Ultimate Villain BOSS, Corrupted Immortal. Seven Thousand Words

The talismanic patterns on the door, resembling a combination lock, gradually disappeared, revealing the true form of the dark wood material.

--That was active soul steel that flowed continuously like mercury.

Fine, shimmering ripples, like gold leaf, flow from the sides of these Soulsteel watches, eventually transforming into a slowly rotating pattern with a circular framework, intricate details, and spreading cloud-like patterns.

Bronya could faintly hear the sound of a door opening from deeper within. She stared at the portal, which resembled the final barrier outside layers of seals, and felt that the pattern itself was like a profound seal, with the nano-mayflies forming the ink on it most likely engraving some extremely dangerous formula.

The girl had good reason to suspect that if she had crashed into the gate from the outside of the Guanyin statue, she would most likely be dead.

She hesitated for a moment, then withdrew her fingertips from the bowstring.

This mysterious Your Highness undoubtedly harbored unknown goodwill towards him. In fact, having followed the Class President's guidance to this place, he had indeed received unexpected protection. The prince had simply uttered two words, and casually resolved the enormous threat that was threatening his life.

Bronya, who was not yet fully aware of the structure of this world, could not yet know just how noble this Your Highness's identity was, but from the previous scene, she could deduce that the person inside must have an extremely high status within the entire Taixu Sect.

Regardless of the other party's reasons for helping her, the reality is that if that sentence hadn't been spoken, she would either be beheaded or have lost her freedom.

Even based on this initial assessment alone, it seems that His Your Highness has no intention of harming me.

So...

Bronya glanced at the shrines behind her that had been smashed by the vehicle. Even though she had accidentally made a mess of the other party's front hall, she had to suppress her subtle guilt and try to communicate with them.

The girl sighed, feeling her mature, white breasts naturally bobbing up and down inside the dress-style armor as her still-rough breathing and heartbeat continued.

She unconsciously rubbed the pendant on her chest with her thumb, while the black arm sleeves slightly pressed into her soft breasts, causing wrinkles in the clothing and highlighting the elasticity of her skin, which was quite alluring.

Although he was still quite naive during his time at the St. Freya Academy, eight years later, the child who used to tug at Satou Yunona's sleeve and wink at her to perform magic tricks has shed all his childishness and become the mature and elegant warrior he is today.

Aside from her physique, this mature and healthy mental state is also a quality she didn't fully possess back then.

Bronya carefully considered her words, preparing to try and strike up a conversation with the Your Highness inside the door.

But what followed was the other party's proactive response:

"Please come in, Sister Bronya."

Bronya... sister?

Upon hearing this, she paused, taken aback by the key words in the sentence.

Does the other person know me?

Or is it that you are getting to know another version of yourself in this world?

Bronya almost immediately arrived at the most theoretically reasonable answer: assuming the other party knew her in this world and had a good relationship with her.

From His Your Highness's perspective, encountering another counterpart of his friend would naturally evoke feelings of affection and lead him to protect that person, which is understandable.

The girl, who thought she had found a reasonable answer, suddenly relaxed a lot. Compared to unknown reasons, this kind of convincing hypothesis was easier for her to accept now.

Above the gate, the circular pattern suddenly shone with even greater light, then gradually faded away in the next instant. The living soul steel, as if having undergone layers of verification, returned to its original simulated wood appearance and finally slid apart on its own.

Bronya stepped inside the door, her brows furrowing slightly.

--Ahead was another door slowly opening, exactly the same style as the one we had just crossed.

She silently passed by the shrines along the way that hadn't been disturbed, stepped over the same two Pixiu stone sculptures, and walked to the doorway ahead. Looking at the still-open active soul steel doorway, she pondered something.

This Your Highness... is probably not free, just as I initially thought, and may even be in a state of imprisonment.

After the girl saw the ninth soul steel gate, which was unique in that the talisman patterns on its outer side were different, she finally arrived at the other party's residence.

But what followed was a very familiar scene.

