“Alright.”
When those two words left Luo Zhao’s lips, everyone in the hall thought their ears were playing tricks on them.
Before they could recover, Luo Zhao continued:
“But I dare to give it—does he dare to take it?”
Her voice echoed through the bedchamber, the end of her sentence trailing upward slightly.
It carried provocation, mockery, and a brashness she had never shown before.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, her chin lifted slightly as she looked down at Gu Chengyin, who sat in his chair.
Shangguan Yunying’s eyes went wide, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
She glanced at Luo Zhao, then at Gu Chengyin, then back at Luo Zhao, her gaze bouncing between them.
This was the first time she had heard Luo Zhao speak in such a tone.
It wasn’t the dignity of a heir apparent, nor the docility of hypnosis, nor the calm of restraint.
It was raw, unguarded provocation.
Gu Xiaoli blinked her large, dark eyes, her ears pricking up slightly.
She didn’t fully understand what was being asked, but she caught the meaning in Luo Zhao’s tone.
It was taunting, angering, driving a finger right under Gu Chengyin’s nose.
Then, arrogantly, asking him: Do you dare to take me?
Lin Qingyan’s brow furrowed slightly.
She truly hadn’t expected Luo Zhao to respond, let alone in this way.
The reason she had suggested Gu Chengyin take Luo Zhao was to bind their relationship together—to prevent future suspicion and conflict, since both people were very important to her.
But Luo Zhao clearly interpreted it differently.
She wasn’t agreeing.
She was gambling.
Betting that Gu Chengyin wouldn’t dare.
As for whether Luo Zhao had considered the consequences of losing that bet, only she herself knew.
Gu Chengyin sat in his chair, staring at Luo Zhao across from him.
He still hadn’t fully recovered from that crisp, straightforward “alright.”
He had seen many sides of Luo Zhao, but never this one.
This blatantly arrogant Luo Zhao, every tilt of her brow and glance from her eye a challenge.
Interesting.
Luo Zhao watched Gu Chengyin’s stunned expression, and a surge of exhilaration swelled within her.
Finally, she had seen something different on his face.
Not composed, not confident, but genuine surprise.
This man, who always had everything calculated—could she actually startle him?
Every pore on her body seemed to scream with satisfaction.
“What’s wrong, Junior Preceptor Gu?”
She tilted her head, the smirk on her lips deepening, her voice dragging out soft and languid:
“Did I hit a nerve?”
Gu Chengyin didn’t answer.
He simply looked at her, his gaze filled with scrutiny and curiosity, along with something Luo Zhao couldn’t decipher.
She automatically assumed that something was discomfort.
A cold sneer rose in her heart.
Too afraid to dare, huh. Don’t act so profound.
She shifted to a more comfortable position, crossing her legs and letting her foot dangle lightly.
“After all,”
Luo Zhao’s tone was airy, laced with casual cruelty:
“Some people talk a big game, all flowery words.”
“But when it comes time to actually act, they chicken out.”
She paused, letting her gaze travel deliberately over Gu Chengyin from head to toe, with an acute, intentional disdain.
“I thought Junior Preceptor Gu had real skill.”
“Turns out, this is all the nerve you have?”
Shangguan Yunying sucked in a sharp breath.
She instinctively inched away, as if trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
What in the world was Her Highness doing?
Was she provoking Gu Chengyin? Or humiliating him?
Does His Highness the Junior Preceptor forget who had him completely under control just moments ago?
Gu Xiaoli’s ears twitched, a flicker of confusion crossing her small face.
She didn’t fully understand these intricate games, but she could read Luo Zhao’s expression.
It reminded her of a scene she had witnessed before: a naive little kitten,
puffing up and hissing at its own reflection in the mirror, believing itself invincible.
Lin Qingyan’s brow furrowed even tighter.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, but swallowed the words before they could come out.
A sudden regret for having made this suggestion washed over her.
Gu Chengyin still hadn’t moved.
He simply sat there in his chair, watching Luo Zhao with a calm as still as stagnant water.
Luo Zhao mistook that calm for retreat.
Her boldness swelled, and the fire inside her burned brighter.
She had waited too long for this day—losing, yielding, enduring, time and again.
Luo Zhao had thought she would never have a chance to turn the tables, but now, unexpectedly, the opportunity had come.
And it was Lin Qingyan who had handed it to her.
It was this very suggestion that made Luo Zhao suddenly see Gu Chengyin’s one and only weakness.
He didn’t dare have her.
If he truly dared, he would have taken her long ago.
From the moment they met, he had countless chances to possess her—
countless opportunities to use the most twisted methods to toy with her.
But Gu Chengyin hadn’t.
Because he needed her.
So it wasn’t that she needed Gu Chengyin, but that he needed her.
He was the Junior Preceptor to the Heir Apparent, a man of the Crown Prince’s faction.
His entire status and power were built upon her—the rightful Heir.
Would he dare cross that line?
No.
If he took her, it would be insubordination, treason against his sovereign, the destruction of his own foundation.
The more Luo Zhao thought about it, the more exhilarated she felt. And the more exhilarated, the more reckless she became.
“Actually, I’ve been wanting to ask for a long time.”
Her voice was lazy, like a cat basking in the sun.
“Junior Preceptor Gu, you work so hard to help me. What exactly are you after?”
Luo Zhao tilted her head, pretending to think deeply.
“Power? You already have that.”
“Status? Not low at all.”
“Reputation? The entire court respectfully calls you Junior Preceptor Gu.”
“So what else could it be?”
She suddenly sat upright and leaned forward.
Lowering her voice, she dripped with a mix of ambiguity and malice.
“Could it be... you like me?”
"So you pretend not to care about me, just to get my attention?"
Shangguan Yunying nearly fell off the bed.
She bit her lip so hard it almost bled, barely keeping herself from gasping aloud.
Her Highness had lost her mind!
She must have!
Gu Xiaoli’s dark, ink-like eyes were wide with shock.
Lin Qingyan’s lips twitched.
Gu Chengyin still said nothing.
He only gazed at Luo Zhao, his eyes even deeper than before.
Luo Zhao didn’t notice.
Or rather, she did, but she didn’t care.
She was drunk on the thrill of overpowering him.
“Relax. I was just joking.”
Luo Zhao leaned back again, the tip of her crossed foot swinging more cheerfully. “How could Junior Preceptor Gu possibly like me?”
“What you like isn’t me—it’s my identity, my position.”
“It’s this skin of mine that gives you a legitimate claim to power.”
“Isn’t that right?”
Luo Zhao’s tone suddenly turned biting, like a knife coated in honey.
"So you see, you come across as gentle and refined, but in truth, you're more calculating than anyone."
"You're only nice to those who are useful, and you discard anyone who isn't."
"When I was useful to you, you held me close like a prized possession."
"Once I became useless, you threw me away like trash, treating me worse than a stray dog on the street."
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!
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!
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
