The Dust Settles

Yangguan Town, Nameless Manor.

"Bang!"

Xiao Lin was roughly thrown to the ground, the surging blood unable to be contained, spilling forth uncontrollably, staining the earth beneath him.

"Who exactly are you?"

Xiao Lin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, lifted his head, and gazed at the stranger before him, struggling to speak.

Zhu Youji calmly observed Xiao Lin, experiencing a fleeting sense of temporal displacement.

The simulated second life was quite tragic, filled with the pathos of a life characterized by the Way of Cutting Emotions, the Heartless Path, and the Absorption Technique—a life steeped in misery and desolation.

According to the conventions of novels, this could be considered the tragic life of an antagonist.

Zhu Youji had once come across a passage online:

How does one nurture a hero?

With a childhood of hardship, and a glimmer of hope.

And how does one nurture a villain?

By extinguishing that glimmer of hope!