I am the villain in the book

The side hall was tall and empty. Although several bright lamps were lit, the few flames were not enough to illuminate the entire room.

Wei Changtian and Chu Xianping sat facing each other on either side of a tea table. A pot of tea on the table had gone cold, leaving only a few wisps of faint tea fragrance.

"Young Master, it is true that I acted on my own initiative before."

Looking calmly at Wei Changtian, Chu Xianping said slowly, "But I can explain everything."

"Is that so?"

Wei Changtian shook his head noncommittally: "Then tell me."

"Yes."

"."

The candlelight flickered gently, and a silence fell.

In the next fifteen minutes, Wei Changtian didn't say another word, and only Chu Xianping's voice echoed through the side hall.

Regarding Du Chang.

In fact, Chu Xianping had already begun to suspect Du Chang when Old Zhangtou had his accident.

And this suspicion became even more certain after he discovered that Lu Hongji was the Yellow Platform Elder.

However, it must be said that Du Chang hid himself very well, so that he could not find any evidence.

Because of this, Chu Xianping had not acted rashly and had not told anyone about it.

But now, looking back, it is not difficult to find some clues from his past actions.

For example, Chu Xianping always controlled the allocation of gunpowder, and did not completely hand over this powerful weapon to the Tiangou Army for control.

For example, he personally led the team to the "raid on Xianchi", directly excluding Du Chang.

For example, he had planted many spies like Wang Kang to secretly monitor the situation of the Tiangou Army.

All of the above proves that Chu Xianping's suspicion of Du Chang had a long history.

But suspicion is only suspicion after all, and a trigger was needed to determine whether Du Chang was a spy.

And this trigger appeared during the time he stayed in Da Hui as a "hostage."

Regarding Yan Huaiqing's test.

How could a strategist with extremely meticulous thoughts defect and betray just because of a few words from the enemy?

In fact, when Yan Huaiqing "defected" Chu Xianping, the latter almost immediately guessed that Wei Changtian was testing him behind the scenes.

However, Chu Xianping still pretended that he had not been able to withstand the test and cooperated with Yan Huaiqing in acting out a play.

The purpose of acting in this play was naturally to make Wei Changtian deepen his suspicion of him, so as to pave the way for the "falling out" between the two later.

Wei Changtian was also very "cooperative". Not long after the army left Liangzhou, he seized his power and sent him to find those few precious swords.

With the war imminent, the strongest strategist was suddenly sent away.

In fact, at that time, many people, including Li Zimu and Han Zhao, had already noticed something was wrong.

And this is exactly what Chu Xianping wanted.

He wanted everyone to have an expectation first, and then when he really "betrayed", everything would become reasonable.

Regarding the night of "betrayal."

Looking back now, the fuse that ultimately led to Wei Changtian's decision to turn against him was actually those few Da Hui envoys.

It was the Da Hui envoy who survived in the end who personally confessed Chu Xianping's name, and it was verified to be true by Tang Chen's mind-reading technique.

And before that... Remember in Qingzhou City, the Suspended Mirror Division once tracked Chu Xianping to secretly meet someone?

That's right, that person was actually a spy from Da Hui.

Chu Xianping deliberately sold another flaw to Wei Changtian, "forcing" the latter to attack him earlier.

Because only in this way could his entire "betrayal" process be seamless.

Including those five hundred dead Suspended Mirror Division constables, they were just the price that had to be sacrificed for this big play.

And that message of "Everyone has their own ambitions..."

Subsequent facts proved that, with so much foreshadowing, this play was indeed very successful.

Not only Wei Changtian, but even Yang Liushi, Li Zimu, and even the people all over the world believed that he had really betrayed.

This naturally also included Lu Hongji.

At this point, Chu Xianping could finally "logically" go to Da Hui and approach Lu Hongji.

And the ultimate goal of his efforts was naturally not just to find out whether Tang Chen was a spy...

Regarding the purpose of approaching Lu Hongji.

From the moment Chu Xianping discovered that Lu Hongji was the Kui Long Yellow Platform Elder, he had two choices.

One, tell Wei Changtian about this.

Two, don't say anything.

Obviously, Chu Xianping chose the latter.

The reason is also very simple, because after successively contacting Zhuang Zhiming and Lu Hongji, and learning more and more about the Kui Long matter, Chu Xianping understood how terrifying such an ancient organization was.

Therefore, in order not to let Wei Changtian be involved in such a huge vortex again, Chu Xianping decided to solve everything himself.

And how to deal with Lu Hongji, he also had two choices.

One, like Zhuang Zhiming, use him.

Two, kill him.

Considering Lu Hongji's identity as the Da Hui Emperor, and the possible impact on the Xin Feng war, Chu Xianping still chose the latter this time.

Therefore, from the day he discovered Lu Hongji's identity, what he had to do was actually kill someone...

Regarding Lu Hongji's death.

Strictly speaking, Lu Hongji died at the hands of Zhuang Zhiming.

However, the opportunity to kill was entirely created by Chu Xianping.

Why did he make such a deal with Lu Hongji that he would only benefit from if the Da Hui army was defeated?

Why did he repeatedly "remind" Lu Hongji that Wei Changtian was not easy to deal with?

Why did he help the Da Hui army stabilize their morale, so that they would not collapse before the people of Kui Long arrived?

All of the above is only because Chu Xianping wanted Lu Hongji to "believe" one thing—

That is, I may not win this battle, and may even lose.

Once Lu Hongji really had this concern, then he would definitely make two preparations.

And the other preparation can only be to kidnap Xu SuiSui...

Therefore, the decision to "capture the leader first" seemed to be made by Lu Hongji himself, but in fact, Chu Xianping was pushing the waves behind the scenes.

Let others make the decisions you want without realizing it.

Compared to Tang Chen's trick, perhaps this is the real art of "controlling the heart."

The rest is simple.

"Borrowing" the three thousand divergent paths formation from Yan Huaiqing, Zhuang Zhiming and others waited in the palace one step ahead.

When Lu Hongji really ran to the Xin Feng Palace, thinking he was smart, his ending was actually already doomed.

All Chu Xianping had to do was save Xu SuiSui or Li Zimu in a few words, and Zhuang Zhiming would take care of the rest.

And when Lu Hongji died, the curtain finally fell on this big play that had deceived everyone.

The gongs and drums rise, the wind and clouds gather, the tiger roars and the dragon sings, the yellow bell rings and the universe shakes.

Singing and reciting penetrates a thousand jun, high-pitched and low-pitched, the stage shows the Kunlun Mountains.

The crimson curtain slowly closed, separating the stage into two sides.

At this moment, the "actors" behind the curtain may suddenly realize, or have a feeling of being played with.

The "audience" outside the curtain may applaud and cheer, or still be confused.

As for the protagonist of this play, he just cupped his hands and said softly—

"Young Master, that's it."