The Crown Prince's Palace.
Shangguan Yunying's words landed with weight, and when her voice faded, her eyes still held a lingering resolve.
Gu Chengyin was about to respond when he suddenly blinked.
His gaze shifted away from Shangguan Yunying's face and turned toward the door.
The door was shut tight, revealing nothing.
But Gu Chengyin's gaze pierced through the door, through the corridor, through the palace walls of the Crown Prince's residence, landing somewhere far beyond.
Shangguan Yunying watched Gu Chengyin turn his gaze away. She was briefly taken aback, then she sensed it too.
"Auntie's here."
"Mm."
Shangguan Yunying let out a sulky hum and buried her face against his chest, rubbing against him hard.
"She releases her presence from that far away, as if she's afraid we wouldn't notice."
When she said this, her tone rose slightly at the end, carrying a hint of gritted teeth.
Gu Chengyin raised a hand and patted her back gently—both a comfort and a warning.
There was no help for it. Lin Qingyan's aura was too obvious.
It drifted over from beyond the Crown Prince's Palace, completely unguarded, even brazenly so.
As if announcing: I don't care what you two were doing before, but I'm here now.
So you'd better pull yourselves together quickly, and don't let me catch any slip-ups.
Domineering.
Headstrong.
Unreasonable.
But that was precisely Lin Qingyan.
Shangguan Yunying bit her lower lip, her cheeks puffed up, her gentle, beautiful face written all over with defiance.
She nuzzled against Gu Chengyin's chest again, wrapping her arms and legs around him like an octopus clinging to him.
"Yunying."
Gu Chengyin called out helplessly, his voice laced with doting indulgence.
"I know! I know!"
Shangguan Yunying said in a muffled voice, but her small hands gripped his lapels even tighter:
"Just a little longer. Just a little!"
"She's still outside the palace, right? She has to walk a few steps, doesn't she? It's not like she's flying in!"
Gu Chengyin said nothing more, only tightened his arms, pulling Shangguan Yunying even closer.
Outside the Crown Prince's Palace, that golden-core presence stood steady.
Extremely patient, extremely proud, clearly waiting.
Shangguan Yunying naturally knew what Lin Qingyan was waiting for.
This Lady Jingzhe had always carried herself this way.
She could have come right in, but instead released her presence from outside, giving plenty of time, plenty of warning.
And still pretending to be aloof and distant.
But if she truly didn't care, why go through all this trouble?
"She's doing this on purpose!"
Shangguan Yunying said in a muffled voice, finally lifting her head from Gu Chengyin's chest.
Her bright eyes were misty, the rims faintly red—whether from anger or something else, it was hard to tell:
"She knows I'm here with you, so she deliberately came to stir things up."
Gu Chengyin raised his hand, his fingertip lightly brushing the corner of her eye. He didn't deny it.
Because Shangguan Yunying was right.
Lin Qingyan was doing it on purpose.
With a golden-core immortal's perception, she naturally knew what was happening inside the Crown Prince's Palace at this moment.
Shangguan Yunying sighed again, this time longer and heavier than before, as if trying to expel all the resentment in her chest.
She tilted her head to look at Gu Chengyin, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment.
Then she suddenly reached out, cupping his face with both hands, her thumbs gently stroking his cheekbones—a tender, lingering gesture.
"Gu Chengyin."
"Hm?"
"Everything I said just now—did you take it all in?"
"Of course."
"So do you accept it or not?"
Shangguan Yunying blinked, her eyes holding both cunning and sincerity.
Without a moment's hesitation, Gu Chengyin said solemnly:
"Whatever Yunying says, that's what it is."
Hearing this, Shangguan Yunying's eyes instantly lit up, like fireworks bursting open in the night sky, so dazzling it was hard to look away.
The corners of her mouth curved up, her eyes crinkling into smiles, yet she deliberately put on a stern face and scolded:
"Well, that's settled then. No backing out later."
"I won't back out, ever."
Having received his promise, Shangguan Yunying leaned in and planted a big kiss squarely on Gu Chengyin's lips.
It was a kiss heavy and loud, laced with a hint of petulance—their lips even made a smacking sound on contact.
After the kiss, Shangguan Yunying felt it wasn't enough, so she pressed down harder, grinding.
Only when Gu Chengyin's lips were worn slightly red did she pull back, satisfied.
"Hmph!"
She let out a huffy snort, cheeks puffed up like a little pufferfish.
But her eyes sparkled, full of determined light:
"Once I break through to golden core! I'm going to do it right in front of her! And it'll kill her!"
When Shangguan Yunying said this, her voice was crisp and resolute.
As if she had sworn some mighty oath, her whole being radiated a refusal to lose.
That spirit carried her grudge against Lin Qingyan, her hunger for power.
But most of all, it was a near-obsessive possessiveness.
Gu Chengyin wasn't stupid; he knew this was the time to go along with Shangguan Yunying.
He raised his hand to tidy the stray strands of hair at her temple, his voice gentle:
"Yunying is the most capable. I believe you'll do it."
Just one simple sentence, yet it warmed Shangguan Yunying's heart.
She knew that her current cultivation was far beneath Lin Qingyan's, knew how difficult the path to golden core was.
She knew that even if she broke through to golden core, she might not necessarily get the better of Lin Qingyan.
But Gu Chengyin said he believed she could do it, so she would.
"That's more like it."
Shangguan Yunying curved her lips, sat up from his embrace, and idly smoothed her rumpled dress.
What needed tidying was tidied, what needed fixing was fixed.
The two emerged from the small chamber. Gu Chengyin found a brass basin, scooped up some cold water to wash his face, then straightened his robes and cap before the bronze mirror.
Shangguan Yunying slipped behind the folding screen and carefully adjusted her appearance.
She checked herself in the mirror, confirming that her makeup was flawless and her dress was neat.
Then she took a deep breath, letting go of all the coquettish pouts and displeasure from moments ago, replacing them with a gentle, dignified expression.
When she stepped out from behind the screen, Shangguan Yunying had already reverted to her usual bearing as chief female official.
Her steps were composed, her demeanor natural, her brows carrying a perfectly measured smile—neither too warm nor too distant.
As if the woman who had just clung to Gu Chengyin like a spoiled child had been nothing but an illusion.
Gu Chengyin glanced at her, secretly admiring her skill.
Shangguan Yunying had indeed trained under Luo Zhao for years—if nothing else, she had mastered that ability to conceal her feelings to perfection.
"Let's go."
Shangguan Yunying said softly, taking the lead toward the main hall.
Gu Chengyin walked alongside her, his steps unhurried.
Inside the main hall, the two took their seats.
Gu Chengyin sat in the master's seat, while Shangguan Yunying sat across from him, a low table between them.
To any outsider, they would appear to be nothing more than the Crown Prince's tutor and the chief female official engaged in routine business—no fault to be found.
Shangguan Yunying lowered her eyes, her fingertips quietly rubbing together hidden in her sleeve, her mind turning over and over what had just happened.
She had told Gu Chengyin her decision.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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?!
