There's no escaping it; this debt of love must be repaid!

The door was pushed open, and a slender figure walked in.

Following her was a faint, cold fragrance, along with a cold yet familiar, stunningly beautiful face.

Xue Linglong stepped into the room, her cold gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny as it landed on this average-looking middle-aged man.

However, within the span of a single breath, deep within those eyes that were usually as calm as an ancient well, a flicker of panic—one she hadn't even noticed herself—suddenly flashed.

Her delicate body stiffened imperceptibly for a moment.

A palpitation originating from the depths of her Soul, like a venomous snake, coiled around her heart without warning, causing her Qi and blood to surge and giving rise to an absurd yet fatal sense of familiarity.

"You two chat, I have things to do, so I'll be leaving first."

Mu Wanqing spoke up tactfully. With a graceful smile, she closed the door, leaving the space to the two of them.

"I wonder what Medicinal Pill Fellow Daoist Xue Linglong wishes to refine?" Lin Yuan's voice was plain and unremarkable, but deep within his eyes, a hint of hard-to-detect sharpness was hidden.

Xue Linglong's heart jolted.

Before coming, she had already calculated everything in her heart.

She prepared to say she needed a Medicinal Pill called the "Heart-Calming Demon-Dispelling Pill" to assist her Cultivation and suppress her Heart Demon.

The ingredients for this pill were not much different from the supreme detachment pill; after all, before matters were settled, she did not want to expose that her Cultivation Technique had developed issues.

But when the words reached her lips, she opened her mouth, and a strange power seemed to choke her throat, forcing her to swallow the lies she had prepared. In the end, what she spat out were completely different words.

"supreme detachment pill."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Xue Linglong's mind went buzzing, turning completely blank.

Even she was stunned.

"I… what did I just say?"

"How could I have spoken the truth directly?!"

In an instant, the color drained completely from her already pale, pretty face, and for the first time, an unshakeable horror and fear emerged within her cold eyes.

Saying "supreme detachment pill" was equivalent to exposing her greatest vulnerability, the fatal secret that her Dao Heart had been broken, nakedly before a stranger she was meeting for the first time!

Lin Yuan was also taken aback.

He had only intended to test her first, but it seemed Xue Linglong had directly spoken the true name of the Medicinal Pill.

Was this… really that deep-thinking, ruthless, and heartless Demonic Path enchantress? How had she become so… straightforward?

Doubts flooded Lin Yuan's heart, but he remained calm on the surface. As his thoughts raced, he decided to continue the probe.

"This is the first time I have heard the name of this pill. I wonder, what are the specific effects of this pill?"

Xue Linglong bit her lower lip tightly, her teeth almost piercing through, and a trace of the metallic taste of blood permeated her mouth.

Cannot speak! Absolutely cannot continue speaking!

She screamed desperately in her heart, attempting to regain control of her body.

But a strange power was rampaging inside her, her Qi and blood surging as if to tear apart her Meridians, rushing straight to her throat.

A fishy, sweet taste surged up. She forcibly suppressed the rising blood, a burning, stinging pain coming from her throat.

No matter how slow she was, she finally understood at this moment.

The ordinary-looking, unfamiliar-aura middle-aged man before her was Lin Yuan! It was Lin Yuan, who had Cultivated the Illusion Transformation Art!

She instantly understood why she had uncontrollably spoken the truth, and she also understood where that inexplicable sense of familiarity came from.

Thinking of this, how could Xue Linglong dare to stay for even one more second?

She knew that as long as she remained in front of this person, she would have no secrets, and would be like a doll stripped of its clothes, left for him to manipulate at will!

"Fellow Daoist!"

She stood up abruptly, her movements hasty and disheveled.

"I suddenly remembered I have an urgent matter to attend to. This pill… I suddenly don't want to refine it anymore. Farewell!"

Before the words had even finished, she had already turned around, her footsteps hurried as she rushed toward the door as if fleeing.

Watching her panicked, retreating figure, the playful look in Lin Yuan's eyes deepened.

This woman, Xue Linglong, had a resilient Heart-Nature and was decisive in killing; when had she ever displayed such a loss of composure? This was contrary to reason.

"Clatter…"

Xue Linglong's hand was already on the door bolt. She pulled hard, and the door opened in response.

The light shining in from outside allowed her to heave a slight sigh of relief.

As long as she stepped out, she would be safe.

However, just as she was about to step out, Lin Yuan's unhurried voice came from behind her.

"Fellow Daoist Xue Linglong, please stay."

That voice seemed to carry the magic of a command that became reality.

Xue Linglong's raised foot froze stiffly in mid-air, and her entire body seemed to be bound by invisible chains, unable to move any further.

"Fellow Daoist… is there anything else?"

Her voice carried a hint of uncontrollable trembling.

"Fellow Daoist Xue Linglong, do you seem to fear me?"

In Lin Yuan's voice, there was finally a hint of a faint smile.

Xue Linglong gritted her teeth. She did not want to answer, using all her strength to resist that impulse of submission originating from the depths of her Soul.

But the Qi and blood within her body, at this moment, exploded with an unprecedented, violent force!

This time, she could no longer suppress it.

"Pfft…"

A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed violently from her mouth, splattering onto the floor in front of the door, like a sorrowfully blooming red plum blossom.

Her body swayed, her face as pale as paper.

"Fellow Daoist, this is…"

"I… you…" Xue Linglong held onto the door frame, breathing rapidly. "Stop talking!" She was almost pleading.

Seeing her in this state, the confusion in Lin Yuan's eyes deepened. What exactly was going on with this Xue Linglong?

Xue Linglong endured the severe pain and dizziness within her body, only wanting to step away from this place that terrified her.

"Fellow Daoist Xue Linglong, you still haven't answered my question!" Lin Yuan's voice sounded again, like a life-claiming Talismanic Incantation. "You are afraid of me, right?"

This time, Xue Linglong could no longer resist. That power destroyed all her will.

"Yes!" She almost roared, her voice filled with despair and collapse. "My Cultivation Technique indeed has problems! Lin Yuan! The Cultivation Technique I practice is special; after that… union with you last time, I suffered a backlash from the Cultivation Technique! As long as I am close to you, my Qi and blood will surge, and I will lose control of my mind! If I get too close, I will… I will be injured!"

Hearing his own name shouted from her mouth, Lin Yuan's heart jolted.

"The Medicinal Pill I wanted to refine was to resolve this backlash! Are you satisfied now!" Xue Linglong said, half-truthfully.

Lin Yuan was stunned. He digested this shocking information; he hadn't expected such a peculiar Cultivation Technique to exist in the world. No wonder she could see through his Illusion Transformation Art. But he always felt that things weren't that simple. Backlash—was it really just as simple as getting injured?

"The matter before was my fault, but I have already paid the price." Seeing him silent, Xue Linglong's voice carried a hint of a sob, and she lowered her posture extremely low. "If you want compensation, wait until I return from Demon Falling Valley, I will definitely compensate you. Now, I just want to leave, to be far away from you."

Lin Yuan chuckled softly: "Leave? Fellow Daoist Xue Linglong, you seem to have misunderstood one thing."

"Back then, it was you who forcibly abducted me, it was you who destroyed my path of the Dao, and it was you who put me in a death trap."

"Now, you want to write it all off with a single word of compensation?"

He leaned into her ear, his voice hoarse, like a devil's whisper.