“I’m sorry I couldn’t leave Junior Tutor satisfied.”
The first rays of dawn filtered through the rune-covered dome at the top of the Meditation Tower.
Lin Qingyan’s voice still carried the lazy, husky quality peculiar to someone basking in the aftermath of pleasure.
A snow-white spirit-silk quilt covered her body only halfway, like a peach blossom petal fallen upon fresh snow.
She did not even open her eyes as she spoke. Her face was buried in her folded arms, while her loose blue-black hair spread across half the pillow.
It was tangled together with Shangguan Yunying’s hair, the two dark masses intertwined until it was impossible to tell whose was whose.
The corners of her lips curved faintly upward, forming an expression that was both satisfied and unwilling to concede.
Satisfied, because she truly had been satisfied.
Unwilling, because she had lost so thoroughly.
Gu Chengyin, meanwhile, was already fully dressed, looking as though nothing had happened.
Standing before a glazed-crystal mirror, he was fastening the final clasp at his collar.
At her words, Gu Chengyin glanced back at the bed and clicked his tongue softly.
Lin Qingyan lay sprawled across the large bed, while Shangguan Yunying was curled up beside her.
Both women were still breathing slowly and evenly in sleep.
Only Lin Qingyan’s brows were faintly furrowed, as though she were still refusing to admit defeat in her dreams.
Shangguan Yunying, on the other hand, wore a smile at the corners of her mouth, as if she were still laughing in her sleep.
Clearly, she had been the final victor.
Gu Chengyin could not help smiling faintly. Lin Qingyan probably never would have imagined that, when he had taken care of her aunt before, he had not even used his full strength.
That was likely why she had always believed the two of them were evenly matched.
That she only needed to try a little harder to make him admit defeat.
What Lin Qingyan did not know was that Gu Chengyin had always been holding back.
This immortal maiden might have spoken with great bravado, but her body had been far more honest. After only a few exchanges, she would soften into a puddle of water, the fingers clutching his lapel changing from a forceful grip to a desperate hold, then from that hold to helpless weakness, until she could only let him do as he pleased.
If he had truly unleashed his full strength, she probably would not even have had the energy left to talk tough.
So every time before this, Gu Chengyin had been taking care of Lin Qingyan.
He had controlled his strength, controlled the rhythm, controlled the duration, stopping precisely at the edge of what she could endure.
He had given Lin Qingyan time to catch her breath, letting her believe that she was only a little short of victory.
But this time, facing the fierce assault of two powerful opponents, Gu Chengyin had no choice but to get serious.
After all, even he did not dare claim that, with merely a Foundation Establishment physique, he could defeat a Golden Core cultivator and a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the same time.
What was more, the two women had reached a certain level of understanding. Lin Qingyan took the offensive, while Shangguan Yunying provided support.
Lin Qingyan relied on the overwhelming might of her Golden Core realm to confront him head-on, while Shangguan Yunying used her gentle, flowing tenderness to assist from the side.
One was fire and the other water; one fierce, the other clinging and lingering. Their teamwork was far from flawless, but it was at least taking shape.
So Gu Chengyin got serious.
He stopped holding back. He no longer deliberately controlled the pace, nor did he stop whenever they approached the limits of their endurance.
Instead, he finally unfastened the bowstring he had kept restrained, drew it to its full length for the first time, and let it fly.
Before long, the two ferocious beasts had been beaten into complete disarray, abandoning all resistance and begging for mercy until, in the end, they suffered a crushing defeat.
Shangguan Yunying was the first to collapse.
She was only at the Foundation Establishment realm. Her physique was fundamentally on a different level from Lin Qingyan’s.
What Lin Qingyan could endure, she might not be able to withstand.
What Lin Qingyan could persist through, Shangguan Yunying could not even endure the beginning of.
When Gu Chengyin’s assault truly began, she surrendered almost during the very first exchange.
She was like a small boat swept up by a violent storm. Before she could adjust the direction of her sails, she was flung onto the crest of a wave, only to be hurled heavily back down.
The fingers gripping the quilt changed from tense to limp, then from limp to trembling spasms.
In the end, she could only lie there weakly, without even the strength to curl up.
Then came Lin Qingyan.
She was indeed far stronger than Shangguan Yunying.
The physique of a Golden Core cultivator at the pinnacle allowed her to grit her teeth and endure Gu Chengyin’s assault.
