Recaps

After winning the UFC featherweight championship, Wu Shuangren died or lost consciousness during a celebration and awoke in the body of a seventeen-year-old constable in a war-torn parallel world. He learned that his predecessor had been killed by bandits and faced the danger of a world where fighters seemed far stronger than those in his old life.

• Wu Shuangren knocked out the Brazilian champion and became Hua Country's first UFC men's featherweight champion.
• Wu Shuangren ignored calls from his estranged parents and messaged his deceased grandfather about his victory.
• After celebrating with his team, Wu Shuangren lost consciousness and awoke in a dark alley beneath unfamiliar stars.
• Wu Shuangren recovered the memories of his seventeen-year-old namesake, a Bo County constable killed by bandits during a raid.
• Wu Shuangren saw a palm print on his chest and realized that the bandits' fighting strength was far beyond what he had expected.

Wu Shuangren discovered that his Trait, [Match for One Person], let him read and counter an opponent’s moves, allowing him to defeat a bandit in a one-on-one fight. After reuniting with Liao Yu and his father, Wu Dongrong, he faced his father’s anger, while Liao Yu defended him for rendering a service.

• Wu Shuangren instinctively parried a bandit’s saber strikes and severed the man’s saber hand when he saw through the bandit’s feint.
• Constables captured the wounded bandit, and Wu Shuangren discovered the Trait [Match for One Person], which he understood meant he would always win a one-on-one fight.
• Liao Yu found Wu Shuangren, scolded him for disobeying orders, and led him and the prisoner back toward the county yamen.
• Wu Dongrong rushed to his son, tried to slap him, and grew angrier when Wu Shuangren dodged.
• Liao Yu stepped between Wu Dongrong and Wu Shuangren, arguing that Wu Shuangren had rendered a service that night.

After Wu Shuangren survived a powerful palm strike while capturing a bandit, his parents worried over him and Xu Nanzhi treated him with acupuncture. He reflected on the chaos threatening the Wu Dynasty and began testing his Trait, then woke the next morning determined to train.

• Liao Yu told Wu Dongrong that Wu Shuangren had captured a bandit after cutting off his hand, and Wu Dongrong rushed him home to check for injuries.
• Xu Nanzhi examined Wu Shuangren and found his pulse normal despite the expert's palm print on his chest; Wu Dongrong identified the bandits as men from the Mo Family.
• Xu Nanzhi treated Wu Shuangren with acupuncture and warned him to consider his parents before acting recklessly.
• Wu Shuangren reviewed the wars and rebellions destabilizing the Wu Dynasty and resolved to use his [Match for One Person] Trait to rise in the coming chaos.
• Wu Shuangren discovered that equipping his Trait drained his mental stamina, planned to train his mind and body, and fell asleep.
• The next morning, Wu Shuangren woke ready to exercise and found Wu Dongrong practicing with a saber in the courtyard.

Wu Shuangren asked Wu Dongrong to teach him martial arts, but his father refused and instead explained the martial ranks and Grandmasters. Stories of extraordinary warriors convinced Wu Shuangren that this world held formidable fighters and strengthened his resolve to learn.

• Wu Shuangren decided he needed martial arts after considering the dangers of facing multiple opponents, then asked Wu Dongrong to teach him.
• Wu Dongrong refused because he feared martial arts would make Wu Shuangren more reckless, but later offered to answer his questions about it.
• Wu Dongrong explained that the imperial court ranked martial artists by physical tests, while real strength was judged in a fight, and said Grandmasters stood above First Rank.
• Wu Dongrong described the saying that a Grandmaster could slay a First Rank like butchering a dog, then told Wu Shuangren about the Prince of the Western Capital’s legendary strength and victories.
• Wu Dongrong recounted how General Zhao fought through a ten-thousand-man army seven times, earning the name Dragon General, leaving Wu Shuangren stunned and more determined to learn martial arts.

Wu Shuangren found Hou Huai willing to teach him martial arts and learned that, as an adult, he could not safely master most Internal Skill. Hou Huai began teaching him saber techniques through sparring, leaving Wu Shuangren to test his skills with a wooden saber.

