Chapter Summaries

Dong Jian explained why copying the visible movements of his force-redirection technique could injure people, while refusing to reveal its deeper training methods. He called the broader practice Kung Fu and returned to training, leaving its full system and limits undecided.

• Qin Ming told Dong Jian that cultivators had been copying a diagram of his supposed borrowed-force Soul Skill, and one had strained his waist practicing it.
• Dong Jian showed a young Defense System cultivator how to respond to different incoming forces and warned him not to force a turn when his feet could not move with it.
• Dong Jian told the young man that the practice was Kung Fu, not a Soul Skill, and advised him to discard the diagram's exaggerated arrow.
• Tang San and Yu Xiaogang discussed how Dong Jian's technique depended on judgment and bodily control rather than movements that could be copied from a diagram.
• Dong Jian added the diagram to his training records and noted that point of contact, the body's exit, and the position for the next step were missing from it.

After Yu Tianheng defeated an opponent who had adapted one of Dong Jian’s techniques, Dong Jian and Qin Ming decided to teach the Imperial Fighting Team basic principles suited to each fighter. The chapter leaves the team preparing to start with stance while Dong Jian continues refining Yin-Yang Force Redirection on his own.

• Yu Feng brought Dong Jian three proposed names for Kung Fu, and Dong Jian rejected them as labels for individual moves.
• Qin Ming showed Yu Tianheng footage of a Defense System Soul Master using Dong Jian’s movement, and Dong Jian explained how the fighter had adapted it to his Martial Soul.
• Yu Tianheng exploited the opponent’s repeated half-step retreat in their match, and the Imperial Fighting Team won comfortably.
• Dong Jian told the young Soul Master that the movement was not wrong but had been used at the wrong time, while Tang San and Grandmaster concluded that they should organize principles rather than moves.
• Qin Ming, Dong Jian, and the team agreed to try teaching suitable basics without disrupting their established fighting styles, beginning with how to stand.
• Dong Jian declined to teach Yin-Yang Force Redirection yet because he had not fully mastered consecutive redirections, and he told Li Man he would teach one thing at a time.

Dong Jian taught Shi Mo, Yu Feng, and Yu Tianheng to adapt their movement to their own strengths rather than copy his circular movement. The Imperial Fighting Team adopted a set of training principles, and its members began applying them in small, individual ways.

• Dong Jian showed Shi Mo how to stay ready to move after absorbing a blow, and Shi Mo learned to step forward without resetting his stance.
• Dong Jian taught Yu Feng not to force himself into Shi Mo’s low stance; Yu Feng learned to carry the momentum of a graze into his next step.
• Yu Tianheng tried holding back his punch for circular movement, then decided it weakened his role as the team’s attacker and recommitted fully to his strike.
• Qin Ming replaced his plan to standardize movements with a list of principles, including adapting techniques to each person’s Martial Soul and role.
• The next day, Dugu Yan tested how to retreat while maintaining her poison mist, while Ye Lingling chose not to train in a stance for taking the first hit.
• Dong Jian and Yu Tianheng agreed that others should try useful techniques without copying them blindly, and the team continued practicing individually.

The Imperial Fighting Team defeated the armored Defense System Soul Master, whose half-step defense had developed from Dong Jian’s advice into a technique of his own. As the advancement tournament approached, Dong Jian confronted the challenge of competing without teammates to support his movements.

• Yu Tianheng tested the armored fighter’s half-step defense, adjusted his attack, and helped expose when the technique could not be used safely.
• The Imperial Fighting Team defeated the opposing team, and Dong Jian told the young fighter that his adapted half step was now his own technique.
• Yu Xiaogang and Tang San discussed how the fighters’ different methods suggested that physical training principles could be studied beyond Soul Skills, while noting that more evidence was needed.
• The qualifiers ended with the Imperial Fighting Team, Shrek, and several other academies advancing, and Qin Ming explained the individual round-robin rules for the next stage.
• Dong Jian considered how the advancement tournament would leave him without teammates to follow up on, then stood alone on the new arena and recognized he had to learn to rely on himself.

