Lin Qingyan simply watched, saying nothing, doing nothing.
Her gaze fell on Gu Xiaoli, calm as an ancient well, betraying no emotion.
The aura around her returned to that deathly stillness, as if the black arcs of lightning had never appeared.
But at that very moment, a flicker of amusement flashed deep in her eyes.
That dead cat Gu Xiaoli had always tried to snatch her sister away from her in the past.
And now she had set her sights on Gu Chengyin too.
This was interesting, though not surprising.
When Gu Xiaoli first appeared by Gu Chengyin’s side,
Lin Qingyan had seen her but hadn’t taken her seriously, dismissing her as just some minor figure.
Back then, she hadn’t yet seen the memories of the heart demon, so she hadn’t recognized her.
And since Gu Xiaoli played the part of a clueless fool exceptionally well, Lin Qingyan had completely missed her true strength.
But now that she had recognized her, and Gu Xiaoli had also targeted Gu Chengyin,
Lin Qingyan saw a chance to finally make that dead cat bow her head, something she wouldn’t let slip by.
In fact, she was already pondering how to seize this opportunity
to throw both Gu Xiaoli and Shangguan Yunying out of Gu Chengyin’s life together.
However, to stay in character, Lin Qingyan didn’t speak.
Instead, she gave Gu Chengyin a faint glance.
It was a light look, but it carried a clear message:
If you don’t deal with Gu Xiaoli, don’t expect me to protect you anymore.
After all, she couldn’t keep getting driven out every time she tried to secretly guard him, could she?
Then, Lin Qingyan’s figure vanished without a trace.
Silent and unseen, as if she had never been there.
Gu Chengyin stared at the spot where she had disappeared and rubbed his forehead in mild exasperation.
He had received the message in that glance.
But looking at the reluctant Gu Xiaoli beside him, he could tell the little thing was stubborn as ever.
Still, despite his headache, he didn’t find the situation too difficult to handle.
And Gu Xiaoli coming to him on her own was actually a good thing—
it saved him the trouble of having to search for her.
With that thought, Gu Chengyin decided not to say anything more.
After Lin Qingyan disappeared, Gu Xiaoli grew uneasy.
She glanced at where Lin Qingyan had been, then back at Gu Chengyin, her heart thumping with anxiety.
This behavior wasn’t like Lin Qingyan at all.
The Lin Qingyan of before would have bickered with her over the slightest thing.
The two of them would argue from Xuanwu Gate all the way to the Imperial Garden, from day till night, neither willing to back down.
Only when the Empress herself intervened would they calm down.
But now, she had vanished without a word?
Was that right?
Was this still Lin Qingyan?
Gu Xiaoli bit her lip.
If that was the case, would Gu Chengyin scold her for it?
She sneaked another glance at him.
Under the moonlight, his profile was as clear and handsome as jade, his expression unreadable.
Gu Xiaoli’s anxiety grew.
She might be a cat, but she understood some things.
A master could indulge and spoil you, let you do almost anything.
But there were lines that must never be crossed, or the master would grow annoyed, even hateful.
And in the end, he might simply abandon you, leaving you a homeless stray.
Just as Gu Xiaoli was caught in her turmoil, a hand suddenly landed on her head.
Gu Chengyin rubbed her hair and asked gently,
“There’s roasted lamb later. Do you want to have some together, Xiaoli?”
His tone carried no hint of reproach, only concern for whether she was hungry.
Gu Xiaoli froze for a moment.
Then, her big eyes instantly lit up.
“Yes!”
She nodded emphatically.
Perhaps already picturing the roasted lamb, a line of drool embarrassingly escaped from the corner of her mouth.
She quickly raised her hand to wipe it away, her little face flushing slightly red.
Gone was her earlier calm and world-weary demeanor.
She looked more like a kitten basking in her master’s affection.
And besides, roasted lamb! Even though Gu Xiaoli’s cultivation was high—
since when did high cultivation mean you couldn’t enjoy good food?
She was just a cat, not some immortal subsisting on air.
When delicious food was placed before her, of course she would eat it!
Gu Chengyin led Gu Xiaoli back to the table and sat down.
Shangguan Yunying was staring at Gu Xiaoli with wide, blinking eyes, studying her from head to toe.
She had no idea what had happened between Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli,
but with Gu Chengyin around, she didn’t need to worry about such matters.
All she had to do was be a well-behaved, sweet, and pretty young lady.
Besides, after what she had just witnessed, Shangguan Yunying was intensely curious about Gu Xiaoli.
She looked at her head, then her eyes, then behind her,
her gaze full of wonder, as if she had stumbled upon a rare treasure.
Finally, unable to contain her curiosity, she asked,
“Xiaoli, just now...”
She mimicked a gesture above her head, forming ears with her hands, and asked hesitantly,
“Those ears—can you make them come out again?”
Gu Xiaoli blinked her big eyes. She didn’t dislike Shangguan Yunying; in fact, she quite liked her.
She adored any beautiful woman who was lovely to look at and smelled fragrant—
except Lin Qingyan.
After a moment, Gu Xiaoli nodded.
The next instant, a pair of fuzzy cat ears reappeared on her head.
They were triangular, their tips trembling slightly, the downy fur soft and glowing gently under the moonlight.
Shangguan Yunying’s eyes lit up instantly.
That brightness was even more dazzling than the stars in the sky.
“That’s just too cute!”
She pulled Gu Xiaoli into her arms and nuzzled her vigorously.
Gu Xiaoli’s cat ears quivered from the pressure, and her tail couldn’t help but pop out, swaying lightly behind her.
She nestled in Shangguan Yunying’s arms, squinting her eyes and purring contentedly.
Sister Yunying was good.
Sister Qingyan was bad.
Gu Chengyin watched the scene and shook his head with a smile.
He stood up and said warmly, “I’ll go check on why the lamb hasn’t arrived yet.”
Neither of them paid him any attention.
Shangguan Yunying was too busy petting the cat, not even lifting her head.
Gu Xiaoli, curled up in her arms, had her eyes narrowed to slits in pure bliss—she had no time for him either.
Gu Chengyin smiled faintly, turned, and walked out of the room.
Once outside, he moved along the corridor, rounded a corner, and entered an empty room.
The room was quiet, moonlight spilling through the window lattice, carpeting the floor in silver frost.
Gu Chengyin stopped and called softly,
“Little Aunt?”
At the sound of his voice, a figure slowly materialized.
Lin Qingyan stood in the moonlight, still wearing that deathly stillness.
Her cold face was utterly expressionless, only her eyes glowed deep under the moon’s radiance.
Gu Chengyin looked at her and breathed a small sigh of relief.
If this had been the old Lin Qingyan, she would have been causing a huge scene by now.
Thank goodness it was the Heart Demon Aunt—she was so much easier to deal with.
He was about to speak, but Lin Qingyan started first.
“Gu Chengyin, I have a grudge against that cat.”
“So it’s either her or me.”
“Either she leaves, or I do.”
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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.
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!
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
