100: Shocking secret, the Alliance of the Chosen!

Qingyun Sect, the peak of the main mountain, Wen Tian Platform.

This place was like an isolated island suspended in the sky; one could almost reach out and pluck the cold, solitary moon.

The night wind, like a knife, scraped across ancient mountain rocks, emitting a mournful wail like ghosts crying.

Moonlight, like mercury, silently poured down, painting the platform in a dead, frosty white.

A fiery red figure had long been waiting there, like the only flickering flame on a snowfield.

She leaned against a ten-thousand-year-old cold jade, and the chilling Qi that could freeze a Divine Soul could not invade her in the slightest.

It was the Demon Sect's enchantress, Su Meier.

Only when a green stream of light silently landed on the other end of the platform did she slowly turn around.

On her face, capable of captivating all beings, hung a hint of languor, mixed with a smile of a prey caught in a net.

"Little man, you've finally arrived."

Her voice was broken by the night wind, then reassembled, carrying a seductive charm that could seep into one's bones.

"This elder sister, I've been waiting impatiently."

Lin Gou stood still, his expression calm and unruffled.

The gale wind stirred his green robe, but three feet in front of him, it naturally parted to both sides like flowing water.

With his Golden Core formed, he had become a small Universe unto himself.

"How could I, Lin, dare not come to Saintess Su's invitation?"

His voice was equally flat, betraying no emotion.

Su Meier covered her lips and chuckled, her captivating peach blossom eyes shimmering under the moonlight.

She moved.

One step, two steps, her figure swaying, each step landing on the most alluring points of the heart.

In the air, a domineering, exotic fragrance diffused.

Neither floral nor woody, it was Su Meier's unique, aggressive body scent.

"Junior Martial Uncle Lin is quite impressive now."

She stopped three steps in front of Lin Gou, tilting her head as if admiring an interesting collection.

"The Eye of Tribulation Devourer, forming a Golden Core, unprecedented through the ages."

"Now, in the entire Tiannan County, who doesn't know your great name, Lin Gou?"

"Shouldn't this elder sister also respectfully call you Junior Martial Uncle when she sees you?"

Lin Gou looked at her eyes, which seemed to drip with water, and suddenly moved.

He took a step forward.

Just one step.

The distance between them instantly shortened to mere inches.

That exotic fragrance instantly intensified tenfold, almost suffocating one's breath.

Su Meier's pupils constricted slightly, a hint of surprise flashing, but she did not retreat.

Lin Gou could even clearly see the moon frost clinging to her long eyelashes and the alluring sheen on her crimson lips.

"Are you really so curious about my 'undying' secret?"

Lin Gou spoke directly, his voice lowered to a whisper only they could hear.

He stared intently into her eyes, trying to find a trace of truth in that bottomless vortex of charm.

Su Meier's smile froze for a moment.

Then, the smile became even more intense, more dangerous.

She also took a subtly imperceptible half-step forward.

Their noses almost touched.

Her warm breath, carrying that strange fragrance, brushed against Lin Gou's cheek.

"No."

Su Meier's red lips parted, uttering a word that made Lin Gou's heart stop.

"What I'm curious about isn't that you can't die."

Her peach blossom eyes, however, were now as sharp as an eagle's, as if wanting to carve Lin Gou's Soul alive out of his body.

"What I'm curious about is..."

Her voice became like a dream, yet carried an unprecedented solemnity.

"Which 'Chosen One' are you a Reincarnation of..."

"Or..."

"...a newly born, new 'Chosen One'?"

Boom!!!

In Lin Gou's mind, it wasn't thunder, but the sound of the entire world collapsing.

Chosen One?

What is that?!

His heart, at that instant, felt as if it had been tightly gripped by an invisible hand, ceasing to beat.

That three-colored Golden Core, formed from the Eye of Tribulation, Dao, and the power of gods and demons, also momentarily dimmed.

But ever since his Transmigration, he had long ingrained emotional control into his bones.

His face remained as calm as an ancient well for a thousand years.

He didn't even blink an eyelid.

