The improved female villains regained their memories.

She used them both as pawns, as tools to save her life, but now she is deeply entangled in their relationship and has been dragged back into the cage of fate.

Everything is determined by one's own choices.

Her master taught her about destiny, but not about making choices within destiny.

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

The earth rose up, enveloping Qi Pengju and Nangong Qingyang in the center once again.

Yang Pingsheng's hidden troops came out in full force and surrounded them in an instant.

He stood on the raised ground, looking at the disheveled brother and sister, his gaze fixed on the sister: "Nangong Qingyang, you've finally shown yourself."

Nangong Qingyang gave a wry smile: "I doubt you'd believe anything I say, would you?"

Yang Pingsheng said, "Tell me, where is Wang Jingxing?"

"I don't know." Nangong Qingyang shook his head.

Yang Pingsheng nodded, and without further ado, struck down the opponent in one move.

The earth shook and mountains trembled. One deadly attack after another, unleashing all the power of the immortals. The small county town was completely annihilated by these terrifying immortal techniques.

Nangong Qingyang was covered in blood. She heard the familiar cry of the phoenix. In the light of the immortal technique, the phoenix flapped its wings and led them out of the encirclement.

She knew it was Qi Pengju who had intervened; even though she was the one who came to save her, she was saved by him once again.

Boom! She heard a thunderclap in the sky.

That chaotic fate line indicates that the time for a life-altering tribulation is fast approaching.

Threads of fate were wrapped around her, and she used the last move her master had taught her.

The light of destiny overshadowed all the light produced by the divine means, piercing through heaven and earth.

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

But Yang Pingsheng was too well prepared. He almost expected Nangong Qingyang to come to their rescue. In order to surround and kill them, he not only used Fusu's guards and his old subordinates from the Linlang Sect, but also people from Zhou Jinyu's forces.

Although Mingxian's move repelled the people inside the city, those who were prepared outside the city suffered no losses. They were all eager to avenge their former master.

After using up her life force, Nangong Qingyang's hair turned snow-white, and she looked much older. Before she lost consciousness, she could only feel Qi Pengju carrying her on his back: "Sister, let's go home."

Go home, but which home?

Nangong Qingyang has long since lost his home.

Her earliest home suffered an undeserved disaster because of a princess who fled. Later, her country was destroyed by the Qin state, and her country and home were destroyed. Now, even the Jixia Academy is about to cease to exist. Where is her home now?

Driven by her chaotic emotions, she acted hastily and could only reply in a hoarse voice, "Okay."

What is destined cannot be changed; at the right time, one must learn to let go.

She seemed to hear her father's words: "Little Qingyang, go and grow up happily. Don't pursue anything. Living like this is fine too."

But Father, how can I give up?

Driven by national hatred and personal vendettas, and by a fear of death, I am so selfish, yet I am so unwilling to let them die. I selfishly used them as pawns, yet I cannot bear to see them die unjustly because of me. Now that things have come to this, how can I give up? How can I give up everything and just live alone?

The wind whistled past her ears, and she wearily looked up to see the scenery on both sides rushing past her.

The terrifying pressure behind them did not stop, and Yang Pingsheng and his pursuers still did not give up.

She looked up wearily and asked in a heavy voice, "Didn't you shake them off?"

He was breathing heavily, but his voice was filled with joy: "Sister, you're awake?"

She was dizzy and weak, but she could only manage to ask again, "Have you still managed to shake off the pursuers?"

He didn't answer directly, but instead comforted her, "Don't worry, sister, that guy has fallen for your trick, he won't be able to catch up in a short time."

She knew that "guy" referred to Yang Pingsheng, so she gave a bitter laugh and said, "The others, all..."

There was no answer; only the wind blew silently by.

Before she knew it, the wind stopped, and she felt Qi Pengju place her on a rock.

He laughed and said, "Sister, wait for me here for a while. I'll go distract the pursuers and come back to meet you soon."

His smile was ugly, and his voice was awful, but he kept smiling.

Layer upon layer of white snow covered both his and her heads.

Nangong Qingyang grasped his hand, trembling: "You don't have to die."

He chuckled and patted her hand: "Yes, I don't have to die."

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

If that's not the case, why go ahead without hesitation?

As she watched Qi Pengju's departing figure, she completely lost control of her emotions and screamed hoarsely.

Why did she lose control?

Why did things turn out this way?

