Gu Chengyin was awakened by a wave of weakness.
The feeling was bizarre—not the emptiness of overdrawn spiritual energy, nor the aching soreness of extreme exhaustion.
It was a powerlessness seeping outward from his very bones, as if something had been sucked out of him.
He opened his eyes, met with a hazy light.
Then, Gu Chengyin realized his head was resting on Lin Qingyan's lap.
He blinked, memories from before he fell unconscious flashing through his mind.
Lin Qingyan had said she was going to shock him unconscious, and then his vision went black.
And then, it was now.
Gu Chengyin sat up. His movements were a bit sluggish, the sense of weakness still lingering.
He rubbed the space between his eyebrows and looked at Lin Qingyan.
She wasn't crying.
Nor was she trembling.
She just sat there, her gaze slightly lowered and her brows gently furrowed, as if pondering an incredibly difficult puzzle.
Gu Chengyin's heart settled halfway.
He was genuinely afraid that Lin Qingyan's Dao heart might have shattered from taking that glimpse.
After all, merely touching the edges of the memory had reduced her to tears.
Fortunately.
Fortunately, she was fine.
Suppressing the feeling of weakness, Gu Chengyin asked,
"Aunt?"
Lin Qingyan's gaze slowly focused, landing on him.
"Did you see it?"
Lin Qingyan nodded gently.
"Yes, I saw it."
Her voice was calm, but her next sentence caused Gu Chengyin's expression to shift.
"You might not believe it if I say it."
"I think I know who Gu Xiaoli is."
Gu Chengyin's gaze sharpened.
Gu Xiaoli?
Lin Qingyan saw Gu Xiaoli?
No.
More accurately, Lin Qingyan saw Gu Xiaoli in her memory?
His mind raced.
If Gu Xiaoli really grew up by Empress Lin's side.
Then how could Lin Qingyan, as Empress Lin's younger sister, not recognize her?
Yet now, Lin Qingyan was saying she saw Gu Xiaoli.
This meant the part of her memory concerning Gu Xiaoli had also been sealed.
Sealed deep within her inner demons.
Gu Chengyin immediately asked,
"Aunt, you saw Gu Xiaoli?"
Lin Qingyan nodded gently, but then shook her head.
"I'm not sure."
Her brows furrowed a bit deeper.
"But... it should be her..."
She didn't continue, her gaze becoming distant again, as if she were comparing something.
Comparing her existing memories with the glimpse of the scene she had just seen.
Gu Chengyin didn't press her. He knew Lin Qingyan needed time right now.
To compare and confirm those memory fragments, sealed away for years, against her current understanding one by one.
This was not something that could be done in an instant.
Furthermore...
Gu Chengyin also genuinely needed a moment to recover.
That sense of weakness was still there, washing over him in waves like the tide.
God knows how much of her inner demon Lin Qingyan had to weaken just to get that glimpse.
After a while, Gu Chengyin felt a slight ache in his lower back.
He subconsciously reached back and gently massaged his lower back.
He had barely rubbed it twice before he heard Lin Qingyan's voice.
"I... I'm sorry."
Gu Chengyin turned to look, seeing Lin Qingyan staring at him, her face slightly flushed.
He paused for a moment before realizing what had happened, a rare hint of embarrassment appearing on his face.
"I'm fine. Are you alright now, Aunt?"
Lin Qingyan nodded, trying hard to pull her thoughts back as her gaze turned serious.
"If I'm not mistaken."
"Gu Xiaoli, she is a civet cat."
Gu Chengyin blinked.
And blinked again.
He understood every single word, but put together, they made no sense to him.
A civet cat?
Gu Xiaoli is a civet cat?
She isn't human?
Seeing Gu Chengyin's shocked expression, Lin Qingyan explained:
"In ancient times, there were actually many demon clans."
"It's just that later they disappeared along with the immortal race."
"The reason I couldn't find her in my memories is because I only ever saw her in her cat form."
"A civet cat, nestled in my sister's arms, or curled up in the corner of the couch."
"But just now, in that glimpse..."
Lin Qingyan's tone became complicated:
"I saw her human form, which is why I recognized her."
Gu Chengyin listened blankly, Gu Xiaoli's appearance involuntarily surfacing in his mind.
That perpetually world-weary face, those calm, large eyes, that demeanor of having no interest in anything.
So that was it.
She was a cat.
Gu Chengyin digested this information.
Then a new question emerged.
"Aunt."
Gu Chengyin's voice was very solemn.
"What realm is required for the demon race to take human form?"
Lin Qingyan's expression also grew solemn.
She didn't answer immediately, falling silent for a moment as if weighing her words.
Only after a long while did she speak:
"For the demon race to take human form, they must at least be at the Golden Core realm."
"But even if they transform, they will still retain demon characteristics on their bodies."
"Perhaps ears, perhaps a tail, perhaps the shape of their pupils—there will always be some traits."
"But Gu Xiaoli... I have seen her."
"There isn't the slightest trace of the demon race on her."
Gu Chengyin's heart suddenly sank.
"To achieve that step..."
Lin Qingyan's voice grew even more solemn.
"One must at least be at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core realm."
"Only a Half-Step Nascent Soul can do it."
The inside of the tower fell silent.
So quiet it was as if time had frozen.
The flame of the eternal lamp flickered, causing their shadows to tremble.
Gu Chengyin widened his eyes.
Half-Step Nascent Soul?
That seemingly harmless, perpetually world-weary-faced, cynical loli who called him brother...
Was a Half-Step Nascent Soul?
Scenes flashed rapidly through Gu Chengyin's mind:
Gu Xiaoli's first appearance by Lyu Fang's side, said to have been picked up from a civet cat's nest.
She had sworn a deadly oath that she wouldn't tell anyone about his affairs.
She warmed his bed, and he changed her status from a personal maid to a younger sister.
Because he had sensed something was off.
But it was merely a sensation.
Yet Gu Chengyin had never imagined.
That the root of the abnormality would be a Half-Step Nascent Soul.
This was too insidious, wasn't it?!
Gu Chengyin's mouth twitched. In his mind, Gu Xiaoli's world-weary face appeared, paired with the words Half-Step Nascent Soul.
The contrast left him absolutely speechless.
But immediately after, Gu Chengyin's eyes lit up.
Lit up as if he had seen some peerless treasure.
Undeniably, Gu Xiaoli was dangerous, extremely dangerous.
Even her previous behavior and the things she had said might be fake.
But she was a Half-Step Nascent Soul.
And a Half-Step Nascent Soul who had sworn a deadly oath twice.
Based on this alone, he had no reason to let her go.
When the profit reached three hundred percent, Gu Chengyin would even dare to step on Emperor Luo's head.
A Half-Step Nascent Soul was far more than three hundred percent.
"Aunt, are you sure?"
"Half-Step Nascent Soul?"
Lin Qingyan looked at him, feeling somewhat helpless and a bit amused.
She knew what Gu Chengyin was thinking; this man was just like this.
As long as he saw immense profit, his first reaction wasn't fear, but rather how to secure it.
But Lin Qingyan didn't dislike it; on the contrary, she kind of liked it.
"I am sure. Although the demon race's path to immortality hasn't been severed."
"For a demon to take human form without leaving a single trace, the absolute minimum is Half-Step Nascent Soul."
"This is an ironclad rule passed down from ancient times, it cannot be wrong."
Gu Chengyin nodded, the light in his eyes shining even brighter.
He was already calculating in his mind.
Once they went back, once they returned to the Divine Capital.
He absolutely had to turn Gu Xiaoli into his cat.
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.
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!
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
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?!”
