I Truly Am The Villian

The occupant of this small hut was the guardian of the Technique Palace.

Xu Zimei walked into the room. The space inside was not large, with a table placed right in the center.

The table, including the floor, was piled high with books, leaving scarcely any place to stand.

Sitting opposite the table, a woman clad in black was looking down, flipping through the sea of books before her.

"I’ve come to apply for Vein Skills," Xu Zimei said, taking out his token.

"Wait a moment," the woman replied indifferently, waving her hand.

Xu Zimei nodded, not in a hurry.

The sunlight outside gently bathed the ground, and a few white clouds floated lazily across the sky.

The afterglow of the setting sun stretched towards the horizon’s end.

Bored, Xu Zimei took a seat next to a pile of books and pulled out the one that the old man at the Scripture Pavilion had given him.

Slowly opening the "Extraordinary Meridian Manual," the content inside was somewhat shocking to him, or rather, utterly unheard of.

It is common knowledge that within the human body lies twelve Vein Gates.

By opening these twelve Vein Gates, one can transcend oneself, reaching the Other Shore of the Martial Path.

But the human body is mysterious and extremely complex, subject to constant change.

There are not only twelve Vein Gates but also thirty-six Extraordinary Meridians.

Although these Extraordinary Meridians are not as significant as the true Vein Gates, they are still quite important.

By unlocking the thirty-six Extraordinary Meridians, one could also achieve considerable success.

If the twelve Vein Gates work in conjunction with the thirty-six Extraordinary Meridians, complementing each other, it would be like a fish finding water or like coal sent during a snowstorm, vastly increasing one’s potential.

Whether it is in cultivation or comprehension, progress would increase exponentially.

As the evening darkened, Xu Zimei slowly turned to the last page of the book.

Rubbing his slightly sore eyes, he looked up to see the woman still sitting there, poring over the book in front of her.

"Senior, may I get the Vein Skill I applied for?" Xu Zimei stood and asked.

"Oh, you’re still here," the woman said, slapping her head as if she had just remembered Xu Zimei.

"What Vein Skill do you want?" she asked.

Xu Zimei listed the three Vein Skills he had thought of.

"The other two Vein Skills are fine, but are you sure you want to practice ’Ghost Zen Six Severings’?" the woman asked.

"This Vein Skill has a notorious reputation in the Sect Gate; basically, no one has ever successfully cultivated it."

"I know," Xu Zimei nodded and said.

"Alright then," the woman nodded.

She drew her right hand through the air, and a Spatial Gate coalesced into existence before her.

She stepped through the Spatial Gate and returned after not too long with two books in hand.

"These are the handwritten copies of ’Ghost Zen Six Severings’ and ’A Drop in the Ocean’," the woman said.

"’Heaven’s Expanse Lifebearing Blade’ is a bit special. Originally a third-level Vein Skill, its uniqueness later led to its placement on the first level."

"Uniqueness?" Xu Zimei asked in confusion.

"Yes, this Vein Skill is connected to the Source of the Blade. It teaches only the basics of the blade, being simple and easy to learn—virtually anyone can study it.

However, what you comprehend after learning it, and what it can evolve into in the future, all depend on one’s own Creation," the woman nodded and explained.

"So, this Vein Skill has no techniques; you must go to the Legacy Chamber to receive the legacy," she said.

Xu Zimei nodded, and took the other two Vein Skills from her.

He then prepared to head to the Legacy Chamber.

The Legacy Chamber was located in a small building next to the Technique Palace, dedicated to the legacy of the techniques from the Source of the Blade.

...

After leaving the Technique Palace, the sky outside had already turned completely dark.

Faint stars hung in the sky, and a crescent moon was intermittently visible, embedded in the clouds.

For martial artists, the higher their realm, the less they needed to sleep; many even practiced for all twenty-four hours of the day.

When Xu Zimei arrived at the small building, there was still a long queue waiting.

He couldn’t be bothered to wait in line, so he walked straight up to the disciple at the very front.

"Brother, mind if I cut in?"

"Who the hell dares to cut in front of me...," The man was halfway through his protest when he turned his head, saw Xu Zimei, and his voice suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

"It turns out to be Senior Brother Lin, please go ahead, please go right ahead," the man jumped in surprise, and hurried to invite Xu Zimei forward with courteous and diligent enthusiasm.

Everyone on Great Skies Peak knew that Lin Qiu was a notorious profligate, and people generally kept their distance from him.

"Hmm, you’re not bad. What’s your name?" Xu Zimei nodded in approval and asked.

"Disciple Jiang Changsheng," the young man hurriedly replied.

"Changsheng, that’s a good name," Xu Zimei nodded.

"One only seeks the Way of Inquiry, indifferent to eternal life."

"Just average, just average, I’m a very low-key person, only the second most handsome under heaven," Changsheng shook his head.

With a sigh, he said, "Before I met Senior Brother, I always thought I could rank second, wondering who would dare to claim first."

"Now I realize how naive I was, a frog in the well, overly self-confident.

Senior Brother, you truly are the most handsome under heaven."

"Nonsense, you’re speaking an inconvenient truth," Xu Zimei quickly waved his hand, saying, "Keep it down, don’t be so showy.

I’ll just punish you to go to the place where the disciples rest and shout that out a hundred times."

Jiang Changsheng laughed sardonically, his inner voice dripping with sarcasm, "Such a shameless gathering."

"What? You’re not willing?" Xu Zimei frowned and asked.

"No, no," Jiang Changsheng hastily waved his hands, replying.

"I’m just worried that those ugly freaks will be jealous, after all, Senior Brother is the face of our Nine Heavens Imperial Sect.

You and I, both of us, can be called ’peerlessly handsome duo’, how many men in this world wouldn’t be envious of our attractiveness?"

"You’re quite something," Xu Zimei laughed a few times, patted Jiang Changsheng on the shoulder, and said, "Starting tomorrow, you’ll hang out with me."

After he finished speaking, he didn’t wait to see whether Jiang Changsheng agreed or not, but entered directly into the Legacy Chamber.

He left Jiang Changsheng alone to face a crowd behind him, along with their many angry gazes.

The space inside the Legacy Chamber wasn’t large, and the walls were made of black crystal stones.

At the center position, a small knife-shaped blade embryo floated.

This small knife, at a cursory glance, seemed to be surrounded by more than a dozen layers of formations.

The formations condensed rich spiritual energy, which formed a layer of transparent crystal on the outer layer.

Xu Zimei stepped forward, placed his hand on the crystal, and before he could react,

his consciousness was pulled into a whole new world.

The world was intertwined with black and white auras, with blade lights of the two colors raging freely through heaven and earth.

The Way gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to everything.

As the blade lights began to split, it didn’t take long before endless blade lights fell in various ways throughout the space.

There were slashes, chops, cuts, stabs, swipes, scrapes, pokes, crushes, intercepts...

All sorts of blade qi, in all sorts of ways, split open before Xu Zimei’s eyes.

Time seemed to slow down by a hundredfold, passing slowly.

Then all of them fell upon Xu Zimei’s body, and it was within that moment of death that he regained consciousness.