124: If I give you freedom, would you dare to leave?

The clamor and battles of Pangu Tomb, the glory and downfall of The Peak of the Forbidden City, all had been left far behind with the jump of the 'candle dragon' space-air carrier.

Inside Lin Tian's exclusive secret chamber, located in the deepest part of the Forbidden Ground at the Qin Family headquarters.

The lights were dim, the air heavy, and it was so quiet that only the faint breathing between the two could be heard.

Lin Tian leaned lazily on the throne, crafted from a single block of star iron, toying with the last authority chip he had obtained from 'Duke.' His expression was indifferent, as if he were contemplating the grand scheme of the bronze gate.

Beneath his throne, Qin Yubing, dressed in the black silk maid outfit symbolizing humiliation and submission, knelt silently on the cold floor like the most perfect, yet soulless, Puppet. Her eyes were vacant, her face devoid of expression.

Since returning from Pangu Tomb, she had maintained this posture. She neither spoke nor ate, like a snow lotus slowly withering after all its vitality had been drained.

Lin Tian knew that the Soul contract could control her body, enslave her will, and determine her life and death.

However, this was not what he wanted.

What he needed was not a walking dead Puppet, but a truly loyal chess piece that could be used by him, and even govern a region for him in the future.

And to make a chess piece truly 'live,' one must first 'kill' it completely, and then bestow upon it 'new life.'

He slowly put down the chip in his hand, and his deep eyes, like the black holes of the Universe, finally fell upon the beautiful figure below, which was like a stone sculpture.

"Qin Yubing."

He spoke calmly, breaking the suffocating silence.

Qin Yubing's delicate body trembled slightly, and a hint of focus finally appeared in her vacant eyes. She slowly raised her head, looking up at the man on the throne who controlled her every aspect, awaiting his next command.

However, Lin Tian's next words struck her like a bolt of lightning!

"I can release the Soul contract between us."

Lin Tian's voice was calm, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.

"Return your... freedom."

Freedom?

These two words, like two thunderclaps of creation, violently struck the already dead lake of Qin Yubing's heart, instantly stirring up monstrous waves!

For the first time, a brilliant light of disbelief, like a drowning person seeing a life-saving straw, flashed in her vacant eyes! She thought she had misheard! She even suspected that this was some new, cruel game the Devil had concocted before tormenting her again!

"You... what did you say?" Her voice became hoarse and trembled due to extreme shock and excitement.

"I said, I can let you go." Lin Tian watched the rekindled flame of hope in her eyes, and the curve of his lips grew more playful. "Although the Soul contract is overbearing, for me, it is not impossible to undo. As long as I wish, I can sever the connection between us at any time, allowing you to once again become the high and mighty, free Qin Family jewel."

Hope!

Unprecedented hope, as scorching as the sun, instantly filled Qin Yubing's entire heart! She even began to fantasize about how she would wash away the humiliation of this period after regaining her freedom, how she would... However, just as her flame of hope burned brightest...

Lin Tian's subsequent words were like a basin of absolute zero ice water from the nine Nether Hells, enough to freeze the Soul, pouring over her from head to toe, chilling her... to the bone!

"But..."

Lin Tian's tone remained calm, but each word was like the sharpest, most venom-tipped dagger, piercing precisely into her newly hopeful heart, one cut after another.

"...Have you ever considered where you will go, or where you can go, after 'freedom'?"

He leaned forward slightly, his deep eyes, as if able to see through all human hearts, looked directly at her, and began to calmly and cruelly analyze for her what kind of scene her so-called 'freedom' truly was.

"Freedom? You return to the Qin Family, and then what? As a 'loser,' as a 'sinner' who was once captured by the enemy and even branded with a Soul contract—how will you face your stern father, or the Elders who had great expectations for you? Your brother, who was publicly murdered, although he died tragically, tracing back the roots, it was also because of you. How do you think they will view you? With sympathy? Pity? Or... will they see you as the Qin Family's greatest, walking disgrace?"

The faint light on Qin Yubing's face instantly dimmed, replaced by an uncontrollable pallor.

Lin Tian did not stop; his voice, like the Devil's whisper, continued to tear at her most fragile nerves.

"Then, will you face Ye Fan, who saved your life, but whom you personally betrayed in front of the whole world, completely destroying his Dao Heart with your own hands? How do you plan to repay his 'kindness'? With your body, which is no longer pure? Or with your pride, which is already stained?"

Qin Yubing's delicate body began to tremble slightly, uncontrollably.

"And what about your loyal guards who died tragically in Pangu Tomb due to your mistaken judgment, whose remains could not even be brought back? How do you plan to face their families? To tell them that their fathers, husbands, and sons sacrificed their lives in vain to protect a 'master' who ultimately chose to surrender to the enemy?"

Every word from Lin Tian was like a giant hammer weighing ten thousand jun, strike after strike, fiercely smashing against her already fragile psychological defense!

He blocked all her retreats, all her fantasies, all her possibilities, one by one, with the cruelest, blood-soaked reality!

He made her realize, clearly and despairingly, a truth—

So-called 'freedom,' for her, was not salvation at all.

Instead, it was the cruelest... Purgatory, where she would have to live alone, bearing endless sins, everyone's contempt, and eternal self-reproach!

"No... don't say anymore..."

Qin Yubing's psychological defense completely collapsed. She clutched her head in pain, and tears, like broken pearls, poured madly from her clear, cold eyes.

Lin Tian looked at her tear-stained, pitiful appearance, but there was no trace of pity in his eyes.

He slowly rose from the throne, and step by step, walked to her.

He bent down and, with his hand clad in a pristine white glove, gently lifted her beautiful, tear-streaked face, forcing her to meet his gaze.

He looked into her eyes and, word by word, delivered the final, ultimate rhetorical question, like a god.

"Now..."

"...I give you freedom."

"Do you..."

The curve of his lips was filled with a devilish, extreme playfulness.

"...dare to leave?"

Boom—!

This rhetorical question, like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely crushed all of Qin Yubing's will and dignity!

She finally understood.

She had nowhere to go.

From the moment she chose to surrender, she could no longer go back. Forward lay the Purgatory she dared not imagine, filled with sin and contempt. And staying put, by this Devil's side, though it was humiliation and enslavement, it was also her only... haven... to escape all of this.

"I... I don't dare..."

She could no longer hold back, bursting into sobs, her entire body collapsing to the ground as if all strength had left her.

She knelt at Lin Tian's feet, clutching his trousers, like a lost lamb begging for its master's mercy, crying out in a humble and pleading tone:

"Master... I was wrong... please, don't cast me away..."

"Please... punish me..."

"Whatever you ask me to do, I will do... I only ask that you don't abandon me..."

Looking at the former Qin Family jewel at his feet, who had completely abandoned all pride and dignity, and had developed an absolute reliance on him from the depths of her heart.

Lin Tian finally revealed a satisfied smile, a victor's smile.

Thus, from body, to Soul, to heart.

The ultimate conquest was complete.