Recaps

Chen Jue visited Ye Tong Ren Tang to buy Mighty Pills, where an elderly doctor marveled at his extraordinary health and guessed that he practiced martial arts. After lunch, Chen Jue reviewed the gains from his morning sprint and ordered rice he believed was Wuchang Rice.

• Chen Jue let the elderly doctor examine his pulse and listen to his heart, and the doctor found him exceptionally healthy.
• The elderly doctor saw Chen Jue's prescription for Mighty Pills and concluded that he practiced martial arts; Chen Jue confirmed it before paying and leaving Ye Tong Ren Tang.
• Chen Jue ate five bowls of rice at the Golden Rice Bowl after his morning sprint had left him unusually drained.
• Chen Jue checked his attribute panel and found gains in strength, agility, constitution, unallocated points, and Eight Immortals Stance proficiency.
• Chen Jue ordered fifty kilograms of rice using a link from the restaurant, unaware that it was northeastern fragrant rice marketed as Wuchang Rice.

After returning to Chen Village, Chen Jue tested his speed at the closed Shannan Primary School and discovered that his enhanced attributes let him sprint at an extraordinary level. The result left him wondering whether to pursue athletics as he considered how much stronger he might become.

• Chen Jue jogged five kilometers along the steep mountain road to Chen Village without stopping and felt he had stamina to spare.
• Chen Jue packed his testing equipment and went to Shannan Primary School to measure his athletic ability.
• Chen Jue hand-timed his first hundred-meter sprint at 9.99 seconds, then measured the track and confirmed it was a standard distance.
• Chen Jue ran a second hundred meters in 10.02 seconds and estimated that his electronic time would meet the national master athlete standard.
• Chen Jue realized that an attribute value of 1 represented the upper limit of normal human ability and wondered whether he should become an athlete.

Chen Jue tested his extraordinary strength at Shannan Primary School, breaking national records in shot put and long jump and nearly matching the world records. After returning home, he asked online about his pores closing during his chase, and an expert suggested he was approaching mastery of manifest force.

• Chen Jue dismissed the idea of becoming an athlete and decided to keep training quietly while investigating his growing abilities.
• Chen Jue threw the 7.26-kilogram shot 22.81 meters, then improved to 22.98 and 23.40 meters, surpassing the national record and possibly breaking the world record.
• Chen Jue prepared the long-jump pit and jumped 8.62 meters, setting a national record and coming within 0.32 meters of the world record.
• Chen Jue returned to his family home, reflected on the promise of his new life, and made dinner after showering.
• Chen Jue posted online about his pores closing during the chase, and a Tieba expert told him he was nearing mastery of manifest force.

Chen Jue learned about bright force from a Tieba expert while Commissar Yao and Instructor Zou discussed the extraordinary training footage of him. After dinner, Chen Jue headed to the reservoir wearing twenty jin of sandbag weights and reached the dam in just over five minutes, determined to improve his Eight Immortals Stance.

• Chen Jue asked Half-Step Collapse Fist Rules the World about bright force and learned about pore control and the traditional stages of Internal Fist training.
• Chen Jue searched for explanations of hidden strength and transforming strength but could not understand how hidden strength could injure someone from within.
• Commissar Yao showed Chen Jue's training video to Instructor Zou, who judged Chen Jue's stamina and Internal Fist practice exceptional but said they would have to fight to compare their abilities.
• Commissar Yao proposed inviting martial arts experts to a combat exchange tournament, and Instructor Zou decided to prepare for it.
• Chen Jue simmered Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, strapped on twenty jin of sandbags, and ran uphill to the reservoir dam in just over five minutes.

After Chen Jue upgraded his Boat Boxing and Eight Immortals Stance, he learned to close his pores at will and believed he had mastered bright force. He injured his fist punching a wall, then asked Tieba users for advice on martial arts that could toughen his body.

• Chen Jue practiced Boat Boxing and the Eight Immortals Stance at the reservoir, then spent attribute points to raise his agility and upgrade both skills to Lv2.
• Chen Jue gained control over his pores and blood circulation, practiced on a table, and increased his strength, agility, and constitution.
• Chen Jue punched a wall to test his power, damaged the wall, and injured his right hand, causing his health index to drop to 94%.
• Chen Jue treated his fist and posted on Tieba asking for advice about body-toughening martial arts.
• Tieba users suggested Iron Sand Palm, Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill, Golden Bell Shield, and Iron Shirt, and Chen Jue searched for the skills they named.

