Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix - Chapter 16: New Paths

He didn’t want any part of it.He wanted to be independent.He didn’t want to become a side character in the story of some so-called protagonist.Yet, Mo Zhiran couldn’t run.Heaven wouldn’t let him, for he was an extra destined to die for the rise of the protagonist.An expendable nobody, unnoticed and forgotten.In the end, Mo Zhiran was betrayed by his own clan brother just to save a girl who appeared out of nowhere. Worse, before his inevitable death, he even had to block the danger for that same brother, unwillingly.He was basically a Redshirt.“Haha… Heaven is so unfair.”Zhiran hated them both to the core. If he got another chance, he swore he would make them pay a hundredfold for every drop of blood he spilled.And fortunately, he did.Reborn with an unusual system in hand, Mo Zhiran would no longer be a disposable extra.This time, he would carve his own path, one step at a time.Even if it meant being forced to be a Villain.

Humanity’s first 8th Class Mage.

Betrayed, he traveled back 30 years into the past.

The story follows Ian Page, archmage and the first man to break through the 6th class, then through the 7th and become the most powerful mage, an 8th class mage.

After a lifetime of war and killing, the continent was finally unified thanks to his efforts. Now, old, his wish is to live the rest of his life in peace and try to find salvation for all the blood he spilled. However, his old friend, maddened by paranoia, couldn’t tolerate someone so powerful, so he betrayed Ian and killed him.

In his last breath, he cast a time magic that allowed him to travel back to when he was a young boy. With all the knowledge he previously had, he decided to do things better so he could end with less regrets.

Legend says that Star World’s million Star Names are passed on in the form of young maidens as famous existences in the Three Thousand Worlds.Henceforth, Chen Mo heroically says as he brandishes his massive weapon at the heavens and shouts towards the beautiful but aloof Chen Qingzhi, towards the tyrannical Caesar, the tsundere Xiang Yu, the yandere hi*ler, the extraordinary Chen Tuan, and other girls.“My big stick’s hunger already can endure no longer…”

How would you react to waking up in a completely new body—one pulled straight from a game you used to play?That’s the unexpected reality our protagonist, Licht, now faces.Trapped in the body of a character he once defeated and killed, Licht inherits not just the appearance, but the karma of the original. Branded a villain, he’s burdened with the consequences of sins he never committed.As a first-act antagonist in the eyes of the world, his fate is already written: to be exposed, condemned, and destroyed.But Licht refuses to accept that. He chooses to fight. To survive.Karma of the past be damned.Yet the deeper he falls into this world, the clearer it becomes—this is no game. It's darker, more twisted, and far less forgiving than anything he’s ever known.This isn’t a hero’s journey.This isn’t a warrior’s rise.This is a villain’s survival.