I am the villain in the book

Make way, or you will die.

In an instant, the fierce mountain wind surged like a tidal wave.

Fallen leaves, whipped up by the gale, spun wildly on the ground, while the momentum that suddenly soared from both sides of the mountain road was even faster than the wind, colliding invisibly in one place the next moment.

Just dozens of breaths ago, the two sides were only probing each other, and although every word seemed to hide countless hidden meanings, the undercurrents always surged beneath the surface.

But now, the suddenly escalating tension had pushed the atmosphere to a critical point, and if anyone made even the slightest "out of line" move at this time, or said an "inappropriate" word, then the next second would undoubtedly erupt in another "Battle of Yanyun Mountain."

For the gray-robed old man, he was not afraid of these things at all, nor was he bluffing.

Although the people of Kui Long cannot interfere in worldly affairs, this does not mean that they cannot kill a general in order to complete a task.

As for the countless soldiers lurking in the surrounding forest...

If seven Second-Rank experts were determined to escape, relying solely on these Lower Third-Rank soldiers, no matter how many there were, they would not be able to stop them.

“...”

Grasping the hilt of his saber tightly in his left hand, Wu Ding stared intently at the gray-robed old man opposite him, veins bulging on his forehead.

He never expected that the other party would be so "unreasonable", still insisting on taking Li Wutong away even though Li Wutong had clearly made a decision.

Wu Ding knew that no matter what he said at this time, the other party would not hand over Li Wutong.

Then the only question now was whether or not to try to snatch her back by force.

Inner strength surged, and the tip of the saber hanging by his side trembled slightly.

The gray-robed old man's words did not carry much force, but they ignited an inexplicable fire in his heart.

Because these words, in addition to being a blatant threat, also contained a deeper meaning—

As long as I want you to die, you will die.

This was a kind of contempt from the strong towards the weak, usually occurring in conversations between high-ranked and low-ranked martial artists.

And Wu Ding was also a Second-Rank, so naturally it sounded incredibly harsh to him now.

However, no matter how angry he was in his heart, he also knew that the other party did indeed possess this ability.

The gray-robed old man was a genuine late-stage Second-Rank expert, and although the other six were slightly weaker, they were at least all Second-Rank.

On his side, although there were many Third-Ranks, there were only three Second-Ranks, including himself.

Three against seven.

If the other party intended to target him, they could indeed kill him in a short period of time, and then break through with Li Wutong...

Since he was able to sit in the position of a military commander, Wu Ding was naturally not a reckless man who easily got carried away.

Moreover, Ning Yongnian had already told him how to respond to the current situation.

“Okay.”

Looking at the gray-robed old man, Wu Ding suppressed the anger in his heart, reined in his horse to make way on the mountain road, and at the same time shouted violently at the crowd behind him.

“MAKE WAY!!”

“...”

“Whirr!”

Armor rubbed together, and the group of experts, including Bai Youheng, hesitated only for a moment, then silently made way, leaving a path about the width of a carriage.

Although they had not received instructions from Ning Yongnian, their judgment of the current situation was the same as Wu Ding's.

If they really fought, they would definitely be the ones to suffer.

And if the losses were too heavy at that time, it might even affect the outcome of the entire war.

“...”

From surging undercurrents to tense confrontation, to the current "bearing humiliation and carrying a heavy burden."

No matter how unwilling Wu Ding and the others were, they finally chose to back down.

Seeing this, the gray-robed old man would certainly not be idle and say a few words of sarcasm, but instead urged his horse again, and soon brushed past Wu Ding.

The mountain road was very narrow, and the distance between the two sides was very close at this time.

“Thank you, General.”

The gray-robed old man glanced at Wu Ding and calmly uttered four words, which could be considered as saving some face for the latter.

However, Wu Ding did not appreciate this gesture, but stared intently at Li Wutong, who was placed horizontally on the horse by an old woman, and slowly said the last words Ning Yongnian had instructed him to say, word by word.

“Princess, our army will definitely break Fengyuan City within three days.”

“However, after the city is broken, His Majesty will still wait for you for ten days.”

