I Really Am A Villain
Ch. 78 - Ren Pingsheng Emerges From Seclusion

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Yue Buli spoke with calm confidence. People often say that true affection can’t keep someone around, only cunning wins hearts.

But when all the tricks get overused, you realize that genuine feelings are what truly matter.

Sometimes, real sincerity is simply the counter to all the fake patterns people have gotten used to.

“Master, don’t worry. No matter how far I go in the future, I’ll never forget I’m a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect,” Chu Yang said solemnly.

“Good. Go on then. If the sect ever needs anything, come to me directly,” Yue Buli replied with a smile.

After leaving the mountain, Chu Yang returned to his own courtyard.

He first pulled out the Heavenly Firmament Sword Canon and studied it for a while. Looking at the ring on his finger, he asked, “Teacher, what do you think of this sword manual?”

“It’s so-so,” Old Mo’s voice replied. “But it suits your current level. You can train with it as a foundation. Right now, even if I gave you a more advanced sword technique or meridian technique, you wouldn’t understand it.”

Chu Yang nodded. The path of cultivation was full of mysteries. In fact, with the War Immortal Tactics he was currently practicing, there were many areas he still couldn’t grasp on his own and needed Old Mo to explain.

The ancestral shrine of the Ren Clan sat in a long-abandoned valley. Since the Grand Emperor Tun Ri ascended ages ago, the Ren Clan had fallen into complete decline.

For the descendants of an emperor, decline is terrifying.

The world assumes you possess the emperor’s inheritance, and when you lack the strength to hold it, that inheritance becomes a curse, not an honor.

Just like the Ji Clan, descendants of the Grand Emperor Fei Yu, the Ren Clan had long feared this outcome. So they relocated to this barren valley, trying to live in seclusion.

But fate rarely grants such peace.

After years of silence, a sudden beam of black light shot up from the Ren ancestral shrine.

Then, space collapsed. Spiritforce became chaotic, and the area around the shrine twisted out of shape.

Strong winds howled, uprooting trees. Space cracked like a spiderweb, splitting with countless fractures.

A deep, boundless black hole formed above the shrine.

When the black hole appeared, spiritforce swirled into a storm, raging wildly.

A force of devouring spread across the area as a man slowly emerged from the black hole.

He wore a black robe, short hair spiked upward, black spiritual energy swirling around him.

He walked through the air, his face calm, eyes flickering faintly with dark light, engulfed in devouring energy.

Ren Pingsheng looked around. The pressure of his Paragon Meridian realm radiated outward. His eyes turned toward the far distance, the direction of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

“Yue Buli, it’s time we settled this.”

Morning light bathed the spring breeze. The glow of dawn was always soft.

Autumn’s arrival crept in. Leaves once green now faded yellow, then withered and drifted from the trees, carried away by the breeze.

Yue Buli stood halfway up the mountainside, gazing out across the hundreds of kilometers that belonged to the sect.

The mountains wound endlessly, still wrapped in the mist left from the previous night. Disciples were already up, cultivating.

Some sparred, some meditated to absorb spiritual energy, others headed to the Heavenly Sword Peak to comprehend sword intent.

Yue Buli smiled faintly, then returned to his courtyard.

“Master, I didn’t let down the sect you entrusted to me.”

The sect was small, but thriving. At least it gave people hope.

Yue Buli knew the Heavenly Sword Sect was still far from a second-rate sect. The main issue was a lack of top-tier experts. Without powerful figures holding it up, this was the best they could manage.

He sat in the pavilion and poured himself a cup of tea. Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over him, and he looked to the distant sky.

A black mist sped toward him, cutting through the air with fierce spiritual turbulence. Wherever it passed, space cracked and shattered.

The black mist carried such dense killing intent it was nearly tangible. In just a few breaths, it reached Yue Buli.

Ren Pingsheng stood in the air above, glaring down at Yue Buli with hatred. “Yue Buli, long time no see.”

Yue Buli looked up, stunned, as if he were in a dream.

The black mist roared around them. The pressure of the Paragon Meridian realm enveloped his mountain, and the faint devouring force around Ren Pingsheng made him wary.

“Brother Pingsheng, it really has been a long time,” Yue Buli said, lifting his cup and draining it in one go. “I still miss the days you called me ‘Brother Buli.’”

“You have the gall to say that?” Ren Pingsheng roared, Meridians bulging on his face, black mist boiling around him. “You betrayed me, for a so-called emperor’s inheritance, you slaughtered my entire family. I treated you like a brother, but you only befriended me to get that inheritance.”

“Everyone is born with a mission,” Yue Buli said, calm and detached. “Brother Pingsheng, what’s your mission?”

“My… mission?” Ren Pingsheng froze, staring at Yue Buli.

“I was raised in the Heavenly Sword Sect. Since I was young, I vowed to make it the strongest sect in the Western Region,” Yue Buli said with a smile. “I want to lead this sect to glory. That’s my dream, and my mission.”

“Your mission is to build your dream on the pain of others?” Ren Pingsheng said sadly, shaking his head.

“You’re wrong, Brother Pingsheng. What I did follows the most basic law of survival in this world:

The strong live, the weak die. Survival of the fittest,” Yue Buli admitted he was in the wrong, but didn’t argue further.

Yes, they had been close, brothers even.

They once rode side by side, shared drinks, traveled across half the western lands.

They’d been friends for over a decade, sworn brothers even.

But what Ren Pingsheng never knew was, from the moment they met, it was all part of Yue Buli’s plan.

Life is a stage, and we’re all actors.

His goal had always been the emperor’s inheritance. But after more than ten years with the Ren Clan, he found nothing, no trace of Grand Emperor Tun Ri’s legacy.

Time was running out. He was growing old. Without that inheritance, he couldn’t advance any further.

So, he wiped out the Ren Clan, hoping to force Ren Pingsheng to hand it over.

“Well then! Since you believe in survival of the fittest, ” Ren Pingsheng laughed maniacally, his black hair rising without wind. Black mist filled half the sky.

Even the sun seemed to be swallowed, its light dimmed. Darkness fell.

Staring at Yue Buli, he wore a crazed grin. “Then today, I won’t just kill you. I’ll destroy this sect right in front of you. Your so-called glory and honor, I'll bury them with you. In hell.”