Chapter 529 – First Failure Timeline (2)
Miaomiao traveled alone. He encountered many villains, who mistook him as easy prey.
Miaomiao began acting like an anti-hero protagonist. He slaughtered any villain he came across and offended many local clans. He also ran into Yu Shun, the father of a victim that Miaomiao had killed in the assessment exam. That guy brought several 6th-stage experts to deal with him.
He killed them all and devoured their souls to increase his power.
Half a year later, the Alter-Miaomiao consumed enough souls and awakened his nascent soul, which was a lot quicker than Miaomiao.
Devil pestered him to start a protagonist hunt quest again. This time, the Devil forced Miaomiao to hunt Ma Moxi, Liu Bian, Lu Fengxian, and Ling Tianlong at the same time.
Miaomiao accepted the task. He rushed to Red Sun City and pretended to submit to the Liu Dynasty Court.
Dong Zhongying immediately accepted Alter-Miaomiao and took him as an adopted son.
Miaomiao abused Dong Zhongying's court authority and ordered people to find Ding Bu, the alias of Lu Fengxian.
Lu Fengxian was soon arrested, and Miaomiao immediately plundered the weak protagonist's power, using Vampiric Touch. Unfortunately, Lu Fengxian managed to break free and escape the capital.
Miaomiao didn't care. A month later, he betrayed Dong Zhongying and killed him. Then, he located Liu Bian's pylon tower and singlehandedly destroyed it.
Liu Bian and Miaomiao became enemies, and the former sent Wang Yun to assassinate Miaomiao. However, the agent was instant-killed as the latter was a lot stronger than the assassin.
Miaomiao pursued Liu Bian to the shadow realm and faced Liu Bian's incomplete army there. Liu Bian summoned the 8th-stage Lich, but Miaomiao defeated it.
Liu Bian was captured and slaughtered. Miaomiao claimed another Heavenly Fate Fragment to upgrade his Isolation Training Space.
After killing Liu Bian, Miaomiao plundered Liu Clan's Vault per Devil's instruction. He consumed every usable cultivation resource and devoured spirits of heaven-grade weapons.
Guardian spirits of the vault came, but Miaomiao easily consumed the soul.
After dealing with the Liu Dynasty, Miaomiao stumbled on Brocell's dungeon. He attacked it and found the dungeon lord.
Brocell was caught off-guard. Miaomiao killed Brocell before he could even summon his golems or use his modern weaponry.
The dungeon was destroyed, and Miaomiao returned to the surface.
…
'My counterpart is fucking OP! How is his Vampiric Touch so strong?! My technique isn't that useful!'
'That has to do with your Dao and his Dao. You mainly rob your victim's luck while the other you kill and rob everybody. Furthermore, he prioritized cultivation speed while you prioritized a solid foundation. Of course, his progress would be a lot faster than you, but he would hit the roadblock soon.'
'… Yeah, I can tell. He's too rushed.'
…
After dealing with Liu Bian and Brocell, Miaomiao obtained Dark Element Qi. He switched his cultivation method and mainly cultivated Death Qi instead of Life Qi since it suited his Dao more.
His aura grew sinister, and his Dao became stronger. But Alter-Miaomiao wasn't satisfied.
He began challenging Liu Bian's clones, using the protagonist rematch mode. As if his misfortune and his karma wanted it, Miaomiao obtained Liu Bian's necromancy skill on his first try.
Using his new power, Miaomiao turned the useless souls that he had consumed into wraiths and banshees. He also turned the corpse of Wang Yun into a Death Knight.
With a death knight follower and a million ghosts, Miaomiao besieged Xuan City next, where Ma Moxi had been pinpointed by the system.
When Miaomiao arrived at Xuan City, the local people immediately noticed the former's killing intent and the evil spirits. They mistook him as an evil shaman and mobilized the local forces to subdue Miaomiao.
Alter-Miaomiao killed them all. Even Qiang Sui, Qiang Han, Ma Ping, Ma Shoucheng, and Pang Lingming were instantly slaughtered and consumed by Miaomiao's nascent soul domain, the Soul Plundering Domain.
Even the old colleague, Ma Xingjuan, was captured and ravished. Miaomiao turned into an evil dual-cultivator, plundering her blood and Qi until she died.
The death of Ma Ping and Ma Xingjuan enraged Ma Moxi. He revealed his true power and attempted to assassinate Miaomiao.
The trick worked. Miaomiao was severely injured. However, Ma Moxi failed to finish off Miaomiao due to the presence of Wang Yun, who had become a death knight.
Miaomiao retaliated and forced Ma Moxi to retreat to the north, where Tian Long Forest was.
The army of the undead grew larger after Miaomiao turned more dead bodies into his soldiers. He turned Ma Ping, Ma Shoucheng, Pang Lingming, and Qiang Sui into death knights as well.
