Chapter Summaries

Fang Mo fought Niu Dali in a brutal arena match, struggling to break through the opponent’s formidable Savage Bull Technique. After targeting Niu Dali’s ear gates, Fang Mo was caught by a counterattack, leaving the fight’s outcome uncertain.

• Fang Mo and Niu Dali exchanged heavy blows, and Fang Mo found that Niu Dali’s defense resisted his attacks.
• Niu Dali pressed Fang Mo with powerful strikes, forcing him to evade with Flying Cloud Steps while Luo Zongshan worried that he would lose.
• Liu Xinjian and Zhao Dingxiang concluded that Fang Mo was likely to lose as Niu Dali continued to overpower him.
• Fang Mo identified Niu Dali’s ear gates as a possible weakness and struck them with Tiger Claw Seals the Mountain.
• Niu Dali remained standing, caught Fang Mo as he tried to retreat, and punched him squarely in the chest, prompting Ding Bingxiu to cry that Fang Mo had lost.

Fang Mo used the Tai Chi Fist he had just mastered to turn the fight against Niu Dali around. After defeating Niu Dali with the newly revealed technique, he claimed he had created it, leaving Luo Zongshan wondering whether Fang Mo truly was its originator.

• Niu Dali struck Fang Mo with a ten-thousand-jin punch, but Fang Mo redirected its force and landed with only a minor internal injury.
• Fang Mo's Bronze Mirror announced that Tai Chi Fist had become a Heaven Grade martial art at Great Accomplishment, though it did not build martial strength.
• Niu Dali charged again, and Fang Mo redirected his kick and used Tai Chi techniques to throw and repeatedly strike him.
• Fang Mo used Tai Chi to send Niu Dali crashing to the arena floor, leaving the spectators astonished.
• Fang Mo identified the technique as Tai Chi and claimed he had created it, while Luo Zongshan considered the possibility that the claim was true.

Fang Mo used his self-created Tai Chi Fist to defeat Niu Dali, drawing attention from the academy and prompting rival institute leaders to regret losing him. The next morning, Ding Bingxiu and Qu Jiang visited Fang Mo, and Fang Mo offered to teach Ding Bingxiu the fist technique.

• Fang Mo repeatedly threw Niu Dali with Tai Chi Fist until Niu Dali conceded, earning Fang Mo victory and observation credits.
• Spectators celebrated Iron Mask's winning streak, while Luo Zongshan hurried to negotiate better terms for Fang Mo.
• Liu Xinjian realized Fang Mo was a martial arts genius and told Zhao Dingxiang that Fang Mo now belonged to the Fist Academy; Zhao Dingxiang chose to hide the news from his dean.
• Fang Mo left the combat system, practiced the Mad Sand Saber Art, and became a subject of speculation throughout Yun Kong Martial Academy.
• Ding Bingxiu and Qu Jiang visited Fang Mo, praised his Tai Chi Fist, and Fang Mo offered to teach Ding Bingxiu.

Fang Mo sparred with Qu Jiang and learned more about the hidden backgrounds of his sworn brothers, Ding Bingxiu and Qu Jiang. He returned to training and fighting on the Virtual Combat Platform, then received a call from Tang Xiong.

• Fang Mo fought Qu Jiang, who revealed his Peak Hidden Strength, and admitted that Fang Mo's Tai Chi Fist was superior in technique.
• Ding Bingxiu revealed he was at Late Hidden Strength and that he was the Ding Family's Young Master from Medicine King City, while Qu Jiang was the eldest son of the Qu Family's main branch in Linjiang.
• Ding Bingxiu offered to treat Fang Mo to lunch at Hongbin Tower and suggested inviting Guan Lu, but Fang Mo warned him not to pursue his Senior Disciple Sister because he was engaged.
• Fang Mo failed to reach Guan Lu before lunch, then later learned she was too busy training to join him.
• Fang Mo resumed training and Virtual Combat Platform fights, kept taking five challenges a day, and disclosed that he studied at the Fist Academy after maintaining ten consecutive victories.
• Fang Mo continued improving his strength and received a call from Tang Xiong.

