From a logical perspective, whether it was Emperor Luo or Cui Shifan, the probability was higher than it being Luo Zhao.
However, because of the actual contents of the imperial edict, Gu Chengyin did not completely rule out Luo Zhao, but rather temporarily placed her in third place.
Unless there was evidence to prove that this edict was neither brokered by Cui Shifan nor issued by Emperor Luo, then Luo Zhao would be the only remaining possibility.
But he certainly couldn't share this deduction with Lin Qingyan.
She still didn't know that he had Luo Zhao under his control.
Gu Chengyin analyzed in an unhurried voice:
"No matter what, I am still the Junior Preceptor to the Crown Princess."
"If Her Highness had issued this edict, it would be damaging her own prestige and slapping her own face."
"There is absolutely no need for that."
The logic was sound.
Listening to him, Lin Qingyan nodded as well.
Logically speaking, Luo Zhao was indeed the most unlikely candidate.
She was the Crown Princess.
The future Empress.
Someone who needed to establish her authority in the royal court.
What benefit would she gain from issuing such an edict, forcing Gu Chengyin to return to the capital as a state criminal?
None.
Absolutely none.
Yet, deep down, Lin Qingyan still had a strong premonition.
That edict was issued by Luo Zhao.
As for the reason.
She didn't know.
Because it was purely her intuition.
It lacked any logical support, let alone any reason.
But Lin Qingyan just felt that only Luo Zhao would issue such an edict.
Even if this edict would damage her face as the Crown Princess.
Luo Zhao still issued it.
Such a contradictory logical conflict made Lin Qingyan involuntarily furrow her brows.
She recalled the Luo Zhao she had seen before departing on her sect inspection.
This Crown Princess who was as docile as a kitten by Gu Chengyin's side.
This Highness who was cold, arrogant, isolated, and kept everyone at arm's length on the outside.
Yet, this niece whose eyes always seemed to flicker with something whenever she looked at Gu Chengyin.
A thought suddenly flashed through Lin Qingyan's mind.
What if Luo Zhao was faking it?
What if she was deliberately pretending to be docile, deliberately pretending to be obedient?
Lin Qingyan's pupils suddenly shrank.
She remembered how she had first noticed Gu Chengyin.
It was because of Luo Zhao.
It was because, in Luoshui Commandery, she had seen a completely different Luo Zhao when she was beside Gu Chengyin.
That look in her eyes, that posture, that expression...
were exactly the same as how she behaved around Gu Chengyin now.
If Luo Zhao liked Gu Chengyin, then the docility she showed around him would be genuine.
But what if... Luo Zhao was faking it?
What if all that docility, that obedience, those flickering looks she gave Gu Chengyin, were all an act?
Then what did she want?
What did she want to get from Gu Chengyin?
Or rather, what did she want to do to him?
Lin Qingyan's brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
She thought of Luo Zhao's identity and status.
Would someone of such standing truly submit to a person without reservation?
Would a Crown Princess really fall in love with someone?
Would she?
Lin Qingyan wasn't sure.
She only knew that she herself was someone who wore masks in front of others.
Cold and aloof, keeping people at a distance—those were her masks.
Only in front of Gu Chengyin could she take off these masks and reveal her truest self.
What about Luo Zhao?
Was Luo Zhao's docility in front of Gu Chengyin the result of taking off her mask.
Or was she wearing another one?
Take, for example, this imperial edict that ordered her, Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Mansion, to personally arrest Gu Chengyin and bring him back to the capital.
If this edict really was issued by Luo Zhao.
Then what exactly was Luo Zhao's goal?
To have her personally arrest Gu Chengyin?
To make Gu Chengyin return to the capital as a state criminal?
To sweep away the prestige of the entire Crown Princess faction?
To...
Lin Qingyan's pupils slightly shrank.
To make the whole court and country believe that Gu Chengyin had fallen from power?
To make Gu Chengyin lose all his backing?
To make Gu Chengyin fall out of favor?
To make Gu Chengyin...
rely solely on her, Luo Zhao?
As soon as this thought surfaced, Lin Qingyan's heart skipped a beat.
But if this were really the case, if Luo Zhao was truly targeting Gu Chengyin.
What should she do?
Luo Zhao was her niece.
The biological daughter of her older sister, the Empress.
The Crown Princess.
The future Empress.
And Gu Chengyin was her...
Her what?
Lin Qingyan bit her lower lip.
Gu Chengyin was her Chengcheng.
The person she liked.
The person she wanted.
The person she wanted to protect.
If Luo Zhao really wanted to target Gu Chengyin...
To use an imperial edict to erase Gu Chengyin's status and power.
What should she do?
Who should she help?
How should she choose?
Lin Qingyan's mind was a tangled mess.
She excelled at fighting, not at these trivial matters.
Especially the kind that required weighing options, calculating, and making choices in complex relationships.
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and the more confused she became, the less she knew what to do.
Finally, after thinking it over, she decided to just ask Gu Chengyin.
After all, Gu Chengyin's brain was far more useful.
No matter how complex the situation, he could always find the essence through logical deduction.
Lin Qingyan opened her eyes and looked up.
Gu Chengyin was gazing out the window, the moonlight casting faint shadows on his face, highlighting his sharp features and calm expression.
He seemed to be deep in thought.
After watching him for a while, Lin Qingyan spoke softly:
"Chengcheng."
Gu Chengyin snapped back to reality and looked at Lin Qingyan.
"Hmm?"
Meeting Gu Chengyin's gaze, Lin Qingyan asked cautiously,
"How is your relationship with Zhao'er?"
Hearing this question, a hint of confusion flashed in Gu Chengyin's eyes.
Hadn't Lin Qingyan asked this question before?
His answer back then had been very straightforward: he respected Her Highness, and that was it.
Or did Lin Qingyan mean to ask about Luo Zhao's opinion of him?
Well, she would definitely have to ask Luo Zhao to know that.
Lin Qingyan seemed to see through Gu Chengyin's confusion and added,
"What I mean is..."
She paused, carefully weighing her words.
"Is there some kind of misunderstanding between you two?"
Misunderstanding?
The confusion in Gu Chengyin's eyes deepened.
What misunderstanding could there possibly be between him and Luo Zhao?
On the surface, they were the Crown Princess and the Junior Preceptor to the Crown Princess.
One was responsible for teaching and training, and the other for receiving the teaching and training.
In secret, one was a hypnotist, and the other the hypnotized.
Still, one was responsible for teaching and training, and the other for receiving it.
What a simple and pure relationship.
How could there be any misunderstanding?
Gu Chengyin looked closely at Lin Qingyan and noticed the earnest expression in her eyes.
He suddenly realized that Lin Qingyan wasn't just asking casually.
She had genuinely sensed something, just as she had sensed his true intentions.
After all, Lin Qingyan could sense the electricity in people.
Even without any logic or reason, she could skip the deduction process entirely and arrive straight at the correct answer.
Therefore, Lin Qingyan must have noticed something.
And from that final answer, she was working backward, trying to construct the entire logical chain.
Gu Chengyin thought for a moment before asking straightforwardly,
"Auntie, if you have something to say, just say it directly."
"I trust your intuition."
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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.
