Volume One, Chapter 45: The Way of Heaven! Have You Forgotten What Happened with the Way of Heaven?

With that, he lingered no longer. Taking Ye Qingxian and Ji Ruxue with him, he turned around and stepped onto the golden stairway by which they had come, leaving slowly.

It was not until the figures of the three completely vanished that the supreme giants upon the Dao platform finally let out a long sigh of relief. One by one, they collapsed onto their futons, their backs already drenched in cold sweat.

They exchanged glances, seeing in each other's eyes the lingering fear of having cheated death and a profound shock.

"This world... is about to undergo a upheaval," the Primordial Demon Lord said in a raspy voice.

"It is not merely an upheaval," the Haotian Heavenly Emperor smiled bitterly and shook his head, his eyes filled with awe. "Rather, it is only today that we have finally become qualified to catch a glimpse of the true visage of this heaven."

He looked in the direction where Uncle Fu had departed and murmured, "The Gu family... Young Master... From this day onward, my Haotian Immortal Court shall seal its mountains for countless epochs, warning future generations that there are unspeakable taboos in this mortal realm. Whoever lays eyes upon the character 'Gu' shall retreat three hundred miles and prostrate in worship!"

His voice, carrying through the Dao platform, resonated across the entire territory of the Haotian Immortal Court, transforming into a supreme and inviolable imperial decree.

Meanwhile, in a shadowy corner of the heavens and myriad realms, a secret gathering was underway.

The theme of the gathering was singular.

—How to eradicate the greatest anomaly of the myriad realms, the one known as Gu Changsheng!

This was a bizarre spatial realm independent of the myriad realms and heavens.

Within this space, the laws of reality were chaotic and distorted, where time lost all meaning. A black throne, pieced together from countless shattered divine artifacts and world fragments, hung high in the void.

Seated upon the throne was a figure shrouded in shadow. He was the initiator and leader of this clandestine organization, the "Heaven-Defying Fate Alliance," bearing the codename "Dominator."

At this moment, beneath the throne, over a dozen flickering lights and shadows of various forms swayed, each representing a transmigrator from a different world.

"Everyone, I have called this emergency gathering because an unprecedented, massive variable has emerged."

The voice of the leader, "Dominator," was deep and raspy, echoing directly within everyone's mind.

"I presume you have all received the intelligence from the Void God Realm. In the Myriad Realms Pride Tournament, that woman named Ye Qingxian used merely a single move—or rather, something that could hardly be called a move, just a flick of her hand—to force nearly a thousand heaven's chosen to surrender without a fight. The organizers even handed over the championship and the supreme treasure, the 'Chaotic Dao Fetus,' on a silver platter."

Within the space, a profound silence reigned, yet the willpower of each individual fluctuated violently.

"I have investigated," a young, somewhat frivolous voice sounded, surrounded by streams of blue data revolving around its light and shadow. "This Ye Qingxian, in our 'plot database,' was originally just an unremarkable empress of a minor world. Her talent was passable, but her upper limit was at best an Immortal King. She should have perished in a turmoil several hundred years ago, and her world would have been destroyed along with it."

"Yet now, not only is she alive and well, but her strength has reached an inestimable realm. And the source leading to all these changes points to the exact same person—Gu Changsheng!"

The moment this name was uttered, the atmosphere in the space instantly grew heavy.

Every transmigrator present was a proud and arrogant individual. Relying on their respective golden fingers, they had made quite a name for themselves in their respective worlds, taking protagonists as lackeys, seizing female protagonists as cultivation companions, and playing with the original "sons of destiny" in the palms of their hands, enjoying the thrill of dominating everything.

They had once believed that they themselves were the protagonists of this era.

Until the name "Gu Changsheng" cast a persistent shadow, looming heavily over their hearts.

"My experience is similar," an aged voice sighed, the outline of a ring faintly visible within his light and shadow. "The kid I possessed had already obtained the inheritance of an ancient Pill Emperor and was on the verge of reaching the pinnacle of his life. But a while ago, upon hearing of a faction called the 'Gu Family,' he became bewitched and rushed over to pledge his allegiance. As a result... as a result, both the person and my soul imprint vanished without a trace. I had to expend nine bulls and two tigers of effort just to escape with a wisp of a remnant soul."

"My situation is even more miserable!" a female voice tinged with weeping chimed in. "The host I bound myself to was the Saintess of the Jade Pool Holy Land. The plotline was progressing swimmingly, and she was about to elope and cultivate dual harmony with the son of fortune. But the moment that Gu Changsheng appeared, he slaughtered the original son of fortune! And he even took the Jade Pool Empress as a maidservant! Now my host weeps bitterly every day, her Dao heart is on the verge of shattering, and my system's energy is practically being cried dry by her!"

"The Heavenly Dao! Have you all forgotten about that incident with the Heavenly Dao?" a sharp voice shrieked. "During the Myriad Swords Holy Land affair, simply because they went to provoke him and made a bit too much noise, Gu Changsheng found them annoying and told the Heavenly Dao to get lost! As a result, the Heavenly Dao of that vast world actually collapsed! What kind of concept is this? The Heavenly Dao! The very foundational law upon which we system-wielding transmigrators rely! A single word from him caused the Heavenly Dao to collapse—how is this even playable?"

Outpourings of grievance echoed, filled with resentment, anger, and... profound terror.

Though these transmigrators possessed vastly different golden fingers—some being systems, some being ancient mentors, and others divine artifacts—in essence, they all seized benefits within the framework of the world's original "rules" and "plots."

They were the "parasites" and "hackers" of the world.

Yet Gu Changsheng was different.

He was not exploiting the rules; he was... ignoring the rules, and even... creating them!

He was like an NPC with supreme administrator privileges, while they, the transmigrators, were merely ordinary players using cheats.

Before an NPC, no matter how formidable a cheat might be, it was ultimately just a string of code that could be deleted at any moment.

"He is not an NPC," the leader "Dominator" spoke coldly from his throne, correcting their perception. "He is more like an uncontrollable super-virus, frantically eroding and rewriting the underlying code of the entire heavens and myriad realms. His existence has severely threatened the survival of us all."

"We must join forces and completely eradicate him before he fully 'awakens'!"

The voice of the Dominator was fraught with unquestionable decisiveness.

"Eradicate him? Leader, you make it sound so easy!" the youth surrounded by data streams laughed bitterly. "We don't even know what he truly is, nor have we ever laid eyes upon him. All our intelligence pertains solely to the people and matters around him. That Uncle Fu, that Ye Qingxian—any single one of them is enough to give us a hard time, let alone the master himself."

"Fighting him single-handedly is naturally a path to certain death." The Dominator's voice grew intensely bewitching. "However, if we unite, it will be a different story."

"Think about it, what are we? We are variables outside of destiny, the 'miracles' of the world! Every single one of our golden fingers represents a power that transcends the original system of this world!"

"You possess the 'Super Technology System,' and your ultimate weapon, the 'Causality Annihilation Cannon,' can theoretically obliterate Immortal Emperor-level existences!"

"You are the 'Strongest Ancient Grandfather,' holding lost and taboo pill formulas capable of refining the 'Heaven-Defying Divine Pill,' which instantly grants mortals the power of gods and demons!"

"You wield the 'God-Level Choice System,' and every single choice you make levers the fulcrum of destiny!"

"And you, the 'Multiple Children, Multiple Blessings System'... ahem, your ability is also quite useful!"

The Dominator pointed out the golden fingers of those present one by one. His words seemed imbued with magic, reigniting the flames of hope and greed in the eyes of those who had previously been consumed by fear and despair.