Chen Jue began learning the Shaolin Impact-Conditioning Skill to strengthen his body after his fist training had injured him. He unlocked the skill but found its natural progress too slow, so he switched to stance training to earn attribute points for it.

• Chen Jue searched for body-conditioning arts, rejected Iron Sand Palm, and chose Shaolin's Impact-Conditioning Skill.
• He planned to start with the body areas he could reach and use attribute points to raise the skill if he unlocked it.
• The next morning, Chen Jue found that his constitution had improved and his right-hand wound was healing quickly, though a small fracture still hurt.
• Because rain kept him from training at the reservoir, Chen Jue cut bamboo and made a board to practice the Shaolin Impact-Conditioning Skill at home.
• After an hour of striking his body while using overt force, Chen Jue unlocked Shaolin Impact-Conditioning Skill Lv0 and gained two proficiency points.
• Chen Jue stopped practicing the skill directly and began the Eight Immortals Stance to earn attribute points instead.

After improving his stance training and recovering from his hand injury, Chen Jue accepted an invitation to compete in a military-civilian martial arts exchange next week. Hoping to prepare, he asked Tieba for martial arts he could learn quickly, but the replies mostly joked about wuxia techniques.

• Chen Jue’s Lv2 Eight Immortals Stance training raised his attributes quickly, and his watch showed that his resting heart rate had fallen to thirty to forty beats per minute.
• Chen Jue rested his injured hand, practiced the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, and made bone broth at home.
• Commissar Yao invited Chen Jue to the nearby regiment’s martial arts exchange competition, offering an appearance fee and a possible instructor role if he placed first.
• Chen Jue accepted the invitation because he wanted the income and a chance to spar after mastering Bright Force.
• Chen Jue asked the Tieba experts what martial arts he could learn in a week, but they responded with jokes and fictional wuxia techniques.

Chen Jue learned the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill and quickly improved his constitution by practicing it with tonic decoction. After reaching Lv2 on the first day, he spent the next day grinding its proficiency and completed the 500 points needed for another breakthrough.

• Chen Jue searched for the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill and began practicing it, quickly gaining proficiency.
• Chen Jue reached Lv1, drank Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, and saw his constitution increase.
• Chen Jue practiced through the evening, raised the skill to Lv2, and gained more constitution and unallocated attribute points.
• Chen Jue woke the next morning feeling energized, with his hand injury improved and his health index at 96%.
• Chen Jue used tonic decoction to accelerate his practice and reached 500 proficiency points in the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill by six in the evening.

Chen Jue perfected the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill and gained a vitality-boosting status, then found his current weights too light and ordered heavier training equipment. He ended the chapter preparing to upgrade his workouts as his strength continued to grow.

• Chen Jue raised the Shaolin Child Prodigy Skill to Perfection and gained the One Qi, Rising Sun Birth status.
• Chen Jue drank the remaining medicinal decoction, practiced more, and saw his constitution rise to 1.74.
• Chen Jue found that his improved digestion and strength made his 20 kg dumbbells ineffective.
• Chen Jue ordered custom 200 kg dumbbells, a weighted vest, and wrist and ankle weights.
• Chen Jue planned to use the new equipment for training and watched a martial arts documentary before bed.

Chen Jue collected Shaolin Mighty Pills and discovered that taking one before practicing the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic rapidly increased his training proficiency, strength, and constitution. Despite the doctor’s warning to take no more than one every three days, Chen Jue swallowed a second pill to test his limits.

• After morning training, Chen Jue traveled to Ye Tong Ren Tang and collected thirty Mighty Pills and a jar of aged yellow rice wine.
• The young doctor warned Chen Jue to take no more than one Mighty Pill every three days and suggested he make medicinal wine.
• Back at his old house, Chen Jue swallowed a Mighty Pill with yellow rice wine and practiced the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.
• The pill accelerated Chen Jue’s proficiency gains and increased his strength and constitution by 0.03 each after more than an hour of practice.
• Chen Jue ignored the dosage warning and swallowed a second Mighty Pill to see whether his health index would reveal any side effects.

