Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem

Renyuan thrashed, but it was too late. With one smooth motion, the assailant knocked him out. His strength was simply overwhelming for the young master to do anything about it.

The maid stared in shock, with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She opened her lips, about to scream.

But in a blur, the towering man moved. One massive hand pressed over her mouth, silencing her scream before she could even try to make a sound. Not with violence, but with chilling control. His sheer presence paralyzed her.

She could tell by instinct that the fingers over her face could’ve snapped her neck like a twig if he willed it. Her eyes widened with terror... until she saw something that turned fear into disbelief.

A delicate figure peeked out from behind the man’s broad back.

Eyes wide. Expression conflicted, then warm.

"Liuli?" a soft, girlish voice called.

The maid’s eyes welled up instantly.

"Young Miss...?"

Feng leapt down from Quinlan’s back with a graceful hop, landing lightly on the bed beside the dazed, naked maid. She immediately pulled the bedsheets over the woman’s body, shielding her modesty and honor.

"I’m so sorry for what my bastard brother tried to do to you," Feng said with a scowl that made her jaw clench.

The maid, Liuli, choked back a sob as Quinlan released her mouth. Her voice trembled. "I... it wasn’t your fault, Miss. I always thought you were better off far away. Why... why come back at all?"

Feng’s lips curved into a sharp, dangerous smile. Her eyes glinted with something dark.

"Does it look like I came back with peaceful intentions?" she asked playfully.

Liuli blinked, and then the full meaning hit her.

Her trembling lips curled upward. Slowly at first, and then wickedly. A cruel grin, twisted with malice and long-repressed satisfaction.

"You’re here to ruin them," she said in awe.

Feng nodded. "To the very ground."

Quinlan chuckled nearby, the body of Renyuan dangling like a sack of meat over his shoulder. "Appreciate the enthusiasm, but we can’t leave anything to chance. I’ll need to gag and bind you. I’ll leave a stone next to you so that you can free yourself slowly."

Liuli sat up straight immediately.

Then, in a gesture that stunned even Feng, she extended both arms forward, toward Quinlan.

"Give those bastards hell."

Quinlan’s grin sharpened as he pulled out a silk belt and used it to tie her wrists behind her back and ankles together.

"With pleasure."

Once the maid was laid gently back onto the bed, gagged with a strip of silk and swaddled in blankets to look unconscious, Quinlan unlocked the door from the inside before he jumped.

This way, they would think that the bastard son was the one who bound her, should they open the door on her. They must’ve at least had an inkling that he was a rapist. As for where Renyuan could potentially be... Well, since the door was now open, he must’ve left somewhere in his rage, ignoring the ceremony and his mother’s summons.

In a blink, Quinlan landed silently in the ceiling rafters with Feng on his back and dragged Renyuan’s limp body with his left hand. They vanished into the wooden maze above, navigating the beams.

Their destination?

The Jiai Treasury.

The reason they’d dragged the limp weight of Renyuan with them was simple: access.

Feng had already stolen the Fire Shard once before, which meant that most likely she’d been cut off from treasury access ever since.

"They must’ve changed the formation key... they’re cruel, not dumb. But Renyuan?" Her lips had curled into a dark smirk. "Still a lazy, arrogant drunk with enough authority to get us in."

He was also weak, easily ambushed, and too full of himself to expect a sneak attack.

Perfect.

Now, skittering through the overhead rafters like silent shadows, they reached the far wing of the estate, nestled beneath one of the old pavilions overlooking a smaller, colder pond.

The treasury was close now.

Quinlan lifted Feng onto a rafter perch with practiced ease and gave her a nod.

Then he jumped down.

Like a wraith of fire and muscle, he descended between two patrolling guards.

A flash of movement.

His right fist, wreathed in a thin halo of concentrated Fire Qi, struck one man’s solar plexus. The flesh scorched, and the internal qi core shattered before the man could even register pain.

The second had barely turned when Quinlan’s boot drove into his neck, enhanced by a precise burst of fire qi to snap his balance. "Ah... Fire... So good to have you back..." Quinlan whispered with satisfaction. He was a much greater fire cultivator than any other element for now.

Both guards crumpled silently to the floor.

He dragged their corpses behind a storage shed, wiping his knuckles off on one of their sleeves before repeating the action a few more times, taking out all guards on the way that led to the treasury.

He dragged Renyuan forward until they reached the jade-engraved gate to the treasury.

A majestic stone slab framed with shimmering Water Qi wards became visible.

In the center was the Entry Seal, an elaborate formation disk resembling a lotus. Floating water orbs rotated clockwise around it, reacting only to the bloodline of authorized personnel infused with their unique qi essence.

"How do we activate it?" Quinlan asked.

"Simple," Feng replied grimly. She pried open Renyuan’s hand and forced his palm over the central disk. Then, she kicked him in the balls with all her might.

A strong groan vibrated through the air as a result of her actions. But, somehow, that was enough to make the unconscious man activate his qi.

The water orbs halted, then shifted into reverse.

One by one, they began to recede into the slab until the disk glowed and sank inward with a soft *shhhhkkk* sound.

The door opened.

Inside was a sight straight out of ancient fantasy.

Crates and chests of spirit coins, precious ore, and rare materials filled the lower shelves. Vats of refined pills shimmered in their translucent jars. Weapons and artifacts floated mid-air in containment fields.

But the true centerpiece sat at the far end, encased within a crystalline dais.

The elemental shards.

Each hovering in its own glass-like prism.

The Water Shard glowed a calm blue, like a still ocean under moonlight.

The Earth Shard pulsed with solid, grounding weight, its color a warm amber.

The Wind Shard drifted, light and elusive, as if it barely obeyed gravity at all.

There were multiple Water Shards, lined up like collected gemstones. But only one Earth and one Wind shard. They looked ornamental, collected by some ancestor but never used by the water-focused clan. Each bloodline had a disposition toward a certain element. It was extremely rare for a pair of cultivators to birth a child of a different element. That’s why the Jiai family stocked up on water shards but treated the others as decorations.

Feng’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Found them."

Quinlan approached the glass prism housing the Earth Shard, examining it closely. The protective dome was subtle with no visible traps, no runes that screamed danger. He looked at Feng, who nodded.

He reached out, slowly.

His hand passed the outer shimmer with no resistance.

His fingers touched the shard.

And then...

Everything exploded into noise.

*WHOOOOMMMM!!!*

The entire treasury flashed crimson.

Alarms blared in a high-pitched, resonating screech, like banshees screaming through the walls. Spiritual pressure slammed down like a crashing tide, and runes lit up along the ceiling, the floor, and the walls.

A lockdown.

They’d been caught.