Just as she was about to tear him to pieces in the most vicious way possible...
A figure suddenly embraced her.
A warm body carrying a familiar fragrance hugged her tightly, forcibly halting her movements.
Immediately after, a familiar voice sounded by Luo Zhao's ear, gentle yet firm:
"Your Highness, it is me!"
This voice...
This presence...
The touch of this embrace...
Luo Zhao's whole body stiffened.
The frantically surging true qi abruptly halted.
The monstrous hatred began to retract inward.
She slowly turned her head.
Under the moonlight, she saw a gentle and beautiful face.
"Yun... ying?"
Luo Zhao's voice trembled slightly.
She almost couldn't believe her eyes.
Wasn't Shangguan Yunying hypnotized?
Wasn't she just expressionlessly tying her up and suspending her a moment ago?
Why now...
Why would she be here?
Why would she be holding her?
Why would she say... it is me?
Shangguan Yunying hugged Luo Zhao tightly and repeated:
"Your Highness, it really is me."
"I was awakened by Xiaoli, and then she awakened you too."
Xiaoli?
Luo Zhao abruptly turned her head and looked at the other figure by the bed.
Gu Xiaoli.
Why was she here?
Why could she awaken hypnotized people?
She...
In Luo Zhao's mind, various fragments of information began to rapidly piece together.
An astonishing conjecture slowly surfaced.
"Is it... Imperial Father?"
Gu Xiaoli quietly looked at Luo Zhao, then nodded.
Luo Zhao slowly closed her eyes.
She took a deep breath, heavy and long, suppressing all the emotions in her chest.
When she opened her eyes again, the madness and brutality from earlier were gone.
"Yunying."
Luo Zhao spoke, her voice having recovered its usual coldness and majesty:
"Since you had Xiaoli awaken me, does that mean Gu Chengyin doesn't know?"
Shangguan Yunying looked at Luo Zhao with some worry.
She understood this Crown Princess too well; the calmer she was, the more terrifying she became.
When Luo Zhao put away all her emotions and spoke in this icy tone...
It often meant that she was brewing an extremely dangerous plan in her heart.
But Shangguan Yunying still nodded.
She released her arms around Luo Zhao and began to explain in detail, from how she was awakened by Gu Xiaoli to how Gu Xiaoli modified the hypnotic logic.
Then to the state of being a conscious puppet, and finally her decision to come and awaken Luo Zhao...
Every word, every detail, Shangguan Yunying explained clearly.
Luo Zhao listened quietly.
Her expression no longer changed, only deep within her phoenix eyes, a strange light would occasionally flash.
It wasn't until Shangguan Yunying finished speaking that the bedchamber fell back into silence.
Luo Zhao then slowly spoke:
"So that's how it is."
"I understand."
The corners of Luo Zhao's mouth suddenly curled into an arc:
"This is actually a very good opportunity."
Shangguan Yunying's heart tightened.
Looking at the eerie smile on Luo Zhao's face, she felt a chill down her spine.
She softly probed, "Your Highness... I think..."
Shangguan Yunying didn't know what to say.
Say "I think Gu Chengyin cannot be killed"? Say "We should endure for now"? Say "We need him"?
Would these words sound like betrayal to Luo Zhao, who had just experienced such humiliation?
But Luo Zhao suddenly turned her head and looked at Shangguan Yunying.
There was no anger or accusation in her phoenix eyes, but rather a gentle smile.
But that smile made Shangguan Yunying even more uneasy.
"Yunying, did you think I would ask you to go and kill Gu Chengyin?"
Shangguan Yunying nodded gently.
This was the most reasonable speculation. Given Luo Zhao's personality, killing Gu Chengyin was an almost inevitable choice.
But Luo Zhao shook her head.
Not only did she shake her head, but she also smiled.
That smile was not a cold sneer or a mocking laugh, but a smile of complete unconcern.
As if the person gnashing her teeth and vowing to kill Gu Chengyin just a moment ago wasn't her.
"Yunying, rest assured." Luo Zhao's voice carried an eerie gentleness. "I won't have you kill him."
She paused, a sickly gleam flashing in her eyes:
"Not only that, but I also want to thank him properly."
Shangguan Yunying was stunned.
Thank him? Thank Gu Chengyin?
She almost thought she had misheard.
But Luo Zhao's next words made her completely understand.
This Crown Princess was no longer the Highness who merely acted on her temper.
A gentle smile, almost pathological, appeared on Luo Zhao's face.
This smile was twisted yet beautiful, like a blooming poppy, bearing deadly temptation and danger:
"If it weren't for his personal instruction and cultivation, I would still be that foolish Highness! The most useless Crown Princess of Great Luo!"
Luo Zhao's voice gradually rose, her tone filled with self-deprecation:
"Naive, suspicious, obstinate, always thinking I could control everything, yet unable to withstand a single blow in front of a true master."
"If it weren't for him, how could I have understood so thoroughly!"
Luo Zhao smiled.
But the smile made Shangguan Yunying shudder:
"So, why should I kill him?"
"Since he said he wants to make me the sole sovereign of Great Luo, then I will watch with my own eyes."
"Watch how he lays out his plans, how he schemes, how step by step he clears all obstacles and suppresses all opposition."
"And then delivers all the power... right into my hands."
Shangguan Yunying stared blankly at Luo Zhao; she had never seen Her Highness like this.
Sickly flames burning in her eyes, an eerie smile hanging on her face, her tone full of a mad calmness.
This was far more terrifying than anger or hatred.
"Furthermore, Yunying, do you know?"
Luo Zhao's voice suddenly lowered, carrying the excitement of sharing a secret:
"I already know why Gu Chengyin absolutely had to hypnotize me."
In her eyes, the pathological flames grew fiercer:
"His cultivation is linked to his status and power."
"He controls me so that I will ascend to the throne, so that I will become the Empress."
"Only when I ascend the throne can he obtain that position below one person and above ten thousand, and only then can he break through to the Golden Core realm!"
Luo Zhao suddenly extended a finger, placing it vertically against her lips in a shushing gesture.
Then, she smiled.
"Then I will grant his wish."
"Wait until the day he reaches the summit."
Luo Zhao moved the finger at her lips forward, then stared at it, saying excitedly:
"All it will take is a single imperial edict."
"I will be able to erase everything he has."
"Erase all his official posts and status."
"Erase all his identity and power."
"By then, no matter how formidable he is, how clever, how calculating..."
"He will only be able to watch helplessly, watching everything he has turn into nothing."
"Because his cultivation is tied to his status and power."
"When all of that disappears, he will be nothing but an ordinary mortal."
"When that time comes..."
Luo Zhao grabbed Shangguan Yunying's hand tightly, a bone-chilling hatred surfacing on her face:
"He will belong to me forever!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
