Villain: My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

Su Qingge looked at the person in front of her, her brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a mosquito.

Ye Chen? Shouldn't he be locked in the dungeon? Did he escape by digging under the wall?

A bellyful of questions welled up inside her, but before she could even speak, the other person's eyes reddened.

Ye Chen didn't notice her expression at all; his mind was filled with the relief of finding her.

Thanks to his master Yan Ji taking the Gathering Spirit Pill, his remnant soul stabilized somewhat, which helped him sneak out of the dungeon. He had been on tenterhooks all the way here.

He had assumed that Su Qingge must have been driven to a terrible state by Xie Zheng, but after waiting and waiting for her to return, he was so anxious that he almost jumped up and down in frustration, his mind filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts.

Was she forced by Xie Zheng? Is she already living with that guy?

His heart finally settled when he saw Su Qingge, but the words caught in his throat.

"Qingge, you've been like this lately..." He opened his mouth, but swallowed the rest of his sentence.

The Su Qingge before me showed no signs of being haggard. She was still as beautiful as if she had stepped out of a painting, with bright eyes and a healthy complexion, not at all like someone who had been wronged.

If I wanted to ask her where she went, I instantly lost my confidence.

Su Qingge frowned and asked, her tone filled with doubt, "Ye Chen, what are you doing here? Who let you out of the dungeon?"

"Never mind that, there's no time to explain!" Ye Chen stamped his feet in frustration, reaching out to grab her arm. "Qingge, I'll take you away. We'll escape this hellhole of the Tai Xuan Holy Land and never come back!"

In his eyes, Su Qingge was forced to stay here by her father and Xie Zheng, and had no choice in the matter. This place was a cage, and she only smiled genuinely when she was training with him.

Su Qingge dodged backward, narrowly avoiding his hand. Her brows furrowed even more, and her tone turned colder: "Ye Chen, I won't leave. Can't you understand?"

"You're not leaving? Then I'll take you there by force!" Ye Chen grew impatient, his tone becoming domineering. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight. "Xie Zheng forced you, but I won't! If we don't leave now, we'll both be doomed when the elders of Tai Xuan arrive!"

"Ye Chen, don't force me." Su Qingge's expression darkened, and her tone became as cold as ice. "For the sake of our past relationship, if you leave now, I'll pretend I never met you."

"With your Soul Palace Realm cultivation, you're no match for me. If we really fight and make a scene, no one will escape."

She's at the Divine Power Realm, even more powerful than the Supreme Saint Chu Xuan. Ye Chen's abilities are simply no match for her.

Ye Chen froze, his anxious expression instantly turning to heartache, his voice trembling: "Qingge, why are you so stubborn? Have you... have you been forced to submit to Xie Zheng?"

During the days he was imprisoned in the dungeon, he dared not think about what had happened between Su Qingge and Xie Zheng; the more he thought about it, the more his heart ached.

Su Qingge merely glanced at him indifferently, her tone calm and unwavering: "Xie Zheng has never forced me. I stayed here entirely of my own free will."

He's not a great person, but he's not as bad as you think.

She paused, then added, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice, "Also, I'm still a virgin; he hasn't touched me even with a single finger. Isn't that enough proof?"

"On the contrary, I had impure thoughts and kept trying to please him, hoping to get his attention."

Upon hearing this, Xie Zheng raised an eyebrow in the shadows outside the main hall, his smile becoming somewhat intriguing.

He was just bored and decided to watch this drama unfold in hiding, but he never expected to get stabbed for no reason.

Is he a bad person? This Su Qingge seems to understand him quite well, yet not completely.

Xie Zheng leaned against a pillar, tapping it lightly with his fingertips, and chuckled to himself: "Imagining things is indeed a deadly thing."

The moment Ye Chen slipped out of the dungeon, he knew this guy was headed this way, so he came specifically to join the fun.

Unexpectedly, Su Qingge did not disappoint him; her words were far more interesting than he had anticipated.

Just then, the system notification sounded: "Ding! Ye Chen has completely broken ties with the female lead, losing 50 points of luck, while the host's destiny value has increased by 250 points."

Xie Zheng chuckled softly, his voice so low that only he could hear it: "Ye Chen, Ye Chen, such a promising young talent, you've almost ruined everything by playing with yourself. You're adorably stupid."

In the main hall, Ye Chen was stunned for a moment after hearing Su Qingge's words, then his face broke into wild joy. Xie Zheng hadn't touched her! The frustration and anger that had been building up in his heart for the past few days instantly vanished.

But the next second, Su Qingge's words struck him like a bolt from the blue, leaving him frozen in place, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape.

"You...what did you say?" His voice was shaky, his head was buzzing, and he couldn't believe his ears. "You're the one with impure intentions? You're trying so hard to please Xie Zheng?"

He just couldn't understand why Su Qingge, who had once trained alongside him and whose smile was so pure and innocent, would take the initiative to fawn over Xie Zheng.

Just as Ye Chen stood there dumbfounded, Yan Ji, sitting cross-legged in the void inside the ring on Ye Chen's finger, with her black hair hanging down, propped up with one hand, looked utterly bored.

Thanks to the Gathering Spirit Pill, her figure became much more solid than before, and she could see everything happening outside clearly.

"Sigh, this child has too deep a prejudice against Young Master Xie." Yan Ji sighed softly, her tone tinged with helplessness. "There's nothing wrong with what Su Qingge did."

Look at Xie Zheng, he's handsome, powerful, and has a terrifying background. Which girl wouldn't be attracted to him?

She paused, then pursed her lips: "Only a fool like Ye Chen can't see the situation clearly. He thinks the girl has been wronged. He's just worrying for nothing."

Inside the main hall, Ye Chen hadn't recovered from the blow. His face alternated between pale and flushed, his lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time: "Qingge... how could you... what's so good about Xie Zheng? What do I lack compared to him?"

Seeing his expression, Su Qingge felt a pang of unease, but she hardened her heart and said, "Ye Chen, you're a good person, but we've always just been friends. My feelings for Xie Zheng were entirely voluntary, and it has nothing to do with anyone else. You don't need to stand up for me."

"Friends?" Ye Chen gave a bitter smile, his eyes filled with pain.

"I've never considered you a friend! Qingge, I like you, I've liked you for a long time! How could you like that Xie Zheng? He's cunning, ruthless, and not a good person at all!"

"Whether he's good or bad, I know myself." Su Qingge's tone was firm. "Ye Chen, let's end this here. Don't bother each other anymore. You should leave the Tai Xuan Holy Land as soon as possible, otherwise if Xie Zheng finds out, you really won't be able to leave."