Cui Shifan's marriage proposal was an excellent opportunity. In the face of the prince's faction, which represented an emerging power, a marriage alliance between the Cui family and the crown prince's faction was no longer so unacceptable.
But marriage alliance was inherently in conflict with the Emperor's son-in-law status.
Therefore, as long as the news of Shangguan Yunying resigning from her position as Chief Female Official spread, the imperial decree would never be issued.
Not because they didn't want to issue it, but because they couldn't.
Issuing it would not have suppressed Gu Chengyin, but rather Luo Zhao.
Lin Qingyan looked at Gu Chengyin, a glint of admiration flashing in her eyes.
Gu Chengyin's countermeasure was too ruthless.
Using Shangguan Yunying to restrain the imperial decree, using the crown prince's faction to pressure Emperor Luo — every step was interlocked, every move carefully planned.
Lin Qingyan could now be certain that Shangguan Yunying's resignation as Chief Female Official, which appeared voluntary, was in fact deliberately orchestrated by Gu Chengyin.
Though she didn't know whether Cui Shifan was working in coordination with Gu Chengyin, it was clear that Gu Chengyin staying at the Silent Tower last night was obviously meant to provoke Shangguan Yunying, pushing her to make the "right" choice on her own.
So from beginning to end, Gu Chengyin's biggest trump card against Emperor Luo was not her, Lin Qingyan — it was Luo Zhao.
This realization struck Lin Qingyan like a thunderbolt.
She had thought she was Gu Chengyin's greatest reliance, that he dared to challenge Emperor Luo because he had a Golden Core invincible like her backing him up.
But now she saw that she was wrong.
Gu Chengyin had never gambled everything on a single person.
Luo Zhao was the most crucial piece.
No — not a piece.
Lin Qingyan corrected her own wording.
Luo Zhao wasn't a piece; she was the greatest card hidden in Gu Chengyin's hand.
She was the soft spot that Emperor Luo absolutely could not ignore.
Gu Chengyin had seen through this.
And so he had always worked around Luo Zhao to counter Emperor Luo.
This move was, without a doubt, vicious. Without a doubt, poisonous.
Just then, rapid and light footsteps sounded from outside the hall.
A young female official appeared at the threshold — plain-featured but dignified, her expression respectful.
She lowered her head, stepped hurriedly into the main hall, and came to a stop about five paces from the three of them.
She bowed respectfully, and her crisp voice rang out:
"Her Highness has returned."
At these words, the three of them rose to their feet at the same time.
Luo Zhao's figure soon appeared at the door.
She crossed the threshold, her gaze sweeping across the hall.
First she saw Shangguan Yunying — the first person she laid eyes on after entering.
Then, Luo Zhao's gaze continued its drift and settled on Lin Qingyan.
Though Lin Qingyan's appearance was somewhat unexpected, it wasn't surprising.
But then, Luo Zhao suddenly paused. Those phoenix eyes narrowed to a squint, her pupils contracting for a moment.
Her gaze fixed on Lin Qingyan — more precisely, on Lin Qingyan's neck.
The collar of her robe was slightly askew, exposing a length of pale, delicate neck.
The skin on that neck was as fine as congealed cream, yet what drew Luo Zhao's attention wasn't the skin itself.
It was the "strawberries" scattered across it.
Deep and shallow, overlapping and scattered — all of it openly declaring a certain intimacy.
A corner of Luo Zhao's mouth twitched.
She recognized those marks — not because she'd seen them before, but because she knew what the relationship between Lin Qingyan and Gu Chengyin meant.
She was fully aware of what those marks signified.
Luo Zhao's gaze lifted from Lin Qingyan's neck and flicked toward Gu Chengyin.
That one look was filled with sheer contempt and disgust, but in the end she said nothing.
Her expression remained cold and aloof as ever.
She turned back to Lin Qingyan, gave a slight nod, and said:
"Aunt is here."
Lin Qingyan nodded back in acknowledgment.
After greeting her, Luo Zhao's attention finally settled on Gu Chengyin.
The contempt in her phoenix eyes grew even heavier — almost openly reproachful.
She looked him up and down, her gaze lingering a moment on his lips — which were faintly reddened, still bearing traces of being kissed — and then she looked away, even more disgusted.
The meaning was crystal clear: "You, you red egg, are corrupting my Yunying again."
Gu Chengyin received that dagger-like glare. Far from showing any guilt, he merely curved his lips upward slightly and smiled with calm ease.
Luo Zhao couldn't be bothered to wrangle with him. She withdrew her gaze, strode boldly toward the main seat, and flared out the hem of her robe, sitting down with smooth and effortless grace — her movements carrying the natural nobility she was born with.
Once seated, she lifted her chin slightly, her phoenix eyes sweeping over the three in the hall.
Her expression was grave, and with no greetings whatsoever, she came straight to the point:
"Father wants to summon the Emperor's son-in-law."
Luo Zhao said it plainly, with no concealment and no testing of the waters.
Having spoken, she looked at Gu Chengyin and the others, waiting for their reactions.
Then she froze.
Because Gu Chengyin's face betrayed not a trace of surprise.
Neither did Lin Qingyan's.
Neither did Shangguan Yunying's.
The expressions of all three remained calm as still water.
Luo Zhao blinked. Confusion flickered through her phoenix eyes. She looked at Gu Chengyin, then at Lin Qingyan, then at Shangguan Yunying, and confirmed she hadn't misread them.
They truly weren't surprised. Not even a little.
"Why aren't you surprised?"
Luo Zhao couldn't help asking aloud, her voice tinged with confusion, with bafflement, with a hint of frustration.
She had imagined this news would shock them, panic them, leave them at a loss.
She had even rehearsed in her mind how Gu Chengyin would react when he heard it.
He'd probably frown, ponder, ask question after question, then flash that smile she loathed.
But reality was — Gu Chengyin hadn't even twitched an eyebrow.
This left Luo Zhao feeling like she'd punched a wad of cotton — deeply deflating.
Lin Qingyan glanced at Gu Chengyin, then explained the reason.
Luo Zhao listened, and comprehension dawned.
She nodded, her lips parted slightly as if about to say something, then she held back.
Her gaze shifted from Lin Qingyan to Gu Chengyin, wanting to ask his opinion. After all, he was the one party involved, and Luo Zhao wanted to know how he planned to respond.
But before she could speak, Gu Chengyin preempted her.
"Your Highness, Yunying has made a very important decision."
Luo Zhao blinked. Instinctively, she sensed a certain wrongness in the air.
Shangguan Yunying had made a very important decision?
What decision could be so important?
And why was it Gu Chengyin speaking instead of Shangguan Yunying herself?
A nameless unease suddenly rose in Luo Zhao's heart.
She turned to look at Shangguan Yunying, her gaze full of questioning and hidden worry.
"Your Highness."
Shangguan Yunying looked at Luo Zhao with great seriousness, and said with utmost gravity:
"I have decided to resign from the position of Chief Female Official."
The moment these words landed, the hall fell utterly silent.
Luo Zhao's eyes flew wide.
Those phoenix eyes, ordinarily so haughty and alone, now bulged open — the corners faintly reddening, a great storm surging in the depths of her pupils.
She stared fixedly at Shangguan Yunying, her lips opening and closing, then closing and opening again.
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.
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!
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.
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.
