The Crown Prince’s Palace.
The spiritual barrier still enveloped the entire rear courtyard. Golden runes slowly circulated across its transparent walls, radiating an ancient, weighty aura.
The barrier, powerful enough to rival a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, cut off all prying eyes from the outside world, turning this small domain into an isolated island completely severed from the rest of the world.
There were only two people on this island—or, more precisely, one person and one cat.
Gu Chengyin lay on a bamboo lounge chair beneath the pagoda tree, staring up at the sky. Every muscle in his body felt as though it had been filled with lead, leaving him utterly unable to move.
The pressure of a half-step Nascent Soul was like an invisible mountain pressing down on him. It was not particularly heavy, but it was more than enough to keep him from even lifting a finger.
From his limbs to his torso, from his shoulders to his waist and abdomen, every joint had been locked in place by demonic power.
Gu Chengyin was like someone who had been bound to the lounge chair with the softest silk. He could neither break free nor move.
The only thing he could still move was his mouth.
Fortunately, his mouth was still operational.
“Xiaoli, calm down.”
Gu Chengyin’s voice remained fairly steady, carrying a hint of persuasion.
He hoped it would help the little catgirl, who had clearly lost control of herself, regain at least a little clarity.
Gu Xiaoli, however, shook her head.
Her slit-like pupils were filled with dependence, but the shake of her head was exceptionally firm.
The corners of her lips drooped slightly, revealing an expression that was both aggrieved and stubborn.
“This isn’t Xiaoli’s fault.”
“It’s because Big Brother made Xiaoli go into heat.”
Gu Chengyin: “…”
He suddenly realized something: demons had mating seasons.
Although the demon race could cultivate into spirits and assume human form, they had ultimately evolved from beasts. The most primal instincts still remained buried deep within their bloodlines.
The heat cycle was one of the most deeply rooted of those instincts.
And Gu Xiaoli was a cat demon.
When cats went into heat, they became exceptionally clingy. They rubbed against everything nonstop and made sounds completely different from their usual cries.
In an ordinary cat, that would amount to little more than being kept awake by noise in the middle of the night.
But in a catgirl at the half-step Nascent Soul level, it was an entirely different matter.
In other words, if Gu Chengyin had done nothing, the situation might actually have been easier to resolve.
A cat demon in heat was like a pile of dry gunpowder.
And what he had done was no different from throwing a lit match straight into that pile.
But could he really be blamed?
The old Gu Chengyin—especially before he had slept with Lin Qingyan—could absolutely have remained unmoved by temptation.
Back then, his body and mind had still been in perfect accord. When his mind said no, his body obediently listened and would not so much as touch anything.
But things were different now.
More precisely, his hands had developed a mind of their own.
Just like when he held Shangguan Yunying: even when his brain had given no such command, his hands would instinctively find the most familiar places.
What was more, Gu Xiaoli was a perfectly legal catgirl.
At that moment, Gu Xiaoli suddenly remembered something, and her expression grew serious.
“Big Brother, don’t worry. Xiaoli has never been touched before.”
“In the past, I always forcibly suppressed my heat with my cultivation, but this time…”
As she said this, Gu Xiaoli’s voice suddenly softened.
She licked her lips, and the tips of her small, sharp canine teeth flashed between them.
“This time, Xiaoli doesn’t want to hold back…”
Gu Chengyin no longer knew whether he ought to accept or refuse.
From a personal perspective, sleeping with Gu Xiaoli could be said to have nothing but benefits.
Except for becoming a Fate Demon.
A second life was an enormous boon to anyone—except Gu Chengyin.
For him, it would only have a tremendous impact on his future plans and maneuvers.
So the best solution was to sleep with Gu Xiaoli without allowing her to become a Fate Demon.
By then, the little catgirl had already wrapped her arms around his neck. Her slender, fair arms slipped around either side of his neck.
Her entire body pressed against him, her small frame as light as a cloud.
Yet the heat contained within that cloud seeped through layer after layer of fabric.
Gu Chengyin could clearly feel the ball of fire burning inside Gu Xiaoli’s body.
Gu Xiaoli buried her little face in the hollow of his shoulder, the tip of her nose brushing against his neck.
Her small body had even begun to gently rub against him on instinct.
It was like a cat rubbing against its owner’s leg—or like a far more suggestive invitation.
Gu Xiaoli was now completely under the control of her heat-cycle instincts. Her reason had not vanished entirely, but it had retreated to the final line of defense.
And that line could collapse at any moment.
At this critical juncture, Gu Chengyin’s voice rang out.
“Xiaoli, listen to Big Brother.”
Gu Xiaoli’s body stiffened slightly. Instinctively, she tightened her arms and hugged Gu Chengyin even more firmly.
She did not want to listen. She knew Gu Chengyin was about to say something to dissuade her again.
But she could not refuse to listen, because he was Gu Chengyin.
So Gu Xiaoli did not cover her ears or use her demonic power to block out his voice.
She merely kept her little face buried against his shoulder, continuing to rub against him under the urging of instinct as she waited in silence.
“No matter what Xiaoli wants, Big Brother can agree to it.”
Gu Chengyin’s voice was gentle, and every word had been carefully considered.
“But becoming a Fate Demon is out of the question.”
Gu Xiaoli froze. Even her body stopped moving.
The arms wrapped around Gu Chengyin’s neck loosened slightly. She drew back half an inch, just far enough to see his face.
Then she saw the utter seriousness in his eyes.
Gu Chengyin’s expression was solemn—extremely solemn. It was perhaps the most serious look she had ever seen from him.
There was not the slightest hint of joking or perfunctory dismissal. There was only a deep, sincere gravity.
So this was not a discussion, nor was it a negotiation.
It was a decision that would not be changed.
Seeing that Gu Xiaoli was willing to listen, Gu Chengyin knew there was still hope.
His gaze shifted from solemnity to gentleness, and a faint warmth surfaced in the depths of his eyes.
“Big Brother’s job is to protect his little sister, not to make her become some so-called Fate Demon.”
Gu Xiaoli bit her lower lip.
Although she was in heat, although instinct had devoured most of her reason, the innermost and most fundamental switch in her heart had not been broken.
She had wanted to become a Fate Demon in the first place because she cared too deeply about Gu Chengyin—so deeply that she was willing to trade her own life for his.
And what Gu Chengyin said now struck precisely at that switch.
He was telling her that he should be the one protecting her, not the other way around.
That logic was like a clear stream, slowly washing over the mind that had been scorched by the flames until it was burning hot.
Her reason began to return, bit by bit.
Gu Chengyin noticed the change in Gu Xiaoli’s eyes.
The dependence and longing in her slit pupils had not faded.
But above those two emotions, something new had appeared as well.
Hesitation—or perhaps the trace of having been moved.
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 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.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
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.
