Two weeks after Raon's training program unofficially expanded, something went wrong.
It started with a single disciple collapsing during morning practice. Then another. By midday, five disciples were in the medical hall with symptoms that didn't make sense: erratic Qi flow, sudden weakness, disrupted cultivation.
Ara Lin worked frantically, but nothing helped. The physicians were baffled.
Raon heard about it during his patrol and immediately felt a chill.
**This wasn't in the original timeline.**
"What do you mean?" he thought.
**In the story, the poisoning happened four months from now, and it only affected a few people. This is accelerated. Someone knows you're changing things.**
"The Alliance?"
**Probably.**
Raon abandoned his patrol route and headed for the medical hall. Jin was already there, his expression dark.
"What happened?" Raon asked.
"Unknown," Jin said. "The physicians think it's a Qi deviation, but five disciples having the same deviation simultaneously? That's not coincidence."
Qi Deviation happens when a cultivator loses control of their internal energy flow.
Instead of circulating smoothly, Qi moves in the wrong direction or builds up unevenly in the meridians.
This causes intense pain, internal injury, or even madness, sometimes permanent loss of cultivation.
Raon's mind raced. In the story, the source had been the sect's water supply, specifically, the well in the eastern courtyard. Demonic Qi had been slowly introduced into the water over months, poisoning disciples gradually.
But if it was happening now, faster...
"I need to check something," Raon said abruptly.
"What?"
"The water sources. All of them."
Jin's eyes widened in understanding.
"I think we need to test every well, every stream, every water source in the sect. Now."