The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Ye Xiao remembered the name of the debuff clearly—"The Blind Man's Dedication".

A small number of players who made the right choice received double the positive buff, but even though Li Cheng had taken precautions to prevent the Seven Luminaries from all choosing the same crown prince, most of them still made the wrong choice in the end.

This also became the opportunity for the Seven Stars to set sail from the familiar Stormport and leave the Empire to develop.

However, now that the second prince has passed away, it is estimated that it will become a struggle for the throne among four princes.

Ye Xiao was a little conflicted, wondering if there would be a new Lilia available to choose from.

Of course, these are all things to come later. What is related to the painting in front of us is a series of murders that occurred in the capital during the Five Princes' Struggle for the Throne.

The security situation in the capital was not as bad as in Stormport, but with the death of the king and the political infighting among the nobles, order gradually collapsed.

Against this backdrop, an attack targeting players occurred.

Local residents don't usually care much about the lives of travelers from another world. Players themselves know that everyone's life is like duckweed, and friends added today might be deleted tomorrow, their names turning gray and never to be seen again.

But the killer's methods were too brutal. Adventurers who were disemboweled were hung on the top floors of buildings in the streets, and even breakfast vendors had their intestines pecked off by crows and hit on the head as soon as they went out.

Such blatant massacre, and the fact that every victim was a player targeted, quickly caused a huge uproar on the local forums.

However, Ye Xiao was in Storm Harbor at the time, so he could only keep up with the progress of the matter on the forum. In the end, it was the major player guilds in the Imperial City that joined forces and finally discovered that the perpetrators were also a group of strange players.

The mental state of these players after they were captured was not normal, and they did not come from the same guild. However, in the place where some of them lived for a long time, it was discovered that the floors and walls were covered with paintings similar to those Ye Xiao had just seen.

A human body pieced together from fragmented colors.

The portrait of the face is only one type; there are also torsos, limbs... Anyway, Ye Xiao felt somewhat uncomfortable looking at the crystal images left by the players of the Imperial City on the forum.

However, although the painting in front of me looks very similar, its author is a native of the area. Other people's mothers are still chatting in front of him. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that it's related to that incident.

Regardless of the circumstances, there was likely more to the story behind the mentally unstable group of players that the players discovered at the time, but Ye Xiao, who was far away in Stormport, could not find out what happened next.

Ye Xiao pondered for a moment, then bid farewell to the landlady and left the small hotel filled with a unique artistic atmosphere with Lucyville and Greta.

One of the reasons why the Seven Luminaries were not allowed to stay in Storm Harbor for too long and were to return to the capital the next day was the "Five Princes' Succession Struggle" incident.

They boarded the early morning ferry and crossed the dark strait, drifting back to the port of Nancheng.

After taking a carriage, upon arriving at the entrance of the Ocean Sanctuary, Ye Xiao suddenly looked at Greta and Lucyville with some confusion, "Speaking of which, why don't you two react at all when entering a place like a church?"

"Ah, why should there be a reaction?" Lucyville asked, blinking her clear, big eyes.

"No way, you're only thinking about this now?" Greta teased Ye Xiao's hair. "The magical environment in the sanctuary is indeed unfriendly to some low-ranking demons, but it's practically the same as nothing for us."

"If you want to see it, you can also let that idiot pray to the idol."

"Why me?" Lucyville complained.

"I was talking about an idiot, not you."

Lucy Villa was so angry that she jumped over to grab the kitten on Ye Xiao's shoulder, but the chubby body moved with agile steps, making it impossible for Lucy Villa to touch it at all.

"Hey you two, stop messing around on me!" Ye Xiao was forced to defend himself against Lucy Vivier's unintentional slap.

"Oh, Brother Ye, you're back." Li Cheng poked his head out from behind the door of the Ocean Sanctuary. "The commotion was so loud, it really was you."

"What are you saying?" Ye Xiao shrugged, patted Greta's head to calm her down, and went inside.

“But coincidentally, Miss Artorina just contacted me. The little girl we rescued from the underground lake has woken up,” Li Cheng said. “She said she has something to tell us. Shall we go check it out?... Hey, we probably don’t need to notify the Saintess again, right?”

Ye Xiao nodded, "No need. Where is Xi Ya now? Let's go there first."

Chapter Eleven: The Ring of Fate

Ye Xiao had not been unaware that the little girl, Xi Ya, would appear in Wind Chaser Fortress.

The fact that the man with the severed finger cooperated with the Full Moon Cult in the imperial city, sparing no effort to send a large number of people to hunt down this girl, already revealed her special nature.

In the underground of Wind Chaser Fortress, she was used as a backup plan in the blasphemous scheme of the fake saintess.

However, from the perspective of established deities like Gretia, they could not fully understand what made this girl so extraordinary. Therefore, Ye Xiao was also very puzzled as to why this girl was being relentlessly targeted by this series of strange forces.

Now that Sia is sitting among a circle of Seven Stars Society members, this question may finally be answered.

