229: Heart Tribulation

When Mo Qianqian was brought before the middle-aged man again, her body was already unable to move.

She only possessed the cultivation of the Mi Dao Realm, and those four ghosts were at least in the Soul Refinement Realm. Even after exhausting all her efforts, she could not escape the fate of being captured.

A smile hung on the middle-aged man's face, his eyes filled with intense appreciation. That gaze was like looking at a piece of exquisite porcelain rather than a person.

In his eyes, Mo Qianqian was merely an object, at most a rather rare one, capable of bringing him physical and mental pleasure.

Despair arose in Mo Qianqian's heart; this gap in raw strength left her feeling deeply helpless.

The middle-aged man raised his wrist and tucked it behind Mo Qianqian's ear, his gentle demeanor resembling a kind father combing his daughter's hair.

Mo Qianqian could not move, and even her mouth was sealed tight, unable to make the slightest sound. Only her eyeballs could still move, but in her eyes, there was no longer the calmness of before; instead, they were filled with panic and a trace of fear.

She did not know what awaited her, but she figured it would be nothing good.

"Snap." With a light sound, the string of the veil behind her ear was snapped, and the middle-aged man's smile grew even richer.

The veil was slowly removed. The first thing to be revealed was the high bridge of her nose; its smooth surface was like porcelain, and even her nostrils looked so rounded.

Then came her petite red lips; the slightly protruding lips looked just like a plump cherry, making one want to pluck and taste it.

With a rounded jaw and a slender neck, her entire face was flawless, without a single defect to be found.

"Beautiful... so beautiful..." The middle-aged man watched, entranced, his eyes dazed as he muttered, unable to stop clapping in admiration. "How can there be such a beauty in this world? She is simply breathtakingly beautiful."

The middle-aged man grabbed Mo Qianqian's arm and pulled her into his embrace, turning to walk into the residence. At the same time, he ordered without looking back, "Tell them that I have other important matters today, so the assembly is postponed."

"Yes."

Intense terror flowed through Mo Qianqian's eyes, and her heart almost jumped out of her throat. Where... was he taking her? What was he going to do?!

The two passed through pavilions and crossed long corridors. The further they went inside, the more panicked Mo Qianqian became. Because she could not move her head, her gaze was fixed on the man.

There were quite a few ghosts within the residence. The maidservants who happened to pass by saw the middle-aged man and stood obediently on both sides with their heads lowered. At most, they would curiously glance at Mo Qianqian, then immediately lower their heads deeply, feeling a sense of shame in their hearts.

Too beautiful... It was a breathtaking beauty. It was just a pity... it was useless.

Beauty was never a gift from the heavens, but a punishment, especially when she lacked the strength to endure such beauty.

Not far ahead, a graceful woman wearing floral ornaments walked over. She greeted the middle-aged man with a slight bow. "Master, didn't you go to your official duties? Why have you returned?"

Although the woman was speaking to the middle-aged man, her gaze never left Mo Qianqian. This woman's appearance was simply too eye-catching, which aroused a deep sense of crisis in her heart. She felt that her status was about to be threatened.

The middle-aged man ignored her, simply giving a light instruction, "No one is allowed to disturb me!"

"Bang." Without waiting for the woman to answer, the middle-aged man closed the door. As the door closed, it completely severed Mo Qianqian's last glimmer of hope, and two lines of clear tears flowed from her unfocused pupils.

She regretted it... She should not have overestimated her own abilities and chosen to stay. If she had followed Fang Qingge and the others and left, this would not have happened.

She was thrown onto the bed by the man. Mo Qianqian looked at the skin and the figure above her, slowly closing her eyes.

She was the Saintess of Shangyin Mountain, a leader of the younger generation, and her master was a powerhouse of the He Dao Realm. Her background was formidable, and she had never imagined she would encounter such a situation. But now, it was too late to say anything...

The sound of the middle-aged man's heavy breathing came from above, but to Mo Qianqian's ears, it sounded like the mockery of an evil ghost. At the same time, a voice seemed to ring out from the depths of her heart, issuing a Soul-searching question: "Are you truly regretful?"

"No, you only regret that you lost the bet. You didn't gain any benefits, yet you sacrificed your own body."

Mo Qianqian's heart was filled with dead silence. Yes, she had lost, but she hadn't completely lost, because she was still alive. The voice in her heart continued, which made her divert her attention away from the man on top of her.

"You are always a loner; is it truly because you dislike communicating with others? No, you simply disdain associating with others. That hypocrisy hidden deep in your heart and your sense of superiority make you look down on everyone else. You look down on everyone whose strength is below yours!"

"If you were truly proud, why would you agree to join forces with Fang Qingge and the others to deal with Xu Sanyan? Why would you form an Alliance with Luo Changtian to look out for each other? It is only because you know that your pride is fake; hypocrisy and arrogance are what is real."

"Huan Xier has a pure heart and is best at discerning the good and evil in human nature. Why does he dislike you so much? Because he saw right through you!"

... Mo Qianqian opened her eyes. She knew that voice was the truest thought from the depths of her heart, yet she had never dared to face her inner self. Until this moment, when she had lost what was both her most important and least important thing, in the silence of her heart, she truly faced her inner self.

She also understood why Fang Qingge, Net Intent, Xu Sanyan, and even Qi Liang could all comprehend their own Concepts, while she could not. The reason lay here: she did not dare to look directly at her other side, the side of hypocrisy and arrogance. This was her Heart Tribulation.

Mo Qianqian's tears stopped flowing, and her eyes regained their calmness. She slightly moved her eyeballs to look at the man on top of her. The middle-aged man saw Mo Qianqian's gaze, and he also smiled, applying a little force. "Hmm... have you figured it out?"

Mo Qianqian could not move, so she could only blink gently. The middle-aged man understood her meaning. Without him making any moves, a wisp of black Qi dissipated from Mo Qianqian's body. She could move now, but she did not struggle, because she knew that in the face of absolute strength, any struggle was futile.

"Hahahaha... That's right." The middle-aged man laughed heartily. "Since the heavens have given you such a beautiful face, why not use it to gain benefits?"

"You are right." Mo Qianqian agreed deeply. In the past, covering her face with a veil was just that hypocrisy in the depths of her heart playing tricks.

"Rest assured, since you have submitted, I will certainly not let you suffer a loss. Aren't all of you here for Soul Crystals? I have plenty of those; you can just go and take as many as you want."

"Thank you, Master..." Since things had come to this, Mo Qianqian no longer resisted.