I Am the Fated Villain Chapter 1284:

The display once again sent waves of terror through the crowd, leaving everyone trembling in fear.

Elder Jin was a legendary figure who had occupied the Dao Ancestor realm for an eternity. Having lived through countless eras, he was a living fossil of history who had once stood as a peer to Xinu, the master of Saintess Xiyuan. His crushing defeat and the gravity of his injuries were almost too staggering for the mind to process.

While Chancellor Chu Yuan of the Immortal Chu Empire had not yet reached the Dao Ancestor level, leaving a clear gap in power, Elder Jin’s peak strength was known to far exceed that of a typical Dao Ancestor.

Furthermore, even while holding the tactical advantage and fighting alongside the Dharma Saint Chu Gucheng and other Daoist masters, they proved unable to suppress Gu Changge. Instead, they were battered and broken, with many Dao Ancestors likely meeting their end within that turbulent otherworldly battlefield.

The consequences of this confrontation promised to be cataclysmic, sparking a seismic shift in the world's power structure.

“We beg you, Senior Xingying, please lend us your aid. The power wielded by the Lord of the Patching Heaven Alliance is incomprehensible, as if he is a being that shouldn't exist in this reality. We are utterly outmatched.”

“Chancellor Chu is barely maintaining his ground by drawing upon the vast fate of every living soul within the Immortal Chu Haotu, and even that is proving insufficient…”

Drenched in blood, Elder Jin plummeted from a massive rift in the otherworldly battlefield. His injuries were gruesome; his arms were shattered to the point that white marrow was visible through the flesh. Despite the agony, he pleaded with the esteemed guests of the Immortal Chu Haotu, his gaze haunted by shock and dread.

Though loath to admit it or praise his enemy, he could not deny the reality. Three Dao Ancestors and a host of Daoist experts, bolstered by every advantage, had failed to seize Gu Changge and were instead left in a state of ruin.

Moreover, a chilling suspicion grew within Elder Jin. It appeared as though Gu Changge was preoccupied, waiting for something else rather than focusing his full intent on their struggle.

Yet, even against a distracted opponent, they were struggling to survive.

After only a few exchanges, they had been stripped of their ability to fight. Elder Jin’s very origin had been compromised by his wounds, ensuring he would remain sidelined for a significant duration.

“His strength is truly terrifying. Under these circumstances, even the Saintess Xiyuan of the past would have struggled to overcome Chu Gucheng and his allies.”

“Who is this enigmatic Lord of the Patching Heaven Alliance?”

“When did such an entity emerge? No matter the depth of the investigation, he leaves no trail. He is absent from the annals of the past and the visions of the future. He stands alone. Could he be a primordial sage who has reached the very end of the Dao?”

The eyes of the elderly Xingying shimmered with a pearly radiance, as if the laws of the Dao were manifesting within her pupils. She had been analyzing the conflict meticulously, expecting no major deviations from her predictions.

In her estimation, Gu Changge’s power likely eclipsed that of Saintess Xiyuan—who had endured eight Heavenly Calamities—but she believed the difference was marginal. She assumed that with their combined might, Chu Gucheng and the others would inevitably subdue him. Now, she realized she had drastically miscalculated. They had failed to grasp the true depth of Gu Changge’s foundations.

“Senior Sister Xingying, it is time for us to step in. We cannot afford to hesitate. I fear an unforeseen variable will shift the scales irrevocably.”

The white-browed Star Lord of the Immortal Chu Haotu spoke with a deep frown, his face etched with anxiety. Having survived seven Heavenly Calamities himself, his strength was formidable, yet he acknowledged that Xingying was further along the path, even though she had not yet crossed the threshold of the eighth Heavenly Calamity.

The eighth Heavenly Calamity represented an insurmountable chasm, as wide as the gulf between the mortal realm and the heavens. Even within a pinnacle civilization like Xiyuan, survivors of such a trial were rare.

“Our intervention would surely tip the scales. However, I am concerned that the Lord of the Patching Heaven Alliance has laid a trap. Elder Jin is your equal in strength, yet he was broken with ease. This suggests the Lord’s power far exceeds anything we anticipated…”

Xingying did not rush into the fray, choosing instead to speak in a somber, measured tone.

Her words caused the white-browed Star Lord to stiffen as the possibility dawned on him. A cold sweat broke out across his brow.

