Recaps

Chen Jue reunited with Cheng Wei in Beidu, learned that his old roommate was struggling with heartbreak and business pressures, and used massage to ease Cheng Wei’s liver qi stagnation. The next morning, Chen Jue resumed Supreme Ultimate Fist practice in Taoting Park and met a local martial artist named Yao San.

• Wang Biao dropped Chen Jue at Baoshan's high-speed railway station and asked him to visit Cheng Wei in Beidu.
• Chen Jue traveled by train to Beidu, where Cheng Wei met him at his early childhood education center and marveled at his changed appearance.
• Chen Jue and Cheng Wei ate lamb hotpot, and Cheng Wei told him about his business pressures and breakup with his former girlfriend.
• At Cheng Wei's apartment, Chen Jue massaged his liver area and eased his discomfort from liver qi stagnation.
• Chen Jue practiced Supreme Ultimate Fist in Taoting Park the next morning, where Yao San introduced himself as a practitioner of Three Sovereigns Cannon Punch.

Chen Jue met Yao San in the park and critiqued his Three Sovereigns Cannon Punch after Yao San demonstrated it. Yao San’s master confronted Chen Jue over instructing his disciple, and Chen Jue challenged him to settle the dispute by crossing hands.

• Chen Jue recognized Yao San as a martial artist from his folk martial arts chat group but introduced himself as a practitioner of Boat Boxing.
• Chen Jue asked Yao San to demonstrate his Three Sovereigns Cannon Punch in exchange for watching Chen Jue practice.
• Yao San performed a powerful round, and Chen Jue pointed out that his businesslike manner weakened the punch’s intent.
• Yao San’s master emerged from behind the willows and accused Chen Jue of giving reckless instruction to a disciple of his school.
• Chen Jue defended his advice and challenged the old man to cross hands, offering him the first three moves.

Chen Jue sparred with Lin Yuanchao and defeated him after allowing him three moves, revealing his superior qinna and hidden-strength skills. Lin Yuanchao admitted his loss, apologized for doubting Chen, and urged Yao San to seek Chen’s instruction.

• Lin Yuanchao introduced himself and challenged Chen Jue, while Chen accepted and took the Eight Immortals Stance.
• Lin Yuanchao attacked with Three Sovereigns Cannon Punch techniques, and Chen blocked his first two moves while counting them aloud.
• Lin Yuanchao’s third strike missed, and Chen circled behind him, used qinna and a hip-check to send him toward the lake, then stopped before seriously injuring him.
• Lin Yuanchao noticed his shredded waist clothing and recognized that Chen had used hidden strength while holding back.
• Lin Yuanchao acknowledged Chen’s victory, apologized for his prejudice, and asked Yao San to pay his respects and learn from Chen.

Chen Jue questioned how he had learned Hidden Strength after Lin Yuanchao explained that it required a personal Mind-Intent Eruption forged through real combat. Lin Yuanchao recognized that Chen Jue’s techniques lacked intent of his own, leaving him to confront the possibility that his martial skill had no spirit behind it.

• Yao San greeted Chen Jue as Master Chen and admitted he still could not understand Lin Yuanchao’s Mind-Intent Eruption.
• Lin Yuanchao recalled learning Hidden Strength through deadly fights and urged Yao San to focus on supporting himself and helping others instead of pursuing martial arts.
• Chen Jue sensed that Lin Yuanchao’s martial intent came from his fervent life, while Yao San’s reflected his worldly caution, and realized his own intent came only from inherited techniques.
• Chen Jue told Lin Yuanchao that he had practiced Internal Alchemy and formed a Golden Elixir.
• Lin Yuanchao concluded that Chen Jue’s refined attacks carried his predecessors’ intent rather than his own, and pitied him for neglecting what truly moved him.

After questioning what moved him, Chen Jue set aside his search for his own fist intent and traveled to the Grand Martial Arts Competition. At the military base, Zhou Gang tested his punching power and urged Chen Jue to try the force-testing machine.

