Chapter 1 Am I the Villain?

Chapter 1: Am I the Villain?

In the grand hall of the Demon Palace, a young man sat on the Demon Lord's throne, one foot propped on the chair as he leaned sideways, lost in thought.

His parents had both gone into seclusion.

As the Demon Clan Young Master, shouldn’t he find something to do?

"Young Master, that’s the Demon Lord’s seat..." a gruff voice called out from below.

Chu Ji tilted his head and glanced at Xiong Qun, who had been following him for years. He asked casually, "Can’t I sit in my father’s seat?"

"...You can." (But must you sharpen your claws on it? he added mentally.) The Illusion Water Gauze hanging beside the throne was about to be torn through. It was woven by the Demon Lord’s wife, Immortal Venerable Linxun, using her spiritual energy, and the Demon Lord cherished it so much he specifically hung it near his throne.

If it got damaged, the Young Master would be fine, but Xiong Qun would definitely be punished—probably with bitter melon duty.

Xiong Qun scratched his head. Seeing that Chu Ji showed no sign of sparing the Illusion Water Gauze, he recalled what the Demon Lord had told him before going into seclusion: "Keep an eye on Chu Ji. Let him do whatever he wants, but don’t let him ruin the flowers I planted for my wife or the Illusion Water Gauze she made for me."

He suggested, "Young Master, how about we go out and find some trouble?"

Chu Ji slouched listlessly on the throne and asked, "Like what?"

He’d already tried everything fun.

Xiong Qun thought seriously. What did the people he usually saw enjoy the most?

"Let’s go start a fight."

Chu Ji gave Xiong Qun a sidelong look. With Xiong Qun by his side, they never lost a fight. "Not fun."

Besides, as the Young Master, who would dare win against him? Everyone was too scared. "They’re all afraid of me."

Xiong Qun stood to the side, pondering earnestly. "Then let’s go play with the immortal sect cultivators. They’re not afraid—they want to kill us. They definitely won’t be scared of you."

Chu Ji paused his clawing at the gauze. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "The immortal sect wants to kill us?"

Xiong Qun nodded firmly.

Chu Ji immediately sat up, leaning against the throne with newfound interest.

His father was in seclusion, his mother was in seclusion—why not go raise hell in the immortal sect? The thought of immortal sect cultivators trembling at the mere mention of his name in the future excited him. Chu Ji patted his sleeves. "Let’s go play in the immortal sect."

"No, don’t go to the immortal sect!"

Chu Ji’s hand stilled. Was he seeing things?

He closed his eyes and opened them again. A line of text really was hanging in the air before his eyes. He looked at Xiong Qun—the words seemed to appear right above his head. Could Xiong Qun be behind this?

The vast hall held only Chu Ji and Xiong Qun at that moment.

Chu Ji said, "Xiong Qun, there are words above your head."

How was this possible?

Xiong Qun blinked in confusion, patted his head, and turned around. "Young Master, what words?"

Chu Ji blinked and waved a hand. "Step aside."

Xiong Qun obediently moved.

Chu Ji saw that the line of red text remained in place. He raised his hand and sent a sword energy strike toward it, but the words stayed completely untouched. Xiong Qun couldn’t be deceiving him.

He stared with fascination at this bizarre phenomenon.

"The villain is so pretty!"

"Don’t get yourself killed—just stay in the demon realm and be a good Young Master. If you go to the immortal sect, you’ll end up killed by the protagonist with a single sword strike."

"The protagonist has been through enough already. Don’t add to his troubles, please."

"How can the villain mess with the protagonist without getting slapped in the face?"

"Right, if he doesn’t go, what will Jun Xueyi do? Without him as a grindstone, how could Jun Xueyi become a god so quickly?"

"He really has to go cause trouble. He’s Jun Xueyi’s stepping stone. Without him, how would Jun Xueyi make his name? How would he gain the recognition of the ancient mystic realm?"

"What nonsense! The protagonist would still be the protagonist even without a villain!"

"Without him, the protagonist’s path would be even smoother."

"Exactly, exactly."

