Luo Zhao finally closed her eyes.
It wasn’t because she wanted to. She simply couldn’t hold on any longer.
The facts proved that she truly was a useless heir apparent.
Luo Zhao had performed only slightly better than Shangguan Yunying.
Not because she was stronger than Yunying, but because she had gritted her teeth and endured, refusing to break down in front of Lin Qingyan even if it killed her.
But no matter how hard one held on, everyone had their limits.
And so, in a moment Luo Zhao herself had never expected, that taut thread finally snapped.
With a sharp crack, it broke cleanly in two.
In the end, Luo Zhao wept and begged for mercy.
Tears streamed down her face without stopping, and she could barely get the words out.
The face that was usually cold, proud, and aloof was now filled with disarray and vulnerability. She could no longer maintain her former dignity.
Her voice came in broken fragments, carrying sobs, trembling, and the helpless submission of someone who truly could not endure any longer.
Luo Zhao apologized. She said she knew she had been wrong. She begged to be released.
She said every word she would once have refused to utter, words so humble they seemed to sink into the dust.
Her mind had gone completely blank. Her reason, her dignity, and her pride had all been battered into pieces and scattered across the floor.
What she did not know was that begging for mercy would not bring her what she wanted.
Instead, it only made Lin Qingyan press her advantage more relentlessly.
Luo Zhao was pushed beyond her limit until she finally lost consciousness.
Lin Qingyan looked at Luo Zhao’s unconscious form, the corners of her lips curving into a meaningful smile.
No matter how arrogant or pleased with herself Luo Zhao had been before, this state would become a stain she could never erase.
But before Lin Qingyan had time to savor her victory, she noticed Gu Chengyin’s gaze fall upon her.
The thought that had only just begun to take shape was forcibly interrupted.
Luo Zhao had reached her limit, but Gu Chengyin had not.
Before Lin Qingyan could say a word, every thought in her mind was swept away.
It was as though someone had poured an entire bucket of ink into her head. Everything turned pitch-black. She could see nothing and think of nothing.
Only one sensation remained, a sensation so overwhelming that it made her forget even how to breathe.
Lin Qingyan had no idea when she lost consciousness.
Perhaps it was a few breaths later. Perhaps it was after the time it took to finish a cup of tea. Perhaps it was even longer.
Gu Chengyin looked at the unconscious Lin Qingyan and Luo Zhao and finally let out a sigh of relief.
At last, the two of them had quieted down.
As the facts had proven, this was the only truly practical solution.
Just like now.
Everyone was obedient and well-behaved, and even the world itself seemed to have fallen silent.
There was no need to worry about another unexpected situation arising.
Gu Chengyin turned around, intending to tidy himself up.
His gaze moved away from the bed and swept casually over the space beside it.
Then he stopped.
Shangguan Yunying was still lying on the right side of the bed, in the same position she had maintained from the beginning.
Her body was curled up, her knees drawn toward her chest and her hands clasped together in front of it. She had folded herself into a tight ball, her hair spread across the pillow.
Her eyes were shut, her lashes completely still, and her breathing was even and steady.
At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.
But Gu Chengyin noticed something was wrong.
Her face was flushed.
The redness burned all the way from the base of her neck to her forehead, impossible to conceal.
Shangguan Yunying was pretending to be asleep.
Gu Chengyin reached that conclusion almost instantly.
Shangguan Yunying was clearly awake. She had clearly heard something, seen something, and realized something.
Then, unable to control herself, she had reacted—and had no way to take that reaction back.
All she could do was keep her eyes closed and pretend that nothing had happened.
She didn’t dare wake up.
And even less did she dare let anyone discover that she was only pretending to be asleep.
Gu Chengyin thought for a moment, then walked over to Shangguan Yunying’s side.
He bent down and slipped one arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her bodily from the bed.
Shangguan Yunying’s body suddenly went rigid.
Her eyes flew open, her lips parted slightly, and she let out a startled cry.
“Ah!”
The moment the sound escaped her, Shangguan Yunying realized something was wrong. She quickly raised a hand to cover her mouth.
She glanced toward the bed and, after confirming that the other two had not been awakened, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She lowered the hand covering her mouth.
Clutching Gu Chengyin’s lapel, she pleaded in a small voice,
“Please, just let me go. I really can’t take it anymore.”
As Shangguan Yunying said this, she looked directly at Gu Chengyin.
There was a watery sheen in her almond-shaped eyes, and her lips were still trembling slightly.
She didn’t know how Gu Chengyin would respond. She didn’t know whether he would put her down.
She didn’t know whether he would treat her the way he had treated Lin Qingyan and Luo Zhao.
But she truly couldn’t go on. Her body and her soul were both at their limits.
Although Shangguan Yunying had pretended to be asleep while Lin Qingyan and Luo Zhao were being disciplined, she had heard everything.
She had heard Luo Zhao’s cries, Lin Qingyan’s pleas for mercy, and those sounds that made her face flush and her heart race.
Just listening had made Shangguan Yunying feel as though she couldn’t hold out any longer.
If Gu Chengyin truly did anything to her, she felt she might ascend to heaven on the spot.
She was simply too weak—so weak that even she found it humiliating.
Lin Qingyan had been able to endure for so long. Although Luo Zhao was also terribly inexperienced, she was still stronger than Shangguan Yunying.
But what about her?
She couldn’t last more than a few moments before she was done for—rolling her eyes back, losing consciousness, and not even having time to beg for mercy.
It wasn’t that Shangguan Yunying didn’t want to put on a better showing in front of Gu Chengyin.
Nor was it that she didn’t want him to think she could be like Lin Qingyan.
But her body simply wouldn’t allow it. It was like a cup with no bottom.
No matter how much water was poured into it, everything would leak out at once, without leaving behind even a single drop.
Gu Chengyin wasn’t trying to bully Shangguan Yunying.
It was merely that the night was long, he had no desire to sleep, and he had happened to discover that there was still someone awake.
So he didn’t explain why he was doing this.
Instead, he carried Shangguan Yunying around and turned toward the stairs.
He followed the stairs upward, then continued toward the window.
There was a chaise longue there.
It was made of huanghuali wood, with delicate cloud patterns carved into its armrests.
A soft cushion had been spread across the seat, making it look so inviting that anyone would want to lie down on it.
Gu Chengyin walked over to the chaise longue and sat down, settling Shangguan Yunying against him.
At some point, the moon had emerged from behind the clouds, spilling silver-white moonlight across the tower.
Through the window lattice, it fell upon the two people on the chaise longue, bathing everything in a cool, dreamlike radiance.
In the distance, the divine capital had already fallen asleep. The lights of its countless streets and alleys had mostly gone dark.
Only a sparse few still flickered in the night, like stars fallen from the sky to the ground.
Holding Shangguan Yunying in his arms, Gu Chengyin teased her,
“Yunying, the way you put it, do you really think this is the only thing I know how to do?”
Shangguan Yunying’s face flushed even deeper.
She simply nestled in Gu Chengyin’s embrace, making no move to get up.
Her fingers traced idle circles over Gu Chengyin’s chest as she muttered,
“If I could stand it, I’d actually want to do this every day…”
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!
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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.
