Chapter 3: The Guo Family Report
In a quiet hall lined with carved wood and ink-brushed scrolls, a report lay open across a long table.
The Guo Family Head sat at the center, fingers resting lightly on the document, eyes narrowing with growing irritation.
"Impossible…"
His voice cut through the room like a restrained blade.
"How did they fail?"
A servant knelt nearby, head lowered.
The report detailed the pursuit team sent after Guo Mei.
Three cultivators.
All of them.
Gone.
No confirmation of death, no return signal, no recovery of assets.
Just silence.
"Three trained servants… dispatched to apprehend a girl who cannot cultivate…" The family head's voice tightened. "And not a single one returned?"
The pressure in the room rose.
Not from aura alone, but from disbelief.
"She is an abandoned commoner," he continued sharply. "Her meridians are defective. Her cultivation is nonexistent. Even a half-step practitioner should have been enough to suppress her."
The servant swallowed.
"…According to the report… their traces ended abruptly. No prolonged battle signatures were detected."
A pause.
The family head's eyes flicked once.
"Meaning?"
"…They were neutralized quickly."
Silence settled.
Not peaceful.
Heavy.
Calculating.
Elsewhere, in a separate residence far from the Guo estate, a different scene unfolded.
A young noble woman sat alone, a small bottle in her hand.
Inside were body tempering pills.
A compensation gift.
One-sided.
Final.
Proof of severance.
She stared at it, her expression tightening.
"…"
Her fingers clenched.
Then—
crack.
The porcelain bottle shattered in her grip, fragments scattering across the table.
"Impossible."
Her voice trembled with anger rather than uncertainty.
"How did she survive?"
Her gaze sharpened, recalling the girl she had dismissed so easily.
Weak.
Unremarkable.
Not even worth a second thought after the engagement was dissolved.
And yet,
Servants sent to handle her had vanished.
No message.
No return.
No explanation.
"She couldn't even cultivate," she muttered, gripping the broken remnants tighter. "A girl like that…"
Her breathing steadied, but her expression darkened.
"…and now this?"
Somewhere in the back of her mind, an uncomfortable realization began to take shape.
The pills.
The dismissal.
It all felt… misplaced now.
Not generosity.
Not closure.
But something closer to a final acknowledgment of something she hadn't fully understood.
Back in the Guo estate, the family head closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
"Send a second report team."
His voice was controlled once more.
"Confirm whether she is truly dead… or something else entirely."
Because failures like this did not happen without reason.
And in cultivation worlds,
Unknown variables were often the most dangerous.
---
SYSTEM: External parties have updated threat level.
SYSTEM: Interest in target Guo Mei increasing.
SYSTEM: Potential future encounters classified as: High probability.
SYSTEM: Suggested preparation.
For now, the path ahead mattered more than the names behind her.
Back in the Guo estate, the atmosphere had shifted from disbelief to something far more deliberate.
The family head sat in silence for a moment longer, then tapped the table once.
A single, decisive sound.
"Enough."
The room attendants straightened immediately.
He opened his eyes, now calm and precise.
"Three servants failed. That is no longer a coincidence."
His gaze moved to the report again, scanning the sparse details.
No battle signatures.
No escape traces.
No clear resolution.
Only disappearance.
"Which means," he continued, voice steady, "we are dealing with something beyond a simple abandoned daughter."
A faint tension spread through the hall.
He lifted a hand slightly.
"Prepare a bounty."
The attendant beside him hesitated only for a fraction of a second before bowing.
"Yes, Patriarch."
The family head's tone remained even.
"Discreet channels. No public announcement at first. We do not want unnecessary attention."
He paused, then added:
"Target: Guo Mei."
"Alive, if possible."
A subtle emphasis.
"Dead, if necessary."
The room grew colder with those words, not from aura, but intent.
"Include identification details. Mark her as a fallen noble with unknown anomaly potential."
"She is a stain that needs to be erased!"
Another pause.
Then:
"Offer will be adjusted based on proof of capability. We want hunters… not opportunists who will fail like the last three."
The attendant nodded quickly, already mentally drafting the network of contacts, black markets, and independent cultivators who would respond.
"A bounty will spread interest beyond our domain," one elder finally spoke. "If the situation escalates…"
The family head cut him off calmly.
"Then we will learn what she has become."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Three trained cultivators did not return."
"That alone is enough reason to assume she is no longer the same liability we discarded."
Silence followed.
Not uncertainty.
Reassessment.
Far away from the estate, in the flow of an ordinary path cutting through forest and river bends, Guo Mei stepped over a shallow stream, her sack shifting at her side.
SYSTEM: External threat escalation detected.
SYSTEM: Bounty issuance confirmed.
SYSTEM: Multiple actors may now pursue target.
SYSTEM: Encounter probability increased.
She paused mid-step.
Not out of fear.
Just awareness.
"…So they noticed."
Her tone was light, almost conversational.
SYSTEM: Affirmative.
Guo Mei adjusted her footing and continued forward, as if the world had simply added another layer to its rules.
"Good."
A faint smile returned.
"Then the next situation should be more interesting."
SYSTEM: Scenario complexity increasing.
SYSTEM: Generating next encounter…