I Am the Fated Villain

Chapter 1787. Someone once called her “Mengze” — I will always be by your side

When fine wine and beautiful dew meet at dawn, it surpasses countless moments in the mortal world.

To Moon Mingkong, this embrace felt as though it had spanned countless epochs and ages. She lowered her head into his chest, the faint yet familiar and comforting scent lingering at the tip of her nose. Her flawless jade-like face was tinged with faint blushes of warmth and longing.

Gu Changge held her quietly in his arms, gently stroking her long hair like cascading clouds. His deep, abyss-like eyes closed slightly, his heart unusually calm and at peace.

This warmth before him felt more dependable and reassuring than anything he had ever known.

Neither of them spoke.

No words were needed. Their long-standing tacit understanding and mutual connection meant that a glance or a small gesture was enough to understand each other’s thoughts.

After a long while, Moon Mingkong finally lifted her head from his embrace and looked at Gu Changge’s close, refined face.

Her peerless, painting-like beauty was filled with tenderness and affection.

At that moment, she was no longer the cold and majestic Empress who looked down upon the world. Instead, she seemed like an ordinary wife—someone who cooks warm meals and prepares wine, sews clothes and boots, waiting for her husband to return home.

Gu Changge opened his eyes and looked at her immortal-like face, smiling faintly.

A blush rose on Moon Mingkong’s flawless cheeks. Her long eyelashes trembled, and suddenly she leaned forward, her slender jade arms wrapping around his neck.

Gu Changge lowered his head and responded to her.

“Let’s go back to the bedroom…” Moon Mingkong murmured softly, her gaze hazy and unclear.

A wave of spatial fluctuation passed, and their figures vanished from the spot.

Several days later, after the clouds cleared and the storm passed.

Within the palace atop the World Tree, immortal mist drifted and curtains swayed, like a realm of paradise.

On the immortal bed, Moon Mingkong casually wore a thin gauze-like robe, leaning against the bedside. Gu Changge lay with his eyes slightly closed, resting his head on her lap.

Moon Mingkong gently massaged his temples while listening to him recount recent events in the boundless expanse.

Gu Changge’s voice was calm and gentle. Matters that could shake the entire expanse and terrify countless sects and forces were described by him as if they were trivial everyday conversations.

Moon Mingkong knew his strength, so she was not worried about anything he had done. Their conversation felt like idle talk over tea after a meal.

Of course, for Gu Changge, most of it truly wasn’t worth elaborating on. But to reassure her, he still narrated them one by one.

However, many matters involving vast implications or complex entanglements were omitted. He only mentioned that he had established the Patching Heaven Alliance in the expanse and was continuously expanding it.

Moon Mingkong knew he had once been the Demon Lord, but she did not know much about his life before that.

So his creation of the Patching Heaven Alliance—almost as if he intended to defy the heavens—still puzzled her slightly.

But regardless of what Gu Changge decided, she would support him and always stand by his side.

During her seclusion, she also told him about her own experiences and doubts. Although the Great Dream Returning Immortal Technique was self-created, as her cultivation deepened, she gradually discovered something strange—it seemed not to be something she had truly created, but something already present in her memory from the very beginning.

She did not know why she possessed this technique, nor why she would, during cultivation, return to the past and traverse the river of time.

In her dreams, she seemed to transform into a naive and instinct-driven river, born from a void of chaos. Guided only by instinct, she flowed through countless places—chaotic battlefields, peaceful paradises, ancient war zones, and unknown, murky eras.

Later, she settled in a place whose name she did not know, no longer flowing, becoming a vast lake.

As her consciousness gradually clarified, she heard people calling her “Mengze.” Her branches spread across countless worlds, flowing silently through the dreams of all living beings across every corner of spacetime. She became a silent observer, witnessing the joys, sorrows, hatred, and emotions of all beings.

She did not know how long this lasted.

Until one day, she vaguely heard a voice—obscure and profound, ancient and distant, like chanting some indescribable scripture, or narrating something beyond comprehension.

When she awoke again, she saw a simple ancient scripture lying in the center of Mengze.

Following the contents recorded within it, she began a confused, instinctive form of cultivation.

“After that, my memories become unclear. But I only remember that at that time, heaven and earth seemed not yet divided, and the myriad races had not yet been born…” Moon Mingkong said softly.

When she awakened again, she had already returned to the present era. And her cultivation had silently broken through into the Dao Realm—without her even noticing.