Before the promotion match, Dong Jian reconsidered how to fight without teammates and reviewed his weaknesses as an individual combatant. He entered the arena as the Imperial Fighting Team’s second fighter, and the chapter ended just as his opponent launched the opening attack.

• Qin Ming and Li Man helped Dong Jian realize that his axis began as a link between his own movements, before it expanded to include teammates.
• Dong Jian used the Divine Dragon Secret Realm to list his individual weaknesses, including ranged attacks, mental control, sustained aerial combat, and consecutive high-load force redirections.
• Qin Ming assigned Shi Mo to fight first and Dong Jian second in the Imperial Fighting Team’s opening promotion match.
• Shi Mo defeated the first opponent, then conceded to the second after enduring several successive charges and warning Dong Jian that the fighter hit hard.
• Dong Jian entered the arena and focused on reading his opponent himself, without looking to his teammates or relying on the Divine Dragon Secret Realm.
• The Long-Armed Heavy Ape Soul Master attacked first, and Dong Jian prepared to absorb the impact with his own axis.

Dong Jian won his individual match against a Long-Armed Heavy Ape Soul Master by correcting his team-based instincts and relying on precise footwork and force redirection. He chose to continue into his next bout, where a crimson-staff wielder attacked him with a wave of fire that he could not counter by borrowing force.

• Dong Jian lost half a beat when he looked for teammates, took a glancing punch, and then refocused on his opponent, his footing, and his remaining momentum.
• Dong Jian repeatedly evaded and redirected the Long-Armed Heavy Ape youth’s attacks, landing Short Tremor strikes without overpursuing.
• The exhausted youth conceded after Dong Jian drove him to the arena boundary, giving the Imperial Fighting Team’s second fighter the victory.
• Dong Jian discussed his initial mistake with Yu Feng and Li Man, while Tang San and Yu Xiaogang noted how the individual match exposed his habits and fundamentals.
• Dong Jian agreed to fight again despite his numb shoulder and faced a short crimson-staff wielder whose Second Soul Skill sent a line of fire sweeping across the arena.

Dong Jian defeated a fire-attribute Soul Master by dodging the flames, reading his opponent’s footwork, and closing the distance before striking. After choosing not to fight a third opponent, he reviewed the match and learned that his next matchup was against a Mental Interference type.

• Dong Jian dodged the fire-attribute Soul Master’s attacks and studied the movements that preceded each one.
• Dong Jian used the fire wall’s fading and his opponent’s recovery to close in, then used Mountain Domain to read his footwork and force him over the boundary.
• Dong Jian declined to continue after winning, and Ye Lingling checked his burns while Qin Ming explained that being able to fight did not mean he should keep fighting.
• Dong Jian recorded that attributes could not be redirected and that he needed to solve distance before closing in.
• Dong Jian saw that his next opponent was a Mental Interference type and admitted he did not yet know how to adapt.

Dong Jian faced a short-tailed lynx Soul Master whose relentless close-combat rhythm tested his ability to link movements. After stopping a dangerous fourth sequence and changing his approach, Dong Jian won the match and left focused on whether his body was still positioned to continue before attempting another sequence.

• Dong Jian learned that his next opponent specialized in continuous close combat and entered the match expecting to practice linking movements.
• Dong Jian smoothly evaded and countered the short-tailed lynx Soul Master's first three attacks, but stopped when a fourth strike made his waist and knee move in conflicting directions.
• Dong Jian broke the sequence, retreated, and absorbed a follow-up attack rather than risk injuring himself by forcing the movement.
• Dong Jian adapted by disrupting his opponent's rhythm, countered with Short Tremor, and sent him out of bounds to secure the Imperial Fighting Team's victory.
• Qin Ming and Ye Lingling checked Dong Jian for injuries, and Dong Jian recorded that he should continue only when his body remained in a position to do so; his next opponent specialized in Mental Control.

Dong Jian lost to Lu Qing after Lu Qing’s Mental Interference made him misjudge timing and position, exposing limits in his combat methods. He kept the match record and chose to master his existing skills before seeking answers to unfamiliar threats.

