The Ancient Gods' Whisper

The family you're born into truly can shape the course of your entire life.

For someone who's equally lonely, Gu Jianlin saw her like a beam of light in the darkness.

It was instinctual to want to approach.

But at the moment, he was drenched in a torrential rainstorm, afraid that as soon as he walked over, he'd extinguish that light.

Thinking back to the past few months, they truly felt like heaven—each night, the lovely girl in her pajamas would come over with a notebook full of homework. The two of them hid in his room, snacking on midnight treats and binging dramas, while the rain softly tapped against the window.

"I need to grow stronger as quickly as I can, and spend more time with her while I can spare it."

Gu Jianlin murmured to himself: "Though, there's no going back home now."

Suddenly, his phone, fully charged with a shared power bank, chimed with a notification.

Gu Jianlin fished out his phone to take a look.

"Don't overwork yourself."

Gu Jianlin instinctively turned his head, only to find the window completely empty.

In the desolate night, the faint sound of waves lapping the shore could be heard.

The water trickling through the rocks seemed to soften its rhythm, almost tender.

·

·

Night had deepened, and the world outside the window lay silent.

The pink night lamp on the bedside table still glowed faintly, casting a warm light as Su Youzhu curled under the blanket, revealing only a delicate, porcelain-like face. Her soft, pale green hair spilled across her forehead, half covering clear eyes that shone bright as glass, her demeanor lazy and feline-like.

After a long night's work, she felt exhausted, sprawling limply on the bed, unwilling to move.

Half an hour ago, her mom returned home and was now showering.

She had worked so hard to help him cover up his lie, claiming he was staying at school for independent enrollment preparation and wouldn't have the time to come home before June, aiming for a guaranteed spot at Qingbei.

At first, her mother didn't believe her, but at the mention of Qingbei, she suddenly viewed it as an excellent opportunity to bring honor to the family. Plus, considering her obedient daughter would never lie to her, the doubts were completely dispelled.

Since her son was striving hard for college admission, she knew better than to disturb him unnecessarily.

Tomorrow, Dad was returning too; he'd surely be checking the homework then.

But Su Youzhu didn't feel flustered in the slightest.

Because her phone was still transmitting the sound of a pen scratching across paper.

The screen emitted a faint glow, and her WeChat voice call remained active.

She could hear his steady breathing and the hurried flurry of his pen moving across the test sheet.

If she didn't know he was a star student, she might very well suspect he was scribbling nonsense on his homework.

Su Youzhu had done something similar before.

Right before summer vacation, when she was behind on homework, she answered each test question with the exact same question as her response.

Her homeroom teacher had been so enraged, practically foaming at the mouth, that they called her father over, leading to her receiving quite the beating.

"Goodnight."

Su Youzhu whispered softly.

The scratching sound of the pen halted briefly, and a familiar voice responded.

"Mm, goodnight."

Su Youzhu closed her eyes, curled into a tiny ball.

Sleeping while connected on a call like this felt oddly comforting, even more so than when he used to sleep in the room next door.

The screen dimmed, showing a contact name consisting of three characters.

Gu Jianlin.

·

·

At four in the morning, Gu Jianlin finally completed her homework, letting out a long sigh of relief.

He was already incredibly fatigued. The side effects from his Ancient God Transformation hadn't subsided—the searing, tearing pain assaulted him constantly—and he'd just undergone a moderately intense battle.

He was thoroughly exhausted, on the brink of passing out at any moment.

Yet, he had stayed up and powered through, finishing her homework for her.

Otherwise, once Uncle Su returned tomorrow, she'd likely be in big trouble again.

"I've figured out how to freely enter and exit Qilin Immortal Palace. I can lie inside one of the coffins in the palace, leveraging the Ancient God aura that permeates the place to swiftly rid myself of these damned side effects."

Gu Jianlin muttered softly.

He was starting to piece it all together.

To put it more plainly:

Spirituality to him was his blue bar.

And the Ancient God aura spreading within Qilin Immortal Palace was his anger bar.

The blue bar enabled him to use skills.

The anger bar unlocked his Ultimate Form.

The computer screen was still glowing faintly. He had been using WeChat's desktop app for the call and could hear a steady, deep rhythm of breathing.

It seemed she had fallen asleep.

The reason he didn't use his phone was that he was worried incoming calls would interrupt the connection.

As expected, just as he headed to take a shower, a call came in.

"Hello, it's me."

Answering the phone, he asked, "What's up?"

Lu Zicheng's weak voice spoke: "Xiao Gu, it's me."

Gu Jianlin paused: "Captain? What's wrong? You sound like you're about to keel over."

Lu Zicheng coughed dryly: "No, no. I'm fine. I wanted to give you two updates. The first concerns Yan Wu. He's now making every effort to pull strings and rescue the Yan family, mainly through two routes. One, he plans to use Mu Ziqing to prove Yan Ye and Yan Feng's fall was due to persecution. Or to put it bluntly, he intends to show it was you who caused his sons' downfall."

Gu Jianlin, expressionless, continued wiping his body.

What he said wasn't wrong. The Yan brothers' fall was indeed his doing.

But attempting to use Mu Ziqing to prove it was laughably naive.

Gu Jianlin kept that woman around as a contingency plan.

Though it also gave him a new thought.

Why do people fall into ruin?

The obvious reason is being tainted by the Ancient God's psyche.

But is there a chance... that some were framed, forced into corruption?