“Senior Sister, are you suggesting he allowed us to corner him on purpose? That he is using himself as a lure to systematically eradicate the elite powerhouses of the Immortal Chu Haotu?” he asked, his voice low.

It was common knowledge that those in the Dao Ancestor realm were nearly impossible to slay. Even peers of the same rank usually could not prevent one another from retreating.

Unless one’s Cultivation significantly overshadowed the other, an escape was almost guaranteed.

Xingying nodded slowly. “We cannot dismiss that theory. Let us watch a moment longer. Chu Gucheng is highly favored by the Master; he surely possesses hidden depths. His Cultivation is on the verge of the eighth Heavenly Calamity, and upon the soil of the Immortal Chu Haotu, he is essentially invincible.”

The white-browed Star Lord remained uneasy. “But Senior Sister, what if Chancellor Chu falls?”

Xingying replied, “The Master personally bestowed the golden pouch, which implies he foresaw today’s events. He knows Chu Gucheng will not be defeated. As the chosen one of the Xiyuan Civilization to face this tribulation, he will not fall so easily.”

Elder Jin, ravaged by wounds, descended from the heavens and immediately assumed a meditative posture, drawing Qi from the void to mend his form. Behind him, the image of a rotating universe appeared, exerting a crushing pressure like a swirling galaxy that forced those nearby to feel the urge to prostrate themselves.

Such was the aura of the Dao Ancestor realm. Even when crippled, a single thought from him could annihilate lesser beings.

The guests within the Imperial Capital felt their blood boil under the unintentional suppression of his aura, realizing that Elder Jin was too wounded to keep his power contained.

It was a mercy the fight took place in another dimension; otherwise, a single drop of a Dao Ancestor’s blood would have spelled doom for the masses.

The fall of a Dao Ancestor was a catastrophe beyond measure, one that could potentially destabilize the entire Xiyuan Civilization.

“Young Ancestor, the Immortal Chu Haotu has completely isolated the Imperial Capital. Our connection to the Imperial Immortal Palace has been severed.”

Elders from the Imperial Immortal Palace reported this with grim faces. They were unaware of the secret link between Ling Yuxian and Ling Yuling, fearing only that the chaos of the Immortal Chu Haotu would swallow Ling Yuxian.

“The Immortal Chu Haotu wouldn't dare move against us…”

Ling Yuxian shook her head, her pale, elegant features tight with worry.

She had reached out to her sister, Ling Yuling, but found her sister unwilling to act. Instead, she was told to remain a silent witness to the unfolding events.

Ling Yuxian found her sister’s stance toward Gu Changge baffling.

Logic dictated that since Gu Changge had rescued her sister and cured the dark matter corruption, Ling Yuling should feel a debt of gratitude. Yet, she remained detached, seemingly content to let the Immortal Chu Haotu test the limits of Gu Changge’s power.

Deep within the Imperial Immortal Palace, atop a peak shrouded in mist, Ling Yuling sat in silence. Her dark hair swayed as she looked out with a gentle, watery gaze, surrounded by a haze of chaotic energy.

“The replica of the Coffin of the Dead World has surfaced. It is undoubtedly linked to the group Nan Qing mentioned. But where is the Nightmare Demon Domain?”

“If Zixiao Mountain is compromised by them, how many other Sects in Xiyuan have been infiltrated?”

Ling Yuling sighed as she watched the shimmering water screen, feeling a sense of helplessness. Her doubts regarding Gu Changge’s identity remained unresolved.

Despite his help in her escape and the removal of the dark matter, she could not bring herself to trust a man of such mysterious origins and methods.

In the era of the black calamity, even those at the end of the road could not cleanse dark matter. Corruption meant an inevitable fall, where the original soul was eclipsed by a dark, new consciousness.

She had recently revisited the floating continent in the sea of chaotic space-time, searching the records of the Southern Venerable for any mention of a cure for dark matter.

She found nothing.

From the dawn of time to the present, no such method was recorded.

How, then, did Gu Changge successfully purge the corruption from the Immortal Soul of Jing Tianyuan, the ancient ancestor of the Jing Clan? How did he drive the dark matter from the Immortal Gate?

Her suspicions had taken root the moment Gu Changge and Jing Tianyuan arrived to rescue her.

Had Ling Yuxian been more observant, she would have noticed. When Ling Yuling had intentionally misstated facts about Jing Tianyuan’s past, the latter had offered no correction. She remained stoic, showing no reaction at all.

