Emperor Luo’s voice was hoarse with rage, every word seeming to be forced out from between clenched teeth.
“You’re not afraid I’ll send you to serve in the Imperial Household Department?!”
The teacup traced a sharp arc through the air, flying straight at Gu Chengyin’s forehead.
The force behind it was tremendous. Had it struck him squarely, it would have left him with a split and bleeding head at the very least.
Yet Gu Chengyin neither dodged nor flinched. He remained kneeling upright, his forehead pressed against the back of his hand in the standard posture of obeisance.
The teacup flew past his ear by less than half an inch, the gust of wind making the hair at his temples flutter faintly.
Then it smashed heavily against the golden-brick floor behind him, shattering into seven or eight pieces, while green tea splashed across the ground.
Gu Chengyin did not even blink. His voice remained calm.
“However Your Majesty chooses to punish me, I shall accept it willingly.”
“But what is done is done. Evading responsibility is not the conduct of a true man, nor is it what I desire.”
“That is why I have come to the palace to request an audience and humbly ask Your Majesty to issue an edict.”
His words were beautifully chosen. On the surface, he was admitting his guilt and accepting punishment, but every word conveyed the same message.
What should and should not have been done has already been done. Nothing you say now can change that fact.
I’m not running away. I came here of my own accord to confess and ask Your Majesty to grant us marriage.
Isn’t that more dignified than waiting for Your Majesty to discover everything and summon me to answer for it?
And I’m not provoking Your Majesty. I’m taking responsibility.
That proves I’m serious, not merely playing around.
I’m being this serious about it. Surely Your Majesty won’t really send me to serve in the Imperial Household Department, will you?
Even Emperor Luo, who had weathered countless storms, was so enraged by Gu Chengyin that his vision turned black.
He felt a rush of heat surge from his chest straight to his head. For one brief moment, great patches of darkness truly seemed to appear before his eyes.
His temples throbbed violently, and even his eardrums buzzed.
Emperor Luo instinctively reached out to steady himself against the table. But the moment his fingers touched its surface, the world began to spin. His body swayed, and he could barely remain standing.
Fortunately, Lyu Fang reacted quickly. He lunged forward and firmly caught Emperor Luo by the arms.
The old eunuch, who had served Emperor Luo for several decades, first stole a glance at Gu Chengyin kneeling on the floor.
That single glance contained too many emotions: shock, helplessness, and even wholehearted admiration.
Lyu Fang leaned close to Emperor Luo’s ear and said cautiously, “Your Majesty, your health comes first.”
“The Taihe War begins tomorrow, and the Celestial Master’s Palace has yet to settle the aftermath of recent events. Everyone is waiting for Your Majesty to preside over the situation.”
His words were like a basin of cold water poured over the flames of Emperor Luo’s fury.
Every sentence struck the most crucial points.
The Taihe War would begin tomorrow. Gu Chengyin was unquestionably its central figure, and the Celestial Master’s Palace, along with the entire cultivation world, was watching the battle closely.
What was more, not long ago, Gu Chengyin had suppressed the Sun-Moon Sect’s challenge in the main hall of the Celestial Master’s Palace.
Through a political maneuver that could only be described as textbook-perfect, he had resolved a crisis for the Celestial Master’s Palace.
He had also temporarily forced the cultivation sects, which had been waiting to make their move, back into line.
If Emperor Luo struck Gu Chengyin now because of this matter, could the Taihe War still be fought?
What would the representatives of those sects think?
Where would the Celestial Master’s Palace put its dignity?
And where would the entire Great Luo court put its face?
Emperor Luo glared at Gu Chengyin kneeling before him, his chest heaving violently as Lyu Fang’s words echoed in his ears.
He turned them over in his mind again and again, and little by little, reason began to grind down the edges of his fury.
Then a thought suddenly surfaced in Emperor Luo’s mind—one that nearly made him laugh despite himself.
So that was why.
That was why this brat had suddenly come to ask for an imperial marriage decree.
That was why he had performed such a grand kowtow the moment he entered, lowering himself so completely and putting on the appearance of an obedient fool who would accept any beating or scolding without complaint.
So this was his plan.
The Taihe War would begin tomorrow, and everyone was watching. To touch Gu Chengyin was to touch the heart of the Taihe War. To interfere with the Taihe War was to slap the Celestial Master’s Palace in the face.
And slapping the Celestial Master’s Palace in the face would mean allowing the Sun-Moon Sect, which had only just been suppressed, to laugh at them.
Therefore, Emperor Luo could not touch Gu Chengyin—not before the Taihe War was over, at least.
This brat had calculated the timing down to the last detail. He knew that Emperor Luo could not act against him now, so he had come here to provoke him right to his face, hadn’t he?
Very well. Very, very well.
Emperor Luo was, after all, no ordinary man.
Once reason reclaimed the high ground, he was once again the Great Luo emperor who had held the world in his hands for decades.
Emperor Luo drew a deep breath and forced the last traces of his anger back into the depths of his chest.
The frightening flush that had spread across his face gradually faded, replaced by the profound calm of an undisturbed ancient well.
He straightened once more and lightly waved a hand, signaling for Lyu Fang to withdraw. Then he slowly sat back down on the imperial throne.
His movements remained steady and dignified, as though the furious loss of composure just moments ago had been nothing more than an illusion witnessed by others.
Given the current circumstances, Emperor Luo truly could not touch Gu Chengyin.
Not only could he not touch him, he had to grit his teeth and continue supporting him until the Taihe War was over.
After all, the Taihe War was not merely Gu Chengyin’s affair. It was the affair of the Celestial Master’s Palace—and of Great Luo itself.
Moreover, in a certain sense, Gu Chengyin was already his de facto imperial son-in-law.
The phrase “what is done is done” had made the situation perfectly clear.
Emperor Luo knew there was no longer any way to salvage this marriage.
But that did not mean he could not make Gu Chengyin suffer a little.
If he could not touch the man himself, could he not touch something else?
After a moment of silence, Emperor Luo suddenly spoke.
“Gu Chengyin, once you become the Taihe of the Celestial Master’s Palace, you’ll be able to break through to the Golden Core Realm, won’t you?”
The unexpected question left Gu Chengyin momentarily stunned.
He raised his head and glanced at Emperor Luo, meeting those deep, unfathomable eyes.
The fury was gone. In its place was an inscrutable depth, filled with calculation.
Gu Chengyin pondered for a moment, then gave a quiet affirmative.
Now that everything between him and Emperor Luo was essentially out in the open, there was no need to hide anything.
Upon receiving Gu Chengyin’s confirmation, the corners of Emperor Luo’s lips curved upward.
It was not a benevolent smile.
It was the smile of a counterattack.
Others might not understand Gu Chengyin’s intentions, but Emperor Luo could guess at them to some extent.
After all, they were the same kind of person.
Emperor Luo leaned back against the throne, clasping his hands over his knees. Relaxed and composed, he spoke slowly.
“I refused to let you enter the cabinet because you were destined to leave sooner or later.”
“But I will not stop you from breaking through. That is why I supported the Taihe War.”
Then Emperor Luo abruptly changed direction, the curve of his lips deepening with significance.
“But Gu Chengyin, Gu Chengyin… Of all the paths you could have chosen, why did you have to take the path of Supreme Unfeeling?”
Emperor Luo leaned forward slightly, his gaze as sharp as a torch as he stared directly into Gu Chengyin’s eyes.
Then, in a tone that seemed caring but concealed a deadly blade, he asked slowly, word by word:
“If Jingzhe were to learn of this…”
“What do you think she would make of it?”
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.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
