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"--? ?!"

Three simple questions shattered the white foxgirl's last shred of hope.

Yuebai trembled silently, only managing to shake her head. Her eyes darted desperately toward the red foxgirl beside Yino, but Jinyue just shrugged and turned away - clearly unwilling to breathe a word about such a sensitive topic.

"Ten seconds left, and still no valuable information," Yino sighed wearily. "Yuebai, how can I possibly let you go?"

Yuebai's delicate face twisted with desperation and fury. "Yino! You're so close with Jinyue - you know damn well I can't answer these questions! If you're so capable, why don't you make Jinyue tell you the Celestial Master's identity?"

"Seven seconds." Yino closed his eyes.

Terror flashed across Yuebai's face. "Someone, anyone..." She whirled around frantically, searching desperately for escape. But in this empty ancient hall corner, besides Yino and Jinyue, there was only the red-robed Holy Maiden standing nearby, her beautiful eyes dim.

"Yino, stop this! What's the point of torturing me?" she snapped. "You want the Soul Origin Pill - I told you I'd die if I gave it to you. Now you want intel on the Celestial Master - if I tell you, I won't even have a corpse to bury!"

"What's the fucking point of all these questions?"

"Yino, are you trying to break me?!"

She kept cursing through the final three seconds, but Yino's expression never changed. As the countdown ended, he stepped forward and gently pressed the formation mark on her lower abdomen, injecting spiritual energy to reset her bodily sensations.

Though Yuebai couldn't understand what he was doing, she remembered vividly how she'd felt worse than death before passing out. She knew Yino's command worked like magic - the first three syllables of her name activated the formation on her belly, while the following commands adjusted its parameters. If she refused, he would surely continue manipulating the sensory barriers, sending her back into that maddening, unbearable state.

"I really can't tell you..."

"Yino, please stop... isn't what you did to me enough?"

Gradually, Yuebai's voice cracked with sobs as she stared at Yino with unprecedented hurt. Drool had begun trickling from the corner of her lips. Though her senses were blocked, she could still clearly feel her twitching skin and the immortal essence dripping steadily onto the floor like a leaky faucet.

Yino gazed at her helplessly:

"Yuebai, focus."

His voice remained gentle, without a trace of anger.

At some point, he had finished adjusting the formation and removed his palm from her abdomen. In an instant, Yuebai's delicate body trembled again as unprecedented fear and anxiety washed over her.

"No..."

"No... not again...."

She pleaded desperately.

Yino lowered his gaze. As the green light faded on the mark, purple marks flickered beneath Yuebai's field of vision - like a dam finally breaking after holding back for half an hour.

Her consciousness plunged back into that torturous state where seconds stretched into years. Her agonized pleas echoed through the ancient hall's corner.

Even Yino started feeling a twinge of sympathy. With anyone else, he wouldn't have the heart to hear a young girl scream for so long. But Yuebai didn't deserve his pity - she'd already deceived him twice.

First time, she played weak and vulnerable, then tried to assassinate him with a poisoned kick. Second time, she faked an emotional farewell with Xumo while secretly plotting to awaken his true potential.

Even while unconscious, she dreamed of surviving this ordeal only to run straight to the Celestial Master, gathering assassins to cut Yino into pieces. If Jinyue hadn't revealed these cruel dreams through illusion, Yino would never have imagined such darkness behind that pitiful face.

If she's not lying, this could get tricky, Yino sighed uneasily.

Truth was, he didn't really understand the thousand-year Soul Origin Pill of the White Fox clan from the game. He only knew from the narrative that the White Fox clan had an ancient secret tradition: every few hundred years, the elders would use divination to prophesy which family would birth the next White Fox Holy Maiden.

The chosen fox cub would be carefully protected from birth. Upon reaching adulthood, she would journey alone to an ancient temple deep in the back mountain's sacred realm. There, the aging previous Holy Maiden would await her.

The old Holy Maiden would use special spells to extract the Soul Origin Pill from her body and pass it to the new generation.

In the game, Yuebai was the longest-living Holy Maiden, now practically an elder herself. The Soul Origin Pill had been nurturing inside her for over 400 years since she came of age.

Later in the game, the White Fox clan did birth a new Holy Maiden, but since she hadn't come of age according to fox tradition, Yuebai kept the pill, using it as her personal magical artifact.

She could keep it in her belly as a power core, or even extract it through secret arts to cast high-level spells. This made her an incredibly troublesome boss when she betrayed the protagonist later, her power skyrocketing.

That's why Yino had been fixated on the Soul Origin Pill since capturing Yuebai. Only by securing it could he truly control her.

But now...it seemed she hadn't mastered these skills yet. If she could really use the pill as a weapon, she would've done so before being captured. Either extracting it came at too high a price, making her endure humiliation instead, or she truly couldn't do it yet - perhaps the pill wasn't mature enough.

If it was the latter, that would be problematic. The White Fox clan might have some secret art that Yuebai couldn't unlock until years later in the main storyline.

Yino sighed repeatedly at this thought. He appeared calm and emotionless, but that was just to intimidate Yuebai into dropping her pretenses.

In reality, he knew he didn't have two days and nights. If Yuebai held out for 24 hours, he'd have to resort to traditional dark arts to control her. But even those weren't reliable - the Soul Origin Pill might have self-purifying abilities! He might not even be able to sleep soundly at night after making an enemy of her today!

"Master..."

"I have an idea."

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Liuli, who had been quietly observing from the side, suddenly spoke up.

Seeing no point in watching Yuebai's continued convulsions, Yino turned to chat with Liuli for a change of pace: "Oh? What's your suggestion?"

"Mm...I think waiting is boring. Why don't I help Master relieve some stress first..."

Though Liuli's tone seemed casual, her gaze kept dropping to Yino's lower body, fixating on what appeared to be an impressive peak. Even her cheeks flushed pink.

Her words stunned not just Yino, but even the red fox girl watching nearby, who stared wide-eyed with embarrassment.

The cold atmosphere suddenly turned awkward.

"W-wait!" Jinyue cut in before Yino could respond.

"What are you suddenly saying?!"

Jinyue was incredulous. She'd been watching Yuebai and plotting strategy, only for Liuli to drop this bombshell.

Just an hour ago, this Full Moon Sect Holy Maiden had been ready to die rather than submit, looking like some erotica novels where the righteous maiden defiled by goblins. Now, in less than an hour, Liuli had completely shed her disgust and shame, even shamelessly eyeing Yino's lower half while speaking such provocative words.

She was even more shameless than Jinyue now! Where is her dignity as a Holy Maiden? What happened to that unyielding spirit of resistance?

Just because her sister was saved, she immediately changed her attitude, turning into some maid-like figure trying to please Yino!

"What's so strange about it?" Liuli raised an eyebrow.

When she shifted her gaze from Yino, her gentle expression instantly turned to disgust as she looked at Jinyue.

As a hybrid of tree spirit and mother goddess, Liuli naturally had a delicate, yandere quality. Combined with her devotion to her master and disdain for rivals, she gave off the air of a beautiful, cold wife.

Meeting Liuli's frigid, contemptuous gaze, Jinyue felt her own coy fox demon image seemed more like a mere alley cat!

"Master, that redfox knows nothing. Let me explain the true meaning behind my suggestion!"