3 — Beneath the Ranking Stone
Azure Wind Sect did not operate on chaos.
It operated on structure.
And structure began with the Ranking Stone.
The outer court's ranking monument stood at the center of a circular plaza carved into the mountain's lower terrace. The stone itself was ten meters tall, dark gray, smooth, and etched with glowing characters that shifted subtly with cultivation changes.
Every outer disciple's name was engraved upon it.
Ordered.
Measured.
Displayed.
Strength was not hidden here.
It was recorded.
Li Yuan stood at the edge of the plaza the next morning, watching the crowd gathered around the monument.
Whispers were spreading again.
Not about his survival.
About his improvement.
The run yesterday had been noticed. The exchange with Chen Hao had been observed. And in a sect where stagnation was the norm for the untalented, sudden stability was suspicious.
He stepped closer.
His name was near the bottom.
Rank 184.
Body Tempering — Early Stage.
Progress displayed faintly beneath his name.
He narrowed his eyes.
The stone pulsed slightly.
Then—
His name flickered.
Progress: 12% → 58%
The glow stabilized.
Silence fell.
For half a breath, no one spoke.
Then the noise erupted.
"He advanced?!"
"That's impossible!"
"He didn't break through the realm!"
"Fifty-eight percent? Since when?!"
Li Yuan did not react.
But inside—
The system stirred.
[ Environmental Interface Detected: Ranking Formation ]
[ Realm Progress Publicly Synchronized ]
He understood immediately.
The stone was connected to the sect's formation.
It measured qi density and meridian refinement.
It did not lie.
And now—
Everyone could see.
Chen Hao stood several meters away, arms folded.
His gaze was not angry.
It was calculating.
Sudden advancement without visible resources created imbalance.
Imbalance created threat.
Li Yuan stepped back from the crowd.
This was faster than he preferred.
He had intended gradual exposure.
The ranking stone had accelerated perception.
As disciples argued around the monument, a thin-faced young man approached him quietly.
"Junior Brother Li."
Li Yuan turned.
He recognized him from memory.
Xu Ren.
Rank 142.
Body Tempering — Mid Stage.
Not particularly strong.
But clever.
And more importantly—
Well-connected.
Xu Ren smiled faintly.
"You've been busy."
"I trained," Li Yuan replied.
"Of course," Xu Ren said lightly. "And I suppose two disciples conveniently vanished last night as well?"
The air between them cooled slightly.
Li Yuan's expression remained neutral.
"I don't know what you mean."
Xu Ren chuckled softly.
"I don't care whether you killed them. The forest is dangerous. People fall."
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"What interests me is speed."
Li Yuan studied him carefully.
This was not accusation.
It was recruitment.
In the outer court, there were three informal factions.
Chen Hao's group—supported by minor clan backing.
Zhang Wei's circle—disciples born from wealthy families.
And the unaffiliated.
The unaffiliated survived by attaching themselves strategically.
Xu Ren belonged to no major faction.
He survived by balancing between them.
"You improved quickly," Xu Ren continued. "That creates attention. Attention attracts suppression."
A subtle truth.
Li Yuan said nothing.
Xu Ren's eyes flickered toward Chen Hao briefly.
"You embarrassed him yesterday."
"I struck once."
"That was enough."
Silence lingered.
Then Xu Ren spoke plainly.
"Align with someone before someone aligns against you."
Direct.
Efficient.
Li Yuan understood the game.
Open power was not enough in this sect.
One needed structure.
Alliances.
Protection.
"What do you propose?" Li Yuan asked calmly.
Xu Ren smiled slightly.
"Nothing immediate. Just don't reject cooperation when it arrives."
He stepped back and melted into the crowd.
Li Yuan watched him go.
Politics was beginning.
And he had barely stepped forward.
—
By midday, tension thickened.
Two disciples approached him openly near the weapon racks.
Members of Chen Hao's circle.
One of them, taller and broad-shouldered, crossed his arms.
"Senior Brother Chen requests your presence tonight."
There was no invitation in the tone.
Only instruction.
