The Unyielding Soul

A tumultuous wave of intense, physiological revulsion surged through him, threatening to overwhelm his senses.

This pathological act nearly suffocated him.

“Enough!” he roared, attempting a final struggle, his body convulsing violently.

However, Qiu Yue’s grip on his waist intensified abruptly, and the hand that had been roaming beneath his clothes suddenly pinched the soft flesh at his side, the sharp agony instantly piercing through his resistance.

“Ugh—!”

The pained whimper was choked back.

Qiu Yue’s lips finally pressed down fiercely onto his.

This was no lover’s embrace, but a violent, punitive invasion.

She gnawed mercilessly at his lower lip with her teeth, her tongue, imbued with an absolute, unyielding force, pried open his tightly clenched jaw, ravaging his mouth with the brazenness of an invading army, coercing him to swallow the mingling flavors of her distinctive essence and a faint, metallic tang of blood.

A sickening wave of profound invasion washed over Lin Mo, his vision blurring at the edges.

The kiss was protracted and suffocating, and only when Lin Mo felt the air in his chest nearing depletion, his strength to resist almost entirely drained, did Qiu Yue retract a mere sliver.

She panted softly, her blue eyes astonishingly bright, fixed on Lin Mo’s lips—bitten raw, oozing threads of blood, yet glistening and made all the more alluring by the kiss.

She extended her tongue, gently licking away the trace of his blood that stained her own lips.

“Marked…” she breathed, a low laugh escaping her, her voice hoarse with exhilaration. “My scent, my brand… it would be best if it permeated your very bones.”

Her fingers withdrew from inside Lin Mo’s lower back, then cupped his face, her fingernails lightly tracing his cheek, an undeniable mix of possessive tenderness and absolute control in her touch.

“Look into my eyes, Lin Mo. Tell me, who is your master?”

Inside the private room, light and shadow flickered, and in the profound silence, only the hurried breathing and heartbeats of the two remained.

Qiu Yue straddled him, her azure twin ponytails cascading down her sides, like an angel, simultaneously pure and malevolent, imprisoning him within her domain, her gaze, utterly absolute, fixed on the struggle and shattered spirit reflected in his eyes.

Lin Mo felt as though his very soul was being torn asunder.

The Qiu Yue before him was the very nightmare he had buried deep within his memory, the one he refused to touch, the chilling presence on his pillow during countless midnight awakenings.

Yet now, she stood before him, so terrifyingly real, so potently captivating.

So real, so powerfully confining him, asserting her claim of ownership through this utterly pathological act.

Humiliation, anger, and a primal fear intertwined violently within him, clashing with a sliver of twisted sensory stimulation that even he was loath to acknowledge.

He parted his lips, meeting Qiu Yue’s blue eyes, alight with mad possessiveness, stubbornly awaiting his response.

That gaze seemed poised to devour his very soul, to brand it with the indelible mark of ‘Qiu Yue’s exclusive property.’

In this suffocating deadlock, Qiu Yue suddenly unveiled an exquisitely sweet smile, as if the man-eating beast from moments ago had merely been an illusion.

She gently, with immense tenderness, used her fingers to brush away the sweat-dampened strands of hair from Lin Mo’s forehead, her movements as delicate as if tending to a rare treasure.

“It’s alright,” she purred, her voice imbued with a seductive magnetism. “If you don’t say it now, I have an entire night, slowly… to make you remember, to remember whose… you truly are.”

Her fingertips slowly traced Lin Mo’s tightly pursed lips once more, like a snake’s tongue, outlining that alluring shape, with endless patience and an undeniable will to possess.

The pearl light in the private room stretched and distorted the entangled silhouettes of the two, casting them upon the luxurious wall adorned with crane and cloud patterns, like two creatures locked in a fatal embrace, trapped within a giant amber.

Qiu Yue’s low, persistent whispers, like a deadly curse, entangled Lin Mo’s soul thread by agonizing thread.

“Every breath… must be stained with my scent…”

“Every heartbeat… must beat for me…”

Her fingertips pressed on his violently throbbing carotid artery.

