But upon closer inspection, she felt that beneath that glow lurked a thin layer of mist.
It was only later that Gu Xiaoli came to understand—the Empress was thinking of her hometown.
Thinking of that place she could never return to, thinking of those people she would never see again.
Back then, Gu Xiaoli didn't yet grasp the weight of those vows.
They only sounded beautiful to her, like the kind of solemn promises found only in storybooks.
Empress Lin would pat her head and say, Xiaoli, you remember this.
If one day someone asks you with vows like these, then that person truly holds you in the innermost corner of their heart.
At the time, Gu Xiaoli nodded with only a vague understanding, tucking those words along with the vows deep into her memory.
She never imagined that the first person to ask her with those vows would be Gu Chengyin.
And not only that—he spoke those wedding vows as though they were a poison oath.
Didn't this mean...
Her brother wanted her to be his bride!
Once that thought surfaced, it spread like wild grass in spring, growing uncontrollably, impossible to suppress.
Gu Xiaoli's face flushed instantly—redder than the sunset clouds on the horizon, redder than the peach blossoms blooming in March.
She could feel the heat climbing from the base of her neck, burning up past her earlobes, her cheeks, her forehead.
Setting her entire being ablaze like a lump of scorching charcoal.
Gu Xiaoli jerked her head down, chin nearly touching her chest, both hands gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles turned pale and bloodless.
She didn't dare steal even a single glance at Gu Chengyin. Even her breathing became shallow and rapid.
As if she'd been suddenly thrown into a pot of boiling water—utterly stunned.
Her mind replayed those vows over and over.
For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, through good times and bad...
Every single word echoed relentlessly in her head, like a swarm of tireless bees buzzing to and fro, churning all her thoughts into a muddled paste.
Gu Xiaoli tried to calm herself down, but the more she tried, the hotter her face grew, the faster her heart pounded, the messier her thoughts became.
Watching Gu Xiaoli's reaction, Gu Chengyin blinked.
Of course he knew this was a wedding vow.
In his previous life, even though he'd never been married, he'd still seen these things—he could recite this kind of Western-style wedding vow with his eyes closed.
The reason he chose these words to make Gu Xiaoli swear her poison oath was simple.
He'd merely thought that as the third poison oath, these words would suit Gu Xiaoli perfectly.
The first two oaths, no matter how they were designed, were ultimately external—they could be avoided, even sidestepped.
But the third oath was different. Gu Chengyin wanted something that stemmed from Gu Xiaoli's very core.
Something that would make her naturally gravitate toward him, naturally take his side.
And wedding vows, by their very nature, carried a sacred, unbreakable sense of ceremony.
Perfect for imposing this kind of inner restraint.
Gu Chengyin truly hadn't thought any deeper than that.
But judging by Gu Xiaoli's reaction...
Her face flushed that deep, her head bowed that low, her fingers twisting like that, her whole self shrinking as if she wanted to burrow right into a crack in the ground.
This clearly wasn't just the nervous shyness of someone swearing a poison oath.
Gu Xiaoli had misunderstood something.
And that misunderstanding was probably anything but small.
Gu Chengyin's gaze lingered for a moment on her reddened earlobe, and a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Her reaction... it was as if she understood the meaning behind these words.
But these Western wedding vows—no one in this world should know them, unless...
Could it be that Gu Xiaoli recognized them as wedding vows?
Gu Chengyin thought for a beat and quickly found his answer.
Empress Lin.
It had to be Empress Lin.
Gu Xiaoli had mentioned earlier that Empress Lin had shown her a phone, so of course she could have learned about wedding vows that way.
That explained Gu Xiaoli's reaction perfectly.
She thought he was proposing to her with marriage vows?
Gu Chengyin fell silent for a moment.
He knew he ought to correct this misunderstanding.
He should tell Gu Xiaoli that those words were just something he'd come up with on the spot.
That they carried no special meaning, and she shouldn't read too much into them.
That way, Gu Xiaoli would probably feel disappointed and hurt, but at least she wouldn't keep misunderstanding.
Yet when the words reached his lips, Gu Chengyin somehow swallowed them back down.
Not because he didn't want to explain.
But because in Gu Xiaoli's reaction, he saw something he had been striving for all along—something that had always been just out of reach.
It was an unreserved, almost blind devotion and reliance.
The first two oaths could restrain Gu Xiaoli, sure, but that restraint was cold and hard—a blade held against her neck.
The only reason she obeyed was the fear of breaking the oath's consequences.
Not because she genuinely wanted to from the bottom of her heart.
But this time was different. In Gu Xiaoli's reaction just now, there was no fear, no resistance—not even a hint of reluctance.
She was only shy, only flustered.
Only overwhelmed—struck dizzy and senseless by the sudden wedding vows.
But Gu Xiaoli was willing.
One could even say—she was looking forward to it.
This kind of willingness, born from the very depths of her heart, was ten thousand times more effective than any restraint.
If he corrected the misunderstanding now, he might maintain an outward semblance of innocence.
But the fire burning in Gu Xiaoli's heart would be extinguished by more than half.
And if he didn't correct it...
Gu Chengyin weighed the options quickly in his mind, and finally chose silence.
Don't correct it.
Or rather—don't correct it yet.
He admitted that this was somewhat scummy, even shameless.
Using Gu Xiaoli's misunderstanding to cement her trust—it didn't look like something an honorable man would do.
But Gu Chengyin had never considered himself an honorable man.
In a world where people devoured one another, good men didn't survive past three chapters.
And he wasn't just going to survive—he was going to thrive, all the way to ascension.
So Gu Chengyin simply waited patiently, letting Gu Xiaoli calm down from her panic just a little.
Then he spoke: "Xiaoli, are you willing?"
His voice was even lower than before, and softer too.
Like coaxing a frightened kitten—patient, gentle, waiting for her reply.
This only made Gu Xiaoli's face turn redder, her head bend lower.
Her chin was almost buried in her chest, long lashes drooping, casting a trembling shadow on her cheeks.
Her breathing was audible—shallow and hurried, like a small creature just pulled from the water, every fiber of her being screaming with helplessness.
But even so, Gu Xiaoli still spoke.
Her voice was tiny—small as the first chirp of an insect in spring.
Like the crackle of a candle wick in the dead of night, like a feather landing on the water's surface and stirring a gentle ripple.
If one didn't listen closely, the words would be carried away by the wind, swallowed by the darkness.
"Xiaoli is willing."
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
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.
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!
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
