Hengtian Ranking, System Quest, Villain No Longer Low-Key

"It wasn't like that, Chu Tian, listen to my explanation."

Liu Yun's face was deathly pale. Terrified beyond measure, she collapsed limply on the mountaintop and shouted weakly at Chu Tian's retreating back.

She truly could not understand why Chu Tian's attitude toward her—and even toward Ye Fan—had taken a three-hundred-and-sixty-five-degree turn.

Weren't the Ye Family and the Chu Family branches of the same tree, sharing the same breath?

What was wrong with her helping Ye Fan?

Yet being precocious, she understood even more clearly that she had likely caused a grave disaster, one that might even affect her family's very survival.

The sect patrol disciples and experts hidden among the clouds were frightened out of their wits. This involved the Little Holy Son, the Chu Family, and the Liu Family. How could they dare interfere? They did not even dare help Liu Yun up, fleeing swiftly instead.

Very quickly, news of what had happened on the mountain spread through the sect with lightning speed.

The trash Ye Fan had relied on the fact that he once saved Liu Yun, using that debt of gratitude to coerce the Little Holy Son into stealing the sect's Divine Medicine, the Sacred Vein Flower Fruit. The Little Holy Son had returned from the path of error and, in his fury, slapped his fiancée, ordering her to personally capture the trash Ye Fan.

The Little Holy Son had even declared in person that Liu Yun was unworthy of becoming the Chu Family's future mistress.

Less than half an hour later.

Having received authorization from the Heavenly King Emperor, Xing Nu led the sect's Law Enforcement Team in forcibly storming the Liu Family and arresting Ju'er, Liu Yun's personal maid.

The Sacred Heaven Sect was shaken.

Not long afterward, the Ye Family released word that Ye Fan had already been captured and was being severely interrogated. If his crimes were confirmed, he would absolutely not be forgiven, and the Chu Family could rest assured.

On the mountaintop, it was only much later that Liu Family experts arrived and took the overly frightened eldest young lady, Liu Yun, back.

"Congratulations, Host. You have suppressed the Daughter of Fortune, Liu Yun. Reward: 2,000 Destiny Points."

"Congratulations, Host. You have suppressed the Son of Destiny, Ye Fan. Reward: 3,000 Destiny Points."

"Congratulations, Host. The Daughter of Fortune, Liu Yun, has developed intense fear toward you. Reward: 500 Destiny Points."

"Congratulations, Host. The Son of Destiny, Ye Fan, has developed immense hatred toward you. Reward: 1,000 Destiny Points."

"Congratulations, Host..."

On the way back to the sect, the system's gentle, pleasant notifications rang beside Chu Tian's ear from time to time. In only a short while, the Destiny Points he had obtained had already exceeded ten thousand.

Chu Tian was in no rush to return to the sect. After descending the mountain, he had Xing Nu return first to arrest Ju'er.

This was Sacred Heaven Sect territory. Who would dare make a move against him here, unless they were tired of living?

Chu Tian was considering the situation within the Sacred Heaven Sect.

The Sacred Heaven Sect had been passed down for a million years. The position of Sect Master rotated between its two Founding Families, which had always maintained a delicate balance.

But in this generation, after his father, Chu Tianwang, married his mother, a divine maiden of the Outer Realm Divine Clan, the Chu Family's prestige had surged. Though Chu Tianwang was only the Vice Sect Master, his authority had already begun to faintly surpass that of the Ye Family.

Then came the birth of Chu Tian himself, with his Chaos Demon God Body, and his engagement to one with an Innate Dao Body. Their prestige reached its peak, giving the Ye Family a tremendous sense of crisis.

In his memories, what Chu Tianwang told him most often was that he must stay low-key. A careful boat sailed for ten thousand years; he must not strive to be first in everything or reveal his edge too easily.

Clearly, Chu Tianwang, the Vice Sect Master, had also sensed that something was amiss. In order to preserve unity within the sect, he had told Chu Tian to keep a low profile, lest he provoke the already sensitive Ye Family.

The original owner had been obedient as well. Though he was the Holy Son, with strength nearly comparable to a Primordial Giant Beast cub, he had never forced his way into the spotlight. He did not show the mountains or reveal the waters—his reputation was great, but his battle record was meager.

One had to know that powerful immortal Ancient Clans and Top Sects began sending their own prodigies out to train from a very young age, nurturing them from childhood and honing the magnificent scales and horns of their young geniuses.

An invincible mindset had to be cultivated from childhood. Only then could one temper an invincible will and contend for supremacy beneath the heavens.

For someone like Chu Tian, who possessed a Supreme Physique and an unparalleled background yet remained unknown, it was simply bizarre.

The outside world had always speculated whether Chu Tian had become crippled, or whether something had gone wrong in his cultivation. It had even begun to damage the Chu Family's prestige.

Even in the original storyline, when the conflict between the Chu and Ye Families had completely erupted and the Ye Family had finally revealed the dagger after the map was exhausted, Chu Tianwang still placed the sect's unity above all else. He did not completely tear his face off with them, choosing instead to trust his Sworn Brother, Ye Tianxiong.

Otherwise, with the Chu Family's million years of accumulated foundation, even if everyone abandoned them and they fought back with all their strength, the Sacred Heaven Sect might not have split into four or five pieces, but it would at least have suffered grievous losses and fallen from its seat among the Top Sects.

"Take one step back? Where is this vast sea and open sky? There is only one step back, then step after step back, until the foundation left behind by our ancestors is handed over to the other side." Chu Tian muttered.

As a godfather of his generation, Chu Tian had always believed in striking one punch to open the way, sparing himself a hundred punches to come.

