The Young man in Online Romance (5): 

Gu Juntian was looking at Zhou Qinghao, and Zhou Qinghao was also looking at Gu Juntian.

Zhou Qinghao was the young master of the Zhou family, twenty-eight years old this year. Four years ago, he returned from studying for his master’s degree abroad and joined Qida Technology.

The game Cultivation was released two years ago, and he had watched it being gradually perfected.

For ordinary people, Cultivation was very fun, but for him, someone who had participated in its development, it held no mystery. He wasn’t addicted to the game; he only went online from time to time to take a look, which was part of his work.

So, before he started dating Gu Juntian, his game level had always been very low.

After they got together, Gu Juntian took him in as a disciple, carried him through the game, and let him leech experience points, so his level gradually rose.

However, since he only logged in for a few hours after dinner and not even every day, his rank in the Heavenly Demon Pavilion was just average.

But he didn’t care about rank anyway. The main reason he went online was to see the face Gu Juntian had customized for his avatar, and to listen to Gu Juntian’s sweet words.

He was usually exhausted from work, so after getting off, having an online romance and playing a game was just a way to relax.

Today, he just wanted to find Gu Juntian and hear some sweet talk.

But when he saw Gu Juntian, he suddenly felt his throat go dry and couldn’t help but swallow.

Had Gu Juntian spent money on another face customization? Why did he keep getting better looking?

He had originally thought they would break up sooner or later, but now that Gu Juntian looked this good, how could he bear to part?

Of course, this wasn’t Gu Juntian’s real face—it was his game avatar’s.

Otherwise… maybe one day he should just buy Gu Juntian’s account?

Thinking this, Zhou Qinghao asked, “What dungeon are we running?”

At this moment, Gu Juntian also came back to his senses.

The face he saw was that of a game character, not Zhou Qinghao himself. Falling in love at first sight with a game character… was that really necessary?

But Zhou Qinghao’s voice was also pleasant and made his heart flutter. That voice belonged to the real Zhou Qinghao.

Forget it, no point overthinking.

Anyway, right now Zhou Qinghao was his creditor—he just needed to treat him well.

Gu Juntian said, “It’s the new ‘Imprisoned Dragon’ dungeon in Cultivation. No one’s cleared it yet—we’ll try to be the first.”

This dungeon was triggered this morning when someone doing a quest entered a certain cave. Many people had already tried it, but so far, no one had passed.

“Alright,” Zhou Qinghao said.

He was very familiar with this dungeon, knew exactly how to pass it, and even knew its hidden storyline.

But he wasn’t about to tell anyone.

“Let’s go!” Gu Juntian said, initiating a trade to give Zhou Qinghao some items.

The original Gu Juntian had been willing to spend heavily and practically lived in the game 24/7, so he owned a lot of valuable gear.

Zhou Qinghao was different.

According to him, he was a student who attended classes during the day and could only play at night. And while he had money, he didn’t like to spend on the game, so his equipment was fairly average.

Zhou Qinghao didn’t refuse the items Gu Juntian gave.

He had given Gu Juntian far more money than the value of this gear anyway.

Still, he said, “Thank you, Master.”

Hearing the word “Master,” Gu Juntian shuddered, a little excited.

After Zhou Qinghao spoke, he realized Zhou Qinghao’s looks in the game matched his aesthetic, but his voice was also so pleasant it made his ears itch—he could listen to it for a lifetime.

Now, with this “Master” uttered… he wanted to hear Zhou Qinghao call him that forever.

Did he really only like the face of Qing Tian Bai Ri’s game avatar?

When he thought back to Zhou Qinghao’s real-life appearance, he realized he actually liked that even more.

Various thoughts flashed through Gu Juntian’s mind, and he finally confirmed one thing—

He just liked this sweet, innocent, rich second-generation young man in front of him!

Having such a devoted partner wasn’t bad. He just needed to keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t get tricked by others.

And he still wanted this person to call him “Master” forever!

In that case, shouldn’t he do things to make Zhou Qinghao happy?

As for what Zhou Qinghao liked… Gu Juntian thought of the “1,000 Lines of Sweet Talk” folder left by the original owner.

The original owner had copied over a thousand love lines into a folder and would say a few each time he met Zhou Qinghao, then delete those lines to ensure no repeats.

The original owner had really put in the effort.

Gu Juntian had seen the folder before and remembered some of the lines. Now…

He cleared his throat, switched to private chat, and said to Zhou Qinghao, “Ah Qing, when I’m troubled, I think of you, like longing for the sun in winter. When I’m happy, I think of you, like seeking shade under the blazing sun.”