The bright sunlight streamed down, and the aroma of flowers and the warmth of coffee filled the air. In the distance was the familiar teaching building, and closer by were the pure white tables and chairs in the center of the courtyard, and... a few all-too-familiar figures.

The boy with black hair and dark eyes sipped his coffee from the porcelain cup, his eyelashes lowered, his eyes reflecting the rippling water, a smile playing on his lips. Sitting opposite him was a red-haired beauty dozing off on the table, and next to her was the school principal drinking bitter melon juice and reading comics.

At the other table sat a lively girl with white hair, a gentle-smiling black-haired girl, a naive young man himself, and... that person who always liked to use his powers to deceive himself into believing they were magic, and ultimately died at the hands of the Herrscher of Binding.

This is the original St. Freya Academy, a time when everyone I knew was still alive, yet it is merely a large-scale simulation.

Even if it feels real, as if time has been reversed, it is ultimately just a fleeting illusion.

Bronya suppressed her turbulent emotions and asked softly:

Who exactly are you?

Based on the data obtained from the previous connection of vehicles to the Internet, the development path of this world has been completely monopolized by an organization called [Chaoxian] for hundreds of years. Schicksal and Inverse Merchant are both wastes submerged in the long river of history, so naturally there would be no St. Freya Academy, and it just so happens that all the people she knows are gathered together.

This scene can no longer be explained by Bronya's knowledge of this world. Just as the Udu-dust in her consciousness, which should have completely disappeared a few years ago, suddenly reappeared, it hides a deeper secret.

Why did she come here? Why did Udu-dust, who shouldn't exist, appear in her mind? Why did this Your Highness choose to lend a helping hand? And why has this world gradually become so distorted...?

The numerous questions that arose in less than an hour seemed to have no other answer than the girl playing with the kitten.

The princess, who Your Highness be around the age of fifteen, stood in the center of the courtyard. She was dressed in a gilded robe from the Tang Dynasty, and her fair fingertips rested on the kitten in her arms. Her delicate, rounded nails were faintly visible.

The girl was very beautiful, even exquisitely so, to the point that one might never see such beauty in their lifetime. Her clear, black and white eyes were casually lowered, and her long eyelashes curled beautifully in the light, making her look like a perfect doll.

One can imagine what an absolutely stunning beauty she would be if she were older; it seems only natural that such a person would possess such an extremely noble status.

In fact, this Your Highness has a total of one billion fans worldwide. Even when she was imprisoned, in an era when the entertainment industry did not have deliberate restrictions, she was still known to the public.

Due to the demands of that Venerable One, she was also forced to regularly complete extremely perfunctory business targets, much like writing a children's diary full of healthy and positive ideas according to a template. Almost every Lunar New Year, she had to post a video or selfie, which she found very distasteful.

Hmm... Although the years spanned are extremely long, there are indeed videos to prove the slow growth of this immortal's offspring.

From initially appearing to be around ten years old, to now looking like someone approaching marriageable age, a full nine hundred years have passed in between.

All of this proves that both His Venerable One and His Your Highness are great beings who can ignore the passage of time without the aid of any prosthetic body replacement or human modification.

Imagine if any human being in this world, except for one person, were to see this Your Highness and immediately perform a deep bow, prostrating themselves in reverence.

This is the logic and philosophy etched into our genes from birth; it is so natural and irreversible.

Aside from important figures included in the safety sequence, and even the Soul Steel Puppet of the Immortal Martial Series, who are qualified to greet each other using a different set of etiquette, only His Venerable One has the right to disregard these rules within the bounds of the law.

In other words, Bronya's disrespectful behavior of staring blankly at the other person could easily earn her a life sentence in the Abyss of Eternal Calamity.

Unless His Your Highness personally grants a pardon.

Of course, looking at the records of crimes over the past nine hundred years, this Your Highness has forgiven all the common people who have ever "offended" him without exception.

But for Bronya, her current behavior was not due to knowing the reason and indulging herself; she was completely overwhelmed by a crucial question stuck in her throat.

