After more than an hour of morning exercise on the dam, his free attribute points had increased by 0.03 because he had mainly practiced his boxing and stance work, but his individual attributes had barely improved any further.
Chen Jue checked the time. It was only seven, and no one else was around, so he went down from the dam and hopped aboard the little boat moored by the water to continue practicing.
Practicing the Eight Immortals Stance and Boat Boxing aboard the boat was considerably more efficient. His proficiency in both skills kept rising at a visible rate.
However, practicing aboard the boat took quite a toll on his concentration.
To avoid falling into the water, he had to stay alert to everything around him, keeping his mind tense at every moment.
By a little past eight, he had accumulated 0.07 free attribute points. That was even better than the environmental buff he received on the dam!
Besides that, his deeper practice of the Eight Immortals Stance had raised his constitution by another point.
His constitution had already reached 1.32, a full 32% above the standard value. He had thought allocating points would be his only way to push it any higher.
He had never expected that further stance practice could strengthen his constitution even more!
That came as a delightful surprise to Chen Jue!
Practicing boxing without training its foundations leaves you with nothing in old age. I wonder just how far this Eight Immortals Stance can transform my constitution, Chen Jue mused.
He got off the boat, picked up the four-jin sandbags, and strapped them back on, ready to head downhill for breakfast.
Although he had jogged uphill with weights that morning, they might not have been heavy enough, since his agility had barely improved. Chen Jue planned to add more weight once he got home.
He had not gone far before he ran into Old Mr. Huang, the man who had taught him Boat Boxing.
The old man looked energetic and rosy-cheeked. He had just finished exercising on the fitness equipment beside the temple and was walking back when he came face-to-face with Chen Jue, who had just come down from the dam.
"Grandpa Huang!" Chen Jue greeted him happily.
"Oh, it's you! Up here for your morning exercise?"
Although they had not seen each other for several days, Old Mr. Huang recognized Chen Jue at once.
"That's right, Grandpa Huang. I also learned Boat Boxing's Eight Immortals Stance online." Chen Jue chatted with him for a bit, then demonstrated a few moves from the martial arts he had been steadily refining over the past few days.
That left Old Mr. Huang staring in astonishment.
"Well, now! Young man, I never imagined you were such a natural!"
"How did you learn so quickly? And this Eight Immortals Stance looks just like what the village elders used to teach. That's exactly the feel of it. Even I never really learned it properly." Amazed, Old Mr. Huang kept asking Chen Jue to teach him.
Chen Jue did not refuse. He found a quiet spot, explained how to practice the Eight Immortals Stance, and guided the old man through a few movements by hand, returning the favor.
"Yes, yes! That's the feeling! No matter how the old master taught me back then, I could never get it. Who would've thought an outsider like you would learn it before me?" Old Mr. Huang's face filled with nostalgia, as though he were remembering something from the village's past.
Chen Jue also told him about learning online. Despite being over seventy and living in the countryside, the old man was still eager to learn and keep up with the times. He even used a brand-new Huawei phone, evidently provided by his children.
Chen Jue opened the phone and helped him download the instructional videos. As the old man watched, he murmured to himself, his eyes reddening slightly. Chen Jue could not tell whether he was excited or saddened by memories of the past and people long gone.
"I'm old now! Not much use anymore!"
"The gentleman in this video teaches well too, but I'm too old. I probably can't manage this Eight Immortals Stance anymore."
"But I could send it to my granddaughter. Young man, how old are you? You're not married yet, are you? Would you like me to introduce you to my granddaughter?" As he spoke, Old Mr. Huang abruptly changed the subject, opened WeChat on his phone, and brought up the Moments feed of an account with a young woman's profile picture.
Chen Fan took one look and broke into a figurative waterfall of sweat. The young woman in the photo certainly looked striking and spirited, but she wore a crisp white military uniform and radiated upright confidence. She was clearly a young woman still serving in the navy.
"Grandpa Huang! You really don't need to worry about that. There are plenty of handsome young men in the military. I'm sure one of them would be a good match for your granddaughter."
Chen Jue waved his hands, not even daring to ask for her WeChat details. After a few more words, he beat a hasty retreat, leaving Old Mr. Huang looking regretful. "Such a fine young man! Just a little on the plump side, like a successful businessman. Tongtong probably wouldn't like that type."
After coming down the mountain, Chen Jue power-walked all the way to Lin Family Village and once again ordered a large bowl of glutinous rice and sweet soy milk.
Anyone from Wenzhou could eat that breakfast combination without ever getting tired of it.
Of course, Chen Jue did not order extra steamed buns as he had before. That would leave him too full and bloated, making digestion and training difficult.
Once home, he checked his attribute panel:
Name: Chen Jue Age: 27 Health index: 89% Strength: 0.95 Agility: 0.88 Intelligence: 1.22 Constitution: 1.33 Skills mastered: [Boat Boxing Lv1 (83/200)] [Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic Lv0 (8/100)] [Eight Immortals Stance Lv1 (46/200)] Free attribute points available: 0.07
"My agility really did go up!"
"Looks like training with weights really does help." Chen Jue felt pleased.
After a busy morning, he had gained more than just some skill proficiency. There had been an unexpected bonus too.
He removed the weights, brewed a pot of ginseng tea, and sat down to rest for half an hour. In the meantime, he ordered a set of Yunnan Baiyao online for external application.
Relying solely on his constitution to recover from the muscle soreness caused by weight training was clearly not enough to keep pace. He had no folk remedies or secret formulas for external use on hand, so he could only choose Yunnan Baiyao, which was touted as a national medicinal formula.
It was highly effective at treating bruises and sprains, promoting blood circulation, and clearing blood stasis.
Back when he was in school, Chen Jue had often injured himself playing sports, and Yunnan Baiyao spray was what he used.
Not wanting to waste time making another trip to a pharmacy in Panlong Town, Chen Jue simply ordered online from a seller shipping locally within Wenzhou. If delivery was quick, it could arrive tomorrow. Considering that he might need it fairly often in the future, he ordered two extra sets, spending over two hundred yuan.
Once he felt that the food in his stomach had settled enough that strenuous exercise would no longer give him a stomachache, Chen Jue began practicing the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.
The Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic also promoted blood circulation, cleared blood stasis, and stretched the muscles and tendons.
The only problem was how slowly the practice progressed. After several days, he still had not advanced beyond the beginner stage, and proficiency rose extremely slowly-just one point every half hour.
After thinking it over, he decided it was probably because this training method was relatively advanced.
After all, countless martial arts novelists had written about the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic until its name was practically everywhere. Compared with obscure little martial arts styles like Boat Boxing and the Eight Immortals Stance, the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic from Shaolin Temple could be considered a legendary Shaolin art known to everyone!
Since it was a legendary art, slower progress and greater difficulty were not entirely unacceptable.
But Chen Jue had grown accustomed to rapidly grinding attributes. How could he have the patience to slog through the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic? He planned to wait until he had accumulated enough free attribute points, then allocate them for a direct breakthrough.
Before that, though, Chen Jue would have to take precautions against depleting his body again, as he had last time when he allocated points to the Eight Immortals Stance.
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