Meridians Severed? I Did It on Purpose!

When Bai Ye arrived at the gym, Smith had already been waiting for quite a while. After all, Bai Ye's face had been plastered across New York's headlines that morning—impossible to miss.

Smith looked at Bai Ye with a complicated expression. Just yesterday, he had been looking forward to seeing what surprise Bai Ye would bring today. Instead, Bai Ye had gone and made such a huge splash.

"Let's start training." Bai Ye did not waste words. He rolled up his sleeves, ready to begin, but Smith interrupted him.

"Bai, our boss knows about what happened to you and wants to talk to you," Smith said quietly.

"Your boss?" Bai Ye paused and looked at Smith.

"Yes, the owner of this Fitness Club. After learning that you work out here, he wants to invite you for a chat tonight, so he asked me to see whether you have time."

"What does he want to talk about?"

"Seeing how good your image is, he wants you to be some kind of spokesperson for the club. The endorsement fee starts at ten million, and the exact amount is negotiable," Smith said.

"What if I don't want to meet him?" Bai Ye asked directly.

"Our boss said that if you're unwilling, then we'll forget about it. He also wants to make friends with you, so he took the initiative to refund the money you put into our gym. From now on, as long as you want, you can work out here for free twenty-four hours a day."

"And since this New York club was built many years ago, all the equipment is old-fashioned. To meet your needs, we can have the latest equipment shipped here tomorrow. If necessary, we can even pay to have equipment tailored specifically to your strength."

"That's pretty generous." Bai Ye's lips curved upward. The other party was being so accommodating that he almost felt embarrassed to refuse.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Ye looked at Smith. "Tell your boss that I don't have time this month. Next month, I'll visit him personally. By then, I'll have a deal worth over a hundred billion to discuss with him."

"A hundred billion?" Smith asked in surprise.

"Yes. You'll find out then. Now let's train. This time, load the barbells up to one ton. I'll start with a set of squats." Bai Ye gave the order. He had added 0.2 to his physique today, so it had finally caught up with his strength. He no longer had to worry about injuring himself by overtraining.

"One ton? But the barbells here can only be loaded up to 260 kilograms," Smith said awkwardly.

"It's fine. I'll just stack four together and hold them." Bai Ye waved it off.

But he quickly discovered that it would not work. Once the weight plates were loaded onto the barbells, one hand could only grip one barbell.

Even if he had enough strength, he could only hold two with both hands, and at most carry another behind his neck. Ordinary fitness equipment was already beginning to fall short of his needs.

With no other choice, Bai Ye could only lower the intensity to three barbells, or 780 kilograms. Yet once the training load dropped, he realized that at this level, let alone getting tired, he could not even break a sweat.

As his Physique attribute rose, his stamina recovery speed had also continuously increased. He was doing squats under nearly a ton of weight, the floor tiles beneath his feet nearly cracking, yet after a thousand consecutive reps, his face had not even turned red.

Clearly, his stamina recovery had surpassed the expenditure from training.

It would be great if Magneto were here. With his ability, he could directly increase the load on the barbells in my hands. Bai Ye thought regretfully.

After so many days of training, he had also discovered that under the same intensity, training while his body was at its limit was almost twice as effective.

Unfortunately, as his Attribute Points increased, reaching his limit through training would become extraordinarily difficult in the future.

Helplessly, Bai Ye did squats while asking, "Do you have Sulfuric Acid here?"

"Sulfuric Acid?"

"Forget it. I'll bring my own tomorrow." Bai Ye shook his head, dismissing the idea. At his current level, he should be able to try bathing in Sulfuric Acid with a concentration above seventy percent.

But the school should be visiting Osborn for a field trip today. Peter Parker should have been bitten by the spider by now, right? he guessed inwardly.

Then another idea surfaced in his mind. Looking at Smith, he instructed, "Go get a barbell without any plates on it, then use it to hit me."

"Bai, you mean... whip you with a barbell?" Smith asked, his face full of disbelief.

"That's right. I want to train my resistance to blows. Don't worry, you don't need to be afraid of hurting me."

Who's worried about you? I'm afraid I'll tire myself to death, Smith grumbled inwardly. Then he picked up an unloaded barbell from the side, tensed every muscle in his body, and swung it into Bai Ye's back.

Thud!

As Smith struck with all his strength, the Steel Rod in his hand felt as though it had smashed into a rubber tire, leaving his right hand slightly numb from the impact.

Bai Ye, who had taken the blow, only felt a faint prick of pain in his back. From Smith's perspective, Bai Ye's fair skin had reddened slightly. Other than that, nothing had changed.

"Did you use any strength? It feels a little light. My internal organs don't feel like they were struck hard enough to shake."

As Bai Ye spoke, he opened the information panel and found that this was indeed quite useful. As long as he took another five thousand or so blows, his Physique could increase by 0.1.

"I absolutely used my full strength," Smith said seriously, shaking his slightly numb right hand.

"How about this? Don't hit my back anymore. Hit the back of my head directly. It feels like that would work a little better," Bai Ye said.

One dared to say it, and the other dared to do it. Not long after Bai Ye spoke, Smith brought the bar down on the back of Bai Ye's head with a Duang as he was doing squats.

Bai Ye sucked in a sharp breath from the pain. It felt as if he heard bones cracking, and his whole head buzzed. Seeing Smith raise the rod again, Bai Ye hurriedly said, "Let's ease up on the training intensity for now. Hit my back instead. Looks like my head is still a little fragile."

"Okay." Smith obediently aimed at Bai Ye's back again and struck with all his strength.

But Smith's stamina was ultimately inferior to Bai Ye's. After only a few dozen swings, his arms began to go numb. In the end, he had no choice but to sit to the side and rest, watching Bai Ye train alone.

Before long, Bai Ye found a new training method through self-training: disrupting the circulation of the internal energy within his body and destroying its original pathways—in short, severing his own Meridians.

Feeling the internal energy run wild through his body, bringing needle-like pain, Bai Ye revealed a satisfied smile.

Information Panel:

You completed one case of Meridians severed caused by internal energy flowing in reverse. Total recovery time: 70 minutes...

Repeat 34 times: Physique increased by 0.1

Repeat 124 times: Spirit increased by 0.1