I am the villain in the book

One man stands guard, ten thousand cannot pass; soldiers surge on the battlefield under a frosty moon.

On the city wall, the iron drums still echo like waves; in the scabbard, the golden blade's bloodstains have yet to dry.

“.”

“Bang! Bang bang bang bang!!”

“Neigh!”

“Ah!!”

“Enemy attack!!”

“Third rank! It’s a third rank!!”

“Rumble!!”

“.”

The neighing of horses, screams, wails, and cries of alarm erupted when a full three hundred long blades transformed into shooting stars, crashing down upon the vanguard cavalry formation of the Zhenshan Camp. The scene instantly descended into chaos, with men and horses overturned.

However, being a well-trained army, after a brief moment of panic, someone quickly identified the instigator of the ambush.

“Reporting to the General! The one blocking the road is Wei Changtian!”

“No other enemy forces have been detected!”

Slightly further back, a scout had already reported the sudden situation to a general-like figure in a loud voice.

This person was none other than Liu Guang, the commander of the Zhenshan Camp.

“What?! Wei Changtian?!”

His eyes suddenly widened, Liu Guang's face was filled with surprise.

He wasn't surprised that someone dared to block the road, but rather surprised that the person blocking the road was actually Wei Changtian.

As a third-rank martial artist, Liu Guang could clearly feel the “momentum” contained within the vast expanse of blades in the distance.

So... when did Wei Changtian break through to the third rank?!

As an important figure in the Shuzhou battle, Wei Changtian, Liang Zhen, and even Chu Xianping's situations, among others, were basic information that had to be thoroughly investigated.

But according to the latest intelligence, Wei Changtian was only at the fifth rank when he fought with the Dragon Gate Inn's shopkeeper in Dafeng. Even if he had broken through later, he would only be at most at the fourth rank.

But now, the one blocking their path was a genuine third-rank martial artist!

From the fifth rank to the third rank, leaping two major realms in less than two months?!

And even crossing the threshold of the upper three ranks, which is enough to stump ninety-nine percent of cultivators?!

This is simply an absurd impossibility!

“Have you seen clearly?!”

Liu Guang roared, subconsciously thinking that the scout had mistaken the person.

However, the black-armored scout was extremely certain.

“Reporting, General! This humble one has seen clearly!”

“It is indeed Wei Changtian!”

“.”

It really is Wei Changtian? How is that possible?

Liu Guang's pupils suddenly contracted, his hands gripping the reins tightly.

You must know that even top-tier martial artists with all sixty-four meridians open would need at least several years to cross the “upper three ranks” threshold.

For example, Wei Xianzhu and Qin Caizhen each spent six and eight years respectively going from the late fourth rank to the third rank.

And Liu Guang, whose talent was slightly inferior, spent more than ten years before finally taking this step.

So, why can Wei Changtian enter the upper three ranks in two months?

Could it be that he has been deliberately hiding his strength all along?

But what is the point of doing this?

“The vanguard cavalry doesn’t need to bother with Wei Changtian, bypass him and continue to pursue the rebels!”

“General Huang!”

“This humble general is here!”

“You lead your infantry to form a formation and capture this thief!”

“If he resists desperately, then kill him!”

“Yes! This humble general obeys!”

“.”

After a series of loud shouts, Liu Guang's response can be said to be very reasonable.

Wei Changtian's sudden appearance here is obviously to delay their interception of the Shuzhou army that is breaking out.

Therefore, there is no need for the cavalry running the fastest and charging in the front to get entangled. Continuing to pursue forward is the correct approach.

Of course, the official road is only so wide, so Wei Changtian will definitely kill some cavalry.

But this is not important. Even if he is allowed to kill, how many can he kill?

What's more, the infantry will arrive soon. At that time, even if Wei Changtian has three heads and six arms, it will be impossible for him to escape.

Yes, the upper three ranks are indeed crushing against the lower three ranks.

But when the latter's numbers reach an absolute advantage, then even the Heavenly King himself cannot resist.

Moreover, the army will specifically practice formations to encircle and kill those in the upper three ranks, to deal with masters who charge alone into the army formation.

In Liu Guang's view, if Wei Changtian doesn't escape now, then once the large number of infantry arrives, he will no longer have a chance to escape.

Of course, this young master's identity is special, and it would be best to capture him alive.

But if Wei Changtian would rather die than submit, Liu Guang doesn't mind using his head to curry favor with Ning Yongnian.

“Hmph!”

Looking up at the vast cavalry in front that had already readjusted its formation, attempting to bypass Wei Changtian and continue forward, Liu Guang snorted coldly, guessing that Wei Changtian might just escape.

However, in the next moment, that tiny figure made a completely opposite move.

The hundreds of light spots that were originally gathered into a galaxy, rampaging through the army formation, suddenly scattered, turning from a “galaxy” into a “starry sky”, completely covering the official road from one side to the other.

