Tai Chi

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Tai Chi
Original Name	太极拳
Type	Internal martial art; Martial Way
Primary Practitioners	Lin Yuan; practitioners of the Yang, Chen, Wu, Wu, and Sun families
Associated Schools	Yang Style, Chen Style, Wu Style, Wu Family, Sun Style; later Zhang Sanfeng's Thirteen Forms
Status	Lin Yuan’s principal martial art and the foundation of his Martial Arts Profundity, Absolute Will
First Appearance	Chapter 2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Yang Style Tai Chi — Not Yet Initiated	3	Lin Yuan learns its routines through online instructional videos, including Wisdom Fist, Big Frame, Small Frame, Thirty Loose Hands, and Thirteen Total Postures.
Yang Style Tai Chi — Initiated	3	Raised with 1 Attribute Point; Lin Yuan gains an understanding of its forms and force-generation methods.
Yang Style Tai Chi — Proficient	3	Raised with 2 Attribute Points after an all-night practice session; improves his strength, speed, agility, endurance, and flexibility.
Wu Style Tai Chi — Initiated	4	Learned through practice with Wu Zihan; its acquisition activates the System’s Martial Arts Deduction function.
Five Tai Chi styles — Beginner	15	Lin Yuan brings Chen Style, Wu Family, Sun Style, and Hun Yuan Zhuang to Beginner, joining Yang and Wu Style Tai Chi in his training foundation.
Five Tai Chi styles — Proficient	16	Lin Yuan uses Attribute Points to raise his Tai Chi arts toward a shared proficient foundation.
Yang Style Tai Chi — Mastered	40	Yang Style becomes Lin Yuan’s most advanced Tai Chi branch at the time; his sensitivity reaches the level where even slight contact can be perceived.
Yang, Chen, Wu, Wu Family, and Sun styles — nearing Perfection	94	Lin Yuan’s five styles approach completion while his Physique reaches 33.
Yang, Chen, Wu, and Wu Family styles — Perfect; Sun Style — Great Accomplishment	94	Four styles reach Perfect while Sun Style continues progressing.
All five Tai Chi styles — Perfected	136	Completing the five styles fulfills the condition for deducing Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Beginner	136	Lin Yuan spends 20 Attribute Points to deduce the art, learning it in a dream-like state from an old Daoist. His Martial Arts Profundity becomes Absolute Will.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Minor Accomplishment	145	The art advances to Cyan grade.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Great Accomplishment	176	Lin Yuan’s command of Absolute Will grows alongside the art.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Mastered	185	Its advancement further strengthens Lin Yuan’s execution of Absolute Will.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Perfection	297	The Thirteen Forms reach Perfection as Lin Yuan continues developing multiple Martial Arts Profundities.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi — Azure; Perfect	356	The perfected art advances to Azure grade.

Background / History

Tai Chi is the first martial art chosen by Lin Yuan after his System appears. Although he had previously learned the simplified twenty-four forms in university, he dismisses that health-oriented routine as insufficient for real martial practice and begins studying Yang Style Tai Chi online instead 2 3.

Tai Chi is described as a major Internal martial art rooted in the principles of yin and yang, the Five Elements, and the Eight Trigrams. Its core method is to answer force with yielding, adhere to an opponent’s movement, and redirect strength rather than meet it head-on 3 28 41.

Lin Yuan expands from Yang Style into the five prominent modern families—Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu, and Sun. Their individual methods differ, but their underlying principles are connected; eventually, he can shift between all five styles as though they were a single art 9 15 43.

After perfecting the five styles, Lin Yuan deduces Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi. The derived art reduces Tai Chi to thirteen fundamental postures with limitless variations, discarding fixed form in favor of direct comprehension of Tai Chi’s essential principle 136 158.

Principles

• Yin and yang — Tai Chi treats hardness and softness, emptiness and solidity, speed and slowness, advance and retreat as interconnected opposites rather than separate states 11 41.
• Yielding and sticking — Against hardness, the practitioner yields; by following the opponent’s movement, they place the opponent at a disadvantage 3 41.
• Borrowing force — Tai Chi uses an opponent’s momentum against them, expressed as using “four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds” 28.
• Stillness overcoming movement — A stable center of gravity, sunk qi, and rooted lower body allow the practitioner to respond efficiently to faster attacks 28.
• Intent, qi, and body — The mind directs qi, qi moves the body, and the body carries out the technique 121.
• Formlessness — At its highest expression, Tai Chi no longer depends on rigid sequences; form transforms into formlessness, with movement following the natural opening and closing of yin and yang 158 353.

Styles and Training System

Style / Method	Characteristics
Yang Style Tai Chi	Lin Yuan’s entry point and initially his strongest branch. Its system includes Wisdom Fist, Big Frame, Old Frame, Small Frame, Tai Chi Long Fist, Little Nine Heavens, Acquired Method, Thirty Loose Hands, Thirteen Total Postures, and Tai Chi Acupoint Method 3 28.
Chen Style Tai Chi	Has the most complex frame among the five styles; broad in opening and closing, majestic in momentum, and balanced between offense, defense, emptiness, and solidity 15.
Wu Style Tai Chi	Emphasizes strict body mechanics, compact postures, measured movement, and precise footwork 15.
Wu Family Tai Chi	One of the five families learned by Lin Yuan through materials supplied by Wu Zihan 15.
Sun Style Tai Chi	Uses nimble movement and closely linked advances and retreats; bears the influence of Xing Yi Quan and Bagua Zhang 15.
Hun Yuan Zhuang	A standing-pole method assembled by the System from the five Tai Chi styles. It trains strength and endurance and can increase Tai Chi’s power by at least thirty percent 15.
Thirteen Total Postures	Thirteen foundational movements: ward-off, rollback, press, push, pluck, split, elbow, shoulder, advance, retreat, look left, gaze right, and central equilibrium 28 92.
Thirty-Six Forms	Lin Yuan’s simplified teaching system, combining the five schools into a routine intended for both health training and practical combat 92.
Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi	A condensed, advanced Tai Chi art in which each of the thirteen postures contains infinite variation and every movement points directly toward Tai Chi’s true meaning 136 158.

Abilities & Skills

Force Redirection

Tai Chi neutralizes incoming attacks by yielding, adhering to their motion, and returning the opponent’s own momentum.

• Lin Yuan defeats charging wild boars by redirecting their force rather than relying on the pudao he carries 41.
• He disperses Zhang Shaoling’s rapid acupoint strikes as though they had struck cotton 58.
• He defeats numerous disciples at the Jade Talisman Grand Ceremony through defense, balance disruption, and borrowed force 56 58 59.

Sensory Awareness

Advanced Tai Chi grants extreme tactile and situational sensitivity.

• Lin Yuan reaches the state described as “not even a fly could land, nor a feather add weight,” able to perceive minute contact and changes around him 41.
• Through Absolute Will, he focuses on sensing energy fluctuations rather than depending solely on visual observation 350.

Rooting and Stability

Tai Chi training emphasizes lowering the center of gravity, sinking qi to the Dantian, and making the lower body stable.

• Lin Yuan remains steady while practicing on a bridge barely a meter wide, even when part of a foot is suspended over open space 11.
• His posture can feel both robust like Mount Tai and empty enough to dissolve an attack 58.

Offensive Applications

Though often mistaken for health-preserving calisthenics, Tai Chi includes compact practical and killing techniques.

• Small Frame, Tai Chi Loose Hands, and Tai Chi Acupoint Method are identified as Yang Style’s most combat-oriented routines 6.
• Lin Yuan uses Catching Sparrow’s Tail to counter Li Hui’s Arhat Fist during their spar 25.
• His Tai Chi can shift from gentleness to explosive speed, with slowness within speed and speed within slowness 4 65.

Absolute Will

A Martial Arts Profundity comprehended during the deduction of Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms.

• Functions as Lin Yuan’s personal fighting style and is rooted in the Tai Chi principle rather than a fixed routine 136.
• Lets him embody Tai Chi through anticipation, energy perception, and natural responses to an opponent’s intent 350 353.
• Enables him to counter Chou Qing’s Mysterious Heaven Snake Breath despite its enhanced defense, observation, and speed 353.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Beginning of cultivation — Tai Chi gives Lin Yuan his first System-recognized martial art and establishes his route of self-strengthening 2 3.
• Five Schools of Tai Chi — He seeks instruction in the Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu, and Sun traditions to meet the System’s requirement for a higher Tai Chi deduction 9 15.
• Jade Talisman Grand Ceremony — Tai Chi carries Lin Yuan through over forty matches against disciples from nine sects, where he refines his understanding through prolonged combat 55 56 58 59.
• Public instruction — Lin Yuan develops a streamlined curriculum of Hun Yuan Zhuang, Thirteen Total Postures, and Thirty-Six Forms for his livestream followers 92.
• First lightning tribulation — Perfecting the five family styles allows the deduction of Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms and the birth of Absolute Will 136.
• Recognition by Wudang — Lin Yuan’s Tai Chi earns Li Sixuan’s respect and invitation to Wudang; he later becomes Wudang’s ninth true disciple 353 394 396.

Relationships

• Lin Yuan — Primary practitioner; Tai Chi is his favorite martial art, principal Martial Way, and the basis of Absolute Will 43 247.
• Wu Zihan — Introduces Lin Yuan to Wu Style Tai Chi and provides teaching materials for the other family styles 4 15.
• Yang Wanrou / “Little Sister Yang Style Tai Chi” — Her verified instructional videos provide Lin Yuan’s first complete Yang Style Tai Chi curriculum; she later identifies his railway-station technique as Yang Style Tai Chi Loose Hands 3 8.
• Li Hui — Learns Thirteen Total Postures from Lin Yuan after their spar; their exchange contrasts Tai Chi’s Internal principles with Arhat Fist’s External methods 25 28.
• Slovenly Daoist — Critiques Lin Yuan’s five-family practice for retaining unnecessary movements and urges him toward unifying the styles into their essential thirteen postures 65.
• Old Daoist — Appears in Lin Yuan’s dream during the deduction of Zhang Sanfeng’s Thirteen Forms and teaches him through direct experience of Tai Chi’s principle 136.
• Li Sixuan — Wudang’s sect leader recognizes Lin Yuan’s extraordinary Tai Chi, invites him to Wudang, and believes it is connected to Wudang’s patriarchal legacy 353 394 396.

Trivia

• Tai Chi is commonly perceived in-universe as health-preserving exercise for elderly park-goers, a reputation Lin Yuan considers the result of practicing empty forms without the true method 2.
• Lin Yuan jokingly calls his farm work with a hoe the “Tai Chi Hoe” 12.
• His livestream teaching deliberately avoids merely repeating the simplified twenty-four forms, which he considers inadequate for conveying Tai Chi’s practical principles 92.
• Despite learning numerous martial arts, Lin Yuan considers Tai Chi uniquely meaningful: not merely a technique, but a Martial Way worthy of lifelong study 247.