Eternal Villain: I can enslave Reality!

As the Sword descended towards the former Emperor, poised to strike, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.

Out of nowhere, a stone hurtled through the air, colliding with the blade of the Sword. This unexpected impact altered the trajectory of the weapon, causing it to veer off course and narrowly missing the Former Emperor's throat. ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

The General, having never witnessed it before, was now able to clearly observe the incident that had occurred. A stone had obstructed his assault.

This incident was not an isolated occurrence. There had been a prior incident where a stone had been hurled, striking the back of the Emperor's knee. As a result, he had stumbled and fallen to the ground just moments before.

He looked in the direction where the stone came from, only to see that place completely empty. There was no one there.

While he was distracted, another stone came flying, this time hitting him in the back of his head. A stone wasn't an object that could hurt a General who was a peak Heavenly Celestial.

Their skin was very hard, but for some strange reason, the attack hurt the General a lot, making him feel pain. Blood also trickled down the back of his head.

"Who?!" the General roared, his aura descended. Everyone around him was suppressed by the Aura, falling to their knees. Only the other Generals remained immune to this pressure, albeit still feeling a little bit of it.

"It's not fun to be attacked from behind, is it?" A voice fell in the General's ears as Xu Shan appeared next to him, completely immune to the pressure.

His hand rested on the General's shoulder before the General could react.

The General was another to punch Xu Shan's face, but as soon as the young man's hand rested on his shoulders, he fell to his knees, as if a mountain had come to rest on his shoulders.

Even if it was a mountain, the General would've remained standing, but this weight was much more than that.

The General raised his head in disbelief. He had only felt this strength once before. It came from the Divine Empress!

Raising his head, he caught a glimpse of Xu Shan's face. He found that face familiar, but he couldn't remember just where exactly he saw that person. He even wondered if it was his misconception. He never could've forgotten seeing this person.

"Who are you?!" the General asked. "Do you know where you are?! Attacking a General of the Empire right before the Royal Palace? Are you looking to challenge the Empire?"

"Challenge the Empire?" Xu Shan smiled in response. "I have no interest in challenging the Empire."

'After all, you're the precious resource that'll be very useful to me...' he thought, but didn't voice his opinions.

He hated the man on his knees. That man was responsible for attacking him from behind, almost leaving him for the dead! He was also responsible for killing the Ice Dragon, and also a partial reason that Xu Shan lost the Heaven's Chosen that he brought as his servant.

There was a lot that the old General had to answer for, not now wasn't the time. Xu Shan took off his hand from the General's shoulder, letting the General feel as if a heavy burden was removed.

Xu Shan walked closer to the Former Emperor who was lying on the ground.

"Old man, you're so old yet your intelligence is so low. This is the last time I'm helping you."

Without looking back, Xu Shan flicked his fingers. The shackles that were around Yunxi and her maid's wrist were broken, falling to the ground.

The two women looked at each other in disbelief. Yunxi couldn't even believe that the person before her was Xu Shan.

The man who was supposed to sneak inside the Royal City was walking so freely?! Not only was he walking freely, but he appeared to have come out of the Royal Palace.

His strength was also something she didn't expect. Xu Shan had easily brought down a General without even fighting. She couldn't even see the upper limits of his strength. But looking at him, she felt as if she was looking at an endless Abyss.

"Aren't you going to meet your Empress? She's waiting for you. And don't worry about the girls. She won't blame you." Xu Shan told the Generals, moving away from their path.

Although it was suspicious, but the General noticed that the Empress was looking at them through the window. If she still didn't intervene, that meant that this was happening with her permission.

All the Generals left Yunxi and her maid behind, and walked inside the Royal Palace to meet the Empress.

In the meantime, Yunxi rushed to her father, helping him up. The maid, on the other hand, stopped next to Xu Shan.

Was Xu Shan that strong from the beginning? Was he hiding his strength and pretending to be weaker when he met them? There were many questions in her eyes but she didn't know where to start.

To her amazement, she noticed the Celestial Lotus in Xu Shan's other hand, indicating that he had accomplished his objective. However, his ability to achieve it so quickly caught her off guard.

*****

No one knew what the Generals and the Empress discussed within the confines of the Royal Palace. But when the old General stepped out, his face showed his unwillingness.

A flicker of anger shadowed the General's eyes, betraying the fact that he recognized Xu Shan as the person he had encountered during the incident on Alchemy World.

He never imagined that the man would not only survive his attack, but also make his way here and negotiate with the Empress on equal terms.

" I'll show you the place you'll be staying." The General's voice held a thin veil of resentment as he led Xu Shan toward the Mansion at some distance from the Royal Palace where Xu Shan was to stay.