They Had Not Lost Their Own Path

After the final match in Spirit City, Shrek did not leave immediately.

Dai Mubai was still adjusting his old right shoulder injury, Zhu Zhuqing put away his competition protective gear for him. Oscar redistributed the remaining supplies, and Xiao Wu sat beside him, occasionally asking Tang San when they would set off.

Tang San didn't rush to pack up. He turned to the page of the Imperial Fighting Team schedule, circled a few of the originally planned attack positions, and then lightly crossed out two with his pen.

"Are you still thinking about them?" Ning Rongrong asked.

"Think about why they didn't follow the original path in the end," Tang San said. "We had studied many fixed techniques before, but when it came to the real decisive moment, Li Man herself broke one of them."

Ning Rongrong sat down next to him. "Was your judgment wrong back then?"

"It was a mistake to assume that road would still exist. Before letting Boss Dai take that Thunderclap punch, I thought I could pinpoint his footing."

"What about next time?"

Tang San closed the notebook. "Next time I'll have to ask her if she can disassemble it herself. We can't treat what our opponents have learned to change as immutable rules."

Someone knocked on the door. Qin Ming, along with Yu Tianheng, Dong Jian, and Li Man, came to say goodbye to Shrek. He didn't bring the whole team: Dugu Yan needed rest, Shi Mo was still undergoing treatment, and Ye Lingling had been ordered by the doctor to sleep for a full afternoon.

Flender came out to greet him, and upon seeing Qin Ming, he smiled and said, "You little rascal, you've really brought the academy into the spotlight now."

Qin Ming bowed and said, "The students made them themselves."

"You said the same thing to me before." Flender patted him on the shoulder and turned to make way for him.

Yu Xiaogang sat by the window indoors, his tactical notes spread out on the table. When Dong Jian came in, he first looked at the bandage on the other man's shoulder before asking, "Can you still exert force normally?"

"Shorter movements are okay. But continuous stance changes require waiting until your back is in good shape."

"You didn't rely on your Fourth Soul Ring to defeat the red mist in the Spirit Hall either," Yu Xiaogang turned a page of the record. "Was it because your judgment was inaccurate?"

"Hmm. Sometimes the figure in front of me and the echo at my feet are not in the same location. I can only confirm the part that landed on the ground."

Yu Xiaogang nodded. He still had his own theoretical framework for understanding Soul Ring carrying and combat skills, and he wouldn't completely overturn it just because Dong Jian won the championship.

"Your movement without Soul Ring puts a significant strain on your body." He pointed to Dong Jian's shoulder pads. "The audience might think you can continuously generate power without revealing your Soul Ring, but if your opponent doesn't allow you to make contact, or if they bring two forces together in succession, you'll still be forced to stop."

Dong Jian did not offer any explanation. "I knew this earlier than they did."

Yu Xiaogang lowered his head and wrote a sentence on the paper, then asked, "So you want to teach it to all Soul Master?"

"Teaching the basic stance is fine. But who is suited to which method has to practice on their own. Shi Brothers practice sinking their bodies, they won't use the same step-changing technique as me."

"I agree with that," Yu Xiaogang said. "If the system can only succeed on you, it can't be considered a complete study; but if everyone trains in the way you did, they might get even more serious injuries."

Hearing this conversation, Tang San walked over. He didn't talk about the Black Fourth Ring, nor did he ask about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He only brought up a question he had noted down from the last competition.

"When you blocked Xiao Wu at the end, you could have used the momentum to come towards me, why did you suddenly stop?"

"The Eight Spider Lances are in front," Dong Jian replied. "Your spear tips are poisoned; I can't use those threads to send my body out."

Tang San nodded. "I was waiting for you to continue too."

"So I'd rather stop myself, even if it hurts my shoulder, than hit the tip of a spear."

Xiao Wu, listening from the side, frowned. "You two talk as if I'm just something that's been borrowed and passed around."

Dong Jian laughed, "I didn't manage to borrow it. That time you turned around, I almost fell down myself."

"That's because you didn't complete the step," Xiao Wu said seriously. "If you had a more stable stance, I would have switched to the second section. The Circular Rotation you're using now might not be effective for close-quarters Soft Skills."

"I know," Dong Jian nodded. "We'll try next time, but it has to be at the training ground."

Tang San did not demand that Dong Jian exchange all his Kung Fu secrets just because he lost that match. Both of them kept their proven techniques and knew that the other would not suddenly reveal his core skills.

Tang San held up Dong Jian's uninjured wrist, then stopped. "Your Circular Rotation, with the shoulder and waist moving sequentially at the start, almost without any fluctuation in Soul Ring. After watching a few matches, I can roughly recognize it. But when I use it myself, I always feel like I'm missing a step."

"The missing step is to first get your footing steady," Dong Jian said. "You already have a footwork style that suits you, so standing in my stance might not be any less strenuous than using your own."

Tang San wasn't in a hurry to prove he could master it. Instead, he tried out half of the starting stance on the open ground next to him. His steps were light, and his waist moved accordingly, but he stopped when he was about to transfer the power to the next step.

"I always expect the Blue Silver Grass to provide some support in the next moment." Tang San stopped, "Without that support, you'll have to calculate your own landing point."

"You have Blue Silver Grass, so you should use it," Dong Jian said. "I practice this routine because I can't expect someone else to always lend me their strength."

Flender, listening nearby, almost laughed, "It's easier to get the two kids to stand together than to let them keep fighting and talk things out."

Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "It's one thing to have a clear understanding, but another to actually do it. If you want to study this path, you need to first clearly define who will get injured if they practice it. Dong Jian's back injury is a ready-made counterexample."

Dong Jian raised his left hand. "Grandmaster, could you please wait until I've recovered before taking this example?"

Several people laughed. The laughter did not ease his back pain in the slightest, but at least he no longer had to repeatedly explain the outcome of a match to the other side.

On the other side, Li Man was talking to Ning Rongrong.

"Why didn't you preserve the entire bamboo path in the end?" Ning Rongrong asked. "At the time, we thought that as long as we kept narrowing your path, a gap would Douluo I."

"It's already appeared," Li Man said. "I can only choose which gaps to leave open for now. Preserving an old path that's no longer suitable will force Yu Tianheng to return to it."

Ning Rongrong thought for a moment, "The short circuit you left for Ye Lingling back then might have been cut off by Xiao Wu."

"Therefore, the Shi Mo must be guarded at all times. If the Shi Mo is moved, my formation will also break."

"Then why did you still choose it?"

"Because there wouldn't be enough time to replace it with a new one then."

Ning Rongrong understood. Support System aren't responsible for deciding where everyone attacks, but they must know which choice allows others to continue to perform well. She looked down at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda ornament on her wrist and didn't ask about the "optimal" route anymore.

Yu Tianheng and Dai Mubai stood by the door. Both of their shoulders were still sore, and neither suggested another fight. Dai Mubai looked at Yu Tianheng's right arm. "Even if you tried to force it again, you might not be able to lift that last punch."

"I know," Yu Tianheng said. "If you hadn't been squeezed out of your footing by the Shi Mo, you might not have gone out of bounds."

Dai Mubai chuckled, "You've put it quite clearly."

"No one won that game easily. I remember you guys were able to keep up for so long even when you were down to ten men."

Yu Tianheng reached out with his left hand. Dai Mubai also extended his uninjured hand and lightly touched it, but the two did not test each other's strength again.

Before leaving, Tang San handed Dong Jian a folded piece of paper. It only showed the positions of the last three body intersections, without detailed annotations on how to break the Soul Skill.

"I'll go back and re-evaluate it. If you'd like, you can also see how we chose."

Dong Jian took it and discovered that one of the spots was exactly where he thought Tang San was going to collect the grass vines, but was actually continuing to set up the trap. He didn't explain on the spot, but just nodded and said thank you.

Yu Xiaogang reminded him from behind, "Next time you meet them, don't assume you know everything just because you witnessed today's scene."

Tang San replied, "I know."

Qin Ming led his men out of Shrek's residence. The Imperial Fighting Team Championship flag was still hanging on the streets of Spirit City, but people were already busy loading trucks at the entrance of the inn. After the competition, each team had to return to their own place, and they might not meet again on the same stage.

Dong Jian put the folded paper into his sleeve, Li Man turned her head and asked, "Should we give it to the Divine Dragon Secret Realm?"

"We'll see after the injury heals."

"Why?"

Even if we figure out ten more ways to win today, it won't change the fact that the game is already over.

Li Man nodded and smoothed out his sleeves. Tang San watched them walk away from the doorway, then opened his notebook and began rewriting his next study on the Imperial Fighting Team from a blank page.