Ancient Secret Technique

December 8.

The alarm clock on the desk showed 6:30.

Light shone through the floral curtains; the weather seemed pretty good.

Fang Cheng lay on the bed with his eyes open.

He was doing his morning practice in an extremely strange posture.

His legs were bent at the knees, pulled close to his buttocks.

Both hands were braced backward on either side of his head, his elbows pointing straight at the ceiling.

Then he pushed with his hands and feet, slowly raising his buttocks and thrusting his hips upward, lifting his body and head off the bed.

Until his lower back and spine formed an arc, his body like an arched bridge built in place.

It also looked like the way Kayako crawled in horror movies.

This was the starting form.

He held the posture at the highest point for about five seconds.

Then he reversed the movement, slowly descending and lowering his body.

Only when he lay back down on the bed and let out a long breath did it count as completing the closing form.

This method of exercise was clearly very different from the first four skills of Prisoner's Six Arts.

In the book Prisoner's Fitness, it was called the "Back Bridge," and was considered some special secret technique passed down from ancient times.

Last time, he had practiced Pull-Ups in the rain at the park.

Without skill assistance, Fang Cheng had relied on willpower to break through his limits and enter that wondrous mental state.

This time.

He planned to choose not to rely on Focus Skill or Potential Activation either, and challenge this highly difficult fitness movement.

For this, Fang Cheng had specially taken a day off and was going all out.

The excuse was easy to find. Yesterday, he had acted as Majima Goro's sparring partner. It looked like nothing had happened, but in truth, his body felt a little unwell, as if he had suffered internal injuries.

So today, he needed to go to the hospital for a checkup and rest at home for half a day...

However.

If he wanted to successfully unlock this skill.

Using brute force right from the start and forcing himself to practice like before would not work, and it was also very dangerous.

Among Prisoner's Six Arts, Pull-Ups counted as an extremely difficult movement.

For someone physically weak, even doing a single one might feel very strenuous.

But compared with the Back Bridge, that movement became much easier.

For the first four skills, Fang Cheng could still skip some preliminary basic training and begin practicing from the standard form.

But when practicing the Back Bridge, he could not do that.

If the fitness effects pursued by Prisoner's Six Arts were strength, endurance, balance, coordination, flexibility, and agility.

Then Back Bridge training could be said to encompass all six, aiming to comprehensively improve physical quality.

Because Fang Cheng usually mainly trained the flexibility of his limbs, his torso was relatively stiff, which left his flexibility and coordination slightly lacking. Completing this movement was still somewhat difficult.

On his first attempt, he had almost twisted his lower back.

In fact, this situation was very normal.

Most people, Fang Cheng included, normally did not deliberately train the muscle groups of the posterior chain, especially the lower back.

Unlike the hands and feet, which were used often—even children could casually do a few Push-Ups and Squats.

So after being neglected for so long, the lower back naturally became the weakest area of the body.

Fang Cheng had no choice but to take a step back and honestly begin training from the basic Short Bridge, Straight Bridge, and Half Bridge.

Advancing step by step, gradually opening his hips and back.

He spent two extra days preparing for this before he could smoothly complete a relatively standard Back Bridge in today's formal training.

"14."

"15."

Fang Cheng let out a light breath, counting while silently sensing the changes in the movements of the muscles throughout his body.

He suddenly understood somewhat why the book Prisoner's Fitness called the "Back Bridge" a secret technique and repeatedly emphasized its importance.

The inspiration for this training method actually came from yoga and the "Iron Plate Bridge" in traditional martial arts.

The difference was that traditional training tended toward maintaining static postures, while Back Bridge training placed more emphasis on the process of dynamic explosiveness.

No matter the school, the goal was the same: it involved activating the power of the spine.

The spinal cord could be said to be the most important organ in the human body aside from the brain.

It connected the nervous system of the brain and torso, yet it was extremely fragile.

Its outer protective layer was the spinal cartilage, as well as the muscle groups wrapped around both sides in long, snake-like bands.

Those two columns of muscle were called the Erector Spinae, and they also belonged to the spine tissue in the broad sense.

They usually controlled spinal movement and maintained spinal stability, acting like a force-transmission link running through the waist and back.

The focus of Back Bridge training was to activate the Erector Spinae, which most people neglected for long periods.

Strong spinal muscles could release the latent power of the waist, abdomen, and limbs, allowing for more difficult, more forceful, and faster movements.

They could also help the body maintain balance, improve flexibility and agility, and make injuries during exercise less likely.

In the terminology of Traditional Martial Arts, this was called enlivening the Tendons of The Whole Person, also known as "Opening the Dragon Spine."

