From the next day on, it was no longer solely Ryu clan members that they faced but all kinds of cultivators from all around the world. Most forces did send some people. Of course, not everyone could fight on the day they registered so many were only able to wait.

As for Jin and Min-Su, they kept losing but grew through those losses. They never gave up and kept facing their opponents seriously each time. Every battle was a chance, an opportunity to improve. They didn't want to waste them.

It was painful for sure but in the good way. They were soaking in the experience and bathing in progress. Little by little, the cultivators were forced to take out more techniques or use particular principles and moves beyond the comprehension of someone under the tenth stage. Many ended up using elements. While Min-Su and Jin couldn't replicate those moves, they could see the movements of the spiritual energy contained in them. It was possible to replicate it without the presence of elements.

As such, the number of techniques they knew increased and they had much more options during battles.

Meanwhile, Hae-Hyuk had been teaching Sophia while keeping the eye on the rings. She finally mastered the secret eye technique and was told to observe the rings as well. Increasing her knowledge on moves was important too. He was guiding her personally though contrary to the other two. He stood next to her and explained the battles to her.

From time to time, there were assassins and idiots who went after the lives of the two kids. They were easily found, stopped and apprehended. The Ryu clan elders standing guard around the rings weren't there for show. Trying to assassinate someone under their watch while being limited to the 9th stage of spiritual accumulation? While they were top level cultivators between the 50th and 59th stage? Tough.

The most effective ways tried were poison and soul attacks. But then again, nothing could escape the eyes of the elder on guard. If poison was used, they stopped the fight and gave a pill to the kid. If a soul attack was performed, there would be soul ripples that they could perceive and it wasn't hard for them to counter those. It was a shame that those moves were far beyond the understanding of Min-Su and Jin. What's more, they couldn't even 'see' those... Breaking the soul-related taboos was close to impossible.

Anyways, those people were easily apprehended after their failed attempts. They were then interrogated rather fiercely through soul attacks. Cultivators of the Ryu clan didn't waste time with words and checked their memories forcefully without a care. They met two kinds of people through this:

1) The assassins that did come here specifically to kill the two youths. Those were dealt with on the spot whether or not their memories contained information on the one who ordered it.

2) The dumbasses who went in for the kill due to idiocy and weren't involved in any assassination plots. They were the poor souls who misjudged the opponents or were over-zealous. They were punished by hanging on a pillar for a few days then let off. Since it had been accidents, there were no reasons to punish them too hard. Cultivators were ruthless but there were limits, they didn't kill for no reasons. Well, not all of them.

And so, days went by as the two kept fighting on the arena and spending the rest of their time resting and training by themselves. Min-Su focused on learning as many techniques as he could, incorporating them in his arsenal and assimilating them in his battle style. Meanwhile, Jin tried his best to comprehend the three states without much success. If it had been easy, anyone could have done it after all.

During the third week, what should happen did happen. Jin met an opponent who wore a robe he was very familiar with. A white robe with an orange belt and the motif of a sun... It was either an inner court disciple or elder from the Twenty-Two Suns Sect. As he looked at the man...Yeah, he didn't recognize him.

There weren't that many disciples and elders he bothered with back then and there were so many of both anyways, it was impossible to know everyone. What's more, it had been quite a few years and, to kids, those were the years that saw them physically change the most.

The guy in front of him was as usual handsome. Long dark hair and blue eyes, nice face, nice body. He had a scimitar in hand as he gazed at Jin. He was the one to speak first: "Do you remember Soo-Hyun?"

This prompted Jin to do a double-take as surprise showed on his face. It had been a while since he heard that time. Why would this random unknown guy bring her out here? There shouldn't have been anyone who knew his identity. Hae-Hyuk did confirm for him that they had hosted funerals for him...He glared at the inner court guy in front of him prompting said guy to laugh.

He calmed after a moment as he placed the hand that didn't hold the blade on the back of his neck and spoke: "Didn't expect you to really be him but guess rumors were true"

Jin asked calmly: "Which rumors?"

The guy smirked as he answered: "There was a rumor that a few kids from the Empire managed to escape the purge at the other exit during the border battle right when it ended... Soo-Hyun kept believing you were one of them for some time. Until the funerals were held, I guess? Anyways, later on, I heard two of them had been taken in by Master Hae-Hyuk as disciples and escaped thanks to it. A friend from the Tranquil Waterfall Institute told me about his encounter with said disciples a few years ago as we met during a small tournament"