When he first thought about saying it, he felt embarrassed, but once he actually spoke, it didn’t seem so bad.

Zhou Qinghao trembled when he heard it.

That voice was too intoxicating!

He had always liked Gu Juntian’s looks and voice, but today, both were more outstanding than ever.

His heart beat a little faster.

Seeing Zhou Qinghao clearly enjoyed the sweet talk, Gu Juntian breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed the original owner’s approach was right—he just needed to keep it up.

As they talked, they arrived at the cave entrance to the dungeon.

“This dungeon is brand new—there’s no guide online yet. Once we’re inside, we’ll need to be careful,” Gu Juntian said in team chat.

“Don’t worry, Great Emperor, we’ll be careful.”

“Good. Just follow my lead,” Gu Juntian said, then added to Zhou Qinghao, “Ah Qing, stick close to Master.”

“Alright, Master,” Zhou Qinghao replied.

Gu Juntian felt dizzy again from that “Master.”

Since Zhou Qinghao called him Master, he couldn’t let him down.

He had to complete the Dragon Scale set and give it to Zhou Qinghao!

Gu Juntian entered the dungeon with high spirits.

In the original plot, the original owner had farmed this dungeon many times, obtaining parts of the Dragon Scale set himself and buying the rest at high prices to complete the set for his own use.

Although he liked “Little Lamb,” his greatest love was still his “Heavenly Emperor” account.

So back then, he gave Little Lamb his old gear that was inferior to the Dragon Scale set.

This meant Gu Juntian knew exactly how to clear the dungeon.

But he couldn’t make it too obvious, or the game company might get suspicious.

Besides, a dungeon could be cleared either through guides or raw skill.

After playing for a bit, he realized his control over the game character was better than the original owner’s.

And in Cultivation, skill mattered a lot—two players of the same level could have vastly different combat power depending on their control.

In this game, everyone started as an ordinary villager, but later could choose to cultivate immortality, demonhood, or Buddhism, and with special opportunities, they could gain unique bloodlines or become a demon cultivator.

Each path had sub-branches—for example, immortals could be sword cultivators, healers, or spell cultivators.

The Heavenly Emperor account was a sword cultivator with very high attack power, and Gu Juntian also had a peerless divine weapon, the “Asking Heaven Sword.”

With the sword in hand, he charged forward, clearing the cave of small monsters.

They had to kill the small monsters first to reach the final dragon.

“Ah Qing, I’ll handle the monsters—you pick up the loot,” Gu Juntian said while fighting.

These drops were useless to him but useful for Zhou Qinghao.

“Alright, Master,” Zhou Qinghao replied.

Gu Juntian fought with even more enthusiasm, even showing off some skill.

He wanted Zhou Qinghao to see how amazing he was!

The people with them were all Heavenly Demon Pavilion elites, so the small monsters at the start weren’t a problem. For Gu Juntian, this also helped him get used to the controls.

Playing was actually easy—it was just that the original owner’s physical condition was poor.

If he were in better shape, he could make his character even stronger.

“Great Emperor, your skill is incredible!”

“As expected of the Great Emperor!”

“You should join the arena, Great Emperor!”

…

In Cultivation, players could duel in the arena for rewards.

The original owner rarely did—his focus was always on running the guild.

Also, many arena players were professionals, and he simply couldn’t beat them.

Gu Juntian said, “When would I have time for the arena? I still have work.”

“That’s true,” everyone agreed.

The Great Emperor usually logged in after dinner, played until midnight, then went to sleep.

Late at night and during the day, someone else supposedly played for him.

Occasionally, he’d log in during the day for events.

Although he played quite a bit, running a guild left no time for PvP.

Hearing him say he had work, Zhou Qinghao felt a bit helpless.

As an insider, he knew that despite claiming to have a substitute player, the account had always been logged in from the same IP and even the same device.

That “substitute” couldn’t possibly live in his house using his headset.

The man was a liar.

So why did he like a liar so much?

Thinking this, Zhou Qinghao said, “Master, since you work so hard, you must take care of your health.”

“I will,” Gu Juntian replied, remembering the lies the original owner had told Zhou Qinghao.

If he didn’t want to break up, he couldn’t let Zhou Qinghao find out he was a fraud.

So every lie the original owner had told, he had to cover up.

And… the original owner had made up quite a lot!

He had claimed to own several companies, that many firms including Qida Technology were fighting to hire him as a programmer, that he held stock in many companies, and that he was developing AI robots.

He had even said he had eight-pack abs and looked exactly like his game avatar!

Gu Juntian: “…”

Fine—for Zhou Qinghao’s sake, even if it killed him, he’d fill in all the holes the original owner had dug!