Pull-Ups Breakthrough

A winter morning.

The sky was only faintly bright, and the dark scene in the distance was still impossible to make out.

Jiangbin Park, gymnasium venue.

A bare-chested figure hung from a horizontal bar 2.8 meters high, arms suspended beneath it.

Whoosh, whoosh—he continuously performed pull-ups.

His posture was relaxed and fluid, his movements practically perfect—worthy of full marks.

Whenever he pulled himself above the bar, the muscle groups in his shoulders and back shifted and knotted together as though flowing.

As his body descended, the lines stretched taut to their limit slowly relaxed again, returning to sharp definition.

Every movement conveyed the satisfying burn in his muscles and the sensation of growing stronger.

Gradually, the sweat flowing over his body turned into visible white smoke that continuously rose from him.

"Phew—"

Fang Cheng let out a long breath, released his grip, and jumped down from the horizontal bar.

Heat billowed from his whole body, his face flushed as though he had just stepped out of a sauna.

After taking off his clothes, The Whole Person no longer looked as refined and delicate as he did on the surface. Instead, he appeared exceptionally agile and powerfully built.

The lines of his back muscles in particular looked like a meticulously crafted work of art, displaying a distinctly masculine beauty.

Pull-ups primarily worked the inverted triangle region of the back.

Besides strengthening the core, they could also stretch the spine and make one's body shape straighter and taller.

In the dim light, several messages emerged in the air one after another, dazzling like dawn piercing through the darkness.

Congratulations. Through unremitting effort, your skill has reached Expert Level

Pull-Ups Level 1 (0/250)

Skill Enhancement Reward obtained: 6 Free Attributes

"Another skill has achieved a breakthrough..."

Fang Cheng looked at the dazzling light screen before his eyes, his gaze filled with satisfaction.

Every Prompt Information from the panel about a skill leveling up, no matter how much of it there was, was the best reward for his persistence.

Looking at the 6 additional Free Attributes on the Character Panel, Fang Cheng gave it some thought. He roughly had two possible strategies for allocating them.

Either he could continue prioritizing Constitution, followed by Strength and Agility.

Or he could add all 6 points at once to either Strength or Agility.

That way, he could quickly push a third attribute past the Major Milestone of 20 points and undergo a qualitative transformation.

After weighing his options for a moment, Fang Cheng made his decision.

With a slight shift of thought, the number in the Strength column immediately began rapidly climbing.

A moment later, the Character Panel's attributes updated.

Strength: 18

Agility: 12

Constitution: 20

Spirit: 20

Feeling the power in his body surge as though rushing with his blood, Fang Cheng exhaled a breath of hot air.

Then, with a crack, he twisted his neck and slowly stretched the muscles and bones in his waist, back, arms, legs, and feet.

Next came Jiu-Jitsu basic skills training.

Dawn was about to break, and red clouds gradually stained the sky.

Mist hung all around, as though the area were veiled in a light gauze.

From time to time, the horn of a car or ship sounded in the distance.

By now, a few scattered figures had begun appearing in the park for their morning runs.

Fang Cheng walked to a flat, open patch of grass near the riverbank.

He took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the ground, pressed the soles of his feet together, and gripped them with both hands.

Maintaining this posture, he kept both legs level and pressed close to the ground.

After about a minute, he switched to a kneeling position, with one leg bent and the other extended straight, both hands raised overhead.

This stretched the ligaments in his legs, arms, and waist.

Jiu-Jitsu basic skills training mainly included four aspects.

Footwork training, strength training, body flexibility training, and jumping and rolling drills.

Fang Cheng already had a solid foundation in footwork and strength, and he kept training every day, so he did not need any special practice.

The main issues were that his flexibility still needed improvement, and that he needed to become proficient in various jumping and falling techniques.

Fang Cheng first practiced various yoga-like ligament-stretching movements.

Once he felt his body had fully loosened up, with his limbs as springy as ox sinews, he began training the falling techniques of Jiu-Jitsu, the so-called "ukemi."

The basic skills included forward rolls, backward rolls, side rolls, and cartwheels into forward falls.

At a higher level of difficulty were movements such as flips and handstands.

The primary purpose of training these falling techniques was to lessen the impact on his body and protect himself when facing an enemy's full-force attacks.

The principle was to use inertia to adjust one's posture while falling, making the body move in an arc to defuse and redirect the damage caused by external impacts.

Put in fighting-game terms, it meant instantly restoring control of the character while in hit-stun from an enemy move, quickly escaping the attack range and avoiding a continued combo.

Not only was it a self-protection technique, it could also turn passivity into initiative and allow one to regain a favorable position.

In competition, many Jiu-Jitsu practitioners even chose to fall deliberately, dragging their opponents down to the ground with them.

Then they used the suffocating holds or joint locks they excelled at to subdue their opponents.

As the saying went, "Win through ground grappling."

This was also the greatest feature distinguishing Jiu-Jitsu from other fighting styles.

After practicing falling techniques, Fang Cheng moved on to training several special techniques for shifting his position on the ground.

Such as the Shrimp Walk, reverse Shrimp Walk, crab walk, and so on.

These were not only practical combat movements, but also specialized flexibility training.

After nearly a week of work as a Sparring Partner, Fang Cheng had accumulated considerable practical experience and additionally learned many unique training techniques from different fighting styles.

Combined with the wealth of knowledge he had absorbed from instructional videos, he could now be considered a beginner martial arts theorist.

A Red Sun rose through the gap between the High Buildings, swiftly burning away the Morning Mist.

The river glittered with Water Ripples, churning and surging.

Several white-feathered waterbirds leisurely Spread Wings, lightly Stepping On the water as they snatched up little silver fish.

Having completed a set of training, Fang Cheng sat on the lawn and looked into the distance.

A faint realization came to him.

The core philosophy of Jiu-Jitsu was not to abandon everything about oneself and seek survival only after being driven into a desperate situation.

Rather, it was to follow the flow of circumstances, facing death with the same free and calm composure as life.

Beyond possessing sufficient Physical Quality, one also had to overcome powerful enemies in one's state of mind.

Only then could one adapt calmly at the moment of making a move.

Only then could one truly achieve the marvelous effect of overcoming hardness with softness, defeating the strong with the weak, and instantly countering an opponent...

As he pondered, the sound of Footsteps gradually rose around him.

A Middle-aged Man in sportswear ran past the lawn, panting heavily.

More and more people were getting up early to come to the park for Morning Practice.

In a waterside pavilion not far away, several old men had gathered together, slowly practicing a set of Tai Chi.

As the noise gradually increased, Fang Cheng stopped training.

It was already getting late. Though today was Saturday, it was still a workday For Him.

"I believe... it won't be long before the Jiu-Jitsu skill is unlocked."

Fang Cheng gathered his Thoughts and rose to leave.

After Running home, he bought a large Bag of buns and Soy Milk from a breakfast stall downstairs, then went up and boiled ten eggs for himself.

After a simple meal and finishing his morning self-study, he hurried out and caught Bus No. 13 right on time.

Twenty Minutes later, he arrived at the Club.

Fang Cheng clocked in. Before he could enter the Locker Room, someone called out to him.

"A Cheng, why did you come to work today? Didn't Shen Haoming tell you about Majima Goro?"

The speaker was Chen Xiaohai, his Face Full Of astonishment.

"What happened?"

Fang Cheng looked at him with equal surprise, having no idea what he meant.