"Understood," Li Yuan replied calmly.
They left without another word.
The courtyard buzzed with quiet speculation.
This was not a duel.
Not officially.
But when someone rose too quickly, they were tested.
The mountain did not allow imbalance.
—
That evening, Li Yuan sat cross-legged in his small dormitory room.
A single oil lamp burned near the wall.
He closed his eyes.
The system responded.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ ORIGIN FRAGMENT SYSTEM ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Realm: Body Tempering — Early StageProgress: 58%
Strength: 4.6Agility: 3.9Physique: 4.2Endurance: 3.9Comprehension: 4.3
Qi Density: StabilizedMeridian Stability: 61%
Integration Stability: 90%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Stable.
But close to the threshold of safe rapid absorption.
He exhaled slowly.
Tonight would not be about combat.
It would be about dominance.
And dominance in outer court was often psychological.
A faint flicker appeared at the bottom of the panel.
It had not been visible before.
A sealed section.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ Hidden Module Detected ]Status: LockedCondition to Unlock: Unknown━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Li Yuan's eyes narrowed.
It had not appeared earlier.
The ranking stone synchronization had triggered something.
He did not attempt to force it.
Premature curiosity led to instability.
He extinguished the lamp.
And walked toward the lower training terrace.
—
Night wrapped the mountain in quiet tension.
Chen Hao stood at the edge of the terrace, overlooking the dark valley below.
Three of his associates stood nearby.
Li Yuan approached without hesitation.
"You wanted to see me, Senior Brother."
Chen Hao did not turn immediately.
"You advanced fifty percent in one night."
A statement.
"Yes."
"How?"
Silence lingered.
The wind moved softly across the terrace.
Li Yuan answered carefully.
"I corrected inefficiencies."
Chen Hao laughed softly.
"Do you think I am a fool?"
He turned now.
His eyes were sharp.
"You were stagnant for three years. Suddenly you correct inefficiencies?"
The associates shifted slightly, blocking exit paths—not aggressively, but clearly.
This was containment.
Not murder.
But pressure.
Li Yuan did not flinch.
"I did not say I would surpass you."
The wording was intentional.
Chen Hao's gaze flickered slightly.
"You think I fear you?"
"No," Li Yuan said evenly. "But others might."
That shifted the dynamic.
Because it was true.
The ranking stone had made his progress visible.
Visibility created speculation.
Speculation created instability.
Chen Hao stepped closer.
"You want protection?"
"No."
"Then what do you want?"
Li Yuan met his eyes directly now.
"Time."
A strange answer.
Chen Hao studied him.
"You're asking me not to suppress you."
"Yes."
Bold.
But calculated.
Chen Hao's lips curved slightly.
"And what do I gain?"
Li Yuan did not hesitate.
"I will not challenge you. Not now."
An understanding.
Outer court dominance was fragile.
Public challenges destabilized reputation.
Li Yuan was offering non-interference—for now.
Chen Hao considered this carefully.
Behind him, one of his associates shifted impatiently.
Finally, Chen Hao spoke.
"You have one month."
The words were quiet.
"If you advance again at this speed… I will test you properly."
A warning.
But not immediate hostility.
Li Yuan bowed slightly.
"Understood."
The tension eased—slightly.
Politics had been negotiated.
Not won.
But stabilized.
As Li Yuan turned to leave—
High above the terrace—
The observing elder watched once more.
This time, he did not withdraw immediately.
Instead, he murmured softly.
"Interesting."
Not the advancement.
Not the numbers.
The composure.
The calculation.
The absence of fear.
The elder's gaze lingered on Li Yuan's back as he descended the terrace steps.
"Growth without arrogance."
A rare combination.
The mountain judged strength.
But true potential—
Often hid in restraint.
Far beneath the surface of Li Yuan's consciousness, the locked module flickered faintly again.
[ Political Pressure Detected ][ Adaptive Growth Path Evaluating ]
The words faded before he could consciously register them.
But something had begun shifting.
The sect believed it was managing a minor imbalance.
It did not yet realize—
It had just allowed one.