Just let it go like that?
Luo Zhao abruptly sat up straight.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Gu Chengyin owed her so much; she had to get it back.
Even if she couldn't reclaim the principal, she'd at least take the interest.
But she couldn't be rash. She needed to find another way.
Luo Zhao closed her eyes and sifted through every piece of information in her mind.
Like assembling a shattered painting, she pieced it together, fragment by fragment, back into its original place.
What was Gu Chengyin's weakness?
What did he want?
What did he need?
Gu Chengyin's weakness... was nearly nonexistent.
Daring to desire her counted as half a weakness at best. And what if he actually succeeded?
Then where would be the satisfaction in that? Wouldn't that just be rewarding Gu Chengyin instead?
What Gu Chengyin craved was... status and power?
No. Not just power.
What he wanted was more fundamental, more grand.
Though Luo Zhao didn't know exactly what it was, she understood this: what Gu Chengyin truly desired was definitely not something so superficial.
But what she could confirm was that, for now, what he needed was to succeed as Minister of Rites.
He needed...
Lin Qingyan!
Luo Zhao's eyes flew open.
She recalled that sentence Gu Chengyin had just said: "I just wanted to completely control Aunt, that's all. There was just a minor accident."
If those words were true...
No, Luo Zhao could be certain. They were true.
Because when Gu Chengyin spoke them, his tone carried that arrogant confidence that wasn't the least bit feigned.
This raised a new question:
Gu Chengyin had been so restrained before, never overstepping. Why did he cross the line this time?
Had he finally seen the light?
Had Aunt finally moved him?
No. Neither.
It was because the hypnosis had failed.
Because he hadn't managed to completely control Lin Qingyan.
That's why he crossed the line, why he was obtained by Lin Qingyan and also obtained her.
Because Gu Chengyin needed Lin Qingyan.
Just like he once needed her, Luo Zhao.
Back then, he needed her because she was the Crown Prince.
Controlling her meant controlling the Crown Prince's faction.
That was the foundation of Gu Chengyin's status and power.
Now he needed Lin Qingyan because she was the Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion.
She was the absolute trump card who could hold her ground even against Emperor Luo.
Luo Zhao's eyes grew brighter and brighter, like two polished crystal beads refracting a scorching glow in the sunlight.
This logical chain held together.
From beginning to end, it was seamlessly airtight.
Gu Chengyin needed her, so he controlled her.
Now he didn't need her anymore, so he lifted the hypnosis.
He needed Lin Qingyan, so he tried to control Lin Qingyan.
But the hypnosis failed, so he settled for the next best thing...
In other words, as long as Lin Qingyan stopped being the Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion,
everything Gu Chengyin had now would fall apart!
Then, he would have only one choice.
To return to her embrace as the Crown Prince.
And then, through the power of the Crown Prince's faction, obtain whatever Gu Chengyin wanted.
Luo Zhao's breathing quickened. Her fingers trembled faintly on the desk.
Not from tension, but from excitement—a near-rapturous euphoria, as if she had discovered a new continent.
The Golden Core Immortal and the Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion represented two completely different meanings.
The Golden Core Immortal stood alone, a matter of personal power.
A Golden Core realm expert, no matter how strong, was still just one person.
Even if she could fight three or five opponents single-handedly, there was ultimately a limit.
But Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion was different.
Jingzhe represented the Celestial Masters' Mansion itself.
It was a superpower with thousands of years of heritage, deep foundations, and disciples scattered across the land.
Taihe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion might not be the strongest, but the Celestial Masters' Mansion certainly had the most Golden Core cultivators.
And the name "Celestial Masters' Mansion" itself was a banner.
Anyone who broke the rules made an enemy of the entire Celestial Masters' Mansion.
Lin Qingyan's strength aside—invincible among Golden Cores, capable of fighting three alone—she was ultimately just one person.
No one would actually send a team of Golden Cores to deal with her.
Not because they couldn't beat her, but because it wasn't worth it.
Because the words "Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion" were themselves an invisible shield.
No one would deploy a group of Golden Cores against Lin Qingyan. Not because they couldn't defeat her.
But because the Celestial Masters' Mansion could also send a group of Golden Cores to support her.
That was the deterrent power of being the Jingzhe of the Celestial Masters' Mansion.
But without that identity,
Lin Qingyan was just Lin Qingyan.
The Celestial Masters' Mansion wouldn't dispatch a horde of Golden Cores for a former Jingzhe.
The new Jingzhe wouldn't turn against the imperial court for the sake of an already-retired senior sister.
The mansion's elders wouldn't defy Taihe for someone who was no longer part of the Celestial Masters' Mansion.
Lin Qingyan would still be invincible among Golden Cores, still an elite who could fight three at once.
But the backing of the Celestial Masters' Mansion—that was gone.
Luo Zhao squinted.
Her lashes drooped slightly at the corners, half-shielding her pupils.
Only a sliver of deep, flickering light remained.
Her fingers stopped tapping on the desk. She seemed frozen in place.
Sitting motionless, with only her breaths slowly and rhythmically rising and falling.
This was a path she had never considered before.
Previously, Lin Qingyan was her aunt.
She was the one who spoke up for her when she made mistakes, who protected her in danger.
The one who would appear by her side whenever she needed her most, her aunt.
Luo Zhao had never thought to contend for anything with Aunt.
If Lin Qingyan wanted something, Lin Qingyan got it.
That wasn't just empty words; because if her aunt wanted it, even Luo Zhao, as the Crown Prince, would step back.
Aunt was the closest person in the world to her—bar none.
But now?
Luo Zhao's lips tightened slightly.
Now, Lin Qingyan was first Gu Chengyin's woman, and only then her aunt.
This change in order made everything different.
This identity now preceded the status of aunt.
It meant that in Lin Qingyan's heart, Gu Chengyin's weight had already surpassed hers.
It meant that when trouble arose, Lin Qingyan would first stand by Gu Chengyin's side, and only then consider her.
It meant...
She had lost not just Gu Chengyin, but also Aunt.
Luo Zhao's fingers clenched tightly within her sleeve.
If that was the case.
Then don't blame her for cutting off all retreat.
Luo Zhao's gaze left the desk and settled on the window.
The sunlight had shifted from golden to stark white, casting the entire courtyard into sharp focus.
The lanterns under the eaves had been extinguished, leaving only an empty row of racks swaying faintly in the breeze.
In the distance, palace servants were sweeping the grounds. The sound of brooms on bluestone drifted over intermittently.
Carrying that mundane, everyday calm, so utterly at odds with the turmoil raging in her heart.
Luo Zhao lowered her eyes, the lashes casting a fan-like shadow beneath.
Hiding all her emotions in that patch of darkness.
Her lips parted slightly, closed, then parted again.
Finally, she let out a whisper so soft it was barely audible:
"I'm sorry, Aunt."
"It's the only way."
"Only then will Gu Chengyin come back to me."
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
