1: Chapter 1: I'm not going to be cannon fodder anymore; I'll intercept the Thousand-Year Cold Marrow on the spot!

Icy pain surged through his limbs and bones, like countless steel needles quenched in cold poison, chiseling through his Meridians and bone marrow inch by inch.

Shen Xiao wanted to move his fingers, but realized that even that small amount of strength had completely drained away.

He lay limp behind a protruding ice rock like a frozen piece of rotten wood. His vision was blurred by the cold, and he could barely make out two figures retreating rapidly in the distance.

The man had an agile physique, holding the woman in his arms as if protecting her with his life, while his other hand, hidden by his sleeve, inconspicuously sprinkled a pinch of gray-white powder toward where Shen Xiao was hiding.

That was beast-attracting powder.

Shen Xiao's pupils contracted sharply. He was all too familiar with this scene.

What a damn cliché starter.

His name was Shen Xiao, an unlucky transmigrator.

Even worse, he had transmigrated into a brainless, cool web novel titled "Sword God of Pride," becoming a cannon fodder villain with the same name as him.

And the man currently taking his fiancée on a "flight for survival" was the Child of Destiny of this book, Lin Yun.

According to the original plot, he, the cannon fodder, would be tricked by Lin Yun into this North Sea Ice Abyss under the guise of "exploring for treasures together," and then used as bait with beast-attracting powder to lure away the "Black Crow," the Spirit Beast guarding the millennium cold marrow.

Once he and the Black Crow fought until both were severely injured, Lin Yun would make a flashy entrance with his fiancée Xia Lengbai, first expressing "heartbroken" regret for arriving late, and then "accidentally" letting his hand slip to pierce his heart with a long sword.

Finally, Lin Yun would naturally take away the millennium cold marrow, win the beauty's favor, and take all the Magic Treasure and savings on Shen Xiao.

Perfect—a textbook one-stop service of killing for goods and playing the hero to save the beauty.

In the past, he could only complain about this brain-dead plot in the novel's comment section; now, he had become the biggest clown himself.

The cold poison had sealed his last bit of Qi, and the air he inhaled into his lungs was filled with ice shards that scratched his throat painfully.

In his line of sight, the figures of Lin Yun and Xia Lengbai had already disappeared around the corner of the Ice Cave, leaving behind only a rich, bloody scent and the cloying, sweet fragrance unique to beast-attracting powder, fermenting crazily in the air.

"Caw!"

A harsh, sharp crow's cry exploded from the depths of the Ice Cave, like a death warrant from the Nine Nether Abyss.

Violent Demonic Qi swept over like a tangible storm, whipping up the crushed ice on the ground and slamming it onto Shen Xiao's face.

He didn't need to look to know that the guardian beast, Black Crow, had arrived.

In the book, this thing was described as having the strength of the Foundation Establishment Stage, possessed a violent temperament, and had zero resistance to the scent of beast-attracting powder.

And he, Shen Xiao, was merely at the Perfection of the Qi Refinement Stage.

How was he supposed to fight this? With his head?

A dead end, a thorough dead end.

Just as Shen Xiao was about to give up struggling and prepare to experience what it felt like to be torn apart by a monster, a cold, mechanical voice rang in his mind without warning.

[Host's vital signs detected below 1%, nearing the destiny plot-kill node...]

[Conditions met, Destiny Plunderer System activated!]

[Analyzing current dead end... Analysis complete.]

[Current survival rate: 0.1%]

[Sole path to survival: Refuse to serve as cannon fodder, forcibly intercept the Opportunity of the Child of Destiny, Lin Yun—the millennium cold marrow!]

A System?

And a villain System at that?

Shen Xiao was stunned for a moment, then an irrepressible ecstasy and ferocity surged into his heart.

Screw being cannon fodder!

This is what I've been waiting for!

Before he could examine the System's functions, a fishy wind rushed toward his face.

A huge shadow enveloped him; the guardian beast named Black Crow had finally appeared.

It was pitch black all over, with a wingspan of three zhang. Every feather looked like it was cast from steel, its edges flashing with cold, icy light.

