Chapter 537: The Cliché Road of a Protagonist

Although punching Lilim to the face might cause problems for Miaomiao later, it was worth the risk. After all, Miaomiao had the incentive of doing so.

...

Protagonist Grand Quest: (Unknown)

Xie Tian, a great fate bearer, was destined to bear the Dao of Time and Space. However, due to the interference of multiple time-travelers, he failed to achieve his destiny. Even with the advantage of great fate and luck, Xie Tian was helpless against the overwhelming power, knowledge, and experience of the time-travelers.

Xie Tian read the records of time and discovered that his counterparts also failed to get a happy ending as well. Even if his counterparts managed to slay his ultimate nemesis of the Xie Clan, such as Devil, Lilith, or Kishin Douji, someone always ruined their desired ending.

Discouraged by the endless tragedy, Xie Tian concluded that he could not challenge multiple time-travelers alone. Thus, you, Mao Miaomiao, the pawn of a time-traveler, might be the key to correcting this protagonist's fate. Xie Tian sincerely prayed to the Great Dao of Zenith Heaven, wishing that you could end this repeated tragedy and lead the right path for the other counterparts of various protagonists in the future timelines.

The Great Dao of Zenith Heaven heeded Xie Tian's prayer and encouraged you, the fate thief, the pawn of the tyrant time-traveler, and the irregular of this universe, to defy your destiny.

The Great Dao of Zenith Heaven wants nothing more but the TRUE ENDING and the downfall of all antagonists and villains. You may choose any method to achieve your goal, even if you have to destroy multiple universes to succeed. However, the TRUE ENDING must be a HAPPY ENDING, not a TRAGIC ENDING.

Primary Objectives: Achieve the TRUE ENDING and be the PROTAGONIST of your own story!

Secondary Objectives: Initiate a feud with a stronger antagonist to start your story.

Failure Conditions: You give up being a protagonist of your story or rejoin the antagonist's side.

Rewards

- For every villainous deity you killed, Great Dao of Zenith Heaven shall bestow you a random knowledge or Dao.

- Every time you initiate a feud with a stronger antagonist, Great Dao of Zenith Heaven shall prevent other villains from interfering with your feud for a short period of time, depending on the strength disparity between you and the villain.

- (Unknown)

Failure Penalty: (Unknown)

...

The Protagonist Grand Quest wanted Miaomiao to act like a typical protagonist. Also, the quest content revealed a greater power.

Great Dao of Zenith Heaven

Miaomiao didn't know what it was since Alter Miaomiao and Xie Tian had no memory of this Dao. However, it seemed to be one of the major plot armors of various protagonists.

Since a major plot armor power wanted to make a deal with him, Miaomiao had no problem with that. Moreover, being protected by a mysterious greater power was a thousand times better than being a pawn of a random villain.

Thus, Miaomiao didn't care if he had to start a feud with Lilim or Lilith. If he could get Devil off his tail for a few hundred years, this feud would be worth the investment.

But for now, Miaomiao had to reposition himself before Lilim realized that he hit her. He also cut another string of karma between him and Lilim. Then, he braced himself for another negative karma tribulation.

...

CLICK

The time resumed and the Chrono Domain was dispersed.

"!?"

Lilim sensed a strong impact on her face, and she was knocked back half a step. A portion of her Qi was gone, and strange energy dwelled inside her.

In addition, her control over Miaomiao loosened. There was no feedback from her divine force.

"What did you-"

WHOOM

Before Lilim could finish her sentence, she sensed that a small string of karma of hers was cut, but she couldn't tell what it was for.

As soon as it was cut, a portion of Lilim's memory was erased, and she couldn't remember what she had been doing here in the last five minutes.

"What am I doing here?"

She looked around in a daze for a moment. But when she spotted the gigantic cathulhu nearby, she could guess what had happened.

Lilim and her subordinates fled into the portal in front of them. Before she left, she glanced at Miaomiao.

The person in question was enveloped by a stream of negative karma strings. Yet, he opened his mouth and swallowed everything down his throat.

Miaomiao also glanced at Lilim and smirked at her.

"You..."

Lilim narrowed her eyes. She had the urge to drag him to the Netherworld Realm for a thorough interrogation, but she had already entered the portal.

The vortex gate slowly closed as Lilim glared at Miaomiao's obnoxious smug face. She swore that she would cripple him or teach him a lesson the next time they met.

...

Ding

[You have stolen 2,192 Million Liters of Soul Essence.]

[Your dantian could not store all the Soul Essence. Some of the excess energy will be distributed to your Dao Sentinels.]