That is... why does the other person's appearance bear such a striking resemblance to that friend I know—the boy in the holographic image before me?

Or perhaps it's more like an older brother and younger sister?

Wait a minute, even if he really is a relative of Xiao Su's parallel universe counterpart.

Considering this timeline... perhaps it would be more reasonable to assume they were the other party's offspring?

Just as Bronya was feeling disoriented and confused, the tranquility was broken by the Your Highness speaking:

"You can call me Su Muxi, Sister Bronya."

"Come sit down for a while."

As Su Muxi finished speaking, all the figures in the courtyard vanished on their own. She sat down on a chair first, as if making a silent invitation, her delicate hand still scratching the cat's chin, accompanied by purring sounds. The person who had just sat down opposite her asked for the first time:

"Su Muxi, do you... know someone named Su Qing'an?"

Su Muxi was surprised to hear this. She looked up at the girl in front of her, who was very different from the girl in her memory, and noticed the subtle movement of her clutching the pendant on her chest. She understood and said softly:

"I know, I know."

"But for someone who has only recently arrived in this world, I thought the other problems would be the first to arise."

Bronya responded:

"Perhaps, but since you've allowed me in, the order in which you ask questions doesn't really matter, does it?"

The girl smiled upon hearing this, but her expression was too indifferent and too cold, enough to be decadent but not radiant. She raised her hand and gestured in the air, instantly conjuring up a series of virtual screens, and said:

"Yes, the answer you're looking for, the question in your heart."

"Many issues can be resolved using historical information available online. Instead of wasting your breath, you should make your own decision."

"I think this approach is more in line with the personality I remember you as."

Bronya nodded upon hearing this, without pressing the matter further or asking any more questions. Instead, she began to peruse the information the other party had provided, processing the reality she was seeing.

In her eyes, this Your Highness was not very talkative. Even though he was very friendly, she could still vaguely see his inherent coldness and indifference, as well as his almost undisguised misanthropy and languor.

The other person's personality and mental state seem to be in a rather unfavorable state, so one can imagine that today's communication with me is probably a very special situation.

Therefore, the girl would naturally choose to be understanding of her savior.

But as she absorbed the information bit by bit, she almost immediately understood why the person in front of her was always in such a detached, transcendent state from the outside world, as if she were about to vanish into thin air at any moment.

Su Muxi.

This Your Highness has been confined to this desolate and lonely [Moon Worship Palace] for 762 years.

Moreover... the [Moon Worship Palace] where I am now is not located anywhere on Earth. It is sealed in the center of a World Bubble, or rather, the palace itself has been transformed into World Bubble, like a mayfly embedded somewhere in the Leaf World.

The fact that the Guanyin statue outside could be linked here proves that the level of technological advancement in the relevant field far exceeds our imagination.

Bronya is now certain that this world itself is not a World Bubble.

Instead, it is a Leaf World still fighting against Honkai, a parallel world that began to break away from its own world's history nine hundred years ago, a terrifying Lostbelt created by Fu Hua herself and single-handedly deciding everything.

But let's leave aside the question of why Su Qing'an, a person roughly the same age as himself in his own world's history, married the Immortal Chi Yuan nine hundred years ago.

After all, in a sense, in her own past experiences, the two of them had more or less an ambiguous relationship. As a surfing enthusiast, Bronya was indeed deeply influenced by the gossip on the St. Freya forum, and her acceptance of it was surprisingly high.

But why is this offspring of the two imprisoned here by the sovereign who unified the world for hundreds of years and achieved ultimate authoritarianism?

Judging from the online comments and the fact that the other party could protect her, Su Muxi should be very much favored by this lord.

However, judging from the fact that the other party forcibly deprived her of her most precious freedom, confining her to the [Moon Worship Palace] for 762 years, it seems like they are an enemy who wishes the other party were worse than dead.

The combination is extremely contradictory.

