The announcement came before noon.
A bronze bell tolled across the outer sect — once, twice, three times.
Not the call for lectures.
Not the signal for sparring.
This was assignment summons.
Disciples gathered in uneasy clusters at the notice pavilion. The mission board shimmered with spiritual light as jade slips rearranged themselves automatically.
Lin Yuan watched quietly from the edge.
His interface flickered the moment he stepped within ten meters.
Warning: Probability Flux IncreasingNarrative Correction Preparing EventSuggested Action: Reduce Visibility
Too late.
A ripple of light spread across the mission board.
Several jade slips dimmed.
One brightened.
Outer Sect Emergency Task:Assist in subduing a rogue Ironhide Horned Boar in the Mistwood Ravine.Team Assignment: Zhao Qian (Lead), Lin Yuan.
The courtyard buzzed instantly.
Zhao Qian's face lit up with cruel delight.
"Looks like heaven favors fairness," he said loudly. "We'll 'protect' you, Junior Brother."
Laughter rippled outward.
Lin Yuan didn't react.
But inside—
The interface pulsed harder than before.
Cross-Reference: Previous ProjectionsHost Survival Probability (Original Timeline): 12%Cause of Death: Mission Casualty – Mistwood Ravine
His eyes sharpened.
Original timeline.
So this was scripted.
He was supposed to die there.
Zhao Qian stepping forward eagerly.A rogue beast stronger than outer disciples.Limited supervision.
An accident.
Clean.
Natural.
Balanced.
His gaze shifted upward.
The sky looked normal.
But he could feel it now.
An invisible recalculation.
Fine, he thought calmly.
Let's see how tightly written this script is.
—
Mistwood Ravine lived up to its name.
Heavy fog clung to crooked trees. Wet earth reeked of decay and wild qi. The air carried a low vibration — unstable spiritual energy, dense and heavy.
Five outer disciples moved cautiously through the brush.
Zhao Qian led.
Two others flanked.
One hung back.
And Lin Yuan walked slightly behind the main formation.
The interface hovered more brightly than usual.
Area Instability: HighBeast Identified: Ironhide Horned BoarRealm Equivalent: Body Refinement – Late StageEnvironmental Hazard: Slippery TerrainNarrative Correction Window: Active
Narrative correction window.
So it would happen here.
Right moment. Right mistake.
A roar tore through the fog.
Massive.
Violent.
Trees shook as something barreled through underbrush.
The Ironhide Horned Boar burst into view — three meters long, black bristles like iron needles, tusks curved and gleaming with residual spiritual energy.
It charged instantly.
The formation scattered.
Zhao Qian shouted commands but his voice cracked with panic.
Steel clashed against iron hide.
Sparks flew.
The beast's strength was overwhelming.
This wasn't a fair fight.
This was calibrated chaos.
The interface highlighted trajectories rapidly.
Beast Attack Pattern: Linear RushWeakness: Eye Socket, UnderjawRisk Factor: HighProbability of Host Fatal Injury if Intervening: 78%
And then—
A new overlay appeared.
Subtle.
Golden.
Thin threads stretching between combatants.
He saw it clearly now.
Zhao Qian's thread pulsed bright and stable.
One disciple's thread flickered weakly.
His own thread—
It frayed at the edge.
And extended directly toward the boar's tusk.
Ah.
There it is.
A shout.
One of the flanking disciples slipped on mud and fell.
The boar shifted direction violently.
Toward Lin Yuan.
Of course.
The beast's weight crushed earth with terrifying force.
Too fast.
Too direct.
The air pressed in on him again — that invisible density, that system-enforced narrowing of possibility.
His body felt a fraction slower.
Balance enforcement.
He didn't panic.
He observed.
The boar's charge line glowed red.
Impact predicted: chest cavity.
Fatal.
Unless—
His gaze dropped to the terrain.
Mud. Slope. Hidden stone beneath thin soil.
The interface reacted.
Environmental Exploit DetectedProbability Shift Potential: 23%
Not enough.
He adjusted his stance by half a degree.
Calculated.
The boar lunged.
At the last possible instant—
He didn't dodge sideways.
He stepped forward and slightly downhill.
His heel struck the buried stone exactly where predicted.
The stone dislodged.
The mud beneath the boar's foreleg shifted.
Massive weight plus unstable ground.
The beast's balance faltered a single inch.
That inch was everything.
Its tusk missed his torso by a whisper.
Momentum carried it sideways.
Its exposed underjaw flashed open.
Lin Yuan's broken meridians flared painfully as he forced a thread of qi into his palm.
Minimal.
Precise.
He struck upward into the soft flesh behind the jaw hinge.
Not strong enough to kill.
But perfectly placed to disrupt nerve flow.
The beast roared and slammed into a tree instead of him.
The pressure in the air shattered instantly.
The golden threads vibrated violently—
Then stilled.
The interface glowed brilliant blue.
Major Deviation AchievedFatal Event PreventedFate Correction FailedHost Deviation Score: +0.31%Alert Level: Increased
The other disciples stared in shock as the boar staggered and Zhao Qian seized the opening to deliver the final blow.
Moments later, the beast collapsed.
Breathing echoed in the fog.
Zhao Qian panted, face pale.
No one spoke of how close Lin Yuan had been to dying.
But several pairs of eyes lingered on him.
Something felt… off.
High above the ravine—
Clouds twisted unnaturally.
Invisible to mortals—
A golden interface manifested briefly.