• Dong Jian chose to fight Lu Qing to learn the extent of the gap between them, despite Qin Ming telling him he did not have to compete.
• Dong Jian used Yin-Yang Mountain Domain to track Lu Qing’s footsteps, but Lu Qing planted false footsteps and disrupted Dong Jian’s sense of timing.
• Dong Jian relied on the ground and Force Observation, but Lu Qing’s Mental Interference made the signals impossible to interpret reliably.
• Lu Qing confused Dong Jian’s balance near the boundary and struck him out of the arena, winning the match.
• Dong Jian acknowledged that his methods could provide information without supplying the right answer, while Grandmaster and Tang San clarified their limits.
• Dong Jian reviewed the defeat and decided to master what he already knew before developing a response to unfamiliar abilities.

Dong Jian tested a partial reset between consecutive impacts and found that it let him repeat two stable cycles, though errors grew in a third. He left the circular redirection unnamed and incomplete as the advancement tournament continued.

• Dong Jian practiced three consecutive contact stages, then adjusted his stance between cycles without fully stopping.
• Dong Jian completed two stable cycles, but Li Man stopped him when his landing errors increased during a third.
• Dong Jian and Qin Ming discussed how returning to a position able to receive force differed from simply extending a chain of redirects.
• Dong Jian recorded the structure as incomplete circular redirection, while Tang San noticed the returning movement in a public recording.
• Qin Ming left Dong Jian's position in the next lineup dependent on the opponent, and Dong Jian declined to treat the unfinished circle as a mastered technique.

Dong Jian tested his unfinished circular rotation in an advancement match against Lin Yue, limiting himself to two phases and adapting when Lin Yue targeted his return-to-receiving window. He won by breaking off the pattern when needed, while Lin Yue and the watching academies took note of the opening for future matches.

• Before the match, Qin Ming reminded Dong Jian to use only two rounds and stop if he went beyond them.
• Dong Jian used two phases of circular movement against Lin Yue, then broke off rather than risk an unstable third phase; Lin Yue exploited Dong Jian's return-to-receiving window in later exchanges.
• Dong Jian changed his rhythm and stopped returning to a fixed position, then used Short Tremor and Mountain-Shifting Step to force Lin Yue out of bounds and win.
• Dong Jian told Li Man and Qin Ming that the two rounds were usable but the third cycle remained untested, and the Divine Dragon Secret Realm recorded the exploitable return window.
• Lin Yue warned Dong Jian that others were studying his technique, while Tang San and Grandmaster recorded that the return window could be deliberately canceled; academy teachers marked it as a target for next time.

Dong Jian faced Zhou Jian, whose short-ring attacks targeted the predictable moment when Dong Jian returned to a receiving stance. Dong Jian won by breaking off his practiced cycles and turning a retreat into a counterattack, then recorded that knowing when not to complete the circle was part of his training; Yu Tianheng was listed first for the next round.

• Zhou Jian used rapid short-ring strikes to attack Dong Jian whenever he tried to return to a receiving stance.
• Dong Jian interrupted his practiced movements instead of completing the predictable cycle, leaving Zhou Jian's attacks without their expected opening.
• Dong Jian used Mountain-Shifting Step and Short Tremor to counter Zhou Jian, then won when Zhou Jian stumbled to the arena boundary and conceded.
• Dong Jian recorded that his cycle could be interrupted, while Li Man noted that he now had to practice both returning to receive force and choosing when not to return.
• Tang San noted that Dong Jian's return-to-receive window was not guaranteed to appear, and Qin Ming placed Yu Tianheng first in the next-round lineup.

Yu Tianheng won two individual matches by improving his timing and controlling his opponent’s movement, then withdrew when Qin Ming judged him too tired to continue. With one advancement-tournament round left, the Imperial Fighting Team prepared for the finals in Spirit City.

