Inside the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.
Luo Zhao had risen nearly an hour earlier than usual that day.
It wasn’t because she was diligent, nor because there was pressing court business to attend to.
It was because she couldn’t sleep—hadn’t been able to since the night before.
Luo Zhao lay sideways on the bed, holding a soft pillow to her chest, her chin resting on its surface.
Her eyes were fixed intently on the painting hanging on the opposite wall.
The painting depicted winter red plum blossoms, an authentic work by some master artist.
The branches were vigorous, the petals lush and vibrant—truly excellently painted.
But though Luo Zhao appeared to be looking at the painting, her mind was on the dream she’d had last night.
She had tossed and turned until midnight before finally drifting into a restless sleep.
And she had dreamed—strange and jumbled things.
She dreamed that Lin Qingyan was holding a baby, saying it had just been born.
Then she said the child’s surname was Gu and asked Luo Zhao to help pick a name.
After that, she woke up.
Thinking about it now, Luo Zhao couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
This dream was utterly ridiculous.
Little Aunt’s child, bearing the surname Gu.
As if it could have been fathered by Gu Chengyin?
Wait.
No.
Lin Qingyan’s child, surname Gu?
Luo Zhao blinked, then suddenly sat bolt upright in bed.
“Someone!”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it rang out sharply in the empty chamber.
From outside, there was the patter of hurried footsteps, and the door creaked open.
A young female official with her hair in twin buns poked her head in, bowed respectfully.
“Her Highness is awake? This servant will go prepare—”
“Where is Yunying?”
Luo Zhao cut her off.
“The Chief went to the front hall early this morning; she said she needed to reconcile this month’s expense ledgers...”
“Summon her.”
Luo Zhao’s tone brooked no argument. “Now. Immediately. This instant.”
The young official froze for a moment, quickly replied in acknowledgment, and retreated with quick, soft steps.
Luo Zhao collapsed back onto the bed, hugging the soft pillow as she rolled over, burying her face in the smooth brocade.
The fabric carried a faint scent of incense—her usual kind.
Meant to calm the mind and settle the spirit, but at this moment, it tasted bland and vapid to her.
Shangguan Yunying arrived sooner than Luo Zhao had expected.
When the door opened, Luo Zhao was still sprawled face-down on the bed, clutching her pillow like a turtle that couldn’t turn over.
Shangguan Yunying stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the light, tall and poised.
Her official robes were immaculate, no wrinkles at the collar or sleeves.
Her hair was combed perfectly, not a single strand out of place.
As the Chief female official, she had many things to prepare in advance.
So she rose earlier than Luo Zhao, with many affairs to arrange.
“Your Highness.”
Shangguan Yunying entered, bowed before the bed, and said:
“You called for me?”
Luo Zhao peeked one eye out from behind the pillow, glanced at her, and then said:
“Close the door.”
Shangguan Yunying blinked, asked nothing, and turned to shut the door.
The light inside the chamber dimmed slightly, leaving only a few beams of morning light streaming through the lattice windows, illuminating the dust motes as they drifted lazily.
“What’s wrong, Your Highness? Has something happened?”
Shangguan Yunying came over and sat down at the bedside.
Luo Zhao was silent for a moment, then abruptly sat up again.
Her long hair swung in an arc with the movement; a few strands stuck to her cheek, but she couldn’t be bothered to brush them away.
“Let me ask you—after Little Aunt and Gu Chengyin left last night, where did they go?”
A flicker of hesitation crossed Shangguan Yunying’s face.
“Why does Your Highness ask?”
Shangguan Yunying’s tone remained steady.
But Luo Zhao caught the faint tension beneath that steadiness.
“Answer me first.”
Shangguan Yunying was silent for two breaths.
“Gu Chengyin... I don’t know where he went either. Only that he wasn’t in his own quarters.”
As she said this, her gaze shifted slightly, landing on the soft pillow in Luo Zhao’s arms rather than on her face.
Luo Zhao’s eyes narrowed.
“And Little Aunt?”
This time, Shangguan Yunying replied quickly.
“I don’t know. After all, Lord Jingzhe has profound cultivation. If she doesn’t want to be found, no one can find her.”
Luo Zhao’s fingers tightened around the pillow, her knuckles turning pale.
Though neither Gu Chengyin’s nor Lin Qingyan’s whereabouts were clear, Luo Zhao’s instincts told her that these two had definitely been together last night.
Not just together, but extremely close.
Because right now, she had a vague feeling—almost like she’d been betrayed.
No, not betrayal.
Luo Zhao couldn’t quite name it.
It was like she had painstakingly planted a tree, watered and fertilized it every day, waiting for it to bloom and bear fruit.
Then one morning, she woke up to find someone else had picked the fruit.
And the one who picked it was the person closest to her, the one she trusted most.
“Those two are definitely together!”
Luo Zhao’s voice came out muffled, as if squeezed through gritted teeth: “When Gu Chengyin left last night, I already felt something was off.”
Shangguan Yunying didn’t respond, but her fingers twitched slightly as she shifted her clasped hands on her lap.
“And Little Aunt! She was strange too!”
Luo Zhao grew more agitated, hopping off the bed and pacing barefoot on the rug, her long hair swaying behind her.
“And it was so late—why did they leave together?!”
“Your Highness...”
“Something’s wrong! There’s definitely something wrong!”
Luo Zhao spun around abruptly, pointing at the window, her finger trembling slightly:
“I should have seen it sooner! What Little Aunt said—it was deliberate!”
“She knew Gu Chengyin would never want me! That’s why she said it!”
“So... she was using me!”
Shangguan Yunying opened her mouth, as if to say something, but Luo Zhao gave her no chance to interrupt.
“She used me to provoke Gu Chengyin! She made me a stepping stone!”
Luo Zhao’s voice rose, then dropped sharply: “And then she swept in to reap the benefits! With Little Aunt’s charm, she only needs to make a slight move, and even if it’s Gu Chengyin...”
Luo Zhao stopped mid-sentence.
She stood in the morning light, barefoot, hair loose, still clutching the soft pillow—looking both furious and wronged, like a cat whose fish had been stolen.
“We clearly had a deal...”
Luo Zhao’s voice suddenly softened, so low it was almost to herself: “And the moment it fell apart, she dropped the act and turned around to use me...”
The corner of Shangguan Yunying’s mouth twitched.
“Not only did she use me, she didn’t even help me!”
Luo Zhao lifted her head, the rims of her eyes faintly red, but she stubbornly refused to let anything fall: “And she hoarded everything all to herself!”
Shangguan Yunying: “...”
Though she didn’t fully grasp what Luo Zhao was imagining—since, based on all the information available, there wasn’t a single piece of evidence that Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan were together—and knowing Gu Chengyin as she did, she felt Luo Zhao’s suspicions were a bit unfounded.
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!
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.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
