The Reincarnated Villain Can Break the Fourth Wall!-Chapter 245: Dead City! Betrayal!

"The Forbidden Light City…"

They all inhaled deeply, the clean scent of fresh grass almost shocking after months of wallowing in marshes, fetid swamps, and corrupt Qi.

For a fleeting moment, they forgot everything—their wounds, their fatigue, even the blood staining their boots.

Above them, the sky stretched wide and pure.

No corruption.

No miasma.

Just endless blue.

The city ahead shone in the distance, its towers and white-stone buildings so bright it almost hurt to look at.

For the first time in what felt like forever—

It seemed like salvation was in reach.

Squelch.

Swish.

A wet, awful sound shattered the peace.

They froze.

"Wh—"

"That noise...?"

They turned.

Just in time to see it.

Shi Yan.

Standing right behind Lan Tian.

A sword impaled clean through Lan Tian's back, the blade emerging from his chest, dripping with blood.

Lan Tian staggered, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Priest… why…"

His voice was faint, more breath than sound.

Blood gurgled from his lips as he collapsed to the grass.

"Shi Yan!? What the hell are you doing?!"

Deng Lei shouted, pulling out his massive hammer with a thunderous thud. Yu Feng and Nalan Yufei instinctively dropped into defensive stances, their bodies tense, weapons raised.

The cool air and shining city—forgotten.

All that mattered now was the man standing behind a bleeding corpse, sword still red.

Nobody could understand.

Shi Yan turned slowly, his face twisted—not with guilt, but with anger.

"You all—" he hissed, voice rising, trembling with emotion. "Stop looking at me like I committed some unforgivable sin!"

He pointed his blood-slick sword down at Lan Tian's fallen body and spat viciously beside it.

"This man was deceiving us from the start!

He wasn't leading us to salvation—he was leading us to slaughter! If I hadn't acted, we'd all be corpses by sunset!"

The group wavered.

Hands tightened around hilts and handles, mistrust like poison.

"And how exactly are we supposed to believe you?"

Yu Feng took a slow step forward, eyes sharp and distrustful.

"You just murdered a teammate.

Maybe the deceiver... was you."

Su Xiaobai stood off to the side, arms crossed.

Watching.

Expression blank.

He chewed on a blade of grass like someone spectating a drama he definitely didn't pay for.

'Welp. Here we go. Cultivation team betrayal bingo. Check that box off.'

He said nothing.

Because this?

Was expected.

"Humph!"

Shi Yan snorted coldly, glaring down at Lan Tian's bleeding corpse. "He's from the Yunmu Clan. What did you expect? If they could betray their own gods, you think they wouldn't betray us?"

"What do you mean?" Deng Lei frowned, his grip loosening slightly around his hammer.

Shi Yan sneered.

He kicked at Lan Tian's corpse with visible disgust.

"This sinner... pretended the Yunmu Clan were worshipers of light. Came to us all smiles and lies. Said the Light Church and Yunmu were allies. That we had the same ancestor, the same mission. Even showed forged 'holy proofs' to convince us!"

The group stiffened.

That… was serious.

"Isn't it even worse to kill him just like this, without confirmation?"

Deng Lei sighed, a reluctant frown crossing his face.

"Confirmation?"

Shi Yan spat to the side.

"You think a dog stops licking shit just because a few centuries pass? The Yunmu Clan dared to betray the Light God himself! They smuggled the Dark Spiritual Tablet into the Sacred Temple of Light, trying to fuse the powers of Light and Darkness!

They corrupted everything—and got cursed for their arrogance!"

His voice rose, trembling with fury.

"This entire sea of corruption?"

He pointed around them.

"Their doing! Their sin!"

When Shi Yan finished—

Silence.

Even Su Xiaobai's casual smirk faded a little as he stared at Lan Tian's corpse.

Because…

He knew the Yunmu Clan's history only in pieces.

Former worshipers of light.

Fallen into darkness.

But not why.

Until now.

If Shi Yan's claim was true…

If Lan Tian had confessed all this to him during the journey…

Then killing him wasn't just paranoia.

It might've been necessary.

Then Shi Yan's tone shifted.

Cold.

Authoritative.

"From here on, you have two choices," he said.

"You can continue your journey without us—no hard feelings."

"Or you can follow the original agreement: we travel together, and split rewards equally."

He stood proudly, wiping his bloody sword clean on Lan Tian's robes.

"'Us'?"

Yu Feng whispered sharply, immediately catching the word.

Everyone's heads turned.

And there, standing silently behind Shi Yan like a grim mountain, was Ku Rong.

His arms crossed.

Expression stiff.

But his presence was clear.

Solidarity.

Shi Yan and Ku Rong—together.

