That night, as Raon returned to the guard barracks, he noticed he was being followed.
Not by enemies, but by disciples.
**You've got fans. How does it feel being popular?**
"Annoying," Raon muttered, stopping abruptly. "Alright, come out."
Three disciples emerged from behind a supply building, looking embarrassed. They were older students, maybe eighteen or nineteen, with the bearing of mid-level practitioners.
"Guard Raon," one of them said, bowing. "We wanted to ask... could you evaluate our techniques?"
**Your reputation is spreading faster than rumors at a high school.**
"Why not ask your instructors?" Raon asked.
"We have," another said. "They give us the same advice every time: 'Push harder, cultivate more.' But we've been stuck at Core Formation Middle Stage for eight months. Then we saw your session today, and..." He trailed off.
The third added quietly, "My brother broke through to Awakened Realm in another sect, the Jade Mountain Sect. Their techniques are complete. When I asked him to describe the breakthrough, he mentioned principles I'd never heard of. Principles that aren't in our manuals."
Raon's attention sharpened. "Like what?"
"He talked about Qi synchronization, aligning your energy with natural cycles. About breath gates and meridian resonance. None of that is in Blue Pearl teachings."
**Because those sections were corrupted or lost over time. Your corrections include those principles.**
"One session," Raon said finally. "Behind the storage building. Midnight. Don't tell anyone."
Their faces lit up.
**You're building an underground training network. This is literally the plot of every martial arts movie ever.**
"I'm aware," Raon muttered.
---
Midnight came, and with it, a revelation.
The three disciples, Chen Woo, Park Soo, and Kang Min demonstrated their techniques. As Raon watched, his enhanced perception saw the problem immediately.
"You're not stuck because of talent," Raon said. "You're stuck because your foundation is cracked."
"What?" Chen Woo looked confused.
"Your Qi circulation patterns were built on flawed techniques," Raon explained. "It's like building a house on a shaky foundation, eventually, you hit a ceiling because the base can't support more weight."
Qi Circulation is the process of guiding energy through the body's meridians in a continuous loop.
It refines raw Qi, strengthens the organs, and connects the Dantian to the rest of the body.
**Deep metaphor. Very sensei like.**
"Can it be fixed?" Kang Min asked.
Raon hesitated. What he was about to suggest was risky.
"You'd have to essentially... restart. Break down your current circulation patterns and rebuild them from scratch. It's painful, time consuming, and if done wrong, could cripple your cultivation permanently."
The three disciples exchanged glances.
"How long would it take?" Park Soo asked.
"Three months minimum. Six months realistically."
"And we'd definitely improve after?"
"If you follow the corrected methods exactly? Yes."
Another pause. Then Chen Woo stepped forward. "Teach us."
**Quest Update: Train Five Disciples > Train Eight Disciples.**
**You're really building an army here.**
"This is going to end badly," Raon muttered.
But he taught them anyway.