"Wait, what?" I stared at the chapter title. "The story's done? Everything's over?"
"Well, yeah." Lan Bei Er shrugged. "There's nothing else to do, is there? We're married, you saved the Emperor and became a hero. What else is there? You want to go fight your master and take over the Heaven and Earth Sect?"
"No, not really." I scratched my head and pondered on my next plan of action. I had none. Well, I originally had some plans, but I was getting exhausted, so it was time to stop everything.
Furthermore, I had seen the comments that the story was getting, and there were a lot of readers who were grumbling about this story and demanding that I stop writing it. They hated this story, and I couldn't find even a single reader who actually liked this story. At least not in the comments. All I saw were complants. In fact, everyone who read this story absolutely hated it, to the point where they were calling for me to drop it.
Actually, there were even readers who demanded that I quit being a writer forever because I obviously was not up to the task. Personally, I suspected it was because I didn't write what they wanted to read, so they were taking out their frustration and anger on me.
So it was time to give up and disappear into the sunset. Hey, at least I didn't just disappear without a word. I gave some closure.
"You know, couldn't you just put all that in an author's note?" Lan Bei Er asked me. I sighed.
"I wanted to, but…there's some stupid word count restriction in the author's note and I couldn't put everything I wanted to say in there. Oh, well."
"And then there's a minimum word count for posting a chapter." Lan Bei Er shook her head in exasperation. "So what are we going to do?"
"Well, we'll return to Azure Cloud City."
"Good idea. It's been a while since I've seen my parents. We should get going."
"I'll follow you!" Hong Yao Yao popped up, emerging from out of nowhere and almost taking us by surprise. Unfortunately, I had sensed her qi much earlier, so I wasn't shocked when she suddenly appeared.
"All right then."
"Wait!" The Emperor rushed forward, waving his hands frantically. He was accompanied by Huang Qian Jin, who was in turn shadowed by Hui Ying. We stopped and turned around, bowing our heads respectfully as the Emperor stood before us, his hands clasped. He smiled. "I wish to reward you for saving my life and the lives of the royal family."
"Uh, no need for that." I held up my hands. "We were only doing our duty."
"No!" The Emperor insisted. "How can I just let you go like this? Loyal subjects deserve to be rewarded! Please accept my gratitude!"
"Uh, okay?" I honestly didn't need anything, but whatever. If it made the Emperor feel better, then so be it.
Ironically, I realized that I was no longer a "villain." I had pretty much become a hero. I guess that made me a "unique" villain then. Since I was a heroic villain. I wasn't even an antihero. I was supposed to be a villain, but for some reason I didn't do anything villainous except cultivate demonic arts. Apparently that was enough to make me a villain in the eyes of orthodox cultivators.
None of them knew my true nature, except for my wife, Lan Bei Er. Everyone else thought I was an orthodox cultivator. That was good, I guess. No point stirring up trouble when I didn't have to. Keeping a low profile was the best course of action.
I mean, seriously, who did you think I was? Some kind of arrogant cultivation story protagonist who refused to swallow his pride and immediately killed people when they provoked me, therefore stirring a hornet's nest and then triggering a chain of events where the families, clans, sects, seniors, elders or whoever of the people I killed started coming after me one by one?
Good heavens, I sure as hell wasn't going to get myself involved in a neverending sequence of murders and revenge. Yes, I don't care how justified the protagonist was. Most of the time, they were just murderers. Self defense was one thing, but they still killed people who were at their mercy because of pride or some nonsensical reason. Just look at Emperor Ling Tian. That had to be one of the most ridiculous stories I had ever read. His entire family was held hostage, but when he defeated one of his opponents and had the guy at his mercy, even though they asked him not to kill him, Ling Jian Chen went and killed the guy anyway.
Then he started acting all shocked and outraged when they began killing his family members in revenge for his murder. Dude, you know they were holding your family hostage, and yet you wanted to act all arrogantly and ruthless? Then started screaming about when they killed your family? What an utter idiot.
Well, according to all the readers, I wasn't much better – every single commenter I saw had condemned me as a simp, a moron, or a hopeless loser. Since they hated me that much, there was little point in narrating my adventures. I was going to do them silently or just live a quiet life and keep a low profile from now on.
So…yeah, goodbye and good riddance.
"You can have whatever you want from the royal treasury," the Emperor told me. I shook my head.
"Nah, if possible, I want something for Azure Cloud City. Greater tax breaks, better infrastructure."
"Granted," the Emperor said immediately, looking delighted. He nodded, impressed. "Even now you only think about other people."
"That's why I married him," Lan Bei Er said with a smile.
"You're a lucky lady." The Emperor sighed wistfully. "I would like to have Hei Ye as my son-in-law, but his heart clearly belongs to you. All right then. I'll do whatever I can for Azure Cloud City. The officials will be there within a month to see what they can do to improve its infrastructure and develop it further."
"Thank you, your majesty." I bowed deeply.
"That's why brother Hei Ye doesn't want anything from the imperial treasury," Huang Qian Jin explained to his father. "He already has what he wants. A loving wife and a happy family, and a place he can call home."
"What more can a man wish for?" The Emperor spread his hands and grinned. "Having an okay ambition is all right sometimes. Not everybody has to aim for the heaven and become number one or the strongest, like in those stupid cultivation novels that advocate strong eat the weak. Not everyone can be 'strong' and there are different types of strength anyway."
"Yeah, that's right!" I agreed wholeheartedly.
And so we returned to Azure Cloud City, accompanied by the officials and a lot of fanfare. Both father-in-law and mother-in-law were astounded when they saw who followed us. They had come out to greet us when we returned in the heavenly carriage, only to gape skyward when theys aw the colossal convoy.
"W…what's going on?" Father-in-law asked when Lan Bei Er and I disembarked from the heavenly carriage.
"A lot of things," I replied. Lan Bei Er rolled her eyes, and then briefly explained to her parents what had transpired.
"Well, I never…!" Father-in-law exclaimed, turning to me gratefully. "You…you really are an amazing person. Thank you! Our family can't thank you enough."
"Careful, otherwise I'll be turning into a Mary Sue," I muttered, dreading the transformation. I wasn't a perfect character. According to the readers, I was still an idiot and a loser no matter what I did – as long as I didn't conform to their edgelord and loner mentality, anyway.
Not that it mattered. I was happy, and that was the most important thing to me. I was married to a wife I loved dearly, I had obtained a home where I didn't have to look over my shoulder constantly while fearing for betrayals like back in the Heaven and Earth Sect, and the future looked bright.
Best note to end on, I suppose. No point dragging this out further, so yay to happy endings, I suppose?