Chen Jue used attribute points to raise the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic to Level 2, then consumed several Shaolin Mighty Pills as the breakthrough rapidly improved his strength and constitution. After resting and preparing for more training, he encountered a wild boar and its four piglets while jogging up the mountain.

• Chen Jue spent 0.18 attribute points to advance the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic to Level 2.
• The breakthrough triggered intense bodily depletion, so Chen Jue consumed several Shaolin Mighty Pills until the siphoning effect ended and his strength reached 1.23 and constitution reached 1.91.
• Chen Jue noticed his eyesight and body shape had improved, then ordered a digital scale and a copper bar for training.
• Chen Jue decided to rest before using more attribute points and planned to raise his Impact-Conditioning Skill before the martial arts exchange.
• Chen Jue jogged up the mountain at night and came face-to-face with a large wild boar followed by four piglets.

Chen Jue encountered a family of wild boars near Chen Village Reservoir and fought off a charging male with a powerful kick, then treated a scrape at home and trained. By the next morning, his injuries had healed, and he planned to upgrade the Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill.

• Chen Jue met a sow and her piglets on the road, but a large male boar charged at him after hearing the sow's cries.
• Chen Jue dodged the first charge and kicked the boar hard enough to send it tumbling; the injured boar fled into the grass.
• Chen Jue confirmed the boars had left, went home, treated his scraped leg, and practiced the Eight Immortals Stance for two hours.
• Chen Jue woke to find his hand fracture and leg scrape healed, with his health index at 99% and his constitution at 1.91.
• Chen Jue trained at the reservoir, raised his free attribute points to 0.27, and prepared to upgrade the Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill.

Chen Jue broke through to Level 1 in the Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill by striking himself with a blue brick, gaining greater strength and resilience. After testing his newfound toughness, he learned that his 400-kilogram dumbbells had arrived and went to help unload them.

• Chen Jue maxed out the Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill with attribute points but discovered that an upgrade prerequisite was still missing.
• Chen Jue used a blue brick to strike his body until the prerequisite unlocked, then broke through to Level 1 after taking a Mighty Pill and drinking Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction.
• Chen Jue’s constitution and strength increased, and he punched through another brick in the wall without injuring his hand.
• Chen Jue ate lunch, rested, and received a call from the SF Express delivery guy asking him to help unload his oversized dumbbells at the village entrance.

Chen Jue received a pair of 200-kilogram dumbbells and used a burst of bright force to unload their crate from the delivery van. After carrying the dumbbells home and training with them, he increased his strength and gained more free attribute points.

• Chen Jue met the delivery guy and lifted the heavy crate enough to tip it out of the van, astonishing him.
• Chen Jue added the delivery guy as a WeChat friend, dismantled the dumbbells, and carried their parts home in eight trips.
• Chen Jue tested the dumbbells and found he could lift 100 kilograms with one hand using bright force, or 75 kilograms with raw strength.
• Chen Jue trained for three hours with 50-kilogram dumbbells in each hand and raised his strength by 0.05 and his free attribute points by 0.02.

Chen Jue attended a military martial arts exchange at the XX Regiment’s base, where he met other invited experts, including Master Li of Boat Boxing. He ended his demonstration by revealing the power of his Impact-Conditioning Skill and smashing a heavy punching bag across the venue.

• Chen Jue raised his Impact-Conditioning Skill to Level 2 after training with copper rods, making his body tougher and dark bronze in appearance when he exerted himself.
• Chen Jue traveled to the XX Regiment’s base in Peach Immortal Village for the exchange event and met Instructor Zou, who told him that another invited expert practiced Boat Boxing.
• Chen Jue arrived at the crowded venue, recognized Master Li from a Boat Boxing instructional video, and watched the invited experts demonstrate their skills.
• Chen Jue took the stage last and asked for a freestanding punching bag instead of performing Boat Boxing.
• Chen Jue entered the Eight Immortals Stance, turned dark bluish, and punched the bag so hard that it burst and flew six or seven meters, stunning the audience.

Chen Jue stunned the soldiers and martial arts experts with a punch that sent a heavy punching bag flying, earning widespread praise and an invitation to the afternoon sparring bouts. At the lounge, Master Li recognized Chen Jue’s stance as Boat Boxing and learned that Chen Jue claimed to have studied under Old Mr. Huang of Huang Family Village.