"What Chosen One?"

He retorted, his tone as flat as if asking about the weather.

Su Meier looked at him.

Under the moonlight, the charm in her eyes receded like a tide, replaced by an all-penetrating scrutiny.

She suddenly extended a slender, jade-like finger.

The fingertip, painted with crimson nail polish, carried a hint of coolness as it gently tapped Lin Gou's chest.

"Stop pretending, little man."

Her voice, almost touching his ear, carried a mocking chill.

"The scent on you is very similar to theirs."

"That kind of scent... that doesn't belong to this world, that views all things as straw dogs, and rules as playthings."

"But your scent, compared to theirs..."

Her fingertip slowly drew a circle on Lin Gou's chest.

"...is 'fresher'."

Lin Gou's body remained motionless.

But his heart was sinking wildly.

His identity as a Transmigrator had been discovered?

No.

Impossible! The System is the most Advanced disguise!

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

His voice finally carried a trace of icy coldness.

Su Meier, however, laughed.

She laughed so hard her body swayed, as if she had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

"It seems you really don't know anything."

She withdrew her finger and stepped back two paces, re-establishing a safe distance.

The suffocating pressure dissipated with her movement.

"That's good too."

The familiar charming smile returned to her face, but beneath it, the solemnity in her eyes was like an abyss.

"Then let this elder sister give you, this poor newborn, a good lesson."

She turned and walked to the edge of the Wen Tian Platform, looking down at the cloud-shrouded Qingyun Sect below.

"This world is much larger and much crueler than you imagine."

"In your eyes, Tiannan County might be a vast expanse of land."

"But in the eyes of truly great figures, this place is nothing more than a remote and barren... Novice Village (Newbie Village)."

Lin Gou remained silent, but his brain had already begun to operate at a speed beyond its limits.

Newbie Village?

This term made him smell deadly danger.

"Outside Tiannan County, in Central Continent, East Sea, Northern Desert, Western Regions..."

"In every corner of this continent, there exists a loose organization composed of people with 'great Luck' and 'extraordinary encounters'."

"They call themselves..."

Su Meier slowly turned her head, her crimson lips parting and closing, enunciating the name one word at a time.

"'Chosen Ones Alliance'!"

Lin Gou's pupils, at the moment he heard this name, sharply constricted into the most dangerous pinpricks!

Alliance?

He wasn't the only one?

"The members of this Alliance are all strange and varied."

Su Meier was satisfied with Lin Gou's only leaked emotion and continued.

"Some are 'outsiders from another world' like you and me."

"Some have obtained the complete Legacy of an Ancient Immortal Venerable, ascending to heaven in one step."

"Some have acquired a world-destroying Lifebound Treasure, possessing unparalleled combat power."

"And others... have the Soul of an old man living in their body, cheating along the way."

With each type she mentioned, Lin Gou's heart grew colder.

This is... isn't this just all the main character archetypes from web novels in his previous life!

This world, surprisingly, was a terrifying gladiatorial arena where protagonists were everywhere, and cheaters were common?

"Each of them is like a bastard child of the Heavenly Dao, blessed with Luck and endless extraordinary encounters."

Su Meier's tone carried a hint of barely concealed sarcasm, and a trace of... jealousy.

"They act recklessly, viewing local Cultivators as pigs and dogs, and Sect laws as nothing."

"Because, in their eyes, we 'natives'..."

She paused, looking at Lin Gou playfully.

"...are just experience packs and NPCs on their path to growth."

In Lin Gou's heart, it was no longer a storm, but a Big Bang.

He had always thought he was the only player.

Now he realized that this world, damn it, actually had a group of "hardcore pay-to-win Big Boss"!

And he was just a newbie who had just left the newbie village and hadn't even figured out the game rules!

"I once had the fortune, during a mission, to see one of them from afar."

Su Meier's gaze became distant, seemingly lost in a memory that still left her with lingering fear.

"He was an incredibly proud man; he called himself 'Emperor Yan', and a strange fire in his hand could burn mountains and boil seas, even my Revered Master was wary of him."

