I Really Am A Villain

Xu Zimo lowered his blade and said, “If you speak honestly, we’ll let you go. Otherwise, I’ll tear you apart.”

“You have to ask questions before I can answer them,” the iron gate replied helplessly.

“Who exactly was the Four Symbols Fire Progenitor?” Xiao Anshan asked first.

“You’re of the Fire God Race, and you’re asking me?” the gate retorted. “Back in the earliest era of the Ancestral Lands, among the first generation of the Fire God Race, one of the greatest was the Four Symbols Fire Progenitor.”

“And what about you? What are you?” Shangguan Xian asked. “The Fire Progenitor is long dead, how are you still alive?”

“I told you already,” the gate said proudly. “I am the Divine Gate. The Four Symbols Fire Progenitor once used me to seal off an entire world. I am not a living being, merely a sleeping consciousness. I share my lifespan with heaven and earth, if the world does not perish, then neither do I. Impressive, isn’t it?”

Hearing this, Xu Zimo thought for a moment, then asked, “And what lies behind you?”

“N-nothing,” the iron gate answered quickly.

“Nothing? Then why are you so nervous?” Xu Zimo asked.

This time, the gate fell silent.

“Do you want to find out whether your metal shell is tougher than my blade?” Xu Zimo said coldly.

“We’re all civilized people here, no need for violence,” the gate said hastily. “Behind me lies a world that the Four Symbols Fire Progenitor once imagined.”

“Imagined?” the group echoed in surprise.

“Yes,” the gate said. “As one of the first Fire Progenitors, he dreamed of the future of the Fire God Race, and he created a world of his own design. Unfortunately, when it came time to bring that vision to life, he realized the difficulty was too great. In the end, he failed. What remains behind me is what he once wished for, a reflection of that dream.”

“We’d like to see it,” Xiao Anshan said.

“No,” the gate said sharply. “That world exists independently. The only reason it has survived until now is because it remains sealed and isolated from the outside. If I open this gate and allow the outer time and space to merge with it, that world will likely be destroyed.”

“You think that even if we don’t look at it, it’ll continue to exist?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Why wouldn’t it?” the gate replied.

“Because someone intends to seize the Ancestral Flame here. Once that’s gone, not only the world you guard, but you yourself will be in danger. You claim to share your life with this land, so let’s see if you truly can survive its end.”

“That’s impossible!” the gate cried in shock. “The Fire Keepers are still here, and the Radiant Court would never allow the Ancestral Lands to collapse!”

“It seems you don’t really understand much after all,” Xu Zimo said with a faint smile.

“I’ve been asleep for far too long,” the gate admitted. “I don’t know what’s happening outside, but I still don’t trust you. If anyone were to steal the Ancestral Flame, it would be people like you.”

“We did seize an Ancestral Flame,” Xu Zimo said, shaking his head, “but not from here.”

The Ancestral Lands held six Ancestral Flames in total. In truth, he only needed one, any more would be unnecessary.

As he spoke, Xu Zimo took out the Ancestral Flame. Within its transparent vessel, a pale blue flame flickered softly.

“You thieves!” the iron gate roared.

“You should worry about your own survival first,” Xu Zimo said calmly. “So, what’s your decision? Are you going to let us through, or not?”

“Do I even have a choice?” the iron gate sighed.

At this point, whether it agreed or not made no difference. Xu Zimo and his group were determined to enter.

“Is there any treasure or opportunity inside?” Xiao Anshan asked.

The iron gate seemed unwilling to answer. “Go and see for yourselves,” it said flatly.

A deep rumbling echoed from within the gate’s body. Rings of energy rippled outward, and within those ripples, lightning crackled and flared.

The iron gate began to split apart, as if opening a passage to another world.

Space connected to space, two realms overlapping.

With a sharp pop, the division completed, and the gate opened fully.

“Please, enter,” the iron gate said.

“Let’s go,” Xu Zimo said, leading the way.

As they stepped inside, everyone froze in astonishment.

Before them stretched a vast crimson plain, not grass, but countless flickering red flames dancing like living spirits.

Looking upward, they saw towering scarlet trees growing across the horizon, their emerald crowns glowing faintly. Thousands of fiery branches extended from the sky, interlacing to form a canopy that covered the entire land.

A closer look revealed that these trees weren’t real, they were formed entirely from living fire spirits.

Beneath them, on the fiery ground, animals roamed and ran, rabbits leaping, deer bounding through the groves, sparrows darting through the air, and eagles soaring across the skies.

Yet none of them were truly alive. Every creature was an illusion born of fire.

The group stood silently, awestruck by the grandeur and majesty of the world before them.

“I think I understand now,” Xiao Anshan said quietly. “This was the Fire Progenitor’s dream, to create a world entirely born of flames.”

“Exactly,” Xu Zimo replied. “A world where fire spirits formed all living things, a realm where the Fire God Race ruled as true masters. A magnificent vision… or rather, an impossible one. Even the human race never achieved such a feat.”

“This world is collapsing,” Shangguan Xian suddenly said, her expression changing.

From the moment they entered, it was as if a drop of ink had fallen into a clear pool, the once-pure world began to darken and distort.

The crimson glow faded to shadow. One by one, the fiery trees and spirits turned to ash.

The trees burned out, the grasses withered, and the fire-born beasts fell lifeless to the ground.

The land was strewn with the wreckage of a dying world.

The gate hadn’t lied, contact with the outer world had indeed doomed this realm.

Until now, its time and life had been frozen. That was why it had endured for millions of years.

Everyone sighed softly.

Such a vision, so rare and so magnificent, had vanished before their eyes like a dream.

“Let’s go deeper,” Xu Zimo said.

He couldn’t help but think that the Fire God Race’s forebears had all been madmen.

To even dream of such a thing was defiance against the heavens themselves.

And why were the heavens so powerful? Because they were the creators, the gods who made everything: time, space, the five elements, yin and yang, and the primordial chaos itself.

All who lived within this world were merely parts of that grand design.