Yin Ye, When People's Hearts Were Most Vulnerable

Xue Qingqiu was actually torn.

On one hand, she no longer wanted to personally play games with Xue Mu. It wasn't just because she was "afraid," as Yue Xiaochan thought.

Xue Mu really was becoming more and more to her liking. She was indeed a little worried she might actually fall for him, but that accounted for only a tiny fraction of it. After all, someone like her wouldn't have her absolute confidence, cultivated over many years, shaken so easily.

For someone like her, it was far too soon to talk about falling in love with anyone.

The real reason was... how could she sternly tell her disciple she couldn't do that sort of thing with him, while secretly flirting with him herself? It was embarrassing no matter how you looked at it. Just thinking about it made her feel utterly uncomfortable.

Xiao Chan's looks and the things she let slip now and then—"One's too strong, one's too small," "Master's pretty good, huh?" and so on—already made her feel uncomfortable... If Xue Mu weren't genuinely useful, she might have slapped him dead long ago and been done with it.

On the other hand, Xue Mu really did keep making her feel curious. Almost without thinking, she wanted to see whether, if she truly used the Bewitching Arts, this man without a shred of cultivation could withstand even a fraction of her power.

She thought it over. She could give it a try. As long as she didn't flirt with him, it would be fine. She could abandon the method of using seductive charms to stir up desire and try something more advanced.

So she began to experiment.

Xue Mu realized that the way he felt when looking at Xue Qingqiu was starting to change...

She simply gazed at him with a warm smile, yet her eyes seemed to hold endless affection, brimming with tenderness. It wasn't acting; she might not feel any affection at all, but in the eyes of others, she seemed to. In Xue Mu, the effect was that, in an instant, boundless tenderness and pity welled up in his heart for the woman before him. A thousand lovesicknesses surged through him, as if he had been in love with her for countless lifetimes and could give up everything for her.

Xue Mu felt a strange sense of detachment. It was as if another version of himself were watching him: one knew perfectly well that he was being tested by the Bewitching Arts, while the other had failed to withstand them and fallen in love...

The one who had fallen was the real him. Without a shred of cultivation, he truly couldn't withstand the methods of the world's most powerful practitioners. Who was the one watching?

It was also himself... Under the influence of some external force, he had retained a sliver of clarity, as if he were splitting his attention in two.

His palm was growing hot. An immense, righteous energy was rapidly swelling, dispelling evil and driving out illusions. The observing self grew clearer and clearer, while that thread of affection gradually faded without his noticing.

Something in his mind seemed to go "boom," and Xue Mu's eyes cleared completely.

"Big sister, it's not working."

His amused voice made extreme shock flash through Xue Qingqiu's eyes.

She had used the Star Moon Sect's secret art, Yinghuo. Though it was still a kind of Bewitching Arts, it was a high-level secret technique, no longer a matter of carnal attraction but of spiritual manipulation. Unlike lustful seduction, this art did not provoke desire. Instead, it stirred the love people felt in the depths of their souls. If even the slightest affection existed, even if it had begun with nothing more than physical attraction, it would be magnified a hundredfold, making the victim believe they were in love to the very marrow of their bones.

Countless outstanding men had once gone mad under its influence, falling into a feverish love and giving everything for her without regret. They would even gladly die for her...

She had never wanted to use this method to enslave Xue Mu, because feverish love could burn away a person's reason. She needed a clear-headed strategist, not a madman raving with love. Other soul-seizing and control techniques had much the same problem, each with its own drawbacks. None could leave the person under its influence entirely rational. So even though she had said she "wouldn't release him," she would absolutely have freed him soon. She didn't want to leave him with any aftereffects.

But how had he not been affected?

How was that possible? He was clearly just an ordinary man! Why hadn't the technique worked?

Xue Qingqiu thought she hadn't used enough power. She tried increasing it a little... then a little more... but Xue Mu's eyes remained clear.

Xue Qingqiu couldn't stay seated any longer. A Demon Sect master who had dominated the world her entire life, how long had it been since someone had completely broken through her techniques? At that moment, she even forgot she had only been testing Xue Mu.

Her competitive spirit surged, and without realizing it, she began using an even more powerful form of seduction.

