The outer disciple division started first, giving inner disciples and guards more time to warm up.
Stage One: Outer Disciple Bracket A
The first match featured two young practitioners barely seventeen years old, nervous energy radiating off them in waves. Nam Yerin versus Park Seo-jun.
Park Seo-jun's hands trembled slightly as he took his stance, sweat already beading on his forehead despite the cool morning air. His jaw was set with determination, but his eyes kept darting to the watching crowd.
Nam Yerin, by contrast, stood with unusual calm. Her breathing was steady, controlled the pattern Raon had taught. Her fingers flexed once, twice, testing her grip before settling into position.
Raon watched carefully, his enhanced perception active.
**Scanning participants... No corruption detected in either fighter.**
The match began with traditional formality both fighters bowed, took stances, waited for the referee's signal.
"Begin!"
Park Seo-jun moved first, launching into a straightforward Blue Ripple Palm technique. The execution was textbook proper stance, correct hand positioning, adequate Qi circulation. It would've earned passing marks in any standard evaluation.
Blue Ripple Palm is a wave release palm technique usually used for short-range crowd control and to disrupt enemy Qi rhythm.
But Nam Yerin responded with something different.
She didn't block directly. Instead, she shifted her weight in the flowing motion Raon had taught his students, redirecting Seo-jun's palm strike past her shoulder while simultaneously countering with a low sweep that used his own momentum against him.
Seo-jun stumbled, caught off-guard. The crowd murmured, that wasn't a standard counter technique.
**She's effectively using the corrected defensive principles.**
Nam Yerin pressed her advantage. Her Qi moved smoothly, continuously, like water finding paths of least resistance. Each strike flowed into the next without the stuttering pauses that plagued traditional forms. Her breathing was long and steady, the improved pattern that synchronized Qi circulation with natural rhythm.
Within ninety seconds, Park Seo-jun was on the ground, yielding.
The referee raised Nam Yerin's hand. "Victor: Nam Yerin!"
Scattered applause, but more whispers. The disciples had noticed the difference in technique quality.
In the observation pavilion, Elder Min leaned toward Elder Jeong. "That footwork... that's not in our standard curriculum."
"No," Elder Jeong agreed, glancing at where Jin stood. "It's not."
Elder Cho's expression darkened.
But Commander Wei looked intrigued.
Stage Two: Outer Disciple Bracket B
The next match showcased the contrast even more starkly.
Two outer disciples, both at Expert Realm Early Stage.
Chen Woojin stood confident, rolling his shoulders to loosen up. His stance was textbook perfect, feet planted firmly, fists clenched with determination. Years of traditional training showed in every deliberate movement. Lee Hana, one of Raon's informal students, looked almost relaxed by comparison. Her posture was loose, not tense. Her eyes watched Chen Woojin with quiet assessment, studying his stance, his breathing pattern, his weight distribution.
"Begin!"
Chen Woojin charged forward with a roar, his face fierce with concentration. His strikes came hard and fast, solid, powerful, backed by raw strength. Each palm strike cracked through the air with audible force. But Lee Hana moved like silk in the wind. Her eyes remained calm, half-lidded with focus as she flowed around his attacks. When his powerful right palm strike came at her chest, she simply wasn't there anymore, shifted left with minimal motion, guiding his momentum past with one hand.
Chen Woojin's eyes narrowed in frustration. His jaw clenched tighter. He pressed harder, throwing combination after combination, technique after technique, his breath coming in harsh bursts. Sweat darkened his training robes.
Lee Hana's breathing never changed. It remained steady. Continuous. In. Out. Her feet barely seemed to touch ground as she repositioned, always just out of reach, never where he expected.
Azure Stream Palm she used it not as a single technique but as part of a flowing sequence. The enhanced palm strike came out of her natural movement, amplified by proper circulation timing rather than forced through meridians.
Azure Stream Palm Channels flowing Qi into an open palm strike that spreads energy in a broad, sweeping wave that knocks the enemy off balance.
Chen Woojin never saw it coming. The strike caught him square in the chest, not hard enough to injure, but enough to disrupt his Qi circulation and send him stumbling back.
"I Yield!" he gasped, wisely recognizing when he was outmatched.
The crowd's murmur grew louder.
In the spectator section, an older inner disciple turned to his companion. "What is she doing differently? That looked... easier somehow."
"Better technique," his friend replied, eyes narrowed in thought. "But from where?"
Stage Three: Inner Disciples - The Real Show Begins
When the inner disciple matches started, the quality jumped significantly.