Fang Mo advanced his alchemy and began taking large numbers of academy medicine-refining tasks, disrupting the forum’s alchemy market. Meanwhile, Qin Muxue learned of his activities and planned to target Guan Lu to draw him out.

• Tang Xiong told Fang Mo that the Fang Family had sold its properties and left Yunyang, and Fang Mo set aside the news to focus on alchemy.
• Fang Mo refined Five Spirit Liquid to Initiation Grade Intermediate quality, and the Bronze Mirror raised his alchemy skill to Proficient.
• Fang Mo accepted multiple medicine-refining tasks and produced so much medicine that other alchemists resented his low prices and searched for Medicine Dust.
• Qin Muxue learned that Fang Mo might be the alchemist taking many forum tasks and decided to use the angry alchemists to muddy the waters.
• Qin Muxue ordered her middle-aged subordinate to start with Guan Lu, hoping to provoke Fang Mo into acting.

Fang Mo trained the Indestructible Diamond Body and reached the middle stage of Dark Force, then dealt with Alchemy Institute students who gathered at his villa to protest his low-priced alchemy work. He asked Luo Zongshan to intervene, and the confrontation ended with the Campus Security Department arresting the protesters and a suspected spy.

• Fang Mo practiced the twelve forms of the Indestructible Diamond Body in the Gravity Room and gained 38 points of mastery.
• Fang Mo sensed that someone was watching him and found Alchemy Institute students gathered outside his villa, accusing him of taking their work.
• Ding Bingxiu warned Fang Mo that someone had been urging Alchemy Institute students to confront him, but Fang Mo told Ding Bingxiu not to get involved.
• Fang Mo contacted Luo Zongshan, and Campus Security Department officers arrived and arrested the Alchemy Institute students.
• Assistant Liu emerged from the woods with the man who had been spying on Fang Mo, and the security officers arrested the man as a suspected spy.

Qin Muxue ordered another attempt to cripple Fang Mo, while the academy investigated the people hired to monitor him. Guan Lu was abducted during a nighttime walk but rescued by Yuan Hongfei, leaving her to reconsider his intentions.

• Qin Muxue learned that students who had targeted Fang Mo and a hired watcher were captured, then ordered her people to cut ties and arrange for Fang Mo to be crippled.
• Luo Zongshan learned that the Ning River group Red Snake had accepted a job to monitor Fang Mo and ordered them to reveal who issued it.
• Guan Lu avoided visiting Fang Mo because she felt insecure about how much stronger he had become, and she went for her usual walk by the river.
• Yuan Hongfei and his two lackeys watched for Guan Lu, but a black-clothed attacker ambushed her and carried her into the woods.
• Yuan Hongfei pursued the attacker and fought him until the man threw Guan Lu to him and fled from the approaching Aerial Sentinels.
• Guan Lu woke in Yuan Hongfei's arms, slapped him before learning he had rescued her, and apologized.

Qin Muxue learned that Song Shi had died after attacking Guan Lu, and she believed his death had erased the evidence against her. Fang Mo visited Guan Lu in the hospital and discovered that Qin Muxue had arranged the attack, but Yuan Hongfei hesitated to act after learning she was He Xingyang’s fiancée.

• Qin Muxue waited for news of Song Shi, then learned from the Security Department that he had died after attacking students and falling from a cliff.
• Qin Muxue told the investigators that Song Shi had been dismissed and invoked her fiancé He Xingyang, then privately resolved to have him deal with Fang Mo.
• Fang Mo visited Guan Lu in the hospital, where Yuan Hongfei explained that she had suffered a mild concussion.
• A lackey identified the dead attacker as Song Shi, a former bodyguard of a female student surnamed Qin, leading Fang Mo and Guan Lu to suspect Qin Muxue.
• Yuan Hongfei prepared to confront the Security Department, but his lackey warned him that Qin Muxue claimed to be He Xingyang’s fiancée.

