The bindings on He Shu’s body were released.
She immediately felt a wave of relief wash over her.
Deep red marks from the spiritual-power threads remained on her originally fair skin where they had dug in.
Although the restraints were gone, He Shu’s body had lost all support.
She was completely limp and powerless. She toppled straight forward off the chair.
Her head was about to slam into the floor.
He Shu was certain that if she hit it she would faint on the spot.
The ground rushed closer and closer in her vision. Just as she was about to crash, a hand caught her.
“Mmm…”
Hua Yanyun pulled He Shu into her arms and looked at her with complicated eyes.
“He Shu, We truly admire you. You are the youngest spy We have ever encountered, yet also the most resilient.”
Her tone suddenly softened, but He Shu’s mind was too foggy to catch a single word.
A warm, comforting sensation enveloped He Shu’s entire body, making her feel as if she were bathed in a gentle spring breeze.
Her consciousness gradually cleared.
She instantly realized that the Hua Yanyun holding her was casting a healing technique.
It could not repair the damage to her physical body or soul, but it did ease her spirit considerably.
“You’re…”
He Shu’s voice was very soft. Her body was extremely weak.
Although she showed no visible external injuries, she had suffered severe internal damage.
“Why…?”
The single word carried all of He Shu’s inner confusion.
The contrast in Hua Yanyun’s attitude before and after was too extreme; it was like dealing with two completely different people.
Yet there was no doubt that the brutal Hua Yanyun from earlier and the almost gentle Hua Yanyun now were one and the same.
Could she have realized that pure torture was useless and decided to try psychological tactics instead?
That had to be it.
Otherwise there was no explaining such a drastic shift.
“He Shu, We have investigated your past. We know what your childhood was like.”
“He Xiu not only abandoned you after giving birth, she never gave you the life you deserved. She even allowed your elder and younger sisters to bully and humiliate you at will. Growing up in that kind of environment must have been incredibly difficult.”
Hua Yanyun’s words were all true, spoken in the gentlest tone imaginable.
At the same time, she secretly used the Origin Suppressing Needles to slowly infuse true yuan—converted from spirit stones—into He Shu’s spiritual veins.
Under the nourishment of spiritual power, He Shu’s self-healing sped up.
She could clearly feel a wonderful, tingling pleasure spreading through her body.
Every cell radiated an intensely comfortable sensation.
The feeling swept over her, constantly washing through her consciousness and pulling her into memories of the past.
A sour ache filled her chest. Tears kept slipping from the corners of her eyes.
“Think about it carefully, He Shu. Does He Xiu really deserve to be called your mother? Is she truly worthy of your unwavering loyalty?”
Just as Hua Yanyun was secretly congratulating herself on nearly succeeding, He Shu’s body suddenly jerked violently in her arms.
Her thoughts snapped back to reality. He Shu woke with a start.
She inwardly cursed. She had actually let herself sink into those memories following Hua Yanyun’s words.
Hua Yanyun had not expected the sudden movement and was caught completely off guard.
She had still underestimated He Shu’s trust in He Xiu. She had barely begun trying to lure out information when the girl had already snapped awake.
And Hua Yanyun had secretly used a technique that influenced thoughts and emotions.
“Could the imprint inside her body have activated and resisted the spell’s erosion on her mind?”
Hua Yanyun had tried many times to investigate the imprint inside He Shu, but every attempt had failed. She knew nothing about its effects.
The imprint had been planted by He Xiu herself. Since both women were Body Integration powerhouses of similar strength, even Hua Yanyun would need considerable effort to uncover the imprint’s true functions.
Although she did not know the exact capabilities, she could guess it definitely included resistance to soul-searching and protection against emotional manipulation.
That much was easy to deduce.
The simplest and most effective way to interrogate a captured spy was soul-searching—every nation knew this.
Therefore, spies sent on missions almost always carried some means to resist it.
The other Southwind spy Hua Yanyun had captured, for example, possessed a continuously active spell that resisted soul-searching.
Though its rank was lower than the one on He Shu, it had still been quite troublesome.
He Shu’s case was more special.
Her natural physique already made her immune to soul-searching.
However, Hua Yanyun guessed that even knowing this, He Xiu would still add extra insurance. Better safe than sorry.
Hua Yanyun snorted coldly, her expression ugly. She was starting to understand why He Xiu had chosen to send her own daughter as a spy.
“Whatever. As long as We confirm she really is He Xiu’s spawn, the intelligence doesn’t matter anymore.”
Although she knew the information in He Shu’s mind must be extremely valuable, if it could not be extracted, its value was nothing more than empty talk.
Rather than waste time trying to torture out secrets, she might as well spend it studying the girl’s body.
The blood taken last time had already been mostly used up by her and Hua Yao, but they had discovered many useful properties.
For example, the ointment refined from He Shu’s blood had an outrageously powerful healing effect.
It could bring a heavily injured Golden Core cultivator back to seventy or eighty percent in just a single day.
Still, compared to its healing properties, what interested Hua Yanyun more was the ointment’s additional beauty-enhancing effects.
It made skin noticeably smoother and finer while also providing excellent whitening.
Although using the blood this way was extremely wasteful and extravagant, Hua Yanyun did not care.
Every woman cared about her appearance, and Hua Yanyun was no exception.
She even considered drawing more of He Shu’s blood so Hua Yao could make several additional batches.
The ointment could be used by herself and given as gifts to the concubines in her harem.
He Shu was laid flat on the operating table. The familiar scene stirred terror in her heart once more.
She murmured weakly, “No… don’t… it hurts…”
Before she could finish, a sharp pain struck the side of her neck.
Hua Yanyun had knocked her out with a precise chop of her hand.