I am the villain in the book

The night was deep, and the burnt wood in the cave entrance had turned charred, the remaining firelight flickering and gradually dissipating.

Wei Changtian stood in the county hall for a while, then slowly walked back to the county government gate.

At this time, all the bandits in the county government had died, leaving only dozens of men, women, and children gathered inside the gate, their faces filled with fear.

Most of them were women, with fewer men, all of whom had been captured by the bandits for their amusement or to do odd jobs.

With the bandits dead, they should have been able to regain their freedom, but the "Lock Dragon" formation that had not been removed blocked their way.

They could clearly see every blade of grass and tree outside the county government, but they couldn't get out, as if an invisible wall separated the inside and outside of the county government.

Ordinary people had never seen such a situation, so it was normal for them to be frightened.

"Swish!"

With a wave of his hand, Wei Changtian removed the Lock Dragon barrier and said lightly in the tense gazes of the crowd:

"You can leave now."

“. . . ”

They looked at each other, and someone tentatively touched the county government gate, discovering that the "wall" from before was indeed gone.

"Thank you, young hero, for saving our lives!"

That person shouted in a trembling voice, then ran out of the county government as fast as his legs could carry him, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye without looking back.

In all fairness, his expression of gratitude was somewhat perfunctory.

However, this didn't mean that the person was heartless.

Having stayed in "hell" for so long, now that they could finally escape and see the "light" again, presumably anyone would have reacted similarly.

And the reality was indeed so.

In less than ten breaths, the inside of the county government gate, which had been crowded with people, became empty, with only one person still standing alone in place.

It was the girl who had been in the gatehouse earlier.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

Looking into the girl's eyes, Wei Changtian was a little puzzled.

"I..."

The girl lowered her head.

This action seemed to tug at the wound on her neck, causing her body to tremble slightly.

"My parents were killed by the bandits, and my home was burned down. I... I have nowhere to go..."

“. . . ”

Taking a step closer, Wei Changtian didn't say any words of comfort, but after a moment of silence, he calmly asked:

"Do you know how many gambling dens in the east of the city are run by bandits?"

"I know."

"Take me there."

"Okay, okay!"

Guessing what Wei Changtian was going to do, a gleam suddenly appeared in the girl's eyes.

She immediately nodded repeatedly, agreeing to Wei Changtian's request without hesitation, even temporarily ignoring the pain from the wounds all over her body due to excitement.

"Alright, I'll go find a horse."

Wei Changtian nodded slightly, preparing to go to the stables to get a horse first.

However, after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped, casually tossing a small porcelain bottle to the girl.

"Take a pill from the bottle, it's for healing."

"I don't need..."

Fumbling to catch the small porcelain bottle, clutching it tightly in her hand, the girl opened her mouth to refuse.

But Wei Changtian had already turned around and quickly disappeared into the depths of the county government.

“. . . ”

Staring blankly at the gradually blurring figure, then looking at the exquisite porcelain bottle in her hand.

The girl had never seen such a delicate object, but she knew that the porcelain bottle alone should be worth a lot of silver.

What's more, there were pills in the bottle.

Her mood suddenly became extremely complicated, standing in place, not knowing what she was thinking.

Until not long after, Wei Changtian reappeared in her sight riding a horse.

"Benefactor, this thing..."

Staggering to meet him, the girl still wanted to return the pills to Wei Changtian.

However, the latter only glanced at her, then interrupted:

"Get on the horse, lead the way."

"Yes, yes..."

The words that had reached her lips were swallowed back, and the girl only felt her body lighten, and the next second she was lifted onto the horse's back by Wei Changtian.

The girl was very thin, so the two of them riding the same horse was not crowded.

But physical contact was unavoidable.

Wei Changtian could clearly feel the girl's body stiffen, but he didn't say anything, just urged the horse to leave the county government full of corpses.

The streets outside were still dark, the moon was at its zenith, exuding a bright white light.

A quarter of an hour later, the rapid sound of hooves slowed down, and the chestnut horse stopped at the corner of an alley.

Wei Changtian glanced at the brightly lit gambling den not far away, jumped off the horse, and casually brought the girl down as well.

"You wait for me here, I'll be back soon."

"Okay..."

