The tournament opened with three hundred youths competing for thirty advancement positions. Lin Xuan—Crippled Crow—watched preliminary rounds from shadowed seating, analyzing styles.
Azure Cloud City produced competent but uninspired cultivators. The truly talented left for major sects early; those remaining relied on family techniques passed through generations, increasingly diluted.
He spotted genuine threats: three youths with unexpected flexibility suggesting hidden teachers. One girl moved like water, techniques resembling the legendary Flowing Cloud Sect—destroyed fifty years ago, but perhaps with surviving disciples.
His own bracket placed him against a merchant's son, Qi Refinement fifth layer, heavy sword style. The boy was large, strong, predictable.Lin Xuan was small, fast, and knew exactly where to strike.The match lasted forty seconds. He dodged the opening overhead swing—telegraphed by shoulder tension—slipped inside the guard, and pressed fingers against the neck meridian he'd identified during observation. Spiritual energy disrupted, the boy collapsed, gasping.No killing. Unnecessary attention.
Three more matches proceeded similarly. Lin Xuan conserved energy, revealed nothing unnecessary, advanced to the final thirty without drawing serious scrutiny. His mask and assumed identity held; investigators found no connection to the Lin Clan.The final round determined rankings and sect invitations. Lin Xuan needed placement without victory—high enough for library access, low enough to avoid Iron Bone Sect's particular interest.His assigned opponent: the water-moving girl, now revealed as Mei Ling, daughter of a disgraced scholar. She moved like memory of someone he'd known in his previous life—someone dead by Mo's betrayal.
Their match was dance rather than combat. She flowed; he adapted. Neither committed fully, sensing mutual calculation. When she finally pressed seriously, he allowed her strike to graze his shoulder—enough damage to justify "exhaustion" surrender without revealing true capabilities.Ninth place. Perfect.The award ceremony brought library access tokens and sect invitations. Lin Xuan accepted his with appropriate humility, then disappeared into crowds before anyone could investigate Crippled Crow's background.
That night, wearing his mask for the last time, he entered the Azure Cloud Library's restricted section. The Azure Cloud Codex waited in a locked case—protection laughable to someone who'd once cracked immortal formations.He didn't steal it. He memorized it, every map, every coordinate, every secret note about spiritual vein fluctuations.Then he returned to being Lin Clan's sickly third young master, hiding new knowledge behind fevered eyes.