Obviously I'm in the right, so how did it become my fault

Jiang Xinyao looked at Qin Hao with a faint, mocking smile. The aura around her suddenly surged, and the phantom of a Heavenly Phoenix faintly emerged behind her. Although it lacked the heaven-suppressing pressure of Qin Hao's Immemorial Dragon Emperor Avatar, it still carried a scorching, noble presence capable of burning the Eight Desolates to ashes.

"The Emperor Son of the Qin family, the heir to a Primordial Family, yet you disguised your identity to play the role of a 'Rental Dao Companion.' Qin Hao!!! What do you take me, Jiang Xinyao, for? A game? A mission? Or just a plaything to amuse yourself in your spare time?!"

Jiang Xinyao's voice grew louder, laced with irrepressible trembling and agony. It echoed throughout the arena. The sheer amount of explosive information in her words instantly set the crowd into an uproar.

"What?! A Rental Dao Companion?! What in the world is that?"

"Wait, I heard that the Emperor Daughter of the Jiang family and the Emperor Son of the Qin family used to be engaged, but the engagement was annulled. Do you think that because the Jiang family broke off the engagement, the Qin family's Emperor Son harbored resentment, so he disguised himself as her Dao Companion just to make her fall in love with him before dumping her?"

"My heavens, so that's what happened! Is Qin Hao even human? No wonder Jiang Xinyao is so furious. This... this is utterly absurd!"

"Hmph, we all know the character of the Qin family. They go around impersonating our Ye family every day. This is exactly the kind of thing the Qin family would do. Disguising his identity to approach his former fiancee... Heh, how shameless!"

Everyone was left dumbfounded by this earth-shattering gossip. The gazes they directed at Qin Hao became incredibly bizarre. To take a broken engagement to such a level of manipulation... across the entire Three Realms and Nine Heavens, he was probably the only one capable of such a feat.

Hearing the surrounding discussions, Jiang Xinyao could not help but clench her fists. She bit her soft red lips so hard that they bled, a trail of scarlet blood trickling down the corner of her mouth.

"Qin Hao! Is it true? Was it all just to get back at me?"

The various stares coming from all directions made Qin Hao's scalp tingle. He raised his head, meeting Jiang Xinyao's angry and wounded gaze, his own eyes turning earnest and sincere.

"Yaoyao, do you really think all of that was just revenge?"

As he spoke, Qin Hao took a step back in disbelief. He clutched his chest, looking exactly like someone who could not bear the weight of such a devastating blow.

Seeing Qin Hao like this, Jiang Xinyao's heart inexplicably tightened. She almost rushed forward to support him, but she quickly suppressed the urge.

"Hmph, stop pretending! The grand Emperor Son of the Qin family, do you dare to do it but not dare to admit it?"

Qin Hao opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

"I admit that hiding my identity from you was my fault. But every moment we spent together, the beautiful sights we saw, the words we shared, the promises we made... which of those was not a genuine expression of my feelings?"

"How could you think that everything I did was based on getting revenge against you?"

Qin Hao shook his head repeatedly, his eyes filled with disbelief as he looked at Jiang Xinyao. He stumbled back step by step, as if he had suffered an unimaginably heavy blow.

Finally, Qin Hao smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Heh, so my feelings are really that worthless in your eyes? Heh, it turns out it was just my own wishful thinking all along. Fine. Fine... If thinking this way makes you feel better, then go ahead and believe it."

Qin Hao's display of heartbreak, acting as though he had been deeply misunderstood and hurt, was absolutely masterful. The wounded look in his eyes, the bitter smile, the staggering footsteps, every single detail was executed to perfection.

Seeing this, the fury that had been burning inside Jiang Xinyao instantly melted away, her heart softening.

Catching that dense, unresolvable disappointment and hurt in Qin Hao's eyes, her heart felt as if it had been ruthlessly squeezed by an invisible hand, filling with a sour, aching pain.

"No, that's not it, I didn't..." Jiang Xinyao subconsciously wanted to retort, wanting to explain to Qin Hao that she had taken their relationship very seriously.

But just as the words reached her lips, she suddenly realized that she was being led astray by Qin Hao's rhythm. She was clearly the one in the right; Qin Hao was the one who had lied!

How did it suddenly seem like she was the heartless, ruthless bad woman trampling on someone else's true feelings?

"Twisting logic! Qin Hao, you are shameless! Today, I must teach you a lesson!"

Jiang Xinyao let out a delicate shout, then drew an immortal sword from her storage bag. Immediately after, she activated her Heavenly Phoenix Divine Body and charged at Qin Hao.

The full power of the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Body erupted. Crimson-gold Nirvana Divine Fire churned and flowed, forming the phantom of a Heavenly Phoenix behind her.

The scorching heat distorted the air itself, and the immortal sword in her hand erupted with a clear, resonant phoenix cry.

"Scumbag! Take this sword!"

An unmatched, fierce sword intent locked onto Qin Hao. Carrying Jiang Xinyao's churning anger, grievances, and a trace of the emotional turmoil stirred up by his words, it transformed into a streak of light that tore through the sky, wrapped in Nirvana Divine Fire, and thrust straight at Qin Hao's chest.

"The Emperor Daughter of the Jiang family is getting serious! She is even using the Nirvana Divine Fire."

"With the empowerment of the Heavenly Phoenix Avatar, the power of this sword strike is no less than Emperor Son Ye's Supreme Bone Divine Ability from earlier. However, such an attack should still be insufficient in front of Emperor Son Qin, right?"

The crowd below held their breath in rapt attention, nervously watching this scene unfold in a flash of lightning.

Just when everyone thought that Qin Hao would inevitably use his unfathomable methods to block Jiang Xinyao's strike, what happened next caught everyone completely off guard.

Facing this sword strike that was powerful enough to pierce mountains and melt divine iron, Qin Hao made no move at all.

He just stood there quietly, as if he had given up all resistance.

"Yaoyao, as long as you are happy, what happens to me does not matter."

Qin Hao gave Jiang Xinyao a smile, though it was tinged with bitterness and resolve. He then closed his eyes and opened his arms to welcome her sword.

"No!" Jiang Xinyao's pupils shrank to the extreme. The anger that had just flared up in her heart was instantly and completely replaced by boundless terror and panic when she saw Qin Hao closing his eyes and waiting for death!

She wanted to withdraw her sword, wanted to stop, but this strike had been unleashed with her full strength in a fit of rage. Its momentum was already set. Coupled with her chaotic state of mind and disordered breath, it was impossible for her to completely retract the force in an instant.

"Pfft!"

The sword aura wrapped in Nirvana Divine Fire pierced through Qin Hao's chest without any resistance. The sound of flesh being torn apart struck Jiang Xinyao's heart like a heavy hammer.

"No!"

Jiang Xinyao let out a shrill, distorted scream, as if this sword had not pierced Qin Hao's body, but her own heart.

All the color drained from Jiang Xinyao's beautiful face. She threw the immortal sword aside. Heavens, what had she done? She... she had actually hurt Qin Hao.

Without a moment's hesitation after dropping the sword, Jiang Xinyao lunged toward Qin Hao. Her voice trembled, becoming somewhat incoherent:

"What are you doing! Why didn't you dodge? Why didn't you block it? You clearly could have dodged! You clearly..."

Looking at the rapidly spreading bloodstain on Qin Hao's chest, Jiang Xinyao felt the world spinning around her. Her entire world was about to collapse.