They marched north, planning to raze the forbidden forest to ash!
Miaomiao's army ran into Mao Xueyan, Mao Dandan, Ku'er, and Ma Moxi again. He also met Xu Xiuying, who had migrated here.
Despite being ganged on by the protagonist's party, Miaomiao stood firm and slain all protagonist's allies, including Xu Xiuying. He turned all dead enemies into undead as well.
Finding Mao Xueyan and others as undead zombies, Ma Moxi went berserk. He went all-out against Miaomiao.
Unfortunately for him, Miaomiao came prepared. Killer Queen's usual ability, Bomb Transmutation, got the job done. He ignited Ma Moxi with Purgatory Yin Flame, which he had obtained from the system fusion skill.
Another protagonist went down. Miaomiao obtained another Heavenly Fragment and got several massive power-ups as Devil became more generous.
…
Miaomiao was astonished by his counterpart's ruthlessness. He felt like a child compared to the Alter's evilness and decisiveness.
'Why is my counterpart this… terrifying?!'
'Snowball effects. He abandoned his humanity for power.'
'In other words, he lost it.'
'Yeah, you should have felt it too, right? That body shared his emotion to you.'
'Yeah. It feels… sick. I have to keep reminding myself that he is not me. Otherwise, I would have become like him.'
'Good choice. You will need to maintain that mentality for a few years.'
'There's more?!' Miaomiao was taken aback. From Xie Tian's words, there seemed to be more tragedy.'
'Yes. Your counterpart will become… a true villain.'
…
A million creatures were burnt to ash. Miaomiao didn't leave anybody alive.
After the forest was terraformed into a wasteland, Alter-Miaomiao turned his sight to Mount Hua Sect, where Ling Tianlong should be hiding.
But as Miaomiao was about to reach the Mount Hua Sect, he came across an alliance army, led by Yuan Shaoqing. The latter had heard about Miaomiao's evil deeds, and they assembled a crusade against him.
Among the alliance members, Miaomiao found Lu Fengxian, who had recovered from the previous injuries. He returned as a 6th-stage cultivator. The Mount Hua Sect's crews were also there, including Ling Cao and Ling Tianlong.
Huang Hansheng, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Liu Xuande, Guan Yunchang, and Zhang Yide were there as well. Various elders from the Myriad Cauldron Sect, such as CJ, Han Wenjie, Zhang Junyi, and many others came with their soldiers.
Alter-Miaomiao wasn't afraid of the almighty main characters. He sacrificed Mao Xueyan's soul and many strong experts' souls to create a new powerful being.
A 9th-stage lich lord was summoned. This time, it was a completed lich, who could also summon a battalion of death knights, liches, and evil spirits.
To face against the army of 40,000 cultivators from the Aves Continent, Miaomiao and the lich lord created an army of a million undead soldiers and 10,000 death knights.
A decisive battle ensued.
Before Yuan Shaoqing came here, they vanquished Huangjin Monastery and killed both Zhao Bao and Zhang Jue. Without the monks and their Light Element power, they were no match against death knights and undead soldiers.
A month later, the lich lord caught Huang Hansheng, and Miaomiao devoured the archer's soul to increase his power.
Once the 9th-stage archer died, his corpse was transformed into a new death knight. However, the death knight could still use Huang Hansheng's archery skill.
8th-stage cultivators fell prey to the new death knight, and more death knights were created. Meanwhile, no matter how the alliance killed the undead soldiers, Miaomiao easily replenished his troops by using the corpses of the dead cultivators.
The loop repeated until Yuan Shaoqing realized his mistake. He retreated along with his men.
Alter-Miaomiao and his undead legion claimed another victory and spread fear to the continent.
Ling Tianlong and Lu Fengxian fled together to the south while Yuan Shaoqing, Ju Shoufen, and other survivors returned to Yeet City to lick their wounds.
Miaomiao pursued. He sent his army south to chase after the two protagonists while the lich lord headed north to purge every living being.
Unfortunately, Ling Tianlong and Lu Fengxian lured Alter-Miaomiao to the Amethyst Mine Maze. They entered the territory of Nero and Dian Wei.
As soon as Nero discovered the undead army, he ordered Dian Wei to kill everyone.
Using the advantage of the mine, Dian Wei stopped Miaomiao's undead legion and captured both Ling Tianlong and Lu Fengxian.
Still, Miaomiao found his way to Nero. He confronted the dragon without fear.
Nero immediately recognized the bloodline of Firecracker and Cernun. He ordered Dian Wei to stop attacking the undead army, and they chatted with Miaomiao.
Realizing that Miaomiao was the owner of other time-and-space murals, Nero and Dian Wei turned their fangs to Lu Fengxian and Ling Tianlong.
