Fighting

Her Highness.

Shangguan Yunying finally spoke, her voice still quite steady:

“Although we don’t know where Gu Chengyin is right now, that doesn’t mean something happened between him and Lord Jingzhe.”

“Maybe he’s just contemplating the immortal path? After all, you know Gu Chengyin’s temperament.”

“Last night, you provoked him so harshly, yet in the end, he only scared you a little.”

Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying, her expression seeming to ask: Whose side are you on?

“Your Highness, what I mean is,” Shangguan Yunying continued unhurriedly, “Lord Jingzhe is, after all, your Little Aunt. A celestial maiden like her—”

“There’s no way she would just find some random spot in the Crown Prince’s palace and give herself to Gu Chengyin.”

“Besides, Gu Chengyin might not even want her.”

Luo Zhao was silent for a moment, then said in a muffled voice:

“The logic you’re saying, I understand it all. But…”

She paused, as if weighing her words carefully.

“But don’t you think that sentence of Little Aunt’s was really strange?”

“She likes Gu Chengyin so much, yet suddenly she told Gu Chengyin to take me.”

“That completely doesn’t match the person I know.”

Shangguan Yunying didn’t answer right away. She was thinking about what lay behind Luo Zhao’s words.

A celestial maiden like Lin Qingyan couldn’t control herself even after being slightly provoked in the past. Under Gu Xiaoli’s provocation, she had completely erupted on the spot.

Someone with such strong possessiveness—would she truly allow Gu Chengyin to take Luo Zhao?

This really didn’t fit Lin Qingyan’s nature or style.

Or was there a deeper scheme hidden behind those words?

Just as Luo Zhao suspected, was Lin Qingyan using her?

Adding to that, Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan had left together last night.

What if…

What if they weren’t contemplating the immortal path at all.

But instead…

Shangguan Yunying’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

Right at that moment, a sudden flurry of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

The footsteps were light and quick, like a cat padding across a wooden floor.

No, not like a cat—it was a cat.

The door was shoved open, and a small figure practically leaped inside.

“Sister Princess! Sister Yunying! Something terrible has happened!”

The one who entered was Gu Xiaoli, her eyes wide as saucers:

“Xiaoli just came over from the side hall and saw…”

“Saw what?” Luo Zhao’s heartbeat abruptly quickened, but she forced her voice to stay calm.

Gu Xiaoli took a deep breath, as if gathering immense courage:

“I saw Big Brother and Sister Qingyan fighting on the bed!”

The entire bedchamber fell silent.

So silent that they could hear the birds hopping among the branches outside the window.

Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying exchanged a glance, both seeing the disbelief in each other’s eyes.

“Fighting?” Luo Zhao repeated, her voice a little unsteady.

“On the bed?”

“That’s right! That side hall had a spiritual energy barrier, and Xiaoli got curious and peeked inside.”

“Then I saw Big Brother and Sister Qingyan tangled up on the bed, fighting fiercely!”

“Sister Qingyan was getting beaten badly too! She kept begging for mercy!”

Gu Xiaoli’s voice rose higher, then she realized something.

She quickly covered her mouth, her eyes darting around.

“Enough, enough, enough!” Luo Zhao clamped her hand over Gu Xiaoli’s mouth, her expression a brilliant mess.

Flushed red and pale by turns, like a shrimp being boiled:

“You don’t need to be so detailed!”

Gu Xiaoli, mouth covered, made muffled noises but couldn’t speak, though her eyes were still talking.

Those round cat-like eyes darted between Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying.

Shangguan Yunying took a deep breath, suppressing the fury and resentment rising in her heart. Gu Xiaoli had made it plain enough.

Gu Chengyin and Lin Qingyan hadn’t gone to contemplate the immortal path—they’d gone to explore the mysteries of life.

Even just now, they’d been exploring inside that side hall shrouded by the spiritual energy barrier.

No wonder they couldn’t find Gu Chengyin—with that barrier in place, ordinary cultivators couldn’t see either of them.

Only someone at Gu Xiaoli’s half-Nascent Soul level could detect anything amiss.

And all of this was clearly Lin Qingyan’s design.

Because she understood Luo Zhao’s personality, and knew what the real Luo Zhao was truly like.

That was why she had said those words—seemingly to provoke Gu Chengyin, but in reality to provoke Luo Zhao.

To make Luo Zhao challenge Gu Chengyin, to provoke him, to ignite the fire in his heart.

In the end, she, Lord Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master Mansion, would be the one to extinguish the flames.

And judging by the current situation, Lin Qingyan had succeeded.

No—

She had succeeded spectacularly.

That was why Luo Zhao had urgently summoned her to confirm their whereabouts.

Because just as Lin Qingyan understood Luo Zhao, Luo Zhao also knew her Little Aunt very well.

“Your Highness.” Shangguan Yunying’s voice turned cold. Something flickered deep in her eyes, like water moving beneath the ice.

“What should we do now?”

Luo Zhao released her hand from covering Gu Xiaoli’s mouth and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Her expression gradually settled from the shock, grievance, and fury of moments before.

After thinking it over seriously, she said with a grave expression:

“Knowing Gu Chengyin’s character, he is absolutely not that kind of person.”

“It must be Little Aunt who did something. So we have to stop Little Aunt.”

The thought of Gu Chengyin becoming her Little Uncle filled Luo Zhao with an indescribable irritation.

She hadn’t yet pulled down that bright moon, and now it was going to shine only on Lin Qingyan?

Even worse—it was trampling over her to do so.

Gu Xiaoli nodded vigorously, in full agreement. She had originally wanted to confront Lin Qingyan on the spot, but then realized she probably couldn’t win a fight.

So she had run back to find Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying. No matter what,

she absolutely would not accept Gu Chengyin being snatched away by Lin Qingyan like this.

Shangguan Yunying had no objections either.

After all, she was the first to know Gu Chengyin. Lin Qingyan had appeared the latest.

Why should a latecomer surpass them? She had been fighting and striving for him all along too.

So in Shangguan Yunying’s view, the facts were already clear:

Lin Qingyan must have used absolute force to compel Gu Chengyin.

“How do we stop her?”

Luo Zhao fell silent. That was a good question.

How could they stop Lin Qingyan?

Lord Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master Mansion—invincible among Golden Cores.

By status, no one could rein her in.

By strength, no one could defeat her.

Even Gu Xiaoli couldn’t claim a hundred percent certainty of victory.

And now, with Gu Chengyin’s help, Lin Qingyan had become even stronger.

That was why she wanted Gu Chengyin so desperately.

No matter how you looked at it, Gu Chengyin fulfilled all of Lin Qingyan’s needs.

Their relationship was already ambiguous enough, and after last night—even just now—

Luo Zhao shook her head forcefully, flinging the imagined scenes out of her mind.

“First.” Luo Zhao raised one finger and said:

“We cannot let Little Aunt find out that we’re planning to stop her.”

“Otherwise, she will definitely hide Gu Chengyin away, someplace where none of us can find him.”