• Chen Jue demonstrated an explosive punch that burst a freestanding punching bag and sent it flying, leaving the crowd and invited martial artists astonished.
• Commissar Yao ended the morning activities and announced that the soldiers could watch more at the afternoon sparring bouts.
• Chen Jue rode with Commissar Yao, the commanders, instructors, and martial arts experts to the mess hall, where the guests gathered around him over lunch.
• After lunch, the guests viewed the unit’s displays and waited in a lounge for the afternoon activities.
• Master Li recognized Chen Jue’s opening stance as a Boat Boxing move, and Chen Jue said he had learned Boat Boxing and some Shaolin kung fu from Old Mr. Huang of Huang Family Village.

Chen Jue met Li Xiangning, a Boat Boxing inheritor, and learned about the style’s history and the limits of his own understanding of martial arts. Li Xiangning shared a family maxim for developing hidden strength, which Chen Jue planned to study after returning home.

• Chen Jue chatted with Li Xiangning and learned how Boat Boxing developed and survived through generations of practitioners.
• Chen Jue and Li Xiangning demonstrated their boxing and stance training, and Li praised Chen Jue’s bright-force skill.
• Chen Jue asked about hidden strength, and Li Xiangning recounted meeting hidden-strength practitioners at Mount Wudang.
• Li Xiangning shared his family’s Boat Boxing maxim for beginning to develop hidden strength, and Chen Jue thanked him.
• Chen Jue and Li exchanged WeChat contacts, and Chen Jue memorized the maxim before continuing the afternoon’s martial arts activities.

The afternoon sparring tournament began, and Chen Jue faced Taekwondo black belt Master Xie in his first bout. Chen Jue endured Xie’s powerful kicks with his body-conditioning skill, slammed him to the ground, and advanced after Xie conceded defeat.

• The twelve participants drew lots for six first-round bouts, and Chen Jue was matched against Master Xie.
• A combat instructor defeated the provincial sanda champion with a rear naked choke, and several other bouts followed.
• Chen Jue entered the ring as the crowd cheered, and Master Xie opened with a Front Axe Kick.
• Chen Jue absorbed Xie’s kick with his hardened body, seized his belt, and drove him toward the ground.
• Master Xie struck Chen Jue’s head with an airborne side kick, but Chen Jue remained unharmed and Xie landed dazed.
• Master Xie accepted defeat, asked whether Chen Jue had used Iron Shirt, and left the ring to seek a medical check.

Chen Jue fought Instructor Zou in the second round and won, then offered to face the remaining two competitors together in the final. He defeated Li Xiangning and Zhou Gang within seconds, leaving the soldiers stunned.

• Chen Jue struck Instructor Zou twice, evaded his kick, and threw him out of the ring, earning his concession.
• Chen Jue, Li Xiangning, and Zhou Gang advanced to the third round.
• Chen Jue proposed fighting Li Xiangning and Zhou Gang at the same time, and both agreed to team up against him.
• Li Xiangning attacked Chen Jue head-on while Zhou Gang joined in with powerful bridge-arm strikes.
• Chen Jue sent Zhou Gang flying out of the ring, then took Li Xiangning's punch and threw him out as well.

After defeating Zhou Gang and Li Xiangning, Chen Jue became the regiment’s martial arts instructor and agreed to compete in an army-wide tournament. A verse from Li Xiangning inspired him to investigate hidden strength, and the chapter ended with him plunging into a reservoir whirlpool.

• Chen Jue defeated Zhou Gang and Li Xiangning, then explained that he had used the Shaolin Body Conditioning Skill rather than Iron Shirt.
• Zhou Gang asked to become Chen Jue’s disciple, and Chen Jue offered to teach him when he visited the regiment.
• Commissar Yao appointed Chen Jue the regiment’s martial arts instructor and announced that the leaders would recommend him for an army-wide competition in October.
• Chen Jue accepted the recommendation after learning that the competition offered a larger allowance and a cash prize.
• At home, Chen Jue recalled Li Xiangning’s Boat Boxing verse, demonstrated bright force in the shower, and wondered how hidden strength worked.
• Chen Jue rowed to the reservoir’s whirlpool, performed Zhongli Sits on the Drum, and plunged into the water.

