Lin Xuan's voice was low and magnetic, like an enchanting incantation, slowly chipping away at the defenses of her already shattered heart.
"Who I am doesn't matter."
He spoke softly, his tone as tender as a lover's whisper, yet carrying an undeniable air of control.
"What matters is who you are."
Li Mochou stiffened from head to toe.
"In the martial world, you are the Crimson-Practice Fairy, Li Mochou. Wherever you go, rivers of blood follow. Everyone says you're ruthless and merciless, but I'd like to ask you, Fairy..."
His tone shifted from playful to something touched with compassion and "understanding."
"Do you truly... feel no pain at all?"
The words struck her hard disguise like a heavy hammer.
She had thought the man would keep mocking her defeat and sneering at her humiliation. She had never imagined he would say something like that.
Her beautiful phoenix eyes flew wide. Amid the hatred in them, a trace of bewildered disbelief appeared.
"The people of the world curse you, hate you, and fear you. Has anyone ever truly understood the pain in your heart?"
Lin Xuan's voice seemed to possess a kind of magic, piercing every defense and reaching the softest, most vulnerable depths of her heart.
"Were all your seemingly heartless killings and cold disguises not just pitiful acts of self-protection after facing betrayal in this world?"
"You resent, you hate, you take revenge, yet you've forgotten that all your pain comes from loving too deeply and being hurt too badly. A woman wounded by love, twisting her true nature until she became this—doesn't that make her both pitiful and tragic?"
He sighed, and there was a faint trace of pity in it.
Li Mochou was utterly stunned.
She had never imagined anyone could so easily see through her most deeply buried secret.
Her hatred, her pain, her unwillingness to accept what had happened—all of it had been carefully concealed beneath a tide of slaughter and a cold facade.
But this man before her seemed able to see right into her soul, laying all her shame and vulnerability bare before her.
Shame, fear, anger, and a strange sense of grievance she had never felt before surged through her like a tide.
Her eyes reddened at once. Deep in her crushed pride, an urge to be understood stirred restlessly.
"Fairy, you may seem cold and heartless, but deep down, your heart longs for warmth more than anyone's."
Lin Xuan's voice grew even lower. "You've lived in the icy grip of hatred for too long. No one has ever chased away the winter for you, but are you truly willing to go on like this?"
He lifted Li Mochou's chin higher, forcing her to look up.
"All your killings are nothing but self-protection after being betrayed. No one understands your pain. Why not let it all go and allow me to guide you?"
His words recast Li Mochou's cruelty as the struggle of a victim.
And he was the only one who could "redeem" her.
This lofty "understanding" was exactly what she had yearned for in her loneliness, yet had never received.
At that moment, a crack appeared in Li Mochou's defenses.
She bit her lower lip. Tears welled in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back.
Seizing the moment, Lin Xuan slowly released her chin. Then, his palm imbued with a gentle yet peculiar Internal Energy, he softly laid it against the slender curve of her waist, exposed by her trembling.
A woman's waist was one of her most sensitive places.
When Lin Xuan's warm palm touched her cool, smooth skin, Li Mochou's delicate body jerked violently, as if struck by a bolt of electricity!
That Internal Energy carried the distinctive "supplementation" quality of the Yin Yang Deficit Supplementation Technique. It could not only heal injuries, but also awaken the deepest sensations and desires in the human body.
A wave of warmth first spread from his palm, instantly dispelling the chill of the bamboo grove and the lingering stiffness in her body.
Then that warmth became a strange "heat."
It wasn't the pain of being burned, but a scorching sensation that sank deep into her bones, threaded with numbness.
The heat crept along the perfect line of her waist like a vine.
It moved upward, slipping into her chest and making her full, shapely breasts tremble as her breathing turned ragged.
It moved downward like the finest current, flowing along the smooth insides of her thighs and straight to the intimate, shadowed place that had grown damp with shame.
"Hss... Mm..."
An involuntary, broken, trembling moan escaped Li Mochou's throat.
Her voice carried pain and confusion, but also a trace of... longing that shamed even her.
Under the stimulation of that Internal Energy, her body arched involuntarily, her spine curving gracefully.
Her torn robe revealed her disheveled, alluring state in full.
Her legs instinctively pressed together, yet trembled uncontrollably under the electric numbness, yearning for some nameless release.
The numb heat was like countless ants crawling through her flesh, or a primal fire raging inside her.
It wasn't pure pleasure. It mingled with the pain of the whip marks on her back, creating a contradiction that drove her to the brink of collapse.
Tiny goosebumps rose across her skin.
Deep within her, the long-suppressed longing for tenderness, born of having been hurt by love, was utterly awakened by the domineering power of the Yin Yang Deficit Supplementation Technique—and erupted with almost savage force.
Her reason screamed, but her body was sinking.
She felt as if she were trapped in a purgatory of ice and fire.
Her mind told her to hate him, to fight back!
