I Really Am A Villain

“What trial?” Xu Zimo frowned.

“It’s the qualification to meet the Patriarch. This was his command. If you have questions, you can ask him yourself,” one of the elders replied.

He waved his hand, and Xu Zimo looked up to see spirit energy storms gathering across the sky. A staircase of azure clouds formed in midair, ascending from low to high, leading toward a great gate of void above.

Under the gaze of everyone present, Xu Zimo, dressed in a black robe, slowly stepped onto the cloud steps. When his figure disappeared through the void gate, the entire staircase shattered and vanished.

“Better to grow old with wine and flowers than to bow before thrones and carriages,” a voice echoed through the void.

Inside the gate lay a sea of flowers. A man in white robes held a jar of wine, walking leisurely among the blossoms. He looked young, with long hair falling loosely from his temples, his features refined and handsome.

“You’re the one who killed the Eternal Emperor?” the white-robed man asked, taking a sip from his jar.

“I am,” Xu Zimo nodded. He took a deep breath, then added, “The flowers smell nice, but they can’t hide the stench of decay in your body.”

“Yes, they’re fragrant indeed,” the man sighed. “But in this world, what is truly immortal? This is already my thirty-thousandth body, and now even my God-Soul has begun to rot.”

“You’ve lived long enough,” Xu Zimo said flatly.

“To have lived from the ancient Middle Ages until now, how many in this world can claim the same?” the man said with a laugh. “And yet, I’m still not satisfied.”

“What do you want from me?” Xu Zimo asked, frowning. “Is this just about the death of the Eternal Emperor?”

The white-robed man didn’t answer. He continued walking along the flower-strewn path, and Xu Zimo followed behind. Wherever they passed, flowers bloomed brilliantly in their wake.

Among the blossoms, colorful butterfly-like creatures fluttered through the air.

Eventually, they came to a small wooden hut.

The white-robed man pointed toward the sky. A radiant sun suddenly appeared, its rays casting warm light across the horizon, beautiful, almost unreal.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the man smiled. “How long has it been since you’ve seen a sunset like this in the Ghost-God Heaven?”

The Ghost-God Heaven had no sun. Aside from the faint afterglow over Royal City, it was eternally shrouded in darkness. For many, even the light of dusk was a distant luxury.

“What are you trying to say?” Xu Zimo stopped and asked.

“I’m dying,” the man said quietly. “And without me, it will be nearly impossible for the Eternal God-Clan to return to the Absolute God Heaven.”

He paused briefly, then continued, “So before I die, I must lead the Eternal God-Clan back to its peak. The Wang Heavenly Clan was once the force we supported, our chosen vessel to make them the supreme power of the Ghost-God Heaven, to gather strength and once again ascend to the Absolute God Heaven.”

“And then?” Xu Zimo asked.

“It was futile,” the man said coldly. “Rotten wood can’t be carved. The Wang Heavenly Clan proved unworthy, so I abandoned them. Only the Eternal Emperor still supported them, hoping they’d improve. You killing him, destroying the Wang Heavenly Clan, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I see potential in you. You are… an investment.”

Xu Zimo had planned to reject him outright, but then he remembered what the old man from Elder Lord Temple had said. Xu Zimo’s enemy are the heavens themselves. The final battle will require all power, all allies.

“How do you propose to invest?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Join the Eternal God-Clan,” the man said with a smile. “Together, we’ll restore its former glory.”

As he spoke, he coughed a few times, not bleeding, but his face suddenly looked older, weaker.

“Join you?” Xu Zimo shook his head with a faint smile. “No. I have a better offer. Want to hear it?”

“Let’s hear it,” the man said with mild curiosity, sitting down on a stone bench before the hut.

“I’ll lead your Eternal God-Clan out of the Ghost-God Heaven and into the Absolute God Heaven,” Xu Zimo said. “From then on, you will follow my command.”

The white-robed man laughed softly. “That’s a funny joke.”

“Is it?” Xu Zimo snapped his fingers.

Paimon, Seven-Face, and Red-Blade Bull Demon, all three Saint Sovereigns, stepped out from the void of the God World.

Their vast saintly pressure filled the heavens. They looked as if they had walked straight out of antiquity, their power heavy enough to crush the very sky.

The white-robed man’s expression froze, and he abruptly stood from his bench.

“If you think I’m joking,” Xu Zimo said calmly, “then pretend I said nothing.”

“Who are you?” the man demanded. “From one of the Ten God-Bloodlines? Or the Heavenly Court? No… judging by the Ancient Demon Race’s aura around them, are they from the Godfiend Abyss Heaven?”

“Neither,” Xu Zimo replied. “Let’s just say I’m an old soul returning home. I don’t belong to this world.”

“With three Saint Sovereigns serving you, why would someone like you even look twice at our Eternal God-Clan?” the man asked.

Indeed, the Eternal God-Clan was formidable, with hundreds of Grand Emperors, and the Patriarch himself a Saint Sovereign, but compared to Xu Zimo, the gap was immeasurable.

The realm of Grand Emperor and that of Saint Sovereign were worlds apart.

“I need more power,” Xu Zimo said. “This much isn’t enough. But there’s still time, time for them to grow stronger.”

“What are you planning?” the man asked, voice tense.

“To defy the heavens,” Xu Zimo answered slowly, each word deliberate. “The ultimate battle.”

The white-robed man froze. His first instinct was to think Xu Zimo was insane, but the look in his eyes silenced any laughter before it could form.

This man was a madman, a calm, calculating madman.

Even Saint Sovereigns stronger than him wouldn’t dare speak of defying heaven.

Throughout history, there had been seven great Heavenly Wars, Heaven-Defying Crusades, and not one had ever succeeded.

Countless peerless figures, those who once shook the ages, had perished on that road.

“Perhaps it sounds absurd,” Xu Zimo said with a faint smile. “No sane person would believe it. But I’ve said it, and now you must decide whether your Eternal God-Clan will follow.”

“I could join you in defying heaven,” the man said quietly. “I’m already dying, and I have nothing left to fear. But I can’t gamble the fate of my entire clan on madness.”

“Think about it,” Xu Zimo said. “If we win, you’ll have everything you ever dreamed of.”

“There’s no winning that fight,” the man muttered, shaking his head again and again.

“Cultivation itself is a path of defying fate,” Xu Zimo said.

But before he could continue, the white-robed man interrupted him.

“That’s different,” he said firmly. “I defy my own fate, not the heavens’. Those are not the same thing.”