After Qin Muxue attacked Guan Lu, Fang Mo and Yuan Hongfei sought ways to respond while academy officials maneuvered around the incident and the He Family’s influence. Yuan Hongfei and Ding Bingxiu began conspiring, leaving Fang Mo convinced Qin Muxue would soon face trouble.

• Yuan Hongfei left to confront the Security Department over its efforts to protect Qin Muxue, then returned with two female students to look after Guan Lu.
• Fang Mo explained his broken engagement with Qin Muxue to Yuan Hongfei, who promised to make her plans fail.
• Luo Zongshan learned Qin Muxue had a Pure Yin Body and ordered Assistant Liu to investigate Song Shi and link Qin Muxue to the case.
• Luo Jiming declined Fu Xingping’s suggestion to use the incident to pressure He Xuling, choosing to consider the matter further.
• Ding Bingxiu and Qu Jiang visited Guan Lu, and Ding Bingxiu and Yuan Hongfei began conspiring together.

Qin Muxue went to swordsmanship class and was publicly accused of taking gifts and money from multiple men, then collapsed after the students mocked her. Fang Mo watched a video of the staged humiliation with Ding Bingxiu, who brushed off the risk of the He Family retaliating, and the two prepared to join Yuan Hongfei’s welcome feast for Fang Mo’s Senior Disciple Sister.

• Qin Muxue attended an Azure Wind Sword Technique class and found the other students looking at her with disgust and ridicule.
• A gaunt student accused Qin Muxue of taking his Second-grade Jade Bone Pill, while Gao Yuchuan claimed she had spent more than a million of his money.
• Qin Muxue denied the accusations, but the students continued to insult her until she spat blood and collapsed.
• The swordsmanship instructor sent Qin Muxue to the hospital as Fang Mo watched a video of the incident at his villa with Ding Bingxiu.
• Ding Bingxiu credited Yuan Hongfei with the scheme and dismissed Fang Mo’s concerns that the He Family might trace it back to them.
• Ding Bingxiu invited Fang Mo to join Yuan Hongfei’s feast welcoming Fang Mo’s Senior Disciple Sister.

Fang Mo met with Guan Lu, Yuan Hongfei, and Ding Bingxiu, while the He Family investigated the scandal surrounding Qin Muxue and considered how to protect its plans for He Xingyang. Qin Muxue received a warning from the He Family and was left under guard.

• Guan Lu pulled Fang Mo away from Yuan Hongfei and Ding Bingxiu, warning him not to be led astray by them.
• He Xubai and He Xuling discussed the allegations against Qin Muxue, the search for whoever spread them, and the need to protect her.
• He Xubai told He Xuling to close the matter publicly and keep Qin Muxue safe so she would not interfere with He Xingyang's cultivation plans.
• Qin Muxue returned to her villa, where He Ying and He Fang told her that He Xubai had ordered them to protect her.
• He Ying warned Qin Muxue to keep herself clean or return to where she came from, and Qin Muxue said she understood.

Fang Mo and his friends learned that the He Family was keeping Qin Muxue because her Pure Yin Body could help He Xingyang break through, and they planned to let her discover the truth. After half a month in seclusion, Qin Muxue finally left her residence for the library, and Yuan Hongfei learned of her move.

• Yuan Hongfei explained that He Xingyang cultivated the Crimson Flame Poison Claw and needed a woman of pure yin to help him break through to Dan Jin.
• Fang Mo confirmed Qin Muxue had a Pure Yin Body and suggested that she might flee if she learned why the He Family wanted her.
• Qu Jiang proposed discreetly convincing Qin Muxue that the story was true, and Yuan Hongfei volunteered to handle it.
• Guan Lu arrived at Fang Mo's residence, and she, Fang Mo, Qu Jiang, Yuan Hongfei, and Ding Bingxiu shared a meal together.
• After half a month in seclusion, Qin Muxue left her residence for the library despite He Ying's suggestion that books be brought to her.
• Yuan Hongfei received word that Qin Muxue had left and said the bird had finally left the nest.

