Divine Capital, the sleeping quarters of the Crown Princess's Palace.
The moonlight was like frost, condensing on the carved window frames and paving a stretch of silvery-white silence.
The night was extremely deep, leaving only the moonlight to flow slowly across the floor like a silent river.
But Luo Zhao was not asleep.
She sat on the soft couch by the window, resting her chin in one hand, gazing at the moon outside.
Her heart felt empty.
News of Gu Chengyin had been cut off for two hours.
The last piece of intelligence had come at the hour of You: Luodu's Fanlou has been cleared out, Lin Qingyan has moved in, and Gu Chengyin is accompanying her.
After that, there was nothing.
Luo Zhao gazed at the moon outside, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.
She was deducing.
Deducing everything that could possibly happen in Luodu.
The worst, the best, and everything in between.
Luo Zhao ran through the deductions many times.
They ultimately pointed in one direction: something major was going to happen in Luodu tonight.
But Luo Zhao could not deduce exactly what it would be.
If Gu Chengyin were here, he would definitely be able to figure it out.
Because that damn man was just that smart, so smart that she hated him to the bone.
Right at this moment, the door was pushed open.
Luo Zhao turned her head sharply.
Shangguan Yunying stood at the door, a never-before-seen anxiety on her face.
Her hair bun was slightly messy, and stray hairs stuck to her cheeks, blown by the night wind.
But the moment she saw Luo Zhao, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Your Highness!
She rushed in, taking three steps in two, practically throwing herself in front of Luo Zhao.
Luo Zhao grabbed hold of Shangguan Yunying to steady her.
Catch your breath first, speak slowly.
Shangguan Yunying took a deep breath, speaking at a rapid pace.
Just now, Gu Chengyin sent me a message using the Luoshan Token.
He told me to inform Emperor Luo about the fact that you are being controlled by him.
Luo Zhao froze, but deep within her pupils, something wavered violently.
What happened?
Her voice was still steady, but she spoke a bit faster.
Where is Gu Chengyin now?
Shangguan Yunying did not pause, as if she had anticipated this question.
Luodu's Fanlou.
I have already asked.
Gu Chengyin was assassinated by a large group of men in black.
Luo Zhao's breath hitched for a beat.
But he is fine.
Luo Zhao's hitched breath eased.
Lord Jingzhe forced back three Golden Core cultivators.
Luo Zhao's pupils contracted.
Three Golden Cores?
Forced back?
Fighting three against one?
Now Gu Chengyin is on his way to the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu.
At this point, Shangguan Yunying's speaking pace slowed slightly.
It seems he is escorting Lord Jingzhe there to rest and recuperate.
After hearing this, Luo Zhao closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, the fluctuations in her eyes had settled.
Then she stood up and began to change her clothes.
First untying her nightgown, then putting on her inner garments, fastening her belt, and draping on her outer robe.
Every movement was clean and crisp, without a trace of excess.
Shangguan Yunying immediately stepped forward to help.
As she adjusted Luo Zhao's collar, she asked:
Your Highness, what should we do now?
Luo Zhao let Shangguan Yunying tidy her clothes, lowering her eyes in deep thought.
In other words, Gu Chengyin sent you this message while on his way to the Tianshi Mansion.
Shangguan Yunying nodded and said:
I asked why, but he didn't say.
Luo Zhao raised her eyes, which shone with the wisdom of realization.
There is only one reason.
Shangguan Yunying's hands paused slightly.
What reason?
Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying, a complex light flickering in her eyes.
The Tianshi Mansion in Luodu received orders from my royal father.
Shangguan Yunying's pupils shrank abruptly.
She opened her mouth, her voice a bit hoarse.
Your Highness means... the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu...
She didn't finish, because she didn't need to.
Luo Zhao nodded, saying coldly:
That is why Gu Chengyin had you deliver the message.
He wants to force my royal father to retract the order.
Shangguan Yunying remained silent for a breath, then she raised her head, her eyes full of confusion.
But...
Since Gu Chengyin knows the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu wants to kill him.
Then why is he still going?
Luo Zhao looked out the window at the full moon. The moonlight fell on her face, plating her silhouette in cold silver.
A figure suddenly flashed through her mind.
