From the moment Gu Chengyin appeared, Luo Zhao had already begun struggling to keep herself under control.
At the time, she was still seated upright in the principal seat, her back straight and her expression cold and severe.
Her gaze was fixed on Fang Nu’s face like the edge of a blade. To anyone watching, she still looked like that untouchable Crown Prince.
But only Luo Zhao knew that the instant she saw Gu Chengyin, her heart seemed to be plucked hard by an invisible hand.
Her steady, orderly heartbeat suddenly sped up, pounding faster and more erratically.
It was as though something was rampaging through her chest, desperately searching for an outlet but unable to find one.
It took an immense amount of willpower for Luo Zhao to tear her gaze away from Gu Chengyin.
She forced herself to focus once more on Fang Nu’s repulsive, loathsome old face.
The situation at the time did not allow her to relax. She had to maintain the bearing expected of the Crown Prince and could not reveal the slightest weakness.
So Luo Zhao endured.
She endured the urge surging up from the depths of her heart. She endured the impulse to do anything improper.
But the character for “endure” carried a blade above it, and the longer that blade hung overhead, the more tormenting it became.
When Gu Chengyin began taking over the conversation and traded blows with Fang Nu at ease, Luo Zhao’s attention had already left everything else behind.
She watched Gu Chengyin stand before her with his back turned toward her, using his body to shield her from behind and keeping all the wind and rain outside.
With every sentence Gu Chengyin spoke, Fang Nu’s momentum weakened.
With every step Gu Chengyin advanced, Fang Nu retreated one step.
With a warm, jade-like smile and an unruffled tone, the man wrested control of the situation from Fang Nu bit by bit.
And with every ebb and flow, the desire in Luo Zhao’s heart grew little by little.
So even though she was seated in the principal position, even though three Golden Core cultivators from the Sun-Moon Sect sat below her and dozens of sect representatives waited outside,
even though the hall was filled with female officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and honored practitioners from the Celestial Masters’ Office,
Luo Zhao’s mind was occupied by none of them—not the sects, not the Celestial Masters’ Office, not the Taihe War...
What she was thinking about was how Gu Chengyin would discipline her thoroughly, how he would angrily reprimand her for failing to live up to expectations, how he would pound into her with furious frustration.
The instant that thought arose, it spread like a wildfire and could no longer be suppressed.
Luo Zhao imagined Gu Chengyin pinning her down in some secluded corner and whispering into her ear in the tone one used to scold a disobedient child.
He would tell her she was being naughty, that her methods were too poor, that she was a useless Crown Prince—and that tonight, he would definitely teach her a proper lesson so she would remember.
The more she imagined it, the more aroused Luo Zhao became.
And the more aroused she became, the quieter she grew.
She even began trying to erase her own presence.
Luo Zhao did not dare move. She did not dare change her posture or raise a hand to adjust her hair. She did not even dare breathe too deeply.
She was terrified that the slightest movement would draw someone’s attention,
that some sharp-eyed female official or honored practitioner would notice something strange about her.
Luo Zhao used every ounce of her strength to suppress the hot currents churning within her.
Layer by layer, she forced them beneath her mask, never daring to let anyone discover that anything was wrong.
Luo Zhao could not let anyone know that beneath the exterior of this aloof and solitary Crown Prince,
she was actually so shameless and secretive. At this tense, critical moment,
the things occupying her mind were the very sort that could never be brought into the light.
The enormous contrast made Luo Zhao so ashamed that she nearly bit through her lower lip.
Yet the more ashamed she felt, the more intense that hidden excitement became.
The more intense it became, the quieter she grew.
And the quieter she grew, the more she resembled an ice sculpture—so cold that no one dared approach.
But when she saw Gu Chengyin finish dealing with the matter and prepare to leave, Luo Zhao reflexively caught hold of the hem of his clothes.
If she really let Gu Chengyin leave just like that, she would surely go mad from holding everything in.
Before her awakening, Luo Zhao had never known that such an entire realm existed between men and women.
Naturally, she had never thought about it, yearned for it, or desired it.
She could devote herself wholeheartedly to being a lofty Crown Prince,
pouring all her time and energy into state affairs and cultivation while showing no favor to any man.
But once that thin layer of paper had been pierced, there was no going back.
Whether it was the fulfilling sensation of being filled or the sense of security that came from being controlled,
once she had tasted it, she could never give it up—or endure its absence.
Since she could not endure it, there was no need to keep enduring.
After all, it was only before other people that Luo Zhao was the aloof and solitary Crown Prince.
Before Gu Chengyin, she was nothing more than an obedient Good Doggy.
A Good Doggy wanted something, and a Good Doggy got it.
......
After the female officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs finished tidying the main hall, it quickly returned to its orderly appearance.
Everything swiftly fell back into place, as though the tense confrontation from moments ago had merely been an illusion.
But some things had already changed in silence.
The sect representatives who had yet to be received were now seated in the waiting area of the side hall, and they were clearly much more subdued.
Each sat upright with eyes facing straight ahead, speaking at no more than half their previous volume.
They were terrified that someone from the Celestial Masters’ Office might overhear something they should not and bring trouble upon themselves.
After the Sun-Moon Sect’s forceful intrusion and provocation, the guard detail outside the hall had also changed noticeably.
Originally, only a few ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators had stood watch outside the doors, responsible for announcements and maintaining order.
Now, four Golden Core honored practitioners had been stationed there directly.
The four stood on either side of the hall entrance, arranged symmetrically in pairs. Their postures appeared casual, but their auras were fully unleashed.
They watched the remaining sect representatives like tigers stalking their prey, their eyes openly assessing and wary.
Everyone entering or leaving the main hall had to pass beneath the repeated scrutiny of all four pairs of eyes.
Their gazes were so sharp that it felt as though they were using knife points to peel away layer after layer of disguise, making the sect representatives instinctively shrink their necks.
A few of the more timid ones did not even dare raise their heads, hurrying past with their eyes lowered.
Lin Qingyan had returned to her seat and still wore that lazy, leisurely expression.
Her left leg rested over her right, while one hand supported her chin against the armrest. She looked as casual as someone who had just woken from a nap.
But every so often, her eyes would seemingly sweep over the tightly closed door of the small resting room. The corners of her lips would then curl into a meaningful smile.
No one knew better than she did what was happening inside. When Lin Qingyan had returned, she had noticed that the electricity surrounding Luo Zhao had actually taken the shape of a heart.
Gu Xiaoli sat not far from Lin Qingyan, idly swishing her spiritual-energy cat tail, her feline pupils half-lidded.
After tussling with Lin Qingyan for a while, Gu Xiaoli had stopped trying to find Gu Chengyin and Luo Zhao.
After all, she was not stupid. It was obvious that the two of them intended to conduct a thorough discussion of an important matter.
Whether that matter was proper or improper, and just how thorough their discussion would be, was another question entirely.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
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!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