Even while gasping for breath, she could still glare at him with an unwilling, defiant look and force out such taunting words as, “Is that all?” and “Did you skip dinner?”
But it was only a matter of time.
Once Gu Chengyin truly stopped restraining himself, once wave after wave of his relentless offensive came crashing down, Lin Qingyan’s defenses began to collapse layer by layer.
From defiance to silence.
From silence to muffled groans.
From muffled groans to sobs she could no longer suppress.
From sobs to desperate pleas for mercy.
“Chengcheng… I can’t… I really can’t anymore…”
That was Lin Qingyan’s voice.
Husky, soft, and edged with tears.
When she called him Chengcheng, the end of her voice trembled like a zither string drawn to its limit, ready to snap at the slightest touch.
“Junior Tutor… please, spare me…”
That was Shangguan Yunying’s voice.
Broken and intermittent, as faint as a dying breath. Each word seemed to be forced out from the depths of her throat.
She called him Junior Tutor because, by then, she no longer had the presence of mind to think of what else she should call him.
But Gu Chengyin did not spare them.
Not because he did not want to, but because they had spoken so boldly beforehand.
Once they had issued those arrogant challenges, they had to bear the consequences.
Gu Chengyin had never been the sort of person to show mercy on a battlefield, no matter what kind of battlefield it was.
Nor did it matter where that battlefield lay, who his opponent was, or whether he faced one opponent or two.
And so, in the end, Gu Chengyin won decisively.
With merely a Foundation Establishment cultivation, he had defeated both an invincible Golden Core cultivator and a Foundation Establishment support.
Although the battle had been so intense that it seemed even the Great Dao itself had been worn away, at least it was not Gu Chengyin who had admitted defeat and begged for mercy.
Gu Chengyin gathered his thoughts and moved his gaze away from the two figures on the bed.
Lin Qingyan’s pleas for mercy still echoed in his ears, while Shangguan Yunying’s faint, breathless voice still lingered with a fading aftertaste.
The corners of his lips curved slightly, then quickly flattened again.
He estimated that neither Shangguan Yunying nor Lin Qingyan would be getting out of bed anytime soon.
There was no need to mention Shangguan Yunying. With a Foundation Establishment physique, after last night’s ordeal, she probably did not even have the strength to raise a hand.
Lin Qingyan was a Golden Core cultivator, and her recovery was far beyond that of an ordinary person. But the force she had endured last night had also been far greater than what Shangguan Yunying had faced.
Gu Chengyin had not held back as he had in the past. He had attacked wave after wave until they were utterly defeated.
Even with Lin Qingyan’s recovery speed, she would probably sleep until the sun was high in the sky before she could barely manage to get out of bed.
Gu Chengyin shifted his gaze from the two women on the bed to the ray of morning light filtering through the rune-covered dome at the top of the tower.
The light had already brightened since a moment ago, gradually changing from pale gold to blazing white as it fell across the spirit-silk quilt in the Meditation Tower.
He could not help sighing inwardly.
It seemed that joining the Celestial Master’s Estate would have to be postponed.
Gu Chengyin had come to the Celestial Master’s Estate in the first place so that Lin Qingyan could arrange his admission.
According to the Estate’s rules, a newcomer had to be accompanied by their sponsor and publicly swear an oath before the ancestral hall of the Celestial Master’s Estate.
Only then could they officially be entered into the records and receive their robes.
But now, his sponsor was lying face-down on the bed, without even the strength to get up.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
+ Slow Paced + Main Character Thrives Together with His Disciples】 Transmigrated into a cultivation world, Chu Xingchen awakens a discipleship system that reveals the tags of his disciples! Starting from scratch, he builds the strongest sect. Disciple One: Li Yingling 【Gold Tag: Genius Cultivator】【Purple Tag: Extremely Lucky】【Blue Tag: Bewitchingly Beautiful】 Disciple Two: Li Hangtian 【Gold Tag: Reincarnated】【Purple Tag: Ruthless and Decisive】【Blue Tag: Loyal and Noble】 Disciple Three: ??? 【Orange Tag: Alluring Demoness】【???】【???】 Thus, in the cultivation world, an unremarkable little sect appears out of nowhere, but little do others know that each member of this sect is a powerhouse in their own right. The book is also known as: Cultivation? It's Exactly Like This!