Chu Ji watched fascinated. These words seemed to be arguing, as if each line was controlled by a different person.

He lay back down and stared at the stream of text for a long time.

Xiong Qun, standing below, watched as Chu Ji went still again and grew puzzled. He waited for what seemed like forever. As the sun began to set, he tentatively asked, "Young Master, are we still going?"

If not, he wanted to go have some sweet dessert soup.

The sweet dessert soup the Lady had taught them to make was delicious.

Chu Ji snapped back to reality at the question. Unknowingly, he’d spent the entire day reading those words.

He waved Xiong Qun away. He needed to sort this out properly.

According to these words, the world he lived in was actually from a storybook. In this story, there were two important characters: the protagonist, Jun Xueyi, and the villain, Chu Ji.

Wait, why was he the villain?

Fine, he was the villain—but he was also a villain who was always coming up short against Jun Xueyi, Jun Xueyi’s counterpart?

He wasn’t sure what "counterpart" meant, but he understood the meaning behind the phrase: Jun Xueyi was good, and he was bad!

Recalling the plot mentioned in the text, he was always just short of Jun Xueyi in every way—cultivation, luck, even when it came to causing trouble.

Just reading those words made Chu Ji furious.

Having been given everything he wanted since childhood, Chu Ji now felt an urgent desire to see this so-called protagonist.

If it was true…

The protagonist? Heaven’s chosen? Eventually stepping over him to achieve godhood?

He didn’t sleep all night, getting madder the more he thought about it. Finally, clenching his teeth, he got up from the throne. He wasn't having it. True or not, he would crush this Jun Xueyi under his heel.

"Xiong Qun!"

At the break of dawn, Xiong Qun finished his sweet soup and carried a bowl over, standing guard outside the main hall.

Dozens of others had also gathered outside, all worried because Chu Ji hadn't returned to his chambers all night.

Hearing Chu Ji call him, Xiong Qun pushed open the door to the hall. "Young Master, are you hungry? Or tired? I..."

Chu Ji swept forward briskly, pausing momentarily as he passed Xiong Qun with an angry expression. He grabbed the sweet soup, downed it in one gulp, tossed the empty bowl back to him, and said, "Let's go. Let's go kill someone."

The crowd outside immediately rushed forward upon hearing this.

"Young Master, killing is dirty and exhausting. Leave this kind of work to Xiong Qun."

"Young Master, I've prepared your bed. Let's go back and sleep. Tomorrow we can go kite-flying, how about that?"

"Young Master, Young Master..."

Chu Ji had already made up his mind—he had to kill, and it had to be done with his own hands.

If he didn't do something, he'd be unworthy of his title as the little demon lord of the demon palace.

The group pleaded with him desperately, a mix of concern and chatter.

The Young Master had never killed anyone before!

He hadn't even killed a beast, for heaven's sake. Who was it that egged the Young Master into wanting to kill someone?

At this thought, everyone turned to look at Xiong Qun.

Xiong Qun, holding the empty bowl, was dumbfounded. Why were they looking at him? He'd only drunk ten bowls of sweet soup and saved one for the Young Master!

Chu Ji sternly shooed everyone away. He glanced at the sky and then at the colorful text that occasionally appeared before his eyes. According to the text, he had set out for the immortal sect with Xiong Qun yesterday and would meet Jun Xueyi a month later. At that time, Jun Xueyi would be leading a team to find spiritual herbs to save a teammate, and Chu Ji would happen upon them and try to steal the herbs.

Naturally, he failed.

Not only did he fail, but his appearance forced Jun Xueyi to break through his cultivation urgently in desperation. The teammate, grateful for Jun Xueyi's lifesaving efforts, gifted him a family heirloom.

Jun Xueyi turned misfortune into fortune, advanced his cultivation, won people's hearts, repelled Chu Ji with a single sword strike, and gained even more support.

Thinking of this, Chu Ji's face twisted as if he'd eaten a bitter melon.

Repelled with just one strike back then?

Although he hadn't cultivated seriously over the past decade, was one sword strike all it took to repel him?

