Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 56: Negotiations

"Human... what is it you want from me?"

"Not even a thank you?" Haoran playfully asked, his voice cutting through the heavy, vibrating tension of the desert air.

He stood with his hands tucked behind his back, a posture of relaxed dominance that stood in stark contrast to the thousands of bared weapons pointed in his direction.

Medusa remained silent, her cold hazel eyes staring deep into his own golden orbs.

As the Queen of the Lamias, and having recently undergone a bloodline evolution into the Rainbow-Scaled Divine Serpent, her senses were far more acute than any of her subordinates.

So naturally, zhe could feel it—a terrifying, primordial resonance emanating from the youth before her.

It was a weight that pressed down on her very soul, a sovereign authority that seemed to speak directly to the draconic traces in her blood.

And just from that pressure alone, she realized with a flicker of dread that if his cultivation was even a little higher, perhaps just at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm or the threshold of Spirit Ascension, none of the Lamias here—herself included—would be able to resist his direct commands.

Even now, the only reason she remained mostly unaffected and could still stand tall was because her bloodline was of exceptionally high quality, bordering on the supreme.

"Let’s make a deal," said Haoran, his tone conversational, as if he weren’t surrounded by an army of man-eaters. "It would be a pity to slaughter your whole race here in the sand. It would be messy, and honestly, quite a waste of potential. So, why don’t you ask your sisters to back off and lower their spears? In exchange, you will promise me that you will protect Huo Yue for three years. Be her shield, her shadow, and her guardian."

Hearing, not only Medusa and the Lamia, even Huo Yue and Ziyan were stunned at the ridiculous demands.

"Are you mocking me?!" Medusa’s voice was like grinding silk, sharp and dangerous as her aura flared, the colors of her robes shifting brilliantly. "There is no ’deal’ being made here! You simply want a subordinate! You want to turn me, the Queen of the Great Tao Desert, into a common bodyguard!? I’d rather die!"

Haoran shook his head slowly, a small, knowing smile playing on his lips. "There is most certainly a deal being made, Your Majesty. And that deal is this: in exchange for your three years of servitude, everyone present here gets to live. Your generals, your warriors, your sisters—they all get to return home instead of becoming ash in the wind. That’s a very good deal, wouldn’t you say?"

"Queen! Forget about what he says! He is bluffing!" Hua Lin roared from the front lines, her pink tail thrashing the sand into a frenzy. "So what if he’s from the Imperial Capital? Distance is his enemy here! If we kill all of them right now and bury their remains under a thousand feet of shifting sand, no one will ever know! The Central Region is far, and the desert is vast!"

"That’s right! Let’s kill him, Queen!"

Medusa did not join in the shouting.

Instead, she pondered the choice with the cold, calculating mind of a ruler as she looked at Haoran—really looked at him—and saw the absolute lack of fear in his eyes.

Whether it’s from arrogance or because he couldn’t see reality, Medusa doesn’t know.

But he really wasn’t afraid.

"Kill me?" Haoran laughed, the sound echoing strangely across the dunes. "Oh dear. Queen Medusa, I’m sure you must’ve felt it, right? This suppression. This is the power of my Divine Physique. Once I unleash its resonance to full power, I don’t even need to lift a finger. I can command the entire Lamia race to turn on one another. I can make your sisters kill their own kin, and I can even have them throw themselves at you until you are forced to slaughter them yourself just to stay alive. Do you want to gamble on whether or not I’m lying?"

Medusa froze. The air around her seemed to solidify as she had felt the "hush" in her blood when he stepped forward.

It was a biological imperative, a hierarchy established before the dawn of time.

Of course, Haoran was bluffing. This is the full extent of his dragon aura, after all, his physique was only at a Minor Completion.

But paired it with threats and his background, it is enough to be believable, especially if the Queen was really smart enough.

But of course, if push comes to shove, he has countless live saving artifacts waiting to be unleashed.

Just a Nirvana Rebirth, even if a Saint were to come, he wouldn’t even bat an eye.

"What?! There is no way you can do that! You’re just a Golden Core brat!" Hua Lin screamed, though her hand was trembling on her sword hilt.

"Queen, just give the word! We’ll immediately impale them with our spears!"

"That’s right! One volley and they’ll be nothing but pincushions!" another general added.

Haoran remained smiling, his eyes never leaving Medusa’s face.