While memory loss over eons was possible, further tests confirmed Ling Yuling's fears. Jing Tianyuan would agree to events that never occurred, yet fail to recognize genuine memories, such as the help she once received from Ling Yuling and Ling Yuxian.

These inconsistencies convinced Ling Yuling that something was wrong with Jing Tianyuan. The warnings from the fading Immortal Soul were not empty. That was when her distrust of Gu Changge solidified.

When he offered to cleanse the dark matter, she was already on high alert. She only permitted it to see if she could deduce his origins through his techniques.

She suspected he was tied to Nan Qing’s mentioned organization, perhaps a survivor from the Dark Calamity era—a peer from her own ancient time.

The lands of the Immortal Chu Haotu were immense, with each state rivaling a universe. Yet, as the battle in the Imperial Capital raged, the entire realm was plunged into a false night. The celestial bodies faded, replaced by an atmosphere of impending doom.

Near the fallen replica of the Coffin of the Dead World, a thick black miasma erupted like a tidal wave. It surged across the landscape like a dark frost, towering thousands of feet high and roaring with destructive intent.

No ordinary cultivator could survive its touch. Star systems were swallowed by the gloom in an instant.

Despair and slaughter followed the mist. Elsewhere, the war between the Immortal Chu Haotu and the Demon Court reached a fever pitch. Karmic energy stained the sky as armies clashed, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood in their wake.

Ziwang He, Lord of Zixiao Mountain, led his forces like a cleansing flood through the territories of the Immortal Chu Haotu, obliterating everything in his path.

Universes crumbled, and the void became a graveyard of shattered stars and broken bodies. The stench of blood was overwhelming.

The scale of death in this conflict was beyond calculation.

In the depths of the Dao Ancestor battlefield, a sound like millions of thunderclaps erupted, illuminating the endless dark void.

A colossal hand appeared, seemingly large enough to cradle the world, causing billions of stars to buckle under its weight.

As the hand descended, it felt as though the heavens themselves were being forged into a weapon of execution.

Chancellor Chu Gucheng stood his ground, his body trembling as he roared in defiance.

Drawing upon the collective fate of his people, he manifested the avatar of the Human Emperor. This massive Dharma body stretched across the stars, casting a brilliant light over the world.

In this moment, he embodied the Human Emperor, his aura reaching a terrifying zenith.

“All souls, join me in purging the demons!”

His voice echoed across universes, vibrating in the ears of every living being.

He threw a punch of such absolute dominance that it seemed capable of upending the firmament.

Every strand of Chu Gucheng’s hair glowed like immortal jade, fueled by the power of faith and fate. Divine energy erupted from his every pore, concentrating the power of three thousand worlds into his fists as he struck into the darkness.

Blinding light surged from the Immortal Chu Haotu as the willpower of its inhabitants rose like true dragons, funneling their strength into him.

It felt as if the outer realms would shatter under the relentless barrage of his fist lights, as if the universe were being reset.

Chu Gucheng attacked with desperate fury, but his opponent remained a vague, immovable silhouette—a demonic mountain looking down with chilling indifference, allowing the blows to land.

“The fate and will of the people were never meant for such exploitation…” Gu Changge remarked coldly.

The outer worlds seemed to buckle under his very presence. His massive hand descended with a sickening thud, ignoring all resistance. The laws of reality were torn apart like mere parchment before his advance.

Chu Gucheng’s attacks dissolved into nothingness before they could even reach Gu Changge, vanishing like ripples on a pond.

Despite possessing power that could rival a survivor of eight Heavenly Calamities, Chu Gucheng was consumed by a sense of total defeat when facing the invincible Gu Changge.

With a thunderous boom, space fractured once more, birthing and destroying small realms in the wake of the collision.

Chu Gucheng coughed up blood, his spirit refusing to yield even as a single strike from Gu Changge left him bloodied and disheveled.

The guests in the Imperial Capital watched in stunned silence, their hearts heavy with shock.

“Chancellor Chu has reached the level of an eight-Calamity being, yet he is still being overpowered,” the white-browed Star Lord whispered, his worry deepening.

Xingying’s brow furrowed, a sense of unease gnawing at her mind.

To the citizens of the Immortal Chu Haotu, all that could be seen was a figure being hurled across the blackened sky. Under normal circumstances, it would be i