I Really Am A Villain
Ch. 2 - What Is An Emperor?

He looked like any other ordinary person in the world, an average face, long hair flowing down his back, tied loosely at the crown. At his temples, strands of gray had started to appear.

But what truly drew attention were his eyes. They seemed to hold the stars of the entire cosmos. Just one glance, and even Zhang Zhongtian, a True Meridian Realm cultivator, felt as though his soul had frozen.

And that was saying something. For someone at his level to be so helpless, this was what they meant by every step on the path is like climbing to heaven.

“You’ve grown up,” said Xu Qingshan warmly.

He was a little surprised at how calm his son had been. To become strong, one must learn to endure solitude and silence.

“You’ve grown old…” Xu Zimo replied, his voice trembling as he looked at the gray in his father’s hair.

In that moment, all his emotions rushed back. In his past life, he had made a three-year pact with Chu Yang, the protagonist, to duel in Nether Dragon Ravine. But when the time came, he lost and was thrown into the abyss.

In revenge, his father mobilized the entire True Martial Sacred Ground to hunt Chu Yang down. But no one could have predicted how fast Chu Yang would grow.

He escaped again and again, each time stronger than the last. Eventually, wielding a three-foot longsword, Chu Yang stormed the True Martial Sacred Ground himself.

They said that battle shook the heavens and split the mountains. The world dimmed. Rivers shattered.

Xu Qingshan was ultimately defeated by Chu Yang. Had the Sacred Lord not appeared at the last moment to stop the fight, Xu Zimo’s father might not have survived at all.

The trauma broke him. Overnight, his hair turned completely white. He withdrew from the world and vanished into the mountains.

No one knew that Xu Zimo hadn’t died in Nether Dragon Ravine. Instead, he stumbled upon a great opportunity.

It was then he truly began his cultivation journey, desperate to become stronger.

Eventually, he reached the God Meridian Realm, ready to take his revenge on Chu Yang.

But Chu Yang's strength was overwhelming, his trump cards endless. That battle crushed all of Xu Zimo’s pride.

…

Back in the present, Xu Qingshan handed him a token and said softly, “You’ve come of age. It’s time to choose a cultivation method from the Scripture Vault.

This token grants you access to the top floor, where the true inheritances of the four Grand Emperors are kept. The choice is yours.”

Xu Zimo took the token and nodded firmly. Truthfully, he had already read through the four Imperial techniques in his past life.

But some things needed to be done for appearances. He couldn’t expose the fact that he’d been reborn. He still didn’t fully understand how the sphere worked either.

“I won’t interfere with your cultivation,” Xu Qingshan added. “Which technique you choose is up to you. In the end, everyone must walk their own path.”

After a pause, he continued, “Right now, you're like a carriage teetering on the edge of a cliff. All I can do is warn you, don’t fall.”

“As for where the carriage heads, east, west, north, or south, that's entirely up to you.”

Xu Zimo nodded. He understood what his father meant.

Whether it was a supreme Grand Emperor’s technique or an ordinary method, in the end, there wasn’t much difference.

Everyone has to carve out their own martial path. No matter how powerful something left behind by others may be, it wasn’t made for you, it’ll never fit perfectly.

“Go on now. Your mother just went to your grandfather’s place. I heard the Ten-Meridian Fruit is about to ripen. She’s trying to get one for you,” Xu Qingshan said with a smile. “Train well, don’t let me down.”

“Disappoint you…?” Xu Zimo murmured to himself. Then he nodded firmly.

In his past life, he had indeed let his father down.

Before he was thrown into Nether Dragon Ravine, he hadn’t taken cultivation seriously at all.

He’d drowned himself in indulgence, in the hollow pleasures he’d built around himself. He was the crown prince of the True Martial Sacred Ground. Everyone around him wagged their tails and flattered him like lapdogs.

He lacked for nothing. So why bother cultivating?

Later, he finally understood, there’s no such thing as a peaceful life. It’s just that someone else is shouldering the burden for you.

…

Leaving Green Mountain, Xu Zimo headed straight for the Scripture Vault.

Looking up at the towering building wrapped in grand mist, this place wasn't just a legend. It was the heart of a sect filled with myth and power.

The True Martial Sacred Ground wasn’t just any sect. It was an Imperial Lineage, a faction that had produced four Grand Emperors.

What is a Grand Emperor?

They are the strongest beings of their era.

It’s said that each era produces a Heaven’s Will. And the one who stands out among tens of millions to carry that destiny becomes a Grand Emperor.

…

One hundred thousand years ago, the Primordial Heartlands was still in its Desolate Era, a time when humans were as insignificant as ants, as fleeting as dust.

One day, a man named Zhen Wu stepped forward with sword in hand. He survived endless near-death trials, ignited his godflame, forged his throne, and carried the Heaven’s Will.

At the peak of the heavens, he declared:

"The Heaven’s Will is mine alone!"

From that day, the Desolate Era ended. Humanity entered the unprecedented Imperial Era.

Grand Emperor Zhen Wu was the first Grand Emperor of that age. He opened the curtain on a sweeping, epic era.

“We acknowledge you as the strongest,” countless voices cried, kneeling under his might.

…

After carrying the Heaven’s Will, Grand Emperor Zhen Wu came to the Western Region of the Eastern Continent and founded the True Martial Sacred Ground.

On the day it was established, people came from all directions to pay tribute. The four seas bowed down in worship. Millions fought for a chance to join.

Countless other sects begged to become its vassals.

From then on, the tens of thousands of miles of land in the far west fell under the sect’s rule, and it has remained so to this day.

…

Thousands of years later, another man walked out from the True Martial Sacred Ground.

His name has long been forgotten, but everyone remembers the three long sabers on his back.

“Slay Immortals. Butcher Demons. Face Myself.”

With these three blades, he suppressed his entire era.

He was the seventh Grand Emperor of the Imperial Era, and the second Grand Emperor to emerge from the True Martial Sacred Ground.

The world remembers him as the Grand Emperor San Dao.

…

Another ten thousand years passed, and the sect birthed its third Grand Emperor.

The Grand Emperor Shen Xing.

Among all the Grand Emperors throughout history, the Grand Emperor Shen Xing wasn’t the most dazzling.

But he was the fastest, bar none.

In the twilight of his reign, he looked deep into the horizon and left behind one final sentence:

“With these feet, I shall cross every shining river, behold all fleeting beauty, and walk to the peak of sun and moon.”

Then he vanished, leaving only the image of his legendary back, etched forever into memory.

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