It had to be said: Lin Qingyan and Gu Xiaoli really were natural-born enemies.
Their relationship had not formed overnight. Its roots had been planted long, long ago—so long ago that one had to trace it back to when Empress Lin was still alive. Back then, Lin Qingyan was not yet the world-famous Fairy Jingzhe.
She was merely a stubborn, proud little girl who followed her elder sister everywhere.
And Gu Xiaoli was not the half-step Nascent Soul cat demon she was now, either.
She was only a little stray cat that Empress Lin had picked up by the roadside.
Or so she pretended.
Strictly speaking, one was the empress’s younger sister, while the other was the cat Empress Lin had raised.
They saw each other every day. By all rights, they should have gotten along harmoniously.
Yet the truth was precisely the opposite. From the very first time they met, neither of them had ever liked the other.
Lin Qingyan thought Gu Xiaoli was far too clingy. Every time she went to speak with her sister, that cat would insist on curling up in her sister’s lap and purring, stealing all of her attention.
Gu Xiaoli, meanwhile, thought Lin Qingyan was far too domineering. Every time she finally found an opportunity to enjoy some private time with Her Highness, this woman would appear right on schedule, sweep her with a disdainful glance, and unceremoniously pick her up from the empress’s lap before tossing her onto the floor.
Still, although they used to quarrel, there had at least been a limit.
After all, Lin Qingyan was merely Empress Lin’s younger sister, while Gu Xiaoli was merely Her Highness’s cat.
Their affections did not conflict. There was enough love for both of them.
So no matter how much they bickered and squabbled, things never escalated into a real fight. At most, they exchanged a few icy looks and traded a few sarcastic remarks. The moment Empress Lin appeared, both sides would immediately lay down their arms.
But Gu Chengyin was different.
He was not Empress Lin.
He was a man—and more importantly, he was Lin Qingyan’s man.
That changed everything.
As far as Lin Qingyan was concerned, she would not really mind Shangguan Yunying or Luo Zhao.
Shangguan Yunying’s feelings for Gu Chengyin had been obvious from the very beginning. Lin Qingyan occasionally felt a little jealous, but deep down, she accepted it.
As for Luo Zhao, there was even less to say. Lin Qingyan had watched her grow up.
Although the fact that this princess was secretly trying to steal her man from her own aunt made Lin Qingyan both exasperated and amused, Luo Zhao was family in the end. Better for the family to benefit than outsiders.
As long as she did not cause any major trouble, Lin Qingyan could simply turn a blind eye and let it pass.
Gu Xiaoli, however, was different.
Completely different, from the inside out.
First, there were all the old grudges between them. Those grievances belonged to the past, but the ledger was still there, with every account recorded clearly.
Then there were Gu Xiaoli’s methods.
Gu Xiaoli had tried to take him by force.
Not through coquettishness, not through flattery, and not by gradually cultivating a relationship.
She had waited until Lin Qingyan was busy handling official business at the Celestial Master’s Residence, restrained Gu Chengyin, set up a spiritual barrier to block all outside perception, and then simply gone ahead and taken what she wanted.
That kind of act-first-and-report-later approach had struck directly at the one thing Lin Qingyan found most unacceptable.
Her man had actually been forced by a cat.
If she could swallow that humiliation, then she would not be the Jingzhe of the Celestial Master’s Residence.
So this was not merely a matter of jealousy, nor was it some petty squabble between girls.
This was war.
The war between women was no less intense than a supernova explosion.
If Gu Chengyin had not been here, the Battle of Taihe would have begun ahead of schedule.
And yet Gu Chengyin would rather not have been here himself.
Even he had to keep well away from a battlefield like this.
But things had already developed to this point.
Since there was no way to avoid it, he could only take action.
Gu Chengyin’s mind began spinning at top speed.
Lin Qingyan was still hovering in midair, looking down coldly. Golden arcs of lightning crackled all around her.
Gu Xiaoli stood in front of him, her fur standing on end, her demonic power fully unleashed.
Although she knew perfectly well that she could not defeat Lin Qingyan, the combined influence of her heat and her territorial instincts left her unwilling to yield even a single step.
Two terrifying pressures collided violently in the air, forming a visibly distorted field of force.
The branches and leaves of the old locust tree shook wildly, while the bluestone slabs on the ground developed fine cracks beneath the pressure.
At that critical moment, a hand suddenly reached out from behind.
Five fingers hooked precisely around the collar at the back of Gu Xiaoli’s neck and lifted upward.
“Eh?!”
Gu Xiaoli let out a short cry of surprise and was hoisted into the air.
Of course, she knew that the person lifting her was Gu Chengyin, which was why she did not resist.
Even so, she still could not understand why he had picked her up.
After lifting Gu Xiaoli, Gu Chengyin waved to Lin Qingyan in midair.
Then he placed the catgirl on his right thigh.
With one arm, he wrapped it around her slender waist and held her firmly in his embrace.
Gu Xiaoli could only sit obediently on his leg, glaring resentfully at Lin Qingyan in midair.
Lin Qingyan watched the scene without any obvious change in expression.
Her peerlessly beautiful, icy face remained cold and impassive, her gaze as frosty as ever.
But the golden arcs of lightning crackling around her had vanished.
She, too, slowly drifted down from the sky, her robes fluttering and her long hair cascading like a waterfall.
Compared to the tense, explosive scene from moments before, the suffocating pressure in the air had dissipated by more than half after Gu Chengyin intervened.
Although neither Lin Qingyan nor Gu Xiaoli was willing to show the other the slightest bit of friendliness, they both reined in their spiritual and demonic power at the same time.
It was as if nothing had happened at all.
Watching this, Gu Chengyin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The first step had succeeded. He had not tried to mediate with words.
In a situation like this, words would be utterly powerless.
Instead, he had intervened directly, breaking the standoff between the two of them.
Once Lin Qingyan landed, Gu Chengyin called out to her.
“Auntie, come here.”
Lin Qingyan hesitated.
She stood where she was, looking at Gu Chengyin seated in the lounge chair. Gu Xiaoli was sitting on his right thigh, one of his arms wrapped around the catgirl’s waist.
His other hand was free and beckoning her over.
To be honest, the scene was a little strange.
But hesitation was one thing. Because she trusted Gu Chengyin, Lin Qingyan still began walking toward him.
The moment she reached him, before she even had time to speak, Gu Chengyin extended his hand.
He wrapped it around Lin Qingyan’s waist and pulled her into his arms.
Lin Qingyan’s body stiffened, but she soon obediently sat down.
She settled onto Gu Chengyin’s left thigh, directly facing Gu Xiaoli on his right.
The woman and the cat exchanged a glance.
The amount of information conveyed in that single look was enough to rival an entire debate.
Their gazes clashed in midair, striking off a string of invisible sparks.
Then, at the same time, they each let out a cold snort through their noses before turning their heads away.
Lin Qingyan turned to the right, while Gu Xiaoli turned to the left.
Neither of them was willing to look at the other for even a moment longer.
But neither of them got up from Gu Chengyin’s legs, either.
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.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
] [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!"
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!
