The Crown Prince's Palace.
Shangguan Yunying's eyes shone like two polished glass beads, refracting a blazing light.
A faint smile curved at the corners of her lips, carrying both a sense of release and firm resolve.
She spoke aloud the conclusion she had finally reached:
“Because Lin Qingyan is Lin Qingyan! Cui Zilu is Cui Zilu!”
Her voice rose a notch, tinted with obvious realization.
“But I am not! Shangguan Yunying is not Shangguan Yunying!”
“I am His Highness's chief female official!”
As those words left her mouth, something almost tragic crept into Shangguan Yunying's voice.
Chief female official.
The root of everything—the true reason she was always one step behind everyone else.
Because she was not Shangguan Yunying, but the chief female official.
And that identity, she had chosen it herself.
It was a path she had walked step by step with her own two feet.
Shangguan Yunying still remembered that day—standing before Luo Zhao, dressed in a brand-new crimson female official's robe.
Her hair bun was combed flawlessly, and she performed the formal salute with propriety, her voice gentle and composed:
“Your subordinate, Shangguan Yunying, pledges her service to Your Highness.”
Luo Zhao glanced at her, gave a slight nod, and uttered a single word:
“Good.”
Just that one word, Shangguan Yunying had remembered for many years.
From that day on, her primary identity was no longer the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, no longer the daughter of Shangguan Yuan and Jiang Jianli.
It was chief female official—one of Luo Zhao's closest aides, part of the Crown Prince's Palace.
Every decision had to prioritize Luo Zhao's interests first.
Every action had to consider its impact on Luo Zhao.
Every gain and loss had to be ranked behind the four words “chief female official.”
But after meeting Gu Chengyin, Shangguan Yunying began to waver.
After being provoked by Lin Qingyan and then struck by Cui Zilu,
Shangguan Yunying finally started to reflect on herself—on where the root of all this lay.
And just now, while crying in Gu Chengyin's arms,
she had rendered her final verdict on herself.
It wasn't that she was too weak, not that she wasn't good enough, not that she couldn't measure up to them.
It was because she was the chief female official.
So she had to place her personal interests behind her loyalty to Luo Zhao.
She had to place her feelings for Gu Chengyin behind Luo Zhao's interests.
That was the true reason she fell behind everyone else at every turn.
Lin Qingyan didn't have to prioritize Luo Zhao.
Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master Manor didn't need to put Luo Zhao's interests first—she only needed to be herself.
So she had no worries, no concerns, and certainly no hesitation.
She liked Gu Chengyin, so she pursued him.
She caught him, so she loved him.
She loved him, so she would marry him.
Clean and decisive, without a shred of dragging feet.
She embodied the ten words “Lin Qingyan wants, Lin Qingyan gets” to the fullest.
Cui Zilu didn't have to prioritize Luo Zhao either.
Her interests, her roots, lay with the Cui clan, with the great noble houses.
Cui Zilu could have just lived as a carefree legitimate daughter under Cui Shifan's protection.
Until she met Gu Chengyin—and even then, she met him so late.
But she could get Cui Shifan to personally step forward, personally speak up, personally come to the Crown Prince's Palace to propose marriage.
She didn't need to consider whether doing so would offend anyone, or whether it would disrupt the balance of the court.
Cui Shifan and Xiao Ruxu handled all those considerations for her.
All Cui Zilu had to do was love Gu Chengyin with a hundred percent of her heart.
Only she, Shangguan Yunying, had nothing and was nothing.
While everyone else charged forward, she alone stood still, marking time.
Only she was still agonizing over whether Gu Chengyin might harm Luo Zhao.
Only she was still tangled up in how to test Gu Chengyin.
Lin Qingyan appeared the latest, yet she was the first to win Gu Chengyin.
Without hesitation, without asking about consequences, without thinking about the future—she charged ahead purely on the strength of her feelings.
When she charged forward, she didn't think about what Luo Zhao would think, didn't think about what Shangguan Yunying would think, didn't think about what anyone else would think.
That Lady Jingzhe knew only one thing:
Lin Qingyan wants, Lin Qingyan gets.
Cui Zilu came much later, yet she was already talking about marriage.
She too was reckless, she too didn't ask about consequences, she too didn't think about the future.
If not for Gu Chengyin's extremely sensitive status,
if not for the enormous impact of a marriage alliance between the Cui clan and the Crown Prince's Palace,
given her position as a legitimate daughter of the Cui clan, she'd probably be in the bridal chamber by now.
And all of this—all of Lin Qingyan's gains, all of Cui Zilu's gains—
should have been hers. Shangguan Yunying could have won Gu Chengyin. Shangguan Yunying could have had his hand in marriage.
Shangguan Yunying even began to wonder: if she hadn't been the chief female official when she met Gu Chengyin, what then?
If she had merely been the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family when she met Gu Chengyin, what then?
If she didn't have to consider Luo Zhao, didn't have to consider the Crown Prince's Palace, didn't have to consider all those rules and constraints—
and simply be herself, what then?
The answer was obvious.
She would have had everything of Gu Chengyin's.
Because everything Gu Chengyin wanted, she could give.
Gu Chengyin wanted status—she could give it.
Her father was Shangguan Yuan.
The representative of the rising noble houses, a heavy-weight minister of the court. Though not a top-tier power broker like Cui Shifan, he was still a man who could shake the entire court with a single stomp of his foot.
Shangguan Yuan had spent so many years building his influence in the court, with inexhaustible connections and resources.
If she spoke up, Shangguan Yuan would pave the way for Gu Chengyin.
Because Gu Chengyin was the husband Shangguan Yunying had chosen.
Gu Chengyin wanted a sect—she could give it.
Her mother was Jiang Jianli, her grandfather was Jiang Qingshan.
If she spoke up, Jiang Qingshan would no longer be arbitrarily sidelined.
Instead, those ants at the Foundation Establishment stage would learn what a Golden Core cultivator truly was.
Because Gu Chengyin was the husband Shangguan Yunying had chosen.
Even if Gu Chengyin wanted absolute, unwavering trust, she could give that too.
Because as long as she wasn't the chief female official, she didn't need to consider anyone else anymore.
She didn't need to consider Luo Zhao, didn't need to consider loyalty to the Crown Prince—
she only needed to love Gu Chengyin with her whole heart, a hundred percent.
Whatever Gu Chengyin wanted—promotion, power, anything—she could give.
Because she was the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, wealthy enough to rival a nation.
And all of that fell within what money could buy.
But she happened to meet Gu Chengyin while she was Luo Zhao's chief female official.
Not the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, not that wealthy, nation-rivaling heiress.
But the chief female official.
A chief female official who had to mind every word and action, who couldn't lose composure in public, who couldn't show any cracks.
So from the very beginning, she had been wary of Gu Chengyin.
Not just wary that he might harm Luo Zhao, but also wary of her own feelings for him.
Shangguan Yunying told herself endlessly: You are the chief female official. You cannot love anyone.
Getting close to Gu Chengyin was for His Highness, for the greater good of the Crown Prince's Palace, for the duty of the chief female official.
And so she approached Gu Chengyin with calculated intent.
Every chance encounter had been meticulously designed.
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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?!
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