Countless iron cavalry had no time to react and plunged headlong into this “starry sky”, and then fell one after another, with not a single rider able to rush out.

Dust mixed with gravel, horses neighing mixed with wails.

More and more cavalry were “only entering and not exiting”, and at this time, if viewed from the sky, this “starry sky” was like a dividing line.

One side was filled with blood and chaos, while the other was eerily calm and empty.

Seeing this scene, Liu Guang suddenly widened his eyes, instantly understanding what Wei Changtian was trying to do.

Not only did the latter not think about escaping, but he even didn't intend to let anyone, even the cavalry, break through his defense alive.

This defense line of only him alone.

“Boom!!”

In front of him, another chestnut-red warhorse crashed to the ground.

The huge inertia caused its body to create a long mark on the ground, and then stopped abruptly in front of a person.

After just one glance at the struggling warhorse under his feet, Wei Changtian raised his head expressionlessly, still staring intently at the endless yellow armor like surging waves in front of him, his body unmoving.

Around him, the starlight in the “starry sky” shifted like stars, forming a large net that had already strangled hundreds of people.

And if you look closely, those “stars” are actually long blades flashing with golden light.

At the fourth rank, Wei Changtian could control the upper limit of weapons simultaneously with "Ten Thousand Blades Attraction" to about sixty.

And now, that number has increased fivefold.

Three hundred refined steel long blades, this is already enough to cover the entire official road horizontally, and even more vividly demonstrates the huge difference between the third rank and the fourth rank.

That's right.

Less than a month after breaking through to the fourth rank, Wei Changtian used that True Dragon Forehead Scale worth 5,000 points without hesitation, forcibly raising his realm to the third rank.

Although it is indeed difficult to go from the fourth rank to the third rank, this dragon scale saved Wei Changtian several years of effort.

But if you look at it from a longer-term perspective, such an approach is actually “killing the chicken to get the eggs”.

After all, with Wei Changtian's talent of opening all sixty-four meridians, plus the "Demon Capture" golden finger, as long as he doesn't die, reaching the second rank in this life can be said to be a certainty.

And by that time, the True Dragon Forehead Scale can help him break through to the first rank in one fell swoop.

From the fourth rank to the third rank, from the second rank to the first rank.

The difficulty between the two is undoubtedly like heaven and earth, and the value that the dragon scale can exert is also completely different.

But Wei Changtian still did it.

Because with the fourth-rank realm, it is impossible for him to stop the Zhenshan Camp, only by breaking through to the upper three ranks will there be a chance... even if he has to rely on the Qingjue Jade Pendant to escape later.

A 5000-point True Dragon Forehead Scale, a 500-point Qingjue Jade Pendant, plus the risk of losing his life...

The reason why Wei Changtian was willing to pay so much to delay the Zhenshan Camp was actually only a small part of helping the Shu army to break through successfully.

The real reason, he had already told Xu Sui Sui.

Regarding the question of what Xu Sui Sui's system was, Wei Changtian had never stopped guessing before tonight.

Why did she have to travel thousands of miles to find him?

Why didn't she encounter any accidents along the way, even though she couldn't cultivate?

Why did she reject Shen Ran for him, but instead accept Shen Ran as a student?

Why did she, an ordinary person, have to come to Guanghan to watch the excitement?

Why could she "predict" the sudden appearance of the Zhenshan Camp?

Why wouldn't she say what her system was, no matter what.

All of these questions once made Wei Changtian feel distraught, and he had imagined countless possibilities.

But when Xu Sui Sui said, "You'd better not know," Wei Changtian realized that the truth was ten thousand times more absurd than his most exaggerated guess.

It even gave him the illusion of being in a dream.

"..."

"Wei Changtian, you haven't told me why you know everything about me."

"I think you'd better not know."

"..."

This was what Wei Changtian said to Xiao Feng for the first and last time on the top of Yanyun Mountain a year ago.

Now that the roles were reversed, and he became the one asking the questions, and Xu Sui Sui became the one answering them, the truth was obvious.

It turned out that Xu Sui Sui's system was exactly the same as his original system, both with the goal of changing the plot of the "original work."

However, for Xu Sui Sui, the "original work" she traveled through was not "Martial Arts Supreme Peak".

But another... a novel about himself.

In this novel, Xiao Feng was just a supporting character who didn't live past three months, and he was the "protagonist" who ran through the entire text from beginning to end.

Under the writing of the pen of fate, he killed Liu Yuanshan, killed Xiao Feng, witnessed the "Yuanzhou City Massacre", and then helped Ning Yuke ascend the throne one day...

Even the fact that he "traveled through by electric shock" was just a decision made by an unknown online novelist in another world.

Electric shock? Falling from a building? Car accident? Drowning?

Or being killed by a flower pot falling from the sky?

For that author, he only needed to use his not-so-smart brain to randomly make up a reason that didn't even have to be logical.