Is it because she committed too many sins that God is punishing her like this?

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

A chaotic fate, an uncontrollable reality.

Nangong Qingyang was panting when he heard footsteps approaching.

The snow was falling heavily. She looked up and saw Wang Jingxing standing there, having been waiting for a long time.

At that moment, she seemed to understand something, and she forced herself to straighten up.

"Ye Buxin, you win."

The cold wind, carrying snow, kept blowing, making her hair even whiter. Even though it was just her and Wang Jingxing there, she kept calling out Ye Buxin's name.

She knew that person was definitely watching this place.

"I can't control my emotions, and that's probably the result of your manipulation." She chuckled softly. "Such a clever tactic. I can't control my emotions, so I can't control my actions."

When people are influenced by others, those thoughts will keep popping up.

She looked up at Wang Jingxing approaching: "But I still don't understand, how did you do it? And, I clearly controlled your fate, how did you break free?"

Wang Jingxing didn't say anything, he just walked up to her and raised his knife.

The cold light reflected on Nangong Qingyang's face, and her pupils contracted slightly.

"Could it be around that time...?"

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

"Yes, that's right. We don't need to fight to the death. In this situation, you only have two choices."

"choose?"

"That's right. Either you severely damage yourself and gamble that your so-called power of destiny can defeat me, or you take the initiative to lower your stance and cooperate with me."

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

"That was the time, the time when we had to make a choice!"

Nangong Qingyang exhaled a slight breath of stale air. The cold and the cost of the killing move made her movements slow down, very, very slow.

She understood, and looking at the manipulated Wang Jingxing, her eyes filled with sorrow, but at this moment she was powerless to do anything.

“Jingxing, I understand. Ye Buxin wants you to recall this memory in the future so that she can break you down. So, listen to me,” she said.

Wang Jingxing unleashed his spiritual energy, and the blade emitted a red light.

"No matter what, don't regret it. Since it's the path you've chosen, you must walk it firmly," she said.

He raised the knife high and then brought it down with a mighty slash.

"Whatever you do, don't look back," she whispered.

My father loved to sing Qu Yuan's poem "Elegy for the Fallen".

Sometimes, when he was drunk, he would sing at the top of his lungs: "Truly brave, tenacious, and heroic, always strong and unyielding, inviolable. Though man dies, spirit never fades; your soul is truly a hero among ghosts!"

Xiao Nangong Qingyang asked, "Father, what kind of person was Qu Yuan?"

The father smiled and said, "Qu Yuan was a remarkable person."

Xiao Nangong Qingyang asked again, "But Father, Qu Yuan was from the State of Chu."

Since my father claimed to be a Zhou person, why did he particularly like Qu Yuan, who was from the state of Chu?

She heard her father say, "To know something is destined to happen, yet still want to change it, that's what makes someone remarkable."

She's not a remarkable person.

She was afraid of death and wanted to avert her demise, so she colluded with Qi Pengju and Wang Jingxing. Seeing the fall of the Chu Kingdom, she wanted to overthrow the Qin Kingdom, so she cooperated with Li Si and Huhai to frame Fusu.

She is a despicable person who has committed countless sins in her life, and for her own selfish desires, she has caused the situation to spiral out of control.

She opened her palm, which was crimson, and her emotions surged. Only then did she realize her feelings.

She loved the State of Chu, the Jixia Academy, Qi Pengju, Wang Jingxing, and every place around her.

The sudden death of her parents during her childhood instilled in her a fear of death, which led her to suppress all her love.

She saw a snowflake gently fall into her palm. How beautiful! Are snowflakes really such beautiful things? How come she had never noticed them before?

The world was destined to be disrupted by a demon, and she once had the chance to withstand the calamity that befell the world.

"It turns out that it wasn't my fate, but the fate of the world. It was just that I stood in their way, which is why it became my fate."

"The calamity that befell the world was Ye Buxin. If I had grown up happily and normally, as my father said, and had not been an enemy of Ye Buxin, I probably wouldn't be dying now, would I?"

She remembered the Chu princess who had fled; it was because of her that her parents had suffered an undeserved calamity.

So it was all her doing.

As the snow fell and the sun set, the golden light mingled with the white light, creating the most beautiful world she had ever seen.

She should have lived for the world, but she died for herself.

She lowered her head, her fingertips touching the ground, using her last bit of destiny.

Nangong Qingyang died.