I Truly Am The Villian

As the Tyrant Shadow pierced through everything, the monster howled in agony.

Blade Intent surged even more intensely along the Tyrant Shadow. An endless explosion of Blade Intent erupted, continuously destroying the monster's internal organs.

Its howls echoed across the heavens and earth.

Xu Zimei released the Tyrant Shadow, grabbed the monster's shoulders with both hands, and forcibly tore it off his body.

He then swiftly executed an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming the monster backward into the ground.

With another resounding "boom," dust flew into the air, and the earth shuddered. Taking advantage of the monster's disorientation, Xu Zimei once again drew the Tyrant Shadow.

Gripping the long blade tightly with both hands, he delivered an almighty slash toward the monster's head. On the blade's surface, Demonic Qi fused with Zhurong's Flame.

"Stop, I concede!" Heavenly King Xiang's voice emanated from within the monster.

"This is a death match, not child's play," Xu Zimei sneered.

"What meaning does conceding even have?"

As he uttered these words, the Tyrant Shadow descended mercilessly. Amid the monster's pained growls, blood, thick with a stench, spilled and stained half the land.

Xu Zimei did not relent, striking consecutively over ten times with the Tyrant Shadow. Finally, the massive dragon demon body exploded.

The entire land quaked several times from the blast.

Xu Zimei stepped away and watched as the dragon demon's body fully erupted. His eyes locked onto the center of the explosion.

When the dust settled, the ground revealed a bottomless pit.

Xu Zimei gazed into the pit, spotting Heavenly King Xiang coughing as he crawled out.

His clothes were in tatters, his flesh bloodied and mangled, and even the two bull-like horns atop his head were broken in half.

As soon as he emerged from the pit, a sharp burst of blade energy from the Tyrant Shadow shot toward his neck.

The oppressive aura filled the space, radiating the threat of death.

Heavenly King Xiang took a deep breath and looked at Xu Zimei.

"Let me go, name any condition, and I'll agree to it."

"I'm not interested. Even if you gave me the entire Dragon Demon Sect, it'd be meaningless," Xu Zimei shook his head.

Just as Xu Zimei finished speaking, Heavenly King Xiang, who seemed weak, suddenly made his move.

"Die!"

In his hand, seemingly out of nowhere, appeared several thin white needles, no thicker than strands of hair.

The instant the needles appeared, they vanished into the void, locking the space surrounding Xu Zimei.

"It's the Dragon Demon Immortal-Sealing Array," commented the nearby Mi Tian monk with a light chuckle.

"This Formation channels Life Force to unleash the sealing power of both dragon and demon."

"A futile last stand," Ji Jiuning replied calmly.

"It's not a last stand at all," Mi Tian monk chuckled.

"This array isn't meant to kill; it's meant to trap him, giving himself a chance to escape."

Xu Zimei turned his head, seeing the void around him frozen, and sensed the dragon demon power descending from the firmament above, attempting to suppress him.

Meanwhile, Heavenly King Xiang was tearing apart the void before him, trying to make his escape.

"Such a pathetic Formation, and you dare show it off?" Xu Zimei said coldly.

With a swing of his blade, he shattered everything before him—the white needles broke apart completely, and the Formation was instantly destroyed.

The astonishing blade momentum obliterated everything, fracturing the void ahead and sending Heavenly King Xiang's battered body tumbling out.

Xu Zimei held nothing back, raising his blade and swiftly cutting Heavenly King Xiang's body into two.

Even his Divine Soul was crushed under the blade.

"The Dragon Demon Sect won't let you get away with this," screamed Heavenly King Xiang's fragmented Divine Soul beneath Xu Zimei's relentless blade energy.

Still, it struggled to resist the Blade Qi.

"This Battlefield of Ultimate Confrontation, alas, you still fail to perceive its true nature," Xu Zimei replied.

"What can the Dragon Demon Sect even do to me?"

......

Meanwhile, at the White Emperor's Burial Grounds.

Before a massive screen, the leaders of various factions stood together.

The Dragon Demon Sect's Sect Leader had a grim expression, his right hand clutching a nearby pine tree with enough force to deform it.

Chunks of bark fell to the ground.

"Dragon Brother, are you alright?" someone nearby asked with schadenfreude.

"The Seven Gods Academy certainly has promising seedlings this year," the Dragon Demon Sect's Sect Leader replied stiffly.

"On the Battlefield of Ultimate Confrontation, only one person survives. Nothing is certain yet, so we'll see who truly laughs last," Feng Buxiu commented tactfully.

Though his words were humble, the smile on his face was unmistakable.

"Feng Brother is right. It's the one who laughs last that truly laughs," Wu Daozi remarked lightly.

......

The Blade Qi from the Tyrant Shadow finally descended in full annihilation.

Amid agonizing howls, Heavenly King Xiang's Divine Soul was finally extinguished, scattering into nothingness.

Xu Zimei sheathed his blade and stood solemnly, his gaze calm as he looked at Mi Tian monk.

"Don't act rashly," Mi Tian monk said, stepping back with a smile.

"Now's not the time for us to fight."

With a wave of his hand, the Buddha Beads spun and transformed into a vortex, engulfing him entirely.

"Let him go," Xu Zimei said, halting Ji Jiuning, who seemed intent on stopping Mi Tian monk.

"No hurry to kill him. In this battlefield, we'll meet again eventually."

"Are you alright?" Ji Jiuning asked.

"Killing someone like Heavenly King Xiang isn't much," Xu Zimei shook his head.

He then looked up at the points displayed before him. Originally, he had one hundred. But after killing Heavenly King Xiang, his score skyrocketed to ten thousand and one hundred.

Killing one person had earned him a staggering ten thousand points.

"It's normal. We contenders for the decisive battle have extremely high scores. The creatures native to this area, however, have far lower ones. This is meant to encourage mutual bloodshed."

Xu Zimei nodded, scanning the Banana Forest ahead. Even now, the verdant rainforest remained impenetrable to his sight.

"Let's move out," he said, returning the Tyrant Shadow to its sheath and walking straight ahead.

The two moved through the rainforest for over an hour, yet they still hadn't emerged.

"Is this place really that vast?" Ji Jiuning frowned.

"It's not the size; it's that we've been walking in circles," Xu Zimei replied grimly.

Looking ahead, they found themselves once again at the spot where Xu Zimei had battled Heavenly King Xiang.

The countless pits in the ground confirmed that they had merely retraced their steps.

"This Banana Forest is a maze," Ji Jiuning muttered, furrowing his brows.

Xu Zimei leapt into the air, attempting to survey the area from higher ground.

But he had underestimated the maze's power.

As he ascended a meter, the Banana Forest grew a meter taller.

As he soared sky-high, the Banana Forest extended just as high, leaving nothing in his view but the endless expanse of green.

"Do you remember that Bamboo Banana Panda?" Ji Jiuning asked.

"Perhaps it knows the way out."

Xu Zimei nodded slightly and retrieved the Heaven Expanse Astrolabe. In theory, the Astrolabe could dismantle any formations and uncover hidden truths.

Unfortunately, while it worked well in the Yuan Central Continent, it had become increasingly ineffective here in the Nine Domains, where world rules grew more intricate.

Now, it was reduced to a mere tool for locating simpler things.

For instance, while the Astrolabe couldn't lead them out of the Banana Forest, it could track down the Bamboo Banana Panda.

With a wave of his hand, Xu Zimei summoned starlight and set the Astrolabe spinning.