Hah.

Furious, he took out an artifact from his treasure pouch and, in less time than it takes an incense stick to burn, arrived with Xiong Qun at the border between the immortal and demon realms—the Neverfall Mountains.

The Neverfall Mountains were vast, rich in spiritual energy, and nourished by the blood and flesh of immortal and demon factions who fought here year after year, resulting in countless treasures—but it was also extremely dangerous.

All sorts of secret realms cropped up endlessly, and fierce beasts roamed freely.

Only Neverfall Town served as a resting place for those who came to train here.

Arriving in Neverfall Town, Chu Ji searched everywhere for the places mentioned in the text.

The protagonist, Jun Xueyi, was the closed-door disciple of the Qingfeng Sect Leader. Highly ranked and respected within the sect, he preferred to act alone. This time, he came to the Neverfall Mountains for a spiritual flower called Cloud Snow Flower.

But since Cloud Snow Flower couldn't be picked alone, Jun Xueyi joined a small team in Neverfall Town.

The protagonist was indeed the protagonist.

The team he casually joined was actually organized by descendants of a hidden clan. While helping Jun Xueyi pick Cloud Snow Flower, one of them was poisoned. Jun Xueyi led the search for an antidote, gathering many treasures along the way, and eventually encountered Chu Ji.

Chu Ji recalled the text mentioning a detoxifying treasure—something he would definitely seek out if he knew about it.

It was called Duzun Herb.

It sounded perfectly suited for him.

But now, he not only wanted the Duzun Herb, he also wanted to transfer the poison onto Jun Xueyi and finally kill him!

The plan was solid, but after checking several shabby shops mentioned in the text, Chu Ji couldn't find the team.

Had the text tricked him? Did Jun Xueyi even exist?

Just as Chu Ji was filled with doubt, two cultivators nearby grumbled in discontent about something.

"Where's Jun Xueyi? We're about to depart, and he's not here. On top of that, the Young Master told us to buy things for him. Who does he think he is?"

"Always wearing a mask—probably too ugly to show his face."

"I've never seen anyone more pretentious than our Young Master."

Chu Ji cocked his head and looked over. "Hey, are you looking for Jun Xueyi?"

The two disciples didn't expect someone who knew Jun Xueyi to overhear them. They glanced awkwardly at Chu Ji, tugging at each other's sleeves. "Ah, yes."

"Um, we have things to do. We'll be going now." With that, they quickened their pace.

Chu Ji narrowed his eyes. They were just leaving like that? "Wait."

The more Chu Ji spoke, the faster they walked. He'd never been treated like this in the demon realm.

"Xiong Qun, catch them!"

Since arriving in Neverfall Town, Xiong Qun felt the Young Master was like a powder keg ready to explode. So he kept his mouth shut and followed closely wherever the Young Master went, ready to act on command.

Seeing the targets before him, he didn't hesitate to step forward.

The two disciples didn't expect them to resort to violence so quickly.

They weren't pushovers, since they could come to the Neverfall Mountains. In that case, don't blame them for fighting back.

......

Three seconds later, pleas for mercy rang out.

"We didn't mean to speak ill of Jun Xueyi."

"Sorry, please let us go."

Not far away, a youth in a black cloak and mask paused at these words, turning to look toward the source of the sound. The two beaten on the ground looked familiar—he'd seen them just the day before when looking for a team. Standing before them was a youth of seventeen or eighteen.

With striking beauty, round eyes that seemed clear and innocent, red lips, and white teeth, he looked like a spirit who had strayed into the mortal world. Seemingly dissatisfied with the cleanliness of the cup on the table, he toyed with it in his hand without taking a single sip of the tea inside.

Jun Xueyi withdrew his gaze. Someone like this was clearly here for fun with his followers. He didn't know him, and if he was standing up for him, it was probably because these two had provoked him.

He put the scene out of his mind and walked away.

A young man’s voice came from behind.

"Keep talking."

"Tell me how ugly and awful Jun Xueyi is. I love to hear it."

Jun Xueyi's footsteps faltered.

Author's Note: