She raised her head, glanced at Gu Chengyin, and then quickly lowered it again.
Her gaze darted around the carriage, drifting to Lin Qingyan, then back, and then over to Lin Qingyan once more.
Finally, Shangguan Yunying muttered softly,
"With Lady Jingzhe here, how could you possibly do anything to harm Her Highness?"
Her voice was so light it sounded like she was talking to herself, but Gu Chengyin heard it loud and clear.
Shangguan Yunying paused, then muttered again, "If you really did mean any harm, that would be Lady Jingzhe's problem anyway."
"I am just a lowly Chief Court Lady. What could I possibly do?"
Hearing this, Lin Qingyan, who had been helping out, froze.
She could not help but shoot Shangguan Yunying a strange look.
Was she trying to shift the blame onto her?
If Gu Chengyin really did something detrimental to Luo Zhao, it would somehow be the fault of her, the aunt?
Although the logic made some sense—after all, she was Luo Zhao's aunt.
If Gu Chengyin actually did anything to Luo Zhao, she truly could not absolve herself of the blame.
But she could not just shove all the responsibility onto her, could she?
Lin Qingyan originally wanted to retort, but unfortunately, she was currently in no position to speak.
Watching this scene unfold, Gu Chengyin could not help but chuckle dumbly.
He had not expected Shangguan Yunying to actually start shirking responsibility.
But thinking about it carefully, it was not that surprising.
After all, a wise person submits to circumstances.
If something really were to happen, facing the combination of Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan...
What could a mere Chief Court Lady do?
Resist? She lacked the strength.
Stop them? She could not stop them.
So she might as well just lie back and enjoy it.
Gu Chengyin could not help but tease,
"I did not expect you to be so practical, Yunying."
Shangguan Yunying looked up and rolled her eyes at him.
That glance carried a bit of resentment, a bit of grievance, and a trace of some indescribable emotion.
"With Lady Jingzhe here, even if you did plot against Her Highness, it would be your family matter."
"How would a lowly court lady like me dare to interject?"
At this point, Shangguan Yunying paused, her voice dropping even lower:
"You will not even let me speak, so what else can I do?"
Hearing this, the smile in Gu Chengyin's eyes deepened.
The grievance and resentment in those words were so thick they could not be dissolved.
She was clearly accusing him of what he had just done, clearly stating how miserably he had bullied her.
But this was as far as Shangguan Yunying dared to take her complaints.
Looking at Shangguan Yunying's current state, Gu Chengyin suddenly felt a surge of tender affection.
He reached out and pulled the Chief Court Lady into his embrace.
Shangguan Yunying's body stiffened for a moment, but quickly softened.
Leaning against Gu Chengyin's chest, breathing in his scent, she suddenly felt her nose tingle with the urge to cry.
The experience just now had been truly terrifying, and it had happened right in front of Lin Qingyan.
She had never suffered such a grievance in her entire life.
But...
But being held in Gu Chengyin's arms, Shangguan Yunying felt as if she was not so aggrieved after all.
How strange.
Gu Chengyin held her, his hand gently stroking her back as if comforting a frightened kitten.
His voice was very gentle as he comforted her:
"Yunying, you cannot say that."
"Do not forget, I am now the Sect Master of the Azure Sword Sect, and the Vice Sect Master is your grandfather."
Hearing this, Shangguan Yunying's eyes instantly lit up.
That is right!
How could she have forgotten about that!
Although she was Luo Zhao's Chief Court Lady, that was not her only connection to Gu Chengyin.
Her grandfather was Jiang Qingshan, the person who actually managed the Azure Sword Sect.
Although Shangguan Yunying did not know why Gu Chengyin had become the Sect Master of the Azure Sword Sect.
But based on her understanding of Gu Chengyin, this identity must be extremely important to him.
In other words, she, Shangguan Yunying, was naturally also very important to Gu Chengyin!
In terms of status, she was actually on the same level as Lin Qingyan, or even Luo Zhao!
Shangguan Yunying's eyes grew brighter and brighter, like two dazzling stars.
The grievance and resentment from earlier were swept away, replaced by brimming excitement.
Shangguan Yunying originally thought her advantage was very small. After all, Lin Qingyan was Luo Zhao's aunt and the Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Mansion.
While she was just a lowly Chief Court Lady.
But looking at it now, her advantage was not small at all; it was incredibly huge!
So huge that Shangguan Yunying was so happy she felt like she could fly.
She no longer cared about what Lin Qingyan was doing right now. She immediately threw herself into Gu Chengyin's embrace and rubbed affectionately against him.
After snuggling against him for quite a while, she finally raised her head, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Gu Chengyin:
"Master~"
Her voice was soft and delicate, so sweet it could drip water.
Shangguan Yunying blinked her eyes, smiling like a little fox that had just stolen a treat:
"Can I join Lady Jingzhe, please?"
Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow slightly.
Join her?
What did that mean?
His gaze fell upon Shangguan Yunying's smiling face, and he suddenly understood the implication.
Join her.
It meant exactly that.
Together with Lin Qingyan.
Gu Chengyin's gaze involuntarily drifted toward Lin Qingyan.
Lin Qingyan still had her head lowered, but her thoroughly flushed ears and slightly trembling shoulders indicated that she had heard everything.
Yet she had no reaction, she neither refused nor agreed.
She just kept her head down and continued earnestly doing her own thing.
Gu Chengyin withdrew his gaze and looked back at the beaming Shangguan Yunying.
Her sparkling eyes were filled with anticipation and slyness; she was clearly waiting for his answer.
Gu Chengyin remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking:
"Yunying."
"Hmm?"
Shangguan Yunying blinked her eyes.
Gu Chengyin's gaze was profound: "Do you know what you are saying?"
Shangguan Yunying tilted her head, smiling with innocent purity: "I know~"
Gu Chengyin's eyebrow twitched.
He knew Shangguan Yunying was not truly innocent.
This Chief Court Lady was incredibly shrewd, shrewder than anyone else.
She was testing his bottom line, testing his attitude toward Lin Qingyan, and testing her own weight in his heart.
If he agreed, Shangguan Yunying would gain massively.
Not only would her status be affirmed, but she would also be on equal footing with Lin Qingyan, perhaps even more.
If Gu Chengyin refused, Shangguan Yunying would lose nothing.
She had already made her stance clear and let him know what she wanted anyway.
No matter how you looked at it, she would not lose out.
Looking at Shangguan Yunying's smiling face, Gu Chengyin suddenly felt an itch in his teeth.
This little vixen disguised in the skin of a court lady.
Just a moment ago she had been taught such a lesson that she could not even speak, and now that she had recovered, she was stirring up trouble again.
Gu Chengyin thought that he ought to refuse.
But the dam of reason had already been washed away by the instincts of desire.
Therefore, the words of refusal simply could not leave his mouth.
Besides...
Gu Chengyin's gaze drifted back to Lin Qingyan, and after confirming that this fairy-like woman showed no signs of resistance,
He finally withdrew his gaze and looked back at Shangguan Yunying.
Meeting his eyes, Shangguan Yunying blinked and smiled even sweeter:
"Master~ Please?~"
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.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
