Gu Chengyin noticed Luo Zhao's gaze.
That gaze was so scorching it nearly burned two holes through his face.
Her eyes were filled with all kinds of emotions at that moment—anger, grievance, unwillingness, confusion, and the irritation of having been played for a fool.
Luo Zhao's cheeks were faintly flushed, her lips pressed tightly together.
She looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, every hair on her body standing on end, yet she had no idea who she was supposed to vent her anger at.
Gu Chengyin watched her like this, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.
He released his grip, then raised his hand to pat Luo Zhao's head.
The motion was very gentle, as gentle as soothing a bristling kitten.
His palm rested on the top of her head for no more than two or three breaths before withdrawing.
But in that brief moment, Luo Zhao's shoulders stiffened involuntarily.
Then Gu Chengyin spoke, in a tone of instruction:
"Your Highness, just keep learning. There's no end to learning."
"After all, not everyone is as generous as I am, giving you live demonstrations right in front of you every day."
There was a hint of teasing in Gu Chengyin's voice, along with a sincerity so earnest that it was hard to tell whether it was genuine or not.
As if the whole string of actions just now had truly been nothing more than a vivid lesson in the field.
As if everything he had done was not merely to defuse his own crisis, but to teach Luo Zhao something from it.
Luo Zhao: "..."
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Opened it again, then closed it again.
She wanted to retort, to question, to curse Gu Chengyin as a philandering scoundrel.
But when the words reached her lips, not a single one came out.
Because she had to admit that what Gu Chengyin had said was true.
That whole chain of moves just now—from "Your Highness, are you willing to be the lesser wife?" to "Look, even Her Highness knows," and then pulling her away in a dramatic exit, leaving Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli to reflect on themselves—every step had been executed with surgical precision, every twist and turn timed to perfection.
Gu Chengyin had not only successfully extricated himself from a proper battlefield of romantic entanglements, but had also transformed the conflict between Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli into a shared exercise in self-reflection for both of them.
This truly was a brilliant lesson in live demonstration.
But the problem was—why did she have to learn it in such a miserable mood?
The more Luo Zhao thought about it, the more something felt off, and the more her frustration built.
What was she frustrated about?
She couldn't quite say.
That Gu Chengyin had used her?
But he had used her openly and aboveboard, and afterward even patted her shoulder and told her, "I'm teaching you."
That she had fallen for it herself?
But she had seen through his intentions from the start—she was the one who had walked into the trap voluntarily.
It was just that after stepping in, she realized this pit was far deeper than she had imagined.
That Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli actually would reflect on themselves?
But that was because Gu Chengyin's schemes were too deep—anyone would have fallen for the same.
So Luo Zhao couldn't articulate exactly what she was so worked up about, but worked up she was.
That resentment surged from her chest, rising to her throat, filling her mouth, choking her from head to toe.
She needed to do something to vent this frustration, or she felt she would die of sheer anger.
So Luo Zhao moved.
She grabbed Gu Chengyin's hand abruptly.
Then she opened her mouth and bit down hard on his arm.
The bite was solid and fierce.
Luo Zhao could even feel her teeth sinking into his flesh.
She could feel Gu Chengyin's arm stiffen under her teeth, could feel her own jaw aching from the force.
She poured all her anger, all her frustration, all her grievance into that single bite.
Biting deep and mercilessly, as if only this could find an outlet for the fury that was about to explode inside her.
Mainly, if she didn't bite down, Luo Zhao felt she really would die of rage.
Seeing Luo Zhao bite into his arm, Gu Chengyin did not pull back.
He didn't even dodge.
His arm stayed right there, steady, letting her bite.
There was no look of pain on his face, not even a furrow of the brows.
A little venting now and then is only to be expected.
Gu Chengyin thought this silently.
After all, it wasn't the first time Luo Zhao had bitten him.
Though it wasn't quite the same spot, and the motion was different.
But he couldn't very well let the child die from sheer anger, could he.
Luo Zhao bit down hard for a good long while.
She bit with great earnestness, so earnestly as if she were completing a supremely important mission.
Her teeth ground back and forth across Gu Chengyin's arm several times.
Only after confirming the mark was deep enough did she finally let go.
Luo Zhao looked up, her lips still glistening faintly, her cheeks flushed from the effort.
A faint thin mist had gathered in her eyes—not because she wanted to cry, but purely a physiological reaction from biting too hard.
She glanced at Gu Chengyin's arm, and only after seeing the obvious teeth marks did she contentedly release her hold.
Her mood improved considerably as well.
That resentment lodged in her chest slowly drained away with that single bite.
Though not entirely dissipated, at least she no longer felt like she was about to explode.
The moment she let go, she heard Gu Chengyin's voice.
"Feeling better now, Your Highness?"
His tone was plain and calm—no reproach, no irritation, not even a hint of displeasure.
As if the one who had just been hard bitten was not him, as if the one whose arm now bore teeth marks was not him either.
Luo Zhao didn't answer.
She shot Gu Chengyin a fierce glare.
That single look contained far too many things—the discontent of being used, the irritation of being made into a teaching aid, the grievance of being dragged around.
But Luo Zhao ultimately said nothing further. She simply looked away and turned around.
The motion of turning carried a hint of sulkiness; the hem of her skirt swept in a clean arc around her feet.
Her back was straight as a rod, her chin lifted slightly, resuming the bearing and pride befitting a crown prince.
Luo Zhao walked ahead toward the main seat.
The incense smoke of aloes inside the hall drifted slowly at her side, stirred by the breeze of her movement, tracing invisible ripples through the air.
Sunlight slanted through the window lattice, falling upon her shoulder, casting her dark-golden court robes in a shimmering play of light.
As she walked, Luo Zhao spoke, her voice restoring its usual composed and cool tone.
"The imperial edict is on the desk. Come and look at it yourself."
With that, Luo Zhao sat down in the main seat, hands folded upon her knees, her posture dignified and graceful, gaze straight ahead.
Only the tips of her ears still carried a faint trace of crimson, like peach blossom petals at the dawn of spring, stubbornly refusing to fade.
Gu Chengyin stood where he was, watching Luo Zhao's retreating figure, then looked down at the spot on his arm that she had bitten.
To avoid shattering Luo Zhao's teeth, he hadn't even used spiritual energy to protect his body.
So he could feel the dull ache emanating from that spot.
But it wasn't serious—couldn't even really be called pain. It was more like a mark.
A mark that Luo Zhao had left on him, carrying a trace of sulkiness and unwillingness.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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?!
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.