Chen Jue trained his Eight Immortals Stance beneath the reservoir’s underwater current, rapidly improving his hidden strength and attributes. After a shorter second session brought the stance close to Lv3, he planned to return at night to finish training without attracting attention.

• Chen Jue stood over the reservoir’s Floodgate Valve and used the underwater currents to practice his Eight Immortals Stance, quickly raising its proficiency.
• After more than twenty minutes underwater, Chen Jue burst back to the boat and saw his stance reach Lv2 (362/500), while his attributes and free attribute points increased.
• Chen Jue returned home, cleaned himself, and rested after reflecting on the danger he had taken during training.
• The next morning, Chen Jue practiced underwater again but surfaced after a little over ten minutes, raising his stance to Lv2 (436/500).
• Chen Jue rowed back to shore and decided to return at night so villagers would not mistake his training for an emergency.

Chen Jue spent the day training, improving his attributes and endurance while waiting for his latest martial arts to advance. During underwater practice, the Eight Immortals Stance reached perfection and gained a Daoist bonus state, prompting Chen Jue to research the arts’ origins online.

• Chen Jue ordered more Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction and trained at home, bringing his free attribute points to 0.36.
• Chen Jue lifted heavier dumbbells, raised his Strength to 1.70, and noted his slower heartbeat and improved stamina after his Constitution exceeded 2.
• Chen Jue jogged around the reservoir wearing 70 kilograms of training weights and gained Agility.
• Chen Jue practiced the Eight Immortals Stance underwater until it reached perfection, releasing hidden strength from his hands and feet before surfacing for air.
• Chen Jue saw the bonus state [Pure Yang Lüzu, Enlightened Quanzhen] and searched online for information about the origins of Boat Boxing and the Eight Immortals Stance.

After mastering Hidden Strength, Chen Jue tested its needle-like force and posted a video demonstration to Tieba, thanking the forum experts for their guidance. The forum erupted in disbelief while a few genuine martial artists sought advice from their elders, and Chen Jue answered a video call from Master Li Xiangning.

• Chen Jue traced the Eight Immortals Stance to Quanzhen Daoist teachings and replenished himself with Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction after his breakthrough.
• Chen Jue demonstrated Hidden Strength by pressing his palm into a wall, leaving a deep handprint marked with tiny holes.
• Chen Jue filmed himself releasing needle-like streams of force underwater and considered the strain Hidden Strength put on his heart.
• Chen Jue sent the video to Master Li Xiangning, then posted it on Tieba to thank the forum experts for their guidance.
• Tieba users flooded Chen Jue's post and private messages, mostly accusing him of faking the video, while several genuine martial artists sought their masters' opinions.
• Chen Jue received a WeChat video call from Master Li Xiangning and began chatting with him.

Chen Jue told Li Xiangning how he developed hidden strength underwater, while a martial arts veteran and his grandson watched Chen's video and marveled at its power. The old man wondered who Chen was and learned the clip had come from Tieba.

• Chen Jue explained his underwater training to Li Xiangning, who praised him for developing hidden strength and offered to call on him if Boat Boxing faced a challenge.
• A sturdy young man named Xiao Jun visited his grandfather and showed him Chen Jue's video of needle-like jets of force underwater.
• Xiao Jun's grandfather watched the clip repeatedly and declared Chen Jue's skill extraordinary, far beyond the force he had managed in his own youth.
• Xiao Jun told his grandfather he had downloaded the video from Tieba, leaving the old man puzzled about what Tieba was.

The video of Chen Jue releasing Hidden Strength spread through martial arts circles, prompting an old martial artist to begin teaching his grandson. Chen Jue chose Wudang’s Supreme Ultimate Fist and Tai Chi Thirteen Stances as his next arts, and their practice began developing Hidden Strength throughout his body.

• An old martial artist recognized the Tieba video as genuine, downloaded it, and promised to teach his grandson the family’s martial arts.
• Xiao Jun sent Chen Jue a friend request, but Chen Jue’s account was already flooded with requests from other forum users.
• Martial artists across China and overseas reacted to Chen Jue’s video with envy, admiration, skepticism, and dismissal.
• Chen Jue searched for Taoist martial arts and chose the Wudang Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi and Tai Chi Thirteen Stances to learn.
• Chen Jue quickly raised both new skills to level 1, took a Shaolin Mighty Pill to offset their breakthrough effects, and felt warm currents spreading through his body as he practiced.