NOVEL NEXT Chapter 138: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Villains
Morning at the Academy of Elegant Malevolence was as majestic as it was ridiculous.
Black bells tolled across the crimson misted courtyard, signaling the start of classes. Students in flowing dark robes walked solemnly while discussing the correct number of syllables in a menacing laugh.
Li Ming walked among them, wearing his own academy-issued uniform — black with gold embroidery and a cape that dramatically fluttered even without wind.
He stared down at it. "Why does this thing move by itself?"
Bai Guo perched on his shoulder, grinning. "Auto-flutter enchantment. Comes free with every villain starter pack."
"I look like a wandering opera singer," Li Ming muttered.
"Correction," Bai Guo said, "you look like royalty. Which, technically, everyone here thinks you are."
Li Ming sighed. "I should correct them."
"You could," Bai Guo said cheerfully, "or you could enjoy free breakfast buffets and the adoration of the morally ambiguous."
Li Ming stared at the bird. "You're evil."
"Thank you," Bai Guo said proudly.
---
His first class of the day was "Emotional Manipulation for Cultivators I."
The instructor, a middle-aged man with sharp eyebrows and the aura of someone who once seduced a ghost for information, stood at the podium.
His nameplate read: Instructor Han — Specialist in Strategic Heartbreak.
He gestured to the blackboard, where a single elegant phrase was written:
> "To control the heart, you must first understand how to disappoint it."
The class murmured in reverent awe.
Li Ming blinked. "Isn't that just… being a parent?"
Several students turned in horror. One whispered, "He's already thinking in layers!"
Instructor Han smiled coldly. "Ah, our visiting Prince of Silent Ruin. Care to share your philosophy of manipulation?"
Li Ming folded his arms. "Simple. I don't manipulate anyone. I let their assumptions do it for me."
The room went dead quiet.
Instructor Han froze, then slowly clapped. "Profound. So profound it loops back into cruelty."
The class broke into applause.
Li Ming frowned. "No, really, I just—"
"Silence!" Han snapped. "You've already said enough to secure an A for the semester. Sit. Your aura of disinterest is devastating."
Bai Guo whispered, "Congratulations. You just weaponized apathy."
---
After class, Li Ming tried to slip away quietly, but a group of demon students intercepted him.
One was tall and pale, with crimson eyes and a flair for melodramatic sighing. Another had fangs filed into perfect triangles.
"Prince of Silent Ruin," the tall one said solemnly, "we have long admired your indifference to mortal emotion."
Li Ming opened his mouth to correct them, but Bai Guo kicked his ear.
"Yes," the bird said in a grave tone, "His Highness does not feel—he merely observes."
The students gasped in awe. "Truly heartless! So noble!"
Li Ming covered his face. "Bai Guo, stop creating lore."
"It's too late," the bird whispered. "You have a fan club now."
---
By midday, Li Ming had been invited to five secret study groups, two duels, and a poetry slam about despair.
He turned down all of them, mostly because the cafeteria had roast spirit chicken that smelled divine.
While he ate, Yin Qing — the same girl from the banquet — approached and sat across from him. She wore her uniform casually, hair tied back, eyes glinting with amusement.
"You've made quite an impression," she said. "Half the academy now believes you seduced a phoenix to death."
Li Ming set down his chopsticks. "That was one time and entirely accidental."
Her smile widened. "You don't even deny it?"
"At this point," he said tiredly, "denying things just creates more rumors."
She laughed softly, stirring her tea. "You're… different. Most people who come here try too hard to act evil. You just exist."
"Laziness," Li Ming said. "Very underrated cultivation method."
Yin Qing tilted her head. "You know, the Headmaster wants to meet you."
Li Ming blinked. "Why?"
"Probably to measure your aura, test your loyalty, and maybe see if you're single."
He groaned. "Fantastic. Bureaucracy with romance."
Bai Guo leaned over his bowl. "I'm starting to like this place."
---
That afternoon, the academy held a practical assessment: "Applied Scheming 101."
The goal was to plan a perfect betrayal scenario using your classmates as pawns.
Li Ming didn't even try. He just took a nap in the back row.
When he woke up, his desk partner — a nervous student named Mo Yu — had used his name on the project submission, claiming "The Prince's Divine Silence represents the ultimate deception."
Instructor Han nearly wept grading it. "He betrayed the assignment itself! Genius!"
Li Ming's score: full marks.
Mo Yu's reward: lifelong trauma.
---
By sunset, Li Ming's reputation had grown beyond repair.
Students whispered in corridors.
Teachers debated whether he was the reincarnation of an ancient devil king or an experimental emotionless artifact.
Even the academy's spirit beasts started bowing to him when he walked by.
He was, officially, the most respected person in the Academy of Elegant Malevolence—after only 24 hours.
Li Ming sat at the edge of the academy gardens that evening, sipping tea and watching demonic fireflies dance around the obsidian lotus pond.
"This is absurd," he muttered. "I've done nothing."
Bai Guo preened his feathers smugly. "Exactly. That's what makes it art."
Yin Qing appeared again, holding a black umbrella against the red moonlight. "You look troubled, Prince."
Li Ming glanced at her. "I'm thinking."
"About?"
"How long before someone realizes I'm not who they think I am."
She smiled faintly. "Maybe that's the real evil — letting them decide what you are."
Li Ming looked at her for a moment. "You're too thoughtful for this place."
"Maybe I joined for the scholarship," she said dryly.
They both laughed quietly.
---
Far above, on a floating balcony, the Headmaster of the Evil Path Academy watched them with his council of shadowy elders.
"That one," the Headmaster murmured, stroking his beard. "He hides power well."
"Too well," one elder said. "Perhaps he is not a prince, but something greater."
Another nodded gravely. "Send spies. Observe his habits."
A third added, "Also find out his skincare routine."
The Headmaster squinted. "Why?"
The elder shrugged. "His face doesn't move when insulted. That's either enlightenment… or divine moisturizer."
---
Later that night, Li Ming found a sealed letter slipped under his door.
He opened it cautiously. Inside was a single sheet of crimson parchment.
Tomorrow: private lesson. "Advanced Betrayal and Empathic Weaponry." Attendance mandatory.
— Headmaster Yan Luo
Li Ming sighed. "Of course."
Bai Guo tilted his head. "You're really popular, huh?"
"Popularity in a villain academy," Li Ming muttered, "feels like standing in the middle of a polite ambush."
He blew out the candle and lay down, staring at the black ceiling.
Outside, thunder rolled across the dark mountains. Somewhere, Yin Qing's laughter echoed faintly — soft, unsure, and entirely human.
And for the first time, Li Ming wondered if he was truly here to spy… or if fate had decided to enroll him for real.
To be continued...