A lone minister?
Hearing this term, Luo Zhao couldn't help but furrow her brow.
Was Gu Chengyin a lone minister?
Yes.
Luo Zhao gave this answer without hesitation in her heart.
From the very first day she met Gu Chengyin, she knew he was lonely.
Not the kind of loneliness that came from having no one around—he was never short of company, nor short of beautiful women, for that matter.
Gu Chengyin's loneliness was another kind of loneliness. It was the loneliness of standing in a crowd yet having no one who truly understood him.
The path he walked, others could not follow. The schemes he devised, others could not comprehend. The decisions he made, others could not fathom.
Over time, he could only walk alone, think alone, and bear all the weight by himself.
But Gu Chengyin wasn't entirely a lone minister either.
Because he was the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, and behind him stood the Crown Prince Faction.
With the Crown Prince Faction backing him, he wasn't a true lone minister in the strictest sense.
And yet now Gu Chengyin was saying that Emperor Luo summoning him to be the Imperial Son-in-law was meant to turn him into a lone minister?
Luo Zhao's brow furrowed even deeper. What connection could there possibly be between these two matters?
An Imperial Son-in-law was the emperor's son-in-law, a kinsman of the imperial household. In terms of status, it was supremely honorable; in terms of standing, it elevated one above ordinary ministers.
Logically speaking, becoming the Imperial Son-in-law meant gaining an additional layer of imperial protection, an extra measure of the Son of Heaven's favor. How could that possibly turn someone into a lone minister?
Before Luo Zhao could sort out the threads of this puzzle, Gu Chengyin continued speaking.
"Of course, I'm a rather special kind of lone minister—not the traditional sort."
"To be more precise, I'd be the kind that's the public enemy of everyone."
Public enemy of everyone?
The more Luo Zhao heard, the less she understood.
Gu Chengyin turned his head to look at Lin Qingyan and continued:
"Because in the eyes of the world, His Highness and I were the perfect match made in heaven."
"But the imperial decree has betrothed me to your aunt."
He spoke slowly, letting each word land deliberately, as if giving Lin Qingyan enough time to digest what was being said.
Gu Chengyin's gaze remained fixed on Lin Qingyan's face, observing her reaction.
He was ready at any moment to pause, or to rephrase things more tactfully.
However, Lin Qingyan's reaction was far calmer than he expected. Of course, she knew why Gu Chengyin was looking at her.
He was telling her not to overthink, not to take it to heart.
But why would she take it to heart?
There was not a trace of displeasure in Lin Qingyan's eyes. If anything, there was a hint of quiet delight.
This man, who was always calculating and never let himself lose out, was at this very moment worried that she might be upset over another woman.
That worry itself spoke more about her place in his heart than any sweet words ever could.
So Lin Qingyan moved—without hesitation, without delay.
She tilted her body slightly, raised her head, and gently pressed a kiss upon Gu Chengyin's lips.
After the kiss, she leaned back against his side, her arm still linked with his, her posture still intimate and natural.
Meanwhile, Luo Zhao beside them was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice any of this.
All the scattered fragments in her mind suddenly seemed to be threaded together by an invisible string, forming a complete picture.
In the eyes of the world, Gu Chengyin, who had already pledged himself to her, had now been betrothed by imperial decree to Lin Qingyan.
What did this mean?
It meant that Gu Chengyin had gotten both aunt and niece!
This phrase sounded crude—crude like the vulgar gossip muttered by street ruffians in alleys and taverns.
But the truth of the matter was indeed that crude. And when something was crude to the point of extremity, it became the truth.
The Goddess descended upon the mortal world, and Fairy Jingzhe of the Heavenly Master's Abbey.
Their admirers were scattered across the entire realm—from the court to the jianghu, from aristocratic families to sect factions.
Countless young prodigies secretly harbored feelings for them.
Countless people dreamed at night of receiving even a single glance from them.
But now?
Now both of them had been won over by Gu Chengyin.
In the eyes of the world, Luo Zhao was his, and Lin Qingyan was his as well.
One man had claimed the two most dazzling pearls beneath heaven.
So setting aside all external factors—position, interests, identity, and everything else—
looking at it purely from a human perspective, how would people view Gu Chengyin?
Jealousy.
Pure, primal, deeply rooted jealousy born of human nature.
When the imperial decree spread throughout the divine capital and the entirety of Great Luo, how would those who had previously harbored goodwill toward Gu Chengyin, or at least maintained a neutral stance, react?
Those young prodigies who secretly admired Luo Zhao, those cultivators who held Lin Qingyan in their hearts with longing,
those officials and generals who had once been impressed by Gu Chengyin's abilities and methods—
when they heard this news, the expressions on their faces would certainly be quite something to behold.
Not admiration. Not praise. Not awe.
Jealousy. Resentment. Indignation.
Why him?
Why could Gu Chengyin alone possess both the Goddess and the Fairy?
Why did he alone get to monopolize the most beautiful scenery in all the land?
What was so special about him?
Why did every good thing have to fall into his lap?
Once this sentiment began to spread, it would multiply like a plague.
Because jealousy is one of humanity's most primal and universal emotions.
One could reason with a person, bribe a person with profit, or suppress a person with power.
But one could never eliminate the jealousy buried deep within another's heart.
Especially when those people felt they were no worse than Gu Chengyin—perhaps even better—
yet could never possess what Gu Chengyin had.
Jealousy would then spread like wildfire, burning away all reason and fairness.
Gu Chengyin stopped there, because the deeper truths he could not speak of.
Those were secrets known only to himself, and at the same time, his greatest reliance.
For instance, his cultivation had begun to fluctuate.
Gu Chengyin's cultivation did not depend on his own training—training was merely for mastery.
It depended on his influence—on his image and standing in the hearts of countless people.
When he was revered, looked up to, and regarded as an invincible existence,
that intangible influence would feed back into his cultivation.
Conversely, when his image crumbled in the eyes of the world, when he fell from his pedestal,
when he transformed from an existence worthy of awe into one worthy of contempt, ridicule, and disdain,
his cultivation would likewise fluctuate, perhaps even regress.
Which meant his influence had begun to decline.
No, that wasn't right.
Gu Chengyin rejected that judgment inwardly.
His influence had not declined. He was still the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, still held the core authority of the Crown Prince Faction.
Objectively speaking, his power, his position, his influence—
none of these had undergone any substantive change because of this imperial decree.
It was the way everyone looked at him that had changed.
Because everyone had put on tinted glasses to view him.
This imperial decree was that pair of tinted glasses.
In the eyes of the world, Gu Chengyin was no longer the resourceful Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince.
He was a pretty face living off his woman.
A shameless scoundrel who, by virtue of his advantageous position as Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince—being close to the palace walls, so to speak—had beguiled both the Goddess and the Fairy.
All his previous achievements, all his tactics, all his deterrent power,
were swept away by the so-called Imperial Son-in-law status, the so-called getting both aunt and niece.
Such was the power of stereotypes.
Emperor Luo, in diminishing his influence.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
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?!