This left her confused, uncertain, and deeply uneasy.

“I am worried that when I wake up again, I might become someone unfamiliar… no longer myself,” Moon Mingkong whispered as she leaned against his chest.

“You won’t,” Gu Changge said gently, sitting up and holding her hand. “No one can take you away from me. No matter what you become, I will bring you back.”

From her story—and from what he had observed regarding the Dream Ember Era—he could infer something.

Before the birth of heaven and earth, before the primordial chaos was divided, there were already beings laying out plans. Or perhaps, from the future, someone had glimpsed uncertain causality and interfered with the past in order to change something.

The True Realm’s three Ancestors possessed such capabilities. To them, rewriting ancient history, reshaping chaos, or restarting creation was effortless.

What Gu Changge was certain of was this: someone had likely detected his arrangements and ambitions from a future timeline, and in response, set up countermeasures on his chosen timeline.

Moon Mingkong, Gu Xian’er, and even the women in his divine nation—all were potential weaknesses in this timeline.

They were his only vulnerabilities.

Of course, such schemes were extremely hidden, based only on glimpses of a possible future. If Gu Changge chose another timeline, or simply overturned the board and reset everything, the plan would collapse.

Uncertainty was absolute at their level. That was why such subtle arrangements were difficult to detect. But Gu Changge had a faint sense of danger—perhaps a variable in the future, even his possible downfall.

The three Ancestors could not see each other’s fates, but they could observe timelines related to themselves.

In their eyes, all beings beneath them were insignificant ants. When they chose to observe, no fate could escape their gaze.

Yet Gu Changge was certain. His current arrangements were flawless. Even if the other two Ancestors awakened and looked upon him from the True Realm, they would not see anything wrong. His identity itself was a constructed variable, wrapped in fog.

Even if the fog were cleared, what they would see would still be a future he had already fabricated.

Unless they continuously observed him, tracking every step and comparing timelines. But he would not allow that.

“Do you still remember the voice that recited that scripture?” Gu Changge asked.

Moon Mingkong frowned, trying to recall, then shook her head.

“I can’t remember clearly… but I only recall a figure shrouded in faint light. It seemed… like a woman.”

“A woman?”

Gu Changge’s eyes moved slightly, but he did not press further. He gently patted her back.

“I have left a mark on you. You don’t need to worry. If anything happens to you—or if your soul fluctuates abnormally—I will know immediately. No matter which era or spacetime you are in, I will come for you.”

Moon Mingkong’s soul had never changed. She was still herself.

Rather, her power was simply returning—like fragments scattered through time finding their origin again.

The Great Dream Returning Immortal Technique was more like retrieving lost power through dreams and past timelines.

“If you are here, I am not afraid,” she said softly.

She knew she would soon fall into seclusion again.

And Gu Changge knew this too.

“That’s why I came back,” he said. “The Daochang True Realm will soon connect with the expanse. I will bring the entire divine nation with me. Wherever you are, I will be by your side.”

Moon Mingkong smiled softly, her expression serene. Then suddenly, she tilted her head slightly, a hint of playfulness in her gaze.

“Changge… now that I’ve reached the Dao Realm… can we have a child?”

Gu Changge paused, slightly startled. He had never considered such a thing.

Moon Mingkong chuckled softly. “I was just saying it casually. My body is special now… even if I conceive, I may not have time to nurture it.”

She paused, then added gently, “But Yin Mei and Chu Chu… perhaps…”

Gu Changge shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later. The expanse is still unstable. I don’t want my descendants to be born into chaos.”

Moon Mingkong nodded without objection.

After a moment, she smiled again.

“Then you should go see Chu Chu and the others. They’ve probably been waiting anxiously.”

Outside the divine nation, Gu Changge’s return had already spread everywhere.

Jiang Chuchu, Wang Zijin, Yin Mei and others had all arrived. The palace was filled with laughter and voices.

In the courtyard, beside a clear immortal lake, Gu Changge spent the next few days accompanying them—boating, wandering, living like an ordinary mortal.

Moon Mingkong even personally cooked, sleeves rolled up, preparing delicacies.

At night, bonfires flickered, illuminating the lake and sky. The women quickly became drunk on immortal wine, swaying and laughing.

Gu Changge had no choice but to send them back one by one.

Only when he reached Wang Zijin did she suddenly “wake up,” smiling faintly as she sat there, eyes bright like starlight—clearly pretending to be drunk.

Another sleepless night.