Good news: Yinzhichizi — red hair, strong, intelligent.
Bad news: the character's name is Jizi.
The author clearly had no intention of turning this into a "railway novel" where characters are brutally tortured for drama…
If Leng Qingqiu is truly the mastermind behind the scenes, does that mean there's no longer any need to worry about villains like the Hades?
After all, the original novel followed a very standard hot-blooded formula.
The protagonists believe they've defeated the strongest enemy, only to discover that an even stronger existence stands behind them.
And according to the information revealed after each villain's death, the one controlling everything from the shadows was actually Leng Qingqiu!
Yeah. As expected of Qingqiu.
Gu Yan was thinking when—suddenly—
His expression froze.
Hiss! No—wait a second.
According to the original plot, Leng Qingqiu had already been controlling everything long before the protagonists realized it.
In other words, at that point in time, Leng Qingqiu was already invincible.
As for why he didn't just kill the protagonist outright, Leng Qingqiu himself explained it in the novel.
He wanted the protagonist to experience despair step by step—
To feel the pain of watching the people around him die, just like the pain Leng Qingqiu felt when his sister died.
That meant that when Xiao Lin was targeted by the Hades, Leng Qingqiu had already broken the seal on his eyes and reached an invincible state.
Hmm… according to the original novel, that was indeed the case.
Gu Yan's mouth twitched as he noticed a serious problem.
Although the original novel never clearly explained how Leng Qingqiu became invincible, Gu Yan could roughly piece it together from the details.
Most likely, it required Leng Ling'er's heart blood to restore the light in Leng Qingqiu's eyes.
Only then would he reach that absolute peak.
In the original story, Shen Wan'er's brother Shen Tian was killed by Leng Qingqiu.
Heartbroken, Shen Wan'er confessed her feelings to Xiao Lin.
To avenge her, Xiao Lin killed Leng Ling'er.
Leng Qingqiu completely collapsed after his sister's death, turned fully evil, used Leng Ling'er's heart blood to restore his eyesight—and from that moment on, became unstoppable.
But…
That was the original novel.
Right now, Shen Tian wasn't dead.
Leng Ling'er wasn't dead either—and Gu Yan would never allow that to happen.
So how was Qingqiu supposed to regain his light and become invincible?
If he couldn't reach that level, how could he possibly control the Hades Palace?
Relying on the current [Night] Organization?
It wasn't that Gu Yan looked down on Night—
But the original novel clearly stated that before Leng Qingqiu regained his power, the strongest member of Night was only a mid-level Grandmaster.
Gu Yan still vividly remembered that scene:
[That adult bestowed strength upon me… (800 words omitted)]
[What makes you stupid is that your actions allowed that adult to break through his bottleneck!]
[We were strengthened by the adults' grace. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for daring to oppose them!]
It was obvious that when Leng Qingqiu broke the seal, he directly empowered all members of Night and its branches.
Late-stage masters became innate.
Innate cultivators stepped into the Grandmaster realm.
Before that?
The strongest Night member was only at the peak of late-stage Master.
Which meant that right now, Night was likely no match for the Hades.
Xiao Lin's Dao heart had already been damaged by Gu Yan.
Once the martial heart was broken, breaking through realms became extremely difficult.
Whether Xiao Lin could still reach mid-Grandmaster like in the original novel was anyone's guess.
If the Hades turned their spear toward Leng Qingqiu now… wouldn't that be dangerous?
Gu Yan sucked in a cold breath.
He had been so focused on killing the protagonist that he'd subconsciously forgotten—
This world had many villains.
Leng Qingqiu was the final boss, yes.
The ultimate villain who controlled all others.
But that was under the premise that events followed the original novel.
Now?
Leng Qingqiu wasn't invincible.
His strength hadn't peaked.
Even his personal safety couldn't be fully guaranteed.
There had to be another way.
Gu Yan suddenly thought of something.
Right—
The half piece of the Dragon King Jade.
It was rumored that once the Dragon King Jade was complete… (800 words omitted)
In short, a complete Dragon King Jade Pendant could command the entire Dragon King Palace.
A broken one couldn't.
That was why the former palace master had lost control.
So… fuse the jade.
Obtain the Dragon King Palace.
Use that power to deal with potential risks.
Gu Yan didn't believe that Leng Qingqiu could only rely on Leng Ling'er's heart blood.
And really—why must it be Leng Ling'er's heart blood?
If it came down to blood ties, wouldn't Leng Xing'an's heart blood work just as well?
