One month after Luo Chen's arrival at the sect, he encountered his first true rival.
The disciple's name was Yang Feng, a young man of nineteen from a merchant family with minor cultivation background. Yang Feng possessed exceptional talent and had entered the sect as an outer disciple with the cultivation base equivalent to the peak of Body Refinement—essentially one stage ahead of most of the other new recruits.
More importantly, Yang Feng was arrogant. He viewed cultivation as a competition, and he was determined to establish himself as the strongest among the outer disciples of this year's cohort.
The confrontation occurred during a sparring session organized by the sect.
The sect regularly held matches between disciples to test their progress and foster healthy competition. The matches were held in an open arena carved into the mountainside, with stone barriers protecting spectators from stray attacks.
Luo Chen had won his previous matches with ease, defeating four disciples by using clever applications of basic techniques and superior spatial awareness. Yang Feng, seeing Luo Chen's success, decided that he needed to establish his dominance by defeating the rising star.
"Luo Chen," Yang Feng called out, his voice carrying across the training grounds. "I challenge you to a sparring match. Let's see if you truly deserve the recognition you've been receiving."
The other disciples gathered immediately, forming a circle around the arena. These impromptu challenges were common, and they always attracted spectators eager to witness promising disciples test themselves against each other.
Luo Chen bowed respectfully. "I accept, Senior Brother Yang."
They took their positions at opposite ends of the arena, approximately thirty paces apart. A referee—an inner disciple named Zhao Ming—stood between them and raised a flag.
"Both participants, ready?" Zhao Ming called.
Both nodded.
"Begin!"
Yang Feng rushed forward immediately, his movement quick and powerful. He had trained longer than most of the other outer disciples, and his technique was refined. His cultivation aura blazed around him like a crown of power.
He threw a punch aimed at Luo Chen's face, the air crackling from the force of the attack. The punch was fast, faster than a normal human reaction time could counter. But Luo Chen was not constrained by normal human limitations.
He sidestepped effortlessly, but Yang Feng did not stop. Instead, he pressed his advantage with a relentless assault—fists, kicks, and bursts of qi energy, all launched with the precision of extensive training.
The crowd murmured in impressed tones. Yang Feng's strength was undeniable.
But Luo Chen was in a completely different category.
He moved with a grace that transcended mere physical skill. When Yang Feng's punch came, it passed through the space where Luo Chen had been a microsecond before—not because he had run away, but because he had subtly manipulated the distance between himself and the incoming attack, folding space like paper. The punch traveled through empty air, missing by inches, the force of it creating a small shockwave.
When Yang Feng threw qi blasts—compressed spheres of spiritual energy—Luo Chen deflected them with minimal effort. He would simply move in a way that bent the trajectory of the energy, guiding it away from himself without actually touching it. His applications of the Space Law were operating on an instinctual level, so subtle that spectators might have thought he was simply dodging with exceptional reflexes.
What made this match interesting was that Luo Chen remained unaware of his own power.
The Space Law was operating almost automatically, guiding his movements without conscious thought. He truly believed he was simply dodging attacks with good instincts and training. He had no idea that his body was naturally warping space around him, or that each movement was a masterful application of a law that only the most elite cultivators could comprehend.
After five minutes of one-sided combat, Yang Feng was visibly exhausted and frustrated. His attacks kept missing despite his opponent barely moving. Sweat dripped down his face, and his breathing was becoming ragged.
Finally, in desperation, Yang Feng gathered all of his remaining energy into a single, massive lunge. He screamed with effort as he threw himself forward, attempting to overwhelm Luo Chen through sheer force and commitment.
It was a risky move. If it failed, he would have no energy reserves left to defend himself.
Luo Chen sidestepped the attack easily. But in doing so, he accidentally triggered his Space Law in a more obvious way than before. His body unconsciously created a sharp distortion in the space around him, a ripple of spatial warping that radiated outward.
Yang Feng, caught at the edge of this distortion, was suddenly thrown backward with tremendous force. He crashed into the arena boundary and collapsed, coughing up blood.
The crowd went silent.
Luo Chen immediately rushed to help Yang Feng up, genuinely horrified by the injury. "Senior Brother, I didn't mean—"
"Enough," Zhao Ming said, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he examined Luo Chen. The inner disciple's gaze seemed to penetrate past Luo Chen's skin, examining something deeper. "Victory to Luo Chen. Yang Feng, you should seek medical treatment."
Yang Feng was helped away by his friends, his pride clearly wounded more than his body.
But Zhao Ming remained, studying Luo Chen with new interest.
"That last move," the inner disciple said, approaching Luo Chen after the match had officially concluded. "What technique did you use? It's not in any of the standard outer disciple curriculum."
Luo Chen hesitated, suddenly aware that something unusual had happened. "I... I'm not certain, Senior Brother. It was instinctive. I don't think I did anything special."
Zhao Ming studied him for a long moment. "Interesting. Your cultivation is worth watching, young disciple. Continue your training."
As the inner disciple walked away, Luo Chen felt a chill run down his spine. He had made a mistake, revealing something about his power that was unusual. He would need to be far more careful in the future. If too many people noticed the anomalies in his abilities, questions would be asked that he was not yet ready to answer.