“……”

Not knowing how to react—this was Jian Chou at this moment.

First, she was caught off guard; second, it was completely unexpected; third, with her disguised identity in front of everyone, no matter what emotions were churning in her mind, she couldn’t express them under the current circumstances.

She stood on the steps, slightly higher than “Brother Lihan” standing below. The scene just now, in the eyes of others, looked like she had been pulled down by Brother Lihan and kissed. Looking at the cultivation and temperament of the two, it truly gave off an indescribably strange feeling.

However, after those four words “Brother Lihan,” nothing else mattered!

If Brother Lihan’s sudden appearance and forceful kiss on Lian Zhao had shocked everyone’s jaws off, then when the words “I like you” came out, everyone couldn’t help but doubt whether this person was really Brother Lihan!

What kind of joke was this?

What happened to the story that Lian Zhao had tried to seduce Brother Lihan back then but failed and got slapped in the face instead?

What happened to them being like fire and water, incompatible, with him already holding a grudge against her for finding her displeasing?

What happened to the Great Judge being cold and ruthless, not understanding romance, and knowing nothing about love?

Were all those rumors just made up for fun?!

But looking carefully at this “Brother Lihan” who still hadn’t let go of her hand, even while saying “I like you,” there was no unusual emotional fluctuation on his face. It was as if he was reading from a script, his features still extremely calm, with coldness in his gloomy depression that made people even more afraid.

He was clearly still the same Brother Lihan!

Everyone was completely dumbfounded.

Outside the entire Gou Zhong Tower, it was so quiet that not even breathing could be heard.

At the window on the third floor above, three heads suddenly popped out with a “swish swish swish”—they were the three elders who had previously presided over this recruitment together with “Brother Lihan.” It was unclear whether they had seen that explosive scene just now, but they were all staring at “Brother Lihan” and “Lian Zhao” with expressions of complete shock.

Fu Chaosheng naturally noticed all these extraordinary reactions around him. But thinking from a human perspective, he guessed they were shocked by the relationship between “Lian Zhao” and “Brother Lihan,” startled by his sudden words and actions.

But he felt that Jian Chou’s reaction shouldn’t be so strong.

Yet at this moment, as their eyes met, he could clearly see complete bewilderment and shock in Jian Chou’s eyes, along with complete incomprehension.

This made him equally confused—

It was one thing for others to be surprised, but Jian Chou was an old friend with a clever nature, different from the common crowd. They had known each other for a long time and had a close relationship. She should have immediately understood the reason for his actions.

But why was she still reacting this way?

Fu Chaosheng gazed at Jian Chou but didn’t voice his doubt at this moment. He simply followed his original plan and added lightly: “You don’t need soul verification. Come with me directly.”

“Whoosh!”

A burst of whispered conversations immediately arose outside Gou Zhong Tower!

Jian Chou had cooperated with Fu Chaosheng’s performance in Gou Zhong Tower based on intuition, guessing that he had another move planned.

But no matter how she guessed, she couldn’t have guessed this.

She had thought that it would be enough to make others misunderstand that things between “Lian Zhao” and “Brother Lihan” weren’t that simple, and that would be sufficient to muddle through.

But now, what was Fu Chaosheng doing?

For a moment, she wanted to ask directly.

However, with the bigger picture at stake, she immediately held back.

Jian Chou was still disguised as “Lian Zhao,” and Lian Zhao would hardly be likely to issue a calm interrogation about such matters.

So she just frowned almost imperceptibly, looked at Fu Chaosheng intently for a moment, with some flickering in her eyes, then quickly lowered her gaze and stepped back, creating distance between them.

In the eyes of others, this was a gesture of resistance.

Combined with Brother Lihan’s sudden and domineering behavior just now, it looked exactly like these two had something going on between them originally, but had quarreled over something and were both being stubborn, unwilling to reconcile with each other.

Jian Chou clenched her hands hanging at her sides and responded stiffly: “Since Lord Brother Lihan commands it, Lian Zhao dares not disobey.”

Dares not disobey…

These four words were used in an extremely subtle way!

The hundreds of ghost cultivators inside and outside Gou Zhong Tower, including the elders, instantly had a feeling of “I think I understand something,” and their gazes toward Brother Lihan immediately became somewhat ambiguous and meaningful.

Tsk tsk tsk.

So all that talk about being unmoved when a beauty threw herself at him back then, and even injuring the beauty instead—it was all fake.

Wasn’t this spitting out what he had eaten?

Back then he was indifferent to her, but now he was taking by force, cold and domineering.

When offered freely, he refused; when the person was unwilling, he became restless with desire.

Men, they’re just cheap!

The numerous ghost cultivators didn’t need to understand more. They felt they had already grasped the truth of the situation from these two people’s various attitudes and few words, and many thoughts arose in their hearts.

Only Fu Chaosheng was still not very clear.

Seeing Jian Chou’s reaction, he became even more confused. Hearing the barely suppressed laughter from the salted fish Kun, he only suspected that he had done something outrageous.

But hadn’t those elders said so?

If you like someone, you should be like how Lian Zhao was toward him back then.

Although he didn’t really remember this female cultivator, being a great demon, he could retrieve from memory all the things he had experienced. Not to mention having the Cosmic Dual Eyes in hand, so he could easily recall how the real Lian Zhao had approached him back then.

So now, out of expediency, his way of “liking” Jian Chou should also be correct.

Though somewhat puzzled in his heart, there was no opportunity to inquire further.

Having received “Brother Lihan’s” command, Jian Chou had already bowed and re-entered Gou Zhong Tower, guided by several ghost cultivators toward where the other selected ghost cultivators were gathered.

The discussions among the ghost cultivators outside Gou Zhong Tower hadn’t stopped.

Fu Chaosheng listened and heard nothing but remarks like “those two definitely have something going on,” so he glanced around the surroundings.

Just one glance.

Carrying natural gloom and coldness, it was extremely intimidating.

All discussions instantly disappeared, completely quiet.

Only Xue Yin, who had originally stood beside Jian Chou and was still standing not far in front of Fu Chaosheng, was still completely unable to recover from the shock of that scene just now, still slightly agape, looking at Fu Chaosheng with that dazed, dreamlike gaze.

Fu Chaosheng frowned.

He looked at this female cultivator and suddenly spoke: “You just said ‘capture’—capture what?”

Snap!

It was exactly like a slap coming out of nowhere!

Dizzy and disoriented!

Black and blue!

Xue Yin had never imagined that her gloating, mocking whisper at Lian Zhao just now had also been heard by Brother Lihan! Now when he brought up this word “capture,” it immediately reminded her of Lian Zhao’s boastful words, one after another.

Waves surged in her mind!

There’s no man who can escape my grasp…

Senior Sister Xue Yin, do you know what “playing hard to get” means?

Connecting this with Lian Zhao’s various performances since entering Gou Zhong Tower, and that seemingly resistant but actually pitiable attitude…

She was done for.

When she clearly saw the genuine confusion in “Brother Lihan’s” eyes, Xue Yin’s heart completely, thoroughly knelt down to this Junior Sister Lian Zhao whom she had originally found extremely detestable.

Divine-level skills!

From Xiao Mou to Brother Lihan—how did this seductress develop such ability to manipulate men’s hearts?!