Lin Qingyan.
Because the Tianshi Mansion has the best spiritual energy arrays.
It can accelerate my aunt's recovery.
Shangguan Yunying was stunned. Lord Jingzhe?
Luo Zhao nodded. Although my aunt successfully forced back three Golden Core cultivators...
...she has definitely overdrawn her spiritual energy.
That is why they rushed to the Tianshi Mansion at the first opportunity.
After hearing this, Shangguan Yunying fell silent for a moment.
Then she asked the most crucial question.
What about Gu Chengyin?
Luo Zhao did not speak.
Shangguan Yunying continued:
If Lord Jingzhe went to the Tianshi Mansion to rest and recuperate within the spiritual energy array.
Doesn't that leave Gu Chengyin all alone?
This is equivalent to offering himself up to the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu.
Shangguan Yunying's eyes were full of bewilderment.
Why?
Luo Zhao lowered her eyelashes; she couldn't understand it either.
With Gu Chengyin's intelligence, it was impossible for him not to know that it was a dragon's pool and a tiger's den.
It was even more impossible for him not to know that the best solution was not to go.
It would be to expose himself in broad daylight, letting the entire Luodu see that he was alive.
That way, even if the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu had received Emperor Luo's orders, it would be difficult for them to make a move under the watchful eyes of the public.
Yet Gu Chengyin went anyway.
Why?
Luo Zhao began to pace around the sleeping quarters.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
The moonlight spilled in from the window, paving a silvery-white path beneath her feet.
Her brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
Shangguan Yunying stood in place, watching her pace in the moonlight, not daring to make a sound to disturb her.
Four steps.
Five steps.
Six steps.
Luo Zhao suddenly stopped. She turned her head and looked at Shangguan Yunying.
Her eyes were now filled with a strange look.
He couldn't possibly...
...be doing it just to accompany my aunt, right?
Shangguan Yunying was stunned.
She opened her mouth to say something, only to find that she couldn't utter a single word.
This reason was too absurd.
So absurd that it didn't seem like something Gu Chengyin would do.
How could he possibly, just to accompany someone...
...send himself right into a dragon's pool and a tiger's den?
Luo Zhao shook her head. No.
She rejected her own thought in a low voice:
He must have another reason.
Shangguan Yunying looked at her, eyes full of worry.
Your Highness...
Luo Zhao raised her hand, interrupting her.
She closed her eyes and began to deduce in her mind.
The Tianshi Mansion in Luodu had received her royal father's orders; this was the premise.
Gu Chengyin knew about this, which was why he had Shangguan Yunying deliver the message to force her royal father to retract the order.
But he still went to the Tianshi Mansion in Luodu. Why?
Because Lin Qingyan needed to recover.
Because the Tianshi Mansion's spiritual energy array was the best.
Because if they didn't go, Lin Qingyan's recovery time would be prolonged.
All of this was true.
But there was still one more question.
Did Gu Chengyin go to the Tianshi Mansion simply to accompany Lin Qingyan...
Or...
...did he have another motive?
Wait.
Luo Zhao suddenly realized that she was too fixated on why Gu Chengyin went.
What if his goal was not about what happens before going to the Tianshi Mansion...
...but what happens after?
Gu Chengyin was using her to threaten her royal father. But what happens after the threat?
What will happen?
What will her royal father do?
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
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.
+ Slow Paced + Main Character Thrives Together with His Disciples】 Transmigrated into a cultivation world, Chu Xingchen awakens a discipleship system that reveals the tags of his disciples! Starting from scratch, he builds the strongest sect. Disciple One: Li Yingling 【Gold Tag: Genius Cultivator】【Purple Tag: Extremely Lucky】【Blue Tag: Bewitchingly Beautiful】 Disciple Two: Li Hangtian 【Gold Tag: Reincarnated】【Purple Tag: Ruthless and Decisive】【Blue Tag: Loyal and Noble】 Disciple Three: ??? 【Orange Tag: Alluring Demoness】【???】【???】 Thus, in the cultivation world, an unremarkable little sect appears out of nowhere, but little do others know that each member of this sect is a powerhouse in their own right. The book is also known as: Cultivation? It's Exactly Like This!
