The improved female villains regained their memories.

He also dreamed.

I dreamt that they bowed to each other, and became husband and wife under the witness of heaven and earth.

But unfortunately, a dream is just a dream. After waking up, she was still the same older sister.

Perhaps, deep down, he was jealous of Yang Pingsheng, jealous that he could become husband and wife with his senior sister, while he and Nangong Qingyang could only be this damned siblings for the rest of their lives.

Its scarlet eyes looked over, and the phoenix emblem on its body turned bright red.

Nangong Qingyang was startled, but was immediately pulled into his arms.

Was that a kiss?

Still feeling resentful, annoyed, angry, and sad?

Nangong Qingyang shoved him away, furious, and said, "Qi Pengju, how dare you!"

Qi Pengju wiped his bitten lip, watched the blood trickle down his fingertip, and smiled coldly: "Over the years, haven't I been quite unruly?"

Nangong Qingyang trembled with anger and tried to raise her hand, but Qi Pengju took the initiative to step forward and pin her to the ground.

He said, "Qingyang, it doesn't matter if you're angry or annoyed. It's fine if we're not siblings. I'm fed up with calling you 'elder sister'."

Nangong Qingyang's pupils dilated in shock as he exclaimed, "Qi Pengju, you..."

He raised his hand, and with a phoenix cry, Nangong Qingyang rolled his eyes and fainted.

He held her gently and continued, "But I am still willing to take the calamity for you. If I win, then you can rest easy from now on. If I die, then the calamity of fate will be fulfilled, and you can rest easy from now on."

"Qingyang, why don't you understand? As long as you are still concerned about the world, this calamity will not be eliminated for a single day."

"So, I'll do it for you."

I will avenge the destruction of your country.

To carry out the changes for you.

He bore all the sins of ruthlessness and filth, the cries of countless people, and became the filthy one.

Nangong Qingyang, the last master of Jixia Academy, is forever holy and forever pure!

The only ones to suffer divine retribution are these desperate criminals.

Chapter 643 Sin

She gathers kudzu; a day without seeing her feels like three months.

She gathers artemisia; a day without seeing her feels like three autumns.

She gathers artemisia; a day without seeing her feels like three years. —From "The Odes of Wang: Gathering Artemisia"

Divine retribution has arrived, and Yang Pingsheng has decided to publicly execute Qi Pengju.

On the night before his execution, Qi Pengju ate his last supper and remained curled up in that spot.

He didn't regret it; this outcome was within his expectations.

Are you going to sleep tonight?

Sleep now, it's the last night, he still wants to dream.

This is the last time I dreamed of Nangong Qingyang, so it's nothing.

She said he was presumptuous, but he only dared to be presumptuous in his dreams.

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

Before Fusu left, he did not see Yang Pingsheng.

He left him the talisman, along with half of his core troops.

In the talisman, he told Yang Pingsheng that he could command all the forces of the young masters' mansions in the capital. If Pingsheng could defend them, he should do so; if he couldn't, he should escape as soon as possible to save his life.

He knew that Yang Pingsheng wanted to find out the mastermind behind these events, and he also wanted to tell Yang Pingsheng some things that only he knew, but there was no time. The dragon vein was of great importance, and the fates of Yang Pingsheng and Ye Buxin were intertwined, which could not be resolved with just a few words.

He could only leave behind a hidden plan, hoping it could help Yang Pingsheng.

He knew that Yang Pingsheng would investigate to the end, and that was enough.

And Yang Pingsheng will indeed investigate to the end.

The parade decided to return to the capital. Yang Pingsheng, along with Fusu's men and the old subordinates of the Linlang Sect, camped in a county town. The room was quiet, with only the faint crackling of the spiritual fire. Yang Pingsheng repeatedly read the message Fusu had left him, rubbing the life-saving magic item he had previously given to Zhou Jinyu in his hands.

Before dying, Zhou Jinyu didn't take out the magic weapon. Instead, he tightly clutched the gift his senior sister had given him—he'd heard that his senior sister was named Ping Sheng Qi (Life Contract), which was just an ordinary magic weapon, at most used for warmth. His senior sister had been hit head-on by the arrow, breaking her protective spiritual energy. In other words, the attacker came straight at Zhou Jinyu, not by sneak attack, leaving her no time to react.

Zhou Jinyu faced death with equanimity. Her last action before dying was to hold onto the Life Contract. When Yang Pingsheng buried her, he buried it along with his senior sister. However, when he took out the life-saving magic treasure, he discovered that his senior sister had still used it, so he left it behind.

He tapped the magical artifact, and instantly, it emitted a faint green light.

At the last moment, she slightly altered its spiritual energy circuit. Yang Pingsheng thought that his senior sister might be trying to remind him of something with this magic weapon, but she was not a professional weapon refiner and her abilities were limited, so she could only do this much.

Yang Pingsheng, who had been silent all along, lowered his head in anguish. Green, green—he was all too familiar with this color. But he found it hard to believe. He preferred to believe that the murderer was Wang Jingxing, and the mastermind behind it all was Nangong Qingyang and the Jixia Academy.

"How should a person live their life?" he asked in the darkness.

