In the suffocating silence, Gu Chengyin slowly spoke:
"Then listen well, Yunying."
"I want you to return to Her Highness's side and continue being her chief lady-in-waiting."
"Handle official affairs as usual, protect Her Highness as usual, and do everything you are supposed to do as usual."
Shangguan Yunying froze.
This request... was too simple.
So simple that she even suspected she had misheard.
"As long as you obediently keep my secret, I won't do anything to Her Highness."
That was it?
A flash of disappointment crossed Shangguan Yunying's eyes; she had thought there would at least be something else.
A faint smile touched the corners of Gu Chengyin's lips as he continued,
"Of course, there is one more thing."
Shangguan Yunying's heart skipped a beat.
Here it comes.
"Tonight after dark, I will go see Her Highness."
"You must help me hide my tracks and ensure that there is no one else in her bedchamber besides you."
This was a practical request.
But Shangguan Yunying frowned:
"What do you want to do to Her Highness?"
Her tone carried instinctive vigilance and resistance.
Gu Chengyin shook his head:
"Just to see if her condition is stable. If any accidents were to happen to Her Highness, it wouldn't be good for either of us."
This explanation was very reasonable.
But Shangguan Yunying was still somewhat uneasy:
"Just to see?"
"Just to see."
Gu Chengyin nodded, then suddenly changed the subject, his tone becoming ambiguous:
"Besides, Yunying, compared to Her Highness..."
"I like you more."
Shangguan Yunying's heart leaped, her cheeks instantly flushing red.
Like?
He said... he liked her?
Compared to Her Highness, he liked her more?
This realization made her mind go blank for a moment, but immediately after, reason forcibly suppressed the throbbing in her chest.
This was a trap.
It had to be a trap.
Using sweet words to bewitch her, make her lower her guard, and make her willingly be used by him...
"Save your sweet talk!"
Although she was still in Gu Chengyin's arms, Shangguan Yunying abruptly looked up, trying hard to make her expression look angry and clear-headed:
"Gu Chengyin, I've seen right through you now! You are just a despicable, shame—"
She didn't finish her sentence.
Because Gu Chengyin didn't give her the chance to finish.
He interrupted Shangguan Yunying's words in an extremely domineering manner.
With a kiss.
It was a kiss without any warning.
Gu Chengyin's right hand suddenly clamped onto the back of Shangguan Yunying's neck. The force was not heavy, but it was enough to make it impossible for her to break free.
His left hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her entire body toward him.
Then, he lowered his head and accurately sealed the lips that were still scolding him.
"Mmph!"
Shangguan Yunying's pupils suddenly contracted.
She instinctively wanted to resist, pressing her hands against Gu Chengyin's chest, pushing hard to get away.
But Gu Chengyin's movements were faster than hers.
In the instant her true qi was about to erupt, his left hand gently pressed an acupoint on her lower back.
It wasn't a heavy blow or a sealing of the acupoint, just a perfectly timed stimulation of true qi.
"Ngh!"
Shangguan Yunying let out a muffled groan, the true qi she had just gathered instantly dissipating.
It wasn't forcibly scattered, but rather its circulation path was interfered with in a much more subtle way, rendering her unable to mobilize her true qi for a moment.
Thus, her resistance gradually turned from fierce to weak.
It wasn't that she couldn't resist; if she really fought for her life, she could absolutely bite down or break free using a more violent method.
But Shangguan Yunying didn't.
Because her body was more honest than her reason.
When Gu Chengyin's scent completely enveloped her, when his body heat transmitted through their clothes, when his kiss shifted from forceful to tender...
Shangguan Yunying found that she was actually responding.
This realization made her want to die of shame.
But her body betrayed her will.
Her hands went from pressing against his chest to gradually gripping his lapels tightly.
Her body went from stiff and resistant to gradually becoming soft and submissive.
Her breathing gradually merged into his rhythm, changing from rapid and chaotic.
A long while passed.
It wasn't until Shangguan Yunying was almost suffocating that Gu Chengyin slowly let her go.
"I am just a what?"
Gu Chengyin's voice was a bit husky, carrying a satisfied smile and a trace of malicious teasing.
He was asking about the sentence she had been interrupted from finishing earlier.
Shangguan Yunying's face was flushed red, like a ripe peach.
She wanted to push him away, to scold him, to regain her previous anger and clarity.
But her body's reaction was too honest. She could even only lean in Gu Chengyin's embrace to maintain her balance.
In the end, Shangguan Yunying gave up resisting and pounded his chest with her fists.
Her voice, filled with annoyance, shame, and coquettish anger, rang out:
"You are just a bastard who only knows how to bully me!"
Gu Chengyin laughed.
"Then what should we do?"
He lowered his head and whispered in Shangguan Yunying's ear:
"Who told Her Highness to be in my hands right now? If you don't obediently listen to me, I will have to make Her Highness..."
He didn't finish his sentence.
Because Shangguan Yunying suddenly looked up and interrupted him with a pleading tone:
"I know! I will listen to you obediently! As long as Her Highness is safe, I will do whatever you ask!"
Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow.
He leaned in closer, asking with dangerous temptation:
"Do whatever I ask?"
He had asked this question just now.
But asking it again at this moment held a completely different meaning.
Earlier, it was testing boundaries; now, it was confirming a promise.
Shangguan Yunying's face turned even redder.
She didn't dare to meet Gu Chengyin's eyes. Her gaze drifted to the adjacent wall, looking at the mottled brick patterns and the withered yellow vines.
"Mm."
A simple nasal sound.
But in this context, this "Mm" meant too much.
It meant she had completely given up resisting.
Gu Chengyin looked at Shangguan Yunying.
Looking at her flushed cheeks, her trembling eyelashes, and her tightly pursed lips.
Then, he suddenly straightened up, releasing his hands and pulling away slightly to create some distance.
"Rest assured, Yunying."
"I promise Her Highness will be fine. After all, you've experienced it."
Shangguan Yunying heard the subtext in his words, but a trace of disappointment inexplicably rose in her heart.
Because Gu Chengyin didn't continue.
He didn't continue that kiss, didn't maintain that ambiguous distance, and didn't push the temptation of doing whatever he asked.
He just stopped like that, as if he had completed a transaction or confirmed a clause, and then drew the line.
"Hmph."
Shangguan Yunying turned her face away, trying hard to make her voice sound cold:
"If I hadn't experienced it and known what it feels like to be controlled, I would have risked my life to kill you."
These words were harsh, but her tone held no real killing intent.
It sounded more like she was acting out of pique.
Gu Chengyin leaned in again.
This time, he didn't kiss her. He just looked at her from up close, wearing that rogue smile that made her both hate him and feel a flutter in her heart:
"Then... Master Yunying~ can you forgive me now?"
This form of address was very intimate, and also very presumptuous.
But Shangguan Yunying found that she didn't dislike it.
She turned her face away, raised her hand, and wiped her lips hard with the back of her hand, as if wiping away something unclean, though it seemed a bit like trying to cover up her true feelings.
Then, she walked to the corner and picked up her sword from the ground.
The blade was still cold, but held in her hand, it no longer possessed the killing intent from earlier.
Afterward, without even looking at Gu Chengyin, she turned and walked out of the alley.
Her steps were fast and her back was stiff, as if she were fleeing from something.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
