Lord Jingzhe?
Why was she here?
And when Shangguan Yunying's gaze fell on Gu Xiaoli, she was utterly stunned.
What was that?
Cat ears?
Cat tail?
Cat paws?
Shangguan Yunying rubbed her eyes vigorously, wondering if she was seeing things.
Was this still the Gu Xiaoli she knew?
Gu Chengyin was equally surprised. He wasn't shocked by Lin Qingyan's appearance.
But when he saw Gu Xiaoli in this form, his eyes went wide.
Under the moonlight, the world-weary girl was crouched, cat ears perked up, tail bristling, cat eyes gleaming with hostility.
This...
So Gu Xiaoli really was a cat-eared girl!
This form was just too...
Gu Chengyin couldn't find the right words to describe it.
Even after being suddenly attacked by Gu Xiaoli, Lin Qingyan remained true to her persona, wearing that same detached, uncaring expression.
As if she hadn't just been assaulted, as if the tense standoff before her had nothing to do with her.
Even so, a hint of coldness couldn't be hidden in her eyes.
A restless energy of lightning began to stir around her.
But the lightning wasn't the golden kind she usually used.
It was black, filled with an aura of death.
Countless black bolts of lightning crackled madly around Lin Qingyan, hissing and popping.
They tore tiny fissures in the surrounding void.
The blackness was deep as an abyss, radiating an aura of destruction, as if she was ready to fight at the slightest provocation.
Gu Chengyin's pupils contracted as he watched the black arcs around Lin Qingyan.
One was invincible at the Golden Core stage, the other was half a step into Nascent Soul. If they really fought...
Forget the Stargazing Tower, probably the entire divine capital would be destroyed, right?
Gu Chengyin felt a throbbing headache.
Why was it that every time danger erupted, he ended up at the closest range?
What kind of karma was this, landing him in these situations?
He had to stop these two. No matter what, they absolutely could not fight.
Gu Chengyin immediately stood up and walked quickly toward them.
He stepped directly between Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli, using his body to block their line of sight.
Lin Qingyan's black lightning crackled at his side; Gu Xiaoli's sharp claws were right in front of his eyes.
But Gu Chengyin seemed oblivious to the danger. He looked first at Lin Qingyan.
His eyes carried a soothing intent, signaling her to stay calm.
Meeting his gaze, the coldness in Lin Qingyan's eyes eased slightly, and the black arcs around her subsided.
Gu Chengyin nodded slightly. From the current situation, he could roughly guess what had happened.
Lin Qingyan had clearly been the one attacked; otherwise, she wouldn't have suddenly emerged from the void.
And Gu Xiaoli, for some reason, had been nowhere to be found earlier, only to appear now and strike at Lin Qingyan.
What was going on?
Did these two have some deep-seated grudge?
After confirming Lin Qingyan wouldn't act recklessly, Gu Chengyin turned to look at Gu Xiaoli.
He bent down slightly to meet her vertical cat eyes at eye level, his tone as gentle as a spring breeze:
"Xiaoli, what happened?"
Gu Xiaoli's cat eyes blinked. Once Lin Qingyan's figure was blocked by Gu Chengyin, her hostile posture calmed down considerably.
The fierceness in her cat eyes faded, and her tail stopped bristling, swaying lightly behind her.
She stared at Gu Chengyin for a moment before speaking slowly:
"Sister Qingyan wants to take Big Brother away."
Her voice was soft and sweet, but carried a childish stubbornness.
"Xiaoli won't allow that to happen."
Gu Chengyin was stunned. He blinked, momentarily at a loss.
Lin Qingyan wanted to take him away?
Where had Gu Xiaoli heard that?
Gu Chengyin asked in surprise, "Xiaoli, who told you that?"
Gu Xiaoli opened her mouth, about to say Luo Zhao's name.
But she stopped herself just in time.
She was well aware of Luo Zhao's current state.
After all, she had personally created the consciousness puppet for Luo Zhao, so she couldn't reveal that Luo Zhao had told her.
With Gu Chengyin's intelligence, one word would let him deduce the entire truth.
And then everything would be ruined.
Gu Xiaoli blinked, a glint of cunning flickering in her cat eyes.
Then she pointed at Lin Qingyan and said with full confidence:
"Sister Qingyan used to compete with Xiaoli for Niangniang, and now that she's back."
"She's still clinging to Big Brother's side. It's obvious she wants to take him!"
Gu Chengyin was speechless.
He didn't know what to say.
Gu Xiaoli had discovered Lin Qingyan secretly protecting him, thought she was hanging around on purpose, and got hostile?
And the reason she thought this was because Lin Qingyan had competed with her for Empress Lin in the past?
Gu Chengyin looked at the bristling cat-eared girl before him and felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.
He shook his head and patiently explained:
"Xiaoli, you've misunderstood. It's not like that. Little Aunt, she..."
Gu Chengyin paused, choosing his words carefully.
"She's just protecting me in secret. She's not hanging around on purpose."
Gu Xiaoli's cat ears twitched, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.
This version was different from what Luo Zhao had told her.
Lin Qingyan had fallen in love with Gu Chengyin? It had turned into her just protecting him?
"Sister Qingyan... is protecting Big Brother?"
"Yes."
Gu Xiaoli tilted her head, thinking, then looked at Lin Qingyan again, still somewhat distrustful.
Seeing her like this, Gu Chengyin said gently:
"How about this, Xiaoli? Put that form away first. Let's talk nicely, no fighting. Be good."
Gu Xiaoli pursed her lips, glanced at Lin Qingyan one more time.
The vigilance in her vertical cat eyes gradually faded, replaced by a flicker of hesitation.
But she knew this wasn't good either. They really couldn't end up fighting.
It was just that when she found Gu Chengyin and noticed Lin Qingyan secretly watching him.
Gu Xiaoli, for some reason, struck out with a claw without thinking.
By the time she came to her senses, they were already in this situation.
Finally, Gu Xiaoli nodded.
Her cat ears, cat eyes, tail, and claws all faded away.
The familiar, world-weary Gu Xiaoli reappeared before Gu Chengyin.
But her lips were still slightly pouted, clearly still feeling unsatisfied.
Gu Chengyin stepped forward, reached out, and patted her head, praising her:
"That's more like it."
Then he took Gu Xiaoli's hand and led her over to Lin Qingyan.
"No matter what, attacking right away was wrong of Xiaoli."
He looked at Gu Xiaoli, his tone gentle but firm.
"Apologize to Little Aunt."
Gu Xiaoli pouted even more. Though usually very obedient, she was being stubborn now.
She turned her head away, refusing to look at Lin Qingyan, and muttered softly:
"Sister Qingyan clearly wants to take Big Brother. Xiaoli won't apologize."
Her voice was small, but carried a trace of defiance.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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?!
] [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!"
