CHAPTER 113: CHAPTER 113 - VILLAIN ROUTE ACTIVATED

The words triggered something within his earring—a small jade ornament that suddenly blazed with ancient light.

Power erupted from the tiny artifact, not the wild energy of a cultivator but something far older, far more fundamental.

Primordial qi, the kind that had existed before the realms were formed, before cultivation itself was born.

Golden radiance exploded outward as Zhao Chen’s body began to glow with borrowed might.

Hands that had been clawing weakly at Tianlong’s grip suddenly moved with impossible speed and strength, clamping around the Emperor’s wrists with bone-crushing force.

Tianlong’s eyes widened in shock as his own immense strength was suddenly matched—no, exceeded.

The weight of cosmic authority pressed down on him, a presence so vast and ancient that it made his Great Vehicle cultivation feel like a candle before the sun.

’!’

’What is this—’ But before Tianlong could process anything.

Zhao Chen’s body, now a vessel for something infinitely more powerful, twisted and drove a knee into Tianlong’s midsection with enough force to shatter mountains.

A sharp kick connected with Tianlong’s midsection, the force like a true immortal’s strike.

Pain exploded through his body, meridians screaming as he was hurled backward.

The air whistled around him as he hurtled through the sky, breaking through trees and crashing into a distant hillside.

The impact cratered the earth, dust and debris erupting in a massive plume.

Tianlong hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop amid shattered rock.

’What?’ Blood sprayed from his mouth in a violent gust, his ears ringing as crimson trickled from them.

Yet among all this, the only thing he felt was confusion.

He was confused about how someone at that young man’s level was able to deal this level of damage to him, even when the Immortal Sect as a whole was crumbling.

Was this the plot armor he had read about?

His vision blurred, his body refusing to respond—limbs heavy, meridians twisted, qi rampaging through his system like wildfire.

He tried to push himself up, but his arms gave out, collapsing him back into the dirt.

Breathing came in haggard gasps, each one a knife in his chest.

’What... what hit me? That wasn’t Zhao Chen’s power. It felt like... like a true immortal’s strike.’

Confusion warred with pain as he lay there, the world spinning.

’How? He’s just a mortal cultivator. That earring... some kind of artifact?’

The blow had been far stronger than anything he’d encountered, even during the tribulation.

Death felt imminent, his vision darkening at the edges, his body failing as internal injuries mounted.

And naturally, the confusion overwhelmed his anger, as if he were caught in the grip of that anger while thinking about how he could just kill Jhaochan. Now, the confusion of everything that had happened to him seemed to instantly fall into place, his mind analyzing exactly what had occurred.

Then, the system interface flickered to life in his blurring vision, blue text glowing against the encroaching black:

[System Emergency Protocol Activated]

[Host has been struck by concealed True Immortal-level force (channeled through artifact proxy).]

[ Death probability: 97% without intervention.]

[Critical Damage Assessment: Internal bleeding, meridian rupture, qi deviation imminent. ]

[Heaven’s Will detected attempting to enforce narrative realignment.]

[ New Sub Plots Creation detected:

1- Zhao Chen will kill Emperor Tianlong, who murdered the brother of Mei Ling, in grief over losing her brother at the hands of the man she loved: Heroine Mei Ling will commit suicide, transferring her luck to Zhao Chen.

2- Lin Yue, in revenge for the death of Emperor Zhao Tianlong, will be killed by Zhao Chen and will be synthesized into a Qi Pill to boost his ascension.

3- Feng Lianhua will, in battle for revenge against protagonist Zhao Chen, be crippled, and her soul will be enslaved to serve as a bound entity within the ancient library of death as the librarian for millennia inside Zhao Chen’s palace, to create cultivation techniques for his lineage. ]

’!’

’N-no, what are all these?!’

His realization hit like a thunderclap, as his eyes clearly looked in the direction from where he was thrown, only to find Zhao Chen fallen on all fours, gasping, the child beside him dead and the woman beside him trembling, lying there. Blinking, he realized he had just killed Mei’s brother.