• Lin Yuanchao mistook Chen Jue's silence for Daoist enlightenment and left the park with Yao San, warning him to believe in science despite describing Golden Elixir Adepts.
• Chen Jue reflected on the unique spiritual imprints he sensed in Yun Xiaomei, Brother Biao, Cheng Wei, Yao San, and Lin Yuanchao, but could not identify what moved him.
• Chen Jue replied to messages, ate with Cheng Wei, and noticed that Cheng Wei remained attached to an unattainable love.
• Chen Jue traveled to the competition guesthouse, where Zhou Gang and Commissar Yao met him and Zhou Gang demonstrated his progress in controlling his pores.
• Chen Jue and Zhou Gang arrived at the military base and visited its training hall, where a Shaolin warrior monk named Yantong recorded a 321 kg punch and Zhou Gang recorded 250 kg.
• Zhou Gang invited Chen Jue to test his punching power on the machine.

Chen Jue set a new strength-machine record with a restrained palm strike, drawing the Shaolin monks’ attention before he left with Zhou Gang to inspect the medical room. There he found a costly Human Nutritional Supplement and prepaid for ten boxes, leaving his order to arrive in two days.

• Chen Jue struck the strength-testing machine with a fraction of his strength and recorded 322 kg, surpassing Monk Yantong’s mark by one kilogram.
• Monk Yantong raised the machine’s record to 325 kg, while his senior warned him to be careful of Chen Jue and not to compete over the score.
• Chen Jue took Zhou Gang to the medical room to avoid attracting further attention from the martial arts experts.
• Chen Jue found the Human Nutritional Supplement, learned that it was a high-calorie product supplied to select groups, and decided to buy it.
• Chen Jue prepaid 100,000 yuan for ten boxes after staff said the order would take two days to arrive.

Chen Jue used human nutritional supplements to cultivate Macrocosmic and Microcosmic Orbits Circulation, but his Attribute Panel still would not let the technique level up. At the tournament's opening ceremony, he sensed a powerful spirit in the crowd's singing.

• Chen Jue reviewed the tournament schedule and began practicing Macrocosmic and Microcosmic Orbits Circulation with human nutritional supplements.
• Chen Jue raised the technique's proficiency to 101/100, but the Attribute Panel reported that necessary prerequisites were missing.
• Chen Jue woke feeling mentally sharper and went to the indoor recreation hall for the tournament's opening ceremony.
• As the crowd sang during the flag-raising, Chen Jue sensed a vast spirit carried by the song.

Chen Jue was moved by the passion in a song from a turbulent era, then entered the martial arts tournament and defeated Liu Shiqing with a grappling move and a powerful vocal strike. His victory left the other competitors wary as he awaited the next elimination round.

• Chen Jue reflected that Heavenly Sensitivity let him sense the song's powerful spirit, but could not make him understand the era firsthand.
• Chen Jue was called to fight opponent 113 and introduced himself as a Boat Boxing practitioner from An County, Wenzhou.
• Liu Shiqing of the Wudang school attacked Chen Jue with Taiyi Swimming Dragon Fist, but Chen Jue used Laughing Eight Immortals and a thunderous laugh to throw him out of the ring.
• Chen Jue thanked Liu Shiqing and left after winning in one move, while Liu Shiqing's fellow Daoists checked on him and comforted him.
• Yantong and the Shaolin warrior monks recognized Chen Jue as a dangerous potential opponent and discussed guarding against his vocal strike and grappling technique.

Chen Jue calmed his obsession with the emotional impact of martial arts, tested his strength at the empty training ground, and met Wudang Taoists at lunch. He returned to the tournament and entered his next bout against the formidable Li Xiang, who introduced himself as a practitioner of Meng Village Eight Extremes Fist.

