Chapter Summaries

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 decided he wanted to practice martial arts, but Wu Dongrong refused and instead explained the world’s martial arts rankings and legendary fighters. Learning how powerful Grandmasters and famed generals could be made Wu Shuangren even more determined to become stronger.

• Wu Shuangren watched Wu Dongrong train with a saber and asked to practice martial arts, but Wu Dongrong refused because he feared his impulsive son would cause trouble.
• After breakfast, Wu Shuangren went with Wu Dongrong to the county yamen and asked about martial arts ranks and how strength was judged.
• Wu Dongrong explained that the court ranked martial artists by physical tests, while real strength was determined by fighting, and he described Grandmasters as standing above First Rank.
• Wu Dongrong told Wu Shuangren that a saying described the threshold for a Grandmaster as being able to kill a First Rank like slaughtering a dog.
• Wu Dongrong recounted how the Prince of the Western Capital routed ten thousand Jurchen cavalry with eighteen riders and how General Zhao charged through a Tubo army seven times.
• Wu Shuangren was astonished by the legendary fighters’ feats, and their power strengthened his resolve to practice martial arts.

Wu Shuangren sought a martial arts teacher at the county constables' office and persuaded veteran constable Hou Huai to train him. Hou Huai explained why adult learners could not master his Internal Skill and began teaching Wu Shuangren saber techniques.

• Wu Shuangren chatted with the constables and learned that Bai Jinhuan, Xu Jing, and Mo Zhengshang were among Bo County's strongest fighters.
• Wu Shuangren asked Hou Huai to teach him martial arts and offered him one string of cash per month; Hou Huai agreed.
• Hou Huai told Wu Shuangren that he had missed the best age to learn his Internal Skill, so he would teach him saber techniques instead.
• Hou Huai explained that Internal Skill combined bodily strength, Qi and blood, and Mental Power, while adult practice could damage the body and had limited potential.
• Wu Shuangren followed Hou Huai to the rear courtyard, where Hou Huai handed him a wooden saber and asked him to attack.
• Wu Shuangren chopped at Hou Huai, then quickly turned the strike into a horizontal sweep.

Wu Shuangren sparred with Hou Huai to build skill beyond the [Match for One Person] entry, while Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu tried to interrogate the captured bandit. The bandit broke down after learning that Wu Shuangren was only seventeen and had never trained in martial arts, and Wu Dongrong wondered why the bandit had been convinced his son was an expert.

• Wu Shuangren used the [Match for One Person] entry to defeat Hou Huai in a spar and resolved to practice with him every day.
• Wu Shuangren and Hou Huai discussed martial ranks, strength tests, and how age and internal martial arts affected a fighter.
• Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu discussed the Mo Family's pressure and questioned the captive bandit about his gang's plans.
• Wu Dongrong told the bandit that his seventeen-year-old son had cut off his hand despite never learning martial arts, prompting the captive to break down.
• Wu Dongrong wondered why the bandit was so certain Wu Shuangren was an expert.

Wu Shuangren asked to join the constabulary’s operation against the bandits, but Liao Yu refused until Wu Shuangren challenged him to a saber match and won. Liao Yu recognized Wu Shuangren’s skill 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 capture the bandits and offered ten guan for each bandit’s head, prompting many constables to volunteer.
• Wu Shuangren asked Liao Yu to let him join the operation, but Liao Yu refused because he had been injured the night before.
• Wu Shuangren challenged Liao Yu to a saber match, wagering that he could join if he won.
• Wu Shuangren disarmed and struck Liao Yu with a thrown wooden saber, winning the match.
• Liao Yu recognized that Wu Shuangren’s technique could have killed him and demanded to know who had taught him.

Wu Shuangren joined Liao Yu and Wu Dongrong on a nighttime operation with the constabulary and militia to hunt the bandits led by Peng Tianlang. The group left Bo County and reached the mountains, while Peng Tianlang’s gang debated whether to continue its failed job against the Mo Family.

