The improved female villains regained their memories.

The cloud meowed; it too was injured and could only lie there, meowing weakly.

Yang Pingsheng looked at Zhou Jinyu but showed no intention of helping her up.

"In my life..." Zhou Jinyu began, her voice tinged with sorrow, "When did you become like this?"

Yang Pingsheng asked curiously, "Then what should I be like?"

"I don't know, but I do know you're not like that, at least not like Ye Buxin just now, you..."

Zhou Jinyu lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "You are a benevolent person."

The room was eerily quiet.

Zhou Jinyu suddenly moved closer, and Yang Pingsheng's heart tightened, so he took a step back.

-------------

Zhou Jinyu fell to the ground. She didn't see the stone behind her when she took half a step back, which caused her to fall.

She had come to investigate after hearing noises coming from the back mountain, but she never expected to see such a horrifying scene.

The spies' bodies lay intertwined, some clutching weapons, their eyes still filled with terror; others collapsed, convulsing, their bodies stained with blood. Knife marks and sword wounds crisscrossed the blood, reflecting the cold moonlight in a pool of blood, a scene of utter deathly silence.

Yang Pingsheng sat on a rock, a broken knife lying beside him. Blood splattered on his calm face, and his eyes were as deep and unfathomable as an abyss.

Sensing the movement behind him, Yang Pingsheng turned his head slightly, and Zhou Jinyu was so frightened that she instinctively shrank back and dared not make a sound.

"Junior brother, you..."

She trembled as she noticed several people hanging from the tree, their tendons and skin peeled off, blood flowing from the tree to the ground.

"That's the effect of a killing move, Senior Sister, there's no need to be afraid."

Yang Pingsheng said calmly, "Master noticed that there was a gap in the great formation at the back of the mountain, and someone had infiltrated Yunmeng Mountain, so he sent me to clean it up."

With a casual wave of his hand, the earth seemed to come alive, opening its gaping maw to swallow the blood-stained trees and mountains of corpses.

Rumble.

When the earth calmed down, the place was completely clean, with nothing left.

In this era without standards, many people develop their own methods. Zhou Jinyu has seen many magical techniques, but she has never seen such a bizarre one.

The earth, like his pet, no longer possessed the virtue of bearing all things, but under Yang Pingsheng's manipulation, became indescribable.

Yang Pingsheng jumped off the rock and walked towards Zhou Jinyu.

Fear spread through Zhou Jinyu's heart, as if she were enveloped in boundless darkness, and she trembled.

-------------

But unlike Ye Buxin, Yang Pingsheng reached out his hand.

"Senior sister, we should go back now."

She looked up blankly, the moonlight shining on the boy's face, melting away the fear and bringing gentleness.

Instinctively, she put her hand on it, but when she tried to get up, she found that her ankle was injured.

Yang Pingsheng watched, then reached out and unleashed his earth-yellow spiritual energy, continuously injecting it into the wound, which quickly healed.

"Senior sister, it's ready," he said.

"Not yet," she replied.

Yang Pingsheng looked at her strangely. The moonlight shone on the girl's face, melting away her fear and bringing gentleness.

"Junior brother, I... I can't walk anymore, could you...?"

She spoke as if in a dream.

"Carry me back?"

Under the moonlight, the two remained silent for a long time.

-------------

Zhou Jinyu knew that Yang Pingsheng came from the State of Chu and had joined the Linlang Sect of Chu. He possessed some magical abilities, but she never knew that Yang Pingsheng's methods were so terrifying and evil.

She witnessed that scene firsthand—the earth transformed into a living creature, feeding on human flesh and blood.

It is said that different people use different methods. Is my junior brother as evil, domineering, and indescribable as he is?

When he picked her up, it felt like she was back on that night when he carried her on his back: the fierce wind and snow, carrying a biting chill, were all shielded by the man in front of her, leaving only warmth.

She still remembered her junior's reply that day, but she was not discouraged.

The feeling of being nestled in someone's arms is different from being carried on someone's back. She hugged her junior brother's neck tightly and suddenly whispered, "You're not like that."

Yang Pingsheng: "?"

He subconsciously looked down, when his senior sister suddenly approached, her gentle voice carrying the breeze: "You are not that kind of person. Evil, domineering, indescribable, do not belong to you."

