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.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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.
