Gu Chengyin stopped in his tracks, but he didn’t let go of her hand.
He turned around and faced Lin Qingyan directly.
Moonlight fell upon her face, illuminating those gentle yet deep eyes.
Lin Qingyan didn’t dare to look at Gu Chengyin.
She turned her head away, her gaze drifting,
looking at the moonlight outside the window, at the calligraphy and paintings on the walls, at the shadows on the floor.
She simply didn’t dare to meet Gu Chengyin’s eyes.
“Little Aunt.”
Gu Chengyin spoke, his voice calm.
“Are you acting as the heart demon again?”
Lin Qingyan’s heart skipped a beat.
She bit her lip and, after a moment of silence, finally spoke softly:
“You tried to control me, so I had no choice but to push the heart demon forward for you to hypnotize.”
Her voice was small, tinged with guilt, a hint of grievance, and a touch of self-righteousness.
Hearing this, Gu Chengyin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had thought that the damn system’s hypnosis had been undone again.
Turns out the hypnosis had been targeting the heart demon from the very beginning.
If that was the case, he found it much easier to accept.
Pushing the heart demon to the forefront and getting hypnotized—this was a rather novel example.
Gu Chengyin silently filed it away in his mind. He still lacked experience, and it was hard to guard against every trick.
What’s more, Lin Qingyan’s acting was truly formidable.
Entirely different temperaments, yet she embodied each one as if it were her true self.
Well, that wasn’t quite right either.
It seemed they were all parts of her genuine nature.
Coupled with the fact that her cultivation was at the Golden Core stage, even though his own Dao heart had broken through,
he couldn’t detect the slightest flaw. If it weren’t for being pushed to the brink by Gu Xiaoli,
who knows how long she would have kept acting.
When it came down to it, it was still this damn system that was the root of all trouble.
If only it were half-decent, he’d probably be at the Nascent Soul stage by now.
Gu Chengyin let out a helpless sigh and said,
“Little Aunt, you’ve got the order wrong.”
Though it sounded like a question, his tone carried a hint of affection:
“It was you who controlled me first, and I had no choice but to turn it back on you.”
Lin Qingyan choked up.
Of course, she knew the origin was her attempt to control Gu Chengyin,
to forcefully claim him, which gave him no option but to counter her.
Still, one thing was separate from another.
How could anyone refuse such a beautiful fairy as herself!?
So many would give anything just for a single glance from her, let alone her taking the initiative to offer herself.
But of all people, Gu Chengyin actually refused her.
If she hadn’t confirmed it herself, she would have started doubting if he was a eunuch.
Lin Qingyan pursed her lips, feeling terribly wronged inside.
At the same time, she stole a glance at Gu Chengyin.
His profile was clear and jade-like, his features gentle, yet his eyes held a trace of an elusive smile.
Was this... indulgence?
He wasn’t actually angry?
A sudden impulse surged in Lin Qingyan’s heart.
She threw open her arms, slid them around Gu Chengyin’s waist, and buried herself in his embrace.
Her face pressed against his chest, her voice muffled:
“Chengcheng, I’m sorry. I know I was wrong.”
Lin Qingyan held him tightly, as if afraid he might slip away.
“I swear, I’ll never do anything like this again.”
“I’ll go east if you say east, and never go west! Whatever you say, I’ll obey.”
Her voice was muffled and a little nasal.
“Really! I can swear a blood oath! Can you forgive me?”
Finally.
Finally, she was back in this embrace.
Lin Qingyan pressed herself against Gu Chengyin’s chest, greedily inhaling the faint scent of his presence.
It was an indescribable fragrance—like pine, like tea, or like the warm winter sun.
In recent days, staying by Gu Chengyin’s side as the heart demon, she couldn’t cuddle, couldn’t be affectionate, couldn’t do any intimate gestures.
Every time she saw him before her, she had to keep distance, pretending to be indifferent.
She had nearly gone mad from the restraint.
Now, finally.
She was back in his arms.
Lin Qingyan’s pent-up frustration and gloom vanished in an instant.
All she wanted was to hold him like this, never letting go.
If Gu Chengyin could forgive her and let her return to his side,
she would promise him anything.
No matter how demanding or outrageous the request.
Even if it meant killing the Emperor of Luo, she would not hesitate.
She had long found that emperor unbearable anyway.
Gu Chengyin looked down at Lin Qingyan in his arms.
Moonlight draped over her, illuminating her hair cascading like a waterfall and the faint blush on her ear tips.
He was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
It was a faint smile, yet it carried a touch of helplessness and fondness.
But what could he do? How could anyone dislike such a wonderful fairy?
Gu Chengyin raised his hand, rested it on Lin Qingyan’s head, and gently rubbed it.
“Little Aunt.”
His voice was as tender as a spring breeze in March.
“Do you know what you did wrong?”
Lin Qingyan, still buried in his arms, murmured,
“I shouldn’t have controlled you. I shouldn’t have tried to take you by force. I shouldn’t have—”
She paused, her voice growing smaller: “I shouldn’t have pretended to be the heart demon to deceive you.”
Gu Chengyin shook his head.
“No.”
Lin Qingyan looked up, bewildered.
Under the moonlight, his eyes were deep as a pool, reflecting her image.
“What you did wrong,”
Gu Chengyin said, looking at her, each word clear and deliberate, “was not trusting me.”
Lin Qingyan was stunned.
“Not trusting that I care about you, and so you thought I would abandon you.”
Gu Chengyin spoke softly: “But, Little Aunt.”
He held her gaze, his eyes tender yet earnest.
“You are the most important person to me.”
“No one else can ever surpass your place in my heart.”
He paused, then said in a low voice:
“So it isn’t that I don’t like you, Little Aunt.”
“And it isn’t that I don’t want you. It’s just that I believe a fairy like you”
“shouldn’t be obtained so casually. That would be too unworthy of you.”
Lin Qingyan stood there, dazed.
Her eyes suddenly stung.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
In the end, she buried her face in his chest again, rubbing against it forcefully.
A muffled voice came:
“Chengcheng...”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry. I understand now.”
Gu Chengyin smiled and rubbed her head again.
“As long as you understand.”
Moonlight flowed like water, spilling over the two of them.
The room was very quiet, with only the sound of their breaths softly echoing.
At this point, Gu Chengyin could only accept reality.
Fortunately, Lin Qingyan could no longer sense his electric current, which gave him enough room to maneuver.
Besides, what he had said was truly from the heart.
Lin Qingyan was indeed the most important person to him right now.
From every perspective, she mattered deeply.
Lin Qingyan, buried in Gu Chengyin’s embrace, suddenly remembered something.
She lifted her head and looked at him, murmuring,
“But that damned cat...”
Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow.
“She did it on purpose!”
Lin Qingyan gritted her teeth. “She deliberately provoked me just to make a fool of me!”
Gu Chengyin couldn’t help but laugh.
“So?”
Lin Qingyan pursed her lips, a glint of ferocity flashing in her eyes.
“So, I’m going to get revenge!”
Gu Chengyin looked at her like this and suddenly found it rather amusing.
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?!
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!
] [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!"
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
