Dance at the Crow of the Rooster

At night, Lin Yuan looked at his system panel.

[Name: Lin Yuan]

[Lifespan: 25/60]

[Strength: 7.5]

[Speed: 9.5]

[Agility: 10]

[Endurance: 10]

[Flexibility: 9]

[Martial Arts: Yang Style Tai Chi (Blue; Mastery), Wu Style Tai Chi (Blue; Beginner)]

[Attribute Points: 1]

I still need to work harder to get more Attribute Points, Lin Yuan thought.

As long as he had enough Attribute Points, all kinds of martial arts could improve as rapidly as if riding a rocket, and his basic physical attributes could advance by leaps and bounds as well.

From what he had seen so far, deep training did not seem to be as easy as he had originally imagined.

He had initially thought deep training simply meant persisting with daily exercise like Teacher Saitama, but it seemed he had oversimplified things.

Lin Yuan recalled the first time he had obtained Attribute Points. He had run nearly fifteen kilometers in one go, exhausting himself badly.

But the next day, he had run from home to the company, roughly the same distance, yet the system had given no notification that his Attribute Points had increased.

Who knows how this damned system calculates things.

Logically speaking, something as rigid and inflexible as a system must have a set of traceable calculation rules.

Still, aside from that kind of training, gaining Attribute Points through boxing and Martial Arts Practice seemed more reliable.

The first time he had practiced Yang Style Tai Chi all night, he had gained 2 Attribute Points. Later, at Guanshan Park, he had first improvised a set of Tai Chi, then practiced with Wu Zihan for around another hour. In the end, the system had given him 1 Attribute Point. On Mid-Autumn Festival, after dealing with all sorts of trivial matters, he had practiced Tai Chi for an hour or two and gained another 1 Attribute Point.

Based on that, he quickly formulated a policy for obtaining Attribute Points—Martial Arts Practice as the main focus, basic training as support.

When he had watched the Shaolin Temple film series as a child, what had impressed him most was the way those warrior monks practiced martial arts every day.

There was not only painstaking cultivation of martial techniques, but also all kinds of basic exercises, such as lifting water buckets with outstretched arms, horse stance training, swinging stone locks, weighted running, and so on.

As the saying went, "Practice martial arts without practicing fundamentals, and you'll have nothing to show for it in old age." Fundamentals meant basic skills.

Although he had a system and his physical qualities would continually improve along with his martial arts proficiency, he still intended to cultivate martial arts in the traditional way.

He would practice both martial arts and fundamentals. For one thing, fundamental training could also increase Attribute Points.

For another, it could improve his body's margin for error.

The scene of being nearly drained dry after instantly raising Yang Style Tai Chi to Mastery remained vivid in his mind. His body simply could not adapt to such rapid improvement all at once.

Once he had settled on his plan, Lin Yuan opened the Treasure Hunt app.

Sharpening the axe did not delay the chopping of wood. He planned to buy some fitness equipment to assist his training.

He first searched for "dumbbells" and bought two 100-kilogram detachable solid steel dumbbells for basic strength training.

Then he bought some Weighted Equipment: a 50-kilogram Weighted Vest, 20-kilogram Leg Wraps, and 10-kilogram Hand Wraps.

These were basically the heaviest pieces of equipment he could find on Treasure Hunt.

With his current physical condition, he probably could not handle them yet, but all of this equipment could have its weight reduced.

According to the system, a healthy adult male had a score of 10 in every physical category. He just did not know what kind of "healthy adult male" the system was referring to.

His current physical stats were: Strength 7.5, Speed 9.5, Agility 10, Endurance 10, and Flexibility 9.

Only two of them had reached the system's standard for a "healthy adult male," yet he felt he had become far stronger than before.

Tomorrow, he could test himself in a few athletic events and see what level he was at.

At five o'clock the next morning.

The moment his alarm rang, Lin Yuan got up without any hesitation.

He put on his running shoes, T-shirt, and shorts, washed up briefly, and headed straight out.

It was late autumn now. The sky outside was dim, and the air carried a faint chill.

Lin Yuan quietly left the house and headed directly for the Jinjiang River west of the village.

The villages around them were basically scattered along both banks of the Jinjiang River, where the terrain was flat. Aside from a few small hills within thirty li, the land was almost entirely level.

In the past, the fields had stretched out in neat rows, and every harvest season, both riverbanks had bustled with activity.

Harvesting rice, threshing grain, pounding rice cakes, eating rice pastries—when the farm work became tiring, he would go play in the river with the adults.

But now, the place carried a little more desolation.

Many rural residents had gradually moved into the city, leaving mostly elderly people behind.

With no one to farm the land, it had been leased out one after another for large-scale cultivation of vegetables, fruit, and other cash crops.

Before long, Lin Yuan arrived at the bank of the Jinjiang River.

This stretch of the river was roughly two hundred meters wide, and Majiacun Village lay on the opposite shore.

