The Celestial Master’s Residence.
Luo Zhao sat upright in the principal seat, her back straight as a pine and her chin slightly raised.
Her cool gaze swept over the sect representatives standing below.
“I have received the goodwill of the Profound Truth Sect,” Luo Zhao said, her voice clear and melodious, like jade striking jade. “With the Taihe War fast approaching, all the sects must stand united and work together. Daluo will remember your support.”
The three elders of the Profound Truth Sect bowed in unison.
The leading Golden Core Adept thanked her profusely, though beads of sweat were clearly visible on his forehead.
He did not dare linger. After a few more words of flattery, he hurried out of the main hall with the other two elders.
Their retreating figures looked almost as though they were fleeing for their lives.
The doors of the hall slowly closed with a deep, muffled thud.
Only then did Luo Zhao’s shoulders, which had been tense for most of the morning, relax slightly.
Nothing had gone wrong. No one had been discourteous. No one had said anything they shouldn’t.
Everything had proceeded smoothly according to plan.
Good. As long as nothing went wrong, that was all that mattered.
But Luo Zhao knew perfectly well that the reason everything had gone so smoothly was largely thanks to Lin Qingyan.
Her gaze shifted to the silent figure seated beside her.
Lin Qingyan sat to her left, her posture so casual it bordered on indolent.
Her left leg was crossed over her right. One hand rested on the armrest, propping up her chin, while the other lay casually on her knee.
Even her posture radiated the lazy attitude of someone who couldn’t be bothered to waste words on you.
And yet, despite that careless demeanor, every group of sect representatives who entered the hall fell silent with dread.
Those Golden Core Adepts who could command the winds and clouds of the cultivation world did not look at Luo Zhao first upon entering.
They looked at Lin Qingyan.
Then their gazes would unconsciously drop, their voices would unconsciously grow softer, and some of the less powerful cultivators would not even dare to breathe too loudly.
Lin Qingyan had always possessed this kind of intimidating presence, but it had never been even a tenth as formidable as it was now.
Fairy Jingzhe, invincible among Golden Core cultivators—this was an accepted fact throughout the cultivation world.
No one at the Golden Core stage was her match. But being invincible among Golden Core cultivators did not mean she could act without restraint.
The former Lin Qingyan had possessed one obvious weakness: limited reserves of spiritual power.
That was the greatest drawback brought about by the severing of the Immortal Path.
A Golden Core cultivator was still only a Golden Core cultivator. The total amount of spiritual power they possessed had its limits. If Lin Qingyan faced two or more Golden Core cultivators at once, she would not necessarily lose, but victory would no longer come easily.
Against three or more, she could do little more than retreat unscathed.
Therefore, although the cultivation sects had always feared her, their fear had remained within an acceptable range.
If they couldn’t defeat her one-on-one, they would simply call in more people.
No one had ever dared voice such a thought in front of Lin Qingyan, of course.
But the usual assessment of Fairy Jingzhe had always been: invincible among Golden Core cultivators, but vulnerable to overwhelming numbers.
Yet every sect representative who entered the main hall today clearly sensed one horrifying truth.
That assessment was now completely outdated.
The aura surrounding Lin Qingyan had changed.
Sitting there, she was like a volcano that had yet to erupt.
Beneath the calm surface lay a terrifying power that instinctively made everyone want to prostrate themselves.
Several veteran Golden Core cultivators with keen senses changed expression the moment they entered the hall.
They had discovered that they could not perceive Lin Qingyan’s cultivation at all.
She was like an unfathomable abyss—calm as a mirror on the surface, yet beneath it lay endless darkness.
The doors closed again, and another group of sect representatives was escorted away.
Luo Zhao let out a sigh of relief and raised a hand to rub her stiff neck.
From morning until now, she had received no fewer than twenty groups of sect representatives.
Maintaining the same bearing, the same wording, and the same presence for every single group was an enormous drain on her mental energy.
Luo Zhao picked up the teacup on the desk and took a sip of the tea, which had already gone somewhat cold, moistening her dry throat.
Although everyone had appeared respectful and deferential, Luo Zhao knew the truth very well.
What the cultivation sects feared was never her identity as Crown Princess.
Within Daluo’s structure, the Celestial Master’s Residence and the imperial family operated along two parallel lines.
The imperial family governed the affairs of the mortal world, while the Celestial Master’s Residence managed matters pertaining to cultivation. They did not interfere with one another.
The reason these cultivation sects treated her with such respect was entirely because of the Celestial Master’s Residence’s standing—
and because of the invincible Lord Jingzhe at her side.
Without them, in the eyes of cultivators, Luo Zhao would be nothing more than a beautiful woman.
To put it even more harshly, if not for her status and position, and if Lin Qingyan were not her maternal aunt, then with Luo Zhao’s looks and figure, she would have been abducted long ago and taken back as a cultivation cauldron.
After all, there were only three kinds of people in the cultivation world: seniors, fellow cultivators, and ants.
Luo Zhao belonged to a fourth category: the junior companion of a senior.
The thought made Luo Zhao feel guilty once again.
Lin Qingyan treated her so well and doted on her so much.
When Luo Zhao had been a child, even if her Imperial Father scolded her, Lin Qingyan would scold him right back on her behalf.
When Luo Zhao grew up and began involving herself in political affairs, it was Lin Qingyan who paved the way for her.
And now, with the Taihe War approaching, it was still Lin Qingyan who had come to steady the situation for her.
Yet Luo Zhao…
She was competing with her own maternal aunt for the same man.
The moment that thought surfaced, Luo Zhao felt her face begin to burn.
The dignified Daluo Crown Princess was secretly the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince’s good little dog.
No one would dare believe it if the story got out.
But then Luo Zhao remembered that Lin Qingyan seemed to be the one who had eagerly thrown herself at him first. Her shame immediately faded by several degrees.
If even her maternal aunt was willing to throw herself at him, then what was wrong with a Crown Princess acting like a little dog?
Thinking of it that way, Luo Zhao felt considerably more balanced.
She even felt a faint sense of pride.
She and her maternal aunt had fallen for the same man. What did that prove?
It proved that she was just as impressive—and had just as good taste—as her maternal aunt!
Just then, Luo Zhao suddenly realized something.
Where was the report on Gu Chengyin’s whereabouts?
Luo Zhao’s brows drew together slightly. She had clearly issued a secret order to the Department of Internal Affairs, requiring them to report Gu Chengyin’s movements every half an hour.
The Department of Internal Affairs had always carried out the order flawlessly. Every report had arrived on time.
They recorded in detail where Gu Chengyin had gone, whom he had met, and how long he had stayed.
The previous report had mentioned that he parted ways with Cui Zilu at the Cui residence. Since then, no new report had arrived.
Judging by the time, there should have been at least two or three reports by now.
Even if she had been too busy receiving sect representatives to read them, that was no excuse for the Department of Internal Affairs not to deliver them.
Whether she read them was her concern. Failing to submit them was dereliction of duty on their part.
What was more, even Cui Zilu had already come to report to her.
That meant the matter at the Cui residence had been concluded. So where was Gu Chengyin?
Where had he gone after leaving the Cui residence?
He couldn’t possibly have been on the road this entire time, could he?
So where had Gu Chengyin gone to flirt and stir up trouble now?
The thought instantly sent Luo Zhao’s sense of crisis through the roof.
She knew her master far too well.
He was practically an incubus. Wherever he went, romantic entanglements blossomed around him.
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!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
