I am Villain Cultivator
Chapter 30: Lauren Death

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Lauren Death

The forest canopy grew darker as Lauren and Ashen moved deeper into the Verdant Deathwood. The air buzzed faintly with the vibrations of insects, and a faint red mist hung in the distance. Their target: the Blood Queen Bee, a Core rank Beast equivalent to a human cultivator, Foundation Realm, was known for its powerful pheromones and corrosive venom.

Ashen convinces Lauren to hunt the Blood Bees’ hive so they can collect blood honey, which is beneficial to the warrior rank cultivator and helps them to break through the Foundation realm.

Lauren, who was a rank 3 warrior and one step away from the foundation realm, agreed to Ashen’s suggestions. But he was worried that they might encounter strong beasts like Core beasts or Earthcore beasts.

Beasts were classified just like human cultivators:

Feral beasts /(Warrior Rank) – Basic wild beasts have greater physical power than a warrior rank cultivator.

Core beasts/(Foundation Realm) – Slightly intelligent, enhanced muscle and speed, and in this stage, beasts gain element affinity and make a core in their body.

Earthcore Beasts/(Blessing Realm) – Awaken their racial talent or abilities, and have the same intelligence as humans.

Sovereign Beasts/(Opening Realm) – Fully awakened cores and awaken their Ancestral bloodline, can use unique Bloodline techniques using their racial talent, and can transform into humans.

Saint Beasts/(Truth Realm) – Capable of Domain Intimacy: Their elemental dominion becomes "truth" (a Flame Saint Beast doesn’t just wield fire, but perceives fire’s role in the cycle of creation and destruction).

Primordial Beasts/(Sea Realm) – Territory dominion, high intelligence, and can imprint their child with Dao, where their lineage can have their abilities from birth, also in this stage, they can break through their bloodline limitation.

Mythical Beasts/(Divine Realm) – they are walking calamities, they can destroy cities and towns with one attack, they are true predator like the Dragon, phoenix, Qilin, Nine-headed Hydra.

Ashen looked confident and said, "It’s just a Core Beast. If we can both kill the Horned Bear, a Core Beast. Together we can also kill blood bees, which only have physical attack."

Lauren didn’t speak. His steps were calm, but his eyes scanned the trees sharply. Ashen looked back at Lauren and thought,

’ If I remembered this part of the novel clearly. This wasn’t just a normal Blood Bees; their Queen bee just broke through a Core Beasts’ rank and became an Earthcore beast, awakening her racial talent [Blood manipulation]

This was the creature that nearly killed the heroine, Divya, and would have devoured her for her Black phoenix blood essence to further purify her bloodline had Raven not interfered. Divya becomes the food for the Blood Queen Bee’.

With the Spirit of Nirvana tower supervising, no one thought that a beast evolved and became an Earthcore beast. This happened because after evolving, the Blood Queen bee gained human intelligence, and knowing that a powerful individual keeps killing powerful beasts, she hid her cultivation; only something like the Phoenix bloodline was enough reason to reveal her true nature.

They reached a thick clearing surrounded by hive-like structures, pulsating with red. Ashen’s breath grew heavier.

"This is it," Lauren said with a grin. "Let’s take the queen royal honey and go home."

But as they stepped in, the air changed. From within the central hive, a shriek echoed through the woods.

A colossal creature burst forth wings like bloodstained glass, eyes burning red, and a venomous stinger twitching at the ready.

"This isn’t... a normal Blood Queen!" Lauren shouted.

Ashen’s lips were tight. "That’s not Core Beast anymore. This aura can’t be of a normal Core beast..."

"Fall back!" Lauren shouted. But Ashen didn’t listen.

"We can take her together!" Ashen rushed forward, his sword wreathed in Shadow Qi, and attacked Blood Queen Bee.

"You, M*ther F*cker, what are you doing?" Lauren yells at Ashen stupid action by attacking Queen Bee. All the other workers and soldiers, Blood bees, get angry and launch a vicious attack together, which Lauren does not want.

