Hearing these words, Lin Qingyan's eyes suddenly lit up.
A warm current surged in her heart; this was the warmth of being taken seriously.
She knew it!
She knew Gu Chengyin was the best!
He would never brush her off.
He would never deceive her.
He would never treat her words as nonsense.
He would listen earnestly, think earnestly, and respond earnestly.
Even if he wanted to leave, it was all for her own good! It was because he didn't want her to get hurt!
All the tangles, worries, and feelings of helplessness in Lin Qingyan's heart...
...seemed to find an outlet in this instant.
She leaned forward, almost pressing right up against Gu Chengyin, and looked into his eyes.
Gu Chengyin's gaze was equally gentle and affectionate.
He was now basically certain that Lin Qingyan was highly likely completely love-struck.
If he didn't want to repeat the fate of being knocked out by lightning, tied up, or even locked in a dark room...
...the only way was to placate her first, at least until he had the power to protect himself and could fight her to a draw.
Now there was truly a compelling reason to force Emperor Luo to abdicate.
At least in Gu Chengyin's eyes, as long as Emperor Luo was still breathing,
he would absolutely never let him advance any further.
It was even possible that he was already treating him as a whetstone for Luo Zhao.
If it weren't for Emperor Luo having Luo Zhao as a weakness...
...with the resources of the entire Great Luo, he would be terrifyingly invincible.
To make Gu Chengyin believe her, Lin Qingyan thought about it very seriously and carefully.
Weighing her words, she said cautiously:
Chengcheng, do you think there's such a possibility?
Zhao'er... actually wants to be like me.
Gu Chengyin paused slightly. Luo Zhao wanted to be like Lin Qingyan?
What did that mean? Was Lin Qingyan projecting herself onto Luo Zhao?
Lin Qingyan continued, speaking slowly, as if thinking while she spoke:
How should I put it... it's like crippling all your cultivation, erasing all your identities, and stripping away all your status.
Dragging you down from your place high up like the bright moon, banishing you into the mortal dust, and then intentionally stepping on you a few times.
Then appearing before you as a savior, telling you that in this world, I am the only one who loves you.
Then I could trick you into going to a place no one knows about, lock you up, and have you belong to me alone forever.
Gu Chengyin: ...
He rarely experienced a brain crash due to the sheer volume of information revealed in someone's words.
But at this moment, his brain really did crash a little.
Cripple all cultivation?
Erase all identities?
Drag down ruthlessly?
Only I love you?
A place no one knows about?
Belong to me alone forever?
This...
This is...
This is a crime, isn't it?!
Gu Chengyin's mouth twitched.
The look in his eyes as he stared at Lin Qingyan became increasingly incredulous.
Yet Lin Qingyan didn't notice anything wrong at all and continued talking to herself:
Chengcheng, think about it. Zhao'er is the Crown Princess, a proud daughter of heaven. She's had whatever she wanted since she was a child, but you...
At this point, Lin Qingyan bit her lower lip, and her tone couldn't help but turn sour:
You treat Zhao'er so well, assisting her and protecting her.
Not only did you help her gain a firm foothold, but you also shielded her from the wind and rain, even risking your life to help her expand her power.
But you have never truly belonged to her.
If it were me, I would definitely go crazy too.
As Lin Qingyan spoke, she suddenly felt like she had found the logic, and her eyes couldn't help but light up:
You see, if this edict was issued by Zhao'er,
don't you think it feels a lot like possession?
Making you lose everything, so that in the end, you can only rely on her.
Turning you from the high-and-mighty Junior Preceptor to the Crown Princess into an existence that can only depend on her.
So, this imperial edict is just the beginning.
Lin Qingyan paused, but with an indescribable certainty:
There will definitely be an endless stream of offensives waiting for you after this!
Until you are truly beaten down into the dust.
Gu Chengyin: ...
He looked at Lin Qingyan's face, which was slightly flushed from her deduction.
Suddenly, he didn't know what to say.
Now he truly didn't know what to say.
Although what Lin Qingyan said was well-founded, logical, and formed a closed loop,
Gu Chengyin didn't actually suspect Luo Zhao because of it.
He only had one thought in his mind right now.
Lin Qingyan seemed to be talking about Luo Zhao with every sentence, but in reality, every sentence was about herself.
Especially those sparkling eyes.
They were full of expectation, full of yearning, and even held a hint of eagerness to give it a try.
Was she deducing Luo Zhao's thoughts, or deducing her own future?
Gu Chengyin finally understood.
Lin Qingyan wasn't analyzing Luo Zhao; she was projecting herself.
The words she just said, rather than guessing Luo Zhao's thoughts, were more like...
...describing Lin Qingyan's own deepest desires.
She didn't really want to harm him; she wanted to possess him.
So she wanted to drag him, the high-and-mighty Junior Preceptor, down into the dust.
And then lock him up, so he could belong only to Lin Qingyan forever.
Gu Chengyin's Adam's apple bobbed. The more terrifying point was...
Lin Qingyan had said these things unconsciously.
This proved that these were her true thoughts, her deepest hidden intentions.
And even now, Lin Qingyan still hadn't realized what she had actually said.
She even looked at Gu Chengyin with full expectation, hoping to get his approval:
Chengcheng, what do you think? Isn't my deduction very logical?
Looking into Lin Qingyan's eyes, Gu Chengyin fell silent for a moment.
Finally, he spoke with some difficulty:
Little Aunt.
Hmm?
You...
Gu Chengyin took a deep breath, mentally prepared himself, carefully weighed his words, and asked:
I must admit, what you said makes a lot of sense. It's indeed not just empty talk, and the logic is very sound.
Hearing Gu Chengyin's affirmation, Lin Qingyan's eyes shone even brighter. Just as she was about to say something, she heard Gu Chengyin continue:
But, I want to ask you one more question.
Were the things you just said actually your own thoughts, or...
Lin Qingyan froze. What kind of question was that?
What she thought was naturally her own thoughts! Could it be...
Wait.
Lin Qingyan suddenly realized something was wrong.
What had she just been thinking about?
Erasing all of Gu Chengyin's cultivation.
Dragging him from the high moon down into the dust.
And then...
And then...
Lin Qingyan was stunned. She looked at Gu Chengyin and saw the complex gleam in his eyes.
She finally realized something; she finally realized what exactly she had just said.
Then, Lin Qingyan's face flushed bright red.
The redness spread all the way from her cheeks to the base of her ears, and from her ears down to the sides of her neck, burning so hot it felt like she was going to emit smoke.
Oh my god!
What on earth had she just said?!
Weren't these things she was only supposed to think about in her head?
How did she speak her innermost thoughts out loud!
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.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
