Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Realizing this, Baili Qingyun carefully examined Xu Lingguang and became more and more satisfied with him.

Long Su, who was sitting diagonally behind him, noticed his thoughtful expression and suddenly looked at Xu Lingguang.

He sat in the back, deliberately using Baili Qingyun's figure to block most of his own body, watching very carefully and discreetly—ever since he suffered a great loss in Mangya for no reason last time, he felt that this cultivator named Xu Lingguang was his nemesis.

From their first encounter to their subsequent meetings, Xu Lingguang always managed to ruin his plans. Even with the system as a cheat code, he still ended up in big trouble.

At first, he thought the system was unreliable and deliberately messing with him. However, during his time in Fufeng City, with the system's help, he thrived in the circles of the powerful and wealthy, and even got on board with Baili Qingyun. He began to doubt his previous guesses.

As long as you don't encounter Xu Lingguang, the system, though still harsh and stingy, is still somewhat useful.

Before his transmigration, Long Su had read many novels and was quite familiar with their tropes. He couldn't help but ask the system, "Is Xu Lingguang really just an ordinary NPC?"

He had suspected it before, but he had no evidence.

It wasn't until he came to Jin Yao Tang with Baili Qingyun this time, and heard about Xu Lingguang's various glorious deeds from others, that he couldn't help but think in a daze: "Isn't Xu Lingguang actually the chosen one of this world?"

Despite being severely injured and on the verge of death, he was still able to do sit-ups. After that, he abandoned martial arts and turned to alchemy. In just over a year, he quickly became a Xuan-level alchemist. He not only received the true teachings of the Pill Emperor Liuzhu, but also had the support of the rarely seen owner of Qianjin Tower.

Last time, he followed the system's instructions to complete a side quest in Mangya, and he could have taken advantage of the situation, but Xu Lingguang and the owner of Qianjinlou beat him to it.

That wasn't all. He was coerced by the system to steal two alien beasts and run away, but he was discovered before he could even make a move. If he hadn't run fast enough, it wouldn't have been just a matter of losing an arm.

After escaping death, he hid and recuperated for a long time. Only after repeatedly confirming that the owner of Qianjinlou had not sent anyone to arrest him did he use the system to change his face and identity and start over.

He dared not think about the strange NPC and the powerful owner of the Qianjin Tower anymore. He only tried his best to complete the various miscellaneous side quests issued by the system, and managed to raise his negative points back. He also got along well with Baili Qingyun.

But to everyone's surprise, they ran into Xu Lingguang and the owner of Qianjinlou again.

Although the system concealed his identity, and the two of them certainly wouldn't recognize him, Long Su still felt a moment of trepidation.

It was as if an invisible hand was constantly trying to pull him and the other two together.

The vague guesses from before were brought up again, making Long Su begin to doubt the authenticity of the information provided by the system—he even suspected that the system was hiding a lot of important information.

There are also things about the NPC Xu Lingguang, and about the owner of Qianjinlou.

After all, this isn't the first time the system has only revealed half of what it says. There's a lot of information that the system won't tell him unless he asks. It claims to be the chosen one, but in reality, it's doing all the dirty work and hard labor behind the scenes.

Although he also received many benefits, he suspected that the greater benefits were actually taken by the system.

After all, he didn't believe that this system was some kind of cheat code sent from heaven just to help him.

Long Su narrowed his eyes slightly, observing Xu Lingguang from the shadows. He even suspected that Xu Lingguang was also a transmigrator like himself, so he quietly took out a reward item that the system had given him not long ago.

—This prop can see through illusions and reveal the true appearance.

There was nothing unusual about Xu Lingguang, nor did he appear to be disguised. Long Su, skeptical, observed him repeatedly, and suddenly noticed a red mark on his fingertip.

His gaze paused, confirming that Xu Lingguang's fingers hadn't been there yet.

He ripped off the prop and, sure enough, found that the red string on Xu Lingguang's finger was gone.

Long Su's gaze slowly shifted to the owner of Qianjinlou, whose fingertips also had a red string around them.

The red strings on the fingers of these two people are almost identical, and they are even worn on the ring fingers.

Long Su stared intently at the red string on Lan Jian's ring finger, his eyes scanning back and forth between the two of them, repeatedly confirming—it was indeed a pair of couple rings.

After looking at it several times, he finally confirmed a certain guess. A chill ran down his spine. He questioned the system, word by word: "In this world, there is no custom of wearing rings, right?"

The system remained unresponsive.

However, considering all the previous coincidences, Long Su was already 70-80% certain: "Xu Lingguang is not from here at all; he is just like me!"

Long Su felt a chill run down his spine. He felt no joy or warmth at meeting a fellow townsman; instead, he felt every hair on his body stand on end. "System? If you don't say something, I'm quitting!"

The system finally stopped pretending to be dead: "Please remain calm, host."

"How the hell am I supposed to stay calm? Xu Lingguang isn't an NPC! He's a transmigrator just like me!"

Long Su gritted his teeth and said, "Does he also have a system on him?"

Long Su recalled the various cultivation novels he had read before and said, "Do your systems also fight each other? Do the hosts need to devour each other to compete for luck?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible this guess seemed, and he asked, "Is Xu Lingguang's system at a higher level than yours?"

Otherwise, there's no reason why he would always suffer setbacks and bad luck every time he met Xu Lingguang.

system:"……"

After a moment of silence, the system finally spoke again. Its voice was an inorganic, mechanical voice, which should have been devoid of emotion, but Long Su detected a hint of coldness in it: "You are very clever. Originally, you were the chosen one of this world, but some accidents happened, and Xu Lingguang took away your fortune."

"And a world can only support one chosen one."

The system's voice gradually took on a seductive tone, but Long Su, immersed in fear and lingering dread, did not notice.

"What do you mean? What would happen if I didn't become the chosen one?"

The system said, "Once he drains all your luck, you'll be in danger like you were in the previous times, but I might not be able to help you escape death again."