Brainless Young Master

Alex could only tell her the full truth if he explained everything about the system and the cultivation world—something he wasn't ready to do just yet.

Emily kept throwing more questions about Mingyue at him, most of which he either skipped over or gave vague answers to. Truth be told, he didn't know much about her yet himself. But as the questions started getting more personal, he smoothly changed the topic. "How about you? How's life as a hunter?"

"Me? Nothing special. Just mission after mission," Emily replied with a shrug.

Alex frowned. "If that's true, then why are you still ranked two? What's really holding you back?"

Emily sighed. "Because I can only enter low-level dungeons. Mom's pulling strings behind my back, so I'm stuck grinding missions that barely give any contribution points."

"No wonder." Alex leaned back. "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm actually glad Mom's doing that. You do know the casualty rate in higher-tier dungeons, right?"

Emily pouted. "Even you! Why is no one supporting me on this?"

"It's not that I don't support you, Emily." Alex's voice softened. "But you're not doing this because it's your dream—you're doing it as a way to vent. And what if something happened to you too? What would happen to me and Mom? Do you think we can handle another loss?"

Emily's expression faltered, her voice quieter. "But then… who's going to look for Dad?"

"You do know we've spent a fortune putting up requests, right? A four-star hunter already took the mission."

"But it's been years, Alex! And no news at all!"

"You're a hunter yourself, Emily—you should understand this better than anyone." Alex sighed. "A veteran hunter has been searching for years and still hasn't found anything. What could you possibly do alone?"

Emily clenched her fists but didn't argue. Alex had always known his mother had poured a ridiculous amount of their family's resources into hiring hunters to look for their father. And if a four-star hunter had taken the job but still hadn't returned with any results… Now, with his understanding of the red and dark zones, Alex was starting to suspect the mission's difficulty wasn't just high—it was insane. Probably S-rank, maybe even SS.

In this world, dungeons were categorized by numbers—the bigger, the deadlier. Superpower talents and missions, on the other hand, were ranked from F to A. Anything above that entered the elite tiers: S, SS, and the near-impossible SSS.

A few days passed. That night, Alex spent time catching up with Emily, setting aside the heavier topics. He also began finalizing contracts, going over every detail with his family's lawyer. There were legalities he had to understand—loopholes, clauses, protections. If he was going to build something, he wasn't going to leave anything to chance.

***

Meanwhile, in the cultivation world… Mingyue was on the road, disguised as an ordinary woman. A simple, unassuming carriage carried her toward Da Ying City, where her family resided.

For the past few days, she had been deep in thought, turning Alex's words over and over in her mind. In the end, she had made her decision—she would act as a merchant. She had already gathered many commoners from nearby villages, training them using instructions Alex had given her. And now, as the carriage rocked gently with the road, she sat inside, eyes focused on the screen of a smartphone. She had spent the past few hours reading.Not just anything. A cultivation novel.

One of the ones Alex had specifically chosen for her. As Mingyue read the cliché plot, her brows furrowed in frustration."Is this man stupid?" she muttered. "He comes from a prestigious family, yet instead of looking for a woman of his own status, he goes out of his way for some village girl? Even if she's talented, that doesn't justify offending other geniuses over her." Her fingers tapped against the edge of the phone as she continued reading. "Or did he have to do this? Are all the other women in this story that ugly? How is a village girl, even as a genius, somehow more beautiful than the daughter of another high-ranking cultivator?"

The plot revolved around a rich young master trying to steal the MC's love interest—an overused trope. And to Mingyue, it made no sense. Sure, cultivators looked down on commoners, but once someone became a cultivator, their status changed. No one would just offend a genius for no reason. The competition between families and sects was brutal. Every single talent was fought over, protected, and groomed.

In this story, both the MC and his love interest were geniuses. If the young master had just befriended them instead of acting like a complete fool, he could've secured two powerful assets under his family's banner. But no. Instead, he offended them both. And for what? Lust? Because the woman was beautiful? Mingyue scoffed. "This kind of brainless idiot would be killed without mercy in my family," she mumbled.' He acted like a desperate virgin who had never seen a beautiful woman before.'

Among the younger generation, the competition was cutthroat. Gender didn't matter—if you were useless to the family, you were lucky just to be fed. And if you became a burden? You wouldn't live to see the next day. Yet here was this so-called young master, offending two geniuses just to satisfy his own ego. Mingyue shook her head in exasperation before slipping the phone back into her storage ring. Her fingers brushed against cold metal. With a flicker of thought, a sleek gun appeared in her hand. It felt cool against her palm, a digital display on the back glowing a steady 100%. She studied it in silence.

Vesa had poured the weapon's instructions into her mind the moment she received it. "To think they can mass-produce artifacts like this… even making them usable by anyone."

[Told you, Queen ,Don't underestimate the weapons from the King's world.]

Mingyue could only nod now. She still remembered the devastation caused when she had fired it at full charge. Even at her current cultivation level, if she had been hit by a shot like that, she would have been gravely wounded. And if multiple of these weapons were fired at once?

Even a golden core cultivator would be pulverized. She had already started imagining one of the scenarios Alex had described to her. Hand a gun like this to a commoner. Have them fire a shot at an overconfident cultivator. 

The beam moved at the speed of light. And since most cultivators looked down on commoners? They'd never see it coming.