His Cat

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.