The Patience of the Villain

Tianji City.

One of the most prosperous core domains in the Upper Realm.

The nights here lacked the neon lights of the mortal realm, but they were illuminated as bright as day by countless formations and magic artifacts emitting multicolored glows.

Shen Fei did not return to the Blood Fiend Sect.

Under the identity of Chen Mo, he rented the lowest-grade quiet room in a remote inn within the city.

The next day.

He had Liu Tianxing transfer a sum of spirit stones over through secret channels.

It was not much, only five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

To those large sects that casually threw around massive fortunes at auctions, this amount of money was not even enough to buy a mid-grade magic artifact.

But for Shen Fei.

It was enough.

He did not need to use money to crush Li Miaoyuan to death.

He needed to use these five thousand spirit stones to pry open the massive and complex intelligence network of Tianji City.

The markets of the Upper Realm had an established, unwritten system for information exchange.

There were hidden shops specifically selling intelligence, local rogue cultivators who made a living peddling rumors, and hidden agents from major factions stationed in the markets disguised as merchants.

Intelligence, in this cultivation world, was like the stocks and futures of the mortal realm.

Exchanged with spirit stones, exchanged with resources.

Sometimes, it was also exchanged with silence and human lives.

Shen Fei changed into an ordinary cyan rogue cultivator robe and wore a bamboo hat that concealed his face.

He walked out of the inn.

For the next ten days.

He acted like a true seasoned veteran who had struggled at the bottom for years.

He did not go to those large-scale intelligence pavilions with golden signboards. Those places charged exorbitant fees, had complex backgrounds, and made it easy to expose his investigative intentions.

Where he went were the most chaotic and dirtiest slums of Tianji City.

He went to the underground black markets frequented only by rogue cultivators at the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation stages.

In a dilapidated tavern, he used ten low-grade spirit stones to buy a pot of inferior spirit wine for a drunken, down-and-out sword cultivator.

From the sword cultivator's boasting, he learned about the Taixuan Holy Land's recent movements in recruiting outer sect disciples.

In front of a stall selling low-tier talismans, he bought a pile of scrap talismans for one hundred spirit stones.

In passing, he spent half an hour chatting about market gossip with the stall owner, who appeared to be an honest peasant but was actually an informant for a mid-sized sect.

In a dark alley late at night, he used his Heavenly Demon True Qi to silently subdue a bandit leader who specialized in murder and robbery.

He did not kill him.

Instead, he controlled him with a Life and Death Talisman, forcing him to spit out all the tracking records concerning the Holy Sons of major sects in Tianji City over the past three months.

Ten days.

Using the rigorous and highly efficient intelligence infiltration mindset accumulated by Earth's financial conglomerates.

In this completely unfamiliar cultivation world.

He forcibly pieced together a complete information network regarding Li Miaoyuan.

Late at night on the tenth day.

The quiet room of the inn.

Shen Fei sat cross-legged on a futon.

On the wooden table in front of him lay over a dozen pieces of parchment, densely covered in tiny, neat handwriting.

This was all the intelligence he had exchanged for over the past ten days using five thousand spirit stones and various methods.

He picked up a pen and began the final sorting and filtering on the paper.

"Li Miaoyuan, Outer Domain Holy Son of the Taixuan Holy Land. Early Nascent Soul stage."

Shen Fei looked at the first line of text, his eyes calm.

"Ascended to the Upper Realm a year ago. Caught the eye of a Soul Formation stage Supreme Elder of the Taixuan Holy Land and was taken in as a legacy disciple."

"Personality changed drastically. No longer as arrogant as he was in the mortal realm, his actions became profound and ruthless. During the sect competition, using his early Nascent Soul cultivation, he severely injured a veteran Holy Son at the mid Nascent Soul stage, establishing his position as the number one Holy Son of the Outer Domain."

Shen Fei's pen circled the words "severely injured a mid Nascent Soul."

This indicated that the Heavenly Dao destiny on Li Miaoyuan's body had not weakened due to his failure in the mortal realm; instead, in this higher-dimensional world, it had received an even more terrifying boost.

Not only had he recovered his strength, but he also possessed the capital to challenge those above his realm.

Shen Fei continued reading.

This was the core secret he had paid the greatest price to pry out of the bandit leader's mouth.

"Li Miaoyuan's movement trajectory over the past three months has been unusually frequent."

"He has encountered a massive bottleneck in breaking through to the mid Nascent Soul stage. Although the cultivation techniques of the Taixuan Holy Land are domineering, they have extremely high requirements for one's state of mind."

"The Heavenly Dao Blood Oath he swore in the mortal realm has become his greatest heart demon."

Seeing this, a cold arc finally formed at the corners of Shen Fei's mouth.

The Heavenly Dao Blood Oath.

Swearing not to form a Golden Core until Shen Fei was killed.

Although the Heavenly Dao had forcibly intervened to let him form a core in the mortal realm, in the Upper Realm, the karma of breaking this oath had finally caught up with him.

