Each with Their Own Thoughts

One hour later.

A strange, sweet fragrance permeated the barrier. Although Ying'er's entire body had already been cleaned thoroughly by Ye Xuan's cleansing spell, leaving not a trace of sweat, she still sat dazed on the bed like a lost soul.

Her large eyes were glazed and vacant, her cheeks flushed with an unnatural heat.

"Husband..." Ying'er murmured to herself, her voice carrying a nearly pathological fervor and humility. "You are truly the most wicked man under heaven... How could you make me fall so low?"

Her tears flowed uncontrollably, yet not from pain, but from the utter surrender of a soul completely dominated.

"In your presence, I am not even human—I am your dog... You completely conquered me just now. You could make me do anything, even kill and burn, and I would not object..."

Ying'er covered her face in despair. "How can I be so shameless, so wanton..."

Seeing her red-rimmed eyes and her spirit on the verge of collapse, Ye Xuan's mind stirred. A pink light flickered at his fingertip.

"This is the power of lust magic."

Ye Xuan sat on the edge of the bed, his voice cold and calculating: "It can infinitely amplify and forcibly distort a person's emotions. No matter how chaste a fairy maiden, in the face of this spell, she would transform into the basest plaything, falling into utter depravity."

He paused, his gaze growing deeper and darker: "Of course, this is not the most terrifying part. Because the spell's effects are ultimately time-limited."

"Once the spell's effects end, the fairy maiden will regain her sanity. When she recalls the indignity and wantonness she displayed while under the spell's control, those memories will drive her to madness, plunge her into boundless rage, and in turn ignite an undying hatred toward the caster."

"Therefore, using lust magic to truly make a woman fall in love with you is nothing short of suicide. Countless lecherous cultivators in the cultivation world have ultimately perished beneath the swords of vengeful enemies who regained their senses."

Ye Xuan smiled faintly, reached out to pinch Ying'er's tear-streaked cheek, and gently rubbed her skin with his thumb: "But I am different. I possess [One Conquest, Eternal Conquest]."

"My law can permanently solidify the almost crazed love and submission a woman feels at the peak of ecstasy under the influence of lust magic. Any woman's love for me will never diminish or disappear."

Ye Xuan stood up, clasping his hands behind his back, his eyes carrying a chilling sense of dominance: "In other words, if I so wish—no matter how lofty and untouchable a holy maiden may be, no matter how deep her hatred for me—so long as I cast lust magic and forcibly consummate with her... afterwards, she will inevitably, unconditionally, and eternally fall in love with me, becoming my slave."

After hearing this hair-raising explanation, Ying'er was stunned.

She finally understood what Ye Xuan meant when he said earlier, "The real me is a hundred times worse than you imagine." This was nothing short of demonic means—toying with hearts and trampling souls!

After a long while, Ying'er finally snapped out of her shock. Gazing at Ye Xuan's solitary back, a massive question suddenly flashed through her mind.

She could not help but ask: "If that's the case... since you possess such a heaven-defying, terrifying ability, then why did your past-life dao companions—Xia Lengyue, Ye Qingcheng, and even Bai Ningbing in this life—ultimately choose to betray you? Why didn't you use this method to control them?"

Ye Xuan's body stiffened abruptly.

A wild wind swept through the ruined ancient temple, causing his white robes to flutter noisily.

He slowly turned his head, his expression caught between a smile and a cry, his eyes filled with endless self-mockery and an almost suffocating bitterness.

"Because I just learned this ability."

Ying'er was utterly stupefied. Her mind even short-circuited for a moment. After a long pause, she stammered: "Th-this... how is this possible?"

"It is what it is." Ye Xuan lifted his head, gazing at the blood-red waning moon in the sky, his eyes hollow. "I will explain it to you slowly. In any case, once you come to understand these past events, you will know what kind of person I, Ye Xuan, truly am."

At this moment, a storm raged within Ye Xuan's heart, a bitterly cold shiver passing through him.

The newly awakened deep memories were like a rusty blunt knife, slowly slicing open the shell of his disguised soul. He ruefully realized that not only was he no innocent and wronged paragon—he could not even count himself a normal man.

The Nine Heavens Sacred Ground's headquarters.

Within the jade palace where Bai Ningbing resided, sandalwood smoke curled lazily, yet it could not disperse the despair and deathly stillness hanging in the air.

"Creak!"

The heavy jade door was pushed open slowly. Second martial sister Mu Qingxue stepped in, her gait slightly unsteady.

Though her white robes had been cleaned and tidied with magic, a closer look revealed creases at the hem and a hint of lingering languor in her loosened hair—carrying an indescribable seductiveness.

Most striking of all was her normally cool and composed face, which now bore an irresistible, bewitching red flush, as if her heart were brimming with spring.

"Second senior sister!"

Bai Ningbing, who had been sitting dazed on the jade bed, suddenly raised her head like a drowning woman grasping at a lifeline, her eyes full of hope as she rushed forward: "You went to find him? What... what did he say? Is he still angry with me?"

Looking at her junior sister—eyes swollen, haggard and broken—Mu Qingxue's heart trembled violently.

A powerful surge of guilt flooded her chest.

Just a few hours ago, she had been beneath that man, yielding to him in sweetness, utterly conquered, even becoming his hidden agent planted within the sacred ground. And now, she had to face this man's once-devoted, sworn dao companion.

However, that guilt lasted only half a second.

Immediately after, an indescribable, skin-tingling thrill of utmost excitement and taboo transgression shot through Mu Qingxue's entire body like an electric current!

'Ningbing, ah Ningbing, the fiancé you pine for day and night is now my master. Your pride, your so-called grievances—they mean nothing to him. And I am the one who has received all his favor!'

Mu Qingxue screamed wildly in her heart.

Yet on the surface, Mu Qingxue swiftly donned an expression of heart-wrenching grief and righteous indignation.

She grabbed Bai Ningbing's hand, her own eyes reddening, and gritted her teeth: "Ningbing, give up! That Ye Xuan... he has completely lost his mind! He is a monster devoid of feelings!"

"What..." Bai Ningbing's delicate frame trembled, tears spilling from her eyes once more.

"I went to reason with him just now, wanting to demand justice on your behalf." Mu Qingxue clutched her chest, feigning an appearance of unhealed internal injury. "But not only did he refuse to listen to my explanation, he severely wounded me with his aberrant sword qi! If I had not risked everything to escape with my ice escape technique, you would never have seen me again!"