And it was such a reason that made him lose everything he had and be thrown into this strange world...

Thinking about it this way, everything became a little ridiculous.

When you think you can fight against fate, but fate is wantonly playing with you from a higher dimension of the universe... Wei Changtian didn't know why Xiao Feng could still be so free and easy at that time.

Maybe he didn't believe him at all, and only took it as his comfort to a dying person.

Maybe he already knew he was going to die, so he no longer cared about fate.

Or maybe Xiao Feng was originally an easy person to let go.

But in any case, Wei Changtian himself couldn't do what Xiao Feng did to treat all of this.

Therefore, he wanted to use his own power to change fate.

Even if Xu Sui Sui had reminded him—

Not changing might be better.

The meaning of this sentence is actually not difficult to understand.

Xu Sui Sui had read the original work and knew that even if the Shu army was annihilated, his "protagonist's" future would still be "bright". It is estimated that in the end, he would enter the first rank like Xiao Feng in "Martial Arts Supreme Peak", conquer the world, and have many wives and concubines.

But this was not what Wei Changtian wanted.

In other words, even if he died today because of delaying the Zhenshan Camp, he would not be willing to play a perfect ending according to the "script".

Because in Wei Changtian's view, only the unknown road ahead is meaningful.

No matter where it leads.

"Swish! Swish swish swish!!"

"Bang!!"

The battle of one against ten thousand continued.

Seeing that Wei Changtian would not give in, Liu Guang had already stopped the cavalry from sending themselves to their deaths, and instead sent thousands of infantry soldiers to try to kill the former by taking advantage of their numerical superiority.

Compared to the beginning, Wei Changtian's condition had also deteriorated to the extreme.

Only a hundred of the three hundred long knives surrounding him remained, but it was not because the two hundred knives were broken, but because Wei Changtian's current situation could only barely do this.

The "Tianyuan Pill" that could instantly restore all states sold in the system had already been taken. Who would have thought that this thing would actually have a "cooling time" and could not be taken a second time within an hour.

From standing still, to starting to move around.

Wei Changtian's figure kept flashing, and his breathing became heavier and heavier.

He didn't know how many people he had killed, he only knew that the time he was delaying now was not enough.

411, 412, 413, 414

He kept counting silently in his heart, and every second seemed to become extremely long.

After persisting for more than four hundred seconds under the siege of tens of thousands of people, even if Wei Changtian was now in the third rank, this was already an exaggerated number.

Because he had not stopped or relaxed for a moment during these four hundred seconds.

Wei Changtian had not thought about "capturing the king first" like he did in Yuanzhou City, and deterring the enemy by killing Liu Guang.

But the latter was very smart, knowing that he had the ability to kill the second rank, he stubbornly didn't even show his face.

"Ding! Jingle!"

Several unnoticed crisp sounds rang out in the chaotic roar, and several more long knives fell from the air.

From "galaxy" to "starry sky", to the current "scattered".

As the number of long knives that Wei Changtian could control gradually decreased, wounds, both deep and shallow, slowly appeared on his body.

These scars were not fatal, or rather, the ordinary soldiers around him did not have the ability to kill Wei Changtian with one move.

However, this did not mean that Wei Changtian would not be "tired to death".

498, 499, 500

The silently counted number finally reached five hundred, which was considered to have completed half of the goal Wei Changtian had set before.

Wei Changtian didn't know if a thousand seconds, about a quarter of an hour, would be enough for the Shu army to complete their breakout. He just felt that it was better to have a goal to persist.

And now, he felt like he was a little too "confident".

"Bang!!"

A red light exploded, and then a figure flew out in response.

This was a move made by a fourth-rank deputy general, and it was also the first time Wei Changtian had been knocked away so embarrassingly.

"Cough!"

Coughing out a mouthful of blood from the corner of his mouth, Wei Changtian was very clear that he was about to reach his limit, and he could be killed at any time next.

Without hesitation, he called up the system mall and bought a Qingjue Jade Pendant.

Holding the dark green ancient jade in his palm, Wei Changtian could be considered to have a bottom line in his heart.

Then next, it was to continue fighting until the "last moment".

"Swish!!!!"

The only dozens of long knives left suddenly gathered rapidly from all directions in one place, transforming back into a golden dragon.

Then, Wei Changtian, who had just landed, did not stop at all, and waved his knife to lead this long dragon towards the fourth-rank deputy general.

"Boom boom boom!!"

Crashing through the shield wall, submerging countless arrows, the golden light of the dragon's head also weakened a bit, even less than the momentum of the fourth-rank deputy general's next move.

Wei Changtian narrowed his eyes slightly, knowing that this blow might not have any effect, so he wanted to turn around and kill a few more ordinary soldiers.

However, at this moment, the bright moon above his head suddenly dimmed for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, it seemed as if a sword fell from the dark moon.