Forget it. No point overthinking it now.
His main enemy was still Xiao Lin.
After all, in the original novel, Xiao Lin was strong enough to perish together with Leng Qingqiu.
But that raised yet another problem.
In the original plot, the King of Hell's ambition to unify Jianghai was instigated by Leng Qingqiu.
Now that Leng Qingqiu couldn't control him…
Would the King of Hell still pursue that ambition?
If not, would the protagonist group even be provoked?
What would the plot turn into then?
Gu Yan felt a headache coming on.
Even if the world's corrective force tried to fix things, it couldn't do so under the premise that Leng Qingqiu wasn't invincible.
Reconnect the plot?
Fine—but who would take over?
Him?
Yeah, right.
Tsk. My thoughts are a mess.
Gu Yan turned off the faucet and smiled faintly.
Let's eat first.
"..."
Mei Xue felt a chill crawl up her spine.
She glanced at Gu Yan, whose expression had been changing nonstop like a palette.
…Could he be schizophrenic?
---
Lunch time.
Mei Xue lowered her head and ate quietly, occasionally glancing forward.
Gu Yan sat beside his master, picking up food and feeding her as he smiled.
"Qingqiu, you haven't eaten my cooking in a long time.
Do you miss the taste?"
Leng Qingqiu had subordinates present. Naturally, she wouldn't reveal her true feelings.
She didn't want them thinking she was some hypocritical woman.
So she smiled gently—warm like the rising sun.
"If you made it, it must be delicious."
Gu Yan's heart skipped violently.
Hiss!
No way—what version of Leng Qingqiu is this?!
How could she smile at him so softly?
They say when a woman smiles like that, you've done something wrong…
Did Qingqiu find out about something?!
Gu Yan fell into deep thought.
Mei Xue was shocked as well.
Ah, so that's how it is.
To gain Gu Yan's favor and trust, the master is pretending to be a virtuous wife, huh?
Just look at Gu Yan's stunned face—you can tell how gentle the master must be normally.
Heh. What a pity, Gu Yan.
You never expected she was doing all this just to take over the Gu family!
Hehehe~
Worthy of the master!
Leng Qingqiu, of course, knew none of this.
The aroma already had her appetite growing. She opened her mouth slightly and tasted the dish Gu Yan handed her.
Her heart trembled.
Her breathing quickened.
Her body stiffened unconsciously.
It's really… been a long time.
Leng Qingqiu felt like crying.
Delicious.
This is it.
I missed this so much.
So spicy.
So happy.
Though she wanted Gu Yan to keep feeding her, her subordinates were still present.
She wiped her mouth with a napkin and smiled at the still-dazed Gu Yan.
"Just as I thought. Very delicious."
Before Gu Yan could react, Leng Qingqiu picked up her chopsticks.
As if she knew exactly where everything was, she picked up a piece and brought it to Gu Yan's lips.
Under his stunned gaze, she smiled gently.
"Here."
On the surface, she looked calm.
Inside, she was dying of embarrassment.
Even the hand holding the chopsticks was trembling.
She'd originally planned to maintain her usual proud demeanor.
But with Mei Xue around, she didn't want her subordinates thinking Gu Yan was merely a servant trying to please her.
She didn't want them looking down on him.
Of course—
It definitely wasn't because of anything else.
Absolutely not.
She just didn't want her nominal husband—
Yes, nominal!—
to be looked down upon.
That's all.
But… why wasn't Gu Yan eating?
Hey.
Do you think my hand won't get tired?
The next second—
A hand landed on her forehead.
Gu Yan asked with concern,
"Qingqiu, do you have a fever? Are you feeling unwell?"
He was genuinely confused.
Why was Leng Qingqiu, who usually told him to get lost or froze him out, suddenly so gentle?
Leng Qingqiu: "..."
She kept smiling.
Then—
Stomp.
"Hiss!"
Gu Yan twitched and looked down.
Leng Qingqiu was stepping hard on the back of his foot with her slippers.
"Gu Yan, what are you talking about? Haven't I always been like this?"
"Eat quickly. I picked it up specially for you."
She twisted her foot slightly—very kindly.
Gu Yan understood immediately.
Enduring the pain, he leaned forward and bit down on the food.
[Stepped on by the object of pure love (through shoes), points +50]
His foot hurt like hell.
But his heart?
Overflowing with happiness.
Even if he didn't know what was going on—
Qingqiu was really amazing.