I Really Am A Villain

Hearing the voice by his ear, Xu Zimo showed no surprise at all.

Instead, he replied with interest, “Lord of Death?”

“That’s right. Your acting was so convincing that even I was fooled,” the voice continued.

“You ascended as the Lord of the World, and I thought you had completely sunk into it. My Forest of Death illusion can outline the greatest greed in a person’s heart and ultimately make them indulge in it. In the end, you can no longer distinguish reality from illusion. Many people, even when they know something is wrong, still choose to spend their entire lives in the illusory world. After all, that is their utopia. So how did you realize something was wrong?”

“How did I realize it?” Xu Zimo smiled.

“Because it was too smooth. Everything was too smooth along the way. Destroying the Heavenly Court, slaying the heavens, establishing a new world. Even I felt it was like a dream.”

Xu Zimo’s gaze grew deep, and the strength in his grip on Shadow Tyrant increased slightly.

He said calmly, “I know what kind of path I walk, fighting against the heavens and against all living beings. But in that illusion, it was as if the entire world revolved around me. That was too abnormal. If I truly wanted to destroy the world, how could the world possibly revolve around me?”

Hearing this, the Lord of Death fell silent for a moment.

“You aim for something truly immense.”

“Of course. Otherwise, I could simply become a regional overlord. The Heavenly Dao would probably even support me, as long as I didn’t wage war against the heavens,” Xu Zimo said with a smile. “So, can I see you now?”

“Yes,” the Lord of Death replied.

As his voice fell, the peach forest around them began to sway. Countless peach tree branches gathered together.

In the end, they formed a great avenue of peach trees.

The direction this avenue pointed toward was the secret to leaving the Forest of Death.

Xu Zimo followed the peach tree avenue and finally left the Forest of Death.

Ahead of him, he saw a towering mountain.

More precisely, it was not a mountain, but a creature shaped like a mountain tower.

Its body was unimaginably huge, so massive it inspired fear, and it seemed to be sleeping.

With every breath it took, storms surged from its nostrils.

Looking more closely, one would see that its head was sunk into its neck, and its fur was as hard as steel.

Its entire body was dark blue-black.

Xu Zimo froze.

So this was what the legendary Lord of Death looked like?

It surprised him.

It was also different from what he had imagined.

“What, are you disappointed?” the Lord of Death’ voice sounded.

Only then did Xu Zimo realize that the voice was coming from above.

He quickly looked up and saw that from the back of the colossal creature, a small path extended downward.

“Come up and sit for a while,” the Lord of Death invited.

Xu Zimo did not refuse.

He stepped onto the massive creature, leapt upward, and arrived on its back.

The creature was so enormous that its back itself seemed boundless, stretching as far as the eye could see.

On its back were green mountains and clear waters, flowers in full bloom, and eternal spring.

It was practically a treasure land, a world of its own.

“This is my mount. Its name is Sumeru. It belongs to the Ancient Beast God lineage,” the voice explained.

Xu Zimo raised his head. This was his first time seeing the Lord of Death.

He did not match his title at all.

Standing before him was a refined young man, elegant and jade-like.

He wore a long white robe, and his jet-black hair was neatly tied behind his head.

A hairpin adorned his hair.

His skin was fair, almost feminine in its delicacy.

Sword-like brows and starry eyes gave him a face so handsome that one could be captivated at a glance.

He was seated cross-legged before a long table.

A map was spread across the table.

The Lord of Death sat on the ground and smiled at Xu Zimo. “Sit wherever you like.”

“Do we know each other?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Why do you ask that?” the Lord of Death smiled.

Xu Zimo tilted his head and pointed at the map in front of him.

Above the map was a reflected scene of a great battle.

One of the figures in that scene was Xu Zimo himself.

Yet Xu Zimo was certain that this was his first meeting with the Lord of Death.

The two had never known each other before this.

“Yes, we know each other. Or rather, we once knew each other,” the Lord of Death nodded.

His thoughts seemed to drift back to a certain moment.

He murmured softly, “I thought you were dead. I never expected you to still be alive. And I never expected that you would remember nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Xu Zimo frowned slightly.

“Can you explain it clearly?”

He felt as though he had unintentionally touched upon a great secret.

“Do you know of the Seven Supreme Universe Scriptures?” the Lord of Death asked.

Xu Zimo shook his head.

The Ten Primordial God-Scriptures were the most powerful techniques he had ever encountered. Beyond that were only the techniques he had created himself.

As for these Seven Supreme Universe Scriptures, this was the first time he had heard of them.

“The Seven Supreme Universe Scriptures transcend the scope of the Dao. They represent the fundamental truths of how the universe operates,” the Lord of Death explained.

“And the Grand Derivation Supreme Scripture is one of those Seven Supreme Universe Scriptures. Derivation, in the grand sense, can derive the future of an entire world. On a smaller scale, it can derive the future of a single being.”

“Hold on,” Xu Zimo interrupted.

“You’re not trying to tell me that the other person I saw was derived, are you?”

“That’s not entirely accurate,” the Lord of Death replied. “Have you met the previous generation’s Infernal Lord?”

“I have, but he didn’t tell me anything about this,” Xu Zimo said.

“He probably didn’t want you to know. And that makes sense. The Grand Derivation Supreme Scripture represents only the greatest of countless possibilities. It is not the only one,” the Lord of Death said.

After his explanation, Xu Zimo gained a basic understanding of what had happened.

The Grand Derivation Supreme Scripture was one of the Seven Supreme Universe Scriptures.

It allowed one to see scenes of the future in advance, essentially simulating the future.

Before his death, the previous Infernal Lord knew that his war against High Heaven would fail, so he used the Grand Derivation Supreme Scripture to simulate the next generation of the Infernal Lord.

That person was Xu Zimo.

However, in that simulated timeline, Xu Zimo failed.

Or rather, Xu Zimo had no future.

It was during that simulated period that Xu Zimo met people like the Lord of Death.

Originally, everyone believed that once the simulation ended, everything would return to dust.

But no one expected that Xu Zimo would actually reach this point.

Hearing all this, Xu Zimo was stunned for a moment.

He recalled certain things from his past.

There could only ever be one true Infernal Lord.

As for those who reincarnated, there were many.

Only the one who truly succeeded in waging war against the heavens could become the real Infernal Lord.

Otherwise, it was nothing more than an endless cycle.

When one Infernal Lord died, perhaps another would arise.

“The Grand Derivation Supreme Scripture simulated my future of failure,” Xu Zimo murmured.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

The Primordial Chaos Bead!

If not for rebirth, perhaps my entire life would indeed have ended in failure. Yet no one ever imagined that I would be reborn.