Great Villain: Starting by Humiliating the Son of the Heavenly Fate-Chapter 497: Disciple Filial Piety

Qin Ran exchanged countless treasures to temper his body, step by step forging terrifying physical strength. In time, he became strong enough to kill Heavenly Origin realm cultivators with his bare hands.

At the same time, he comprehended an astonishing number of cultivation methods, including ones at the Void Tribulation rank.

He had already grasped forty-nine complete Great Dao laws. As long as his cultivation realm met the requirements, stepping into the Void Tribulation realm would come naturally to him.

But that step never came.

No matter how much time passed, Qin Ran remained stuck in the Physical Body realm, unable to break through into the Original Movement realm. Without access to Origin Power, all spells were useless to him.

More importantly, his lifespan could not be extended.

A hundred years later, the system finally reacted.

[System updating soon!]

After that single message, it fell completely silent.

Not long after, Qin Ran reached the end of his life.

Before dying, he was convinced the system wouldn’t allow him to disappear so easily. Acting on that belief, he swallowed a rare treasure meant to preserve his body from decay.

Then he summoned his disciple and gave one final instruction—to bury him somewhere remote, where no one would disturb his rest.

Because of the system’s restrictions, Qin Ran could only bind himself to one disciple at a time. He would teach them until they reached the Transcendence realm, then he had no choice but to let them go.

So when Qin Ran finally died, the only person by his side was a disciple who had just broken through to the Transcendence realm.

That disciple was the eighteenth he had personally taught.

Now, more than ten thousand years later, Qin Ran had successfully come back to life.

Before the excitement could even settle, something even better happened.

[System update complete!]

[Host, in addition to your existing functions, you have unlocked a new system feature — Disciple Filial Piety.]

[Disciple Filial Piety: When a disciple makes progress, you may gain the same cultivation benefits through physical contact, without being limited by aptitude.]

[You currently have eighteen disciples. Touching any one of them will grant you their full cultivation base, along with all future cultivation gains.]

One system prompt after another flashed through Qin Ran’s mind.

"Holy crap—Disciple Filial Piety? I can get the same cultivation gains as my disciples?"

"And I can even take the cultivation bases of all eighteen disciples I’ve already taught... just by touching them?"

He burst out laughing, unable to hold it back. "This is amazing! I can finally get stronger. I can finally cultivate. I’m done being stuck in the Physical Body realm!"

He laughed so hard his face almost split with joy.

Then another system message appeared.

[Host, you remain in the Physical Body realm. Your remaining lifespan is three days. Please break through to the Original Movement realm as soon as possible.]

His smile froze.

"Three days left?" His heart skipped. "So I didn’t really die back then... the system just forced me into some kind of suspended state when I only had three days to live?"

He shook his head. "Doesn’t matter. Getting stronger comes first."

With that thought, he began to look around.

And immediately realized—nothing was the way he had imagined it would be.

Annoyed, Qin Ran complained to himself, "Damn it. Didn’t I tell Little Eighteenth to bury me in the deep sea of the Forsaken Black Ocean? How did I end up under a mountain?"

He glanced around again.

"The world’s changed this much... that means a lot of time has passed."

"How long was I asleep?"

"And how far have those disciples of mine come by now?"

His eyes lit up at the thought. "If I can find even one of those eighteen brats, I can get strong right away."

Then another worry crept in.

"Wait... none of them should be dead, right?" he muttered. "The first thing I taught them was how to stay alive."

He kept talking to himself as he looked around. After being asleep for so long, the words just spilled out the moment he woke up.

Standing up, Qin Ran clicked his tongue. "I’ve got absurd physical strength, but not even a shred of divine sense."

"When do I get to enjoy the feeling of seeing everything at a glance, like turning on cheats?"

Picking a direction that looked like it might have people nearby, he lifted his foot and stomped down.

BOOM!

The ground exploded on the spot. Rocks shot into the air, and the mountain peak itself collapsed with a deafening roar.

Qin Ran burst out laughing. "This—this is freedom!"

His body shot forward like a cannonball, tearing through the air as he flew off, humming happily to himself.

He tore across the land, flattening mountain after mountain, until a cultivator city finally came into view in the distance.

"Yes! People!" Qin Ran’s eyes lit up. "I need to find out where those eighteen brats ended up!"

He rushed forward, but as he got closer, he slowed down and reined in his strength.

Before long, the busy streets came into sight. Cultivators and ordinary folk moved about, lively and crowded.

Qin Ran reached out and grabbed a black-robed cultivator who looked like he knew his way around. "Hey, brother. Do you know Zhu Zhongming?"

"Zhu Zhongming?" The man frowned. "Never heard of him. And who do you think you are, stopping me when you’re only in the Physical Body realm? You asking for a beating?"

He shook his sleeve and turned to leave.

Qin Ran’s brow twitched. The nerve of this kid.

He tightened his grip. "Hold on. One more question."

The black-robed cultivator’s face darkened. "Looking for trouble?"

He twisted his arm and pulled hard, trying to fling Qin Ran aside.

Nothing happened.

The arm didn’t move an inch.

The man’s eyes widened. Gritting his teeth, he poured all his Origin Power into it and yanked again.

Still nothing.

The black-robed cultivator was completely stunned. How is this possible?

The other man was holding him in place with nothing but brute strength. No matter how hard he struggled—even pouring in all his power—he couldn’t break free.

And he was a Spiritual Awakening realm cultivator.

Qin Ran didn’t even spare him a glance. "What year is it now?"

The man’s expression changed instantly. He bowed so fast it was almost comical. "Senior, please forgive my rudeness! This is year 111,398 of the Sky Harmony Immortal Star’s new calendar!"

Qin Ran released him.

Over ten thousand years... The thought hit him hard.

The black-robed cultivator kept bowing, not daring to straighten up.

Qin Ran frowned slightly. If that much time has passed, how can no one know my first disciple?

That kid was smart. There’s no way he never made a name for himself.

He quickly found an explanation. This place must just be too small and out of the way. Makes sense that people here wouldn’t know.

I’ll find a teleportation array and head somewhere bigger.

With that in mind, Qin Ran began looking around the city.

What he didn’t know was that Zhu Zhongming was famous under another name—Devil Sword. Almost no one knew his real name anymore, aside from a few top figures in the Profound Jade Immortal Domain.

It didn’t take long for Qin Ran to locate a teleportation array that connected to other cities.

Using it required spirit stones.

He checked his system space. The pile of treasures inside was still as absurd as ever. Spirit stones weren’t an issue.

Just as he stepped toward the array, a system notification popped up.

[Host, a suitable target for disciple recruitment has been detected!]