Reborn As The Villain

It was a starry night.

The night was thick with clouds, hiding the trees in darkness, while snow blanketed the landscape as far as the eye could see. A biting chill filled the air seeping through every layer of clothing, thinly dressed or otherwise. Each step through the heel deep snow broke the silence with a crisp crunch, the only sound in the frozen stillness.

A light could be seen in the distance, coming from another person's lantern. There were no worries to avoid patrols since this location is known only to a few.

Nearing that light was a tall woman draped in only a black kimono, the snow leaving her unaffected by its biting frost. When looking closely, one would notice a faint white energy surrounding the woman's body that gave off the smell of herbs.

To the uninformed, this mysterious woman had rubbed mysterious herbs over her clothes to create a ward that protected her against the cold and produced sufficient heat for her body. Arcane spells are alien to this world so she has to rely on other methods to make certain things more convenient and to help with her important work.

The woman stopped when she was mere inches outside the other person's lantern light. Upon hearing her, said person turned off the lantern, revealing a porcelain beauty with sky-blue hair that leaned more on white. She was wearing a scarf and a hooded robe but it was evident in her rubbing her hands together that those were useless against the snow.

The woman took out a pouch, put her hand inside and threw some kind of dust on the young girl. Her freezing breath vanished and she stopped shivering. When she was about to thank the woman, said woman went "let's just get this meeting over with before the road patrols start getting too curious".

"Thank you for coming out to meet me again, Madam Lian." The young girl bowed gracefully.

She had the face of a maiden no older than 17 and looked like a sheltered noble girl—well, that is clearly what she was.

"I hoped your brother would rest a little before continuing his training." The woman said grimly, "Training to the point of breaking his whole body down, only to ask for miracle drugs from me, is not healthy. It will have dire consequences in his old age."

"…He knows that too, Madam Lian. It hurts me to see him so dedicated…" The girl said softly in a tiny voice.

"Kohana, I need you to keep an eye on how many times he takes this drug. It's supposed to be 1 pill after every meal. We met just two days ago so it's suspicious how the last batch is already done when I made enough for five days."

"Kohana" awkwardly averted her eyes and tried to grab the pouch but Lian held it back.

"Do you know something about that?" Lian pressed the issue ahead.

"I… I'm sorry… I-I was so convinced by him telling me exceeding the dosage will make his body stronger that I…"

"…" Lian held out the pouch again, "It's good that I caught wind of this early on. This drug is only meant to refine broken bones and strengthen torn muscles through the miracle of healing. It is not meant to improve your abilities through the ceiling, only mastering your internal energy, natural growth and training can do that."

"What about talent?" Kohana took the pouch and quickly put it away.

"Yes, that too. But we can't rely on talent when we have two tyrannical overlords breathing down our necks."

One of them being the one that killed her father, the emperor.

Kohana bit her lip upon imagining that man's face.

"No one else will tell you this so I will be the one to do so: Your brother will not make it out of this alive even if he manages to win against Ko Johun. He is already pushing his body to the absolute limit for the sake of martial arts."

There is a big difference between the gifted and normal people when it comes to potential and power.

"He told me he still needs to do it because no one else can…"

Kohana has searched for strong warriors far and wide, few capable of fighting alongside Rasuke but all of whom had absurd demands. Their savings are almost gone and Kohana couldn't use the royal treasure to fund a revolution when its purpose is to rebuild.

"He's prioritizing his revenge, isn't he? I know this because he hasn't once said that he'll save everyone, only that he'll kill Ko Johun."

"…"

"Princess, I think it's best if you make preparations to leave this empire in the event that your brother dies."

"But that's… This is my home…!"

"What do you think will happen to you when your brother dies? The one who protects you? There are corrupt and evil people in this world who would like nothing more than to turn a princess like you into their plaything. Don't even trust your closest allies because we never know if they're acting friendly only because of your brother who is still alive to protect you."

"…Yes, Lian…"

"There is something else I wish to tell you. I think it's best if we stop meeting for the time being, Kohana." At Lian's words, Kohana frowned.

"Why!? My brother needs these supplements for training!"

"I know that… It's just impossible to move around without making the patrols suspicious at the moment," Lian looked around to make sure they were safe even though she knew it was very difficult for anyone besides the two of them to get to this specific part of the forest, "If the heat doesn't die down then Johun might assign a guard to watch my every move. I can't have that."

"…It's so frustrating knowing you're working for that man."

"I have no choice. I need to act as a double agent for the revolution."

