Hu Liena's Charm

Hu Liena had changed into a different outfit: a loose, light-purple blouse paired with matching trousers.

The fabric was soft and draped elegantly, hanging loosely on her frame. A thin cord was tied casually around her waist, barely defining her silhouette. On her feet were flat, soft-soled cloth shoes, the kind one would typically wear indoors.

Her hair was left untied, cascading over her shoulders and down her back, the soft strands resting against the collar of her blouse. Her face was devoid of makeup, her lips a natural shade of pink.

"Qin Chuan."

Hu Liena's expression was different now. It wasn't the liveliness she showed during daytime training, nor the curiosity she displayed while walking back. Her lips were pressed together, her chin tilted slightly upward, and her eyes were fixed directly on Qin Chuan.

"I want to spar with you."

Qin Chuan leaned against the doorframe, looking at Hu Liena in the doorway. "Spar?"

"Yes. Though, rather than a spar, it's more about experiencing each other's spirit abilities." Hu Liena's tone was earnest. "I've been pondering something during our training these past few days. Your Illusion Bell only has a ten-year white spirit ring, yet its effects are absurdly powerful. I want to experience it for myself."

Qin Chuan understood what she was implying.

Hu Liena was also a spirit master of the mental control type. Her Demon Fox spirit focused primarily on charm and mental interference. Among her peers in Spirit Hall, no one had been able to withstand her Nine-Tailed Charm.

But then Qin Chuan had appeared.

His Memory Kill had forced Tang Hao to stop. A spirit ability from a white spirit ring had accomplished what her ten-thousand-year spirit ability could not.

To Hu Liena, this was a provocation. She had to test whether her charm could control Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan had been sitting in the study chair for so long that he felt like moving as well.

"Fine, I'd like to taste your spirit abilities and see what they're really like. Shall we go outside?"

"No need. We won't use physical force; we'll just use our control-type spirit abilities to test the strengths and weaknesses of each other's techniques."

"Hmm, that works." Qin Chuan put away his book and stood up.

The two walked to the center of the study, standing face-to-face, three meters apart.

"Let's set the rules. No Zhu Xian Sword, and no physical attacks. You can use your spirit abilities, and I'll use my Illusion Bell. Pure mental spirit ability confrontation."

Qin Chuan nodded. "Alright, you go first."

"Fine, then this sister won't be polite!" Hu Liena took a deep breath, crossed her hands in front of her, and formed a complex gesture with her fingers.

Her first spirit ability: Charm.

An invisible mental wave was released.

The syllable itself held no meaning, but wrapped within the mental fluctuation, it acted directly upon the consciousness of the person who heard it.

Qin Chuan felt as if his mind had suddenly been stuffed with cotton. It was soft, warm, and yielding.

His gaze was involuntarily drawn to Hu Liena's face. Her features were exceptionally clear in the moonlight: arched eyebrows, slightly upturned corners of her eyes, full lips, and a pointed chin.

Qin Chuan's consciousness began to blur. This was Charm.

It didn't put you to sleep, nor did it cause pain. It forced your attention entirely onto the caster, causing your cognitive abilities to decline and your judgment to falter.

In the end, you would feel that whatever the person in front of you said was right, and you would do whatever they asked.

Hu Liena's Charm was indeed powerful. Qin Chuan could feel the high quality of the mental fluctuation and its strong penetrative power. If he were an ordinary Spirit King, this alone would have been enough to keep him rooted to the spot for several seconds.

But Qin Chuan possessed the Six Paths Reincarnation Eye.

Within his mental world, the six purple rings began to rotate automatically. A cold, higher-dimensional power surged up from the depths of his consciousness.

The cotton-like sensation was instantly frozen, shattered, and dispersed.

Qin Chuan's pupils regained their clarity. It had taken less than two seconds.

Hu Liena's expression shifted.

She could feel that her Charm had indeed hit Qin Chuan. For a fleeting moment, his mental defenses had cracked, and her Charm had slipped in. But immediately after, a power she couldn't comprehend had crushed her mental wave, like a hand squeezing an eggshell.

"Your Charm is strong, but for me, it's not enough." Qin Chuan spoke the truth.

Hu Liena ignored him; she refused to accept it.

"Again!"

For the second attempt, Hu Liena used her fourth spirit ability: Demon Fox Roar. Her purple spirit ring lit up, and a much more violent mental shockwave erupted from her, slamming into Qin Chuan like an invisible wall.

The force this time was several times greater than the Charm.

Qin Chuan's head buzzed as if someone had struck his temple with a hammer. The scene before his eyes flickered.

But that was all.

The Six Paths Reincarnation Eye accelerated its rotation within his mental world, and the Heavenly Dao Power surged forth, absorbing the shockwave entirely.

Qin Chuan stood his ground, not moving a single step.

Hu Liena bit her lip; she hadn't used her trump card yet.

Her fifth spirit ability: Nine-Tailed Charm.

The black spirit ring glowed.

Hu Liena's eyes shifted from their normal black pupils to an eerie light purple. The corners of her eyes tilted upward, and her entire aura changed instantly. She was no longer the chatty girl from the daytime training, but a demon fox radiating danger from her very bones.

The mental fluctuation released by the Nine-Tailed Charm was more intense than the previous two abilities combined. A pink mist of light diffused from around Hu Liena, sweeping toward Qin Chuan.

This was her strongest control skill, a signature soul skill at the ten-thousand-year soul ring level.

The corners of Qin Chuan's mouth twitched.

For the first time, he truly felt the pressure.

The mental piercing power of Nine-Tailed Charm was simply too strong. Once that pink mist drilled into his mental world, it didn't touch his center of reason, but instead bypassed it to strike at his emotional center.

A chaotic jumble of images suddenly flashed through Qin Chuan's mind.

Xiao Wu's scorpion braid, Ning Rongrong's butterfly hair clip, the stubborn expression on Zhu Zhuqing's face as she tilted her head back to keep her tears from falling, and then, Hu Liena's face.

Those pale purple eyes were blindingly bright under the moonlight. Her lips were slightly parted, and her breath carried a faint, sweet fragrance.

Qin Chuan's heart rate accelerated.

He could feel his focus being devoured by Hu Liena's visage. He wanted to look away, but his eyes refused to obey. A voice in his mind whispered: Look at her, keep looking at her, do whatever she says.

A three-second standoff.

Then, the Six Paths Reincarnation Eye rotated for the third time.

Those chaotic images and emotions were forcibly suppressed.

"Your Nine-Tailed Charm is truly formidable." There was a hint of genuine admiration in Qin Chuan's voice. "If I didn't have these eyes, I'm afraid I would have fallen for your trick just now."

Hearing this, Hu Liena's lips curled upward, and her pale purple pupils returned to their normal color.

She stood where she was, catching her breath; the drain from Nine-Tailed Charm was not insignificant. "Fine, it's your turn."

"Very well, then I won't hold back," Qin Chuan said.

Hu Liena instinctively tensed her body; she knew that although the opponent's soul skill had a low age, its effects were not to be underestimated.