The Villains Must Win - Chapter 59: Alexander Vale 9

Shen Yinning was originally the Crown Prince Lu Ying's childhood sweetheart and fiancée, but due to her father and brother's rebellion, she was exiled to Gan State and married to a minor local official as the daughter of a criminal. Meanwhile, Lu Ying gloriously married her cousin Shen Yunxi as his Crown Princess Consort.Three years later, Shen Yinning returned to the Capital with her husband. Everyone praised the Crown Prince and Princess for their mutual respect and harmony, and Shen Yunxi often flaunted in front of her how loving she and the Crown Prince were. However, only Shen Yinning knew that the seemingly restrained and honorable Lu Ying came to her chamber every night, completely disregarding the fact that she was now someone else's wife, secretly claiming her and keeping her as his Forbidden Fruit...

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension