The Circle Wasn't Closed, but He Could Still Take the Field

The qualifying rounds continued. Before Dong Jian went on stage, Qin Ming only gave him one reminder.

Two wheels.

Dong Jian nodded.

"If it exceeds the limit, it will be cut off."

"Know."

The thing I trained yesterday doesn't have a name yet. There are only two words on the paper. "Circular Rotation." And the circle isn't closed yet. I don't plan to make it close today either.

The second Soul Master to enter the arena is Lin Yue. He is level 41 and his Martial Soul Heavy Iron Long Staff. He is not a pure strength-type Soul Master. The most troublesome aspect of the staff is its direction.

Point, sweep, chop, flick—with the same stick, just by shifting your wrist and foot by half a step, the direction of the force applied next time can be completely different. Yu Feng said this after reviewing the information.

"Perfect for you to get beaten up."

Dong Jian turned around.

"Do you want to go?"

"I'm in the back of the line today."

"Then shut up."

The referee signaled for both sides to prepare. Lin Yue gripped the staff with both hands, and four Soul Ring rose up. Dong Jian also released his Martial Soul; the Yin-Yang Iron-Eating Beast appeared behind him, radiating yellow, yellow, purple, and black.

The discussions in the stands weren't as exaggerated as they had been at the beginning. In the later stages of the qualifying rounds, what many people wanted to see was Dong Jian's recent routine of moves that didn't really showcase his Soul Ring.

The match began. Lin Yue didn't rush to close the distance. He used his long stick to strike first, aiming straight for Dong Jian's shoulder. Dong Jian dodged with his left shoulder, the stick tip grazing his clothes. The next instant, Lin Yue twisted it with his back hand.

The force of the stick, which had been thrust out, suddenly swept horizontally, changing direction from front to side. Dong Jian's waist and hips turned accordingly, and he shifted his foot half a step. The force of the stick pressing down was deflected by him along the side of his body.

He didn't retaliate with his power, nor did he touch the other's Soul Power. He simply turned his body to the side in the direction of the force, no longer standing in the position where the force was most concentrated.

In the first section, Lin Yue didn't stop. The end of the stick struck back from the other side. Dong Jian landed on his right foot, still retaining the Momentum Shift from the previous movement. He wasn't completely stationary.

Using that remaining momentum, he yielded half a step. The second section. The end of the staff missed. Dong Jian had already cut to Lin Yue's side and front. Short Tremor. He struck the staff near the middle with his palm.

Bang! Lin Yue's arms went numb. But he didn't retreat. Instead, he turned around in the direction the stick had been knocked away and immediately launched a third sweeping attack. Dong Jian was already preparing to catch it.

His right knee bent slightly, and his hips pulled back. Just as the movement was about to continue, he stopped. He didn't stand still; he simply stepped back, the long staff sweeping across his chest.

A gust of wind arose. Lin Yue's eyes flickered.

Why aren't you answering?

Dong Jian sank back down.

That's enough.

Lin Yue clearly didn't understand. Li Man, sitting on the sidelines, however, did. Two rounds later, Dong Jian's line for him today was right there. He'd rather start over than gamble on the landing error that had already occurred yesterday in the third round.

The second exchange began quickly. Lin Yue was clearly different this time. His first two attacks were still consecutive, but the third attack didn't come immediately. He deliberately delayed by half a beat.

Dong Jian finished his first round and completed his second. Just as he was about to return to his starting position, Lin Yue suddenly thrust the tip of his staff forward, perfectly timed to strike just as he turned around.

Dong Jian's pupils contracted slightly. Before he could fully turn around, his left forearm rose. Bang! The heavy iron rod slammed down on his arm guard. Dong Jian staggered back two steps, his left arm going numb.

Immediately, people in the stands began taking notes.

He'll reply after each session.

"That was slower back then."

"It's not that it's slow. It's that the positions need to be rearranged."

Lin Yue also noticed this. The video of yesterday's open training session was incomplete. But today's two matches were enough to illustrate one thing: after Dong Jian processed two segments in a row, he would return his shoulders, waist, and hips to a more suitable position for bearing weight.

This move made him more stable in the next round and gave him more time to gain an advantage. Lin Yue didn't waste it. In the next three rounds, he no longer focused on landing every blow perfectly.

The first strike forced Dong Jian to turn. The second strike allowed Dong Jian to continue moving. The third strike was the final blow, specifically aimed at that turning maneuver. The first time, Dong Jian was forced back. The second time...

He took another hit to the side. It wasn't serious, but it was enough to tell the story. The Divine Dragon Secret Realm didn't provide an answer; it only piled up the three previous exchanges.

"Returning and Receiving phase, they were actively attacked."

"The window exists."

Current sample: 3.

Dong Jian glanced at it and closed it. There's a window; there's no need to keep going back to the same place. In the fourth round, Lin Yue started with a similar move, first striking the left shoulder with the long staff.

Dong Jian let him sweep in. He turned again. Lin Yue's right hand, gripping the stick, had already begun to tighten in advance. Before the third strike even came out, his body was already waiting for Dong Jian to turn around.

Dong Jian did not reply. After the second segment ended, he directly sent the remaining physical momentum into the Mountain-Shifting Step. He no longer continued the circle, but cut outwards directly. His whole body left the original line in an instant.

Lin Yue's third strike landed, but missed.

"Um?"

He was just about to retract his staff when Dong Jian had already rearranged his stance from the side. This time, there was no continuous structure, only the sinking of the body that he had practiced countless times before, with the Black Stance landing on his legs and waist.

Lin Yue turned and held his staff horizontally. The two clashed for the first time. Dong Jian did not catch the tip of the staff, but placed his palm on the middle section, yielded with his shoulder, turned his waist, and pressed the staff to his side. Lin Yue's hands, which were holding the staff, were forced to deflect accordingly.

The center gate appeared for a fleeting moment. Dong Jian didn't try to overextend himself. He took a half-step closer, his elbow not striking, but his palm. The Short Tremor landed on Lin Yue's chest armor. Bang! Lin Yue retreated, his long staff rising horizontally again.

Dong Jian also withdrew. Neither of them intended to end the fight in one move. The subsequent exchanges were actually simpler. Dong Jian no longer mechanically repeated the same moves two rounds at a time. He would move in short bursts whenever possible.

Only when the position is good should you continue with the second section. If Lin Yue is clearly waiting to turn around, he will immediately break the sequence, Light-Body Bear Steps away to separate himself, and start again. It's the loop that originally seemed the most "new thing".

In actual combat, it appeared less and less. Lin Yue struck more than a dozen times and gradually found that his prepared "returning" technique was not as effective as before, because Dong Jian began to stop giving him fixed turning opportunities.

Sometimes he would pull his left foot back, sometimes his right foot would switch first, and sometimes he would simply step back completely from contact. On the last occasion, Lin Yue's long staff came crashing down from above, and Dong Jian dodged the blade to the side.

He pressed his palm down on the stick, without turning to the second phase, and directly stepped forward following the opponent's brief forward lean after the downward chop. Short Tremor followed, and Lin Yue felt a tightness in his chest, his feet retreating to the edge of the arena.

He tried to regain distance with his stick. Dong Jian didn't chase after him. Mountain-Shifting Step a footwork technique to block Lin Yue Yue's landing point. Lin Yue could only retreat to the outside, and one of his feet went out of bounds.

The referee raised his hand.

"Dong Jian!"

Dong Jian stood still and stretched his left arm. There was no obvious injury. His waist and hips also felt more relaxed than in previous matches because he didn't force a single third-round takedown today.

Back in the rest area, Yu Feng's first words were:

I thought you were going to finish drawing that circle today.

Dong Jian took the water.

"A competition isn't like drawing."

Li Man asked, "How about two wheels?"

"It works."

"The third round?"

"It's no use."

"Afraid?"

"Knowing it's unstable and still insisting on taking it, that's not called trying."

Qin Ming checked the records.

"This judgment is more important than winning today."

Three dragons remained in the Divine Dragon Secret Realm at the end.

"Repeat the exercise twice: it works."

"Third cycle: Unverified."

"The Returning and Receiving phase: There is a window that can be exploited."

Dong Jian read the third point twice. The new structure didn't make the old problems disappear; it just created a new problem alongside the old ones. That's normal.

After Lin Yue finished his match, he didn't leave immediately. He carried the Heavy Iron Long Staff on his shoulder and waited for Dong Jian at the entrance of the passage for a while.

"Someone was already studying your move after the second round yesterday."

Dong Jian nodded. "I know."

"So, are you still using it today?"

Why not use it if it can be used?

Lin Yue stared at him for a moment, then chuckled, "I thought that once you mastered something new, you'd want to keep practicing it." Dong Jian flexed his left wrist.

"I trained so I would have more options."

"It's not about cutting off other options."

Lin Yue didn't ask any more questions after hearing this, and simply switched the long stick to the other shoulder.

I'll try to grab it earlier next time.

"Then I'll cut it off even sooner."

Both of them spoke very calmly.

Having reached this point in the qualifying rounds, no one would think a certain method is useless just because of one loss. Today, Lin Yue did hit the Returning and Receiving window, and Dong Jian did avoid it by changing his rhythm. Let's leave this information and see who can adjust faster next time.

On the Shrek side, Tang San also recorded those few turns. Grandmaster didn't tell him to write them as "weaknesses."

"Only phenomena can be described."

Tang San asked, "Because he'll change?"

"Because the sample size is still small, directly labeling attackable locations as fixed weaknesses can easily lead to a fixed judgment."

Tang San added a small line of text after the "Returning and Receiving Window": Can be canceled manually. He also drew out the last few times Lin Yue missed with his staff.

What's even more memorable about this match is that Dong Jian was willing to cut out the structure he had just practiced during the game. Fixed movements are easy to counter, but on-the-spot judgment is much more difficult. On the other side of the court.

Several faculty members were gathered around the newly drawn motion diagram. Someone drew a circle around the position where Dong Jian finished his second round, and then drew an arrow from outside the circle.

"Next, hit here."

That small piece of paper was precisely the spot where Dong Jian had been caught off guard by Chen Tiegun earlier that day.