Luo Zhao knew that Lin Qingyan was deliberately provoking her, while also getting revenge for the previous night.
Last night, right in front of Lin Qingyan, Luo Zhao had acted with her own aunt by her side—whispering the most outrageous words in her ear in the most infuriating tone, and doing the most outrageous things.
Given Lin Qingyan’s personality and temper, the fact that she had not exploded on the spot was already a miracle.
Luo Zhao knew very well that although her aunt appeared not to care about anything and seemed to regard nothing as worthy of her attention, she would become extremely particular whenever Gu Chengyin was involved.
He was her weakness, her Achilles’ heel, and the one thing that could make her set aside all her pride and reserve.
Lin Qingyan did not care what others thought of her, nor did she care what people whispered behind her back.
But she cared about who mattered more in Gu Chengyin’s heart. She cared about whom Gu Chengyin would seek out first after returning.
She simply never let any of it show in front of Gu Chengyin.
That was why Lin Qingyan had endured it instead of blowing up on the spot last night.
In front of Gu Chengyin, Lin Qingyan would always be the perfect principal wife—the one who never fought or competed, and who tolerated everything.
But that did not mean she would let Luo Zhao off the hook, or that she would forget this grudge.
Gu Chengyin was Gu Chengyin, and Luo Zhao was Luo Zhao.
If she did not get revenge for this, then wouldn’t she be failing as Luo Zhao’s aunt?
That was why she had proposed the wager, and Luo Zhao had no choice but to agree.
Lin Qingyan was extremely confident that once Gu Chengyin returned, he would come to her first.
Even Luo Zhao herself thought the same.
If she truly accepted the wager, she would probably end up serving as a mattress.
But what if?
What if something unexpected happened?
Besides, Luo Zhao was not actually all that opposed to being a mattress.
So no matter whether she won or lost, she would not be at a disadvantage. In fact, she might even come out ahead.
“I’ll take the bet.”
When she heard Luo Zhao agree, the corners of Lin Qingyan’s lips curved slightly.
It was as though she had already seen how tonight would end. Yet none of the others in the hall—or any of the cultivators throughout the residence—would ever have imagined that these two women had no interest whatsoever in the Taihe Battle or the sect representatives.
Instead, they were discussing such a childish wager—one that would nevertheless make countless people green with envy.
“What if he doesn’t come back tonight?”
Just then, Luo Zhao suddenly raised a new possibility.
What if Gu Chengyin did not return? Wouldn’t that mean the wager was automatically void?
It was not an impossible scenario. Lin Qingyan, Luo Zhao, and Shangguan Yunying all knew exactly how much trouble they could cause, and how thoroughly they could wear Gu Chengyin out.
Just last night, events had already taken one unexpected turn after another.
And now, before he had even returned, they had already started making trouble again.
Given Gu Chengyin’s intelligence and caution, he would undoubtedly make the most sensible choice.
In other words, he would simply not come back at all and wait until the Taihe Battle to show himself.
Luo Zhao’s reminder made Lin Qingyan realize the problem as well.
As long as Gu Chengyin did not return, neither of them would have to choose.
The wager had been made on the spur of the moment, and Gu Chengyin did not even know about it.
But Gu Chengyin understood them. Whether in public or in private, he understood them with extraordinary depth.
He understood them even better than they understood themselves.
That was how he had managed to navigate one dangerous romantic entanglement after another with such ease.
No matter what question or predicament he faced, he could always give the best possible answer.
It was not because Gu Chengyin was quick to react. It was because he had prepared for everything in advance.
Just as Lin Qingyan was hesitating, a female official arrived to deliver a report.
A sect representative had already arrived in the Divine Capital and was now on the way to the Celestial Master’s Residence.
Luo Zhao and Lin Qingyan’s expressions turned solemn, and they straightened their postures.
Their earlier languidness, casualness, intimacy, and ease all vanished.
In their place was a dignified and composed bearing, an imposing presence without the slightest flaw.
As for the wager, it was temporarily set aside. Whether Gu Chengyin would return would be clear once the next report on his whereabouts arrived.
There was more important business to attend to now. They could cause trouble in private, but when it came to major matters and official business, neither of them would hold the other back.
The embarrassment and anger that had covered Luo Zhao’s face moments ago were gone. Her back was perfectly straight, her shoulders level.
Her head was held slightly high, her chin raised just a little, and her gaze fixed straight ahead. She did not need to be angry to radiate authority.
The teasing, mischievous smile had also disappeared from Lin Qingyan’s face. It was replaced by a cold indifference that made people afraid to meet her eyes.
One was peerlessly elegant; the other looked down upon all living beings.
It was almost impossible to believe that the two women who had secretly made a wager moments ago were the same people.
The only ones seated there now were the Crown Prince and Fairy Jingzhe.
……
The Cui Residence.
After parting from Cui Zilu, Gu Chengyin stood by the entrance for a while.
Sunlight poured down from the eastern horizon, falling across his body and casting his shadow over the flagstones.
Gu Chengyin watched as the carriage carrying Cui Zilu turned at the end of the street and disappeared into the morning mist.
He motioned for the carriage that had brought him there to return on its own, then left the gates of the Cui Residence on foot.
Gu Chengyin had no intention of returning to the Celestial Master’s Residence.
The Taihe Battle was tomorrow, so he could appear today—or not. There was no hard-and-fast rule, no mandatory requirement, and no one would criticize him for it.
More importantly, he still had one matter to deal with—something he could not let Luo Zhao or Lin Qingyan know about.
Gu Chengyin began walking toward the Crown Prince’s Palace.
He knew which roads were the shortest, which were the quietest, and which were least likely to attract attention.
He knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would report his movements.
Even without them, the cultivators under Lin Qingyan would be watching him at all times.
Although Fairy Jingzhe appeared generous and tolerant on the surface, she actually cared deeply. She wished she could remain by his side at all times.
And if she could not follow him constantly, then she had to know exactly what he was doing every minute of every day.
So Gu Chengyin’s task was to finish what he had come to do before they found him.
He passed through several narrow alleys, skirted around a few market districts, and avoided the main roads crowded with people.
Without encountering almost anyone, he arrived at the rear entrance of the Crown Prince’s Palace.
Luo Zhao was not only absent from the Crown Prince’s Palace—she had also transferred away most of the female officials.
The Crown Prince had to receive representatives from the sects and oversee matters related to the Taihe Battle, leaving her so busy that she would not return to the palace until very late.
Perhaps she would come back after nightfall. Perhaps she would not return at all tonight.
That was why the Crown Prince’s Palace was unusually quiet today. Apart from the female officials assigned to essential duties, there was hardly anyone there.
And that was precisely what Gu Chengyin wanted.
He had come to the Crown Prince’s Palace to find Gu Xiaoli.
The reason he wanted to find Gu Xiaoli was that Lin Qingyan’s intuition had given him a warning.
Luo Zhao had a way to make him forget Lin Qingyan.
And Empress Lin’s square box could induce hypnosis.
Since Luo Zhao was Empress Lin’s biological daughter, could that hypnotic square box be in her possession?
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
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!
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