“In other words, within thirteen days, the words I just said will still be valid.”

“The rest is up to you.”

“...”

Wait another thirteen days.

The gray-robed old man instantly understood what this time limit represented.

After thirteen days, even if they were slow, they would have returned to Shu Prefecture.

With Li Wutong's personality, she would definitely beg Wei Changtian to allow her to "sacrifice herself to save the country" at that time.

And at that time, Wei Changtian would face a dilemma.

If he allowed Li Wutong to fly into the fire like a moth, he would undoubtedly be handing over his weakness to the enemy.

But if he did not allow Li Wutong to do so, then a gap would inevitably arise between the two of them.

Let Wei Changtian be the one to extinguish the last glimmer of hope in Li Wutong's heart... Hehe, this Great Ning Emperor does have some psychological tactics.

Taking a deep look at Wu Ding, the gray-robed old man said nothing.

Kui Long itself does not have any position, so he only needs to send Li Wutong back to Shu Prefecture, as for other matters, they have nothing to do with them at all.

“Da da da.”

The sound of horses' hooves gradually faded away, and soon disappeared completely into the night.

The mountain wind gradually changed from strong to weak, the dense forest was covered with countless torches, and the dark clouds in the sky were heavy and oppressive.

Great Ning Capital, Imperial Palace.

Just as the people of Kui Long safely took Li Wutong out of the encirclement and headed straight for Shu Prefecture without stopping, the vast Great Ning Imperial Palace was surrounded by lines of fire.

However, there were also tens of thousands of Imperial Guards in red armor lined up near the city walls within the Imperial Palace, with bright long sabers all drawn from their sheaths, and arrows nocked on longbows like stars.

If viewed from a high altitude, the city walls of the Imperial Palace at this time were like a clear dividing line.

Outside the city was black, inside the city was red.

Outside the city belonged to Wei, inside the city belonged to Ning.

“Lord Wei! What are you trying to do?!”

Above the Meridian Gate tower, Li Huaizhong stared at Wei Xianzhi, who was wearing a golden silk tiger dragon robe and standing upright in front of countless Suspended Mirror Division officers, and suddenly thought of the scene that had occurred in Shu Prefecture City two months ago.

In just one short month, Wei Changtian had sent Ning Yuke to the throne in the astonished eyes of the world, and even held a grand enthronement ceremony, without paying any attention to Ning Yongnian's warnings.

And now, Wei Xianzhi, also without any warning, had actually led people to surround the Imperial Palace!

The son openly supported a rebel king, and the father directly surrounded the Imperial Palace!

Madmen!

The people of the Wei family were all madmen!!

Looking at the black-clothed figures filling the entire long street in front of him, Li Huaizhong could not help but shiver, and a chill rose from the bottom of his heart.

“Lord Wei! Are you mute?!”

“Are you trying to rebel?!”

“...”

Seemingly to embolden himself, Li Huaizhong shouted several times in succession.

His voice was too shrill, sounding somewhat ridiculous, like a crow on the verge of death.

However, Wei Xianzhi did not laugh, nor did he intend to answer Li Huaizhong.

He just stood silently in front of the Meridian Gate, looking up at the golden-carved dragon palace gate, as if waiting for something.

Until a figure finally appeared in front of the palace gate.

“Wei Qing, are you rebelling?”

Looking down at the small figure at his feet, Ning Yongnian's tone was incomparably calm.

His voice was not loud, and he asked the same question as Li Huaizhong.

But unlike the latter, he used only this one sentence to suppress all the noise and commotion.

The originally bustling capital city seemed to suddenly quiet down, with only the signal fires burning in the watchtowers still crackling, and thick smoke mixed with the strong smell of saltpeter covering the entire night sky.

At this moment, the entire capital city, or rather, the entire Great Ning, was waiting for Wei Xianzhi's answer.

And the latter seemed to have no hesitation, and slowly said in an equally calm tone:

“Your Majesty, you should ask yourself about this matter.”

“If you want the Wei family to rebel, then my Wei family...”

“Will rebel.”