Qin Muxue discovered that He Xingyang might be using her Pure Yin Body to advance his martial arts, and suspected Fang Mo had guided her to the truth. Meanwhile, Fang Mo improved his Chasing Wind Leg and headed to an arranged match at the Virtual Combat Center.

• Qin Muxue called Qin Linshan for comfort, but he focused on the Qin Family's gains and urged her to please the He Family.
• Qin Muxue overheard students say that He Xingyang could use a woman with a Pure Yin Body to break through, leaving the woman crippled and in pain.
• Qin Muxue found an online article confirming the technique's danger and realized He Xingyang's test had been meant to identify her Pure Yin Body.
• Qin Muxue noticed the article vanished and wondered whether Fang Mo had deliberately led her to the information.
• Fang Mo reached Minor Accomplishment in Chasing Wind Leg, planned to focus on the Indestructible Diamond Body, and went to the Virtual Combat Center for an arranged match.

Fang Mo defeated Niu Dali by revealing Tai Chi Fist’s ability to shift seamlessly between softness and explosive force, then demonstrated its principles to the arena. The Martial Research Department’s elders recognized the technique’s significance and discussed recruiting him.

• Niu Dali challenged Fang Mo, claiming he had figured out how to counter Tai Chi Fist by refusing to let Fang Mo borrow his strength.
• Fang Mo redirected Niu Dali’s restrained punch, then struck him with a series of powerful techniques that sent him crashing to the arena floor.
• Fang Mo demonstrated Tai Chi Fist’s movements and principles, showing the audience how the style combined softness and hardness.
• Niu Dali admitted defeat and bowed respectfully to Fang Mo, while spectators called for Fang Mo to teach them.
• Two elders from the Martial Research Department copied Fang Mo’s movements and praised Tai Chi Fist as a profound new path for martial arts.
• The thin elder urged Old Dong to recruit Fang Mo into the Martial Research Department, shocking the other men present.

After noticing his training gains had slowed, Fang Mo decided to sell recordings of Tai Chi Fist’s Twenty-Four Forms with Ding Bingxiu, while continuing to train for a breakthrough. Meanwhile, elders in Yun Kong Martial Academy’s Martial Research Department argued over recruiting him, and Elder Dong brought them a recording of the routine to watch.

• After five matches and extra practice in the Gravity Room, Fang Mo decided he would challenge Late Hidden Strength martial artists once his Indestructible Diamond Body broke through.
• Ding Bingxiu told Fang Mo that his Tai Chi Fist demonstration had become popular, prompting Fang Mo to propose selling recordings of the Twenty-Four Forms.
• Fang Mo recorded the routine with Ding Bingxiu, and they agreed to sell fifty copies for one hundred thousand each and split the profits evenly.
• Fang Mo shut himself away to train while Martial Research Department elders argued over whether to recruit him and whether his Tai Chi Fist was a profound new martial art.
• Elder Dong received a storage disk containing Iron Mask’s Tai Chi Twenty-Four Forms and proposed that the elders watch it before deciding what to do.

Fang Mo’s Tai Chi Twenty-Four Forms drew the attention of the Martial Research Department, while his Indestructible Diamond Body advanced to Minor Accomplishment. After Ding Bingxiu reported that all one hundred copies of the forms had sold, Fang Mo received an urgent summons from Director Luo Zongshan.

• Elder Jiang, Elder Dong, Elder Gu, and the other masters praised Fang Mo’s Tai Chi Twenty-Four Forms and agreed to contact him about the Martial Research Institute.
• Fang Mo pushed himself through training in the Gravity Room and broke through to the second level of the Indestructible Diamond Body.
• Ding Bingxiu told Fang Mo that all one hundred copies of the Twenty-Four Forms had sold, bringing in ten million, and they agreed to split the money equally.
• Fang Mo received a stern call from Director Luo Zongshan ordering him to come to his office, while Ding Bingxiu worried their sales had been discovered.

