Charm and Inner Strength

Charm and Inner Strength

In the dim room, Bai Ye gazed at the changes on the Stat Panel in surprise.

It was not just his physique. In that instant, his strength, charm, and unallocated Attribute Points had also broken through their limits in a chain reaction triggered by his physique breakthrough.

Just this afternoon, he had still been wondering whether he could raise his mental attribute before school started in three days.

Yet before a day had even passed, through his own efforts and a little help from the system panel, all his attributes had increased by 0.1!

But what was going on with this charm? Bai Ye was somewhat puzzled.

It was perfectly reasonable for his strength attribute, which had been on the verge of a breakthrough, to increase, but what did that have to do with charm?

Puzzled, Bai Ye fumbled for the light switch, then slowly walked into the bathroom. The next second, the person in the mirror stunned him.

In the mirror, Bai Ye saw a handsome youth with a straight, upright figure and picturesque features staring back at him in shock. Whether it was his fair, lustrous skin or his deep-set eyes, every detail was flawless beyond criticism.

"I'm speechless." Bai Ye sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror.

Before this, he had always been quite confident in his looks.

How should his previous appearance be described? Put it this way: next to him, Takeshi Kaneshiro fell half a notch short, while Daniel Wu lagged a full tier behind.

Because he had been so confident in his appearance, although he had not said much, he had held quite a few complaints about the 1.3 listed under charm on the panel.

If his charm was only 1.3, then what would someone with 1.4 have to look like?

But after reaching 1.4, he was relieved. Sure enough, charm at 1.4 meant looking like him.

After briefly admiring his appearance, Bai Ye left the bathroom. With both his body and mind at their peak, he carefully compared the annotations of the Gentleman Sword and began studying the Purple Mist Divine Skill.

Perhaps because his mental attribute had broken through to 1.3, Bai Ye felt that both his memory and comprehension had improved considerably. His learning efficiency was astonishingly high; in only two hours, he had memorized every word of the Purple Mist Divine Skill's several-thousand-word internal cultivation method.

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa with his eyes lightly closed, he gradually emptied his mind and tried to circulate his qi according to the Meridians route diagram. Yet after sitting still for more than ten minutes, he felt nothing at all.

Bai Ye was not impatient. He continued to calm his mind and focus his spirit, his body utterly motionless.

According to the Gentleman Sword's annotations, peerless geniuses could produce a thread of true qi within one cup of tea's time, while those with outstanding talent required one incense stick's time. Those with decent talent needed two hours, mediocrities needed half a day, and trash talents took anywhere from one to five days. The gap created by talent was enormous.

Now that more than ten minutes had passed without him feeling anything, it only meant that he was not one of those so-called peerless geniuses.

As he sat meditating and silently reciting the cultivation method, a tiny current of air finally rose from the TanZhong Acupoint marked on the Meridians diagram after thirty-five minutes.

Sensing the change, Bai Ye focused his mind and slowly guided the current through every Meridian in his body, finally storing it in his Dantian.

So I count as someone with outstanding talent. Bai Ye opened his eyes as he pondered this, and a new prompt appeared in the description panel.

You completed an internal strength circulation lasting 35 minutes and 21 seconds, generating a thread of Purple Mist True Qi within your body.

There is no indication that my physique increased. Does that mean cultivating internal arts does not offer much benefit to physique? Bai Ye thought back to the martial artists in "Smiling Proud Wanderer." It was true that after losing their internal strength, they were little different from ordinary people.

However, he was not discouraged. According to Yue Buqun's annotations, aside from prolonging one's life, internal strength could be expended to replenish physical stamina. As long as one had enough internal strength, training continuously for three days and three nights would not be a problem.

He settled down and continued circulating and guiding his internal strength, gradually building it up. After that, he could generate a thread of internal strength in his body about every half hour.

The long night passed. As Bai Ye continuously circulated his qi through a full cycle, by dawn, the single thread of true qi within him had grown twentyfold in quantity, reaching two strands.

As he slowly finished his practice, the faint Purple Qi that had appeared on his face during cultivation quietly faded. His eyes gradually opened, shining with vigor.

Perhaps it was the effect of his internal strength, but after staying awake all night without rest, he felt barely any fatigue. His mind remained as energetic as ever.

After moving his slightly stiff body a little, Bai Ye found some food in the refrigerator and wolfed it down. Once he had tidied up, he prepared to head out and run to the gym.

Description Panel:

You completed a run with a total distance of 1,824 meters and an average pace of 3 minutes 21 seconds/km. Repeated 8,321 times, your body will suffer 0.05% long-term damage, which can heal naturally once physique reaches 1.5.

Repeat 412 times to increase the strength limit by 0.1.

Repeat 213 times to increase the physique limit by 0.1.

Repeat 1,742 times to increase the mental limit by 0.1.

...

Looking at the numbers in the description panel, Bai Ye, who was only breathing slightly heavily, brightened.

His pace was nearly a minute faster than yesterday's. That kind of improvement was astonishing. His hard training had truly paid off. However, after his physical fitness improved, the number of repetitions required to raise it by another 0.1 had more than doubled.

Satisfied with his physical improvement, Bai Ye headed straight into the Fitness Club and found Smith.

"Are you really Bai Ye? You're sure you're not his twin brother?" Smith looked at the radiant, handsome youth before him, then compared him with the haggard state he had been in yesterday evening, wondering if he was hallucinating.

It was not just his vigorous appearance. Looking at Bai Ye now, Smith sincerely recommended, "I don't know what you're working out for, but there's absolutely no need to push yourself this hard. With that face of yours, I guarantee that even if you had no acting skills at all, you could still thrive in the entertainment industry."

"Coach, you talk too much. I only want to train right now!" Bai Ye stressed, dissatisfied. This guy looked like he was all muscles, but he was such a chatterbox. Why did he always have to say things that distracted him?

"OK. Since there's nothing wrong with your body, let's begin today's training. What do you want to work on first?" Smith spread his hands.

"Let's start with bodyweight squats." Bai Ye took off his shoes and walked onto the Yoga Mat. After a simple warm-up, he held his hands flat and began squatting.

Five minutes later, Smith rubbed his eyes as he watched Bai Ye struggle through his squats. What is going on? He's already close to four hundred squats. Yesterday, wasn't he in so much pain after just over two hundred that he looked like he was about to die?

Watching Bai Ye shatter his previous record, Smith began to question his life. But what he questioned even more was whether this young man's exhaustion yesterday had been an act.