The spirit fire went out, the last glimmer of light was extinguished, and no one answered his question.

"No one has ever told me, no one has ever taught me, how one should choose one's own path, how one should live one's own life."

He stood quietly in the darkness, the magical artifact still emitting a faint green light, but it could not illuminate the night; instead, it slowly blended into the darkness.

He lowered his head, the mountain of corpses pushing him upwards. He felt a chill and instinctively resisted, as if he shouldn't be there.

He recalled what Ye Buxin had said: "Throughout my life, my philosophy has been correct. All beings need guidance, and they need mandatory guidance. Only the strongest and highest can set the course for all beings."

He recalled his master's words: "In life, there will inevitably be betrayal and loyalty between two conflicting sides."

Finally, he heard himself say, "How should I live my life?"

The night before Qi Pengju was executed, Yang Pingsheng sat there for a long time.

He had to make a decision: to kill or not to kill, to stick to the surface or the truth? He stared at the eerie green light and suddenly realized he was trapped in a dark place.

He had to make a choice, and whichever choice he made, he had to go to her.

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

The execution array was set up early the next day at noon, and many people came to watch.

These people were all from nearby counties and survivors of the day of the rebellion. They had heard that the culprits would be executed today, and they all rushed to watch.

Layers of magical artifacts bound Qi Pengju. When he was led to the final battle formation, he saw a dense, dark crowd.

He saw the crowd silent, each person casting angry glances at him, because of him, their children, wives, and parents had all died in this unified era.

But he felt no guilt whatsoever; he just smiled dismissively and stood confidently in front of Yang Pingsheng.

"Don't you have anything to say? If you tell the truth, you might not die," Yang Pingsheng said.

"Let's skip the nonsense. Look at the eyes of these people. If you don't kill me today, they will kill you." Qi Pengju revealed a faint smile, his tone as provocative as ever: "How interesting. The Qin people who cause the destruction of others' families can also show such an expression when their families are destroyed."

"I have no interest in arguing with you any further." Yang Pingsheng waved his hand, and the people next to him escorted Qi Pengju into the execution formation.

He was immobilized there, unable to use his spiritual energy or bloodline talent. He knew he was doomed; the so-called divine retribution had come to pass today.

He could clearly see the angry looks people were giving him.

He could clearly feel the snow falling from the sky.

National hatred and family feuds?

He never had any of those things. Compared to those people, he was actually an oddball. When Qin destroyed Chu and the Xiang family, he never held a grudge. On the contrary, he secretly applauded.

However, he must hold a grudge.

If he didn't hold a grudge, how could he help Nangong Qingyang, how could he get those men in black to work for him, and how could he get them to accept him? The Jixia Academy is a place that shelters people with national and family feuds. If he didn't hold a grudge, these people wouldn't listen to him so much.

To navigate this era, one must wear a mask; national hatred and family feuds are the masks that Qi Pengju wears.

So he grinned.

"Qin people, if you hate me, then hate me all you want! But your country still exists, while our Chu country has long since perished. In terms of hatred, we hate you a thousand times, ten thousand times more!" he roared.

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

Even at the very end, this madman continued to incite hatred to conceal his true purpose.

Sometimes, he felt like he was crazy, but everyone in this era was crazy.

Those who claim to be acting for the sake of the world, those who shout about righteousness for the sake of the people, those who wave the banner of justice while doing despicable things—there are so many lunatics in the world, one more won't make a difference.

Just because he's crazy, just because these people hate him, does he have to stop what he's doing?

Absolutely not.

Now that I've embarked on this path, I will never regret it.

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

National hatred and family feuds were the most important ideology that sustained the existence of the Jixia Academy.

They had to constantly incite hatred to ensure that more and more people who were unwilling to be destroyed by Qin would join them. Only by constantly killing Qin people and trampling on Qin's Legalist ideology could they prove their determination to destroy Qin.

Qi Pengju knew clearly that there were many forces from the six states that supported the academy but were still hiding in the shadows. They also wanted to destroy Qin, but they didn't have the guts. Only if he first instigated a rebellion and ignited this spark could the flames of rebellion burn bigger and bigger in the future.

The heads and blood of the Qin people—if he could kill Fusu, all the better. If he couldn't, he could at least ignite the hatred between Qin and the other six states by slaughtering the Qin people.

The First Emperor was too hasty. The cultures, cultivation methods, immortal techniques, and customs of the six kingdoms were all different. Even if he forcibly unified them, the world would fall apart again as soon as the hatred of killing resurfaced.

Therefore, Qi Pengju did not regret such killings.

He ignited the flames of war, and then used his own death to shield Nangong Qingyang from the calamity in his life. For him, this was the best ending.

So he doesn't regret it.

As long as it benefits Nangong Qingyang, as long as it helps Nangong Qingyang withstand his fate, even if Heaven itself punishes him, he will never regret it.

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

Last night, on his last night together, he actually dreamed about her.

In the dream, he was covered in blood, standing in the room, looking into her eyes.

She didn't approach him as she had the first time, nor was she as angry as she was this time; instead, she covered her face and wept.

He didn't look at her, letting her cry, and walked alone into the darkness.