• Wu Shuangren asked Hou Huai to teach him martial arts and insisted on paying him a string of coins each month.
• Hou Huai explained that Wu Shuangren was too old to learn his Internal Skill and offered to teach him saber techniques instead.
• Hou Huai described Internal Skill as combining bodily strength, the Power of Qi and Blood, and Mental Power, while warning that adult practice could damage the body.
• Wu Shuangren followed Hou Huai to the back courtyard, where they cleared a space and took up wooden sabers.
• Wu Shuangren attacked Hou Huai with a downward chop and quickly turned it into a horizontal sweep.

Wu Shuangren sparred with Hou Huai to improve his saber skills and learned how martial ranks were assessed. Meanwhile, Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu questioned the captured bandit, whose confidence collapsed when he learned that Wu Shuangren had defeated him.

• Wu Shuangren used [Match for One Person] to outmaneuver Hou Huai in a sparring match, then asked to practice with him regularly so he could build lasting skill.
• Wu Shuangren and Hou Huai sparred for nearly an hour, and Hou Huai explained how age and Internal Skill affected a martial artist’s strength and how stone-lock lifts determined rank.
• Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu discussed the pressure from the Mo Family and Lord He to solve the bandit attack while the captured bandit endured questioning and torture.
• The bandit threatened that his big brother would take revenge, but Wu Dongrong revealed that his seventeen-year-old son had defeated him without martial training.
• The bandit broke down at the thought that his defeat would disgrace him among the greenwood, while Wu Dongrong wondered why he believed Wu Shuangren was an expert.

Wu Shuangren persuaded Liao Yu to let him join the operation against the bandits by defeating him in a saber match. Liao Yu realized Wu Shuangren’s technique was extraordinary and demanded to know who had taught him.

• Wu Dongrong interrogated the captured bandit while Wu Shuangren continued practicing saber techniques with Hou Huai.
• Liao Yu announced a nighttime operation to arrest the bandits outside the city, and Wu Shuangren volunteered despite Hou Huai declining to participate.
• Liao Yu refused Wu Shuangren’s request to join, but Wu Shuangren insisted he could fight and agreed to prove it in a match.
• Wu Shuangren defeated Liao Yu by using a feint and throwing his wooden saber at him, earning permission to join the operation.
• Liao Yu recognized that Wu Shuangren’s saber skills were exceptional and pressed him to reveal who had taught him.

Wu Shuangren joined Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong on an armed operation to capture Peng Tianlang’s bandits, while learning that his father had secretly prepared armor for him. The group traveled by night to the Mountain God Temple, where Peng Tianlang weighed whether to continue the failed job against the Mo Family.

• Wu Shuangren chose martial arts over studying, and Liao Yu agreed to bring him along that night on the condition that he stay by his side.
• Wu Dongrong questioned Wu Shuangren about his martial arts, warned him against learning Internal Skills, and gave him the armor he had worn in the border army.
• Liao Yu, Wu Dongrong, Wu Shuangren, and their constables joined militia commander Mo Zhengshang and his men to leave Bo County and hunt the bandits.
• Liao Yu explained that the group planned to surprise the fifteen surviving bandits, who did not know one of them had been captured alive.
• At the Mountain God Temple, Peng Tianlang’s gang discussed their failed attempt against the Mo Family, and Peng Tianlang doubted they could complete the job or collect the remaining silver.

Peng Tianlang’s bandits were ambushed at the Mountain God Temple, where he fought Mo Zhengshang, Liao Yu, and Wu Dongrong while Wu Shuangren watched for an opening. When Peng Tianlang nearly killed Wu Dongrong, Wu Shuangren intervened and felt a surge of power flow into his saber.

• Peng Tianlang rallied his bandits by proposing they go to Mount Liang after killing more members of the Mo Family and city constables to preserve their reputation.
• After a sentry’s warning whistle sounded, Peng Tianlang led the bandits out of the temple and met the encircling forces led by Mo Zhengshang and Liao Yu.
• Mo Zhengshang, Liao Yu, and Wu Dongrong fought Peng Tianlang while the bandits were overwhelmed by the militia and archers.
• Peng Tianlang’s desperate attack wounded Wu Dongrong and knocked his saber away, leaving him exposed to a fatal blow.
• Wu Shuangren used [Match for One Person] to block Peng Tianlang’s strike, then felt his Qi and blood surge into his arm and saber as he counterattacked.