These weren't nervous teenagers. These were practitioners in their twenties and early thirties, Expert Early to Mid-Stage cultivators with years of training and actual combat experience.
First up in Inner Disciple Bracket A: Han Jiwoo versus Kwon Daehyun.
Raon leaned forward unconsciously. Jiwoo was one of his five primary students, the timid girl who'd grown into a confident practitioner over the past month.
**Han Jiwoo: Expert Mid Stage. Water affinity: High. Confidence: Significantly improved. Technique quality: Excellent after your training.**
**That's 1/5 so far**
Kwon Daehyun was older, more experienced, Expert Mid Stage. He had the advantage in raw cultivation, but technique...
"Begin!"
Daehyun opened aggressively, trying to overwhelm the younger practitioner with rapid fire attacks. Torrent Strike the technique Raon had documented, a flurry of palm strikes designed to stagger opponents.
Jiwoo's eyes widened, just for a heartbeat. Then muscle memory took over
"Don't meet force with force," Raon had told her. "Water doesn't fight the rock. It flows around it."
She activated Flowing Pearl Steps. Her small frame seemed to dissolve into motion, gliding across the platform with movements so smooth they looked effortless. Her feet barely touched ground before shifting again, her body flowing like water around stones.
Flowing Pearl Steps. Intermediate footwork allowing quick direction changes.
Daehyun's strikes hit nothing but air. His eyes widened in shock. His jaw dropped slightly before snapping shut again, his teeth grinding with frustration.
The crowd gasped. That level of mobility shouldn't be possible at her stage.
"Hold still!" he growled, pushing more energy into his attacks.
Jiwoo countered with Mirror Water Flow the advanced defensive technique Raon had spent hours teaching her. She didn't just dodge Daehyun's attacks, she matched his rythm, then used that understanding to predict his next moves.
Mirror Water Flow. A thin reflective Qi barrier is wrapped at the blade's edges which makes weaker attacks bounce right off and disperses stronger ones.
It was beautiful to watch. Technical precision meeting natural talent.
Then he overextended. A heavy strike meant to finally catch her, thrown with too much force, too much desperation. Jiwoo's eyes sharpened. There. Her hand moved faster than conscious thought, redirecting his extended arm with Mirror Water Technique.
His own momentum pulled him off-balance. And in that instant of vulnerability, her other hand struck. Calm Sea Thrust. Precise. Controlled. Direct to his acromion. Daehyun's face went white. His Qi circulation shattered like broken glass.
He staggered backward, gasping, one hand clutching his shoulder. His legs trembled, threatening to give out.
The referee watched carefully. Five seconds passed. Daehyun tried to raise his guard, tried to recover his stance. But his hands shook uncontrollably. He couldn't circulate his Qi. His shoulders sagged in defeat. He bowed, the gesture stiff and grudging. "I yield."
"Victor: Han Jiwoo!"
The crowd exploded with noise. Jiwoo stood frozen for a moment, her grey eyes wide with disbelief. Then it hit her, she'd won. Against a senior practitioner. Tears welled up but didn't fall.
Instead, a brilliant smile broke across her face. She turned immediately toward the guard section, finding Raon. Her expression asked: Did I do it right? Raon smiled back, nodding once with genuine pride. Jiwoo's smile grew wider. She'd done it. She'd actually done it.
But in the observation pavilion, the elders were having a different conversation.
"That Flowing Pearl Steps technique," Elder Yoon said slowly. "That's... that's an advanced variation of Ripple Step. How does an Mid Martial Expert disciple know that?"
Ripple Step. Basic footwork of the sect. Allows a practitioner move efficiently, while reducing noise and wasted motion.
"And that defensive form," Elder Min added. "Mirror Water Flow isn't taught until the Peak Expert Stage typically. Where did she learn it?"
All eyes turned toward Jin, who maintained careful neutrality. "The corrected techniques I've been implementing include proper progression methods. Perhaps disciples are advancing faster when taught correctly."
"Perhaps," Elder Cho said coldly. "Or perhaps someone has been teaching advanced techniques without authorization."
But before that could escalate, the next match began.
Inner Disciple Bracket B: Nam Hyunwoo versus Song Jimin
Hyunwoo the enthusiastic " Wannabe Protagonist " as the System had labeled him stepped onto the platform with visible excitement barely contained.
**Nam Hyunwoo: Expert Early Stage. Water affinity: Moderate. Patience: Improved but still questionable. Fighting style: Aggressive but learning control.**
**2/5 success rate, who knew he had it in him**
Song Jimin was his opposite, a defensive specialist in Expert Mid Stage known for outlasting opponents through superior endurance.
