, perfectly circular stone button was carved into the rock face.

It looked oddly inviting, smooth and polished by centuries of wind.

"Seriously?" Huo Yue stared at it, her expression deadpan. "Is this a prank? Did that tour guide hike all the way up here just to put this sign here to scare people? It’s so... lame."

"This might actually be true. I can sense a malevolent aura sealed deep within the ley lines beneath this boulder," Medusa said, her brow furrowed in a deep frown.

Her instincts as a beast-queen were screaming at her that the rock was merely a lid on a very dark jar.

"Really? I don’t believe it." Huo Yue stepped up to the rock, squinting.

No matter how much she circulated her Qi or stared at the grain of the stone, it just looked like a piece of granite to her.

"It’s just a rock."

’Master, what do you think?’ Huo Yue asked internally, reaching out to the consciousness of Fairy Liu residing within her ring.

’Medusa is correct, little flame,’ Fairy Liu’s voice echoed in her mind, sounding unusually grave. ’There is a profound resentment trapped beneath that seal. It feels old, probably something from a few thousand years ago. Do not dally here.’

"Seriously?" Huo Yue muttered aloud as she stared at the rock, and then her focus shifted, landing squarely on the button.

Her fingers twitched.

"I wonder..."

She stretched her hand forward, her index finger extending toward the smooth surface of the button.

"Stop it!" Medusa barked, her hand moving in a blur as she lightly slapped Huo Yue’s hand away.

Huo Yue frowned at her, her stubborn streak flaring up as she used her other hand, swerving around Medusa’s side to try and press it again.

"I said stop!" Medusa snapped, slapping the other hand away.

Huo Yue glared at her, her eyes sparking with a playful but defiant fire. Without warning, she lunged toward the boulder, intending to use her body weight to smash the button.

Medusa was faster.

She reached out and grabbed Huo Yue by the back of her collar, hoisting her into the air like a disobedient kitten. "You brat! How many times do I have to tell you to stop it!? Are you trying to get us killed before lunch?"

"Lemme go!" Huo Yue struggled, kicking her legs in the air. "Medusa, if there is a button, I have to press it! It’s basic human nature! I’ll feel physically uncomfortable for the rest of the week if I leave here without knowing what it does!"

"You damn brat! Don’t you have any sense of danger!?" Medusa roared, shaking her slightly. "There is literally a sign there, a giant stone sign, telling you not to press it!"

"That just makes me want to press it even more!" Huo Yue shouted back, her face pouting. "Who would put a sign telling people not to press a button if they truly didn’t want people to press it? That’s just bad psychology! Don’t they know a cultivator’s path is naturally one of rebellion and defying the heavens? Which means, logically, the sign is a test, and it’s telling us to press it!"

"Are you an idiot!?" Medusa pulled her back, grabbed her by the shoulders, and forced Huo Yue to look her straight in the eyes. "Tell me, right now, are you actually an idiot!?"

Huo Yue pouted even harder, her lower lip trembling in mock offense. "What kind of Cultivator are you if you don’t dare to defy the rules and explore the unknown?"

"That logic doesn’t even make any sense! Defying the heavens is about immortality, not pressing suspicious buttons in cursed forests!" Medusa gritted her teeth, her patience reaching its absolute limit.

"It sure does make sense! It’s about the spirit of inquiry!" Huo Yue insisted.

Just then, a distinct, hollow click echoed through the silent clearing.

Huo Yue and Medusa both froze.

The air seemed to vanish from the clearing as they slowly turned their heads toward Ziyan.

The cat-girl was standing perfectly still, her face pale, her index finger still resting firmly on the depressed stone button, her cat ears were twitching sporadically in a state of pure panic.

Silence stretched for three agonizing seconds.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Medusa screamed, her aura erupting in a flare of golden light as she lunged forward to snatch Ziyan away from the rock.

Ziyan’s eyes welled up with tears as she was hoisted into the air. "I-I’m so sorry! I-I’m a cat! I’m inherently curious and rebellious! You two were arguing about it so much that I just... I couldn’t help it! If I’m told not to do something, I want to do it even more! It’s an instinct!"

"Exactly!" Huo Yue snapped her fingers, giving Ziyan a bright thumbs up and looking incredibly smug. "See? I told you it was a natural instinct!"

Before Medusa could unleash a string of curses, a deep, grinding sound vibrated through the earth...and then, the massive boulder began to spiderweb with glowing purple cracks.

And, from those jagged fissures, a thick, putrid purple mist began to seep out.

It swirled in the air, gathering mass and density until it formed the towering, phantom image of a purple demon.

Its face was a nightmare of elongated fangs and hollow, weeping eyes, and the moment it appeared, the temperature in the clearing plummeted, and the grass beneath it instantly withered into black ash.

From its aura alone, Medusa could tell the entity was at least at the Peak of the Nirvana Rebirth Realm, and its resentment was dense enough to choke a dragon.

The demon hovered in the air, its gaze fixing on the three women, then, a moment later, it let out a sickening, high-pitched wail that shattered the nearby trees and sent a shockwave of cold through their bones.

Without a second thought, Medusa tucked Huo Yue under one arm and grabbed Ziyan with the other, her body glowing with a frantic light as she ignited her Qi and took to the sky.

"Look what you have done, you fools!"

The demon didn’t hesitate as it let out another shriek and surged forward, turning into a streak of purple smoke that trailed closely behind them, its claws reaching for their heels.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Medusa screamed as she wove through the starlight trees at breakneck speed. "Why did I agree to follow you two!? Why did I make that deal with that damn brat!? I should be in my palace, not being chased by a thousand-year-old demon!"

Huo Yue, hanging upside down under Medusa’s arm and watching the terrifying demon gain on them, didn’t look scared at all.

In fact, she fumbled with her storage ring and pulled out a small, rectangular jade artifact used for capturing images and communications.

She held it up, positioned her face perfectly in the frame with the screaming demon and the panicked Medusa and Ziyan in the background, and flashed a peace sign.

Click.

"Hahaha! I am so going to show this to Haoran when I call him!" Huo Yue laughed, her eyes bright with mischief. "This is going to be the best souvenir ever!"

"DO THAT AND I’M GOING TO FEED YOU TO THE DEMON MYSELF!" Medusa roared, but she only flew faster, the starlight forest blurring into a tunnel of silver and purple behind them.