Nero killed Lu Fengxian while Dian Wei ate Ling Tianlong. The two protagonists met their end because of their own trap.
Seeing that Nero was friendly toward him, Alter-Miaomiao negotiated with Devil to free Nero.
The Devil agreed to break the seals for the dragon, but Nero had to give all treasures in the cave to Miaomiao.
Nero agreed to Devil's terms, and he was freed.
Obtaining his freedom, Nero flew to the sky to bask in the sunlight. His presence terrified all world guardians, and they banded together to imprison Nero again.
Nero regained his strength and slaughtered the local world guardians.
This action offended Karen. The Swan Goddess descended and fought against Nero herself.
Nero was instantly suppressed and killed!
Karen turned to Dian Wei and Miaomiao, who were Nero's accomplices. She captured them as well.
But as Karen was bringing them to the prison on the Holy Land Continent, Lilith and Devil arrived and killed Karen.
Devil then passed the remaining time-and-space murals to Miaomiao, saying that he had passed the test. Now, he deserved the greatest reward.
Alter-Miaomiao immediately put all mural pieces together. The murals shone as they imparted the complete technique of time-and-space directly to Miaomiao's mind.
…
Miaomiao was absorbed in the development and the experience of Alter-Miaomiao. When the counterpart activated the murals and received the hidden technique, he also learned it as well!
Miaomiao was delighted. With this knowledge, he didn't need to assemble all seven mural pieces anymore, and he could destroy them before Lilith could use them in his timeline.
As if Xie Tian could read Miaomiao's mind, the former warned him.
'Don't bother destroying the murals after you learn the technique. The creator of these mural pieces is none other than Devil. He can always forge a new set to bait other deities or mortals.'
'WHAT?! H-How did you know this?'
'Everyone in the Heaven Realm knew. It's common knowledge since only Devil could manipulate time and space. Well, that's before I came in…'
This explained a lot. Miaomiao had always been curious why the deities never actively searched for the murals. It seemed that they were aware of the mural creator's identity, and they didn't want to provoke him.
…
Alter Alter-Miaomiao finished learning the technique. He laughed in satisfaction and experimented with the new skill.
He stopped time, rewinded time, and fast-forwarded time for fun.
As soon as he did that, the negative karma that Alter Miaomiao had been accumulating acted up. Karma Centipedes broke out from Miaomiao's neck while baby centipedes began eating Miaomiao's Death Qi.
Soon, his Qi was depleted.
Miaomiao asked Lilith and Devil for help, but they sneered at him.
Devil and Lilith suddenly turned to Dian Wei. They killed her and dragged Miaomiao to the Netherworld Realm.
They threw him into a dungeon in the first Hell Level. Then, the system that Miaomiao had always put his faith in gave him a piece of bad news.
Ding
Ding
The devil laughed and patted Miaomiao's cheek, "Now, stay there in Lilith's prison and learn the techniques in there within a hundred years! You must evolve into a War Marionette like the others before the deadline. Oh, your code name in the future shall be Samael!"
Lilith snickered, "Isn't he the 13th copy? Why did you give him that jinx's name?"
"He deserves to inherit that idiot's name since he will eventually meet the same fates."
"What if he breaks free from your shackle and betrays you."
"That's impossible. He is merely a weak nascent soul necromancer with a messed-up foundation. He won't even be able to become an immortal in his lifetime without our help. Even if he becomes an immortal, do you think he can outdo my time-and-space providence with his meager power? Hell, I don't think he can survive for long with so many karma centipedes inside him."
"I see. Hahahahaha!"
The Devil seized Miaomiao's head and began brainwashing him.
However, the observers inside the Alter Miaomiao's body were unaffected by the brainwashing power.
…
Sacrificial Lamb of Time and Space
This passive skill can only be used by Devil's clones, who have mastered the Time and Space Law, carried overwhelming negative karma, and possessed Heavenly Fate Crystal with great luck. When the clone is killed, the killer will be cursed with the Time and Space Karma, causing the killer to be unable to use Time-and-Space-related abilities.
…
Looking at the skill detail, Miaomiao inside the Alter's body was terrified.
He had just discovered Devil's hidden motive!
He wanted to use Miaomiao as a sacrificial pawn!
Moreover, the skill revealed that Miaomiao was the Devil's clone!
'WTF?!'
Xie Tian sighed, 'I assume that Cernun should have warned you before. Never become Devil's underling even though he seems friendly!'
'… H-How did you know?'
'I can read Cosmo Record. I saw the things that my counterparts had done in the other timeline, including yours.'
'…'
'Anyway, it's not the end. This is just the start of your counterpart's rebirth and redemption.'
Xie Tian's voice seemed sad yet excited when he mentioned the new beginning.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆webnovel