What she should do, what she should not do, whether to go left or right, advance or retreat—Gu Chengyin had already made every decision for Luo Zhao, then simply told her what to do.
There was no room for discussion, no space to maneuver.
At first, Luo Zhao thought she hated Gu Chengyin.
Because she was the Crown Princess.
Her dignity and pride would not allow Gu Chengyin to live.
Who had ever dared treat her like this since she was a child?
Who had ever dared make decisions for her without asking her opinion?
Who had ever dared treat her like a chess piece that could be manipulated at will?
Even the Emperor would never treat her this way.
The old foxes in court would not dare, either.
But Gu Chengyin dared.
Not only did he dare, he did it as though it were the most natural thing in the world, with a righteous confidence that made it seem as though nothing on earth ever required her opinion.
And so Luo Zhao hated Gu Chengyin.
She hated him enough to grit her teeth, enough to lie awake at night, enough to bite his name between her teeth through countless nights of tossing and turning.
She imagined that one day, after ascending the throne, the first thing she would do was lock this treasonous Royal Tutor in the underground prison.
She would make him kneel before her. She would make him realize that he had been wrong. She would make him beg for her forgiveness.
But later, Luo Zhao realized that she did indeed hate Gu Chengyin.
Just not because he had trampled on her dignity or crushed her pride.
She hated him because he did not care about her.
She was the Crown Princess, for heaven’s sake.
One day, this entire realm would belong to her. The court would belong to her. The life and honor of every commoner under heaven would one day rest upon a single thought of hers.
She was one of the most exalted people in the Great Luo Dynasty. Apart from the Emperor, no one stood higher than she did.
The sons of the great clans lowered their heads when they saw her. The high ministers of the court bowed before her.
Even those unruly cultivators behaved properly in her presence and respectfully addressed her as Her Highness.
Her beauty, too, was universally acknowledged. The title of Goddess Descended into the Mortal Realm was not something she had claimed for herself—it had been bestowed upon her by all under heaven.
Luo Zhao was Heaven’s favored child, the most dazzling pearl in the world.
Everyone told her so, and everyone believed it.
But Gu Chengyin simply did not care about her.
Even though he held every aspect of her firmly in his grasp, even though he could reshape her into whatever form he pleased at any moment.
Even though her joys and sorrows, every move she made, and every decision she took were all within his calculations.
Gu Chengyin still did not care about her.
His control over her did not come from concern. His domination did not come from possessiveness. His calculations did not come from desire.
He controlled her only because she happened to be the Crown Princess.
He dominated her only because it was most advantageous to him.
He schemed against her only because he needed a chess piece, and she happened to be the most useful one.
What if Luo Zhao were not the Crown Princess?
What if she were merely an ordinary daughter of a noble family?
Would he spare her even a second glance?
Would he still go to such lengths to control her?
Would he still use such forceful methods to keep her tightly in his grasp?
No.
That realization was like a thorn piercing Luo Zhao’s heart, sinking deeper and deeper, causing greater and greater pain.
In front of others, she could maintain the Crown Princess’s cold arrogance and aloofness. In court, she could present the composed bearing of the Goddess Descended into the Mortal Realm. She could make everyone believe that she cared about nothing.
But in front of Gu Chengyin, she could not pretend.
Because he did not care whether she was pretending or not.
Only then did Luo Zhao realize that everything she was proud of was worthless in Gu Chengyin’s eyes.
In the eyes of others, she was Her Highness, the Goddess Descended into the Mortal Realm.
Everyone looked up to her with awe, longing, and devout reverence.
But in Gu Chengyin’s eyes, she was merely the Crown Princess.
Nothing more.
If someone else occupied that position, he would control them in exactly the same way, dominate them in exactly the same way, scheme against them in exactly the same way.
There was nothing special about Luo Zhao herself to him.
That realization nearly crushed her.
And so her state of mind changed once again.
She wanted to drag Gu Chengyin down.
Not from the heights of power—Gu Chengyin was a subject to begin with, and had always stood beneath her.
She wanted to pull down that bright moon hanging high in the sky.
She wanted him to look at her—to truly look at her. Not at the Crown Princess. Not at a chess piece.
But at her as a person.
Luo Zhao wanted Gu Chengyin to know that she was not as worthless as he thought.
She worked hard, too.
She read through official documents late into the night, examining every one carefully and annotating each one with painstaking attention.
Not because she enjoyed it, but because she wanted to prove herself.
She was clever, too.
Although she could not yet understand his schemes, she had been studying them all this time. She was constantly learning and improving.
She had talent, too.
Among her peers, her cultivation was already outstanding. Though she was not as astonishingly gifted as Lin Qingyan, she was still a genuine prodigy.
Given enough time, she might well become the next Golden Core Invincible.
Besides, she was beautiful. She was truly beautiful.
Her features were acknowledged throughout the world. Countless women envied her figure, and countless men admired her bearing.
So why was Gu Chengyin unwilling to look at her even once?
Luo Zhao waited for a long time.
From the moment she realized that she had begun to care about Gu Chengyin.
From the moment she understood that he had already taken complete hold of her every joy and sorrow.
She had been waiting ever since.
Waiting for him to look at her.
To truly look at her.
But Gu Chengyin never did.
In the end, after one disappointment piled upon another and she had endured herself into silence time and again, Luo Zhao finally discovered the door hidden in the deepest part of her heart.
It had long since been kicked open by Gu Chengyin.
Yes, Gu Chengyin had not walked into her heart.
He had kicked the door down and barged in.
He had never asked her permission, nor had he even considered whether she was willing.
He had simply appeared in her world and forcibly broken into her heart.
When Gu Chengyin made decisions for her, she no longer had to weigh the pros and cons herself.
When he told her what to do, she no longer had to probe the hearts of others.
When he arranged everything, she no longer had to worry about taking a wrong step.
All she had to do was obey him and do as he instructed. Then she could rest easy within the safe boundaries he had drawn for her.
For Luo Zhao, this feeling of being dominated was not a restraint.
It was liberation.
Seeing that Gu Chengyin was about to get up, Luo Zhao grew anxious.
She had not received anything yet. How could he be leaving already?
At once, Luo Zhao raised her arms and wrapped them around Gu Chengyin’s neck.
Like a supple vine winding itself around a tree it had chosen.
Gu Chengyin lowered his eyes. All he saw was a pair of pitiful phoenix eyes.
They were filled with a mist—not tears, but the moist sheen that appeared only when desire stirred.
It made Luo Zhao’s pupils look exceptionally bright, like a lake gleaming beneath the sun after a rainstorm, its surface rippling with iridescent light.
The ends of her brows drooped slightly, while the outer corners lifted upward, forming an expression that was both helplessly pitiful and faintly alluring.
Her eyes were clearly saying: You haven’t rewarded me yet. How can you leave just like that?
Gu Chengyin’s movements halted.
Looking at Luo Zhao’s aggrieved expression, he suddenly felt that his self-control might not be quite as strong as he had imagined.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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!