Wu Shuangren fought Peng Tianlang and killed the notorious bandit after discovering that [Match for One Person] granted him Internal Skill during a one-on-one clash. After the battle, he noticed his Trait’s characters had turned pale green and returned home with the survivors, wondering how the Trait changed.

• Peng Tianlang attacked Wu Shuangren, but [Match for One Person] strengthened Wu Shuangren during their brief one-on-one fight.
• Liao Yu and Mo Zhengshang wounded Peng Tianlang, and Wu Shuangren stayed outside their fight until Peng Tianlang leaped away and faced him alone.
• Peng Tianlang’s blood and Qi faltered, allowing Wu Shuangren to disarm him and slash off his head.
• Wu Shuangren bandaged Wu Dongrong’s thigh, and Wu Dongrong questioned him about using Internal Skill; Wu Shuangren insisted he had never learned it.
• Wu Shuangren noticed the characters of [Match for One Person] had turned pale green as Mo Zhengshang and Liao Yu counted the dead and ordered everyone back.
• On the journey home, Wu Shuangren found he could no longer control his blood and Qi or reproduce the Internal Skill state.

After killing Peng Tianlang, Wu Shuangren returned home with his injured father and learned that his Internal Skill had left no hidden problems. His parents accepted that he intended to pursue martial arts, and the chapter ended with Xu Nanzhi offering to teach him an Internal Skill for comparison.

• Mo Zhengshang praised Wu Shuangren for killing Peng Tianlang, and Liao Yu told him he would likely receive about thirty taels from the bounty.
• Wu Shuangren and Wu Dongrong returned home, where Xu Nanzhi treated Wu Dongrong's injuries and examined Wu Shuangren for damage from using an Internal Skill.
• Xu Nanzhi found no hidden problems in Wu Shuangren, who explained that an expert had taught him martial arts but insisted he could not reveal the person's identity.
• Wu Dongrong told Xu Nanzhi about Wu Shuangren's recent actions, and they wondered whether the expert had sought him out because of a special physique.
• Wu Shuangren told Xu Nanzhi he wanted to master martial arts and leave Bo County; she agreed not to stand in his way.
• Xu Nanzhi offered to teach Wu Shuangren an Internal Skill so he could better understand the one he had used, and he asked whether she knew one.

Wu Shuangren learned the basics of the Mountain-Moving Method from Xu Nanzhi and used sparring with Hou Huai to test how his Trait developed. He returned home exhausted and ravenous after training, and his parents realized he had been using an Internal Skill.

• Xu Nanzhi explained how Internal Skills worked and began teaching Wu Shuangren the Mountain-Moving Method.
• Wu Shuangren practiced the breathing method at home, then went to the constables' office, where the constables treated him with awe after his victory over Peng Tianlang.
• Wu Shuangren paid Hou Huai to spar with him, and defeating Hou Huai with [Match for One Person] increased the green color around his Trait once.
• Wu Shuangren found that defeating Hou Huai again did not change his Trait, then trained with him until the hour of the rooster and became extremely hungry.
• Wu Shuangren ate a huge meal at home, and Xu Nanzhi prepared more food after learning he had used an Internal Skill.

Wu Shuangren developed a sense of Qi through Xu Nanzhi’s meditation instruction and began learning the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber from Hou Huai. He realized [Match for One Person] could adapt its enhancements to abilities he already knew, and five days later he was sparring with Hou Huai using iron rods.

• Wu Shuangren told Xu Nanzhi and Wu Dongrong that using Internal Skill against Hou Huai had caused no problems, and Xu Nanzhi explained that martial artists replenished their strength with nourishing supplements or pills.
• Xu Nanzhi taught Wu Shuangren to meditate at sunrise using the Mountain-Moving Method, and he developed a sense of Qi during his first session.
• Wu Shuangren grasped the basics of the Mountain-Moving Method, then noticed that [Match for One Person] had altered his Internal Skill to resemble it while sparring with Hou Huai.
• Wu Shuangren reasoned that [Match for One Person] efficiently used his existing abilities and enhanced them when needed, then asked Hou Huai to teach him the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber.
• Wu Shuangren practiced sunrise meditation and learned the saber art from Hou Huai over the next five days, and they eventually sparred with iron rods because wooden sabers could not withstand their Internal Skill.