Perhaps it was the days of fleeing that left the little girl, exhausted from running around, with fear and worry in her eyes when she saw so many strangers.

"It's alright, Sia, let them see." Artoria comforted her gently, ruffling the little girl's light brown hair.

Perhaps it was seeing Ye Xiao's familiar face in the crowd that finally calmed Xia Ya's panicked heart, and she slowly stretched out one hand.

A white halo quietly floated out from her palm.

The halo gradually spread, forming a hollow ring, but its state seemed unstable, like a hazy smoke ring, sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing.

Spells? Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow, but it didn't seem to be something so simple.

“The Ring of Fate…!” Greta, sitting on Ye Xiao’s shoulders, exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh, this cat can actually talk?" Artorina exclaimed in surprise. "That's exactly what the Full Moon Order calls it."

"I'm not a cat!" the kitten retorted indignantly.

“To a normal person, it looks like a cat, right?” Ye Xiao patted Gradia’s head. “So what exactly is this?”

“The thread of fate I mentioned before extends to both the future and the past.” Greta raised her paw and pressed down on Ye Xiao’s hand, explaining, “Your future will extend into countless lines. Although your actions will cause fate to constantly converge, the unchosen thread of fate will not be annihilated, making your past a completely straight line.”

“Those lines of fate that you haven’t traversed don’t mean they haven’t happened; they actually exist in this world, and the window through which you can observe them is the Ring of Fate.”

"It's a bit hard to understand, to be honest." Ye Xiao rubbed his temples. "What's the point of this thing? Why are there different histories about it?"

“You could think of it as a force that corrects the course of this world.” Greta extended a claw and opened it. “Why do you think life came into being?”

"To be honest, I didn't expect to hear such philosophical questions in another world." Ye Xiao stroked his chin. "Because of coincidence? Ah, this is a magical world, uh, a creator god?"

“There are indeed gods who can create their own worlds, but if we look at the trajectory of a single life, this world is just a coincidence.” The kitten shook the five finger balls. “But if you have studied astrology or the spells of the prophetic school, you will have the opportunity to observe the results of multiple lines of fate at the same time, just like seeing these five fingers at the same time.”

"Then you will find that, despite the many possibilities of fate, certain things will always happen on different trajectories of fate."

"These are pivotal moments in life, such as the emergence of a country, the meeting of two people, or the appearance of a person in a certain place."

“The details of the guidance may differ, but the outcome of this event will not change.”

"You might suddenly feel a sense of familiarity with a situation that has never happened before, as if you've dreamed about it before. Or you might experience a low-probability event that happens exactly as you had a premonition, as if you knew it was going to happen and it did."

"These may be the turning points of fate, on a branch of history that has appeared before, where you in that branch have already encountered this event."

The kitten spoke slowly and deliberately, and it must be said that as the founder of the "Society of Original Sin," he really did have the demeanor of a scholar when he was serious.

Ye Xiao nodded as if he understood, then glanced at the Seven Stars Society members.

The expressions on the faces of this group of rough soldiers looked like they were in prison. They probably didn't expect that coming here just to see something interesting would turn into a class. If they had known, they would have been better off going to the city at the foot of the mountain to find some fun.

“The pivotal point of destiny is actually the world’s tacit structural plan for its development, just like the roots, stems, flowers and leaves of a plant. Each part must grow out before it can slowly form a complete individual.”

“But even if the key points are established, the development of the process is not necessarily the same. Therefore, different histories of the same world are born, like a group of carriages that are constantly racing. In this way, the world will not come to an end because of a mistake in a certain history,” Greta continued.

"Oh, so other worlds are backups with different paths... uh, maybe ours is a backup too." Ye Xiao nodded. "But only within this world? Hmm, doesn't that mean that the Greta incarnations that existed in other histories are also you?"

"Heh heh, you've found the key." The cat's whiskers twitched, revealing a sly smile. "It's possible that I've learned about a different you from other histories."

Ye Xiao's lips twitched slightly.

"Don't be nervous, hahaha. Observing other histories is not that simple, otherwise the Ring of Fate wouldn't be so rare." The kitten patted Ye Xiao's head. "Insight into knowledge that should not be insightful is itself a taboo. Interference with the deep mechanisms of the world is even more serious. The knowledge of different incarnations will be directly backfired and destroyed. In other words, the present world will not allow an individual who can span different histories to exist within it."

"However, I am also watching you from the real body, so don't worry, I'm just an avatar, hehehe."

"Look at that wicked smile of yours." Ye Xiao pouted and rubbed the cat's head hard, causing the cat to immediately bare its teeth and punch Ye Xiao's hand a few times.

However, the world does not allow for individuals to exist across the entirety of history... Hmm... So what about my situation...?

Ye Xiao felt a little numb. In a way, he should be considered an existence that spanned history, right? How come he wasn't directly annihilated by this world?

However, it seems that players don't actually have a "path of fate," because their fate doesn't belong to this world, so there's no concept of being "punished" by it...