Bronya couldn't understand the logic behind Su Muxi's actions, nor could she comprehend the reasons behind them, but she patiently read through all the information bars Su Muxi had displayed before raising her question:

"Are you Xiao Su and the Class President's daughter?"

Upon hearing this, Su Muxi responded calmly:

"To be precise, I was born as a conscious life due to a series of coincidences, through a piece of Udu-dust and the soul matter of those two people, as well as related records."

"But from a common-sense perspective, your understanding is not far off."

"Xiao Su and Xiao Fu are like parents to me."

Conscious life?

This was a concept Bronya had never encountered before, but as an outstanding game designer, she was familiar with all kinds of game works and even fantasy products. Her excellent imagination, combined with her extensive knowledge base, allowed her to understand the meaning of this term literally.

These four words alone can explain why Su Muxi, like Fu Hua, a Fusion Warrior, possesses an immortal lifespan.

If it is a conscious life form, then the concept of lifespan is naturally unrelated to the durability and wear and tear of the physical body.

Rather, it's more likely related to one's own psychology...

Bronya carefully observed the girl in front of her after thinking about this.

That sense of transparency, as if she might disappear from this world at any moment, now seems to stem not from her exceptionally outstanding appearance, but from the fact that her melancholy mood is so infectious.

It was strange, but perhaps it was because she called me "sister," or perhaps it was because the way she addressed others by their names made me feel comfortable, or perhaps it was because she was the daughter of two acquaintances...

In short, Bronya couldn't help but feel a sense of apprehension towards this Your Highness she had only recently met, and she frowned as she asked:

Is there something wrong with your health?

Su Muxi thought for a moment, paused her petting of the cat for a moment, and said softly, her lips slightly parted:

"No problem."

"At least... I still have Little White to keep me company."

The kitten in the girl's arms blinked its eyes upon hearing this, and raised its head to rub against her hand, looking adorable and charming.

Bronya could tell from this sentence that the cat had probably been with the other person for a very long time, perhaps even since the day they were first restricted from leaving, living in this [Moon Worship Palace]. But... how could an ordinary cat live for so long?

She immediately became very worried.

Did this child suffer from hallucinations due to being alone in the palace for too long? Perhaps there was once a kitten named Little White, but how could a cat never grow up and live forever? To maintain this appearance indefinitely, in her eyes, it could only be due to the use of extremely realistic technology.

Even though she held this view in her heart, Bronya still couldn't discuss or ask about it. It was like trying to touch the most important part of a mental patient's mind, and the consequences would often be unbearable.

She didn't consider herself a qualified counselor, so she had to skip that topic and asked:

"Then... Xiao Xi, um, may I call you Xiao Xi?"

With the girl's obedient and silent consent, Bronya continued:

"Do you know why Fu Hua has grounded you, Class President? In my understanding, she's not like that. What's your motive for doing this?"

Su Muxi's eyes gazed at the person's face, their pupils hollow. She smiled and whispered:

"Reason?"

"Of course, it's to prevent Xiao Su from knowing the whole picture of this world when Awakened."

"You've seen those messages, so you should understand why the outside world has become like this."

Bronya was silent for a moment, her eyes lowered, her lips moving slightly as she recalled the information she had received, and she said softly:

"The reason she uses fifty percent of the world's area to build Honkai breeding farms, and continuously launches the Sin Domain Project, targeting the wandering World Bubble in the Sea of Quantum to capture them, continuing to use them as one large-scale Honkai breeding farm after another."

"For over seven hundred years, countless people's happiness and freedom have been sacrificed, and one Taixu Sect disciple after another has been turned into soul steel puppets devoid of their own will. Their wills have been imprisoned and distorted to create the thirty-six Immortal Martial Immortal Martial Series weapons... Ultimately, there is only one goal to achieve."

That is, to welcome the return of the true Holy Master of the Taixu Sect.

Hearing the implication in the other person's words, she was somewhat incredulous and murmured to herself:

"And that Holy Lord is Su Qing'an?"

