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!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