Wu Shuangren demonstrated how quickly he had surpassed Hou Huai in the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber and refined his understanding of [Match for One Person]. After receiving a promotion to constable captain, he celebrated at Moxian Tower, where two constables privately resented his rise.

• Wu Shuangren defeated Hou Huai in a short exchange, revealing that he had improved the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber beyond Hou Huai's version.
• Wu Shuangren concluded that [Match for One Person] prioritized technique over stats and that becoming stronger made it easier to defeat the same opponent.
• Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that credit for killing Peng Tianlang had secured him a promotion to constable captain, and Wu Shuangren changed into his new uniform.
• Liao Yu announced Wu Shuangren's promotion to the constables and assistants, and Wu Shuangren invited everyone to a feast at Moxian Tower.
• Wu Shuangren hosted the feast with his father and the constables' office, while two official constables grumbled that his connections had helped him rise.

Wu Shuangren learned how the Mo Family and local officials shared profits from Bo County’s smuggled salt, and Liao Yu gave him his share of the business. A few days later, Xu Nanzhi gave Wu Shuangren medicine to cultivate Mental Power, and he successfully used the Mountain-Moving Method.

• Commander Mo sent wine to congratulate Wu Shuangren on becoming head constable, and Wu Dongrong explained that Mo Zhengshang had supported his promotion.
• Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu introduced Wu Shuangren to four village salt bosses and explained how officials and the Mo Family profited from smuggled salt.
• Liao Yu offered Wu Shuangren his share of the salt money, and Wu Dongrong told him to accept it; Wu Shuangren drank until he got drunk.
• Xu Nanzhi gave Wu Shuangren medicine to cultivate Mental Power and guided him through the agitation it caused.
• Wu Shuangren followed Xu Nanzhi’s guidance, used the Mountain-Moving Method, and entered the state called Qi and Spirit Unite.

Wu Shuangren went to collect the salt bosses’ regular payments, but Li Youcai failed to appear, so he brought the other three bosses and constables to Great Stone Village to find him. They discovered Li Youcai dead in his courtyard, leaving Wu Shuangren facing a murder case.

• Wu Shuangren collected the regular payments from Zhang Da, Qi Sangou, and Wang Dashi, then insisted they accompany him to Great Stone Village because Li Youcai was late.
• Wu Shuangren summoned Zhang Li and Dong Yan, and the group traveled to Great Stone Village to investigate Li Youcai’s absence.
• Zhang Li led Wu Shuangren and the others to Li Youcai’s home, but no one answered the gate and villagers said they had seen none of the household that day.
• Zhang Li climbed over the courtyard wall, discovered someone had died, and opened the gate for Wu Shuangren.
• Wu Shuangren entered and found Li Youcai lying dead in a pool of dried blood.

Wu Shuangren investigated the massacre of Li Youcai’s household and learned it might be connected to the Mo Family’s conflict with the Mist Hidden Temple. The constabulary withdrew from the case while the Mo brothers prepared to defend their family, and the next morning militiamen drilled in the village.

• Wu Shuangren found Li Youcai, his wife, and a servant dead, then sent Zhang Li and Dong Yan to report the murder and question villagers.
• Dong Yan reported that two armed outsiders had entered the village that morning, and Hou Huai determined that the victims had been killed within six hours by attackers with different fighting styles.
• Liao Yu warned the salt bosses to seek the Mo Family’s protection and told Wu Shuangren that a prisoner had linked the attacks to a plot against Mo Zhengxing; he then ordered the constables to leave the case alone.
• Hou Huai wanted to investigate the massacre, but Liao Yu refused and urged him not to invite trouble.
• At the Mo residence, Mo Zhenglin, Mo Zhengshang, and Mo Zhengxing suspected the Mist Hidden Temple and agreed to strengthen security, gather intelligence, and meet Lord He.
• At dawn, militiamen practiced spear thrusts in unison.

