They kissed for who knows how long.
Maybe one incense stick’s time, maybe two. Shangguan Yunying herself couldn’t say.
All she knew was that when she finally managed to snap out of her dizzy haze a little,
the sky seemed just a shade darker than before.
That realization also made her aware that she’d been gone far too long.
Reluctantly, she pulled back from Gu Chengyin’s embrace, her cheeks still flushed with lingering heat.
Her eyes were moist and bright, like apricots fresh-washed by rain.
As she refastened her robe—somehow unbuttoned at some point—she murmured,
“I’ve been out too long.”
Her voice carried a note of reluctance and faint helplessness. “I really need to get back.”
Gu Chengyin looked at her as she was, then reached out to straighten her slightly rumpled collar.
Casually, he asked, “How is His Highness doing?”
Shangguan Yunying blinked, knowing he was asking about Luo Zhao’s hypnotic state.
“Nothing unusual,” she answered softly.
“Except for that time you were attacked in Luodu—His Highness seemed to have a conflict with His Majesty.”
“But I don’t know what happened inside the warm chamber.”
Gu Chengyin nodded. The answer didn’t surprise him.
Luo Zhao forcing the Luo Emperor to abdicate was, after all, a family scandal—bound to stay hidden.
As for other times, Luo Zhao acted almost exactly like his usual self, so Shangguan Yunying only needed to interact normally.
That clearly proved Luo Zhao was still under hypnosis.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t carry out the system’s commands so thoroughly.
If it had been the real Luo Zhao forcing the abdication, the result certainly wouldn’t have been as smooth.
He definitely wouldn’t have made the Luo Emperor withdraw his decree so cleanly.
Gu Chengyin silently downgraded the threat Luo Zhao posed.
At the end of the day, comparing him to a dog would almost be an insult to dogs.
“Mm, I understand.”
“Once I finish handling things, I’ll come find you.”
Hearing that promise, Shangguan Yunying’s eyes lit up instantly.
That light came so fast, so bright, it nearly lit up her whole being.
She looked up at Gu Chengyin, her gaze brimming with anticipation and joy, and said in a sweet voice,
“Pinky promise!”
She even held out her pinky. Gu Chengyin, seeing her delighted expression, couldn’t help but smile too.
He extended his own pinky and hooked it with hers. Shangguan Yunying’s smile grew even wider.
Gu Chengyin reached up and ruffled her hair again, and then the two of them walked side by side toward the exit.
Once outside, they stood in the open space before the Ten Thousand Phenomena Tower.
The Golden Guard stood at attention, eyes straight ahead, as if they had seen nothing.
Shangguan Yunying turned back to look at Gu Chengyin, her eyes filled with reluctance and a struggle to hurry herself away.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, no words came.
Finally, she waved her hand, turned, and quickened her steps toward the Crown Prince’s Palace.
After a few steps, she looked back again. Seeing Gu Chengyin still standing there watching her,
she broke into a wide grin and waved once more.
Then she turned and disappeared, her steps light and swift.
Gu Chengyin watched until her figure vanished before withdrawing his gaze and heading toward the Ten Thousand Phenomena Tower.
The tower stood ahead—dark bricks, gray tiles, soaring eaves, and upturned corners, radiating a profound stillness.
In front of the tower stood the Golden Guard, aligned in two rows, holding long halberds, solemn and unmoving.
Gu Chengyin approached and produced the Crown Prince’s Token from his sleeve, offering it forward.
A Golden Guard stepped up to take it and scrutinized it carefully.
That was protocol: aside from the Emperor and the Crown Prince, anyone entering the tower had to show their token.
While the guard inspected it, Gu Chengyin asked casually, “Is Gu Xiaoli inside?”
The guard’s inspection paused almost imperceptibly. He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he lowered his head and continued checking the token, as if pondering something.
After a moment, he lifted his head, returned the token with both hands, and asked,
“Is Your Excellency, the Junior Preceptor, looking for someone?”
Gu Chengyin took the token and hummed in affirmation.
It was only then that the inspecting guard said,
“Then I’m afraid Your Excellency’s trip will be in vain. There’s no one in the tower at present.”
Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow slightly and gave the guard another glance.
Though he hadn’t directly answered whether Gu Xiaoli was there, the phrasing made it essentially a no.
This was a clever man.
Knowing a direct reply might breach protocol, he’d offered a generalized answer.
This way, he avoided violating rules while doing the Junior Preceptor a favor.
A smile tugged at Gu Chengyin’s lips. “Thank you,” he said.
The guard’s expression remained unchanged. He gave a slight bow and returned to his post before the tower,
resuming his duties as if nothing had been said.
Gu Chengyin stood there for a moment, staring at the tower’s gate, frowning.
Gu Xiaoli wasn’t in the main hall, nor in the tower—so where was she?
Previously, she only ever went between those two places, occasionally dropping by to bother him.
Now both were empty…
Gu Chengyin suddenly blinked.
Wait.
Was he being an idiot?
Where Gu Xiaoli was, couldn’t he just ask Shangguan Yunying directly?
He’d been kissing and cuddling with her, being all lovey-dovey for so long,
and in the end, he’d completely forgotten to ask about the important matter. Instead, he’d stupidly headed straight for the tower.
Gu Chengyin shook his head, silently laughing at his own foolishness.
Of course, that was mostly because Shangguan Yunying’s charm was truly overwhelming.
Yes.
Truly overwhelming.
Overwhelming enough to make him forget his business entirely.
He didn’t dwell on it. Turning around, he prepared to head back to the Crown Prince’s Palace to ask Shangguan Yunying about Gu Xiaoli’s whereabouts.
But after just a few steps, he stopped abruptly.
At the entrance to a nearby corridor, a figure stood quietly.
She wore a plain white silk gown, her ink-black hair cascading like a waterfall, her face cold and pure.
An aura of faint frost and snow seemed to envelop her, sending a chill through anyone who saw her.
Lin Qingyan.
Back from the Luo Emperor’s place so soon?
Gu Chengyin’s brow shot up. He walked over quickly, speaking in a familiar, casual tone:
“Auntie, you’re back already?”
Lin Qingyan hummed flatly, her face still bearing that aloof indifference toward everything,
as if the whole world had nothing to do with her.
Gu Chengyin didn’t mind. He was getting used to her demeanor by now.
He figured it was actually convenient—she required little attention.
As for Lin Qingyan being summoned by the Luo Emperor under the name of the Grand Harmony… well, that was meant to cut the ground from under them.
And the result?
A slight curve lifted the corner of Gu Chengyin’s mouth.
The result was that his influence had soared yet again.
In fact, this level of leverage was even greater than that from the tribunal of the Three Ministries.
Lin Qingyan listened to him, and not to the Grand Harmony.
That fact was simply too earth-shattering.
Not just the hidden forces in the shadows—even the Luo Emperor himself was probably shaken to the core.
The Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master’s Court, ignoring the Grand Harmony’s orders, yet following a man who hadn’t even achieved the Golden Core…
What did that mean?
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
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.