• Chen Jue meditated at the training ground and realized his fixation on martial intent had nearly disturbed his cultivation; he resolved to strengthen his mental cultivation after the tournament.
• Chen Jue struck a strength-testing machine with Tai Chi Single Whip, registering 3233KG, then reset and repaired the machine before leaving.
• Chen Jue met Liu Shiqing and other Wudang Taoist priests at lunch, exchanged contact details, and agreed to stay in touch.
• Chen Jue returned to the tournament venue and watched several bouts before being called into the ring for his next match.
• Li Xiang introduced himself as a practitioner of Meng Village Eight Extremes Fist, and Chen Jue sensed his formidable constitution and spirit.

Chen Jue fought former chief instructor Li Xiang, whose Baji and Bagua skills pushed him through a fierce exchange before he conceded. After the bout, Li Xiang revealed why he had returned to the tournament and suggested Chen Jue deserved first place.

• Chen Jue and Li Xiang exchanged powerful strikes, with Li Xiang using Eight Extremes Fist and Chen Jue defending with his Tiger Form and Supreme Ultimate Fist.
• Li Xiang feinted with a Heaven-Piercing Cannon, then drove an Overlord Elbow into Chen Jue, who endured it using his body-hardening arts.
• Li Xiang shifted to Bagua Linking Palms, but Chen Jue countered with rapid punches until Li Xiang withdrew from the ring and conceded.
• Chen Jue thanked Li Xiang, and the crowd erupted in applause after the referee ended the bout.
• Chen Jue accompanied Li Xiang to receive treatment and learned that he had once been the tournament's chief instructor and had returned hoping to find a promising disciple.
• Li Xiang told Chen Jue that his martial arts had reached their limit and said the remaining bouts could be skipped to award Chen Jue first place.

After sparring with Li Xiang, Chen Jue discussed martial arts with him and reconsidered the value of abstract intent compared with practical fighting ability. Li Xiang took an interest in Zhou Gang and invited him to become his disciple, while Chen Jue agreed to visit Li Xiang’s senior fellow disciple in Cangzhou to exchange knowledge of Supreme Ultimate Fist.

• Li Xiang praised Chen Jue’s skill and explained that he had switched tactics because Chen Jue’s Horizontal Training made direct attacks too dangerous.
• Li Xiang told Chen Jue that practical fighting ability mattered more than pursuing mind-intent, helping Chen Jue resolve his doubts.
• Zhou Gang arrived to praise the match, and Li Xiang asked him to perform his family’s Hung Fist routine.
• Impressed by Zhou Gang’s training, Li Xiang invited him to become his disciple after he left the service, and Chen Jue congratulated him.
• At dinner, Li Xiang invited Chen Jue to Cangzhou to meet his senior fellow disciple, and Chen Jue agreed to exchange knowledge of Supreme Ultimate Fist.

Chen Jue defeated Yantong in the final elimination match, using Supreme Ultimate Fist to redirect the Shaolin monk’s attacks and dislocate both his shoulders. Yantong was carried to the infirmary, regretting that he had become attached to appearances.

• Chen Jue advanced through the second day’s matches and reached the final elimination round without facing another hidden-strength expert.
• Yantong studied Chen Jue’s techniques and prepared to face him in the deciding match.
• Yantong opened with Shaolin’s Dragonfly Skimming the Water Leaping Skill and clashed with Chen Jue’s Golden Needle Finger Skill.
• Yantong hardened his body with Eagle Claw Iron Shirt and lunged again, but Chen Jue used Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail to divert his force.
• Chen Jue struck Yantong at close range and sent him flying, dislocating both his shoulders.
• Yantong’s fellow disciples took him to the infirmary, where he murmured that he had become attached to appearances.

After winning the martial arts competition, Chen Jue reunited with his old roommate Cheng Wei and watched him reconnect with his ex-girlfriend at the driving school where they once learned to drive. As Chen Jue left for the train station, a familiar song stirred memories and thoughts of his own life, and he walked away into the crowds.

