Luo Zhao paused, picturing Lin Qingyan’s reaction if she found out.
This only made her resolve even stronger.
“Second.”
Luo Zhao raised another finger:
“We need to stick together. After all, we’re up against Little Aunt.”
“We can’t fight alone. So we need——”
“An alliance!”
Gu Xiaoli raised her hand, eyes shining:
“Your Highness, let’s form an alliance! A league specifically to oppose Sister Qingyan!”
Luo Zhao glanced at her, then at Shangguan Yunying.
“I’ve even thought of a name for it!”
Gu Xiaoli grew more excited as she spoke: “Call it the ‘Anti-Lin Qingyan Alliance’!”
The corner of Shangguan Yunying’s mouth twitched.
“We can discuss the name later,” Luo Zhao said, waving a hand but not entirely rejecting the idea.
“The point is, from now on, the three of us need to work together.”
“No matter who comes up with an idea, we share it and discuss it.”
“No matter who makes a move against Little Aunt, the others must coordinate and support.”
“I agree!”
Gu Xiaoli raised her hand again. Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying.
Shangguan Yunying was silent for a moment.
The situation was complicated now. Gu Chengyin had lifted the hypnotic suggestion on Luo Zhao.
So, officially, though she was Luo Zhao’s chief female official,
she was also supposed to keep an eye on Luo Zhao for Gu Chengyin, to prevent any backstabbing.
But now Lin Qingyan had taken advantage of this to win Gu Chengyin, which infuriated Shangguan Yunying.
And this alliance was aimed at Lin Qingyan, not at Gu Chengyin.
After turning it over in her mind, Shangguan Yunying finally nodded:
“Very well, Your Highness. I know what to do.”
Luo Zhao nodded with satisfaction.
After last night’s events, she had felt she was losing control—
especially over Shangguan Yunying and Gu Xiaoli, who now both clearly favored Gu Chengyin.
Luckily.
Luckily, her Little Aunt played dirty.
That had brought Shangguan Yunying and Gu Xiaoli back onto the same side as her.
Although it was an “Anti-Lin Qingyan Alliance,” if handled well, opposing Gu Chengyin wouldn’t be off the table either.
After all, that Red Egg had actually become her Little Uncle—
and after bullying her like that!
“Then it’s settled.”
Luo Zhao spoke very seriously:
“From today onward, we are the Anti-Lin Qingyan Alliance.”
“Anti-Lin Qingyan!”
Gu Xiaoli cheered.
Shangguan Yunying looked at the two before her and sighed silently in her heart, but she said nothing.
Because no matter what, she had to win Gu Chengyin back.
Outside the window, the morning light grew brighter, streaming in through the lattice and painting golden squares on the carpet.
The three of them stood in those golden squares, their shadows stretching long and overlapping, blurring whose was whose.
“Your Highness,” Shangguan Yunying spoke up,
“Since we want to stop Lord Jingzhe, we need a careful plan.”
“Acting recklessly will only alert the enemy.”
Luo Zhao’s eyes lit up. “Yunying is right. We really need to discuss this properly.”
Gu Xiaoli immediately scooted over, sitting cross-legged beside Luo Zhao, her eyes bright as polished brass bells.
“Your Highness,” Shangguan Yunying began,
“Is there a way to make Lord Jingzhe leave Gu Chengyin’s side?
Preferably something she can’t refuse.”
Luo Zhao frowned, then shook her head. “It’s hard. Even if Father issues an order in his capacity as Grand Hegemon, Little Aunt could simply ignore it.”
Shangguan Yunying wasn’t surprised by this answer, because that was Lin Qingyan through and through.
“In that case,” Shangguan Yunying continued,
“We need to create obstacles, so they don’t have too much time alone together.”
“Let’s plant rifts and misunderstandings between them, make them——”
“Make them quarrel!”
Gu Xiaoli raised her hand again. “Xiaoli can go tell Sister Qingyan that Big Brother likes someone else.
Then tell Big Brother that Sister Qingyan likes someone else!”
Shangguan Yunying paused for a moment, then shook her head. “That’s too deliberate.”
“And with how sharp Gu Chengyin and Lord Jingzhe are, they’d see through such a simple scheme at a glance.”
“Then what do we do?”
Gu Xiaoli deflated, her shoulders slumping.
Shangguan Yunying didn’t answer right away.
Her gaze drifted to the window lattice, to the golden shafts of morning light, to somewhere farther still.
“Let them develop their own estrangement,” she finally said, her voice lower.
“We don’t need to do much—just ensure that at certain crucial moments, things are conveniently missed.”
“Let certain important matters conveniently go unshared.”
“Let certain misunderstandings conveniently remain unresolved.”
Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying, her eyes deepening, a hint of admiration flickering in them.
“Yunying, you’re truly remarkable.”
Shangguan Yunying lowered her eyes, her lashes casting a small fan-shaped shadow beneath them.
“Your Highness flatters me.”
“Then it’s decided.”
Luo Zhao lifted her head, her expression solemn. “The Anti-Lin Qingyan Alliance is officially formed.”
She extended her right hand, palm facing down.
Gu Xiaoli immediately placed her hand on top, eyes sparkling.
Both of them looked at Shangguan Yunying.
Shangguan Yunying gazed at the two stacked hands,
then slowly raised her own hand and gently placed it on top.
Three hands, layered together.
The Anti-Lin Qingyan Alliance was officially formed.
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Gu Chengyin was getting dressed. The morning’s battle was his victory.
After tidying himself, he turned to look at the bed.
The blankets were bundled up by Lin Qingyan into a lump, with only a fluffy crown of hair visible from the outside.
Her long hair spilled out from the gaps in the blanket, spreading across the pillow.
The ink-black strands gleamed with a soft luster in the morning light, like crumpled brocade.
Gu Chengyin’s gaze lingered on that bundle for a moment.
He recalled how, an hour earlier, that bundle hadn’t looked like this at all.
Back then, Lin Qingyan’s hair was loose, her robes open wide, a faint trace of moisture still at the corner of her mouth.
She had tempted him in a voice so soft it seemed to drip with honey.
And then she had paid the price.
Gu Chengyin raised his hand and patted the bundled silhouette through the blanket, his force neither too firm nor too light.
“Little Aunt, I’m going to Her Highness’s place now.”
A muffled “mm” came from within the blanket—
short, vague, as if the speaker couldn’t even be bothered to fully open her mouth, just eking out a syllable from her throat.
Then there was silence. Even the blanket didn’t stir.
As if that single sound had drained the Fairy beneath the covers of all her energy.
Gu Chengyin shook his head at the motionless lump.
The golden-core–transcendent Lord Jingzhe wasn’t so impressive after all, was she?
He thought back to last night—no, this morning—when Lin Qingyan had cried and begged for mercy.
That woman who was usually aloof and distant, who didn’t even hold the Luo Emperor in her regard.
The Lord Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters’ Residence, whose mere glance could silence everyone.
Before him, she had shed all her defenses and pretenses—
red-rimmed eyes, hoarse voice, whispering “no, no more” over and over.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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!
