I am the villain in the book

It was night.

In the east of Linchuan City, there was a secluded mansion.

The courtyard was dimly lit and silent, as if the owner had gone to bed early.

A slightly stuffy night breeze stirred the two red lanterns hanging outside the courtyard gate, casting a faint glow as the light flickered.

At first glance, everything was so tranquil, as if it were just an ordinary large house.

However, a subtle killing intent was always hidden in every corner of the mansion, even silencing the insects in the yard.

“Da”

His footsteps were very light, and holding his breath, Wei Changtian hid outside the courtyard wall, looking up at a branch overhanging the wall.

He had used "Thousand Miles of Misty Waves" on a Rank Two expert this morning, so he found this place without any effort.

Although he didn't know how many of the ten people lived here, it seemed that they weren't all present.

In addition, the Rank Two expert and several others used the same saber technique, so the people living here should be assassins from the same sect.

And his goal tonight was to capture any one of them alive and interrogate them to find out who was behind the assassination.

“Shua!”

With a flash, accompanied by a gust of wind, Wei Changtian's figure disappeared from the spot, leaving only the bright moonlight.

On the other side, five hundred miles west of Linchuan City, at the foot of Mount Changliu.

The night was as dark as ink, and the continuous mountains undulated like waves in the night sea, looking very spectacular from a distance.

Just as Wei Changtian quietly sneaked into the mansion to capture someone, Yang Liushi and Xu Quan finally arrived at the edge of the Fifth Demon Territory after traveling for a day.

Similar to the Shiwan Mountains, Mount Changliu also has a "subtropical monsoon climate", not a snowy field like Mount Bailing, so the trees in the mountains are very lush at this time of year, giving it a bit of a secluded paradise feel.

However, Yang Liushi and Xu Quan were not here to enjoy the scenery, and given the urgency of the time, they went straight into the depths of the mountains after entering.

The figures of the two flickered in the forest, and after an unknown amount of time, they finally stopped at the foot of the main peak.

Under normal circumstances, if Mount Changliu was really a gathering place for demons, then demon beasts would definitely appear at this time.

But Yang Liushi and Xu Quan didn't see anything.

Even thinking back, from the time they entered the mountain until now, they had never felt any trace of demon beasts.

Not even the slightest bit.

Yang Liushi was a fox demon, and Xu Quan was a Child of Destiny blessed with the "Path of Demonic Anomalies", so their perception of demons was no worse than a Demon-Identifying Compass.

Therefore, it was impossible for them to ignore any abnormalities, but there really were no demon beasts appearing around them along the way.

Then this was very strange.

Not to mention that Mount Changliu was the Fifth Demon Territory, as famous as the Shiwan Mountains and Mount Bailing, even if it was just an ordinary mountain, they should have encountered a few demon beasts by now.

So what exactly was the situation with this Mount Changliu?

“Madam, how about we go to the top of the peak and take a look?”

Looking around, and then looking up at the main peak hidden in the night, Xu Quan said softly, “We should be able to find a few demons there.”

“...”

Yang Liushi, dressed in black, frowned, not answering immediately.

She had lived in the Shiwan Mountains for decades and was far more familiar with the situation of the demon territories than Xu Quan, so she naturally understood how strange the current situation was.

In Yang Liushi's opinion, there were only two possibilities for a place like Mount Changliu to have no demon beasts.

First, something happened here that caused all the demon beasts to run away, or die.

Second, the demon beasts in the mountain were intentionally avoiding herself and Xu Quan, that is, hiding.

The second situation was undoubtedly too far-fetched.

Because even Su Qi didn't know that they were coming to Mount Changliu on this trip, so how could the demon king of the Fifth Demon Territory know in advance?

Taking a step back, even if the demon king here knew, it couldn't make all the demon beasts obediently hide.

After all, demon beasts were not humans, and most demon beasts had extremely low intelligence before transforming, acting no differently from ordinary wild beasts, and even the demon king couldn't directly command them.

Therefore, it should be difficult for a situation of "one demon is hard to find" to occur.

And in that case...

The moonlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled silver light, and the entire mountain seemed to be devoid of any living creatures except for the two of them, eerily quiet.

Without a doubt, something must have happened in this Mount Changliu.

And it had only happened recently.

Wei Changtian had just prepared to “borrow troops” from the Fifth Demon Territory, and then something happened here. Such a coincidence obviously had a bit of a "protagonist halo" to it.

But thinking about it carefully, this was also normal.

After all, although Wei Changtian was not the protagonist, the other person was.

“Big brother, what should we do next?”

Returning to Linchuan City.

Still in that mansion, four men were discussing matters in a secret room.

Two were Rank Two and two were Rank Three, all assassins who assassinated Wei Changtian this morning, and all came from the number one sect within the Great Qian Dynasty, the Nine Truths Sect.

The Nine Truths of Taoism means the nine kinds of true people in the Heavenly Realm.

Since this sect took such a name, it meant that they were following the path of Taoism, and their strength was very strong.

But no matter how powerful they were, it would definitely not be easy to send four Upper Third Rank experts to Linchuan at once, and it was estimated that Jing Guoqing had secretly promised many benefits.

It was just that their actions today undoubtedly meant that there was another person behind them, and the "benefits" given by this person were more than Jing Guoqing's.

“Big brother, that Su Qi is not stupid, he must be suspicious of what happened today, and Jing Guoqing probably won't believe our explanation.”

A long-faced man frowned and said, “Not to mention Wei Changtian, he will definitely look for opportunities to retaliate against us in the future.”

“Should we leave or stay next? Should we make plans early?”

“Don't worry yet.”

On the other side, a man in yellow clothes quickly replied, “What if Su Qi and Jing Guoqing are suspicious?”

“If we leave, who else in Linchuan can withstand Wei Changtian?”

“As for Wei Changtian, hmph! He's not a god. As long as we are careful, how can he find us?”

“That's right.”

Everyone nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

And when the worries in their hearts gradually faded away, what remained was confusion.

“Big brother, I still don't understand why the sect leader suddenly ordered us to take action.”

“That's fine, but why would the other six people do the same?”

“No matter how powerful the sect leader is, he can't possibly order those six people, right?”

“Who knows? Maybe the sect leader was also entrusted by someone... Anyway, we just follow orders, and we haven't lost any benefits.”

“That's right...”

“...”

The candlelight flickered, and the conversation in the room continued.

However, Wei Changtian outside the house frowned slightly.

After pondering for a moment, he did not enter the house to capture people as planned, but turned around and left, going back the way he came.