Qin Luo, do you plead guilty?!"
On the high platform, a cold-faced elder thundered, jolting Qin Luo awake.
He stared blankly at the surrounding hall, at those unfamiliar yet strangely familiar faces, and could only accept one fact: he had transmigrated.
He'd just gone to the hospital for a circumcision… and then died?
He couldn't accept it, but whether he accepted it or not changed nothing.
He had crossed into another world and become the Holy Son of Tai Xu Holy Land.
"Did I die because I was too weak and end up dumped in Tai Xu Holy Land…?"
"Qin Luo, what are you muttering about! This elder is asking you—do you admit your guilt or not?!" The Law Enforcement Hall elder on the high platform barked again. A powerful aura swept down toward Qin Luo, making him stagger, almost forcing him to his knees.
Several elders on the high platform frowned, wanting to speak up, but after glancing at the Holy Master—who sat with eyes closed, saying nothing—they all held their tongues.
Qin Luo, still unfamiliar with this body's strength, barely managed to keep his footing. He looked up at the elder and said in a low, steady voice, "I am innocent."
"Heh." The Law Enforcement Hall elder sneered.
"Whether you are guilty or not is not for you to decide. With witnesses and material evidence before us, you have no choice but to confess!"
Qin Luo cursed inwardly. "Then why the hell are you asking me? Are you stupid?"
He had already skimmed through the relevant memories. Someone had accused him of killing a fellow disciple in a secret realm and seizing Tai Xu Holy Land's incomplete sacred artifact—the Tai Xu Bell.
"Senior Brother, it's come to this and you still won't admit your guilt?"
The speaker was a woman in a light gauze dress, with crescent brows and eyes like autumn water—stunning and spellbinding.
In her gaze toward Qin Luo there was anger at his stubbornness. "Senior Brother, as long as you plead guilty, the Holy Master will definitely spare your life. At worst, he'll cripple your cultivation and expel you from the Holy Land."
Her name was Liu Ruyan, Saintess of Tai Xu Holy Land, daughter of the Holy Master, and—according to this body's memories—Qin Luo's fiancée.
No, to be precise, she used to be his fiancée. Now it seemed that tie had already been quietly severed.
"Senior Brother, I know you resent me and the Saintess, but even so, it's no reason for you to defect to the Demon Sect and collude with the Demon Sect Saintess!"
A man with bright eyes, sword-like brows, and a delicate, handsome face stepped forward. As he looked at Qin Luo, a flash of smugness passed through his eyes—one that only Qin Luo noticed.
"Qin Luo colluded with the Demon Sect Saintess to slaughter our Holy Land disciples. He must have done it to cultivate the Demon Sect's cultivation technique. Those senior brothers had all their bones and blood drained. Qin Luo must have cultivated the Demon Sect's legendary technique, the Devouring Heaven Magic Skill! Yes, that must be it!"
"I think Qin Luo didn't act on impulse at all. He definitely planned this long ago. Maybe he isn't an orphan at all, but a spy the Demon Sect planted in our Tai Xu Holy Land!"
The disciples let their imaginations run wild and began attacking Qin Luo with words one after another.
"Qin Luo openly broke into the Holy Land's forbidden ground, killed the disciples guarding it, and stole the Tai Xu Bell. That alone is a capital crime. He must pay with his blood!" one disciple spat through clenched teeth, madness and killing intent blazing in his eyes as he glared at Qin Luo.
His brother had been one of the disciples guarding the forbidden ground. For his brother's death, he and Qin Luo now shared a blood feud.
"The Four Symbols Swordplay that was stolen from the Scripture Pavilion a year ago must have been Qin Luo's doing as well!"
"Junior Sister Ling'er was raped and murdered ten years ago. That must also have been Qin Luo!"
With so many hateful glares fixed on him, Qin Luo almost started to believe it himself.
"Did I read this memory wrong? Is there some hidden side quest I haven't unlocked?"
Then he thought it through. No—ten years ago he was only eight. Eight! He'd just started second grade in elementary school. How could he have possibly done something that depraved?
So it was all slander. They were just kicking a man when he was down.
And the reason was obvious.
He, Qin Luo, was an orphan his master had picked up from outside. His talent had been dazzling from a young age, and before the age of twenty he'd already reached the sixth cultivation realm—the Divine Ability Realm.
He had overwhelmed all his peers to become the Holy Son of Tai Xu Holy Land and gotten engaged to Liu Ruyan, the Holy Land's Saintess. He truly was a winner in life.
But precisely because he shone too brightly, he provoked envy and jealousy from all sides. Now that he had fallen from the altar, everyone naturally took the chance to trample him.
Slander cost them nothing and now poured over Qin Luo like a tidal wave.
"Qin Luo, three days ago I lost my underwear—did you steal it?!"
"Qin Luo, eighteen years ago my family of thirty-six was massacred. Was that you?!"
"Qin Luo, my dog Fido was poisoned to death. I'm sure you did it!"
The more they talked, the more outrageous it became.
On the high platform, the Holy Master of Tai Xu finally could not bear it any longer. His voice rang out, cold and majestic. "Enough."
With one word from the Holy Son's father and Tai Xu's master, the entire hall fell silent.
He turned his gaze down to Qin Luo. "Qin Luo, the Law Enforcement Hall elder accuses you of killing fellow disciples, colluding with the Demon Sect Saintess, and stealing the sacred artifacts of my Tai Xu Holy Land. Is this true?"
"Answer me truthfully."
Qin Luo opened his mouth to refute him—but at that moment a voice sounded in his mind, and he froze.
[System loading]
[System loaded successfully]
[Super Villain System at your service]
[People should have dreams. As a villain, you should have dreams even more. The ultimate dream of a villain is to suppress the Heavenly Dao, transcend the Heavenly Dao, suppress all heavens, control billions of living beings, and stand alone at the peak! You must dare to dream—what if it comes true?]
[Is it slander or fact—does it matter?]
Qin Luo was about to blurt out, "Of course it matters!"
[What matters is what others think. Once a rift appears, even if it is mended, it will never be what it was.]
[Admit the slander, and your dream will begin.]
[You will receive a starter gift package.]
"System, you're not trying to scam me, are you?"
"This storyline of mine screams 'protagonist' no matter how you look at it. And you're telling me you're a Villain System? Are you kidding me? What can you even do for me?"
[As long as the host obtains enough Luck, the System can help the host raise cultivation and combat power, and help the host obtain heaven-defying physiques, bloodlines, cultivation techniques, legacies, and so on.]
"If I admit it, they're not going to kill me on the spot, right?" Qin Luo swallowed and asked.
[Isn't life just a series of choices?]
[Choice matters more than effort. Choice One: Admit the slander, bind the Super Villain System, and receive a starter gift package.]
[Choice Two: Staunchly deny it, and the System will leave you.]
[The System will count to three. Host, please make your choice as soon as possible.]
"Damn it…" Qin Luo felt his heart race.
Seeing Qin Luo stand there in a daze, the Holy Master's expression instantly darkened with anger.
The Law Enforcement Hall elder at his side immediately jumped out, pointing at Qin Luo and rebuking, "Qin Luo, why do you not answer the Holy Master? Are you guilty or not?!"
Qin Luo slowly looked up at the high and mighty figures of the Holy Land, a faint smile curling his lips. Then he spoke words that shocked everyone present.
"Yes, yes, yes—everything you said is right. It was all done by me, Qin Luo."