• Wu Shuangren persuaded Liao Yu to let him join the operation, promising to stay by his side.
• Wu Dongrong questioned Wu Shuangren about his martial arts, warned him against learning an internal cultivation technique, and gave him his old armor.
• Liao Yu led thirty-six constabulary members, including Wu Shuangren and Wu Dongrong, out of the county yamen to meet Mo Zhengshang and the militia.
• Liao Yu and Mo Zhengshang led nearly a hundred people along the moonlit road toward the bandits’ hideout.
• Peng Tianlang’s remaining gang members discussed whether to continue their job after failing to kill their target and losing three men.

Liao Yu, Mo Zhengshang, and the others launched a nighttime assault on Peng Tianlang’s bandits, trapping Peng Tianlang in a fierce fight. When Peng Tianlang nearly killed Wu Dongrong, Wu Shuangren intervened and discovered that [Match for One Person] had awakened a powerful force within him.

• Peng Tianlang rallied his bandits to attack members of the Mo family and constables before heading to Mount Liang, but a lookout’s warning revealed that they were surrounded.
• Liao Yu and Mo Zhengshang led the attack on the mountain god’s temple as fires lit the battlefield, and Mo Zhengshang engaged Peng Tianlang with his iron spear.
• Wu Shuangren watched the bandits being overwhelmed by the militia and considered how speed and quickly defeating one opponent could overcome a group.
• Liao Yu, Wu Dongrong, and Mo Zhengshang joined forces against Peng Tianlang, who used his speed to evade them but gradually accumulated wounds.
• Peng Tianlang unleashed his hidden potential, wounded Wu Dongrong, and knocked his saber away with Gold-Inlaid Saber before preparing to kill him.
• Wu Shuangren blocked Peng Tianlang’s strike and felt a surge of power rise through his body as he counterattacked.

Wu Shuangren used [Match for One Person] to fight Peng Tianlang one-on-one and killed him after the bandit’s blood and Qi faltered. The entry’s characters turned pale green, and Wu Shuangren returned home with the others, unable to reproduce the internal power he had used.

• Liao Yu and Mo Zhengshang wounded Peng Tianlang while Wu Shuangren held him off, but Wu Shuangren withdrew when their attacks ended the one-on-one condition of [Match for One Person].
• Wu Shuangren intercepted Peng Tianlang as he tried to escape, exploited his faltering blood and Qi, and cut off his head.
• Wu Shuangren bandaged Wu Dongrong’s wounded thigh and told him he had controlled his blood and Qi only in the heat of the moment; Wu Dongrong chose to believe him.
• Wu Shuangren noticed that the characters of [Match for One Person] had turned pale green and suspected that killing Peng Tianlang had changed the entry.
• Mo Zhengshang and Liao Yu counted the dead and ordered the group to carry the bodies home; Wu Shuangren reflected that he could no longer use the internal power granted by [Match for One Person].

After Wu Shuangren killed Peng Tianlang, he returned home with his wounded father and learned that his internal cultivation had left no hidden injuries. His parents accepted that he would pursue martial arts, and Xu Nanzhi offered to teach him an internal cultivation method to help him understand the one he had somehow used.

• Mo Zhengshang praised Wu Shuangren for killing Peng Tianlang, and Liao Yu told him that the bounty would likely earn him about thirty taels of silver.
• Wu Shuangren and Wu Dongrong returned home at dawn, where Xu Nanzhi treated Wu Dongrong and examined Wu Shuangren for injuries from using internal cultivation.
• Wu Shuangren told Xu Nanzhi that a master had taught him martial arts, and Xu Nanzhi found no hidden problems in his body.
• Wu Shuangren insisted he would keep training and would not remain in Bo County all his life, so Wu Dongrong and Xu Nanzhi decided to support him.
• Xu Nanzhi offered to teach Wu Shuangren an internal cultivation method so he could draw connections and understand the method he had used, and he asked whether she knew internal cultivation.

