Really Holding Nothing Back

After December arrived, Eastern Capital's average temperature fell even further.

Especially in the coldest hours before dawn, a layer of mist condensed on the windows.

In the darkness, a shrill ringing suddenly sounded.

Ring ring ring—ring ring ring—

Curled up under the covers, Fang Cheng opened his eyes, his gaze still a little dazed.

It was as if he had just been yanked back to reality from a beautiful dream.

He reached out with both hands, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and yawned.

Hearing that the alarm clock was still ringing, he turned on the light, lifted his head, and glanced at the time.

5:01.

Fang Cheng's heart jolted, and his eyes instantly cleared.

He immediately threw off the warm blanket, climbed out of bed, and stopped the alarm clock.

Then he quickly put on his clothes and pants, stepped into his slippers, opened the bedroom door, and strode toward the bathroom.

Splash, splash, splash—the sound of the faucet being turned on, along with the tooth mug and towel being moved about, soon rang out.

After a few minutes of washing up.

Fang Cheng stretched his arms, walked to the living room balcony, and pushed the tightly closed window open to both sides.

Cold wind whistled in, carrying icy rain straight into his face.

Though it stung his skin, it also jolted his mind awake.

Another day of self-discipline had begun.

On the pitch-black, rain-soaked street, only a small hotel had its red lightbox sign lit.

Fang Cheng enjoyed the quiet that belonged to him alone and said softly:

"First, one set of squats to warm up."

"Then a few rounds of shadow boxing..."

After stretching the muscles of his arms and legs, Fang Cheng faced the dawn outside the window, lifted his left leg, and bent his right knee.

As his body squatted downward, he could clearly feel the muscles of his entire thigh tighten, with even his waist, back, and core pulled taut like a fully drawn bowstring.

The difficulty of single-leg squats could be said to be hell-level for an ordinary person.

But for the current Fang Cheng, it only took a little more effort than when he had first practiced standard squats.

After doing 5, he switched to training his left leg.

After doing 10, it counted as 1 set.

Fang Cheng glanced at the prompt information; it had just increased by 1 experience point.

At the same time, he vaguely felt a stream of heat rising from below his lower abdomen, continuously driving away the chill the environment pressed onto his body.

"This should do it. The testosterone has already started taking effect..."

He punched the air once, then kicked a couple of times, carefully sensing the changes inside his body.

It was as if a surge of vitality had been injected into his whole body, completely pulling him out of the listlessness of waking early, and his mood also began to grow excited.

After gaining the enhancement effect of "Lone Eminence."

Squats were clearly the best warm-up exercise, bar none!

Fang Cheng stood in the relatively open area of the balcony, clenched his five fingers together, and stepped his feet apart, one in front and one behind.

His eyes stared firmly ahead, as if he were facing off against a nonexistent enemy.

Suddenly, his figure moved, closing the distance forward, and his guarded arms immediately exerted force.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—he shifted left and right with consecutive straight punches, rapidly striking at the opponent's face and jaw.

Swish!

Immediately after, a front stomp kick cut off the opponent's counterattack and slammed into his abdomen.

Smack!

The moment his right leg landed, he instantly turned and shuffled, circling to the opponent's weak side.

Twisting his waist and driving his hip through, he threw out another high, fast whip kick.

Before long, a slight sheen of sweat seeped from Fang Cheng's forehead.

Although he was only wearing thin underwear and a jacket, the biting cold could no longer invade his body.

His blood flowed rapidly, quickly warming his whole person up and bringing him into a battle state.

His fist-and-foot movements also went from slightly stiff to increasingly loose, coordinated, and relaxed.

Every punch and kick sent out a sound of breaking air, proving just how fully he was exerting force.

Sanda's four major techniques were kicking, striking, throwing, and locking.

Fang Cheng's current Fist Technique and Leg Techniques were enough to be called beginner level.

So he began trying to link Fist and Foot movements together, practicing Combination Techniques that were more suited to real combat.

Suppose he returned once more to the hospital, to that scene where he had faced off against Huang Mao.

Fang Cheng figured he wouldn't need to use the Iron Fist special effect. Just one feint and one High Roundhouse Kick would be enough to KO his opponent.

Even if his opponent had been holding a folding knife, no matter how long his arm was, could it be longer than a leg?

Half an hour later.

You practiced Shadow Boxing and gained some insight. Boxing Skill Experience +10

Looking at the Prompt Information on the Panel, relief showed in Fang Cheng's eyes, but he still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

Unfortunately... Shadow Boxing practice could only increase one type of Skill Experience for now.

Having an Expert Level in boxing allowed Fang Cheng to draw parallels from one field to another, making it much easier for him to get started with other martial arts.

In just three or four days, after observing about ten sessions of classes, he had smoothly grasped the stance, footwork, Fist Technique, and Leg Techniques within the Basic Skills of Sanda.

If he wanted to fully unlock this new skill, then he still had to master Wrestling Technique and Joint Lock to make up for his Weakness.

It was just that these two techniques were highly practical, and without someone to train against, there was no way to get started through imitation alone.

He couldn't exactly throw himself around for fun whenever he had nothing to do, could he?

So Fang Cheng did not add Wrestling Technique or Joint Lock movements into his Shadow Boxing practice.

"Maybe... I can apply to be a Sparring Partner now."

In the darkness, Fang Cheng's eyes shone brightly as he looked over the attributes on the Panel.

After half an hour of Shadow Boxing, he tallied up the Training Effect.

His Constitution had increased by a total of 0.02, his strength by 0.01, and his agility by 0.006.

Among them, although the Agility Attribute had risen a little more slowly, its Progress Bar had still reached 94%.