"But what kind of state is Su Qing'an in that would require that person to use such a crazy and ruthless method, to rapidly advance technology, imprison and distort everyone, and ultimately centralize the world to such a distorted degree to carry out everything?"

Moreover, for whatever reason, she was unwilling and unable to believe that the Immortal Chi Yuan, who had protected Shenzhou for five thousand years, would completely overturn his own personality and all principles to commit such despicable acts as if he were a devil, turning the human world into hell.

Bronya was silent for a moment before saying:

"Xiao Xi, do you mean that the current Venerable One understands that what he has done is something Xiaosu cannot tolerate, an evil act that crosses the line of his morality, so in order to prevent him from knowing about these things, he wants to keep you here and prevent you from truly contacting the outside world, is that right?"

Su Muxi's lips parted, revealing a desolate smile, and she whispered:

"Just as you said, Sister Bronya."

"That's what Xiao Fu was thinking."

Bronya was silent for a moment, then replied:

"I can not understand."

Or rather, she was unwilling to consider what methods that person would use to create a completely new world that obscured more than seven hundred years of history.

Su Muxi casually revealed the bloody reality, saying:

"The answer is actually quite simple."

"It's Udu-dust."

"It is a consciousness power that has been infinitely amplified over the past seven hundred years by continuously building special signal towers around the world using technological means."

"It uses the crystals embedded in all humans since birth, and even the genes modified in the past, as a medium to manipulate and deceive."

"It's not impossible for her to want to reset the history of this world and recreate a process that is the opposite of what happened."

"As for me, once she was able to imprison me here, my memories were no longer free. The reason she didn't want me to have contact with the outside world was simply because after Xiao Awakened, she might re-establish Soul Link with me. If there were too many memories to process at that time, it would inevitably reveal flaws."

The forced work, which resembled a routine children's diary writing, was also preparation for this purpose.

Bronya chewed on this utterly absurd history, her heart heavy. She couldn't help but ask:

"What about the other pioneers? Even if Inverse Merchant and Schicksal were stifled in the initial stages, what about the World Serpent led by Kevin?"

"If it were that person, they should be able to prevent the world from turning out this way."

Su Muxi responded:

"Xiao Fu has memories of the future; she can know in advance why Kevin might be able to break free from the prison of the Sea of Quantum."

Bronya was momentarily speechless. She felt there was a long story to tell, but she simply didn't have the time to fully understand it. She sighed and said:

"So... the Class President eliminated the World Serpent executives responsible for bringing Kevin back to the Proper World beforehand, directly delaying Kevin's return?"

Su Muxi said softly:

"As you think, that's exactly right."

"But in reality, in the timelines you've experienced, you've only ever seen Xiao Fu at his weakest and most broken. That person's stubbornness and experiences mean that the passage of time doesn't significantly improve his strength; instead, he always ends up hurting himself for some reason."

"But things are different now. Not only that, she has felt too weak since seven hundred years ago."

She paused, then said softly:

"Sister Bronya, aren't you curious?"

"When an immortal who once devoted all his energy and time to Shenzhou for five thousand years completely abandons all his past ideals and responsibilities, and tramples on all principles and his own self."

"Finally, over a span of more than seven hundred years, striving solely for the two precise and unifying goals of becoming stronger and the Honkai of the breeding industry, what level of transformation can ultimately occur?"

I can give you a definite answer.

"At least... even the Lord of the World Serpent, upon returning here, only met with suppression."

"That Xiao Fu started developing technology at high speed to cultivate Honkai with the resolve to withstand the Finality."

"I don't know her exact chances of winning, but at least so far, none of the Herrscher that have been born have been able to cause any disruption to the order of this world."

Bronya took a deep breath. After gaining a slight understanding of the technological development level of this world, she had some suspicions about the Honkai. However, the statement that none of the Herrscher born had caused any trouble still seemed unbelievable to her.

But almost immediately, the girl combined the above statements to arrive at her answer.

If all of humanity is a puppet in her hands, then it seems... even the Herrscher are no exception.