A pair of blood-red beast eyes locked onto Shen Xiao, filled with crazy killing intent triggered by the beast-attracting powder.

It moved.

Its huge beak, like a heavy hammer, carried immense force and slammed down toward Shen Xiao's head!

At that moment, a light blue virtual trajectory suddenly appeared in Shen Xiao's field of vision, like an evasion path guide in a game.

[System calculation: Roll 2.7 feet to the left to avoid the fatal blow and enter the blind spot of the "Dragon Trap Formation."]

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Xiao erupted with the strongest desire to survive since his Transmigration, using his last bit of strength to perform an extremely ungraceful roll on the ground.

"Boom!"

The spot where he had been lying was smashed into a huge ice pit, with ice fragments splattering everywhere.

That terrifying force—if it had landed, his small frame would have been sent straight to reincarnation, the kind where the parts couldn't even be reassembled.

The Black Crow missed its strike and became even more enraged. Just as it was about to turn to pursue, it saw that the position Shen Xiao had rolled into was exactly at the edge of the Formation in a corner of the Ice Cave.

This was the "Dragon Trap Formation" set up by Lin Yun. The original plan was to wait until the Black Crow was exhausted by Shen Xiao, then activate the Formation to trap it, allowing Lin Yun to calmly collect the cold marrow.

But he had calculated everything except the fact that Shen Xiao, the bait, hadn't died and had actually rolled to the edge of the Formation.

"Caw!" The Black Crow screeched, its massive body blocked by an invisible force, unable to get close to Shen Xiao for the time being.

At the corner of the Ice Cave, Lin Yun's figure returned. He saw that Shen Xiao wasn't dead.

"Junior Brother Shen! Hold on! I'm coming to save you!"

He shouted while charging forward with his sword, his posture looking as if he were truly a righteous Senior Brother.

Save me? The look in your eyes practically had "Why aren't you dead yet?" carved into it!

Shen Xiao sneered in his heart. Before Lin Yun could reach the range of the Formation, he endured the excruciating pain and fished a Talisman out of his bosom.

This was a failed Fireball Talisman, its Qi chaotic and useless, which he had always carried around as trash.

But now, it was the key to turning the tables.

According to the details in the original book, the core hub of this "Dragon Trap Formation" was set as a reverse switch for concealment.

Activating it normally would trap the enemy; activating it in reverse would cause the Formation to shrink inward, isolating everything outside.

He took a deep breath, the muscles in his arm bulging from the forced exertion, and threw the waste Talisman at the inconspicuous Formation node in his memory!

"Hum!"

The already chaotic fire-type Qi in the Talisman instantly detonated the Formation hub.

A brilliant beam of spiritual light shot into the sky, and the operation direction of the entire Dragon Trap Formation instantly reversed!

A curtain of light rose from the ground, forming a huge semi-circular barrier that blocked Lin Yun, who was charging with his sword, firmly outside!

"What?!" Lin Yun was caught off guard and crashed into the light curtain, being knocked back several steps by the huge rebounding force, his face filled with disbelief.

How could the Formation activate in reverse?!

He couldn't understand it, and there was no time to think.

Because the Black Crow, isolated on the other side, had already begun to attack the ice rocks frantically, trying to get around.

Shen Xiao ignored the furious "Child of Destiny" outside the Formation; he knew he didn't have much time.

Enduring the pain of his Meridians tearing, he dragged his half-crippled body and crawled toward the center of the Ice Cave.

There, there was a naturally formed cold pool.

The water in the pool was not deep, and in the center, a crystal the size of a human head, emitting a dark blue light, was suspended quietly.

millennium cold marrow!

It was like a blue heart; every beat made the temperature of the entire Ice Cave drop a few more degrees.

Just by getting close, Shen Xiao felt his blood was about to freeze.

[Warning! Detected that the host has the cultivation of the Perfection of the Qi Refinement Stage. Forcibly merging with the millennium cold marrow has a 90% probability of causing the body to explode and die!]

The System's harsh red warning flashed crazily in his mind.

A 90% mortality rate?

Shen Xiao looked back.