Wu Shuangren advanced his Mental Power training and began learning the Spirit Peak Stance, but urgent news that Mo Family Village was surrounded by hundreds of cavalrymen drew him to the county office. With Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong debating whether to send help, Wu Shuangren proposed fighting the mounted bandits if their numbers were only a little over a hundred.

• Mo Zhengshang saw several hundred armed cavalrymen surround Mo Family Village and ordered his militia to prepare for an attack.
• Xu Nanzhi helped Wu Shuangren enter the Mental Power state with three needles, then taught him the Spirit Peak Stance.
• Zhang Li summoned Wu Shuangren to the constables' office after someone escaped Mo Family Village and reported the cavalry attack.
• Liao Yu doubted the county forces could rescue the village, while Wu Dongrong warned that the Mo Family's defeat could invite outside forces into Bo County.
• Wu Shuangren asked whether they could gather their men and fight if the attackers were just over a hundred mounted bandits.

Horse bandits stormed Mo Family Village, where Mo Zhengshang was overwhelmed by a mounted attacker, while Liao Yu explained cavalry’s power to Wu Shuangren. In Bo County, Xu Jing persuaded the officials to send relief, and Wu Shuangren was ordered to requisition bows and leather armor.

• Horsemen breached Mo Family Village’s gates and charged through the village, scattering its militia.
• Mo Zhengshang met a burly rider’s charge with his spear, but the rider’s blows sent him flying.
• Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that skilled riders could use a horse’s strength to rival powerful martial artists.
• At the county government, Mo Zhenglin and Mo Zhengxing urged the officials to rescue the village, and Xu Jing proposed taking a mountain route to avoid a cavalry charge.
• He Zhixu allowed Xu Jing to lead the relief effort, and Wu Dongrong, Liao Yu, and Wu Shuangren followed him from the hall.
• Wu Dongrong told Wu Shuangren to requisition all the bows and leather armor from the storeroom.

Wu Shuangren joined Xu Jing’s force as it marched to reinforce Mo Family Village, only to find the village destroyed and its militia slaughtered. Evidence pointed to the Mist Hidden Temple, whose reach into Bo County threatened to reshape the local illicit salt trade, while Wu Shuangren’s family urged him to avoid provoking it.

• Xu Jing led more than three hundred constables, archers, and Mo Family men toward Mo Family Village, and Liao Yu warned Wu Shuangren that law offered little protection outside county towns.
• Mo Family scouts reported that the village had fallen, and the reinforcements arrived to find bodies scattered outside and Mo Zhengshang’s severed head hanging above the gate.
• Mo Zhenglin mourned his dead relatives as Wu Shuangren confronted the destruction and grew more urgently aware of his own vulnerability.
• Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong estimated that about two hundred cavalrymen had attacked and learned from Mo Zhengxing that the Mist Hidden Temple was the likely culprit.
• Wu Dongrong explained that the temple sought control of Bo County’s illicit salt trade, and he warned that the county’s balance of power would change.
• Wu Dongrong and Xu Nanzhi urged Wu Shuangren to yield in the salt business, and he lay awake after training, unable to sleep.

After the Mo Family patriarch died and a cavalry force confronted Bo County, the Mo Family yielded to Mist Hidden Temple. Wu Shuangren completed his new Internal Skill, named it Method of One Person, and asked Xu Nanzhi to teach him another martial art; she began demonstrating a set of footwork.

• The Mo Family patriarch died after the massacre, while grieving families demanded answers and county magistrate He Zhixu shut the yamen gates.
• Nearly two hundred armored riders arrived outside Bo County, and their dark-faced leader challenged the officials before Xu Jing shot at him and caught the arrow.
• The rider threw Xu Jing a bag containing a letter for the Mo Family, then withdrew with his cavalry; the city guards later received orders to return to their posts.
• Monks from Mist Hidden Temple came to perform funeral rites for the Mo Family, and Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that the family had submitted and warned him not to oppose the temple over illicit salt.
• Wu Shuangren achieved initial mastery of his perfected Internal Skill, named it Method of One Person, and performed it without the Match for One Person Trait for the first time.
• Wu Shuangren asked Xu Nanzhi to teach him another martial art, and she chose to demonstrate footwork called Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps.

