A Desperate Choice

Seeing Mu Qingli walking towards him quickly and trying to take away his manhood, Lin Mo became anxious on the spot!

This wouldn’t do!

While a lost reputation could always be salvaged, where would he ever hope to reclaim this if it were gone? Even if he were to somehow acquire another’s, it would never truly be his own.

Furthermore, his current predicament was nothing short of an act of God.

It was she who had paraded so brazenly before him; the door had been blasted open, allowing the brilliant, unfiltered sunlight to illuminate the grand hall, and she herself had stood there with such uninhibited abandon.

He had, without a doubt, witnessed every single thing he shouldn’t have.

But dared Lin Mo utter such words?

If he dared to provoke her, not only his manhood but even his very life would be forfeit!

Lin Mo’s nimble mind spun, rapidly sifting through every piece of information he had just heard and witnessed, desperately searching for a way to break free from his current plight.

‘Think!’

‘My brain!’

‘I believe you still possess extraordinary potential!’

However, the moment he attempted to recall anything, his mind was instantly overwhelmed by vivid images of her uninhibited form.

Beneath the glistening water droplets, her rosy flesh seemed to radiate a dazzling light, illuminating her full, vibrant form with a translucent, rosy glow.

…

No solution to his predicament materialized, yet the fire burning deep within his belly only blazed with greater intensity.

Still, Lin Mo found himself unable to blame his own mind; after all, how could such a beautiful memory possibly fail to be deeply etched within his consciousness?

‘Heh heh… he was utterly doomed.’

As Mu Qingli, with a surge of spiritual energy, effortlessly seized Lin Mo’s neck from the air and lifted him from the pool, Lin Mo felt as though an unseen hand had gripped the very doorknob of his destiny.

It was violently yanking open the door to his future, intent on forcibly rerouting him onto an entirely new, unforeseen trajectory.

“Wan’er,” Mu Qingli sneered, “from this day forward, cast aside that filthy male identity and embrace your true self as a girl. Rest assured, the pain will be fleeting; your master will handle everything swiftly.”

She continued, “This minor imperfection is inconsequential. Once your cultivation has progressed, your master will personally attend to it, transforming you into a true woman! I will make you the future Sect Master of the Xuan Nv Sect, and the most peerless immortal maiden in all the lands!”

“!”

A searing pain was already beginning to surface, prompting Lin Mo to clench his jaw, now drenched in a cold sweat.

He could not allow this to proceed any further.

If it did, how would he ever face his ancestors in the afterlife?

If she insisted on feminizing him, she could at least do so gently, without inflicting such agony!

What kind of Manchu Qing Dynasty (TL Note: A historical Chinese dynasty, often associated with severe and brutal forms of torture in popular culture) torture was this?

Suddenly, amidst his utter despair, Lin Mo’s rapidly whirring mind finally seized upon a sliver of hope for salvation.

“S-Sect Master!” Lin Mo stammered, “Are you absolutely certain your Profound Yin Physique’s backlash has been truly cured?! Is it genuinely healed, or merely alleviated?!”

At these words, Mu Qingli froze.

She had been so utterly ecstatic that she had completely overlooked confirming such a crucial detail.

Yet, a moment later, she retorted, “And what of it? Isn’t it enough that I have you? Even if it merely alleviates the condition, you can help your master keep it at bay for a considerable period!”

A refreshing, captivating smile now bloomed across Mu Qingli’s exquisite face—a smile that would have been utterly enchanting, had she not been on the verge of cheerfully removing that thing!

‘Qiu Yue, I’m sorry… I never imagined people outside could be even more twisted than you!’

It truly validated the old adage: one must venture out and experience the world to witness more of its wonders.

And just like that, merely by stepping outside Luofeng City, he had already encountered yet another pervert.

“S-Sect Master!” Lin Mo persisted, unwilling to surrender, “Are you truly so confident? What if, once it’s removed, my Yang qi dissipates, and I can no longer help you alleviate the backlash? What then?”

He was determined to struggle a little longer.

“Yang qi?” Mu Qingli scoffed, “A simple sealing spell will suffice to contain it. Right now, the most crucial task is to remove this hideous worm from you!”

As she spoke, Mu Qingli channeled more spiritual energy, intensifying her grip.

“Mu Qingli!” Lin Mo cried out, desperation seizing him.

At this critical juncture, he cast aside all deference to her status, roaring, “If you dare remove it, I swear I will die!”

“Die? You dare to die?” Mu Qingli burst into laughter as if she had just heard the funniest joke, clutching her stomach and guffawing so heartily that her spell controlling Lin Mo faltered and lost its hold.

Lin Mo, having tumbled back into the pool, was utterly bewildered.

‘What, he wondered, could possibly be so amusing about his declaration?’

“Mere men, daring to speak such boastful words?” Mu Qingli’s face instantly hardened, her swift shift in demeanor startling.

“You are nothing but a pack of craven cowards, maggots who only cower behind women!”

‘This woman… she couldn’t possibly have… a dual personality, could she?’

Even as Lin Mo reeled in surprise, a dagger was suddenly hurled directly at him.