Deterrence was fought for, not yielded through modesty.

Only ordinary people had room to stay low-key, since they had no capital to flaunt in the first place. But the Chu Family stood at this position, with such an enormous foundation and such terrifying strength, yet they still wanted to develop quietly. That was an exceedingly strange thing in itself.

Although Chu Tianwang was invincible across the land and possessed strength that towered to the heavens, he clearly did not understand how brutal struggles involving a family's survival could be.

From Ju'er alone, it was obvious that the Ye Family had definitely begun laying out its schemes.

It was even highly likely that Ye Tianxiong had arranged everything behind the scenes and personally set this trap.

Otherwise, how could a Ye Family trash repeatedly come into contact with the Liu Family's cherished pearl, the Chu Family's future mistress, and use her to interfere with the cultivation of the Chu Family's young master? It was simply beyond all common sense.

"System Quest issued: Villain No Longer Low-Key."

"As a super villain and the future sole Son of Destiny, you should shine like Starlight and shake all the heavens."

"This quest is a continuous storyline quest."

"First stage: Obtain first place on the Hengtian Ranking's Body Tempering Realm ranking and suppress all prodigies of the same realm. You will receive generous system rewards."

"Even you, System, understand that as a peerless prodigy, one should shake all the heavens and ride the winds and clouds. Yet my old man does not understand. His blind retreat and low-key conduct will only make outsiders think the Chu Family has declined, making them all want to pounce over for a bite and stomp on us."

Hearing the task issued by the system, Chu Tian smiled faintly. A cold glint flashed through his eyes as he raised his head to look ahead.

At the sect entrance stood a golden boulder a full hundred meters tall.

The three great golden characters, Hengtian Ranking, gleamed brilliantly at the top of the boulder.

The Hengtian Ranking had been jointly established by numerous Top Sects of the Hengtian Continent. It had been passed down through endless Years, with a history even longer than that of the Sacred Heaven Sect. A stone like this stood outside every Top Sect and aristocratic family on the Hengtian Continent.

The Hengtian Ranking was further divided into the Heaven Ranking, the Earth Ranking, and the Realm Ranking.

The Heaven Ranking recorded the rankings of the strongest experts on the Hengtian Continent.

The Earth Ranking gathered prodigies and monsters under thirty, ranking them according to potential.

The Realm Ranking was for those whose combat power stood at the forefront within a particular realm. Anyone qualified could leave their name on it, and it was also one of the important criteria for judging the Heaven and Earth Rankings.

To ascend the rankings meant that one could leave one's name through the ages. It was the highest honor on the Hengtian Continent.

The boulder bore rows of tiny golden characters, each one a name. All of them were prodigies who had left their names on the rankings throughout the Hengtian Continent's endless Years.

First place on the Heaven Ranking: Hengtian Divine Venerable, the greatest expert of the Hengtian Continent throughout ancient and modern times. He had blocked the Outer Realm Demon God Clan's invasion and protected countless living beings.

Ninety-sixth place on the Heaven Ranking: Heavenly King Emperor, Vice Sect Master of the Sacred Heaven Sect. He had occupied the Earth Ranking's top three for twenty-seven years, ranked second in the Bone Forging Realm, first in the Spirit Refining Realm, third in the Body Integration Realm... first in the Heavenly God Realm...

Ninety-seventh place on the Heaven Ranking: Heavenly Xiong Emperor, Sect Master of the Sacred Heaven Sect. He had occupied the Earth Ranking's top three for twenty-seven years, ranked first in the Bone Forging Realm, second in the Spirit Refining Realm...

It had to be said that the Hengtian Ranking alone showed just how fiercely Chu Tianwang and Ye Tianxiong, these two Sworn Brothers, had competed. They had loved and killed one another for decades, fighting and contending, each with victories and defeats.

Behind this also lay the brutal secret struggle between the Sacred Heaven Sect's two Founding Families.

And this balance had suddenly been broken after Chu Tianwang married Jian Kongzhu, the Broken Sword Goddess of the Ancient Sword God Clan, and had three daughters and one son.

Chu Tian looked upward. Twenty-eighth place on the Heaven Ranking: Wife of the Sacred Heaven Sect's Heavenly King Emperor. Slain the Desert Demon Lord of the Heavenly Demon Forbidden Land with a single sword strike.

That was right. Jian Kongzhu was not merely far ahead of the Sacred Heaven Sect's two Sect Masters by a cliff-like margin. She had only a single line of introduction and no past battle records whatsoever, yet she had directly surged into twenty-eighth place on the Heaven Ranking by relying on one sword strike that killed a forbidden land Demon Lord.

This was because the Hengtian Ranking only recorded experts of the Hengtian Continent.

Jian Kongzhu had only begun appearing on the rankings after marrying Chu Tianwang, and she had thoroughly established the Sacred Heaven Sect's position as the number one sect of the Hengtian Continent.

With one sword strike, she had directly entered the top thirty of the Heaven Ranking. One could imagine how ferocious Great Hatred Demon Lord, this old mother of his, was.

With such an excellent hand of cards, the Chu Family's prestige had reached an unprecedented peak, only to plummet like a thousand-foot waterfall and decline until it was exterminated in less than thirty years. In Chu Tian's eyes as a godfather, where something was abnormal, there had to be a demon.

And the greatest demons were his old man, Chu Tianwang, and his three elder sisters.

After all, one did not fear godlike opponents; one feared piglike teammates.

In Chu Tian's eyes, external enemies such as the Son of Destiny Ye Fan and the Sacred Heaven Goddess Liu Yun had never been the key.

A fortress had always begun crumbling from within.