“Every inch of bone and blood… must be etched with my mark…”

“One day…”

Her lips, bearing a cold vow, slowly approached him again, like a blue lotus blooming in the deepest dark, its petals unfurling with a poisonous fragrance, quietly impressing, “…even the thoughts of refusal churning in the depths of your soul will only be… the sweetest nourishment, solely mine.”

The dense, cold kiss descended once more, a suffocating shroud like a spider’s web, or perhaps a frigid tide freezing all in its path.

It irresistibly sealed every struggle, every breath beneath her, into that pathologically stubborn abyss of possession.

Inside the private room, only her low laughter and vows, like icy tendrils, swirled and echoed through the endless, shimmering light.

Despite the intensity of her kisses, Qiu Yue still sensed a difference.

Yes, even with Lin Mo pinned beneath her, utterly immobile, she still perceived a change.

She scrutinized his exquisite face for a long time, and finally, understanding dawned upon her.

It was his eyes.

The eyes she had licked were still burning fiercely.

Sparks from a dying bonfire still flickered within those amber depths, leaping continuously.

Gone was the former submission, the resignation to fate.

Though he had been gripped by fear, cowardice, and despair just moments ago, this time felt different, as if a grassland scorched by fire had now sprouted resilient green shoots.

The perfectly cultivated lover she had so painstakingly nurtured was gone, replaced now by an unyielding stubbornness and a quiet resilience that gradually eroded the fear in his eyes.

‘No, this wasn’t right!’

‘This wasn’t the Lin Mo she loved!’

‘Her Lin Mo always possessed docile eyes, as obedient as the smallest puppy, the depths of his pupils meant to hold nothing but a profound reverence and fear for her every command.’

‘No… this was wrong!’

‘The love was gone!’

‘There was no love in Lin Mo’s eyes anymore.’

If one truly loved someone, their eyes should reflect only the shadow of the beloved, and fear could manifest similarly.

Her mother had taught her this.

The Love Handbook had affirmed it.

She had even asked many people.

Love and fear were not so different, after all.

As long as someone was made to fear to their very bones, they would give you anything you desired.

Anything you wanted, they would give; if you wanted love, they would give you love.

They would never betray, never wither.

It would be like an eternal brand etched deep into the soul, an indelible mark.

This way, he would always keep her in his sight, always think of her, ponder her, and she would forever reside in Lin Mo’s heart!

‘Lin Mo… wasn’t afraid of her anymore?’

‘Did that mean… he no longer loved her?’

‘No… it couldn’t be like this!’

‘No!’

‘Wrong!’

‘No!’

The playfulness quickly vanished, replaced now on Qiu Yue’s cheeks by only anxiety, panic, and profound unease.

She loved Lin Mo!

Lin Mo surely loved her too!

Lin Mo had merely grown weary of Luofeng City, which was why he had secretly fled!

Lin Mo had simply wanted to prove himself worthy of her, that’s why he had secretly fled!

This was the correct explanation!

Right!

Why not just ask him?

“You, you still love me, right?” Qiu Yue asked, a smile plastered on her face, but that smile, cobbled together from sheer panic, was like a crumpled piece of paper, creased and profoundly unsightly.

“Love you?” Lin Mo’s brow furrowed.

‘No… this was bad!’

Alarm bells shrieked in Qiu Yue’s heart.

She moved almost instinctively, swiftly attempting to kiss him, to silence the terrible answer before it could be uttered!

But—

“I barely have enough time to hate you, how could I ever love you?”

Boom!

Through the transparent light screen, the sky outside remained clear, boundless and cloudless, its azure expanse as deep blue as Qiu Yue’s hair.

Despite such radiant clarity, Qiu Yue couldn’t comprehend.

Why, at this very moment… was there a rumble of thunder?

The deafening clamor seemed intent on rupturing her eardrums before it would cease.

How peculiar.

How eerie.

Why…

Couldn’t she hear what Lin Mo was saying?

Only peals of thunder exploded in Qiu Yue’s ears.