[You have stolen a piece of Netherworld Yin Providence Crystal.]

[Your dantian cannot store the power of Providence Crystal. It shall be given to your Dao Sentinels.]

Ding

[You have successfully branded Lilim with the Mark of Grim Reaper.]

[Lilim's luck will slowly drift away from her until it is depleted. ETA - 159,125 years.]

Ding

[You have started a feud against Lilim.]

[One of the secondary objectives of Protagonist Grand Quest has been completed.]

[The Great Dao of Zenith Heaven shall ward off irrelevant antagonists from you for 11 years or until Lilim is either converted to the protagonist's side or killed.]

[You can no longer initiate a feud against other antagonists until the current feud is resolved.]

Unfortunately, the Death Curse couldn't instantly kill Lilim. Their strength disparity was still far apart, and it would take forever to deplete that woman's luck.

Miaomiao snorted and dismissed the system notifications. Even if Lilim couldn't be killed by the curse, his objective was completed.

This was the start of his liberation plan. The first villain group that Miaomiao wanted to destroy first was Lilith and her Netherworld Realm's soldiers.

The main reason for this feud was to exploit Lilith's weaknesses. At the moment, she was crippled, and she couldn't mess with him for the time being. Therefore, weaker deities under her would take charge of the Netherworld, and they would be easier targets for Miaomiao to hunt down.

Also, Miaomiao knew about the potential allies, which had been hidden in Hell.

Meng Po was Meng Xin's ancestor, and Clem was a prisoner. If Miaomiao could befriend these two, he might be able to destroy the Netherworld Realm or take over it for himself. Once the Netherworld was his, he could access the natural resources of this realm and get stronger.

But it was just a pipe dream at the moment. Miaomiao was still a mortal, and he couldn't possibly slaughter multiple deities in there.

He desummoned Meowmeow and turned to the nameless cathulhu, who already feasted on weak cultivators as he fled from the flying tournament continent.

CLANK

While the cathulhu was flying away in frantic, the sky was shattered like broken glass and revealed another side of the universe.

The starry space behind the broken sky glittered in blue light, and multiple suns radiated in rainbow color. However, a colossus cat face got closer to the hole in the sky, peeking into the Heavenly Goose Planet.

Miaomiao had a déjà vu. He thought of the Sun Crow, who did something similar to protect Ju Shoufen. But now, a planet-sized cat was looking at the people on this planet as if he was looking at tiny insects.

The menacing round pupils of the giant cat reflected the image of a horrified cathulhu. The latter screamed in fright.

"G-GOD MU-NYANG!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO BREAK THE RULES!!"

Mu-Nyang, who was bigger than the modern world's sun, gently and slowly inserted his small tentacle into the world and grabbed the tall cathulhu. Then, he yanked him out of the Heavenly Goose Planet.

The God of Cathulhu's eyes shifted and locked on to Miaomiao, who called him here. The echoing low voice of Mu-Nyang sounded throughout the world.

"Next time, you don't need to shout. I can hear everything just fine. Just use your divine sense on the token I gave you, and you can directly talk to me."

Miaomiao cupped his fist and saluted, "I panicked. Please forgive my rudeness."

"It doesn't matter. Now, you said that you wanted to come to my planet. Do you really want to come?"

"..."

Miaomiao closed his eyes and pondered.

Indeed, if he were to go to a planet under Mu-Nyang's control, Devil, Lilith, and other deities wouldn't be able to harass him anymore.

However, as Miaomiao was about to accept the offer, his right eyebrow repeatedly twitched.

Miaomiao clicked his tongue. That was not a good sign.

'I guess I have to pretend to be a muscle-brain protagonist to finish this feud first. Dammit, I don't like this cliché choice.'

Since Miaomiao started the Protagonist Grand Quest, he had to act like a protagonist to the very end. This quest and his life from now on would be annoyingly cringe and cliché, but he had to do it to get stronger.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Mu-Nyang. As I said, I panicked and spoke without thinking. Now that the threat is gone, I wish to continue staying on this planet for a while longer."

"Are you sure? Earlier, didn't you just do something to that Netherworld Princess? She seems pissed, and she won't leave you alone. If you come with me, I can protect you."

"This is a feud that I started, and I'll finish it myself. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Hmm, suit yourself."

Mu-Nyang smiled and nodded at Miaomiao in approval. He waved his tentacle and tossed bottles of pills to Miaomiao.

The cat god didn't say anything. He repaired the broken space, and the cracks in the sky mended themselves.