The dagger spun through the air, its sharp blade glinting blindingly as it caught the sunlight.

Then, with unnerving precision, the eight-inch blade plunged straight into the ground, burying itself halfway into the solid surface.

Lin Mo swallowed hard.

The ground the dagger had pierced was clearly a type of polished stone, and surely no stone found within the opulent palaces of the Xuan Nv Sect could be considered ordinary.

Yet, this dagger had punctured it with such effortless ease, and that was to say nothing of the fact that Mu Qingli had thrown it with a mere casual flick of her wrist…

“What, afraid?” Mu Qingli sneered, her gaze filled with disdain as she fixed it upon Lin Mo.

“Did you not just loudly proclaim you’d rather die? Yet now that I present you with that very option, you recoil in fear? I offer you this final opportunity: either embrace death, or become a woman. I am granting you the opportunity to become a woman, and still you display such repulsion? Do you honestly believe being a woman is such an effortless path? Countless individuals in this world yearn to become women, yet throughout their entire lives, their desires remain unfulfilled. Now you are given this chance with such ease, and yet you show no gratitude. Were it not for your innate talent, I would have long since slapped you dead.”

With the situation having reached this critical juncture, Lin Mo found himself with no recourse but to make a definitive choice.

Would he endure the humiliation of castration, embrace a new identity, and step into a brilliant future as a personal disciple of Sect Master Mu Qingli, or would he choose to die for his dignity?

Such a matter—required no deliberation.

Of course, he had to choose to live!

Only by living could there be hope; only by living could there be a future!

Lin Mo rose from the pool, his gaze now utterly resolute.

He intended to live, to survive until tomorrow, to bear witness to a vastly different dawn!

“I understand…” Lin Mo said.

Upon hearing these words, though Mu Qingli’s expression remained outwardly impassive, a cold, knowing sneer had long since sharpened within her heart.

‘What true courage could a man possibly possess?’

‘If he truly dared to take his own life, she would agree to anything he asked, even swearing an oath upon the Heavenly Dao!’

Given Mu Qingli’s current level of cultivation, she could already commune with a sliver of the Heavenly Dao, rendering her oaths far more than mere casual declarations.

In an instant, Mu Qingli felt a sensation like a branding iron searing her heart, deeply etching itself into the very core of her soul.

Her oath had been bound by the chains of the Heavenly Dao’s mark.

‘But what did it truly matter?

Men in this world were utterly useless; what consequence could such an oath truly hold?’

Men who could abandon their wives and daughters were rotten to the bone long ago.

Inadvertently, Mu Qingli saw someone’s figure overlap with Lin Mo’s; that person’s face was already blurred, or rather, faceless.

Only a fleeing back remained, leaving her and her mother to await death.

Hatred unconsciously surged in her heart, but she swiftly suppressed it.

The Lin Mo before her was not that man; there was no need to implicate him.

Besides—

Mu Qingli looked at Lin Mo, whose expression now suggested compromise.

‘Isn’t compromise what men do best?’

Since he had compromised, she would have to endure it.

Regardless of how much she detested men, Lin Mo was the absolute core of her plan.

Mu Qingli sensed that the day she would reclaim control of the Xuan Nv Sect was not far off.

“Good, then your master—What are you doing?”

Lin Mo did not emerge from the pool.

Instead, he snatched up the short sword, aimed it at his chest, and plunged it fiercely into his heart!

The entire process was executed without the slightest hesitation; crimson blood spurted forth, instantly dyeing the clear pool a vivid red.

Mu Qingli was stunned, not because Lin Mo’s movements were too swift, but because she simply could not believe that Lin Mo, a man, would actually dare—to declare his resolve with death.

“…Sect Master,” Lin Mo’s voice was weak yet imbued with stubborn defiance, each word seemingly squeezed through his gritted teeth with every ounce of his remaining strength.

Having uttered these words, he seemed to have expended all his energy, his body convulsing violently, followed by a fit of intense coughing.

The coughing echoed through the silent space, each sound like the mournful creak of a decaying bellows.

Great gouts of blood sprayed from his mouth, like a surging crimson tide.

The blood rapidly spread through the pool, instantly transforming the once crystal-clear water, covering it as if with a layer of blood-red silk.

Blood mist also splattered onto Mu Qingli’s pure, unblemished skin, dotting her snow-white complexion with several vivid red spots, like crimson plum blossoms blooming on snow, appearing strikingly stark in contrast.

‘Wh-Why…’

She couldn’t comprehend it.

Mu Qingli couldn’t understand.

‘Surely… I offered him the best choice, an incredibly bright future, so why would this cowardly man still seek death…?’

‘Men are weak.’

‘They are despicable.’

‘They are ungrateful and faithless!’

‘They caused the deaths of many, including her mother and master.’

‘If only they had been braver, more resolute… would her mother and master still be alive?’

‘Just like… Lin Mo… willing to die… to defend something.’

‘If… it had been Lin Mo who accompanied her master back then… would the outcome have been different?’

She needed an answer.

She needed Lin Mo to give her an answer!