Her fingers tightened slightly on the back of his hand, as if urging him on, or as if confirming whether he had already changed his mind.
"Do you... not like this?"
Luo Zhao's voice carried a faint tremble. She was afraid—afraid of losing this.
Afraid that after seeing her like this, Gu Chengyin would find her disgusting, would think she was abnormal, would grow distant and come to loathe her.
She had finally managed to pry that door open just a crack, letting Gu Chengyin see the most genuine version of herself inside.
If he were to turn and walk away at this moment, that door would close forever, never to open for anyone again.
Yes, this was the real her. This was the truest Luo Zhao.
Even Emperor Luo didn't know this side of her. Even Lin Qingyan didn't know.
Luo Zhao had only ever shown this to Gu Chengyin, because only he could give her the sense of security she craved.
Gu Chengyin looked into Luo Zhao's eyes and saw the fear hidden beneath the trembling.
He knew exactly what state Luo Zhao was in. He understood human nature well, and he knew precisely what a Luo Zhao like this was yearning for.
So the question now was whether he was willing to become the person Luo Zhao longed for.
Gu Chengyin had never considered himself a good man. He was merely not shallow.
He simply knew there were more important things awaiting him, so he wouldn't let petty gains blind his eyes.
That was why he used Luo Zhao, schemed against her, toyed with her, and bullied her.
Almost everything he did to her carried some utilitarian purpose.
Including pulling her into his arms just now, including placing his hand on her neck.
It was all just to shatter her psychological defenses, to make her a pawn he could use against Emperor Luo.
Without resorting to hypnosis, Gu Chengyin had to keep Luo Zhao firmly under his control.
Best of all, to make Luo Zhao never able to leave him, never able to stop depending on him.
To make her forever the most useful tool on his path of cultivation.
Cruel, perhaps, but that was reality.
And Gu Chengyin was a thoroughgoing utilitarian.
But at this moment, looking at the unreserved longing and fear in Luo Zhao's eyes,
something in his heart loosened. Very, very slightly.
It was strange. Gu Chengyin could be certain he had never cared about Luo Zhao.
Sure, Luo Zhao was beautiful—in both bearing and countenance, she was an incomparably stunning beauty.
But in Gu Chengyin's eyes, Luo Zhao was merely a tool called the Crown Princess.
Yet now, his dao heart was actually stirred because of her.
Although the loosening lasted only an instant before Gu Chengyin suppressed it,
his fingers nevertheless tightened a fraction, beyond his control.
This time, the tightening was not an unconscious muscle reflex, but a deliberate, conscious squeeze.
Luo Zhao's eyes flew wide open.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something,
but because her neck was gripped, she couldn't form complete syllables—only a few fragmented breaths escaped.
In that moment, she was not the Crown Princess, not Your Highness, not anyone's role model.
She was only a plaything. The most obedient good dog.
She had been afraid before, afraid that Gu Chengyin wouldn't continue.
But now, Luo Zhao was no longer afraid, because Gu Chengyin hadn't rejected her.
He truly was controlling her—controlling her life, controlling everything about her.
He wanted her.
She was his!
Luo Zhao's lips curved upward, higher than they had ever curved before.
Gu Chengyin watched her smile, maintained the pressure on his hand for two more breaths, then slowly released it.
Air rushed back into Luo Zhao's throat, like a drowning person finally breaking the surface.
Moisture veiled her eyes from the physical reaction, and a single tear even slipped from the corner of her eye, tracing down her cheek.
But Luo Zhao was smiling. Her lips stayed curved, curved into an arc of pure happiness.
"I knew it!"
Luo Zhao murmured, her voice slightly hoarse from the brief suffocation, carrying a languid, sated tone that only comes after being satisfied.
"I knew you wouldn't abandon me!"
Gu Chengyin didn't answer. He didn't know what to say.
He only knew that from now on, whatever existed between him and Luo Zhao could never return to that simple state of mere exploitation.
This Highness had opened that door to him, laying bare every twisted, diseased, unspeakable desire before him.
And Gu Chengyin hadn't closed that door.
Not only had he not closed it—he had given Luo Zhao exactly what she craved.
This realization made Luo Zhao tremble with excitement all over.
She no longer had to pretend.
No longer had to put on that cold, aloof facade of the Crown Princess in front of Gu Chengyin.
No longer had to painstakingly hide those unspeakable desires in the depths of her heart.
No longer had to suppress the urge to throw herself at him every time he drew near.
She could show him her truest self, hand over those twisted, diseased, terrifying cravings that even she herself feared.
Because she knew Gu Chengyin wouldn't abandon her.
Whatever the reason, whether or not it was deeper scheming,
Luo Zhao didn't care. She only wanted Gu Chengyin.
No.
To be precise, she only wanted to be controlled by Gu Chengyin.
As for Lin Qingyan, or Shangguan Yunying, or Gu Xiaoli—what did they have to do with her?
She had never even thought about competing for anything, let alone possessing anything.
As long as Gu Chengyin controlled her, she would obey his every word.
Luo Zhao suddenly felt that her father targeting Gu Chengyin was actually a good thing.
Because if not for that, he wouldn't have come to bully her, wouldn't have pulled her into his arms,
wouldn't have placed his hand on her neck, wouldn't have controlled her so completely in that way she found so intoxicating.
If not for that, she might never have had the chance to open that door, never have had the chance to let him see the real her.
If not for that, there would be no red marks on her neck right now, and her breathing wouldn't still carry the lingering afterglow of that suffocation.
The harder her father suppressed Gu Chengyin, the more he would come to bully her.
The more excessive he was with her, the happier she felt.
It was a perfect cycle. Luo Zhao's lips curved even higher.
She should thank her father. Thank him for issuing that edict. Thank him for driving Gu Chengyin into a corner.
Thank him for giving her this opportunity to be controlled by Gu Chengyin.
"Junior Tutor."
Luo Zhao called out again, her voice softer, sweeter, stickier than before.
Because of the brief suffocation, her voice still carried a trace of hoarseness,
like silk that had been gently sanded—soft, with a texture that made one's heart tremble.
"From now on, if my father targets you again, just come and hit me, okay?"
When Luo Zhao said this, her eyes sparkled, filled to the brim with anticipation.
Her fingers remained on her own neck, the tips gently stroking it, as if caressing a precious treasure.
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?!
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
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!