He stood he was the eye of the storm, perfectly still while the world around him screamed for blood.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of silent mental warfare, Medusa let out a long, ragged sigh as the killing intent radiating from her body dissipated like mist in the morning sun.

"You win," she said, her shoulders dropping slightly.

"But Queen!" Hua Lin tried to insist, her face twisted in disbelief. "We have the numbers! We have the strength!"

"Silence!" Medusa’s glare was a physical blow, instantly shutting Hua Lin’s mouth.

The Queen then turned her gaze back to Huo Yue, then finally to Haoran. "I just have to protect her for three years... that is all? No other hidden shackles?"

Haoran nodded, his expression turning more business-like. "In exchange for those three years, once the time is up, I will provide the resources and the guidance to help you ascend to the Saint Realm. Furthermore, I will provide the pills and spirit herbs necessary to let some of your most trusted generals reach the Nirvana Rebirth stage. Your race will no longer be ’powerhouses of a desolate region’; you will be a power to be reckoned with even in the Central Region."

"Saint..." Medusa muttered dreamily.

The word felt heavy on her tongue.

After all, despite having a Rank 10 bloodline, she was a realist, and she knew that reaching the Saint Realm required a staggering amount of resources, heavenly treasures, and high-level pills that the Eastern and Southern Regions simply could not provide.

There was a reason why the Four Cardinal Regions hadn’t given birth to a Saint-Rank expert for thousands of years—they were resource-starved backwaters compared to the Central Region.

For Medusa, her only previous hope of advancing to the Saint Realm was to abandon her people, venture into the Central Region alone as a rogue, and search for opportunities while being hunted by humans who would want her for her scales and core.

But would she do that?

The answer was no.

And it’s not because she was afraid of struggles or anything, but as the Queen of the Lamias, she had to put the interests of her people first.

If she left for the Central Region, who would guard the desert? Who would lead the tribe against the encroaching human kingdoms?

Without her, they were just waiting to be slaughtered or enslaved.

But if this youth was telling the truth... if she could gain the backing of the Shen Clan... her people would no longer be prey.

"So, do we have an accord?" asked Haoran, his smile widening.

Medusa nodded, her expression regal once more. "We have an accord. But before I leave with you, you must follow me to our Kingdom first. There are rites to be performed and protections to be set. There are things I must do before I can leave my sisters for three years."

"Very well. Lead the way," Haoran nodded, gesturing for the army to move.

Medusa turned toward the gathered Lamias, her voice carrying the weight of a divine decree. "Let us depart! Lower your weapons! We head back to the Kingdom!"

With a collective, confused murmur, the thousands of serpent-warriors began to turn and slither back across the dunes, their massive tails carving paths in the sand.

Huo Yue, who had been watching the negotiation with her mouth slightly agape, reached out and tugged on Haoran’s sleeve. "Isn’t that dangerous? Going right into their nest? What if it’s a trap?"

"Don’t worry," Haoran said, patting her hand reassuringly. "With me here, no harm will befall you or your... friend?"

Haoran’s eyes narrowed as they landed on the silent, trembling figure of Zhu Ziyan.

He tilted his head, his golden eyes scanning her features. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Huo Yue blinked, finally realizing she hadn’t introduced her traveling companion. "Ah! Haoran, this is Zhu Ziyan. She’s been traveling with me through the desert. She’s a good friend! And Ziyan, this is Shen Haoran... my fiancé."

Haoran’s eyes sparked with recognition. "Ah, I remember now. You’re that girl from the Ogre Seven, right? The feline one? A friend of Xueli’s?"

Ziyan lowered her head, her cat ears flattened so far they were almost hidden in her hair and her voice was a mere whisper, trembling with the memory of the "greeting" he had given her team two years ago. "Y-Yes. It is an honor to see you again, Young Master Shen."

Huo Yue blinked, looking between the two. "Hey, Haoran, what did you do to her? Why does she look like she’s seen a ghost? Ziyan is usually very brave."

Haoran smirked, a dark, playful glint in his eyes. "Nothing at all, Yue’er. Just a friendly greeting between fellow students of the martial path, I guess. She is simply overwhelmed by the joy of seeing a friend of a friend."

Ziyan shivered, thinking to herself: Liar! You’re a complete monster!

But she didn’t dare say it aloud.

She simply followed quietly as the group began their journey toward the hidden Kingdom of the Lamias, wondering how her life had gone from fleeing mercenaries to walking alongside a Demon King.