I Truly Am The Villian

Chapter 1222: Chapter 1221: Sage Lv, The Mysterious City of Decisive Battle

Under the endless starlight, the speed of the spinning star disc grew faster and faster. As more and more starlight gathered, the silhouette of the Bamboo Banana Panda began to coalesce in the sky above.

Before them appeared a starlit pathway, a Star Road.

This Star Road twisted and turned, leading all around the Great Dao and vanishing into the distant end of the Banana Forest.

“Go,” Xu Zimei said.

He stepped directly onto the Star Road, heading toward the end of its trajectory.

The two darted forward at a relentless pace for over ten minutes, and the surrounding scenery began to change. The vast Banana Forest morphed into rows of tall bamboo groves.

The lush green Bamboo Grove, in contrast, exuded not the heat of a tropical rainforest but a serene elegance and pleasing beauty.

A gentle breeze often rustled by, stirring the bamboo leaves, which floated idly through the void.

When Xu Zimei and Ji Jiuning arrived, they saw the Bamboo Banana Panda perched on a single bamboo stalk, holding a bamboo flute in its hands.

The crisp sound of the flute echoed continuously.

The panda lounged with one leg crossed over the other, leaning against the dense bamboo leaves behind it. When it saw the two approach, it squinted its eyes lazily before slowly opening them.

“Oh? You two actually made it here,” it teased with a chuckle.

“You seem rather smug,” Xu Zimei said, his calm gaze fixed upward.

“This Banana Forest is my territory. If you want to leave, you’ll have to please me,” the Bamboo Banana Panda replied.

No sooner had it spoken than a blast of Blade Qi erupted without warning.

The Bamboo Banana Panda leapt nimbly to another bamboo stalk, while the original one shattered into countless splinters.

“You people—each more hot-headed than the last,” the Bamboo Banana Panda grumbled.

“Can’t anyone have a civilized conversation? My poor bamboo…”

As it spoke, it casually snapped off a bamboo stalk and crunched on it noisily, as if enjoying a snack.

“Die, or tell us the way out,” Xu Zimei demanded.

“I pick neither,” the Bamboo Banana Panda stuck out its tongue and bolted off into the distance.

“Chase,” Xu Zimei commanded in a low voice, blade in hand as he and Ji Jiuning dashed after it.

In the Bamboo Grove, three silhouettes moved in a blur—two chasing, one fleeing—cutting down countless bamboo stalks in their wake.

However, Xu Zimei soon noticed that while the Bamboo Banana Panda wasn’t particularly strong, its ability to escape was ridiculously exaggerated.

Its figure melded seamlessly into the Bamboo Grove, as light as a swallow, weaving through the void with an agility beyond imagination.

After pursuing for some distance, Xu Zimei stopped in his tracks.

The Bamboo Banana Panda also came to a halt.

“What’s this? Giving up already?” The Bamboo Banana Panda laughed heartily.

Xu Zimei said nothing. He waved his hand, and a Flame Lotus formed from Zhurong’s Flame blossomed in his palm.

“If we can’t find a way out, then I’ll just burn this place to the ground,” he said coolly.

Zhurong’s Flame was the ultimate flame of the Dao, conjured during Zhurong’s Inquiry.

Its power lay in its ability to consume all things—even the Great Dao itself could not withstand its fire.

Regardless of formations or barriers, nothing could remain unscathed after a blaze of such magnitude.

As the Flame Lotus bloomed, its blazing radiance illuminated half the sky, and the Bamboo Grove was consumed in crackling flames.

“You despicable wretch! Can’t catch me, so now you’re burning my bamboo?!” the Bamboo Banana Panda cried out in panic, shouting furiously.

It flailed at the flames while cursing loudly.

“Little Bamboo had no evil intentions!”

Seeing that Zhurong’s Flames were impossible to extinguish, the Bamboo Banana Panda slumped to the ground in despair, muttering dejectedly, “Fine, fine, I’ll show you the way out.”

“Should’ve done that from the start,” Xu Zimei remarked, waving his hand to extinguish the boundless fire.

What remained was a charred and blackened Bamboo Grove.

Fortunately, the fire hadn’t spread too far, burning only half of the bamboo.

……

“This Banana Forest was once the cursed land of Sage Lv,” the Bamboo Banana Panda explained.

“Sage Lv?” Ji Jiuning frowned slightly.

“You mean the Saint who battled the White Emperor here and was ultimately slain?”

The name of Sage Lv was infamous throughout the Ghost God Realm.

Not just for his title as a Saint but also for being the first known Great Saint to be killed.

To understand, a Great Saint’s Life and Death Soul has already been split.

Even if their Divine Soul is destroyed or their body shattered, they won’t die as long as their Life and Death Soul remains unscathed.

From this, it’s clear how difficult it is to kill a Great Saint.

“Indeed. Back then, the White Emperor dueled Sage Lv here. Legend says their battle raged for years.

The two spanned the entire Ghost God Realm before finally slaying Sage Lv on this very spot.”

The Bamboo Banana Panda continued, “And this Bamboo Banana Forest is the transformation of Sage Lv’s hair.

Countless strands of his hair, endlessly growing, ensuring that this forest will never truly perish.”

“Just tell me how to get out,” Xu Zimei demanded.

“Cut through the three thousand threads of vexation, and the path will appear before your eyes,” the Bamboo Banana Panda replied.

Xu Zimei glanced at Ji Jiuning, and the two seemed to come to a realization.

They closed their eyes gently, emptying their minds.

Though their eyes were shut and they could not see the path, their Divine Sense could still perceive it.

All around, it was as if the Banana Forest had vanished entirely, and within their sensed perception, a clear path appeared.

“Could it really be this simple?” Ji Jiuning seemed skeptical.

“The simplest things in this world are often the hardest,” the Bamboo Banana Panda chuckled softly.

As its voice faded, its figure gradually dissolved into the Bamboo Grove.

“If this Bamboo Grove was once Sage Lv’s hair, then what exactly is the Bamboo Banana Panda?” Xu Zimei murmured to himself.

But for now, he wasn’t particularly interested in digging deeper into the matter.

Closing his eyes and emptying his mind, he followed his Divine Sense and strode out of the Bamboo Grove.

……

The tropical rainforest behind them grew more distant.

Before Xu Zimei stretched a city, surrounded by verdant mountains and clear waters, a place that resembled a utopian paradise.

The vast city walls extended to the northwest horizon.

The area bustled with people, lively and jovial.

“Let’s go take a look,” Xu Zimei said.

When he and Ji Jiuning reached the city’s gates, only then did they notice the weathered green stone above the modest entrance, upon which two words were inscribed:

“Lone City!”

“This name seems oddly at odds with the city itself,” Ji Jiuning remarked.

“Why would there be a city at the Battlefield of Ultimate Confrontation?”

“Haven’t you noticed?” Xu Zimei said calmly, scanning the people coming and going.

“None of them carry even a hint of vitality.”

What he referred to as vitality was a living person’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

But the dead have none; they carry only the aura of decay.

These people were strange. They exuded no aura of decay, nor any signs of vitality, as if they were nothing more than puppets on strings.

Xu Zimei stepped through the city gates. Although the surroundings were bustling with life, filled with vibrant flowers, he felt none of the atmosphere’s liveliness.

“Sir, how much for these oranges?” he casually asked a vendor, looking at the oranges on display.

The vendor had a smile on his face, but his eyes were hollow and vacant, not sparing even a glance at Xu Zimei.

“Old Sun, I’ll take two pounds of oranges,” just then, a burly man next to him spoke.

He tossed a few Spirit Stones onto the counter and casually grabbed a few oranges.