When did this happen?

How long had Shi Yan been planning?

How did he convince the butcher?

The team wasn't fractured anymore.

It was being rewritten.

Right in front of them.

"Alright, butcher," Su Xiaobai exhaled, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if tired of everyone's IQ. "You can stop pretending now."

The words dropped like thunder.

Shi Yan blinked, confused for a second.

Then his face twisted into a glare.

"You think just strength is enough to sway people?!" He sneered. "We, the Light Church, can offer far more—Augh!"

BAM!

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Shi Yan's words cut off mid-boast as a heavy kick slammed into his back.

Sent flying like a slapped chicken, he crashed into the blood-soaked ground with a pathetic grunt.

Everyone stared.

Even Deng Lei's mouth fell slightly open.

Su Xiaobai sighed.

Loudly.

"Idiot. I didn't need to sway Ku Rong." He shook his head. "He was with me the whole time."

Shi Yan struggled on the ground, coughing violently, eyes wide with disbelief.

And then—

Something stranger happened.

The "corpse" of Lan Tian, lying sprawled across the ground—

Flickered, and faded, like mist dispersing under a sunbeam.

Leaving behind nothing.

It was never a body.

It was a puppet.

In that same instant—Swish.

A figure appeared, behind Su Xiaobai, silently, like a ghost.

It was, Lan Tian.

Very much alive, very much angry, he bowed slightly toward Su Xiaobai, face solemn.

"Thanks, Brother Su... I owe you my life."

He said it loud enough for everyone to hear. "Once my mission is complete, my life is yours to command."

Shi Yan lay on the ground, face pale, horror blooming in his eyes.

He had tried to pull a betrayal.

And instead—

He walked straight into Su Xiaobai's spiderweb.

Lan Tian's brow furrowed deeply.

The fury burning in his gaze was undeniable.

He stared at Shi Yan with pure hatred.

"You dared to try and kill me... In front of everyone..."

His fists clenched.

Had it not been for Su Xiaobai's warning—had he not swapped himself with a puppet—he would be a corpse by now.

Meanwhile, Shi Yan on the ground, face twisting in horror as the truth settled around him like chains.

Lan Tian alive.

Ku Rong standing against him.

Everyone staring.

The betrayal reversed.

The power flipped.

Shi Yan's teeth clenched, a cornered rat bites hardest, and this priest had nothing left but madness. He stumbled to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth.

Eyes wild.

Hands shaking—but not with fear.

With resolve.

"You think this is over?!" Shi Yan howled, spiritual energy suddenly igniting around him. Golden light—harsh and twisted—flared from his body, bathing the field in a sick, broken sunlight.

"I AM BLESSED BY THE LIGHT!

IF I DIE, I'M TAKING ALL OF YOU WITH ME!!"

"Shi Yan, don't—!" Deng Lei shouted, stepping forward instinctively.

But it was too late.

A burning sigil appeared over Shi Yan's heart, spinning madly, releasing waves of corrupted Light Qi so strong it made even Ku Rong frown.

Lan Tian's hand twitched toward his blade, Nalan Yufei and Yu Feng raised their guards. Shi Yan roared, raising both hands.

The golden light above him condensed into a massive spear—jagged, unstable, dripping with corrupted divinity.

"DIE! DIE WITH ME!!"

He hurled the spear toward them—

A suicidal, last-ditch divine attack.

It tore through the space with a shriek, light warping around its edges.

And then—

The ground behind Shi Yan split open.

"GRROOOOOOOAAAAHHH—!!"

Hands.

Dozens of them.

Pale, rotting, clawed hands burst out of the earth behind him, grabbing at his legs, arms, waist.

Ghouls.

Twisted souls—remnants of the city.

Their faces still traces of their former humanity.

Once holy.

Now monstrous.

"W-what—?!" Shi Yan gasped, trying to move.

Too late.

SNAP!

CRUNCH!

The ghouls dragged him down into the blood-soaked ground like wolves pulling down a deer.

His desperate scream cut through the air—

"NOOOOOOOOOO—!"

The golden spear collapsed mid-flight, breaking apart into pitiful sparks as its master was ripped limb from limb.

The ground swallowed him whole.

Only silence remained, the group stood frozen.

Staring, blinking, processing.

"...Well," Su Xiaobai said, tossing away his fruit core. "That's one way to deal with him."

A long moment of silence.

Even Ku Rong looked unsettled.

Then, from the distance—

The city's gates creaked open.

A long, slow groan.

Revealing nothing.

Just… empty streets.

Mist curling along polished white stones.

No life.

No sound.

Only the faint smell of death hidden beneath the fake purity.

"This city..." Lan Tian muttered, voice grim and shaking. "...It's already dead."