"I admit, my methods were indeed a bit excessive,"
Gu Chengyin sighed, his tone carrying a hint of self-reproach and a touch of helplessness:
"But my intentions were good, and they were all for your benefit."
He looked at Luo Zhao, his gaze devoid of blame, only a calm openness.
"Her Highness was in a desperate situation and didn't trust me—what could I do?"
"How could I stand by and watch Her Highness walk to her death? So I had no choice but to control her."
Gu Chengyin then turned to Shangguan Yunying and continued:
"Yunying thought I wanted to harm Her Highness, but did I actually harm her?"
"Not at all, yet Yunying didn't trust me either—so what could I do?"
Finally, he looked at Lin Qingyan, his gaze as gentle as the spring breeze of March.
"And then there's Little Aunt—her inner demon ran out of control. If I hadn't restrained her,"
"both Little Aunt and I would have been done for. What else could I do?"
Gu Chengyin spread his hands, his face full of helplessness,
like a good man who had been wronged countless times and finally had a chance to defend himself.
"If only you had trusted me a little, or at least saved me some worry."
"Do you really think I wanted to control you all?"
After these words, the hall fell into a long silence.
Luo Zhao lowered her head, her fingers clenching and unclenching within her sleeves.
She thought back to the Northern River City, where Gu Chengyin had hung her up, demanding absolute trust.
She hadn't given it, so he had resorted to hypnosis.
What if she had trusted him back then?
What if she hadn't prepared her escape plan, hadn't planned to abandon the city and flee,
but had simply followed his orders—would Gu Chengyin still have hypnotized her?
Luo Zhao didn't know.
But she did know one thing: everything he said was true.
Every hypnosis had come only after he was backed into a corner.
Every hypnosis had happened because she didn't trust him.
Shangguan Yunying also hung her head.
She recalled that time in Luoshui Prefecture, at the Fourth Crossing of the Red River, when she thought Gu Chengyin was going to harm Luo Zhao, so she tried to rescue Her Highness.
But what about Gu Chengyin?
He could have killed her, could have treated her as an enemy, yet he only hypnotized her.
If she hadn't been so impulsive, if she had asked for the full story instead,
would things have turned out this way?
Lin Qingyan felt even more ashamed, unable to lift her head.
She remembered the time her inner demon had gone out of control; she had nearly killed Gu Chengyin and destroyed everything.
If Gu Chengyin hadn't restrained that demon in time, who knew what terrible things might have happened?
And all she had thought about back then was how to weaken her inner demon, never once considering
how much risk Gu Chengyin had taken to save her.
Even Gu Xiaoli lowered her head.
She recalled all her suspicions of Gu Chengyin—
hiding in the shadows to observe him, plotting with candy to ambush him, and waking Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying up.
If Gu Chengyin's logic was right, she shouldn't have interfered at all; she had only made things worse.
Four beautiful faces all drooped in unison.
The atmosphere in the hall shifted from tense confrontation to a silent guilt.
Gu Chengyin watched them, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.
The rhythm was completely under his control, every step landing exactly where he had planned.
He silently applauded himself inside, while his face revealed nothing.
"Now, let's return to the earlier question,"
"Her Highness said that lifting the hypnosis in front of everyone was to control Little Aunt."
Gu Chengyin paused, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
"Fine, I'll ask just one question."
He turned to look at Lin Qingyan,
his gentle eyes filled with seriousness, and a depth of emotion that made hearts race.
"Little Aunt, are you hypnotized by me right now?"
The question caught Lin Qingyan off guard.
She blinked, and then blinked again.
Then it dawned on her.
Right!
If, as Luo Zhao claimed, Gu Chengyin lifted the hypnosis to control her,
then she should have been hypnotized by now.
But what actually happened?
Nothing.
She was still clear-headed, still free, and not under anyone's control.
She wasn't controlled, wasn't hypnotized, hadn't become Gu Chengyin's puppet.
And yet, they had locked eyes for such a long time; there had been such a perfect opportunity,
but Gu Chengyin hadn't hypnotized her.
What did that mean?
At this thought, Lin Qingyan's heartbeat quickened.
It meant Gu Chengyin treasured her!
It meant he couldn't bear to hypnotize her!
It meant he had given up the chance to control her—
even if it was the optimal choice, even if it was his usual strategy.
But Gu Chengyin hadn't.
He had chosen not to hypnotize her.
He had chosen to trust her.
Lin Qingyan's eyes suddenly grew teary.
Only one thought remained in her heart:
He loves me so much.
Luo Zhao watched Lin Qingyan, who looked on the verge of tears from emotion, and her heart sank.
She knew her Little Aunt too well—the expression on that face was as clear as day: she had been fully convinced.
Luo Zhao tried to argue, but when she opened her mouth, she found she had nothing to say.
Gu Chengyin's words were flawless, his logic flawless, his demeanor flawless, and even his gaze was flawless.
He said he wasn't wrong, but admitted his methods were excessive.
He said he acted in self-defense, not denying the hypnosis.
He placed himself in the position of someone forced by circumstance,
and placed them in the position of those who didn't trust him.
And the truth?
The truth was just as he said.
Luo Zhao gritted her teeth.
She was unwilling, but she had to admit:
Gu Chengyin was right.
She had never really trusted him.
From the Northern River City to now, from being a heir to a puppet and back to heir—she had never genuinely believed in him.
Every cooperation came with calculation, every approach hid a guard, every smile had a sharpened blade behind it.
He hypnotized her because she was about to escape.
He controlled her because she was about to harm him.
So what right did Luo Zhao have to say Gu Chengyin was wrong?
Shangguan Yunying dared not even lift her head.
She thought deeper and further than Luo Zhao.
She recalled every moment she had doubted Gu Chengyin, every reason she had been on guard against him, every thought of going against him.
Those reasons had seemed perfectly justified at the time, but looking back now, how many were true?
How many had she made up in her own mind?
How many were simply because she hadn't trusted him?
Lin Qingyan walked up to Gu Chengyin, her head bowed like a child who had done something wrong.
"Chengcheng, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you."
Gu Chengyin raised his hand and gently patted her head.
"It's okay. I'm used to it."
Lin Qingyan nodded heavily, and finally the tears spilled.
At the same time, she swore to herself that no matter what anyone said in the future, she would only trust Gu Chengyin.
Luo Zhao watched this scene, and the dissatisfaction inside her churned again.
She wanted to say something, but when the words reached her lips, they turned into a sigh.
Gu Chengyin turned his head to look at Luo Zhao and asked,
"Your Highness, any more questions?"
Luo Zhao stared at him for a long, long time.
Then she shook her head.
"No more questions."
She conceded.
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!
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?
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?!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