Nam Hyunwoo bounded onto the platform with barely contained energy, his red spiky hair catching sunlight like flames. His red and orange gradient eyes practically glowed with excitement. That bright, confident grin never left his face. "This is gonna be awesome!" he announced to no one in particular.
Song Jimin, his opponent, looked unimpressed. The defensive specialist stood with calm. His expression was carefully neutral, but his eyes assessed Hyunwoo with the experience of someone who'd seen plenty of overconfident youngsters crash and burn.
"Begin!"
Hyunwoo launched forward immediately, and Raon's heart sank slightly. Still too eager.
But then Hyunwoo did something unexpected. His charging strike... stopped. Pulled back at the last second. A feint. A false commitment that made Song Jimin raise a defensive guard, then Hyunwoo pulled back, resetting his position.
**He's learning. Patience before power. **
The match evolved into a fascinating study of contrasts. Song Jimin used traditional defensive techniques, solid, reliable, energy efficient. He was good at it too, deflecting Hyunwoo's attacks with minimal wasted motion.
But Hyunwoo had been training in the corrected methods, and that made all the difference.
But Hyunwoo's grin slowly transformed.
The wild excitement remained, but something focused entered his eyes. His red orange gaze tracked Song Jimin's defenses, studying, analyzing. He started using Tidal Flow Slash and the change was immediate.
The first strike, Song Jimin blocked easily. His expression stayed calm.
The second strike made him lean back slightly. A tiny furrow appeared in his brow.
The third strike pushed him back a step. His eyes narrowed with dawning concern.
By the fifth strike, cracks appeared in his defensive stance.
His jaw clenched. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The accumulated pressure was crushing him like a physical weight.
Tidal Flow Slash. Layered sword swings that build pressure with each cut.
"How!" Song Jimin GaspedSong Jimin Gasped
Hyunwoo's grin was fierce now, almost feral. "Consecutive force multiplication!" he shouted, probably not supposed to announce his technique, but he couldn't help himself.
"Consecutive force multiplication," Raon had explained during training. "Each strike feeds into the next, building momentum that eventually overwhelms static defense."
Song Jimin tried to break the rhythm by creating distance, but Hyunwoo pursued with Flowing Pearl Steps, maintaining pressure without overextending.
Then, at the perfect moment, Hyunwoo switched tactics.
Instead of another strike, he used Calm Sea Thrust, the precision technique designed to pierce Qi barriers. He concentrated his energy into a narrow point and thrust forward, not with his whole body but with controlled, focused power.
The attack slipped through Song Jimin's guard like a needle through fabric, with a hit to his upper abdomen.
Song Jimin's fell unconscious .
Hyunwoo stood there, fist raised, breathing hard but grin returning to full brightness. "YES! Did you see that?! Did everyone see that?!"
The referee quickly checked Song Jimin, confirmed he was just unconscious, then raised his hand. "Victor: Nam Hyunwoo!"
Hyunwoo pumped both fists in the air, practically glowing with joy. He looked toward Raon, pointing with both hands. "Guard Raon! I did the thing! I did the thing you taught!"
**He's like a puppy who just learned a new trick.**
The enthusiastic practitioner pumped his fist in victory.
"Growth… somewhat", Raon thought with satisfaction.
Inner Disciple Bracket C: Lee Sojin versus Park Yunhee
Lee Sojin approached her match like approaching a chess board analytical, methodical, those unique albino purple eyes studying every detail of her opponent with clinical focus.
Her usual ticked off, gloomy expression was replaced by something sharper. Cold calculation.
Park Yunhee stood confident across from her Expert Mid Stage, stronger cultivation, more raw power. Her stance radiated the certainty of someone used to winning through superior force.
"Begin!"
Sojin immediately shifted to pure defense. Her purple eyes tracked every movement with laser focus as she activated Mirror Water Flow.
Park Yunhee's first strike a powerful palm got redirected smoothly. Sojin's expression didn't change. Just observation.
The second strike. Redirected again. Sojin's eyes narrowed fractionally, mental notes being taken.
Third strike. Fourth. Fifth. Each one met with minimal defense, each one analyzed and cataloged.
Park Yunhee's confident expression began shifting to frustration. Her jaw clenched. Her strikes came faster, harder, powered by increasing annoyance.
"Fight back!" she demanded.
Sojin said nothing. Her purple eyes just kept watching, tracking, measuring.
**Classic Sojin. Information gathering phase.**
After ninety seconds of pure defense, something changed in Sojin's expression. Her eyes sharpened. Her lips curved into the tiniest, coldest smile.