Once one's practice reached great mastery, a single punch could carry the force of dragons and tigers, and one step could send them up onto rooftops, tearing off tiles.

The body would be as agile as a cat, the waist and back as hard as an iron plate, with an effect akin to being impervious to blades and spears.

Whether that was boasting was another matter.

At the very least, in a street brawl, he would not be knocked flat by a single sneak blow from a club.

Nor would he pull out all sorts of tricks, fail to hit anyone, and fall over first himself.

Besides.

While practicing the Back Bridge, Fang Cheng also discovered that this movement could stretch the tendons and ligaments of the waist, back, and limbs.

It had a certain soothing effect on muscles that had long been in a tense state, making it very suitable as a Warm-up Exercise.

Especially when paired with Leg Raises, the forward-and-reverse movements made the effect even more obvious.

Thanks to his high Spirit Attribute, Fang Cheng could now say he knew like the back of his hand how every inch of muscle in his body Exerted Force during movement.

When he sensed the aching pain coming from the muscles of his waist and back, he immediately gathered his Thoughts and began Meditating with Closed Eyes.

He tried to enter that unknown Mental State and comprehend the so-called "profound meaning of Meditation."

"19."

"20."

"21."

"..."

The numbers he Murmured out sounded almost hypnotic.

It seemed... there really was... some effect.

Just as he approached a state of self-forgetfulness, something seemed to flash and rapidly enlarge in the darkness.

"This is..."

Fang Cheng swiftly Opened his eyes, his pupils glittering.

You have diligently practiced a skill to a certain degree, gained a deep understanding of it, and mastered a fitness-type skill

Unlocked skill: Back Bridge Lv0 (0/100)

Looking At the pale-blue light screen before him, Fang Cheng did not know whether to laugh or cry for a moment.

It felt like he had not even used his full strength yet, but his opponent had already Poured.

He did not know whether he should be happy or disappointed.

A high Spirit Attribute had actually greatly increased his comprehension, making Unlock New Skill so effortless.

"Being able to smoothly break through a Checkpoint is a Good Thing in the end..."

Fang Cheng let out a soft breath and relaxed his Whole Body as he lay on the bed.

He ended This Time's Morning Practice, which was much shorter than usual.

After calming his mind.

His gaze shifted from the Skill Panel back to the Character Panel.

He looked at the 5 Free Attributes he had set aside last night.

Then he decided to add 4 attribute points to Constitution and 1 attribute point to strength.

After quickly assigning the points, Fang Cheng blinked, Thoughts turning In his heart.

About half a second later, he suddenly felt as if all the blood in his body had started boiling.

Huff, huff—

It was not a Breathing Sound.

Fang Cheng held his breath and stilled himself, quietly feeling it.

He seemed able to "hear" his own blood flowing, making a gurgling sound.

The Whole Person felt as if he were soaking in a hot spring, warm and comfortable, so comfortable he did not want to move.

The muscle soreness and fatigue from his earlier exercise vanished completely in an instant.

Even the joints throughout his body creaked and groaned, as though they were becoming tighter and sturdier.

His ligaments stretched and relaxed, like beef tendon being plucked with soft pops.

Then...

There was no then.

Fang Cheng pondered for a while, then suddenly took a deep breath, sat up from the bed, and squeezed his fists.

His knuckles cracked with sharp pops, and he really did feel stronger.

His whole body was drenched in sweat, as if he had undergone a complete cleansing; he felt clear, refreshed, and full of energy.

It was just that the thing he had been expecting did not seem to have happened.

"Looks like that kind of mental state can only be stumbled upon, not sought..."

Before this, he had also tried sitting in meditation like a monk, but he had failed then too.

"Do I really have to deafen my ears and then go stand in the rain again?"

Fang Cheng gave a faint, amused snort and shook his head, rejecting the idea.

There should have been a more proper route. He just had not found the method yet.

There was a seemingly quite professional Meditation Class on the third floor of Wantong Shopping Center.

Maybe after he got paid and had a little more money on hand, he could sign up and learn...

As he thought, he turned his head to look at the alarm clock. It was already almost seven.

He then got dressed, got out of bed, and pulled open the bedroom curtains.

Golden sunlight immediately spilled in, lighting the room up brightly.

He enjoyed the long-missed sunbath for a moment and stretched his limbs.

Fang Cheng turned around, picked up the ballpoint pen, and walked to the wall.

On that sheet of homework paper, he drew a check mark.

His eyes shone brilliantly in the sunlight as he stared at the training progress of the six Fitness Skills.

The Prisoner's Six Arts lacked only the final skill now.

It was probably also the most difficult skill.

Handstand Push-Ups.

He did not know what new changes there would be after he unlocked them all.