I Am the Fated Villain
chapter-817

Vast and ancient memories madly flooded into Gu Changge’s mind like a burst dam, and his calm and tranquil Spiritual Sea was also surging wildly, erupting with various mottled and terrifying energy.

If one were to observe closely, one would notice colourful shackles, which emitted a frightening and eerie aura, breaking apart within Gu Changge’s Spiritual Sea.

Celestial beams shone faintly, and the Great Dao resonated, causing various colourful light to erupt uncontrollably.

“What’s happening?” The big red bird watched the sudden events unfold before him with shock, unsure of what was happening to Gu Changge.

It could be seen that Gu Changge’s expression was much colder and more indifferent than before, and deep in his gaze, there was an undisguised contempt for all living beings. No, not only the living beings but the entire cosmos was insignificant to him.

The sky outside the Celestial Ancient Continent had completely darkened. Stars disappeared, and thick black clouds surged, filling the world with a terrifying and chilling aura.

The entire universe seemingly had trouble bearing such energy and wanted to collapse. The Great Dao rumbled, and the will of the world trembled. All felt a sense of profound lowliness from the depths of their hearts. It was as if some unknowable and unspeakable existence was reviving within this world.

That said, such fluctuations vanished in an instant, and the sky soon cleared, the black clouds dispersed, and sunlight shone down, filling the Celestial Ancient Continent with vitality.

The big red bird almost doubted its eyes, but it could never be mistaken. Right then, some unimaginable change had indeed happened to Gu Changge, even though he looked completely normal.

“Since you know Xianer is now in her third life, you must have been by her side since her first life, right?” Gu Changge asked, his expression returned to placid as he looked at the big red bird.

He had also been puzzled before. The memories of the so-called Demon Lord were too mixed and vague, with some places being even more ancient, filled with vastness and desolation.

However, he didn’t think much of it at the time. But now that most of his memories had returned, he realised that they were all his doing, or more precisely, even the identity of the Demon Lord was just something he had casually made up.

In truth, the universe, and even many epochs before that, existed and perished according to his wishes. The difference was that the Demon Lord was the identity he used during that time, and that was it.

“I’m originally the Artifact Spirit of Xianer’s Heaven-Slashing Sword…” explained the big red bird with a hint of desolation in its eyes as it shook its head. “However, after the Forbidden Epoch, I became the Artifact Spirit for the gate between the Immortal Domain and the Upper Realm. After awakening my past life’s memories, I separated from my original self and came to the Upper Realm, where I found Xianer in Peach Village.”

It did not know what had happened to Gu Changge in the past.

To it, whether it was the Demon Lord or Gu Changge, both were shrouded in mystery. They were both unfathomable. The origins of the Demon Lord was even more so an eternal and unsolvable mystery.

Before the Forbidden Epoch, the Immortals and Primordial Deities were brilliantly shining. After that came the Immortal Burial Era, and there was a long period of blankness in between before the so-called Celestial Ancient Era and Forbidden Epoch emerged. It was precisely then that the Demon Lord, an unrivalled cultivator, appeared. Even the Immortal Palace, which ruled over the universe at the time, feared him. They dared not even get close to him.

As for his origins, the big red bird speculates that it might be related to the Immortal Burial Era. Perhaps he was a powerful cultivator who perished or secluded himself during that time.

“The Heaven-Slashing Sword?” Gu Changge’s heart slightly skipped a beat upon hearing the name. It was indeed difficult for him to associate the Gu Xianer he now knew with the figure who once attacked the Nine Heavens using the Heaven-Slashing Sword.

[Any Great War Against Heaven is indeed too distant a memory. But reincarnation…]

This True World had indeed not been corrupted and reshaped yet. The Six Paths of Reincarnation was still working, and World Principles flowed, supporting life. However, it was of no use.

The Upper Realm was just one of the countless realms within the vast True World. There was still the Source Realm beyond that. But after experiencing countless drastic changes, the true extent of the True World’s existence became unknown. Only the Source Realm stood supreme, immortal and indestructible.

The Three Original True Ancestors mentioned by the big red bird are the supreme rulers of the Source Realm, wielding dominion over all Principles, Sources, and matter in this world. They control everything, including time, space, and causality… All of which were creations of their will.

To be precise, the Three Original True Ancestors were the true embodiment of the Heavenly Dao, their beings being the actual manifestations of the thoughts of the supreme Heavenly Dao, the true concept of immortality.

The Heavenly Dao had no physical form, yet it governed all things in the universe. However, this formless existence was ultimately unable to inspire reverence in living beings. Therefore, at some unknown point in time, the Heavenly Dao developed desires and emotions, giving rise to the Three Original True Ancestors.

To living beings, the Three Original True Ancestors were equivalent to the Heavenly Dao itself and existed because of it. However, all things in this world, as long as they have thoughts and emotions, would have desires. Even the Heavenly Dao itself wasn’t exempt from this.

The Three Original True Ancestors jointly created the Source Realm, seated high in the depths of the supreme void, seemingly devoid of emotions and desires. However, during each Great Purge, they harvest the Sources of all True Worlds in the universe, erasing everything and conducting a great cleansing to prevent the birth of threats to their transcendent-level existence. This was also to transcend their power further and achieve complete separation from the Heavenly Dao.

As a result, the arrival of the Great Purge would be the time the Source Realm annihilated everything, including cultivators, living beings, Principles, and the Six Paths of Reincarnation. All would be completely erased.

After the Great Purge, the worlds that remain would no longer be able to host reincarnation and eventually crumble. The cultivators who died tragically couldn’t reincarnate anymore or have new lives. It was akin to true annihilation. Thus, after the Great Purge, the world would become depleted, and all the harvested worlds would return to Chaos, waiting once again for evolution to begin, giving birth to endless cycles.

The process had repeated countless times, but even in this cycle, unavoidable, unknowable events would still emerge, and that would be anomalies, something even the Three Original True Ancestors couldn’t deduce or comprehend.

Thus, the cultivators who survived each great cleansing and extermination started planning for a Great War Against Heaven. Since there were endless Great Purges, there were also countless Great Wars Against Heaven that had occurred.

To the Three Original True Ancestors though, this process merely allowed them to eliminate these anomalies more easily, posing no threat to them whatsoever.

Any Great War Against Heaven, on the other hand, also served as a means to alleviate the coming of the Great Purge, for a great number of powerful cultivators were lost in that battle, and it became a way for many True Worlds to avoid the arrival of the Great Purge.

“All these universes throughout eternity, and the ever-changing seas of life, are nothing more than a mere game at play…” Gu Changge’s lips curled into a self-deprecating smile.

Before regaining his memories, his goal had always been to strengthen himself. As for why he needed to become powerful, it was merely to survive in this world and to discover his true origins and identity along the way. Now, as the fog dissipated and the past resurfaced, everything appeared like a fleeting illusion.

Then again, the revelation didn’t seem to have much impact on him. After all, even he himself was an unpredictable anomaly.

As for the purpose behind his long-standing schemes and the reason for assuming the identity of the Demon Lord in the world was actually quite simple. Because he intended to devour and completely eradicate the other Two Original True Ancestors, wiping them out entirely.

The identity of the Demon Lord was merely one of his aliases during the Great War Against Heaven. The identity of a Transmigrator was also only a part of his planned layout to better align with this anomaly.

“Gu Qingyi is actually the True Spirit of this True World. She was manipulated by my former Demon Lord identity during the first Great War Against Heaven by this realm. It was a coincidence that I saved her, and that was when we met… The second Great War Against Heaven, which occurred before the Forbidden Epoch…” Gu Changge’s gaze gradually deepened as he spoke.