I Truly Am The Villian

As the golden light merged into his body, Chu Yang felt a sense of clarity in his mind. Within his consciousness, the piece of paper transformed into a sky full of golden light, then outlined a map.

All information regarding this map flowed into his memory.

After a long time, Chu Yang slowly opened his eyes, a sharp light flashed in his pupils, and he murmured to himself, "The Yang Pearl of the Forgotten Dust Pearl."

"Yang, what have you obtained?" Reincarnation Elder curiously asked.

"A map related to the Yang Pearl of the Forgotten Dust Pearl," Chu Yang replied excitedly, "This map was left behind by the Forgotten Dust Emperor.

After he embraced his destiny, he sought the other Yin Pearl, but searched for a long time without a shred of news.

Once he became a Great Emperor, the Yang Pearl was of little use to him. Before ascending, he placed the Yang Pearl somewhere.

He hoped that one day, the person fated to find the Yin Pearl could complete the Yin and Yang of the Forgotten Dust Pearls, and this map is precisely the guide to the hidden location of the Yang Pearl."

"All this was recorded on the piece of paper?" Reincarnation Elder asked.

"Yes, teacher, as long as we obtain the Yang Pearl, we can eliminate the threat of the Yin Pearl," Chu Yang replied with a smile.

"Not only that, but you could also master the Great Yin-Yang Path and rise to great heights," Reincarnation Elder said with a smile, "The Forgotten Dust Pearl is ranked fourth on the list of world's strange treasures, after all."

"There's no time to lose, teacher, I will set off to find the Yang Pearl now," Chu Yang said with a smile.

...…

Right in front of the Painting Palace, the entrance to the inside was actually a painting.

Within the painting, a gentle breeze blew, several willow trees swayed with the wind, and a boundless river stretched beyond the horizon, its glittering surface dotted with drifting fishing boats.

Not far from the fishing boats on the riverbank was a small thatched cottage nestled among the green waters and blue mountains.

Two big red lanterns hung in front of the house, and the door was half-concealed.

It was such an incredibly lifelike painting that when Xu Zimei placed his hand on the wooden door, the lanterns within the painting flickered, and in a moment of darkness, he lost consciousness.

All those who entered the Painting Palace had used the same method.

When Xu Zimei woke up, he found himself in a vast plain wilderness.

Surveying his surroundings, Xu Zimei already had a plan in mind.

The challenges of the Painting Palace were divided into four layers, and if one failed even once, they would be directly expelled from the palace.

Xu Zimei hadn't walked far when he saw a dense maple forest ahead.

"Please find the only real maple leaf in these maple woods within a quarter of an hour."

Suddenly, a tremendous voice came from the sky, exploding beside the ear like thunder.

Xu Zimei slightly lifted his head, there had to be hundreds of maple trees in the forest, and each tree bore close to a thousand leaves.

Among the tens of thousands of maple leaves, only one was real, and the difficulty of finding it was imaginable.

Xu Zimei took a deep breath, understanding the meaning of this challenge.

When a painter reached the highest realm, they could make the items in their paintings a reality—just like Hua Wuqing.

But no matter how exquisite their painting skills, the items they created differed fundamentally from real items.

Creation is the work of heaven and earth; the various fates and causalities entwined, the cultivation of life span, and the human body's complex structure are unimaginable.

A painter could not achieve the feat of creation; at best, they could only imitate nature and create false items.

In this vast maple forest, besides the leaves that naturally grew between heaven and earth, everything else was painted.

Hua Wuqing set up this challenge with the goal of making every painter who accepted his inheritance able to distinguish between reality and a painting.

And not to get lost in the illusion of paintings coming to life.

Xu Zimei slowly closed his eyes; the World Pearl was of utmost importance to him, and he didn't wish to waste any more time.

Sometimes, your eyes can deceive you, to find the real maple leaf, you must rely on your inner eye.

He let go of his thoughts, discarding all distractions, allowing himself to enter a state of emptiness.

Xu Zimei slowly circulated the cultivation of the "Sole Great Freedom Jue"; at first, his mind was quite restless.

But as time passed by little by little, Xu Zimei felt a silence around him as if the whole world had come to a standstill.

He was alone, in an endless loneliness, with darkness before his eyes.

Suddenly, he heard different sounds; there seemed to be a breeze blowing around him, the wind rustling the maple leaves.

Xu Zimei walked through the maple forest with his eyes shut, the sound of countless leaves swaying grew clearer and clearer.

As he listened carefully to the sound of the leaves fluttering, he continued walking forward.

After a long time, he suddenly stopped beside a maple tree.

He slowly reached out with his left hand and, after fumbling through the dense maple leaves for a while, finally picked one.

Only then did Xu Zimei open his eyes and, looking at the maple leaf in his hand, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

When he took this maple leaf, he found that the entire maple forest he was in began to shake.

The maple trees that were very realistic moments ago turned into a painting, slowly falling in front of Xu Zimei.

The maple forest vanished, and Xu Zimei found himself back on the plains once again.

He placed the painting of the maple tree into his Storage Ring, then continued onward.

The further he went, the higher the temperature became; the weather which had been like a gentle spring breeze became scorching hot.

Xu Zimei didn't walk for long before he felt parched, the blazing suns scorching the earth as if trying to pour all their light and heat down.

He looked up at the sky and saw, to his surprise, that there were two suns hanging peacefully.

Under the baking of the two suns, the earth below was cracking with dry fissures.

Xu Zimei kept walking forward, and a small village appeared ahead.

"Finally here," he wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh.

At the entrance of the village, a few children wearing hats were shooting arrows at the sun with their bows.

But their arrows would fall down after reaching merely a dozen meters; the thought of bringing down a sun with these arrows was pure fantasy.

However, Xu Zimei knew that this challenge tested one's imagination. As a painter, an imagination was indispensable.

"Hey kids, what are you doing?" Xu Zimei approached with a smile and asked.

"We're shooting at the sun. It's too hot, so we thought if we could shoot down a sun, it might cool off a bit," one of the kids responded in a babyish voice.

"Little friend, with this method, you could never hit the sun in a lifetime," Xu Zimei said with a shake of his head and a smile.

"Do you have a way, big brother?" the child asked curiously.