Anomaly Resistance RisingEscalation Protocol Evaluation: Pending
In the inner sect courtyard, Su Yao paused mid-meditation.
Her spiritual sense brushed the horizon.
For the second time in two days—
The Dao felt… corrected.
But unsuccessfully.
Her eyes opened slowly.
Cold.
Searching.
Back in the mist, Lin Yuan exhaled.
His hands trembled faintly now that adrenaline faded.
Not from fear.
From confirmation.
It doesn't just punish.
It adapts.
And if it adapts…
Then it can be cornered.
The interface dimmed again, leaving only a final quiet notification:
Primary Destiny Flag — Proximity Increasing
Lin Yuan looked toward the mountain path leading back to the sect.
He didn't know why.
But he felt certain—
The next correction wouldn't be so small.
The inner sect courtyard was silent except for the faint hum of circulating spiritual energy.
Su Yao sat beneath the ancient Silverleaf Tree, eyes closed, palms resting lightly on her knees.
Her breathing was steady.
Her mind empty.
Perfect.
It had always been perfect.
At age seven, she awakened a Heavenly Frost Root.At ten, she comprehended sword intent.At fourteen, she stepped into Foundation Establishment.
The Dao favored her.
It flowed around her like a river recognizing its course.
Until yesterday.
A ripple disturbed her spiritual perception.
Subtle.
Wrong.
Her brows knit slightly.
Again.
There.
Like a calculation reattempting itself.
She opened her eyes.
The world looked normal.
Disciples trained in silence nearby. Spiritual mist drifted. The sky glowed blue against the mountain peaks.
Yet beneath it—
Something had hesitated.
She closed her eyes once more and extended her divine sense outward.
Most cultivators perceived spiritual fluctuations like waves.
She perceived structure.
Threads.
Paths.
Probabilities.
And today—
One thread vibrated out of rhythm.
Thin.
Frayed.
But resisting alignment.
Her consciousness followed it down the mountainside, past the inner sect, past the boundary formations—
To the outer sect.
To a single presence walking calmly among trees.
Lin Yuan.
Her eyelids trembled faintly.
His name felt heavier now.
Yesterday in the courtyard—
The air had stilled for a breath.
She remembered that moment clearly.
Not because it was dramatic.
But because it felt recalculated.
As if something had expected one outcome.
And received another.
She rose slowly.
The other inner disciples instinctively stepped aside as she passed.
She did not acknowledge them.
Her steps were light. Measured.
But inwardly—
She was unsettled.
—
On the mountainside path overlooking the outer disciple residences, she stopped.
Below, Lin Yuan carried water buckets alone.
Bruised.
Quiet.
Unremarkable.
She observed without revealing her presence.
Her perception brushed against him.
And froze.
Around most cultivators, fate flowed smoothly — like silk threads aligned in predictable patterns.
Around him—
They bent.
Not violently.
Not chaotically.
But subtly.
Like silk stretched around a fixed nail.
Her eyes sharpened.
Impossible.
He was an outer disciple with broken meridians.
His spiritual root was classified Chaotic Failed.
By all recorded precedent—
He should fade into mediocrity.
Instead—
Probability recoiled near him.
Lin Yuan paused mid-step.
For the first time since arriving in this world—
He felt it clearly.
Not system pressure.
Not invisible correction.
Observation.
His interface flickered faintly.
Primary Destiny Flag — Direct Line of Sight Established
He didn't look up.
Not immediately.
Instead, he shifted the water buckets slightly.
Adjusted posture.
Then casually lifted his gaze toward the mountain ridge.
Their eyes met.
Distance: nearly two hundred meters.
Yet it felt immediate.
Su Yao's expression did not change.
Cold.
Still.
But something unreadable passed through her eyes.
The interface pulsed again.
Heroine Protocol — Elevated AwarenessRisk Level: Increasing
So she can feel it too.
Interesting.
Most would avert their gaze.
He didn't.
He held it for exactly three seconds.
Then lowered his eyes respectfully and continued walking.
No arrogance.
No defiance.
No fear.
Just calm.
Su Yao's fingers tightened slightly within her sleeves.
He did not act like someone straining against fate.
He acted like someone measuring it.
Her spiritual sense pressed deeper.
She traced the anomaly threads again.
And for a fraction of a breath—
She saw something else.
A flash.
Not of this lifetime.
But another.
A man standing before a shattered sky.
Blue panels hovering behind him like wings.
Her heart stuttered.
The image vanished instantly.
She stepped back involuntarily.
Memory?
Hallucination?
Impossible.
Her cultivation was stable.
Her mind clear.
And yet—
The Dao had not denied it.
It had hesitated.
She lowered her gaze once more to the outer path.
Lin Yuan had already disappeared into the dormitories.
Silence returned.
But the structure felt strained.
Very faintly—
Her spiritual core trembled.
That night, during meditation—
She experienced her first dream in years.
She stood beneath a sky woven with golden threads.
Opposite her stood Lin Yuan.
Not broken.
Not weak.
His eyes held quiet sorrow.
He said one sentence.
"You chose stability."
She woke instantly.
Breath uneven.
Heart racing.
Her room was silent.
Moonlight filtered through lattice windows.
Her hand rested unconsciously over her chest.
There—
A thin, invisible thread tugged.
Toward the outer sect.
For the first time in her life—
Su Yao questioned the Dao.
And somewhere above the clouds—
Something recalculated again.