But her sister just smiled at the time and said:
"Congcong will be a good emperor."
Lin Qingyan didn't believe it. At the time, she thought the Crown Prince of Luo was too gloomy, too heavy.
How could someone so dark and heavy be a good emperor?
Her sister said: "You don't understand. It's precisely because of that that he can be a good emperor."
Lin Qingyan truly didn't understand.
It wasn't until she met Gu Chengyin that she understood.
Because Gu Chengyin and the Crown Prince of Luo were essentially the same kind of person.
It was just that her sister liked the Crown Prince of Luo, while she liked Gu Chengyin.
It was only after falling for Gu Chengyin that Lin Qingyan came to understand why her sister had fallen for the Crown Prince of Luo.
Coupled with her understanding of the Crown Prince of Luo, Lin Qingyan didn't even need to think to know what the hell this old dog suddenly summoning the imperial son-in-law was really about.
On the surface, it was about Cui Shifan's marriage proposal, about stopping the Cui clan from forging a marriage alliance with the Crown Prince's palace.
Cui Shifan was proposing at the Crown Prince's palace; the Crown Prince of Luo was summoning the imperial son-in-law at the palace.
You make your proposal, I summon my son-in-law.
You probe at the Crown Prince's palace, I place my piece in the warm pavilion.
You stir up a thousand waves with one stone, I slit your throat with one sword and draw blood.
In reality, the Crown Prince of Luo was coming after her.
Not for Cui Shifan, not for Cui Zilu, not for anyone in the court.
He was coming after Lin Qingyan herself.
Because she was Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence.
Because she was Gu Chengyin's greatest support.
Because she was the only one in the court who heeded orders but not summons.
Her very existence was itself a threat to the balance of the court.
It wasn't about what she had done, but what she could do.
A Golden Core invincible Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence, standing behind Gu Chengyin—what did that mean?
It meant Gu Chengyin had a trump card that no one dared to touch.
This trump card was more solid than any court alliance, more enduring than any exchange of interests.
Because it wasn't built on interests, but on Lin Qingyan herself.
The Crown Prince of Luo could not tolerate Gu Chengyin having such an impressive trump card.
Besides his grievances against Gu Chengyin, there was also the fact that he was the Emperor of Great Luo.
To maintain imperial power, he naturally had to eliminate all potential threats.
And Gu Chengyin himself was a threat; add Lin Qingyan to the equation, and it was just too much.
Because Lin Qingyan was too strong, so strong that the Crown Prince of Luo had to treat her with the utmost seriousness and caution.
Because Gu Chengyin was too clever, so clever that the Crown Prince of Luo could not allow him to hold this trump card.
So why did the Crown Prince of Luo come after her?
It could only be because of Gu Chengyin.
A Gu Chengyin with Lin Qingyan and a Gu Chengyin without Lin Qingyan were two completely different people.
The former was a latent threat the Crown Prince of Luo had to guard against at all times; the latter was a capable minister he could confidently put to use.
What the Crown Prince of Luo wanted wasn't Gu Chengyin, but a Gu Chengyin without Lin Qingyan.
That was why he had devised this move.
Using Cui Shifan's proposal as a lure, the summoning of the imperial son-in-law as a chess piece, and Lin Qingyan herself as the target.
One move, three goals.
Kill three birds with one stone, slit a throat with one sword.
"You rotten dog, you dare play your balancing games with me? I'll be damned if I let you get away with this."
Lin Qingyan cursed through gritted teeth.
In the past, no matter what the Crown Prince of Luo did, he would never have used such tactics against her.
Aside from her strength keeping him in check, it was also because the Crown Prince of Luo did show her a measure of respect.
But now, the Crown Prince of Luo had done exactly that.
Not only had he done it, he had even deliberately informed her in this manner.
Weaving the news of summoning the imperial son-in-law into the intelligence reports, sending it to her hands, and letting her read it herself.
Clearly, this was intentional.
The Crown Prince of Luo was telling her: I am going to make a move on Gu Chengyin.
I am going to take him away from you.
What can you do about it?
You can't do anything.
Because you are Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence.
Because you are bound by a sacred oath.
Because you cannot turn hostile.
You cannot, for personal feelings, do anything that would harm the reputation of the Celestial Master Residence or the well-being of the world.
You can only watch.
Watch as I turn Gu Chengyin into the imperial son-in-law, into Luo Zhao's husband.
There is only one way to change any of this, and that is to renounce your identity as Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence.
If you renounce your identity, then I will consider not summoning Gu Chengyin as the imperial son-in-law.
The corner of Lin Qingyan's mouth twitched slightly.
She was almost certain that this was what the Crown Prince of Luo wanted her to know.
By her usual nature, she should have been furious now, should have been enraged, should have even wanted to tear down the entire palace.
But no. There was not a single ripple in Lin Qingyan's heart.
She felt no anger, no rage, no urge to tear down the palace.
She merely looked calmly at the contents of the paper.
The Crown Prince of Luo was going to summon an imperial son-in-law, and the candidate was Gu Chengyin.
This was an impending fact, because the imperial edict had not yet been issued.
But the fact that the Crown Prince of Luo had placed this matter before her meant that he had already made thorough preparations.
The edict had been drafted, the procedures were all in place, just waiting for the world to know.
The only reason it hadn't been issued yet was that he was waiting for her to make her choice.
To choose between being Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence, or choosing Gu Chengyin.
And as Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence, who heeded orders but not summons, Lin Qingyan was very clear about her limitations and shackles.
It wasn't power, it wasn't status, it wasn't anything in the court, but those four declarations.
She had sworn a sacred oath.
In the name of Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence, carved into her Dao heart.
That was the Crown Prince of Luo's goal.
He hoped that she would choose Gu Chengyin, hoped that she would voluntarily renounce her identity as Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence, hoped to dismantle Gu Chengyin's greatest support.
But in the end, Lin Qingyan merely gave a faint smile.
She raised her hand, waved it lightly in the air, and the paper ignited on its own.
Not lit by fire—no smoke, no ash, only a flash of light.
The light faded, and the paper was gone.
From a personal standpoint, Lin Qingyan believed that she would indeed choose Gu Chengyin.
But she did not intend to do so, because this wasn't her call to make.
It was Gu Chengyin's call.
Whatever Gu Chengyin told her to do, she would do.
Whatever Gu Chengyin told her to choose, she would choose.
Lin Qingyan had a very clear understanding of her own position, and she had no intention whatsoever of dealing with the Crown Prince of Luo.
As a smart woman, she believed that the most important thing she should do now was to tell Gu Chengyin everything and wait for her man to make the decision.
A smart woman didn't need to have any opinions of her own.
She just needed to be well-behaved, understanding, obedient, and compliant.
And Lin Qingyan trusted Gu Chengyin. She believed that he would make the choice that was best for her.
So no matter what schemes the Crown Prince of Luo had in store.
It had nothing to do with her.
She didn't need to think, didn't need to calculate, didn't need to run countless simulations in her mind.
She just needed to wait.
Wait for Gu Chengyin to tell her what to do, and then she would do it.
Even if Gu Chengyin told her to use her identity as Jingzhe of the Celestial Master Residence to tear down the palace.
To oppose openly, to make a public scene.
Even if it meant violating the declarations of the Celestial Master Residence, even if it might affect her Dao heart.
The Lin Qingyan of now would carry it out without the slightest hesitation.
Because if Gu Chengyin asked her to do it, then there must be a reason for it.
She trusted Gu Chengyin. Absolute trust, one hundred percent.
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.
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?!
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!