• Chen Jue collected his competition prize, declined a head-instructor position, and returned to the Guesthouse by Beidu's Sixth Ring Road.
• Chen Jue accepted friend requests from Daoist Liu Shiqing and Li Xiang, then met Cheng Wei for dinner and reminisced about their early days in Beidu.
• The next morning, Cheng Wei drove Chen Jue to Yuanfang Driving School, where they ate jianbing and recalled their driving lessons and Cheng Wei's past romance.
• Cheng Wei's ex-girlfriend Qianqian arrived at the stall, recognized him, and embraced him after they shared memories of the place.
• As Chen Jue left, the driving school's familiar song stirred his memories, and he murmured that he had found the place before walking away into the crowds.

After a long walk from Beidu to Cangzhou, Chen Jue found traces of the feeling he had been seeking in ordinary people’s lives. He visited Li Xiang’s training courtyard, where the two began to reconnect after Chen Jue’s change in demeanor.

• Chen Jue walked south from Beidu for thirteen hours, observing the lives of people along the way until he realized he had reached Cangzhou after covering more than 200 kilometers.
• Chen Jue noticed Cheng Wei’s apology, teased him about reconciling with his ex-girlfriend, and spent the night at a hotel in Cangzhou.
• The next morning, Chen Jue ate breakfast in Cangzhou and booked a shared ride to Li Xiang’s villa courtyard.
• Li Xiang welcomed Chen Jue and noticed that he seemed more approachable and grounded than he had a few days earlier.
• Chen Jue admired Li Xiang’s training courtyard and inspected the family photographs and children’s award certificates in his living room.

Chen Jue visited Li Xiang and was taken to meet Li Xiang’s senior martial brother, Li Wei, at his mountain restaurant. After enjoying Li Wei’s cooking, Chen Jue discovered a Lead-Mercury Ball at Li Wei’s villa and found that training with it increased his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training proficiency.

• Li Yanhong returned home, recognized Chen Jue as the martial artist who had injured Li Xiang, and threw a knife into an apple before sending the two men away to eat elsewhere.
• Li Xiang drove Chen Jue to Green Bamboo Wine-Flavored Residence, where his senior martial brother Li Wei worked as both restaurant owner and head chef.
• Chen Jue and Li Xiang ate Li Wei’s specialties, and Chen Jue praised the food as the best he had ever tasted.
• After lunch, Li Wei led Chen Jue and Li Xiang to his villa beside a waterfall, where Chen Jue lifted and rolled a 108-jin Lead-Mercury Ball with one hand.
• Chen Jue realized that handling the Lead-Mercury Ball had increased his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training proficiency by more than ten points.

Chen Jue asked Li Wei and Li Xiang to teach him Supreme Ultimate Fist in exchange for guidance on their Elixir Way practice, and the two agreed. As Chen Jue began training with Li Wei, pushing hands rapidly increased his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training proficiency.

• Li Wei demonstrated how to bounce and catch the 108-jin Lead-Mercury Ball using Supreme Ultimate Fist, impressing Chen Jue with his mastery of hard and soft strength.
• Chen Jue asked Li Wei and Li Xiang to teach him Supreme Ultimate Fist, offering to guide their practice of Embracing the Elixir because he had formed a Golden Elixir.
• Li Wei agreed to the exchange and invited Chen Jue and Li Xiang to stay at the villa and train with him.
• Chen Jue demonstrated his Dragon-Tiger Union posture, while Li Wei assessed his skill and proposed practicing pushing hands to refine his Hidden Strength.
• Chen Jue joined palms with Li Wei and discovered that his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training proficiency was rising rapidly.

Chen Jue learned the hidden-softness variations of Tai Chi push hands from Li Wei, then demonstrated his Boat Boxing Eight Immortals Stance in a feat that stunned Li Wei and Li Xiang. The chapter left Chen Jue standing steadily atop the rim of the water vat as the two martial brothers watched in disbelief.

• Chen Jue practiced Tai Chi push hands with Li Wei and quickly comprehended the hidden-softness force, greatly increasing his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training proficiency.
• Li Wei ended the practice and praised Chen Jue’s stamina, while Li Xiang marveled at his lack of fatigue.
• Chen Jue offered to demonstrate the Boat Boxing Eight Immortals Stance and asked Li Wei for permission to use the courtyard’s water vat.
• Chen Jue lifted the water-filled vat above his head, astonishing Li Wei and Li Xiang with his strength.
• Chen Jue emptied the vat into the waterfall pool, set it down, and stood on its rim while practicing the Eight Immortals Stance without making it move.