The light curtain of the Dragon Trap Formation had already begun to flicker violently under Lin Yun's frantic attacks, and spiderweb-like cracks had appeared on the ice rocks on the other side; the Black Crow could break out at any moment.

Wolves in front, tigers behind. The choices left to him had always been only one.

"Fortune favors the bold; if you gamble, a bicycle can turn into a motorcycle!"

He bit the tip of his tongue, using the excruciating pain to force himself to stay awake.

"System! Activate 'Forced Plunder'! Draw it for me!"

Using his life essence as a guide, Shen Xiao let out a roar and leaped, diving straight into the cold marrow pool that radiated bone-chilling cold!

"Ah!"

Indescribable pain instantly drowned his consciousness.

It wasn't just cold; it was absolute zero, cold enough to freeze his Soul into powder.

His skin cracked inch by inch the moment it touched the cold marrow, and the blood flowing from the wounds was frozen into dark red ice crystals before it could even spread.

His body was being destroyed, but a massive, unimaginably extreme cold Qi was, under the System's forced refinement, rushing into his dried-up Meridians like violent ice dragons!

"Crack! Crack!"

Something seemed to break inside his body. It was the shackle of the Qi Refinement Stage!

The Qi rampaged through his body, forcibly widening and reshaping his Meridians.

The Bottleneck of his cultivation was as fragile as a layer of window paper in the face of this domineering force.

Qi Refinement Perfection... Breakthrough!

Foundation Establishment Initial Stage!

A powerful aura, far exceeding the previous one, erupted from Shen Xiao, whipping up the pool water and turning it into a sky full of ice mist.

At this very moment, with a loud "bang," the light curtain of the Dragon Trap Formation completely shattered!

"Shen Xiao!"

Lin Yun's eyes were bloodshot as he rushed in with his sword.

When he saw the scene before him, he froze completely.

In the center of the Ice Cave, the cold marrow pool was empty; the millennium cold marrow that should have belonged to him had vanished without a trace.

And the cannon fodder Shen Xiao, who should have been dead, was standing in the pool, covered in blood, but his cultivation aura... was actually the Foundation Establishment Stage?!

How is that possible!

How dare he?! How could he?!

Boundless anger and jealousy instantly overwhelmed Lin Yun's sanity.

Almost simultaneously, Xia Lengbai, who had been lying in the corner and unconscious due to the cold poison, slowly opened her eyes because of the disappearance of the millennium cold marrow's aura.

Now is the time!

A thought flashed through Shen Xiao's mind, and before Lin Yun could speak, he issued a command to the System.

"Plunder Xia Lengbai's destiny value!"

[Command confirmed, triggering "Memory Theft"... Stripping away the false memory fragments of "Lin Yun risking his life to save her" from the target's Sea of Consciousness...]

An invisible fluctuation instantly enveloped the just-awakened Xia Lengbai.

Her originally confused eyes suddenly cleared; the vague affection and trust in her mind were like being forcibly gouged out by a carving knife, becoming fragmented.

She opened her eyes, and the first image she saw was not her fiancé protecting her gently, but a man covered in blood, yet with an aura so powerful it was heart-stopping, reaching out to pull her up from the pile of cold rubble.

And not far away, her fiancé Lin Yun, holding a dripping sword, was staring at them with a ferocious and stunned face, like a murderer caught in the middle of a conspiracy.

What... was going on?

[Ding! Successfully plundered 10 points of destiny value from target "Xia Lengbai"!]

[Reward distributed: Host gains "Ice Soul Sword Intent" talent!]

[Part of target Xia Lengbai's memory has been uploaded...]

A cold and sharp Sword Intent Profound Truth surged into Shen Xiao's mind; at the same time, he felt the massive power in his body transformed from the millennium cold marrow.

He slowly turned his head to look at the dumbstruck Lin Yun, the corners of his mouth curling into an arc mixed with mockery and cruelty.

Child of Destiny? A stepping stone?

From today on, the roles are reversed.

And Xia Lengbai, the first heroine who was devoted to Lin Yun in the original book, was now looking at Lin Yun with eyes full of extreme unfamiliarity, confusion, and a trace of vigilance she hadn't even noticed herself.