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"No... you... how could you..."

The more Liuli thought about it, the more unsettled she became. What had been just an ordinary burning sensation - but thinking about that suspicious and sensitive location, Liuli's delicate body trembled. Perhaps due to psychological effects, every subtle change in her lower abdomen became much more sensitive in Liuli's perception.

When developing dark arts before, Liuli had considered parasitizing this location.

But due to its inapplicability to men, Liuli hadn't bothered experimenting in this direction. After all, corrupting the dantian was already enough to control a righteous cultivator's lifeline - why develop another complicated corruption method specifically for female cultivators that wouldn't show immediate results?

It held no meaning for Liuli.

Those captured righteous cultivators would either be corrupted and sent back to their righteous sects as sleeper agents, or directly sacrificed to the Mother Goddess.

Generally speaking, they wouldn't live long.

So what Liuli needed most was short-term control of the dantian - without corrupting the dantian, female cultivators would still have some power to resist even if other organs were controlled. This was Liuli's logic.

But when this pattern fell into Yino's hands, rather than quickly destroying Liuli's cultivation, he seemed to prefer a sustainable method of corruption-

"Holy Maiden, you should actually thank me."

"My specially crafted demon seed is different from your crude ones."

"I'm not a tree spirit, nor am I using plant seeds, so my demon seed won't take root and sprout inside you, nor will it physically damage your dantian or other internal organ structures."

"In fact, the demon seed at the center of this pattern is a custom spirit pill that I carefully refined in an alchemy furnace using my own spiritual energy combined with hundreds of herbs."

"Strictly speaking, it can't even be called a demon seed - it should be considered a spirit pill under my control. This pill won't take root and sprout; after absorbing nutrients in your body it will only permeate your organs in the form of spiritual energy. And this method of spiritual energy permeation and catalyzation not only won't harm the host's health and cultivation, it also won't cause the Holy Maiden any pain during the corruption process..."

"Oh right, do you know that old saying 'Moistens silently like spring rain'?"

Yino calmly analyzed his improved technique.

Though his tone was gentle and patient, his soft words entering Liuli's ears only made the red-robed Holy Maiden's face flush redder with even more shame and anxiety.

She had given up struggling, but thinking about this spirit pill gradually growing and permeating within her body, and all the various side effects that might occur in the future, Liuli's body couldn't help but twist and tremble slightly.

Liuli had never imagined her original demon seed pattern could be improved and optimized by Yino in this way, transformed from a one-time short-term corruption into a chronic, long-term sustainable permeation.

Indeed...

Because of the demon seed's different nature and parasitic location, Liuli's dantian and body remained intact, and she felt no pain during the spirit pill's catalyzation within her body.

But this silent, painless process made Liuli feel even more anxious with each passing second.

Because there was no pain, Liuli couldn't sense the progress. She only felt warmth in her lower abdomen, unable to judge how far the spirit pill beneath the pattern had permeated her body!

"See? It won't leave the Holy Maiden doubled over in agony from demon seed parasitism, and by changing the target organ for corruption, it won't ruin the Holy Maiden's future cultivation path in the Full Moon Sect..."

"Holy Maiden, wouldn't you say this is a brilliant innovation?"

Yino continued speaking gently beside Liuli's ear.

For some reason, the gentler his voice became, the more Liuli's chest tingled. Even the pattern on her lower abdomen flickered with violet light in response to Yino's words, sending waves of burning sensation through her body.

Gradually...

Liuli found herself adapting to this prolonged, sustainable heat.

After all, it wasn't painful - at most it felt like a hot water bottle pressed against her belly. Though the initial heat might burn the skin, once she got used to the temperature, Liuli didn't feel it so hot anymore. Even the bone-deep neural pain from when the pattern first invaded her body had gradually dulled as her body adapted.

Liuli could no longer distinguish between her conscious awareness and physical sensations.

She didn't know if Yino's corrupting pattern had weakened, or if her body was gradually accepting his pattern.

This made sense, actually.

As long as Liuli's body didn't perceive the pattern and spirit pill's permeation as harmful, her nerves wouldn't spasm sensitively, and her body would lower its defenses by time... Gradually, this warm sensation in her lower abdomen was being adapted by her brain into a feeling of comfort and security.

But even so, the more Liuli thought about it, the more terrified she became, because she felt her body was now acting contrary to her will.

Psychologically, Liuli knew that while this might not hurt now, the consequences of being slowly permeated would surely be unimaginable in the future!

Yet even as Liuli remained fearful and anxious, when Yino spoke softly beside her ear, her body had already begun trembling in response to his every word...

"Don't keep making such a humiliated expression."

"Liuli, having just experienced my innovative work based on your dark arts, don't you feel at all that I'm a genius of the evil path?"

Yino continued praising himself, seemingly seeking recognition from the original creator of these dark arts.

But Liuli was in no mood to praise him.

Her emotions were complex as she bit her teeth, her blood-red eyes filled with shame and anger, struggling to maintain her hatred for Yino.

This hatred wasn't because Liuli couldn't read the situation or was being stubborn despite everything. Rather, she feared that if she abandoned her hatred and submitted to Yino out of despair, then as the pattern and spirit pill in her lower abdomen continued to catalyze and permeate, she might never be able to feel hatred toward Yino again!

So Liuli had to maintain this hatred until she could leave the Azure Forest, find a way to break free from Yino's control, and one day take her fierce revenge!

"Look, Liuli, you still can't see past this, your thoughts forever trapped in hatred."

Yino naturally understood her thoughts perfectly.

He wasn't angry, just sighed helplessly and turned his gaze from the red-robed Holy Maiden's humiliated, tear-stained face to the treegirl who had been left hanging forgotten in mid-air.