• Qin Ming told Yu Tianheng to focus on fighting alone, and Yu Tianheng defeated a Rock-Backed Rhinoceros Soul Master by striking from changing angles.
• Yu Tianheng stopped chasing a Green-Tailed Marten Soul Master, forced him to return to the fight, and won his second match by cutting off his escape route.
• Qin Ming sent Yu Tianheng down from the arena because his leg was still usable but his shoulder was sore; Shi Mo and Osler helped the Imperial Fighting Team win the round.
• Dong Jian praised Yu Tianheng for knowing when not to pursue, and Qin Ming noted that Yu Tianheng had improved his control of angles against a mobile opponent.
• The latest standings showed the Imperial Fighting Team holding its position, while Shrek and several other academies neared qualification; the team discussed the upcoming finals in Spirit City.

The Imperial Fighting Team won the final advancement tournament round despite Yu Tianheng losing to a Control System opponent, while Dong Jian watched and reflected on how individual matchups shaped team performance. Both the Imperial Fighting Team and Shrek advanced to the finals in Spirit City, where Ye Lingling insisted Dong Jian undergo an examination before training further.

• Yu Tianheng defeated an opening opponent but lost to a Binding Vine Control System Soul Master who wore him down and restricted his movement.
• Yu Feng defeated the Binding Vine Soul Master by exploiting his ability to fly, then left the stage after failing to beat a ranged attacker; Dugu Yan defeated that opponent by narrowing his attack angles with poison.
• The Imperial Fighting Team won the round overall, and Qin Ming asked the team to discuss what they had learned; Dong Jian said one person's win or loss did not decide the whole team.
• Dong Jian observed Shrek's members take turns in their matches and noted how individual combat revealed different strengths and limits than team battles.
• The final rankings confirmed that the Imperial Fighting Team, Shrek, and several other academies advanced to Spirit City; Qin Ming warned the team not to treat advancement results as a direct forecast of the finals.
• Ye Lingling stopped Dong Jian from returning to training and directed him to the treatment room for an examination of his waist and feet.

Dong Jian and Li Man underwent medical checks before the Imperial Fighting Team prepared to leave for Spirit City, where they planned to conceal the full extent of their abilities. The team departed with their training restrictions and battle secrets in place.

• Ye Lingling found that Dong Jian had fatigue in his right ankle, waist, and hips, and restricted him to low-intensity training for three days.
• Ye Lingling discovered that Dong Jian's Dark Gold Spine Armor was becoming more integrated into how he used Soul Power and forbade him from relying on it during stance training.
• Ye Lingling found that Li Man had attention fatigue from controlling multiple nodes and ordered her to rest and reduce high-node training.
• Qin Ming told the team to present only a limited version of their Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo technique in Spirit City and to keep its full twelve-breath, three-step version secret.
• Dong Jian and Li Man left the complete Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo coordination out of their written tactics, and the team packed for the journey.
• The Heaven Dou representative team received notice that it would depart for Spirit City the next morning.

The Imperial Fighting Team traveled from Heaven Dou City to Spirit City while Qin Ming limited their training and prepared them to compete under closer scrutiny. The team arrived at Spirit City, where Dong Jian noticed the stronger Soul Masters inspecting the gates.

• Xue Qinghe congratulated the teams and warned Dong Jian not to trade an injury for victory, while Li Man noticed Xue Qinghe briefly watching Dong Jian's back.
• Qin Ming restricted the team's road training, and Dong Jian and Tang San discussed their fighting styles while fetching water.
• As the convoy traveled west, Qin Ming told the team to record observations about other teams and to conceal their secrets without weakening their performances.
• Li Man checked Dong Jian's Soul Power pathways, and Qin Ming reviewed the team's records before they reached Spirit City.
• The convoy arrived at Spirit City, where Dong Jian noticed the gate inspectors' steadier Soul Power and considered the scrutiny awaiting his black fourth ring.

The Imperial Fighting Team registered in Spirit City and trained while other teams studied their abilities, with Dong Jian taking care to conceal his Dark Gold Spine Armor. After drawing Cloud Chain Academy, they analyzed its chain-based tactics and prepared to use the limited public version of Dong Jian and Li Man’s fusion only if their formation was disrupted.