Xu Nanzhi taught Wu Shuangren the Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps before he attended a banquet with Bo County’s officials and representatives of the Mist Hidden Temple. Hong Fan singled Wu out and presented him with Peng Tianlang’s one-hundred-tael reward, though the authorities had already claimed it.

• Xu Nanzhi demonstrated the Cloud Tide Returning Wave Steps and taught Wu Shuangren its turns, reversals, and wall-assisted changes of direction.
• Liao Yu told Wu Shuangren that the Mist Hidden Temple had specifically invited him to a banquet at Moxian Tower, and Xu Jing escorted him there.
• Wu Shuangren recognized the dark-faced man and long-haired man downstairs as possible suspects in the Li Youcai family massacre.
• Hong Fan arrived, greeted Wu Shuangren before the four officials, and introduced himself as Hong Zhanming’s nephew and the Mist Hidden Temple’s representative.
• Hong Fan toasted Wu Shuangren for killing Peng Tianlang, then presented him with a hundred taels of silver as the bandit’s reward, which the Bo County authorities had already claimed.

Hong Fan secured local officials’ approval to rebuild Bo County’s militia and recommended Wu Shuangren as its commander, drawing Wu into a political contest over the county’s future. After the banquet, Hong Fan and Si Congjian discussed their plan to control the militia and expand their illicit salt business.

• Hong Fan gave Wu Shuangren the reward silver for killing Peng Tianlang, then offered to fund the rebuilding of Bo County’s militia.
• Hong Fan recommended Wu Shuangren as militia commander, and He Zhixu, Tan Zheng, and Tang Jiusi approved the appointment.
• Xu Jing warned Wu Shuangren to conduct himself carefully before leaving the banquet.
• Wu Shuangren told Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong about the offer, and Wu Dongrong explained that Hong Fan wanted to win local support through Wu’s appointment.
• Hong Fan met with Si Congjian, credited him with devising the plan to secure Wu’s appointment, and promised him control of the local illicit salt business once the militia was established.
• Hong Fan asked about news from West River Market and discussed his next plans with Si Congjian.

Wu Shuangren accepted the path toward becoming Bo County militia commander, gained his parents’ and Liao Yu’s support, and recruited Hou Huai, who declined to join him. The chapter ended with Hou Huai finding a burly man assaulting Butcher Zhang’s household and drawing his saber to intervene.

• Xu Nanzhi reassured Wu Shuangren that she and Wu Dongrong would support his choices, calming him as he trained.
• Wu Shuangren gave Liao Yu seventy taels to distribute among the constables and the Mo Family, then decided to accept the militia command.
• Bo County began recruiting militia members with improved wages, and He Zhixu and the other officials agreed to recommend Wu Shuangren as commander.
• Wu Shuangren invited Hou Huai to take a position in the militia, but Hou Huai declined, saying he wanted no more upheaval.
• Hou Huai heard a woman screaming, entered Butcher Zhang’s home, and found a burly man pinning the bloody Butcher Zhang down as a woman cried inside.

Hou Huai turned back and charged into Butcher Zhang’s courtyard after initially retreating from Hong Fan’s men, but he was later found gravely injured alongside Butcher Zhang and his wife. Xu Nanzhi treated the three, while Wu Shuangren learned from Zhang’s wife that two men had attacked them; Hou Huai’s survival remained uncertain.

• Hou Huai recognized Hong Fan’s powerful men and tried to buy them off, but left the courtyard when they threatened him.
• After walking away, Hou Huai turned back, drew his saber, and charged into Butcher Zhang’s courtyard.
• The next morning, a woman told Xu Nanzhi that her husband Hou Huai had been beaten and begged her to save him.
• Xu Nanzhi and Wu Shuangren found Hou Huai and two others badly injured outside the clinic and carried them inside for treatment.
• Xu Nanzhi said Butcher Zhang’s wife would recover and Zhang would need a month of bed rest, but she could not say whether Hou Huai would wake.
• After waking, Butcher Zhang’s wife told Wu Shuangren that a long-haired man and a larger man with a saber had followed her and Zhang home and attacked them.