The distorted space was dispersed, and everything returned to normal.

Just like that, Miaomiao completed Mu-Nyang's request and warded off Lilim. He heaved a sigh of relief.

Miaomiao picked up the pill bottles and stored them in his system inventory. The system revealed the names of the pills.

Heaven-Grade Catnip Grain Pills

Divine-Grade Soul Dantian Nurturing Pills

Divine-Grade Catnip Element Pills

Mystic-Grade Soul Cleansing Pills

These pills sounded useful, but a few of them might not be for Miaomiao, especially Catnip Element Pills.

Miaomiao stopped thinking about the pills and separated his consciousness to the dantian space to resume cultivating. As for his real body, he checked the clock to see the date.

Several days had passed since he last fought Liu Hanzhen. He wondered how the tournament had progressed.

Worried about Kang Yan, Ma Xingjuan, and Dian Wei, Miaomiao revisited the stadium.

When Miaomiao reached the VIP box room, he only found a handful of immortals and clan lords. Even Karen was not here. Some of them had gone out to battle the nameless Cathulhu, and they hadn't returned yet.

Fortunately, Miaomiao found his wives in the room. Everyone was safe.

The girls gazed at Miaomiao for a moment. Then, their expression turned strange - They noticed his current cultivation base and his aura.

"8th-stage already?!"

"You broke through two stages in a week?"

"Your aura is odd. You aren't cultivating a normal method, are you?"

Kang Yan and Ma Xingjuan were astonished while Dian Wei noticed the strangeness of Miaomiao's cultivation method and aura.

His presence was the same as other 8th-stage cultivators, but he didn't have the aura of Soul Qi or Soul Physique.

The other clan lords and immortals also noticed Miaomiao's strange aura. Some of the haters mocked him.

"Ha! He must have taken a shortcut. What kind of 8th-stage cultivator doesn't even cultivate Soul Qi?"

"Oh, I know. An idiot that rushes through the realms without knowing what the 8th-stage represents!"

"Yeah, he's stupid. His future is doomed. He can't become an immortal with that weak foundation."

"What a disappointment. I thought he was Lilith's genius child. But now, he's nothing."

Miaomiao smirked and ignored the gossipers.

Although they were right about the Soul Qi part, Miaomiao's mortal realm cultivation methods consisted of 12 stages while these people only went through 9 stages.

Their methods and foundations were indeed different, but Miaomiao didn't need to explain himself to these nameless side characters.

He asked the women to leave the room and gather them in their locker room backstage.

When they were alone, Miaomiao created a soundproof array and covered the room in a silent dome.

"What are you doing, Miaomiao? Why the soundproof array?"

Miaomiao looked at Dian Wei, "I have important bad news to announce. Steel your heart and cover your mouth. Don't scream, don't panic, and don't do anything stupid after I'm done speaking."

"... Okay. What's the bad news?"

"First bad news, everyone was captured by Lilith, and they are imprisoned in the Netherworld Realm as hostages. Second piece of bad news, Lilith and Lilim probably want me dead. Thirdly, we lost our backers. Aside from Mu-Nyang, who might be helpful, no one can be trusted. Even Devil is untrustworthy."

"..."

Miaomiao spoke without stopping and catching his breath, stunning the girls.

The trio paused to digest the information. Their face and reaction differed, but they ended up sighing.

None of them seemed shocked or flustered. Their mental strength was stronger than what Miaomiao had expected.

"What now, Miaomiao?"

Miaomiao waved his hands and created three formation arrays in front of each woman, "I have a solution. First off, I want both of you, Yan and Xingjuan, to stop being my yin slaves. I want you two to be independent!"

"HUH!?"

Although Kang Yan and Ma Xingjuan were brainwashed, they were not stupid. Both of them could easily break free from Miaomiao's brainwashing spell, but they chose not to.

They were happy with their current status, and they loved Miaomiao for what he had been doing for them.

Yet, Miaomiao wanted them to cut their ties, which was puzzling.

"You're breaking up with me?" Kang Yan was annoyed.

"No. I'm planning to change your status. It's unwise to turn a yin slave into a familiar since you will lose your cultivation potential and your Heavenly Fate Crystal to me. I want you to keep walking the protagonist path alongside me."

"Familiar? Protagonist Path? You lost me," Kang Yan, Dian Wei, and Ma Xingjuan were confused.

"I'm planning to form a new pact with the three of you. I want all of you to become my familiars so that I can hide you inside my dantian world! Also, I want you to be my Dao Sentinels for my future Totem Nascent Souls!"