Xu Nanzhi taught Wu Shuangren the Mountain-Moving Method, while he continued training with Hou Huai and confirmed that defeating a new expert could improve his [Match for One Person] entry. His long practice left him ravenous, and he ended the chapter eating an enormous meal at home.

• Xu Nanzhi explained how internal arts worked and began teaching Wu Shuangren the Mountain-Moving Method.
• Wu Shuangren studied the breathing method through the morning, then went to the constables' office, where his colleagues praised him for killing Peng Tianlang.
• Wu Shuangren paid Hou Huai to spar with him using an internal art, and defeating Hou Huai made the edges of his [Match for One Person] entry greener.
• Wu Shuangren defeated Hou Huai a second time but saw no further change, then practiced the internal art until his energy was spent.
• Wu Shuangren returned home extremely hungry and ate two jin of rice, more than thirty steamed buns, and over a jin of pork.

Wu Shuangren developed a sense of Qi through Xu Nanzhi’s Mountain-Moving Method and realized Match for One Person might enhance martial arts he had learned. He began studying Hou Huai’s saber art, and five days later he was sparring with him using iron rods.

• Xu Nanzhi explained that martial artists needed medicinal foods or pills to replenish the energy spent using internal power, and Wu Dongrong said only the Mo Family in Bo County could provide them.
• Xu Nanzhi taught Wu Shuangren to meditate on the roof at sunrise, and he developed a sense of Qi on his first attempt.
• Wu Shuangren grasped the basics of the Mountain-Moving Method and noticed that Match for One Person’s internal power had begun to resemble it.
• Wu Shuangren reasoned that Match for One Person could enhance martial arts he already knew, so he asked Hou Huai to teach him the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber.
• Wu Shuangren practiced meditation and learned Hou Huai’s saber art over the next five days, then sparred with him using iron rods.

Wu Shuangren used his newly learned saber technique to defeat Hou Huai and deduced new rules about how Match for One Person enhanced his abilities. After killing Peng Tianlang earned him a promotion, Wu Shuangren became a head constable of Bo County and celebrated with a feast at Moxian Tower, where some constables resented his rise.

• Wu Shuangren adapted the Three Ultimates Tiger Baleful Intent Saber and defeated Hou Huai in their sparring exchange, impressing him with his skill.
• Wu Shuangren concluded that Match for One Person enhanced skill before stats and that becoming stronger made it easier to defeat the same opponent.
• An auxiliary runner summoned Wu Shuangren to Liao Yu, who told him that his credit for killing Peng Tianlang had earned him a promotion to head constable.
• Liao Yu announced Wu Shuangren's promotion to the constabulary, and Wu Shuangren promised to treat everyone to dinner at Moxian Tower.
• Wu Shuangren hosted a feast at Moxian Tower with his father and constabulary colleagues, while two official constables grumbled about his promotion.

After Wu Shuangren became a constable, he learned about Bo County’s illicit salt trade and accepted Liao Yu’s share of its profits. Three days later, Xu Nanzhi gave him medicine to cultivate Mental Power, and he successfully used the Mountain-Moving Method while under its effects.

• The Mo Family sent wine to congratulate Wu Shuangren, and Wu Dongrong explained that Mo Zhengshang had helped secure his promotion and was seeking an alliance.
• Wu Shuangren met four village salt bosses, and Liao Yu explained that the Mo Family controlled illicit salt in Bo County while officials took shares of the trade.
• Liao Yu offered Wu Shuangren his portion of the illicit salt business, and Wu Dongrong urged him to accept it.
• On his third day as a constable, Wu Shuangren took Xu Nanzhi’s medicine and struggled to control the excitement it caused.
• Xu Nanzhi guided Wu Shuangren through the Mountain-Moving Method, and he successfully 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.