Park Yunhee launched her next attack, a heavy strike backed by significant Qi.
Sojin moved. Her body spun into Whirlpool Strike, Qi spiraling around her arm in a visible vortex. Park Yunhee's powerful strike got caught in the rotation, pulled inward by the technique's physics.
Park Yunhee's eyes went wide. Her confident expression shattered into shock as her own attack was redirected back at her with added centrifugal force.
She stumbled, off-balance, arms windmilling.
Sojin didn't give her time to recover. Blue Edge Cascade, five precise strikes fragmenting from one motion, each targeting a different weak point in Park Yunhee's now broken defensive guard.
One got through. A tap to the solar plexus.
Park Yunhee's face went pale. Her mouth opened in a soundless gasp. Her Qi circulation shattered completely. She staggered back three steps, hand clutching her chest, breathing in desperate gasps.
She tried to recover. Once. Twice. Three times. Each attempt failed, her hands trembling with the effort, sweat pouring down her face.
Finally, her shoulders sagged in defeat. "I yield," she whispered.
"Victor: Lee Sojin!"
Sojin's cold analytical expression melted slightly. Her purple eyes warmed just a fraction. She walked over and offered Park Yunhee a hand up.
"You're strong," Sojin said in her usual blunt manner. "But predictable. Six major patterns, three transition habits, one consistent tell when you commit to heavy strikes."
Park Yunhee stared at her, bewildered and a bit intimidated. "You... you counted all that?"
"Obviously." Sojin's ticked-off expression returned. "How else would I fight someone stronger?"
She walked off the platform, already mentally reviewing her own performance, cataloging mistakes, planning improvements.
Raon watched her go, shaking his head with a mix of pride and mild concern.
**She's going to figure you out. That one's dangerous.**
But he also noticed something else, Commander Wei was taking notes. Extensive notes. The Martial Alliance observer had been writing steadily since Jiwoo's match, documenting the improved techniques.
**The external observers have noticed the improvements. That's a good achievement for the sect, but if lead to investigation pointing towards you….**
"We'll find out which eventually" Raon murmured.
Evening Council Chamber Elders Meeting
"The disciples' progress is abnormal," Elder Yoon said, reviewing reports. "In the past month, we've had seventeen breakthroughs from Practitioner to Expert Stage. Seventeen. We usually see four or five per year."
"The corrected techniques," Elder Jeong confirmed. "I've been monitoring cultivation efficiency. Disciples practicing the new methods show 230% faster progress than traditional training."
Elder Min added, "And their foundations are more stable. Usually, rapid advancement creates instability Qi deviations, meridian stress, dantian cracks. But these practitioners are advancing quickly AND solidly."
"Which should be impossible," Elder Cho said, though his tone was more thoughtful than accusatory now. "The original techniques were severely degraded."
"They were," Master Hwan Dojin confirmed. "I've been comparing current manuals to historical texts in the restricted archives. Over a hundred years, errors accumulated, mistranslations, simplified versions that removed unnecessary complexity, shortcuts that seemed efficient but undermined foundation building."
He laid out two documents side by side. "This is our current Qi Refinement manual. This is the founder's original. See the breathing cycle description?. Most of it is lost. We teach twelve counts. The original specifies there's eighteen, with specific pause points at meridian junctures."
Elder Yoon leaned forward. "That's... that's not a small difference."
"No," Hwan Dojin agreed. "It's the difference between building on sand versus bedrock. And Guard Raon somehow reconstructed the bedrock version."
Silence.
"The question becomes," Elder Min said carefully, "how do we standardize this? We can't have half the sect using old methods and half using corrected ones."
"We announce a curriculum reform," Elder Jeong suggested. "Frame it as rediscovering lost teachings. Give credit to Young Master Jin's research, which technically isn't wrong, he has been studying with Guard Raon."
Elder Cho smiled slightly. "Political cover. That's acceptable."
"More than that," Hwan Dojin said. "If we can restore our techniques completely, if we can start producing Master cultivators again, the Blue Pearl Sect stops being declining in power. Other sects will take notice."
"The Martial Alliance will take notice," Elder Yoon added.
"They already have," the Sect Leader said grimly. "Commander Wei's presence isn't just about the infiltration. She's evaluating us. Deciding if Blue Pearl is worth supporting... or if we've fallen too far to save."
That sobering thought settled over the room.
"Then we show her we're worth saving," Elder Min said firmly. "This tournament isn't just about catching spies. It's about proving we still have strength."