I Really Am A Villain

That was why, throughout history, all those who had tried to defy the heavens had met only with failure. In the world of the Old Villainous Heaven, defeating him was nearly impossible. No matter how brilliant or peerless a person was, in the end they could never escape the grasp of that thieving god.

But the ambition of the Fire God Race went even further, they sought to defy the very order of heaven itself. They wanted to create a world of their own.

It was much like Xu Zimo’s God World, an independent realm beyond the control of the Thieving Heaven. Within the God World, that god held no authority, because there Xu Zimo himself was the creator.

The Fire God Race must have shared a similar idea. But they chose a far less realistic path.

Creating a world required immeasurable power, yet they had tried to forge one out of pure fire spirits. The difficulty of such a task could easily be imagined. Inevitably, they failed. The Four Symbols Fire Progenitor had used the Divine Gate to seal this world away, turning it into nothing more than a beautiful dream.

Since then, after instability spread through the Ancestral Lands and the entire Fire God Race migrated to the Inferno Crucible Heaven, the Divine Gate had never been opened again, because the world within it had perished.

After Xu Zimo and his group entered, the land beneath their feet was barren and cracked, lifeless and desolate. Even the earth itself was dead.

They walked for a long while, finding nothing of value. Just as they were preparing to turn back, Fire Maiden suddenly pointed ahead and shouted, “Look over there, what is that?”

Everyone raised their heads. In the distance, several faint lights were flickering.

“Let’s go check it out,” someone said, and the group’s spirits lifted. They soared forward swiftly.

After passing over several silent, dead mountains, they finally saw the lights clearly.

They were four massive pillars of light, one green, one red, one white, and one blue, each rising straight into the sky and stirring the clouds above, stretching beyond sight.

Despite their apparent closeness, the distance between them and the lights was enormous. Even after flying for half an hour, the group had yet to reach the pillars.

At last, more than an hour later, as they neared the lights, they were suddenly stopped by an invisible barrier.

“Did the Four Symbols Fire Progenitor set this up too?” Xiao Anshan asked.

“I’ll try breaking it,” Shangguan Xian said. Sacred power surged around her as she struck the barrier with her palm.

A loud bang rang out.

The barrier didn’t retaliate like the Divine Gate had, but it remained completely unmoved, unyielding even under her full strength.

“That damn gate again,” Shangguan Xian said angrily. “Come out, you pile of scrap metal!”

Having become a Saint Sovereign, she’d thought herself unstoppable, yet today, she’d been thwarted twice in a row.

“Who’s calling for me now?” came the lazy voice of the iron gate.

It seemed to move freely through this world, traversing time and space until it appeared before them.

Looking around at the lifeless wasteland, it sighed. “Just look at what you’ve done. A perfectly good dream world, gone, just like that.”

“Was this barrier your doing?” Shangguan Xian asked.

“What barrier?” the gate blinked in confusion, then turned to see the transparent wall before them. “That’s strange. There shouldn’t be a barrier here.”

It studied it closely before muttering, “That’s impossible… I can’t sense it at all. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d never know it existed.”

When it tried to touch the barrier with its power, it was repelled.

“Could it be that the Four Symbols Fire Progenitor set it up without telling you?” someone suggested.

“Impossible!” the gate said firmly. “Before leaving, the Fire Ancestor showed me the entire world from above and entrusted everything to me.”

But then its gaze shifted toward the interior of the barrier, and its expression suddenly changed.

“This is bad, someone’s stealing the Four Symbols Flame Crystals!”

“What are you talking about?” Xu Zimo asked, frowning. “What Flame Crystals?”

The gate explained hurriedly, “Before the Fire Progenitor’s death, he knew his end was near. So he left behind his own life essence flames, his core Flame Crystals, within this world. I’ve been asleep for countless years, but just now, I couldn’t sense them anymore. Normally, I can reach any corner of this realm at will. But this barrier blocks my connection completely. That means someone must have entered long before you did.”

“You were bragging earlier about being a Divine Gate that once sealed an entire world,” Shangguan Xian said mockingly. “And now someone sneaks in under your nose and steals your treasures? You’re all talk.”

“I wasn’t exaggerating!” the gate protested. “But whoever entered this place must be extraordinarily powerful. You should contact the Radiant Court, I doubt you can handle this.”

“Oh, we can’t handle it?” Xiao Anshan said coldly. “This world was entrusted to you by the Fire Progenitor, so what’s your plan now?”

“A strategic retreat, of course,” the gate said, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

“If someone can infiltrate without me noticing and steal the Flame Crystals, they’re definitely not someone I can oppose.”

The gate turned toward Xu Zimo, its tone suddenly deferential. “If you ask me, only this young master here might have a chance.”

“You’re coming with us,” Xu Zimo said, grabbing the gate with one hand.

He dragged it toward the barrier without hesitation.

“Master, wait! Let’s talk this out, gentlemen use words, not fists!” the gate screamed, its voice like a pig being slaughtered.

“Let’s see whether your power can break this barrier,” Xu Zimo said coldly.

“Wait, wait! I’m old and fragile! You’ll shatter me!” the gate cried.

In a sense, the gate was indeed a kind of weapon.

Power erupted from Xu Zimo’s palm, surging violently into the iron gate. The gate began to tremble, divine might radiating from it in waves.

Xu Zimo shouted sharply, spreading his arms wide. With his right hand, he lifted the gate, tore through space, and slammed it against the barrier with all his strength.

A deafening explosion followed.

Everyone instinctively covered their ears.

Xu Zimo had held nothing back, his full sacred might and demonic energy poured into the strike.

With a sharp crack, the barrier shattered like glass.

As it broke, a powerful wave of heat burst forth, nearly knocking everyone off their feet.

“Quick, check the Flame Crystals!” the gate yelled.

The group leapt into the air, flying straight toward the source of the four lights.

Moments later, they descended before a massive altar.