Because of the year-round erosion by the cold poison, her skin was so white it was almost transparent, with the blue veins clearly visible.
And at this moment, driven by shame and absolute resolve, a breathtaking crimson flushed across that pallor.
The candlelight in the room flickered, bursting into a small spark.
The dim light danced across Lin Qingwan's flawless, delicate body, tracing every inch of her trembling form with a breathtaking allure.
She simply knelt there, her hair hanging messily by the sides of her face. In those eyes that once belonged to an aloof, unreachable young lady, there was now only a desperate resolve and profound humility.
"The Lin family is gone..."
She murmured softly, her voice carrying a hint of a broken sob, yet she forced herself not to collapse.
"I am the host of the Blood Demon Fetus. Even though the demon fetus has been removed, in the eyes of others, this body of mine is still a top-tier cultivation furnace. Without Benefactor's protection, Qingwan... will not survive past tomorrow."
She was very smart.
For the past eighteen years, she had lived in a greenhouse woven from lies.
Her father's affection was fake; it was merely the care a breeder had for livestock.
Her brother's doting was fake; it was the drooling of a diner over a meal.
In the entire Crimson Flame City, everyone coveted her beauty, coveted her status as the eldest young miss of the Lin family.
And now, that layer of false protection had been torn to shreds.
She plummeted from the lofty clouds straight into a quagmire of malice.
She knew her situation all too well.
To those immortal cultivators, she was now nothing more than a beautiful, masterless, top-quality human furnace.
As soon as she stepped out of this door, what awaited her was endless imprisonment and plundering, until she was drained into a dried corpse.
The man before her might be cold, and he might kill without blinking an eye.
But in his eyes, there was no greed, no lust, only a heart-palpitating calmness.
The warmth of his single finger had given her a second life.
In this man-eating cultivation world, his overbearing strength was her only source of security.
It was also her only path to survival.
"Benefactor..."
Lin Qingwan's voice trembled, carrying a trace of desperate resolve.
Her hands, resting on the floor, slowly tightened. Her nails scratched against the floorboards, making a faint sound.
She inched forward little by little until her knees touched the tip of Gu Yang's boots.
The cold touch of the leather made her whole body shudder.
But she did not retreat.
Her body was beautiful, as beautiful as a fragile piece of porcelain.
"Qingwan is... clean."
She lifted her face. That once proud and aloof face was now covered in the blush of shame. Teardrops hung at the corners of her eyes, and her eyelashes fluttered lightly, like a butterfly shivering in a rainstorm.
"Other than Benefactor, no one has ever touched Qingwan."
"Although Qingwan is dull-witted, I also know... there is no free life-saving grace in this world."
She reached out a trembling hand and gently covered Gu Yang's large hand resting on his knee.
That hand was rough and warm; it was a hand that killed, but also the hand that had given her the only real warmth she had felt that night.
She pressed her cheek against the back of that hand and rubbed gently, like a stray cat begging a master to take it in.
"I beg Benefactor... to take me."
"Whether as a cultivation furnace or as a slave."
"As long as I can stay by Benefactor's side... Qingwan is willing to do anything."
Her voice grew lower and lower, ultimately turning into an extremely suppressed whimper.
This was her final bargaining chip.
It was also the only lifeline she could grasp.
She gambled all her dignity, stripping herself completely bare, just to exchange for a moment of this man's attention.
Gu Yang lowered his eyes, quietly looking at the woman at his feet.
He had to admit, Lin Qingwan was beautiful.
Especially at this moment, that sense of brokenness and submission radiating from her very bones was enough to arouse any man's desire to destroy and possess.
Of course, Gu Yang valued more than just these things.
Yin and Yang harmony.
Absorbing the leftover essence of the Blood Demon Fetus.
50 Destiny Points.
This was a transaction.
Very fair.
She sought protection, and he claimed his reward.
Gu Yang gently grasped Lin Qingwan's wrist.
...
The shadows on the wall heaved violently.
"Benefactor..."
A feeling of being completely controlled made Lin Qingwan feel an unprecedented sense of security.
...
[Ding, successfully intercepted the purple fortuitous encounter—leftover essence of the Blood Demon Fetus.]
[Reward: 50 Destiny Points.]
[Current Destiny Points: 90.]
Gu Yang let out a long breath.
Not only had he obtained the crucial Destiny Points, but his cultivation had also advanced by a large margin.
He turned his head and glanced deep into the bed.
Lin Qingwan was curled up under the brocade quilt, sleeping soundly.
At this time, she had long lost her previous sickly pallor.
Moistened by that surge of extreme Yang energy, her skin displayed a healthy, rosy luster. Her originally blocked meridians had been forcibly broken through and widened by Gu Yang's overbearing Great Sun True Fire.
A blessing in disguise.
Now, she possessed a Flawless Spirit Body that had been tempered by the fire of extreme Yang.
Her cultivation talent had not dropped, but rather increased.
The person was saved, and the benefits were reaped.
But he certainly could not bring this woman along with him.
She needed to be properly settled.
Gu Yang had actually thought of a settlement plan long ago.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze pierced through the tightly shut door, landing on the figure outside who had been standing in the shadows for the entire night.
"Come in." The voice was not loud; it was hoarse and cold, yet it carried an unquestionable penetrating power.
...
Outside the door.
In the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Ji Shuanghua had been standing there stiffly for a full three hours.
She just stood there rigidly, her back pressed tightly against the cold wall, her hands digging fiercely into the flesh of her palms.
Those once proud and cold eyes were now bloodshot, her pupils in a dilated state following extreme excitement.
These three hours, to her, were a lingering execution, yet also an ultimate feast.
As a true disciple of the Supreme Sword Sect, her five senses were far sharper than those of ordinary people.
Even though an isolation array had been activated in the room, those faint fluctuations of spiritual energy, the occasional leak of movement, the slight creaking sounds...
All acted like red-hot steel needles, accurately piercing her eardrums and stabbing into her brain.
"He is using her..."
"Using her unscrupulously, like an object..."
In Ji Shuanghua's mind, scenes of the room's interior were drawn uncontrollably.
That man who had thrown her into a mud pit in the Blue Heavens Secret Realm was currently devouring another woman with that cold, disdainful, yet incomparably overbearing posture.
Would that woman cry?
She definitely would.
That feeling of being absolutely controlled by a powerhouse, of being stripped of all dignity, of only being able to submit to his whims like a puddle of mud...
"Haa..."
A broken pant squeezed out of Ji Shuanghua's throat, used to relieve the waves of aching numbness deep within her body.
Was she jealous?
Yes, jealous to the point of madness.
Jealous of that woman named Lin Qingwan.
But more than that, it was a sick sense of substitution.
She imagined herself as that woman.
With every fluctuation of the array, she would tremble along with it, as if it were Gu Yang's hand ruthlessly choking her neck, forcing her to submit.
...
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