The improvement in training efficiency brought by the "Lone Eminence" special effect was already plain to see.

And as it accumulated steadily over time, the strong would only grow stronger, inevitably forming a snowballing "Matthew Effect."

Perhaps one day...

through pure physical training alone, he really could break through the limits of the human body and reach the extraordinary realm of imagination.

At this point, Fang Cheng reined in his thoughts, and his gaze grew calm once more.

Strictly speaking, Shadow Boxing also counted as a Warm-up Exercise to loosen the Muscles and Bones.

The most important part of Morning Practice was still Physical Training.

Next came self-tempering at an even higher intensity!

100 Folding Knife Push-Ups.

100 Tiger Pounce Push-Ups.

200 Single-Leg Squats.

300 Lying Straight Leg Raises.

"Hoo-ha!"

"Hoo-ha!"

Inside the Training Hall, the sounds of students exhaling to add force as they kicked and struck Sandbags rang out from time to time.

There were no classes scheduled for the Sanda Department this morning, and in the Afternoon there was only One Session with a Private Coach and One Session of Group Class.

It could be said that Fang Cheng was so idle he was almost spacing out.

In the previous class, the Coach had still talked a bit about the application techniques and key points to note regarding punch-kick combinations and punch-throw combinations.

In this class, it was basically just the students practicing kicks on Sandbags by themselves while the Coach stood nearby and gave a few pointers on movements that were not clean enough.

The core techniques of sanda were Leg Techniques and Wrestling Technique, and they had always accounted for a relatively high proportion of points in competitions.

As the saying went, the hands were two gates, but striking depended entirely on the legs; fists scored three-tenths, kicks scored seven-tenths.

The problem Fang Cheng was facing now was not any specific technical issue.

Rather, he could not find anyone to spar with him.

Never mind actual combat—even he didn't have a single boxing partner, so how could he talk about truly mastering the skill?

Sometimes, Fang Cheng really felt an impulse.

He wanted to grab some Thug off the street who looked unpleasant, beat him up, and test the feeling.

5:30.

The final class ended.

Since it was still early before quitting time, Fang Cheng started cleaning up the venue ahead of schedule.

After finishing the work, he saw Chen Xiaohai standing alone in the smoking area, leisurely smoking a cigarette.

His eyes flashed slightly, and he walked over.

"What?!"

Chen Xiaohai stared at Fang Cheng, his face full of surprise.

That expression seemed to lay his thoughts bare: I only said it casually. You really didn't stand on ceremony, coming to me when you needed something.

Fang Cheng had come to Chen Xiaohai to ask how he could become a sparring partner.

As for the excuse, it was ready-made: his maternal grandfather needed medical treatment, his family was short on money, and he urgently needed to earn some extra cash.

Chen Xiaohai was taken aback for a while before he stammered:

"A Cheng, sparring isn't an easy line of work. The club is very strict about it..."

That was true.

Sparring paid well. At the lowest hourly rate of five hundred yuan, with two bouts a day, that came to thirty thousand yuan a month.

Compared with the salary of an ordinary wage earner, which was less than four thousand a month, it was extremely tempting.

However, this job was not something just anyone could do if they wanted to.

Although it was temporary work in nature, the club still had to bear the related medical risks, so the assessment was extremely strict.

If someone wanted to become a professional boxer, they only had to pay the money. Whether or not they succeeded was another matter; at most, it affected the club's performance and reputation.

But wanting to become a sparring partner could, in certain ways, be said to be even harder than becoming a boxer.

The first requirement was a strong physique, a solid build, and enough toughness to take hits.

Second, one had to have trained in boxing and understand some technique.

Finally, they had to be someone the club knew inside and out, and they had to obtain approval from both the Human Resources Department and the Coaching Department.

Therefore, many sparring partners were retired professional fighters who were familiar with one another.

Or perhaps they were amateur boxers who had come out of the club but never made it into a match.

Fang Cheng also knew a little about these circumstances, so he immediately said in a sincere tone:

"That's why I came to trouble you, Hai Ge. Do you have any way?"

"Well..."

Chen Xiaohai's expression looked very complicated.

He had already boasted about it. He could not exactly slap himself in the face now, could he?

Fang Cheng waited quietly.

Originally, he could also have gone to Xu Maocai for help, but working as a sparring partner would conflict with his regular job after all.

The other party might find an excuse to refuse, and Fang Cheng also felt too embarrassed to say it.

Chen Xiaohai pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up:

"There is a way, but I'm afraid you'll misunderstand."

"Our Karate Department just got a Japanese fighter who's been suspended from competition. That bastard hits really hard and has injured several people in a row. Now no one dares to take his job."

"But the club is still keeping that guy around. Who told him to pay so much!"

Speaking of this, Chen Xiaohai raised his head and looked at Fang Cheng.

"Why don't you go to the Human Resources Department tomorrow and apply? They've been recruiting recently. If they can't find a suitable candidate, they might loosen the conditions."

"It's just that working as a sparring partner makes it very easy to get injured. You'd better think it through..."

Hearing this, Fang Cheng pondered briefly, then asked:

"Does karate also have wrestling and joint-lock techniques?"

Chen Xiaohai froze for a moment, then replied, "Yeah."

Fang Cheng nodded, then said with a smile, "Thank you, Hai Ge."

There was definitely danger of injury in being a sparring partner.

But what could a person do in this world that guaranteed no risk at all?

His gaze was bright as he looked at the skill displayed on the panel.

Leg Raises Level 0 (83/100)

He decided to add a bit more intensity for himself, to slightly speed up the progress bar that had become sluggish.

Once the Leg Raises skill successfully advanced to Level 1 and he received attribute points, doing this should be much safer.