"During a battle, he inadvertently displayed a power that did not belong to any known System in this world."

"That power formed a mysterious emblem on his chest."

Su Meier's gaze suddenly retracted, like two sharp swords, firmly pinning Lin Gou!

That gaze became intensely hot, filled with inquiry and greed.

"The appearance of that emblem..."

"And the mysterious mark that flashed on your chest... when you underwent the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation..."

"It's exactly the same!"

These words, like an invisible hammer of judgment, heavily struck the depths of Lin Gou's Divine Soul!

The System!

What she saw was his System's emblem!

His biggest secret! His greatest trump card, on which he relied to survive, to dare to despise everything, and to recklessly court death!

It wasn't unique!

And, damn it, someone had seen it!

An unprecedented sense of crisis, enough to freeze his Soul, instantly engulfed him.

This was a million times more terrifying than facing the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation!

Those enemies, if he couldn't beat them, he could die.

If he died, he could still revive and become stronger.

But facing these... "peers" like him.

For the first time, a thought that made Lin Gou's entire body turn cold emerged in his mind.

They... might have a way to truly, completely... erase him!

"What are they... doing?"

Lin Gou finally spoke, his voice dry as sandpaper rubbing.

He knew that pretense had lost all meaning.

"They are looking for something."

Su Meier nodded with satisfaction, seeing that he had finally given up resisting.

"Or rather, they are resisting something."

"I heard that 'Emperor Yan' once inadvertently mentioned a term—'Great Purge'."

"He said that the 'Heavenly Dao' of this world had decayed and was about to usher in a 'Great Purge' that would sweep across all realms. Only true 'Chosen Ones' would be qualified to survive and receive the ultimate 'gift'."

Great Purge!

Heavenly Dao's reckoning!

The "Era Calamity" that the System had once mentioned!

Turns out, everything was connected!

These "Chosen Ones" already knew! They even formed an Alliance for this!

"Little man, do you understand now?"

On Su Meier's face, that familiar charming smile reappeared, but beneath the smile, there was a bone-chilling coldness.

"A 'newborn' like you is like a freshly baked, fragrant piece of fatty meat, exposed before a pack of hungry wolves that have been starving for thousands of years."

"Once they discover you, your fate will only be one of two."

She extended two fair, jade-like fingers.

"Either you hand over all your secrets, and like a dog, be absorbed by them, becoming their pawn and cannon fodder."

"Or..."

A murderous glint flashed in her eyes.

"...be completely erased by them, have your 'extraordinary encounters' taken away, and become their stepping stone for further advancement."

The entire Wen Tian Platform fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Gou sank into a long silence.

His brain was operating at an unprecedented speed, countless streams of information colliding, analyzing, and reorganizing within it.

Threat Rank: [Extinction Level].

Enemies: [Unknown number, unknown abilities of 'peers'].

Current Situation: [Identity partially exposed, extremely dangerous].

Existing Countermeasures: [None].

The 'Gou Dao' he had always adhered to seemed so ridiculous and naive at this moment.

No matter how much you 'Gou', can you 'Gou' past a group of peers specifically hunting 'cheaters'?

"So, you told me all this..."

Lin Gou slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the night, directly into Su Meier's heart.

"What do you want to do?"

"Cooperate with me."

Su Meier said without hesitation, cutting off all possibilities.

Her expression was more serious than ever before.

"You and I are both 'outsiders from beyond this world'; essentially, we are the same kind of people. But my Foundation is in this world, and I don't want to become anyone's resource."

"I don't have your abnormal 'extraordinary encounters', but I have my intelligence, my channels, and I know how to survive in the cracks between these jackals."

"And you have the power and potential they all crave."

She extended her hand to Lin Gou; under the moonlight, that hand was fair as jade, as if holding a path to survival.

"My intelligence, your strength."

"Only by joining forces can we survive in this grand game already filled with players."

In her eyes, a crazy flame named ambition ignited.

"Even..."

"...overturn this chessboard!"