Uh, so aren't they just bugs in how this world works?

Tens of millions of bugs... Could this be related to the end of the world in the previous life?

On the surface, it appears that the Holy Maiden of Blasphemy is leading the world toward destruction, but as Ye Xiao has come this far, he always feels that there seems to be something deeper, subtly influencing everything.

Chapter Twelve Parallel Histories

"Let's get back to the Ring of Fate. So, through this thing, it's possible to observe other parts of history within the limits allowed by the world?"

“You could say that, but it’s actually much more than just observation.” The kitten nodded. “Try putting your hand up there. Look how others’ hands get numb after holding it up for so long. Although you otherworldly travelers don’t have the Thread of Fate, some histories that already have your shadows might surface.”

Ye Xiao nodded and placed his hand on it under the gaze of everyone from the Seven Stars Society.

A white halo extends into a floating, irregular bubble, like a three-dimensional screen, on which images of changing light and shadow slowly emerge.

A blood moon hung high in the dark sky.

The shaky perspective seems to be traveling through a decaying city, with distorted and strange faces of elderly people on the gray marble walls along the way.

A group of people dressed in various equipment were wrapped in bandages and covered in mud and blood.

One of them was Ye Xiao, who looked somewhat weathered and was wearing a black trench coat. Compared to his current appearance, he looked much older.

His eyes seemed numb as he walked slowly with a few followers in a group that looked like mercenaries, through the dark streets, until they reached a crooked white tower.

"Holy crap, buddy, where have you gone? It's like hell!" Li Cheng exclaimed in a low voice as he looked on.

Ye Xiaochu was stunned when she saw it, and then immediately realized that this was the holy city where she reached the end in her previous life.

Wait... if the Holy City of the End has appeared, then wouldn't that mean...?

The view shifted slightly, and in the center of the plaza below the tower, a silver-haired girl sat atop the head of a statue of the God of Light that had been cut in half. She crossed one arm over her chest and rested the other on her fair cheek, her deep red, alluring eyes half-closed, as if she were observing the newcomer with great interest.

This behavior can no longer be considered blasphemy; it's downright disrespectful to the God of Light.

Fortunately, Freya and the Templars were still outside healing the wounded; otherwise, witnessing this scene might have driven them insane.

Ye Xiao immediately withdrew his hand, and the light and shadow flickered and dissipated.

"Ahem... Um, sorry, my hand was shaking."

An eerily quiet atmosphere prevailed at the scene.

But Ella was sitting right next to them, and while everyone had some questions, they weren't really willing to ask.

"That person...the one sitting on the statue of the God of Light...is that the Holy Maiden...?" Only the younger player, Xiao Deng, stared wide-eyed in confusion.

"No one will think you're mute if you don't speak." Li Cheng immediately slapped the kid on the back of the head. "Parallel world, you know there was an imposter before, and the statue was hard to see clearly anyway, so don't think about anything else."

“Indeed.” “The boss is right.” The players nodded in agreement.

"Well, why don't you take a rest first, Brother Ye, and let me take a look?" Li Cheng volunteered, extending his hand.

A white halo swirled, and a new scene emerged in the air.

"Li Cheng, calm down and listen to me properly!!!"

However, although the scene was clearly directed by Li Cheng, the first sound coming from the scene was Ye Xiao's loud shout.

The scene then shifts to a cramped room where Li Cheng is gripping Ye Xiao's collar, his eyes wide with anger and anxiety.

"Calm down, okay?" Ye Xiao, whose collar was being grabbed, looked helpless, but his hands were also firmly gripping Li Cheng's arm. Judging from their dirty and dusty clothes, they seemed to have just been fighting.

Looking at the screen in real life, Li Cheng's lips twitched slightly. "What on earth is this?"

Is he fighting with Ye Xiao? What historical trajectory would lead to this?

In the scene, the view outside the window of the room appears to be a sunset, with the dim yellow light shining like fire on the two people inside.

"Calm down? How can you stay calm?!" Li Cheng roared in the video. "How can you just watch her be executed?!"

As the words fell, the perspective shifted, and the street outside the window was filled with dense crowds.

In the crowd was a wooden stake with a dying silver-haired girl tied to it.

Beneath the wooden stake, a guard holding a torch aloft shouted at the agitated and frenzied crowd, "Now, the evil witch who murdered His Majesty will receive her just deserts today!!!"

Burn her! Burn her!

Amidst the shouts of the crowd, the guards brought their torches closer to the girl on the execution rack...

"Holy crap!" Li Cheng pulled his hand back as if he'd been electrocuted. "My god, I can't stand it anymore, what is this?!"

"Don't be nervous, little bear, it's just a parallel history." Now it was Ye Xiao's turn to comfort Li Cheng, patting his good friend on the shoulder.

Having gone through so much, Ye Xiao is still quite resilient. He always faces challenges head-on and doesn't fret over potential problems.

The image of intense flames faded, and soft light shone on everyone in the lounge.