Recaps

Yang Jing advanced from a struggling student to a bright strength formal disciple, protecting his family from the Ning Family’s pressure and taking a paid escort job. The Great Fortune Gang then targeted him over an old debt as he continued training toward hidden strength.

• Yang Jing returned to martial training, began teaching Yang An, and trained hard in Mountain Collapse Fist while his family faced Feng Lei’s threats over their farmland.
• Yang Jing followed Feng Lei home and killed him, ending the harassment for a time as Ning Xuezhi investigated the killing and held off on pressuring the Yang Family.
• After months of training and guidance from Liu Maolin, Yang Jing broke through to bright strength, became a Formal Disciple, and gained Sun Yong’s personal instruction.
• The Ning Family sent the Yang household a plow ox and silver after learning of Yang Jing’s advancement, and Yang Jing wrote to his family about his breakthrough.
• Liu Maolin hired Yang Jing to escort the Liu Family Medical Hall’s shipments for ten taels and bear meat each month, while Yang Jing’s family learned they no longer needed to support him financially.
• Yang Jing refused to pay the Great Fortune Gang’s inflated claim on his old loan and defeated two enforcers who came to collect.
• Xu Tai sent Heizi to investigate Yang Jing after the injured enforcers reported that he might have bright strength.
• Sun Yong assessed Yang Jing’s unstable lower body, and Liu Maolin taught him how hidden strength differed from bright strength before identifying the gang leader as a bright strength martial artist surnamed Xu.

Yang Jing avenged the Great Fortune Gang’s collapse, advanced to Hidden Strength, and joined the Liu Family Medical Hall while preparing for the Parade Ground Trial. As war brought refugees closer and his family stayed in the countryside, he settled Yang An with him to train, with the trial only days away.

• Yang Jing killed Scarface Li and Xu Tai, took the gang’s hidden wealth and Surging Wave Leg manual, and concealed his tracks.
• Yang Jing bought a courtyard, helped his family in Yang Family Village, and returned to Yuhe County as refugees fled the fighting near Caozhou.
• Yang Jing continued training despite dismissing invitations to spar, and he broke through to Hidden Strength after pushing Mountain Collapse Fist to its limit.
• Zhao Meng and Qian Bao ambushed Yang Jing, but he killed Qian Bao and defeated Zhao Meng, and the Righteousness Gang soon fell apart.
• Yang Jing accepted a Senior Guest Retainer position with the Liu Family Medical Hall and decided to enter the Parade Ground Trial after studying past results.
• Yang Jing escorted medicinal herbs, worried about his father and eldest uncle near the fighting, and brought Yang An to town to teach him Surging Wave Leg.
• Yang Jing registered for the trial and spent the remaining days training with Yang An, while Yang Lao San returned to the village and wagered that Yang Jing would pass.

Yang Jing won the seventh arena championship by defeating Shen Lie, then entered the ranking battle and faced stronger champions. After conceding to Qin Yu and winning two later bouts, he reached fifth place as the ranking battle continued.

• Yang Jing entered the Martial Arts Examination, defeated his opponents in the seventh arena, and overcame Shen Lie to claim first place.
• Sun Yong praised Yang Jing’s tactics, taught him how to improve Mountain Collapse Fist, and gave him Qi Gathering Pills and notes on the other arena champions.
• Yang Jing joined the ranking battle, where Qin Yu defeated him after their clash left Yang Jing injured and exhausted.
• Lin Yue lost to Li Mengchao and was carried to the Medical Hall, while Yang Jing defeated He Han to secure sixth place provisionally.
• Miss Jin Lian sent Yang Jing a Hundred Herbs Spirit Pill through Liu Maolin, and the pill healed his injuries and strengthened his internal energy.
• Yang Jing defeated Xu Guangwei with Stone Splitting Stance to claim fifth place, then watched Li Mengchao defeat Zhou Zhiqiang.

Yang Jing secured fourth place in the Parade Ground Trial, earned official recognition, and returned to training at the Sun Clan Martial Arts School. After secretly killing Shen Lie, he evaded the investigation and continued advancing toward peak hidden strength while Lin Yue grew resentful of his success.

• Yang Jing defeated Zhou Tong to take fourth place, and the official rankings named Li Mengchao first, Qin Yu second, and Zhou Zhiqiang third.
• Sun Yong welcomed Yang Jing back, while Lin Yue learned of Yang Jing’s ranking and collapsed from jealousy and anger.
• Cheng Wen announced Yang Jing’s official status in Yang Family Village, presented court-bestowed armor and a saber, and told him his land was tax-exempt and his family free from corvée labor.
• Ning Xuezhi apologized to Yang Jing for his family’s past wrongdoing, and Yang Jing warned him before choosing not to pursue the dispute.
• Sun Yong gave Yang Jing Qi Gathering Pills and a token for twenty jin of superior exotic beast meat each month, then continued correcting his martial techniques.
• Yang Jing broke through to hidden strength, ambushed Shen Lie at home, killed him, and concealed the evidence before returning to train.
• The authorities investigated Shen Lie’s death and Zhou Ling questioned Yang Jing, who denied seeing Shen Lie since their Parade Ground Trial bout.
• Two months later, the investigation had stalled, Yang Jing’s Mountain Collapse Fist neared peak hidden strength, and Lin Yue resented his growing progress and suspected Sun Yong had given Yang Jing his token.