But her body betrayed every ounce of her will. Drawn by the warmth of his palm, she couldn't help arching toward it, trembling as she sought more comfort.
Her nails dug deep into her palms, drawing beads of blood, but that pain could do nothing to suppress the surging heat inside her.
Lin Xuan leaned down, his warm breath brushing her sensitive ear.
"Fairy, your body is more honest than your heart."
His voice was like a devil's whisper, striking directly at her weakest point.
"It longs to have its wounds soothed. It longs to return from cold to warmth. Give in to it, and you'll discover another world."
The Internal Energy beneath his palm grew slightly stronger.
"Your body is begging me for mercy, Li Mochou. It wants me, doesn't it?"
"No... Mm... no..."
Li Mochou let out broken whimpers, full of pleading and pain, and of utter shame and despair.
At last, her tears spilled over like a dam giving way.
She couldn't deny it!
Her body was shamelessly betraying her!
That humiliating pleasure washed over all her pride and self-respect like mud, leaving her in despair.
She hated the feeling, yet couldn't stop herself from sinking into it.
Her body trembled out of control, instinctively leaning into the warmth of Lin Xuan's palm. It was an oppressive humiliation, being completely under someone else's control.
"Please... please... Mm... let me go... please..."
At last, Li Mochou gave up all resistance.
Her pleas marked the complete collapse of her pride and will.
She could no longer hold herself upright. Without Lin Xuan supporting her, she would have collapsed to the ground.
Lin Xuan slowly withdrew his hand, and that strange Internal Energy faded with it.
Li Mochou felt her body lose its support in an instant, while a profound emptiness rose inside her and made her tremble even more.
Deep in her heart, she even felt an urge she despised—a longing for that numbness to return.
Lin Xuan looked at her exquisite face, streaked with tears and filled with despair and confusion. His voice returned to its calm.
"Li Mochou."
He spoke softly, his voice like an imperial decree.
"Take me into the Ancient Tomb."
Li Mochou's delicate body jolted, and she instinctively tried to resist.
The Ancient Tomb was her sect, the place of the shame she had buried deep in her heart!
Her tear-blurred eyes showed fierce resistance.
"What? Still unwilling?"
Lin Xuan's voice rang out again, laced with dangerous temptation.
"Or does the Fairy want to... experience what you just felt once more?"
He made as if to raise his hand again.
Li Mochou's body went rigid!
She took a deep breath and, trembling, forced a few indistinct words from her throat.
"No... I... I agree..."
Lin Xuan smiled with satisfaction.
He reached out and gently patted her shoulder. A stream of gentle True Qi entered her body, dispelling her weakness.
"Fairy, please lead the way."
Li Mochou was so humiliated she wanted to die. She clutched her horsetail whisk tightly, her knuckles turning white.
She raised her head. Hatred and fear churned in those eyes that should have been cold, along with that indelible sense of humiliation and a trace of... fear and dependence on this man that she herself despised.
She bit her soft lip, then finally turned her gaze toward the secluded path leading into the Ancient Tomb, deep within the bamboo grove.
Tricking Little Dragon Girl
The back mountain of Zhongnan Mountain.
The damp air carried the distinctive mingled scent of moss and stone. It seemed that even time had stagnated and decayed in this deep passage.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
Li Mochou's footsteps rang clearly through the empty stone passage, yet there was a strange sluggishness to them that seemed unlike her.
Each step was like dragging an invisible shackle weighing a thousand pounds, branded into the depths of her soul. Every stride was a torment.
Her usually cold and beautiful face was now as pale as soaked paper, without a trace of color.
Her phoenix eyes, which had once captivated with the slightest glance, were now fixed firmly on the ground. She dared not lift them in the slightest, as if the cold flagstones were the only thing she could bear to look at.
She walked ahead, her body still trembling ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, from fear and humiliation she could no longer suppress.
At the thought of the man behind her and his methods, her heart sank into an icy abyss, leaving her unable even to entertain the thought of resisting.
That man, Lin Xuan, followed three paces behind her, neither hurrying nor slowing.
His steps were steady and unhurried. He did not urge her on, nor did he release any oppressive aura.
Yet his very presence was like an invisible mountain, bearing down on Li Mochou's back until even breathing felt like a painful luxury.
At last, Li Mochou stopped before an unremarkable rock wall.
She reached out with a trembling hand and felt around on the cold stone for a moment. The chill beneath her fingertips made her shudder again.
With a faint clattering of turning gears, a hidden door that blended perfectly with the rock wall silently swung inward, revealing an even deeper, darker opening like the mouth of a giant beast.
"We're here."
Her voice was hoarse and dry, weakened by the ordeal, and filled with the helpless obedience of someone completely broken.
Lin Xuan gave a slight nod and glanced at the deep opening. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped inside first.
Li Mochou watched his back. A trace of complex venom flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly swallowed by deeper fear, and she could only follow, resigned.
After passing through a long, narrow passage, the view suddenly opened up.
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