Vermillion - Chapter 23.1

Julian D’Aurelius was never meant to live.In this world, villains exist for one reason—to fall. They scheme, they rise, they steal the spotlight… and then they die. Betrayed. Abandoned. Erased so the hero can shine.Julian knows this.Because he remembers every timeline.Every backstab waiting in the dark.Every “loyal” ally destined to sell him out.Every romance scripted to end in blood.The moment he awakens inside the body of the story’s doomed antagonist, he’s bound to the hidden Tyrant System—a cold, calculating force that demands one thing:If villains always die… then become the kind of villain fate cannot kill.So Julian reshapes himself.Cruel when necessary.Charming when useful.Untouchable when it matters.He plays the monster perfectly—while secretly tearing apart the threads of destiny from the shadows.But here’s the problem.The more he tries to distance himself from the female leads…The more they drift toward him.The innocent campus beauty.The sharp-tongued heiress.The aloof genius meant to stand beside the hero.One by one, the women who were supposed to orbit the protagonist begin circling Julian instead.And there’s something even more dangerous— All of them can hear his inner voice.Every cold calculation.Every sarcastic thought.Every hidden plan.All heroines hears it all.But Julian has no idea.This is an urban-fantasy battlefield of ambition, romance, power games, and fate rewritten. The protagonist is trying to avoid the heroines. The heroines? They’re slowly falling anyway.And the more Julian resists destiny…The more destiny seems obsessed with him.

…Ring! [ The Unique Skill ‘Grand Devourer’ has been acquired! ]

That’s how it first started.
And then… it didn’t stop:

[ The Unique Skill ‘Evolve’ has been acquired! —
[ The Passive Skill ‘Jelly-like Shapelessness’ has been acquired! —
[ The Passive Skill ‘Resistant Body’ has been acquired! —
[ The Unique Skill ‘Dwell’ has been acquired! —
[ The Unique Skill ‘Skill Copy’ has been acquired! —
[ The Passive Skill ‘Mana Perception’ has been acquired! ]

Up until…

[ The Passive Skill ‘Consciousness’ has been acquired! ]

And then I was through—

Normally, monster-type creatures don’t just pop up in some random place—let alone a human place—out of the blue, and without notice.
Yes, if we’re talking ‘normally’, monsters belong more to places like remote, hostile grounds: they ought to be from dark, nasty forests, old caves, or abandoned, ancient ruins.
As I said, it was only so long as we spoke of the usual deal, however. For better or worse, I wasn’t your regular mob.
So, forget about all the remote, uneasy places humans hardly go to—all the abandoned forests, caves, or dungeons I, a monster, should have been from—and picture a bright, lively family restaurant, in an oh-so-peaceful human village. A restaurant where people ate, chatted, and jested together, all having a good time, blissfully oblivious to the fact that, very soon, I would be cutting them all down.

By magic, a monster-type creature spawned in such a place. It was me.
So far, for the few seconds I had been living, it was quite the good life… I got to listen to a fantastic story being told and shared a cool moment with people.
However! Following an uncertain course of events, I happened to be put up against a wall, with a sword aimed at my chest, before I was mercilessly killed.

I, a unique monster, just spawned in that restaurant, with no clue regarding what was going on.
All I knew was that I wanted to live and survive.
Also, I knew I wasn’t your regular kind of monster.
Thankfully, I’d been granted unique abilities before I showed up.
That is how I managed to survive.

A letter to break off the engagement leads Ling Family in Tangyang to endless doom. And he, Ling Zhang, is tortured to death after his legs are cruelly broken.

Martial Arts Year 1. Cracks have appeared between Heaven and Earth, and terrifying foreign monsters have begun to invade the earth.

Martial Arts Year 100. Martial arts have begun to flourish, and human martial artists are clashing against the invading foreign monsters.

Martial Arts Year 200. Humanity is declining, foreign monsters are continuously seizing habitual zones.

Martial Arts Year 300. Lu Sheng crossed over. Moreover, he had access to memories from 10,000 years in the future.

“The Body Refining Technique from 10,000 years in the future. After more than 10,000 revisions, it’s a thousand times more effective than the one used now!”

“Martial Art Breathing Method from 10,000 years in the future…”

“Medicinal Pill Recipes from 10,000 years in the future…”

“The Sacred Martial Scriptures from 10,000 years in the future…”

Martial Arts Year 10,000. Humanity has gone extinct.

“The Path of Martial Arts had been honed to its pinnacle, yet there was no one left to inherit it.”

“I, Luo Sheng, am Humanity’s final Ember!”