• Dong Jian registered his Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear Soul Ring, and Spirit City staff discussed the rare Soul Beast without learning the details of his Fourth Soul Skill.
• Li Man watched Dong Jian during registration and training to ensure his body did not reveal the hidden bone plates, while nearby teams recorded the Imperial Fighting Team’s movements.
• Qin Ming had the team demonstrate basic abilities, then warned them to conceal only techniques they did not need to reveal rather than pretending they could not fight.
• The draw matched the Imperial Fighting Team against Cloud Chain Academy, whose two chain-wielding Control System Soul Masters split opponents’ formations and sever links between team members.
• After studying Cloud Chain Academy’s recordings, Qin Ming told Dong Jian and Li Man to use their public fusion technique only if needed, limiting it to eight breaths.

Dong Jian and Li Man used the Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo fusion skill to break Cloud Chain Academy’s control over the Imperial Fighting Team’s formation. They ended the fusion after eight breaths, but Cloud Chain launched the counterattack it had been saving for that moment.

• Cloud Chain’s Cold Iron Chain and Double-Ring Lock repeatedly severed the Imperial Fighting Team’s routes, preventing Yu Tianheng, Dong Jian, and Li Man from linking their attacks.
• Dugu Yan and Yu Feng tried to draw the controllers’ attention, while Li Man changed and abandoned routes to keep the formation functioning.
• Cloud Chain focused its control techniques on Dong Jian and split the Imperial Fighting Team’s spearhead, pivot, and net apart.
• Dong Jian and Li Man activated Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo, and its fused formation resisted Cloud Chain’s control for eight breaths while Yu Tianheng broke through the front line.
• Li Man ended the fusion before Dong Jian and herself reached their limits, and Cloud Chain immediately targeted the two as its prepared counterattack began.

The Imperial Fighting Team defeated Cloud Chain after ending Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo voluntarily at eight breaths and continuing the match despite Dong Jian’s and Li Man’s reduced strength. The chapter left the fusion’s true duration uncertain as Cloud Chain and Tang San recorded the eight breaths they had witnessed.

• Shi Mo blocked Cloud Chain’s Cold Iron Chain while Li Man used three formation cores to keep key teammates connected.
• Yu Tianheng charged through Cloud Chain’s weakened front line as Yu Feng, Dugu Yan, and Shi Mo supported the advance.
• Ye Lingling treated Dong Jian and Li Man, who conserved their strength instead of immediately returning to full intensity.
• Dong Jian used a small sidestep to expose the Cold Iron Chain user to Yu Feng, then withdrew without pursuing a second exchange.
• Yu Tianheng struck Cloud Chain’s captain out of the effective combat zone, and the referee declared Heaven Dou Royal Academy the winner.
• Cloud Chain reviewed the eight-breath window, while Tang San recorded it as the revealed duration rather than the fusion’s maximum.

The Imperial Fighting Team reviewed what opponents knew about Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo and agreed to keep its hidden capabilities secret while setting a seven-breath limit for the Sealed Spine version. As stronger finals opponents approached, the team prepared for rivals to exploit its public weaknesses, leaving the full twelve-breath technique and Dark Gold Spine Armor undisclosed.

• Qin Ming reviewed public intelligence with the team, and Dong Jian and Li Man agreed to limit the Sealed Spine version to seven breaths because the Dark Gold Spine Armor was becoming harder to conceal.
• Qin Ming left the skill-effect description blank on the tournament registration form, recording Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo only as a Martial Soul Fusion Skill used by Dong Jian and Li Man.
• Dong Jian watched Tang San adapt Shrek's formation after opponents disrupted Blue Silver Grass control, then rejected the Divine Dragon Secret Realm's offer to recommend an opening target.
• Grandmaster and Tang San questioned whether eight breaths marked the fusion skill's true limit, while Qin Ming led the team in identifying public weaknesses rivals could exploit.
• The Imperial Fighting Team received information about stronger seed-level opponents, and its members resolved to keep fighting normally while withholding the complete twelve-breath technique and Dark Gold Spine Armor.