The girl nodded, and then saw Wei Changtian walking slowly towards the gambling den without looking back.

After walking five zhang, Louying was unsheathed.

After walking ten zhang, a hundred long sabers suddenly appeared.

Arriving at the entrance of the gambling den, the Lock Dragon fell.

He swung his saber and slashed away several gatekeepers, then walked into the gambling house, which was already in chaos.

The shouts that had been mixed with curses and threats turned into the metallic clang of weapons colliding, followed by wails and pleas for mercy, and finally into silence.

From the time Wei Changtian walked into the gambling den to the time he walked out, it took only a few dozen breaths.

The light shining through the windows of the gambling house remained the same, only faintly tinged with blood.

And Wei Changtian's body didn't even have a trace of blood on it.

"Let's go, Nuannu Xiang Tower."

Walking back to the girl, Wei Changtian only said one sentence.

And the former seemed to have already adapted to this "God descending to earth" scene, just nodding slightly and closing her eyes, allowing Wei Changtian to lift her onto the horse's back again.

Just like that.

From the county government to the gambling den, to the brothel, to the martial arts hall.

From the south of the city to the east of the city, to the north of the city, to the west of the city.

In one hour, Wei Changtian "patronized" all the bandit gathering places that the woman had mentioned before, and didn't leave a single survivor.

Regardless of whether they were male or female, human or ghost, all the bandits in these places lost their lives overnight, and even their souls couldn't re-enter reincarnation.

Tonight was the first time Wei Changtian used "Soul Absorption", absorbing the souls of nearly a thousand bandits.

The expected sense of guilt didn't appear, but the expected surge in strength also fell flat.

The reason for this was nothing more than two points—

First, the realm of these bandits was too low.

Second, Wei Changtian's realm was too high.

"Soul Absorption" could only absorb a small portion of the deceased's cultivation, and if the person's realm was extremely low, then the absorbable cultivation would be even "less and less."

In addition, Wei Changtian was now a Third Rank, and the internal force required for each small step forward in cultivation was enormous.

Therefore, just like a cup of water entering the sea, the sea level would naturally not have a significant increase.

However, this didn't mean that Soul Absorption was useless.

The internal force absorbed from a martial artist below the Third Rank was only a "cup of water", but what about the Upper Three Ranks? Wouldn't that be a huge lake, or even an ocean?

Furthermore, although a cup of water was small, what about ten thousand cups of water, one hundred thousand cups of water, one million cups of water?

As long as enough martial artists died, Wei Changtian could still greatly improve his cultivation through Soul Absorption.

For example, on a battlefield of corpses and blood.

"Huff."

As the last wisp of black mist struggled to surge into his palm, Wei Changtian raised his eyes and looked around, breathing a sigh of relief.

Killing people was very simple, but the several Lock Dragon formations he had cast to prevent the bandits from escaping had consumed a lot of internal force, causing him to finally feel a trace of fatigue at this moment.

Fortunately, it was finally over.

Shaking his head, he inserted Louying back into the Star Blade scabbard and strode out of the martial arts hall called "Tianju".

The girl was waiting outside, holding the horse, and asked softly when she saw Wei Changtian come out:

"Benefactor, where to next?"

"That's it, the large groups of bandits in the city are all dead."

Wei Changtian shook his head: "The scattered ones will be taken care of by the state government."

“. . . ”

Hearing that all the bandits in the city were dead, the girl was stunned for a moment, and the hand holding the horse trembled violently for an instant.

She stared blankly at Wei Changtian, and after a few breaths, she suddenly knelt on the ground, knocking her head heavily on the ground again and again with tears streaming down her face.

"Dong, dong, dong..."

The sound of her forehead colliding with the soil was muffled and suppressed, but the sound contained a completely opposite emotion.

There was gratitude, and there was also relief.

The cold wind blew, stirring the ill-fitting brocade robe on the girl's body.

Wei Changtian silently watched all of this, and didn't immediately stop the girl's actions, but waited a few breaths before preparing to help the latter up.

However, before he could reach out his hand, he saw the girl suddenly raise her head.

In the bleak moonlight, she took a deep look at Wei Changtian with a desperate gaze, then closed her eyes, bit her lip tightly, and used all her strength to crash into a bluestone beside her.