Ashen ignores Shouts a delivers a slash toward the Blood Queen’s Bee, which the Queen bee blocks easily with her razor-like stings and delivers an attack that feels like it struck lightning.

Ashen ducked it, and with a roll, he got back on Queen Bee, and with precise accuracy, he stabbed Queen Bee, which resulted in Blood Queen Bee getting a wound, and some dark Qi also invaded her body.

After injecting dark Qi into the Blood Queen Bee, she went berserk. From a distance, Ashen watched with a cold smile and thought, "Success. This is where you die, Lauren."

Meanwhile, Lauren was surrounded by a swarm of blood bee soldiers that relentlessly attacked him. It became increasingly difficult to hold them off; two or three streams of bees had already inflicted deep wounds on his back. Suddenly, Ashen appeared beside him and shouted, "Run!"

Because of the dark Qi Ashen had injected into the Blood Queen’s body, she revealed her true cultivation for the first time. Upon sensing it, Lauren felt a chill run down his spine. Even the Earthcore beasts trembled at the sight. In shock, Lauren muttered, "E...Earthcore?" and turned to flee.

But he didn’t get far. A Rank 2 warrior couldn’t possibly outrun an Earthcore beast. In a flash, a blood blade shot from the Queen Bee’s mouth and severed his legs. Lauren screamed and tried to crawl away, but it was futile.

"ARGH!" he fell back, coughing blood.

"Ashen!" he yelled. "Help me!"

But Ashen remained still.

"You... What are you doing?" but Ashen doesn’t move.

The Blood Queen descended upon him, her massive mandibles opening wide. As she devoured him, Lauren caught a final glimpse of Ashen’s smile. In that terrible moment, he understood everything.

This had been Ashen’s plan all along. With the hatred, he yelled at Ashen last time, "You... planned this... from the beginning." Soon, only the crunching sound can be heard after finishing eating. Lauren’s body, Blood Queen, looked at Ashen.

The Blood Queen Bee unfurled her wings with a thunderous snap, the air around her trembling with malice. With a single flap, a crimson spear of blood condensed midair and shot toward Ashen. He twisted his body, narrowly dodging the spear, but before he could catch his breath, the Queen had already appeared above him, her speed monstrous, almost unnatural.

A blood rain poured down from her wings, each droplet sharp as a dagger. Ashen dodged most of it with agile footwork, but one drop struck his shoulder with a sickening thud, piercing through flesh and muscle. He gritted his teeth and staggered back, creating a sliver of distance between him and the maddened Queen.

Lifting his hand, Ashen’s eyes gleamed darkly. The Dark Qi he had previously injected into the Blood Queen Bee surged violently. The corruptive energy flared within her, causing her momentarily to falter, giving Ashen the time he needed.

"Tch... That was close."

He wiped the blood from his lips, his thoughts shifting to the power that had brought him this far.

Ashen was not just an ordinary cultivator. He bore the stolen legacy of the Kilvis Clan’s founder, a legacy that, in the original novel, was meant to belong to the protagonist, Raven. But Ashen had taken it for himself.

The inheritance was known as "The Founder’s Blessing: Absolute Shadow."

"Even without entering the Blessing Realm and receiving my Talent, I can use founder Talent, which can summon shadow warriors, walk through darkness, and corrupt beasts with pure Dark Qi."

And he had done just that.

By channeling the Absolute Shadow, he had infected the Blood Queen Bee with Dark Qi, driving her to madness and revealing her true power. Now, with the Queen temporarily disoriented, Ashen activated one of the founder’s signature abilities.

A black mist coiled around his feet. In the blink of an eye, his body faded into the shadows and vanished. Moments later, he reappeared from the shadow of a distant tree, far away from the Queen Bee’s hive.

This was the Shadow Walk, a terrifying movement technique unique to the Absolute Shadow talent. Swift, silent, and perfect for escape or assassination.

Ashen stood beneath the shade of the tree, watching the chaos he had unleashed with a quiet