Chen Jue demonstrated the Eight Immortals Stance for Li Xiang, who impressed him with Baji spear work before teaching him the Cloak Hammer Technique. Chen Jue learned the basic hammer movements and discovered that the technique had appeared on his Attribute Panel as a new skill.

• Chen Jue performed the Drunken Eight Immortals Stance on a water jar, earning Li Xiang's praise.
• Li Xiang demonstrated Baji Spear Technique and balanced a heavy water jar on his spear tip.
• Chen Jue chose to learn hammer technique, and Li Xiang demonstrated the eight-move Cloak Hammer Technique.
• Chen Jue practiced with the War-Drum Urn-Gold Hammers while Li Xiang corrected his movements.
• Chen Jue saw [Eight-Style Cloak Hammer Technique Level 0 (5/100)] on his Attribute Panel and wondered which activities could become skills.

Chen Jue spent three days exchanging martial arts with Li Wei and Li Xiang, advancing his hammer technique and Supreme Ultimate Fist until he reached Transforming Strength. The three grandmasters parted ways when family and work obligations called them back to their lives, and Chen Jue resumed his journey.

• Chen Jue learned the Eight-Style Cloak Hammer Technique from Li Xiang and advanced it to Level 1, then joked with Li Wei and Li Xiang about Li Wei’s skill with a chef’s cleaver.
• Chen Jue, Li Wei, and Li Xiang spent three days discussing and testing fist techniques, weapons, and Daoist Internal Alchemy, benefiting from one another’s experience.
• Chen Jue perfected the Eight-Style Cloak Hammer Technique to Level 3 and awakened the finishing move Cloak Chaos Hammers.
• Chen Jue advanced his Supreme Ultimate Fist Stake Training and Tai Chi Thirteen Stances to Level 5, mastered Hidden Strength Soft Attack, and reached the realm of a Transforming Strength grandmaster.
• Li Xiang refined his Bagua Stake Training through Chen Jue’s Eight Immortals Stance, while Li Wei deepened his understanding of Planting the Golden Lotus in Fire.
• Li Xiang and Li Wei returned home and to work after being called back by their obligations, while Chen Jue packed his belongings and continued his journey.

Chen Jue traveled from Cangzhou to Shaolin Temple, where he recognized monks practicing Heart-Mind Boxing’s wheat-cutting stance. He met Master Jiande, who identified Chen Jue as an accomplished cultivator, and Chen Jue suspected the monk possessed Buddhism’s heavenly eye power.

• Chen Jue walked southwest from Cangzhou, visiting cities and sampling their food and local customs along the way.
• After nearly a week, Chen Jue reached Shaolin Temple and toured its commercialized grounds and martial arts demonstrations.
• Chen Jue went behind the temple and saw young monks harvesting wheat with movements that revealed the wheat-cutting stance of Heart-Mind Boxing.
• Master Jiande introduced himself, confirmed the monks were practicing the stance, and recognized Chen Jue as a Daoist cultivator who had formed a golden elixir.
• Chen Jue introduced himself as a practitioner of the Boat Boxing lineage and concluded that Master Jiande might possess the Buddhist heavenly eye power.

Chen Jue visited Master Jiande’s mountaintop temple, where he saw the monks combine farming with Heart-Mind Boxing practice. After Jiande asked to experience Chen Jue’s Tathagata-like physical cultivation, the two prepared to exchange martial arts.

• Master Jiande recognized Chen Jue and invited him to watch the young monks work the fields.
• Chen Jue recognized the monks’ harvesting and hoeing as Heart-Mind Boxing stances practiced through farming.
• Master Jiande explained that the monks balanced strenuous labor with Buddhist study to temper Heart-Mind Boxing’s aggression.
• Master Jiande invited Chen Jue to exchange moves so he could address his doubts about Chen Jue’s physical realm.
• Master Jiande took up Heart-Mind Boxing’s opening stance, and Chen Jue answered with Supreme Ultimate Fist’s Lazy Tying the Coat stance.