Xue Mu saw her eyes grow hazy. Her slender hand reached toward him, her red lips parted as unconscious murmurs seemed to call out to her lover. A peculiar impulse welled up from the depths of his heart. He wanted only to take her hand, pull her into his arms, and lavish her with unrestrained affection.

Xue Mu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then opened them again. When he looked at Xue Qingqiu, she was simply more beautiful and alluring than before. That was all.

Casting a spell and breaking it—nothing to it.

Xue Qingqiu really couldn't stay seated any longer. Suppressing her shock, she slowly rose to her feet.

All thoughts of not flirting with him were tossed to the winds. Her flawless, sinuous figure unfurled gracefully. As she moved with delicate steps, a faint fragrance drifted through the air and seeped into his nostrils, leaving him intoxicated and unwilling to wake.

Her jade arm came to rest on his shoulder. Her cherry lips drew close to his ear, her breath sweet as orchids, accompanied by a faint, barely audible sigh.

Xue Mu's heart thundered. This time, he truly felt he could no longer hold back.

Heart, posture, movements, voice, scent—she unleashed her Bewitching Arts from every direction. It was almost the fullest display of the art she had ever mustered. This wasn't something a cheat could suppress to keep him pure and untouched. His cheat could only counter the invasion of the technique. What remained was a true clash between man and woman: whether he could withstand her world-shattering beauty, whether he could rein in the love growing in his heart, depended entirely on his own will and reason.

Xue Mu's breathing gradually quickened. Desire kept urging him: Put your arms around her! Hold her! Kiss her! Even if she beats you to death, accept it! A woman this beautiful, what are you waiting for? Even if you're sentenced to death, it's worth it!

Their bodies drew closer and closer. They could both feel the other's breathing grow unsteady, and even sense the warmth of each other's cheeks.

Summoning the last of his strength, Xue Mu tried to say, "All right, it was only a test. Let's stop here."

Just as the words were about to leave his mouth, an intensely strange feeling suddenly spread from outside the door. It was as if the sky had suddenly darkened, and the pale moon hung askew in the heavens. He stood beneath it in stillness as a gentle breeze drifted by, loneliness spreading through his whole body. A wanderer far from home felt sorrow stir in his heart. He thought of his parents, gone too soon; of his first love; of all the traces of that world he still cherished, of the work he had striven for and the friends who would stand by him through thick and thin... He had always refused to look back, knowing that there was no point in doing so. That didn't mean he had no heart or felt not the slightest longing.

At that moment, the beauty in his arms gave his sorrowful heart the utmost comfort, offering it a place to rest. At last, he could no longer hold back and pulled her fiercely into his embrace.

The moment he felt her soft, fragrant body in his arms, Xue Mu suddenly regained his clarity and knew he was done for. Who the hell was outside, giving him a divine assist? This was a full-on defense break!

He had thought Xue Qingqiu would mock him or even slap him, but when he looked down, he saw the beauty in his arms gazing at him dreamily. Her slender hand didn't slap him; instead, it trembled as she reached up to stroke his cheek. Her red lips quivered, as if she wanted to kiss him.

What the hell? I'd already come to my senses, so why had she gotten worked up on her own?

The next second, a knock sounded at the door. Xue Qingqiu abruptly came to her senses and realized she was sitting in Xue Mu's arms, holding him close. When their eyes met, they were gazing at each other with lingering affection...

Xue Qingqiu leapt three feet into the air, returning to her place across the table at nearly teleporting speed. Shame and fury surged through her heart.

She really wanted to hack those two outside to death... Xue Mu had no idea who had given him that divine assist, but how could she not know?

Yin Ye—when people's hearts were at their most vulnerable.

In short: it specialized in breaking through mental defenses. And it was an indiscriminate, wide-area, aura-level AOE.

Xiahou Di believed Yin Ye's power could strip away every defense of the heart, allowing demons and monsters to run rampant. Wasn't that why the Nine Cauldrons had fallen into ruin?

Xue Qingqiu already harbored a little affection for Xue Mu. In that deliberately seductive, intoxicating atmosphere, she had naturally gotten a little caught up in the act. Then, while immersed in it, she let her guard down for a moment—and actually pressed herself against him, sitting in his lap! If they hadn't knocked from outside, who knew if they might have kissed!

A million damn horses were raging through Xue Qingqiu's heart. She shouted furiously toward the door, "You two! Get in here!"