"Before the world hated me, they forgot I ever existed. That was their first mistake."
---
[Flashback – Thirteen Years Ago | Eastern Palace – Spring Courtyard]
The blossom trees had been in full bloom the day the Empress first looked past him.
A boy of five sat beneath the peach tree, knees scraped, hands muddied with garden soil. In his palm, a crushed blossom. He held it out with all the gravity a child could muster.
"Mother," he said.
But the woman in crimson robes regal, perfect, adorned in sunstone and jade did not turn.
She took the hand of a child standing beside her instead. Crown Prince Xie Yan, flawless even then, beaming with jade-slicked pride.
The Empress leaned down to fix a loose strand of his hair, whispering something soft.
Xie Lan stood frozen, his blossom wilting in his fist.
---
[Back to Present – Imperial Academy, West Garden Library]
The scent of incense clung to the scrolls like dust. Xie Lan read by moonlight not for knowledge, but remembrance.
He traced a finger along the sigil on his neck. Still faintly visible. Still cursed.
> [System Notification: Optional Lore Thread – "The Cursed Sigil of House Xie"] Unlocked: Origin Memory Fragment (1/3)
He allowed it to play.
---
[Memory Fragment – Forbidden Chamber, Year 972]
A concubine screams. Candles flicker. A physician stumbles back, face pale.
The child's first cry shatters the air. But it is followed by silence. Not from the babe but the gathered ministers.
"Burn it off," one whispers.
"No," another says. "Seal it. It is Heaven's will."
The sigil glows crimson — three fangs, curling like smoke, etched across the newborn's skin.
"It is the Mark of the Cursed Flame," says an old seer. "One destined to devour their own house."
The Emperor does not look upon the child. "Let him live," he says. "But keep him far from the throne."
---
[Present – Imperial Academy, Meditation Pavilion]
Xie Lan opened his eyes slowly.
He had been born damned. And yet he still stood.
Across the garden, a bell rang signaling private cultivation hours. Students shuffled toward their sect-houses, whispers trailing in their wake.
Two boys paused when they saw him sitting alone.
"That's the one who destroyed Li Rong."
"No, that was some dark clone technique... must be demonic."
Xie Lan said nothing. Let the rumors stew. Fear was a useful fertilizer.
> [Villain Reputation +15 | Alignment Shift: Neutral Evil ➝ Calculated Evil]
---
[Elsewhere – Crown Prince's Residence]
Xie Yan stood before a shattered mirror. Servants kept their eyes lowered as he ground a jade comb into shards.
"He's dangerous now," he muttered. "He was supposed to disappear."
A soft voice behind him: "Then make him disappear again."
Li Meiyan stepped forward from the shadows, her face serene. "Do you remember the Crimson Orchid Trials?"
He narrowed his eyes. "That nearly killed me."
She smiled, brushing a lock of hair from her cheek. "Then it's perfect."
---
[Next Morning – Imperial Academy, South Pavilion]
A sealed scroll arrived with golden thread. Official. Signed by the Imperial Empress herself.
To: Prince Xie Lan
Subject: Nomination to Represent House Xie in the Crimson Orchid Trials
Location: Moonshadow Gorge
Timeline: Depart in 2 days.
> [System Alert: Major Arc Triggered – "Crimson Orchid Trials"]
Difficulty: Deadly
Survival Rate in Past Cycles: 32%
Potential Rewards: ???
System Note: Trial begins outside Imperial Jurisdiction. All deaths are unpunishable.
Yue read the scroll twice, pale.
"They're trying to kill you."
"I know."
"But they sent an official seal."
"I'll wear it like a crown."
Xie Lan folded the scroll carefully, then turned to the mirror.
"The trials will be my crucible," he said.
He pressed two fingers to the mirror.
> [New Objective: Survive the Crimson Orchid Trials | Optional Objective: Kill 1 Imperial Candidate]
His reflection stared back, cold and resolute.
"And when I return... I'll remind them why they feared me in the first place."
Rain whispered across the palace rooftops, drumming like a quiet war drum against the jade tiles. Thunder growled low above the capital, echoing the tension curling through the Eastern Empire's veins. Within the walls of the Imperial Martial Academy, time felt thinner like the hush before a blade is drawn.
Inside a sealed meditation chamber, Xie Lan sat cross-legged, unmoving, his robes drenched in sweat. The air around him shimmered faintly with spiritual distortion. Candles flickered wildly on every side, their flames pulled toward him, as if gravity itself bent to his will. The tension in the air was palpable, as though even the spirits held their breath.
> [Villain System Notification: Internal Stabilization Phase]
Progress: 73% Qi Condensation Complete
He opened his eyes.
"Faster than before," he murmured, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "But not fast enough."
The memory of his execution still lingered at the back of his mind, Li Meiyan's trembling voice, the Crown Prince's cold sneer, the Emperor's silence. No nightmare compared.
He rose to his feet and summoned the System Panel.
> Host: Xie Lan
Age: 18 (Reborn)
Current Cultivation: Mid-Qi Condensation
Status: Reinstated Academy Candidate (Outer Compound)
Title: Petty Royal Scum / Reborn Failure
Reputation: -24
Villain Points: 65
> Active Techniques:
Shadow Lotus Technique (Lv. 1)
Shadow Cloak (Stealth Class)
Mind Mirror Cloak (Passive)
Ashen Flame Root (Locked)
> Inventory:
Minor Soul Pill (1x)
Iron Thread Robe (Low Tier Spiritual Armor)
Crimson Orchid Invitation (Unread)
He tapped the unopened letter marked with the red orchid seal, a symbol of honor and brutality in equal measure.