Chen Jue sparred with Master Jiande on a cliff and pulled him back from the brink, prompting Jiande to attain sudden enlightenment and form a śarīra. After discussing Buddhist teachings and cultivation at the Stone Temple, Chen Jue left Shaolin at night with new insights.

• Master Jiande attacked Chen Jue with Heart-Mind Boxing, and Chen Jue countered with Supreme Ultimate Fist, breaking through Jiande’s stance and sending him toward the cliff’s edge.
• Chen Jue caught Master Jiande by the shoulder and pulled him back from falling, whereupon Jiande entered meditation and experienced sudden enlightenment.
• Master Jiande’s qi and blood gathered inward as he underwent a spiritual transformation and attained the Arhat Fruit Rank, forming a śarīra.
• Master Jiande thanked Chen Jue and offered to repay him by sharing Buddhist teachings and Zen principles at the Stone Temple.
• Chen Jue and Master Jiande discussed Buddhism and cultivation into the night, and Chen Jue then left the mountain behind Shaolin Temple.

Chen Jue reached Mount Wudang and met Daoist Liu Shiqing, who brought him to meet a martial uncle practicing the secretly transmitted Golden Toad Skill. The chapter left Chen Jue observing the Daoist’s extraordinary breathing and internal-organ training.

• Chen Jue walked southwest for two days and arrived at the foot of Mount Wudang.
• Chen Jue contacted Liu Shiqing, visited his Daoist temple, and waited while Liu Shiqing led morning observances.
• Chen Jue and Liu Shiqing spoke about martial arts, and Liu Shiqing invited Chen Jue to meet his interested martial uncle.
• Chen Jue followed Liu Shiqing to an orthopedic clinic and heard the martial uncle practicing Golden Toad Skill in its courtyard.
• Chen Jue watched the middle-aged Daoist perform the toad-like breathing exercise and recognized his advanced internal training.

Chen Jue met Huang Shizhen, a Wudang master who ran an orthopedic clinic, and revealed that he had formed a golden elixir. Huang asked to test hands with him, and their exchange ended with Chen Jue overpowering him and injuring his internal organs.

• Liu Shiqing introduced Chen Jue to Huang Shizhen, who recognized him as the man who had defeated Li Xiang and welcomed him to the clinic.
• Huang Shizhen sensed Chen Jue’s unusual fragrance and realized he had formed a golden elixir, a realm Huang had thought nearly impossible to attain.
• Huang Shizhen asked to test hands with Chen Jue, who agreed to exchange strength with him.
• Huang Shizhen used the Golden Toad Skill’s Swallowing the Sun and Moon technique to increase his force, but Chen Jue overwhelmed him and drove his boots into the earth, leaving him with an internal injury.

Chen Jue and Huang Shizhen exchanged techniques, but Huang Shizhen injured his heart and lungs while trying to draw in breath and stimulate his acupoints. Chen Jue treated him with Toad Jade Ointment and Hidden Strength Soft Attack, leaving Huang Shizhen mostly recovered and impressed by Chen Jue’s skill and stamina.

• Huang Shizhen coughed up blood and sank deep footprints into the courtyard earth after his exchange with Chen Jue.
• Liu Shiqing hurried to help, and Huang Shizhen asked him to fetch Toad Jade Ointment and medicinal liniment.
• Huang Shizhen explained that he had injured his heart and lungs but expected to recover with treatment and rest.
• Chen Jue offered to apply the medicine using Hidden Strength Soft Attack, and Huang Shizhen accepted.
• Chen Jue treated Huang Shizhen for more than ten minutes until he spat out bloody phlegm and felt much better.
• Huang Shizhen praised Chen Jue’s gentle, sustained Hidden Strength and marveled at his stamina.