When she heard those words, Luo Zhao's eyes flew wide open.
Her pupils contracted, the corners of her eyes lifted, and her eyelashes were frozen in place from sheer shock.
Her whole body seemed under a spell, even her breathing had stopped.
Coming back to her senses, she shot up from her seat with a swish.
Her movement was so swift it stirred a breeze, rustling the edges of several memorials on the desk.
Bracing her hands on the table, leaning forward over the stack of documents, she pointed straight at Gu Chengyin.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
Her voice exploded in the empty hall, filled with the righteous indignation of one who had been proven right.
The finger aimed at Gu Chengyin trembled slightly.
Not from fear, but from fury.
"Last night you were trying to control Little Aunt! But you failed, didn't you!"
When these words blurted out, Luo Zhao felt like an absolute genius.
All the clues fell into place.
The fact that Gu Chengyin had lifted the hypnosis the night before was itself suspicious.
Why had he maintained his hypnosis over her for so long, only to break it last night of all times?
Breaking it when everyone was present?
The truth was, he was using that opportunity to make Lin Qingyan let down her guard.
If he could control Lin Qingyan, control the invincible Fairy Jingzhe who was at the Golden Core stage,
Gu Chengyin would hold a trump card that no one could counter.
He could manipulate Lin Qingyan to pressure the Emperor.
He could use Lin Qingyan to clear every obstacle for him in the court.
He could control Lin Qingyan...
Luo Zhao's back ran cold at the thought.
But for some reason, Gu Chengyin's hypnosis hadn't succeeded.
So he settled for the next best thing—sending Lin Qingyan to 'reason' with the Emperor.
And that seemingly explanatory speech afterward? All a smokescreen!
Nothing but a cover for his real intentions!
Only because Gu Chengyin had acted so convincingly that even she had been fooled at the time.
But now she saw through it all!
Gu Chengyin had absolutely intended to hypnotize Lin Qingyan!
The more Luo Zhao thought about it, the more airtight her reasoning seemed.
Her eyes grew brighter, and the finger she pointed at Gu Chengyin steadied.
Her chin lifted slightly, her lips curling with the smugness of someone who had caught another in the act.
Gu Chengyin stood where he was, his expression unchanged.
His face had not shifted from the moment Luo Zhao had stood up.
Calm, composed, like deep water whose surface had been rippled by wind but whose depths remained utterly still.
Even when Luo Zhao pointed at him and spoke, he didn't bat an eye.
"Your Highness."
Gu Chengyin spoke, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, his tone neither rushed nor slow.
Like someone reasoning with a child throwing a tantrum:
"Rice can be eaten at random, but words cannot be spoken recklessly."
He paused, his gaze fixed on Luo Zhao's face, neither evasive nor confrontational.
"My heart toward Little Aunt and toward Yunying—heaven and earth bear witness, the sun and moon shine upon it."
The words landed with weight, every syllable measured, carrying full conviction.
Especially the name "Yunying," nestled precisely between "Little Aunt" and "heart," positioned with maddening accuracy.
It neither felt like deliberate emphasis nor did it fail to reach the ears of Shangguan Yunying, who was just walking in.
Luo Zhao didn't notice this detail.
She was too caught up in her anger, her focus entirely on confronting Gu Chengyin.
She hadn't paid any attention to the footsteps outside the hall.
But Gu Chengyin had heard them.
He'd heard Shangguan Yunying from the moment she was within thirty feet.
So he had added those three words—not for Luo Zhao, but for Shangguan Yunying.
In the subtle details lay true mastery.
This was where Luo Zhao could never match him.
"As I said last night."
Gu Chengyin's gaze shifted from Luo Zhao's face, sweeping briefly toward the hall's entrance.
Then he looked back.
"I have never once intended to control any of you."
When Shangguan Yunying walked in, she caught Gu Chengyin saying the words "toward Yunying."
Her steps faltered for just a moment before returning to normal.
Her face betrayed nothing, her eyes straight ahead—the proper expression of a chief female official.
But the tips of her ears flushed faintly pink, like peach blossoms dampened by morning dew, standing out clearly against the crimson of her official robe.
In her arms, she carried a stack of sorted documents. She walked to Luo Zhao's side and offered a respectful bow.
"Your Highness."
Not a word more, not a word less.
But only Shangguan Yunying knew how much faster her heart was beating than usual at that moment.
"...heart toward Yunying—heaven and earth bear witness, the sun and moon shine upon it."
Gu Chengyin had said such a thing in front of Her Highness.
In broad daylight, while fully conscious, with no one forcing him.
Shangguan Yunying's ears flushed even redder.
Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying, then back at Gu Chengyin, her heart seething with frustration.
She saw Shangguan Yunying's reddened ears.
She also saw that Gu Chengyin's words had been meant for her.
And she saw, in Shangguan Yunying's eyes, a joy too vivid to hide.
This realization made Luo Zhao even more bitter.
Now, only she knew the truth.
Only she had seen through Gu Chengyin's scheme.
But it was useless.
Without evidence, no one would believe her.
Shangguan Yunying wouldn't, Gu Xiaoli wouldn't, let alone Lin Qingyan.
Luo Zhao took a deep breath.
It was a long breath, as if she were using it to press down all the anger, bitterness, and resentment in her chest, little by little.
Her shoulders relaxed from their tension; her spine straightened out of its rigidity.
Her expression shifted from "I'm going to fight you" to "I'm not going to stoop to your level."
Then Luo Zhao slowly sat back down.
The movement was deliberate, as if she were proving her composure with every gesture.
Once seated, she reached out to smooth the wrinkles in her robes that had been mussed by her sudden rise.
When she lifted her head again, her face had resumed the cold, proud, and aloof demeanor of a crown prince.
Her brows were serene, her lips lightly pressed, her eyes holding a natural look of condescension.
Gu Chengyin watched this transformation, a flicker of admiration in his eyes.
Setting everything else aside, the sheer ability to endure what others could not—
even he had to marvel at it.
To yank herself back from the brink of losing control at the height of emotion.
To go from bristling fury to perfect calm in the span of a few breaths.
That wasn't talent.
It was instinct, forged through years of being forced to learn court etiquette, to sit in on court sessions, and being told, time and again, "You are the heir apparent."
That restraint and self-control—it surpassed even his own.
"Yunying."
Luo Zhao's voice was as steady as if she were presiding over a morning court session.
"Take these memorials to the Cabinet."
She nodded toward a pile of documents on the desk.
The one on top bore the words: "Your subject, Cui Zhenji, respectfully submits."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Shangguan Yunying gathered the stack, tidied it, and held it in her arms.
Her movements were swift and meticulous, each corner aligned.
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, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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!
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