Fang Mo was summoned to the Martial Research Department after Luo Zongshan learned he had created Tai Chi Fist. After Fang Mo demonstrated its combat forms, Elder Gu invited him to join the department, and Fang Mo accepted.

• Luo Zongshan asked Fang Mo whether he had created Tai Chi Fist and learned that its principles reached Dan Jin while its training methods covered Dark Force.
• Luo Zongshan brought Fang Mo to the Martial Research Department, where seven elderly martial arts experts questioned him about the technique.
• Elder Jiang offered Fang Mo a cultivation method in exchange for a demonstration, and Fang Mo performed the Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi Combat.
• The elders praised Fang Mo's Tai Chi Fist and offered to teach him their cultivation methods.
• Elder Gu invited Fang Mo to join the Martial Research Department and explained that its members could help him refine Tai Chi Fist; Fang Mo agreed.

Fang Mo taught Tai Chi Fist to the academy elders, then studied Tiger Subduing Fist insights and advanced to Late Hidden Strength. Elder Jiang made him a researcher and gave him a Researcher's Ring Seal, while the elders resolved to protect him and draw out more of his knowledge of Tai Chi Fist.

• Fang Mo guided the academy elders through Tai Chi Fist and scolded them as they practiced.
• Fang Mo searched the library tower for Tiger Subduing Fist insights while Elder Gu, Elder Jiang, and Elder Shi discussed the origins and power of Tai Chi Fist.
• Fang Mo finished a Ming Jin cultivation journal, increased Tiger Subduing Fist to Mastery, and advanced to Late Hidden Strength.
• A middle-aged man brought Fang Mo to meet Elder Jiang, who showed him a detailed record of the Tai Chi Fist lesson.
• Elder Jiang appointed Fang Mo a researcher in the Martial Research Department and gave him a Researcher's Ring Seal.

After becoming a researcher in the Martial Research Department, Fang Mo received protection, resources, and guidance that accelerated his cultivation. Liu Xinjian failed to access Fang Mo's records and urged Zhao Dingxiang to act after showing him the academy forum's praise of Fang Mo.

• Fang Mo returned home to find Guan Lu, Ding Bingxiu, Qu Jiang, and Yuan Hongfei waiting, and he told them he had joined the Martial Research Department.
• Yuan Hongfei warned Fang Mo that Qin Muxue had been quiet, while Fang Mo said they should wait and watch her.
• Fang Mo trained and taught Tai Chi Fist, broke through several skills, and began winning arena challenges against Late Hidden Strength martial artists.
• Liu Xinjian tried to retrieve Fang Mo's records, but Wu Ling said only the chief dean had authorization.
• Liu Xinjian showed Zhao Dingxiang the forum posts praising Fang Mo and suggested Zhao could still act to reclaim him.

A sword-bearing young man attacked the Chen Residence while searching for Liang Shuang, then learned she had died in childbirth and found her grave. He discovered a ring marked with the character for “Heaven” and lamented that, after searching for her for twenty years, they had been separated by death.

• The young man arrived at the Chen Residence, defeated its guards and an elder, and demanded to know where the Fang Family had gone.
• Chen Yingzhong identified Liang Shuang as Fang Xiaolian’s first wife and confirmed her identity from the young man’s photograph.
• Chen Yingzhong told the young man that Liang Shuang had died in childbirth, and the young man unleashed a sword strike that split a distant house.
• Guan Lie and a white-haired old man sensed the Great Grandmaster’s aura and looked toward the Fang Family’s former residence.
• At Liang Shuang’s grave, the young man opened the coffin, found only bones, and took a silver ring engraved with the character for “Heaven.”