I Really Am A Villain

How should one even describe something like this? Once a cultivator stepped into the Infinite Dao Realm, they were already at the peak of heaven and earth. It meant that with one more step, they could open the twelfth meridian gate and reach eternity, undying and unperishable, transcending the laws of heaven and earth.

For anyone, that was something unattainable, the greatest dream of a lifetime that countless people pursued endlessly without success.

Yet the Water God Gongtu, before him now, had been able to abandon all of that temptation. For the sake of the Fire God Race’s future, he shattered his own cultivation, starting over as a mortal to cultivate the Water Dao from the beginning.

That kind of courage was not something everyone possessed. And after starting over, he had once again cultivated the Water Dao all the way to the Infinite Dao realm.

Without a doubt, Water God Gongtu was one of the most remarkable beings Xu Zimo had ever encountered.

After a moment of silence, Xu Zimo asked, “Then why did you end up like this? And what about those red men above? You created them too, didn’t you?”

“In a way, yes, but not intentionally,” the Water God Gongtu sighed. “After discovering the weakness of the Fire God Race, I rebuilt my path around the Water Dao to give the Fire God Race a future. When I achieved sanctity in the Water Dao and reached the Infinite Dao Realm again, I never expected that, in my impatience, my cultivation would become incomplete, and from that incompleteness, these abominations were born.”

“The abominations… you mean the red men?” Xu Zimo asked.

“That’s right. If I had still been at my full strength back then, things might have been different. Unfortunately, by that time, my lifespan had reached its end. We Ancient Gods… we’ve lived too long,” Gongtu said with a heavy sigh. “As my great age approached, I no longer had the strength to deal with them. So I created a particle world and sealed both myself and them within it. You understand, since they were born from me, sealing myself meant sealing them as well.”

“What happened afterward?” Xu Zimo asked curiously.

“After sealing myself, my time finally came. My body and soul both perished, leaving behind only a wisp of my primordial spirit, that is what you see now,” Gongtu continued. “Although I couldn’t destroy the red men, I left behind the Myriad Streams. If the right conditions were ever met, it could be used to annihilate them. All I could do was place my hopes on those who came after.”

He sighed again. “But what I didn’t expect was that no descendants of the Fire God Race would ever arrive. Instead, it was the people of the Heavenly Court who came.”

“I think I might know what happened next,” Xu Zimo replied. “The Heavenly Court broke your seal and released the red men. The world you sealed became their playground.”

“That’s roughly what happened, though it’s more complicated than that,” Gongtu said. “When the Heavenly Court broke my seal, I knew this place would fall. So I divided the Myriad Streams into ten parts. The lake we’re in right now is only the outer edge of that true core. The real heart of the Myriad Streams lies within those ten fragments, ten blue men I created. Against the combined resistance of the red men and the Heavenly Court, only one of those blue men managed to escape.”

Xu Zimo nodded slightly. That blue man must have been the one he encountered back in the God World, the very first one. The others he had met later were actually red men in disguise.

“When the seal was broken, the Heavenly Court and the red men colluded,” Gongtu went on. “Do you know the truth about the red men? In essence, they are very similar to the blue men. They can reproduce countless Water Beasts. These Water Beasts were originally meant to help the Fire God Race achieve balance, but those born from the red men are deadly to them. Instead of repairing the Fire God Race’s flaw, they devour its flame, turning their hosts into lifeless shells that obey the red men’s will. It’s a parasitic process.”

The Water God Gongtu continued, “During that era, the red men appeared in the Inferno Crucible Heaven for the first time. They deceived the Seven God Realms, claiming they could cure the race’s flaw. Many allowed themselves to merge with them. Before long, half the Inferno Crucible Heaven had fallen. Only then did everyone realize they’d been tricked. The Seven God Realms united, paying a heavy price to drive them out. That’s why the entire Inferno Crucible Heaven now hates the Water Beasts so much.”

“And what about the Heavenly Court’s purpose? What do the red men want?” Xu Zimo asked.

“The red men seek to rule the Inferno Crucible Heaven. As for the Heavenly Court… even I can’t fully understand their intentions,” Gongtu replied.

“You can’t?” Xu Zimo frowned. “Even you don’t know what they’re after?”

“I’ve been trapped here too long. There’s much I no longer know,” Gongtu admitted, shaking his head. “But this much is clear. For the red men to ally with the Heavenly Court is to conspire with a tiger. It won’t end well for them.”

“I agree with that,” Xu Zimo said with a smirk. “The Heavenly Court’s people are never up to any good. Scheming, manipulating, they’ve been playing the entire Nine Heavens like pieces on a board. The red men won’t win against them.”

“I wonder,” Gongtu asked, “would you be willing to help me? Restore peace to the Inferno Crucible Heaven, and in return, I’ll grant you my inheritance.”

“Your inheritance may be valuable,” Xu Zimo said, “but that depends on what you’re asking. If the cost outweighs the reward, your inheritance won’t be worth it.”

“I want you to eliminate the red men,” Gongtu replied.

“To kill them, I’d need flowing water,” Xu Zimo said, shaking his head. “Aside from this lake, there’s no water in this particle world. Killing them all would be nearly impossible.” He began to weigh their relative strengths. He could escape safely, but there were hundreds of red men here, including those not yet awakened. Wiping them all out was unrealistic.

“I can help you,” Gongtu said. “The Myriad Streams is the most effective force against the red men. And besides, you must have already met that one escaped core of the Myriad Streams, haven’t you? Find him, and you’ll have the means to destroy them completely.”

“You have to understand, the enemies here aren’t just the red men, there’s the Heavenly Court too,” Xu Zimo reminded him.

“Don’t worry,” Gongtu reassured him. “Once the battle begins, unless an Infinite Dao powerhouse intervenes, the Heavenly Court can’t enter. This particle world may have fallen to the red men, but I built it myself. No one knows it better than I do.”

“That’s still not enough. You think I’ll risk my life just for one inheritance?” Xu Zimo said, shaking his head again.

“In that case,” Gongtu said after a pause, “besides my inheritance, I can also tell you the location of another Ancient God’s inheritance.”

Xu Zimo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Now that… didn’t sound like such a bad deal after all.