Unless the heart demon was eliminated, his cultivation would not advance a single step.

"In order to suppress the heart demon and forcefully break through to the mid Nascent Soul stage."

"Li Miaoyuan is in desperate need of a rare natural treasure: the Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass."

Shen Fei's gaze locked dead onto these words.

Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass.

He was far too familiar with this thing.

In the Azure Wood Secret Realm, the spirit grass that the guide named Gu Yan had risked his life to break the formation for, only to have it snatched away by him at the last moment, was exactly this.

But at the time, he had casually thrown it into his system inventory and hadn't paid much attention to it.

He never expected that this item would turn out to be the lifesaving straw Li Miaoyuan most urgently needed right now.

"The known origin of the Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass..."

Shen Fei turned over the last piece of parchment.

"Sunset Abyss."

"A natural perilous land located at the border between Tianji City and the frontier wastelands."

"Covered year-round in purple toxic mist. The interior is filled with spiritual energy turbulence released by the remnants of ancient formations. For cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage who enter, it is certain death."

"Even at the Nascent Soul stage, if one is unfamiliar with the terrain, there is a risk of perishing."

Shen Fei put down his pen.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

At this moment, all the clues formed a perfect closed loop.

Li Miaoyuan needed the Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass.

The Sunset Abyss had the Nine Nether Yellow Springs Grass.

Moreover, according to the latest news circulating in the market, the Taixuan Holy Land was already secretly purchasing poison-warding pills and defensive magic artifacts.

Although Li Miaoyuan's itinerary was not announced to the public.

Shen Fei had accurately calculated the timeframe through a hidden resource procurement clue provided by the bandit leader.

Within half a month.

Li Miaoyuan would take two Dao Protectors at the peak of the Golden Core stage and head to the Sunset Abyss.

Shen Fei opened his eyes.

A profound, dark light flickered in his pitch-black eyes.

Early Golden Core stage against early Nascent Soul stage.

With two peak Golden Core Dao Protectors standing in between.

If they fought head-on.

Shen Fei knew that even with his Heavenly Demon Physique and Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art, his chances of winning would not exceed thirty percent.

A cultivator's Nascent Soul had already preliminarily grasped the superficial aspects of the laws of heaven and earth; they were absolutely incomparable to those martial arts grandmasters of the mortal realm.

But.

Who said a villain had to fight head-on to kill someone?

Shen Fei stood up.

He shattered all the parchment on the table into powder.

"System."

Shen Fei summoned the interface in his mind.

"Open the store."

"Filter all formation blueprints capable of causing law suppression or soul interference to Nascent Soul stage cultivators."

Ding!

Filtering for you...

Filtering complete.

Recommended Formation 1: Nine Turns Yellow River Formation (Fragment). Exchange requires 5000 Villain Points.

[Recommended Formation Two: Ten Ultimates Dragon-Trapping Formation. Cost: 8000 Villain Points.]

[Recommended Formation Three: Heaven-Locking Earth-Severing Killing Formation. Cost: 10000 Villain Points.]

Shen Fei looked at the expensive formations displayed on the system panel.

The Villain Points he had accumulated back in the mortal realm were nearly depleted after he exchanged them for the Soul-Mending Pill and the Heavenly Demon Spirit-Protecting Shield.

But right now, he had plenty of time, and plenty of patience.

"Redeem the fragments for all three of these formations."

Shen Fei emptied his remaining point balance without a second thought.

He didn't need the complete formations.

He only needed their core operational logic.

He was going to use that natural death trap known as the Sunset Abyss.

He would use its poisonous mists and turbulent spiritual energy.

And with his own hands.

He would arrange a grand funeral for Li Miaoyuan.

Shen Fei pushed open the door to the meditation room.

The sky outside was just beginning to lighten.

He did not return to the Blood Fiend Sect.

Instead, he left Tianji City directly, turning into a gray afterimage as he sped toward the direction of the Sunset Abyss.

Entering the stage half a month in advance.

This was the patience of a villain.

And it was a hunter's deadliest respect for his prey.

Before leaving Tianji City.

Shen Fei paused for a moment by a tea stall near the city gates.

He glanced at an ordinary-looking merchant drinking tea not far away.

The merchant's eyes seemed to casually sweep over the crowd entering and exiting the city.

Shen Fei recognized this man.

He was one of the four hidden spies of the Supreme Mystery Holy Land that Shen Fei had unexpectedly discovered during his ten days of intelligence gathering.

The Supreme Mystery Holy Land's infiltration of this region was much deeper than he had imagined.

But Shen Fei didn't touch him.

He simply lowered his bamboo hat and, like the most ordinary rogue cultivator, quietly walked right through the merchant's blind spot.

He didn't draw a single person's attention.

"Li Miaoyuan."

Shen Fei walked across the desolate wilderness leading to the Sunset Abyss.

The morning breeze fluttered his gray robes.

"Li Miaoyuan."

"Did you really think you could rest easy just because you escaped to the Upper Realm?"