I Really Am A Villain

With the Absolute Annihilation Dao Fruit in hand, everything, whether condensing the Primordial Spirit or comprehending Primordial Edicts, became far easier. Xu Zimo imagined that under the influence of the God World, he would soon truly step into the Infinite Dao Realm.

Of course, before he could cross that threshold, tribulations still awaited him. He needed to prepare in advance.

His current Dao Fruit was the Absolute Annihilation Dao Fruit. But when truly stepping into the Infinite Dao Realm, heaven and earth would offer him a choice. To condense a Heavenly Dao Fruit, or another type instead. Xu Zimo had explained the differences before. Naturally, he would not submit to High Heaven. So before resisting the Heavenly Dao, he had to be fully prepared before officially stepping into that realm.

…

The True Martial Progenitor waved his hand. A Dao Scripture floated in his palm. The book was crafted from rare Dao Stones, and the words upon it were formed from the power of edicts.

“This contains my comprehension and experience from when I stepped into the Dao Fruit stage. It should be useful to you,” the True Martial Progenitor said. “Though you and I do not walk the same path, many things ultimately lead to the same truth.”

Xu Zimo took the Dao Scripture. He did not offer thanks, because he understood, this was a matter of sentiment. And sentiment was something he would one day repay to the True Martial Sacred Ground. Besides, he himself was a member of the lineage.

“Comprehend it well. We will remain in the Absolute God Heaven for another thousand years. After that, I will open the path to the Upper Heavens with overwhelming force, and the entire sect will ascend,” the True Martial Progenitor reminded him.

Xu Zimo nodded slightly. He felt the embryonic Dao Fruit within himself, profound beyond measure. Even a thousand years would not be enough to comprehend all its power. The Infinite Dao Realm was already the end of the Great Dao. It could open eleven meridian gates.

Of course, some claimed that in legend the meridian gates numbered twelve. But whether a twelfth gate truly existed… no one knew. In all the Nine Heavens, such a being had never appeared.

Xu Zimo took his leave from the True Martial Progenitor and San Dao and returned to his cave mansion on True Martial Mountain. After condensing the Dao Fruit, he noticed the silver-white threads within his body had changed. It seemed information had surged into his mind. But earlier he hadn’t had time to investigate. Now he sat cross-legged, head tilted slightly upward, eyes closed, and began his careful inspection.

…

At the beginning of heaven and earth, three thousand greater edicts and the Nine Grand Dao forged the world. These three thousand edicts divided into countless lesser edicts scattered throughout creation, maintaining its operation and allowing cultivators to use them for cultivation.

Xu Zimo couldn’t help feeling fortunate. Thanks to the God World, he could comprehend any edict without limit, endlessly drawing upon them. Only because of this could he eventually condense the Absolute Annihilation Primordial Edict. Otherwise, trying to gather all offensive edicts of heaven and earth would have been impossible, never mind the required talent.

Though the three thousand edicts had fractured into countless forms to sustain the world, each edict still possessed an ancestral edict.

And within heaven and earth, there were exactly three thousand greater edicts.

The silver-white line within Xu Zimo was the Edict of Oblivion, one of those three thousand greater edicts. This was the information revealed to him. He found that he could use the Oblivion Edict in simple ways.

First, any living being cultivating the Oblivion Edict would be completely suppressed by him, utterly incapable of resisting, no matter what their cultivation level was. Second, Xu Zimo could erase certain abilities from others, cause them to forget their powers. For example, to make someone forget their cultivation method or even their divine abilities… or forget family members stored within their memories.

Of course, this was not without cost. Every time he used it, he would suffer backlash from the Great Dao. As for how severe the consequences might be, Xu Zimo did not know, he had never tested it. Moreover, he understood that he was currently too weak. To truly control this Oblivion Edict without suffering backlash, he would need to ascend to the Three Blossoms stage at the very least.

Looking inward, seeing the quiet and still Oblivion Edict within him, Xu Zimo felt puzzled. By all logic, as a greater edict of heaven and earth, not even he, but even someone like the True Martial Progenitor, could not seize such a thing.

Unless one successfully rebelled against heaven itself, one could only comprehend lesser edicts and never obtain their ancestral forms.

Yet Xu Zimo had obtained it, and his body suppressed it so completely that it could not even resist. Xu Zimo disliked phenomena that exceeded his understanding.

He remembered that when he was leaving the Abyss of Oblivion, this thread had tried to devour him. He had tried to devour it as well. In that struggle, he had fainted.

“Forget it. If I can’t figure it out and can’t investigate it further, I’ll leave it for now. When I’m stronger, I’ll probably uncover more useful information,” Xu Zimo thought to himself.

In the days that followed, he hardly left his cave. He remained in seclusion, comprehending the Primordial Edicts of the Infinite Dao. The Absolute Annihilation Primordial Edict was truly tyrannical. It could destroy all things in heaven and earth, and even tried to turn against him, its own master, attempting to annihilate him.

This left Xu Zimo unable to relax for a moment. He constantly suppressed the Absolute Annihilation Primordial Edict. He dared not release it freely, fearing it would take control of him and turn him into a killing machine.

“As expected, greater edicts that are too strong are not necessarily a good thing,” Xu Zimo sighed.

As time went by, Xu Zimo trained and cultivated in seclusion for the next 500 years.

If undisturbed, he even planned to cultivate for a full thousand years, until the True Martial Progenitor opened the way to the Upper Heavens.

But the sudden arrival of San Dao brought him out early.

“What is it?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Come with me,” San Dao said. “There’s trouble. The progenitor is waiting on the peak.”

Xu Zimo nodded.

The two stepped into the air and flew to the summit of True Martial Mountain. There, almost all Infinite Dao cultivators of the True Martial Sacred Ground had gathered.

In these five hundred years, the True Martial Sacred Ground had produced another Infinite Dao, a Saint Sovereign who had accumulated for many years and finally broken through.

As for the Godspeed Progenitor Shen Xing, after returning from the Great Beyond, he had left.

His wish was to measure and walk all Nine Heavens with his own feet. Before fulfilling that grand vow, he likely would not return, just as he had once walked across the Primordial Heartlands.

…

Xu Zimo sat cross-legged. When everyone arrived, the True Martial Progenitor finally spoke.

“The Upper Heavens have activated the Primordial Formation and has closed all spatial channels.”

At those words, everyone frowned.

“How could this be? Could the other three heavens be colluding with the Heavenly Court?” someone asked.

“Is there a special reason, or do they simply not want us to ascend?” another speculated.

“For us, entering the Upper Heavens won’t be stopped by the Primordial Formation. But the entire True Martial Sacred Ground… likely won’t be able to go up.”