Gu Chengyin walked in the direction of the Crown Prince's palace.
As he walked, he pondered how to turn Gu Xiaoli into his cat.
Although he now had the protection of Lin Qingyan, who was invincible at the Golden Core stage, and his own condition had returned to normal,
But what if?
What if Lin Qingyan experienced another unforeseen loss of control?
Such things were unpredictable, so the best solution was to find someone of equal strength to balance things out.
Gu Xiaoli, at the Half-Step Nascent Soul stage, was the best choice.
That way, if Lin Qingyan lost control again, Gu Xiaoli could counterbalance her.
And if Gu Xiaoli lost control, Lin Qingyan could do the same in return.
Then came the question.
What if Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli both lost control at the same time?
If that scenario unfolded, and he still hadn't broken through to the Golden Core stage,
Then Gu Chengyin would have nothing to say.
He would accept the loss.
After walking for a while,
Gu Chengyin suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed.
From just a moment ago, he had been feeling a strange sensation.
As if something was watching him.
Not a casual, accidental glance,
But a focused, deliberate gaze.
Like someone hidden in the shadows, staring at him without moving.
And this feeling of being watched—Gu Chengyin's brow tightened further.
The person watching him,
He knew them.
No, rather, it was someone familiar to him.
This sensation of being watched carried a certain quality that gave Gu Chengyin a vague sense of familiarity.
Not Lin Qingyan's indifferent, dead silence, nor Shangguan Yunying's gentle warmth.
But...
Gu Chengyin couldn't quite put it into words, but it felt familiar.
Who was it?
Who was watching him?
Gu Chengyin stood still and suddenly turned his head to look back.
Behind him, the corridor was completely empty.
Nearby, there were only a few vermilion pillars and slanting sunlight.
In the distance, the direction he had come from, the outline of the Ten Thousand Images Tower was faintly visible.
The Golden Royal Guards in front of the tower stood solemn and motionless.
No one was there.
No one he knew was there.
Nor anyone he recognized.
Gu Chengyin scanned every possible hiding spot—behind the pillars, within the shadows,
Even the half-open window lattices.
But there was nothing.
Who on earth was watching him?
Gu Chengyin thought for a moment, then suddenly called out, "Auntie?"
His voice was not loud, but it was strikingly clear in the silent corridor.
As his words fell, the air ahead began to ripple slightly.
The ripples were faint, spreading out in circles of barely perceptible waves.
The ripples grew larger, more pronounced, and then...
Lin Qingyan's figure materialized from the void.
Still the same as ever—a plain white dress, jet-black hair,
A cold, detached face, surrounded by a faint aura of frost and snow.
Her gaze fell on Gu Chengyin, indifferent, lifeless, utterly devoid of emotion,
Yet it seemed to ask: What is it?
Gu Chengyin looked at this familiar face, his eyes lingering on hers.
Still, that expression of being utterly uninterested in everything and uncharted by anything.
Even when Gu Chengyin's reflection appeared in her eyes, there was still not a trace of fluctuation.
In other words, it was emptiness, obedience, as if under hypnosis.
But it was different from Luo Zhao's emptiness—Luo Zhao's emptiness was without consciousness.
Lin Qingyan before him had an emptiness that was conscious, hence it was called dead silence.
After confirming that the sensation just now did not come from Lin Qingyan, Gu Chengyin smiled and said,
"It's nothing. I just felt empty inside not seeing you, Auntie."
Lin Qingyan's gaze shifted from Gu Chengyin's face to the void behind him,
As if she hadn't heard his words at all.
The next moment, her figure faded again, like an ink droplet dissolving into water, gradually vanishing into thin air.
In the blink of an eye, she completely disappeared before Gu Chengyin, as if she had never existed.
Only Gu Chengyin remained alone in the corridor.
He stood there, still frowning.
Lin Qingyan seemed perfectly normal.
That indifferent, dead silence, that aloofness that pushed everyone away.
No familiar expression, no untoward emotion.
Her response to his test just now hadn't given any unexpected reaction.
But if it wasn't Lin Qingyan, then who was it?
Could it have been his imagination?
Gu Chengyin stood still for a moment, and after confirming that the familiar feeling of being watched hadn't reappeared,
He shook his head and continued walking toward the Crown Prince's palace.
Maybe he was just too tired these days.
Tour of the sect, the Green Sword Sect, the immortal clan's legacy, the tripartite tribunal, and that troublemaking cat Gu Xiaoli...
Matters piled up one after another on his mind, it was inevitable to become a little paranoid.
But deep down, Gu Chengyin still felt something was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Wait.
Gu Chengyin's heart suddenly skipped a beat—could it be that Gu Xiaoli was secretly watching him?
Just like that night when Luo Zhao was hypnotized, watching his every move from start to finish?
And only because his Dao heart had broken through to the Golden Core stage could he now sense Gu Xiaoli's gaze?
Gu Chengyin looked around him once more. Though the feeling of being watched had vanished,
The doubt in his heart hadn't disappeared. But for now,
Gu Chengyin tentatively narrowed down the suspect to Gu Xiaoli.
Since she hadn't shown herself, she must be playing hide and seek.
Thinking of that world-weary little girl pretending to be sweet, Gu Chengyin couldn't help but sigh.
Once he caught Gu Xiaoli, he'd have to teach her a lesson.
Then Gu Chengyin suddenly thought of a very important point.
Since that world-weary little girl had even hidden her cultivation level, could she have hidden her age too?
Was Gu Xiaoli, in fact, a legal loli?
With these doubts in his mind, Gu Chengyin once again set off toward the Crown Prince's palace.
But in the void he couldn't see, Lin Qingyan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She remained hidden in the void, no longer daring to look at Gu Chengyin, but her brow was equally furrowed.
That was a close call—she had almost been discovered.
But when had Gu Chengyin's perception become so sharp?
It had been sharp before, but never to this degree.
She had only taken a brief look at him, through the void, with no leakage of any aura,
And Gu Chengyin had still sensed someone watching him?
If she hadn't promptly let the hypnotized inner demon handle the situation,
She might have been found out by Gu Chengyin.
Lin Qingyan's gaze flickered slightly.
It seemed she would have to be even more careful from now on.
Fortunately, hiding behind the inner demon was safe.
Even if sensed, the inner demon would provide cover—it wasn't her.
That inner demon's lifeless demeanor wouldn't arouse any suspicion from Gu Chengyin.
But...
Lin Qingyan's brow furrowed even more, as she noticed a problem.
Ever since returning to the divine capital,
The electricity from Gu Chengyin had been providing less and less information.
Including yesterday's hypnosis—she had completely relied on instinct.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
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?!
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