A particularly crude stone bridge stood in the middle, about one meter wide.

When he had played in the water as a child, he had especially loved jumping from the bridge and diving into the river.

Lin Yuan stepped onto the bridge and walked to its center. As he looked across both banks, he felt only the smallness of man and the vastness of heaven and earth.

In that instant, he seemed to gain another faint insight into Tai Chi.

What was Tai Chi?

The Way of Tai Chi arose from Wuji and was the mother of yin and yang. Everything in the world possessed an ultimate state, and the principle that encompassed all things between heaven and earth was Tai Chi.

Therefore, Tai Chi was not some separate thing. It existed within yin and yang, within the five elements, and within all things. It was merely a principle; because it was ultimate, it was called Tai Chi.

As his intent moved, his heart followed. As his heart moved, his form followed.

Lin Yuan slightly lowered his body, slowly raised his arms from below, and began practicing Tai Chi.

"Sink the qi and raise the hands, wrists level; let both arms adhere and coil, shoulders relaxed. Press down, relax the abdomen, return to the origin; expel all turbid qi, and clear qi is born."

This was the Commencing Form of Tai Chi: both arms rose from below, primarily using peng force. The wrists contained a sinking, pressing force, and as they rose and fell, the arms needed to carry the intent of rising, receiving, turning, closing, and coiling around an opponent's arms.

After that came Catching Sparrow's Tail, Single Whip, Raise Hands, White Crane Spreads Wings...

Move after move, every transition flowed naturally, as though his entire body had merged with this patch of heaven and earth.

The bridge was only about one meter wide. As Lin Yuan shifted, turned, and moved, half of one foot sometimes hung in midair, yet his body remained as steady as Mount Tai.

Without realizing it, a pale strip of dawn appeared in the eastern sky. Then the red sun rose, dispersing the darkness lingering over the world and illuminating the earth.

Sunlight fell across Lin Yuan's body, and the whole world seemed to become his backdrop.

Lin Yuan practiced Tai Chi again and again, alternating between Yang Style Tai Chi and Wu Style Tai Chi. Later, he began mixing their moves together. The more he practiced, the more he felt that different paths led to the same destination.

More than two hours passed. Beads of sweat appeared on Lin Yuan's forehead, and more than half of his short-sleeved shirt was soaked.

When practiced seriously, Tai Chi was not an easy exercise either.

Lin Yuan checked his panel. He had gained 1 Attribute Point. Then he checked the time. It was already past seven.

He had not eaten much the night before, and now his stomach felt completely empty, so he turned and headed back.

When he got home, his mom was already up and busy in the pigsty.

When Li Xiuqing saw Lin Yuan, surprise flashed in her eyes. "Did the sun rise in the west? Aren't you usually still in bed at this hour?"

"I went out to exercise. Health is the foundation of everything. If I don't get my body in shape, how am I supposed to make big money in the future?"

"Make big money? I think you're just having one of your three-minute bursts of enthusiasm."

Lin Yuan's face immediately fell. "Mom, just how bad is my image in your mind? Have you forgotten how I used to burn the midnight oil studying? In our village—no, in this whole township—whose college entrance exam score was higher than mine? If I hadn't gotten diarrhea during the Chinese exam and failed to finish the essay, I might have gotten into Tsinghua/Peking Universities."

"A true hero doesn't boast about past glories. If you're capable, go take the civil service exam."

"What's so good about being a civil servant? You can see the end of the road at a glance. Besides, our family doesn't have any connections. As the old saying goes, don't become an official if you have no one in court."

"Then tell Mom what you want to do. You're a college graduate with broad horizons. Let me hear your brilliant opinion."

"I'm afraid if I tell you now, you'll think I've gone crazy. How about this? Give me three months. No matter what I do during those three months, don't interfere. If I can't give you a decent result after three months, I'll do as you say and obediently take the civil service exam."

"Fine. You said it."

"A gentleman's word cannot be chased down by four horses."

"Enough. Go wash your hands and eat. I steamed some sweet potatoes and eggs for you in the kitchen. Have them with rice porridge."

"Is there anything else?" Lin Yuan asked with a bitter smile.

"Isn't that enough for you this early in the morning?"

"Enough, enough."

Lin Yuan darted into the kitchen and lifted the pot lid. Inside were five or six small sweet potatoes and three eggs.

If it had been before, two sweet potatoes and one egg would have filled him up. But now, that simply could not satisfy his Taotie-like appetite.

In a few bites, Lin Yuan had eaten two-thirds of it. He had to leave the rest for his mom.

After eating, he rode the family's little electric scooter out the door and headed straight for the nearest market.

He found a beef soup shop and ordered a bowl of beef soup, three jin of braised beef, and two fried flatbreads. Only then was he full.

When ancient people practiced martial arts, they had to eat meat almost every meal in order to meet their daily physical demands.

Now Lin Yuan was the same. Every cell in his body was filled with a craving for meat.