Perhaps his physical foundation was simply too poor, with all his basic attributes below the standard of "1," so practicing the beginner-level Eight Immortals Stance sent every attribute shooting up as though fired from a cannon.
After an hour of stance training on the little boat, his strength and agility had each risen by 0.03!
That was considerably more efficient than relying on assigning points alone, and he had also accumulated another 0.04 free attribute points during that hour.
His rate of progress was at least ten times faster than when he had first awakened the attribute panel.
Only now did Chen Jue begin to grasp the deeper meaning of the saying, "Practice boxing without training your foundation, and you'll have nothing to show for it in old age."
Without stance training to support them, all boxing routines were just empty flourishes.
Only well-practiced stance work could help improve physical fitness, making the body faster and stronger while gradually increasing the power of its punches.
It was a training method that combined the two, progressing step by step, but getting started was extremely difficult. Chen Jue had only managed to get a foothold in the Eight Immortals Stance by using the attribute panel to compress his training time.
Yet after an hour of stance training, despite the sharp rise in all his attributes, Chen Jue felt unsteady on his feet the moment he jumped off the boat. His whole body was sore and weak, a passing breeze chilled him all over, and his head swam.
"These are symptoms of anemia!"
Chen Jue was startled. Back when he had worked in Hangzhou, spending long hours sitting at a computer, he had occasionally experienced similar symptoms when he stood up.
Only after going to the hospital for an examination and consultation had he learned that these were symptoms of anemia.
But he had clearly gotten started with stance training, and his physical fitness was improving rapidly. Why was he showing signs of anemia?
Could I have trained too hard, depleting my body before my nutrition could catch up? The thought flashed through Chen Jue's mind.
After all, he had not gradually mastered the Eight Extremes Stake he had just begun practicing. Instead, he had forcibly improved it with the panel's cheat-like assistance, compressing what normally took several months into mere seconds.
The energy consumed and the price paid in the process probably could not be offset by a few free attribute points.
Once he understood that, Chen Jue began to panic a little. Enduring the discomfort, he made his way down the mountain and returned home.
There were still plenty of ingredients in the refrigerator. Chen Jue took a hot shower, recovered a little strength, then prepared a whole tableful of dishes in the gathering night.
Seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables, and a large bowl of noodles.
Chen Jue already had a healthy appetite, but for this late-night meal, he ate nearly twice his usual amount.
Still, that anemic, depleted feeling was not something ordinary food could easily remedy.
He checked online and saw that the nutritional supplements he had ordered had yet to arrive, then registered an account on a Tieba forum and posted a request for help describing his situation.
Soon, a forum veteran left a comment: "Caught a newbie! Bro, you've overdone your training. You need some tonics. Search online for the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, preferably from Tong Ren Tang. It's a bit pricey, but the quality is better. If you have the money, you can also buy the ingredients from a Chinese herbal pharmacy and have them prepared according to the prescription."
"Scholars can be poor, but martial artists need money. Which martial artist in ancient times didn't combine external training with internal nourishment? If you blindly follow material online like this without a teacher's guidance, it's easy for things to go wrong. [Old man squinting at his phone on the subway]"
"You'd better find a teacher too. I recommend some of the masters at Wudang, or the people practicing Chen-Style Tai Chi in Chen Family Valley. If you can't travel that far, see whether there are any martial arts coaches nearby. Anyone with genuine skills generally knows how to combine external training with internal nourishment. You're destined to be a martial arts master. I believe in you! [Goofy grin]"
The forum veterans were all fairly active, and since it was online, replies of every kind kept popping up.
Some told Chen Jue to buy ginseng to replenish himself, while others recommended ready-made tonics such as the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction, the Black-Boned Chicken and White Phoenix Pill, and Donkey-Hide Gelatin Granules.
"The Black-Boned Chicken and White Phoenix Pill? Donkey-hide gelatin? Aren't those all for women?"
"Are they sure about this?"
Reading their comments, Chen Jue could not help laughing. Yet an online search really did turn up those ready-made tonics, suitable for young and old alike rather than strictly for women, as he had always assumed.
He checked the prices and found them reasonably affordable, with formulas consisting of ordinary Chinese medicinal herbs. He ordered a few of each online and selected SF Express expedited delivery, spending a little over a thousand yuan in total.
Some of the forum veterans also shared their treasured training recipes.
There were all sorts: pigeon soup to replenish qi, ginseng chicken soup, old duck soup with Chinese angelica, and even a few recipes for blood-nourishing snake soup and golden softshell turtle soup.
Although these forum veterans loved joking around, they were extremely enthusiastic about helping and meant well. Chen Jue thanked them one by one, making his newbie status unmistakable.
After browsing the forum for a while, he felt a wave of fatigue and weakness. He put all the attribute points he had earned that evening into constitution, which finally made him feel a little better.
Name: Chen Jue Age: 27 Strength: 0.92 Agility: 0.84 Intelligence: 1.22 Constitution: 1.30 Skills mastered: [Boat Boxing Lv1 (69/200)] [Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic Lv0 (4/100)] [Eight Immortals Stance Lv1 (12/200)] Available free attribute points: 0
Seeing that strength and agility were both approaching the standard of "1" on the attribute panel, Chen Jue knew he was training in the right direction.
But increasing constitution alone could not remedy this weakness. After some thought, he decided to visit the market again the next day and buy nourishing ingredients to try the recipes he had found online.
He got up before six the next morning as planned, but his depleted body had yet to recover, and last night's meal had done little to help. While washing up, Chen Jue noticed that his face in the mirror was unusually pale.
He looked as awful as he had after staying awake for three days and nights at an internet café back in college.
He opened the attribute panel, found no changes in any of his attributes, then headed out toward neighboring Lin Family Village.
It was past six twenty when he reached the breakfast stall. He ordered a bowl of glutinous rice and some seaweed and egg-drop soup, but after a few bites, he realized his appetite had worsened.
After paying, Chen Jue flagged down the seven-seat minivan on the road and paid five yuan for a ride to Panlong Town.
He had originally intended to train his legs, but his body was simply too weak. He had no choice but to rely on outside help to get through this for now.
He browsed the market, bought an old duck and some Chinese angelica and other ingredients, then planned to head home and make a nourishing soup.
But as he passed the town's pharmacy, a sudden impulse made him go inside and ask whether they stocked ginseng or other Chinese medicinal herbs for replenishing qi and blood.
The owner was a middle-aged woman. Looking at Chen Jue's awful complexion, she tutted and chatted with him, asking whether he had stayed up all night. Then she took a box of Donkey-Hide Gelatin Granules and some sliced ginseng from the counter and told him to brew them in water at home, saying they would replenish his qi and nourish his blood.
The two items cost less than a hundred yuan in total. As for the liver-detox medicine the owner recommended, Chen Jue declined.
His anemia had not been caused by staying up all night, but by overtraining. Detox medicine would not address the cause.
Besides, every medicine carried some toxicity. He should not take medicine indiscriminately when he was not ill.
Back when he had worked in Hangzhou, there had been a period when his hair fell out like crazy from staying up late, frightening Chen Jue into thinking he was going bald.
So he had sought advice all over the internet and bought a pile of recommended hair-loss medicines, shampoos, and anti-hair-loss growth serums. Not only had they failed to work, but the more he used them, the balder he became. In frustration, he stopped using every product and made his sleep schedule a little more regular, and some of his hair naturally grew back.
That absurd experience had taught him firsthand that medicine was not something to take indiscriminately.
Before you continue