"You are the benevolent earth, which holds everything and bears everything."

“You are a benevolent person, I can sense it.”

After saying that, Zhou Jinyu shrank back, as if everything she had just done had exhausted all her courage.

She closed her eyes and felt the wind brush past her ears again.

If the past were irretrievable, she would so much like to send Yang Pingsheng back to the past, back to that earliest snowy night.

On that snowy night when only she survived, if Yang Pingsheng had been there, if he had been there...

Even though I closed my eyes to try and quiet things down, for some reason, my heart was beating faster and faster.

'We are the same kind of people.'

she thinks.

He is the earth that bears all, she is the frost that envelops all. When the snow falls on the ground, it merges with the earth when the sun comes out.

Heaven and earth can never be together, but snow can.

The snow will turn into rain, fall on the earth, embrace the earth, and nourish the earth.

Together with the earth, it gives birth to all things.

She clutched Yang Pingsheng's clothes, wanting the snow and rain to touch the earth more closely, to be buried in her memories forever.

-------------

I still remember the first class of the Guigu School; everyone was there.

The room was bright, with five tables. The master sat in the main seat, but his image was still blurry.

"Today is the first time our Guigu Sect has held a class together. Before we begin, I would like to ask you all, if one day you have completed your studies and acquired great skills, what would you all like to do?"

The master clapped his hands and said, "One by one, Fusu, you go first."

Fusu rose and bowed, stood there in deep thought for a long time, and then said in a deep voice, "If possible, I would like to bring peace to the world."

"Then I'll take your answer as 'the world.'" The master nodded. "And Li Zhujun?"

Li Zhujun stood up as well, smiling, though it was hard to tell whether she was serious or joking: "As for me... if I could, I'd like to see if a true gentleman exists."

"Hmm, I'll take it as true." Master nodded, looking at Ye Buxin sitting at the back: "Ye Buxin, what about you?"

Ye Buxin did not get up, and said indifferently, "I have nothing I want to do."

"Hehe, alright." Master smiled and looked at Zhou Jinyu: "Jinyu, what about you?"

Zhou Jinyu looked up at her master with some fear.

In that blurry figure, she seemed to see her master's encouraging gaze.

She quickly stood up: "I...."

The words were left unsaid.

She has things she wants to do, but does she really deserve to say them?

Among those present, the eldest brother was a prince of Qin, and the second brother was related to Li Si of Qin. It didn't matter how grand their plans were.

But what about myself?

She was born into a commoner family, with average talent, average learning ability, and average comprehension. If it weren't for the Ghost Valley Sect taking her in, she might never have come into contact with immortal techniques in her entire life.

Does someone like her really deserve to do what she wants?

Would it be better to answer "I don't have anything I want to do" like Ye Buxin did?

Zhou Jinyu clenched her fists, her lips devoid of color.

She trembled and tried to speak several times, but couldn't get the words out.

In an era without rules, an era that belonged exclusively to the nobility, Zhou Jinyu dared not voice her true thoughts.

The master looked at him, then suddenly turned to Yang Pingsheng and said, "Pingsheng, I remember you once joined the Linlang Sect of the Chu Kingdom, right?"

Yang Pingsheng stood up and bowed: "Yes."

"The Linlang Sect of Chu is not easy to enter. Do you have someone to recommend you?"

"No one recommends it."

"Where are your parents?"

“Master, I have no parents. I was raised by a schoolteacher.”

"I see," Master said with a smile. "And you, is there anything you want to do?"

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Yang Pingsheng answered frankly, "I want to put the world at ease."

The boy's answer was powerful and resounding, as if it echoed throughout the world.

-------------

Those words echoed in Zhou Jinyu's heart, making her tremble with excitement at what the boy had said.

In this aristocratic era, in this era where talent is everything, can people truly have ambition and dreams?

Master said that a person's achievements are indeed linked to talent, but talent is never the main factor. The Guigu School always emphasizes using inevitable methods to plan for inevitable attacks.

Even if you are not as talented as others, even if you are not of noble blood, as long as you are determined to do something, you can definitely do it.

He told Zhou Jinyu not to be confused, not to feel inferior because of her identity, and to boldly do what she wanted to do.