[You are invited to participate in the Crimson Orchid Trials.]
Purpose: Selection of Elite Successors for the Eastern Court's Inner War Council
Participants: Sons of Nobles, Sect Heirs, and Crowned Royals
Location: Orchid Flame Pagoda
Status: Compulsory for all Royal Sons
Date: 5 Days
His fingers curled tightly around the edge of the scroll. The paper crackled beneath his grip.
The Crimson Orchid Trials.
He remembered them. A masked bloodbath dressed as tradition. In his first life, Xie Lan hadn't even qualified. His lack of cultivation, his weak status, his cursed mark they all made him a convenient exclusion. But now?
Now he would walk into the Pagoda not as a forgotten prince, but as a phantom rising from the grave.
The Trials were more than a test of strength. They were a political snare, woven with expectations. Fail, and the realm would forget you. Win, and you would earn a throne drenched in blood.
---
Xie Lan: Unveiled
That night, beneath a lone plum blossom tree, Xie Lan stood silently while Yue, his loyal servant, bandaged a shallow wound from training.
"You're quieter than usual, Your Highness," Yue murmured. "Even for you."
"I was remembering what they called me," he said. "The cursed prince. The walking omen."
"They were fools."
Xie Lan gave a thin smile, but his eyes remained cold.
He thought of the cursed sigil the three crimson fang marks etched at the nape of his neck. A birthmark that no healing could erase. The Emperor had never acknowledged its meaning, only its burden. Royal scholars once whispered it foretold rebellion. Others claimed it marked him as the harbinger of imperial collapse.
He'd been isolated since he could walk. Tutors avoided him. Servants crossed themselves. Even concubines whispered that his mother had died because of the curse.
He'd grown up behind veils of silence and scorn, in quarters so forgotten even the rats left in search of better fortune. His childhood wasn't merely lonely—it was a study in abandonment.
But in that pain, something else had been forged an obsession. He had once sought approval. Love. Now he sought power.
Because approval was given. Power was taken.
---
Personality | Flame Behind the Eyes
Xie Lan's silence was not meekness. It was discipline. Precision. His rage did not explode; it simmered until it carved worlds.
He had no illusions of heroism. He had seen what love brought him: betrayal. What mercy earned: exile. What trust invited: execution.
The Villain System chose him because it reflected him.
Where others hesitated, he acted.
Where others played games, he moved kingdoms.
Where others begged for scraps, he made blades of every word.
There was still a boy inside him once kind, once hopeful. But he had buried that version beneath ten years of ashes and sharpened bones.
Beneath every measured word was a blade. Behind every smile, a snare.
---
Cultivation | Tools of Vengeance
He progressed faster than he should. Not only due to talent, but because the System bypassed the common bottlenecks. Each act of villainy, each clever humiliation, each reversed trap empowered him.
But cultivation wasn't just numbers. It was philosophy. It demanded purpose. And his purpose was war.
His chosen path: Shadow Flame Doctrine — a heretical fusion of deception, illusion, and flame. Banned in most sects. Feared in the Hidden Court.
His techniques:
Shadow Lotus Technique created phantom strikes from afterimages, confusing enemies mid-battle.
Shadow Cloak allowed him to vanish in combat, especially during nocturnal duels or assassinations.
Mind Mirror Cloak blocked minor spiritual probes, keeping his thoughts and emotions shielded.
Ashen Flame Root, still locked, was tied to his cursed blood a forbidden flame that devoured both qi and soul. It could not be learned. Only awakened.
He practiced with bone-deep obsession. Drilled even when others slept. Fought when others feasted. Because he knew the Trials would not reward talent.
They would reward monsters.
---
Enemies | Thrones of Rotten Gold
His world was a nest of blades.
Crown Prince Xie Yan: The golden heir. Polished, flawless, sadistic. He killed Xie Lan once with a smile. Idolized by the Empire. Beloved by the Emperor. The only true rival.
Li Meiyan: Former lover. Crown Princess. Intelligent, ruthless. She placed the sword in his chest. Her betrayal still echoed in his bones. Once she called him "Lan-ge" with warmth. Now, he would make her whisper it in fear.
The Emperor: Indifferent. A master of masks. May know more about the curse than he pretends. A puppeteer cloaked in godhood.
Zhao Heng: Noble brute. Easily manipulated. First stepping stone. He would fall again.
Each played a part in the tragedy of his first life. Now, they would play roles in his opera of destruction.
---
The Path Forward
"Yue," he said that night, voice low, "do you know why the empire deserves to fall?"
Yue blinked, startled. "Your Highness?"
"Because its roots are already dead. And the palace walls are painted with lies."
He looked up at the moon. It was pale. Cold. Watching.
"Let them call me cursed," he said. "Let them call me villain. It only means they never learned the name of the storm."
In the distance, a bell rang three times. The mark of a royal summons.
The Crimson Orchid Trials loomed.
And Xie Lan was ready to write history with blood.