The chieftain (of the village Lian currently resides in) agreed some time ago to assist Kohana's brother in destroying Ko Johun's army. Of course, that's only once Ko himself is killed. He agreed on the condition that Lian, the most brilliant doctor in all the lands, gathers information for him. That proves to be difficult since Lian isn't well-liked by the outer circle nobles.

They need to know how many outposts of Ko's men there are, their locations, schedules, when Ko's security unit is at its weakest and many more. To know all this, she'd need to get a high-ranking officer to trust her.

"I'll come do a physical check on your brother in four days. I need to make sure his body is capable of absorbing more Ki and able to cultivate further."

"Yes, I understand." Kohana bowed, "He won't take this news lightly. We need you, Madam Lian. He says that every day spent not training is wasted."

"Tell your idiot brother that rest is just as important." Lian continued, "I want you to control his dosages from now on. If you still want to learn the path of becoming a healer under my guidance, never give in to his pleas and puppy eyes. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Lian smiled and was about to move on to a lighter topic—mainly to focus on Kohana's fiancée—but a boom suddenly alerted the two of them. It was coming right from Lian's village.

"Blue fire!" Kohana cried out.

!!

"Kohana, go back home! We'll speak again soon!" Lian ran without waiting for an answer.

That blue fire could only mean one thing—forces of Funiji Kaijin, the Fire Serpents, somehow made it into these lands that was protected by Ko Johun's forces.

There should be patrols near the village so how could Funiji's forces make it that far? Unless… they killed the patrols.

'But this has to be impossible…!' Lian ran through the trees, hoping she makes it in time to save her "spirit ingredients" that were exceedingly difficult to obtain, 'Every single one of Ko Johun's men are already at the Earthly Ascendant Realm!'

The "Earthly Ascendant Realm" is three tiers below the Divine Dao rank which Ko Johun and Funiji Kaijin belong to. Above that would be the God King realm which is exclusive to Martial Gods.

The "Earthly Ascendant Realm" might be far weaker than the peak of the martials but it was way above the rank of human. The only Earthly Ascendant human among them would be the chief who was a retired martial artist that served in Kohana's father's army some decades ago.

Kohana's brother would be above him, at the Tribulation Crossing realm. The two of them were humanity's trump cards at the moment.

'If the chieftain retaliates then they'll kill him!'

Lian finally arrived at the entrance of the forest, that was blocked off by vines and roots. There was a circular rune floating in front of her. She took out a big crystal and hit it against the rune circle. An audible crunch resounded before the forest path was open to her.

Without a moment's delay, Lian made it outside, the sounds of screams reaching her ears first. She could see the back of the village and hurriedly ran down the path.

This was strange. Those screams weren't of women or children (who were the majority residents in this big village since nearly all the young and capable men were sent out to join armies against their will).

These screams sounded like that of young men. Lian creeped up to a nearby house to spectate the situation.

"—Ack! My leg!"

"Quit whining. You were the one who attacked these people first."

Standing on the leg of a Fire Serpent army soldier was a tall young man with silver hair and golden eyes.

'…Who is that?'

Lian noticed that there were several other Fire Serpent soldiers surrounding the man but all of them were hesitant to approach, only able to point their blades at him. Who is this man to be able to make Earthly Ascendents hesitate to attack?

"D-Doctor! Run!" one of the villager women called out to Lian, "They want to take you! Run away!"

"!"

"There she is!" a soldier shouted and ran towards her with incredible speed, "Come with us quietly or we'll take one of your limbs!"

Lian didn't even realize at the last second that he appeared in front of her and was about to grab her. However, his head was smashed into the concrete wall next to her, his brain matter splattering everywhere.

It was the silver-haired young man. His glowing golden eyes looked at her with a frown, or rather above her head, whispering something she couldn't hear, "So, you're the one who created it…"

A shadow appeared above the man—one of the assassins who accompanied the soldiers. His poison daggers sliced through wind as the young man disappeared.

"Hn?" this time, a shadow appeared above the assailant with Lian thinking in that moment that he was a giant fighting with ants, "Eek!" before the assailant could escape, the man struck his acupuncture points with tremendous speed, rendering him limp for the moment. He grabbed the assailant by his cloak and dragged him towards the center of the village.

"The one who gives me the answer I'm looking for will get to live." The young man threw the assassin to the ground. Said assassin could try to escape once the feeling in his legs return but that would prove difficult given how fast the young man is.

"I heard there's a pure martial arts book here—where can I find it?"