The sight crashed over him like a tidal wave of regret and horror. Xiao—the boy, Mei’s remaining family, her little brother she’d protected at the cost of even posing him—lay crumpled in the debris, his small body twisted unnaturally, eyes staring blankly at the sky.

The woman with red crimson hair, elegantly robed and with clearly milk-white skin battered, trembled beside him, her sobs muffled by the settling dust.

Then his eyes went to the screen, one after another observing all the fates not just of his but also of what awaited his wife too.

The system’s cold text laid it out in brutal detail: Mei’s suicide, Yue’s gruesome transformation into a Qi Pill, Feng’s eternal enslavement.

His wives—his women—reduced to plot devices to empower Zhao Chen.

His jaws clenched as he said, "What nonsense is this?"

[System Response: According to Heaven’s Will, the Host can only interfere in the plots that are not related to the main storyline. If he does, Heaven will simply remove him.]

Clearly, his hand clenched but his body was trembling due to that unknown hit that left Zhao Chen and him both broken.

But he was a damn Great Vehicle Realm cultivator, clearly showing how Heaven wasn’t just protecting Zhao Chen; it was enforcing a narrative, a predestined path where Tianlong was nothing but a stepping stone.

And now, by trying to kill the protagonist, he had triggered its wrath—directly, viciously.

He again asked, but this time breathing, his anger slowly turned into calmness, "What was that, system?"

[System Response: It was the plot will protecting the protagonist. The more the protagonist would be put toward death, the more strength he would come back to retaliate. Killing him would lead to inevitable destruction.]

It caused his jaws to clench as he realized that until now, after arrival in this book, whatever he did had nothing to do with the protagonist or was an intervention; that’s why nothing like this happened.

Especially given how, after arrival, the memory of the emperor had infused with him so deeply that he rarely thought about this book being a novel where the protagonist’s path was predestined.

He thought he wasn’t that deeply part of the main storyline, so it didn’t matter, but now Heaven itself was dragging him into it.

The truth crashed over him like a tribulation storm. All his conquests, his harem, his empire-building—they’d been side stories, peripheral to the "main plot" centered on Zhao Chen.

Heaven had allowed it because it didn’t threaten the narrative.

But now, by crossing paths with the protagonist, by daring to interfere, by rejecting his women who awakened as heroines to become stepping stones for Zhao Chen, he had awakened its resistance.

The Emperor’s memories, so seamlessly merged with his own, had lulled him into forgetting this was all a scripted novel.

And Heaven was the author, forcing him onto the stage as the villain to be crushed.

’Don’t fuck with me!’ He breathed, trying to lift himself, standing with his will, before glaring at a distance toward Zhao Chen lying there.

He knew he could kill him.

But he also knew he would not be satisfied by just killing that man now.

He wanted to destroy that chosen son—mentally, physically, both.

He wasn’t going to retreat now, especially after how, without his permission, Heaven dared to lay its hand on his wife.

And the fate that awaited them just seemed to have triggered something burning within him.

If Heaven itself wanted him to act, then he would.

’System.’ He just thought, eyes closing in calmness, anger now centered and completely controlled.

DING!

[ Do you want to take the route of a Villain, Y/N ]

As he saw the screen, he breathed, inhaled, and finally reached the conclusion that he was pissed off.

He was going to screw the main storyline and all of Heaven’s chosen children over and over again.

As he said, "Yes."

[System Notification: Villain Route Activated]

[Warning: This path defies Heaven’s Will. The Host will face increased resistance from narrative forces, including enhanced plot armor for protagonists and accelerated karmic backlash.]

[Benefits: Access to Villainous Upgrades - Heaven’s Fate Absorption, Fate Manipulation Resistance, Harem Corruption Mechanics ]

[Initial Reward: Shadow Veil Technique - Allows permanent evasion of Heaven’s detection: The Host cannot be debuffed or cursed by luck. ]

[ See more... ]

However, instead of checking the options, Tianlong just ordered to leave the system as he had less time left now.

’Turn back the time by 10 minutes.’

[ Time Manipulation: Reset time by 10 minutes (cooldown: 24 hours) ]