Luo Zhao took a slight deep breath, barely making a noticeable movement.
She didn't want Lin Qingyan beside her to detect any abnormality, let alone notice even the slightest fluctuation in her emotions.
However, even so, Luo Zhao still found it difficult to suppress the emotions welling up inside her.
There were simply too many, too intense, and too heavy.
Even if she managed to suppress one, another would surface.
Suppress two, and three, four, five would emerge all at once.
Luo Zhao felt like she was standing alone on a dam, watching the river below rising higher and fiercer with each passing moment.
The cracks on the dam were multiplying and widening.
She desperately tried to block them with her body, press them down with her hands, and fill them with anything she could find.
Yet, the river continued to rise, the cracks kept expanding, and the dam was on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Finally, Luo Zhao lowered her eyelashes, her gaze falling on the Crown Prince Token in her arms.
It was a token about the size of a palm, neither gold nor jade, but a dull, dark black.
On the back was a vivid relief of a mysterious bird spreading its wings, encircling an ancient character "Zhao".
However, Luo Zhao's gaze was not on the token itself but what was hidden inside.
There was something inside, something she had never mentioned to anyone.
It was a relic left by her mother.
According to her father, this relic also had a hypnotic function.
It was just that it couldn't be used for the time being because its energy had been depleted.
So, it needed to be replenished with energy.
And this energy was neither true qi nor spiritual power.
It was electricity.
In the entire Great Luo Empire, there was only one person who had it.
That was Lin Qingyan.
A practitioner of the Nine - Heavens Lightning Summoning Art.
As long as Lin Qingyan took action, this relic would instantly shine again.
But Luo Zhao dared not tell Lin Qingyan about it.
She didn't even dare to let Lin Qingyan know of the relic's existence.
So, she could only look for opportunities and wait for the right moment without being noticed.
She prayed that the heavens would grant her a perfect opportunity that would allow her to achieve her goal without exposing herself.
And now, because of the Taihe Battle, the opportunity had presented itself.
The sects in the cultivation world would all send representatives to watch the battle.
All sects and schools, near and far, large and small.
Famous or unknown, as long as they could be ranked, would send people.
Most of these representatives were Golden Core Realms cultivators.
Not one or two, not three or five, but dozens.
From different sects, different regions, and different backgrounds.
They had different personalities, different habits, and different ways of doing things.
But they had one thing in common: they were Golden Core Realms cultivators.
Golden Core Realms cultivators were the most powerful beings in this land, the apex predators.
They were big shots whom even the emperor would show some respect to and whom the Celestial Master Mansion would treat with courtesy.
And now, they would all come. They would come to the capital city, to the Celestial Master Mansion, and appear in front of countless people.
So, Lin Qingyan had to show up in person and take charge.
For this reason, the Nine - Heavens Lightning Summoning Art must be constantly in operation to ensure that she could take action at the first moment.
She couldn't wait until danger occurred to start running the technique; it would be too late.
Lin Qingyan had to be always prepared, always vigilant, and always in the best fighting state.
As a result, there would surely be tiny golden electric arcs flickering around her body.
This was the natural manifestation of wind, thunder, and lightning after the operation of the Nine - Heavens Lightning Summoning Art.
And this was the long - awaited opportunity for Luo Zhao.
Only when taking charge of the Taihe Battle would Lin Qingyan keep the Nine - Heavens Lightning Summoning Art running at all times.
Normally, she would also run the technique, but not with such high intensity and for such a long duration.
Moreover, only during the Taihe Battle could Luo Zhao stay beside Lin Qingyan without arousing suspicion.
As the Crown Prince and the supervisor of this Taihe Battle, she needed to know the situation at any time, make decisions, and issue orders.
It was only natural and proper for her to stay beside Lin Qingyan.
Even Lin Qingyan herself wouldn't have the slightest doubt.
So, as long as she was close enough and spent enough time with Lin Qingyan.
Those tiny golden electric arcs would eventually enter her mother's relic.
It wasn't about stealing them from Lin Qingyan by any means; they would float in on their own.
They were too small, too weak, and too insignificant.
Lin Qingyan wouldn't even feel their loss, let alone care where they went.
For Luo Zhao, these golden electric arcs were the nutrients for her mother's relic.
They were the energy that would make it shine again, operate again, and function again.
Moreover, Luo Zhao didn't need much; just enough for one hypnosis would do.
Just once, and she could get everything she wanted.
Just once, and she could change everything.
Just once, and she could make Gu Chengyin never leave.
So, she couldn't be hasty, couldn't show any flaws, and definitely couldn't let her aunt know.
Luo Zhao knew how kind Lin Qingyan was to her, and she also knew that what she was doing was like stabbing her aunt in the back when she least expected it.
But she had no choice, really no choice.
She couldn't just watch Gu Chengyin leave, and watch Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying leave with him.
And then be left alone in the capital city.
To guard the empty Crown Prince's Palace, the empty big bed, and the empty days.
Luo Zhao withdrew her gaze and buried all her little thoughts deep in the corner of her heart.
She pretended not to know anything and turned her head to look at Lin Qingyan, who was still studying the whereabouts report.
Serious, meticulous, and incredibly beautiful.
Even now, Luo Zhao still couldn't believe it.
Her aunt, a fairy who seemed to be out of this world, with such a cold and aloofly beautiful face, could show such an expression.
Rolling her eyes, sticking out her tongue, her voice stuttering, and tears streaming down uncontrollably.
Every time she thought of that scene, Luo Zhao felt it was so unreal, as if she was dreaming.
But Luo Zhao knew it wasn't a dream; it was real.
She had seen it with her own eyes, heard it with her own ears, and felt it with her own body.
Lin Qingyan had been dragged into the mortal world by Gu Chengyin.
She was no longer a fairy out of this world, no longer Lord Jingzhe who coldly overlooked all living beings from the nine heavens.
She was just a woman, an ordinary woman.
It was just that only Gu Chengyin could see this ordinary side of her.
But it didn't matter.
She would make her aunt return to the nine heavens, to that position out of this world.
That was where Lin Qingyan should be, the way her aunt, whom she had been looking up to and chasing after since childhood, should be.
As for Gu Chengyin, let Luo Zhao be the one to cry and plead, to lose consciousness from the pain.
She wasn't afraid. She could bear it. She could do it.
Just then, a new whereabouts report was presented by a female official.
This female official kept her head down and her gaze averted.
She didn't dare to look at Luo Zhao on the main seat, nor at Lin Qingyan beside her.
She just respectfully presented the still - ink - scented whereabouts report to Luo Zhao with both hands.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
