After waiting a while for his ride, Chen Jue arrived home at nearly eleven. He hurried to get lunch cooking and deftly put on a pot of softshell turtle soup as well.
Over the past few days, he had been drinking warming medicinal soups. Although they had done a great deal to improve his constitution, he had read online that dietary therapy required a balance of nourishing yin and replenishing yang. Drinking nothing but warming soups could cause excessive internal heat, leading to acne, feelings of heat and dryness, dark yellow urine, constipation, and other adverse effects.
That was why he needed some cooling golden turtle soup-otherwise known as softshell turtle soup-to balance out the heat in his body.
Although this was just traditional Chinese medicine theory copied from the internet, Chen Jue firmly believed it.
He had started the soup too late, though. Lunch would have to wait until after one, or the soup would not be rich enough nor the meat tender enough.
Once the clay pot came to a boil, he turned the heat down low and went to the living room to practice the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic.
Now that he had grasped the basics, the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic felt even more addictive than before.
After just half an hour of practice, he saw his proficiency tick up by +1, although his constitution had not budged.
The fatigue from his morning workout and power walk had also been swept away completely by the combined effects of this stillness practice and his strong constitution.
His whole body felt at ease, his blood and vital energy flowed freely, his muscles and tendons stretched, and his thoughts grew ever calmer.
He practiced like this for nearly two hours, gaining four points of proficiency in the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic. When he finished, his constitution actually rose another 0.01, making Chen Jue laugh with delight.
"Hard work pays off!"
"I made the right call with those points!"
Seeing that practicing the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic could steadily produce constitution gains, Chen Jue felt relieved that he had stopped himself in time instead of squandering all the free attribute points he had saved.
Still, this stillness practice was not much help in accumulating free attribute points. Two hours of practice had yielded only 0.01 points, making it far less efficient than boxing or stance training.
But Chen Jue had a feeling that free attribute points would not always be so easy to farm.
Once his attributes reached higher levels, accumulating more free attribute points would probably become difficult.
Since he had not encountered that problem yet, Chen Jue decided not to overthink it. He finished his practice, wiped off his sweat, and served himself the finished soup and rice, enjoying a satisfying meal.
The softshell turtle soup really did have the cooling properties described online. Not long after he drank it, the blood and vital energy stirred up by his training gradually began to settle.
He felt a cool sensation coursing through his legs and lower abdomen in particular.
Had his training sharpened his senses and made him more sensitive? He remembered having softshell turtle soup once as a child, so why had he not felt this chill entering his body back then?
Chen Jue could not quite figure it out. But the comfort he felt, along with his health index holding steady at 98%, told him that the cooling sensation from the soup should be beneficial to his body.
Otherwise, his health index would have kept falling rather than remaining unchanged!
That was the advantage of the concrete data provided by his attribute panel. Chen Jue could monitor all his bodily metrics anytime, anywhere. It was far better than a routine hospital checkup.
By the time he finished lunch, it was nearly one thirty in the afternoon. Chen Jue decided against a nap and went upstairs for a short rest instead.
At two, he went out to collect his deliveries. After carrying home the Yunnan Baiyao, track-and-field testing equipment, and electronic wristband he had ordered earlier, he began his afternoon workout.
Perhaps his constitution had now reached a certain threshold, because three hours of afternoon exercise actually boosted both his strength and agility by a whopping 0.04.
The adverse effects were also very slight, leaving Chen Jue pleasantly surprised.
Name: Chen Jue Age: 27 Health index: 97% Strength: 0.99 Agility: 0.96 Intelligence: 1.23 Constitution: 1.57 Skills mastered: [Boat Boxing Level 1 (100/200)] [Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic Level 1 (10/200)] [Eight Immortals Stance Level 1 (80/200)] Free attribute points available: 0.16
An afternoon of pumping iron had caused only a slight dip in his constitution and health index, while bringing substantial gains in strength and agility.
"At this rate, all my attributes should pass one tomorrow!"
Chen Jue felt excited. Once all his attributes exceeded one point, his physical fitness would be on par with that of a standard adult man.
He was even a little above that standard in intelligence and constitution, clear evidence of how effective his recent exercise and martial arts training had been.
He went to the bathroom to rinse off his sweat and looked at himself in the mirror. He had definitely slimmed down since returning home, but he had forgotten to buy a digital scale.
He wondered how much weight he had lost over these past few days of exercise.
Still, the strength brimming throughout his body, the ease he felt after training, and the lively face in the mirror were proof enough that Chen Jue had undergone a miraculous transformation, almost as if he had been reborn.
"Keep working at it!"
I'm only just about to pass one. If I don't train until my attributes are several times the standard, I'll be letting this attribute panel down. Looking at the version of himself in the mirror, who had regained a little of his old brightness, Chen Jue silently made up his mind.
He cooked, ate, and sat for a while to digest. By around seven thirty that evening, Chen Jue felt that most of his stamina had returned, so he strapped on his sandbag weights again and headed toward the reservoir in the hills behind the village.
Chen Jue felt that he had become truly obsessed with training, to the point that he barely checked his phone anymore, even though he had once been able to scroll through it all night.
He could check the time on his electronic watch anyway, so he simply left his phone charging at home.
But just as he reached the halfway point up the main road, several SUVs with bright LED headlights slowed beside him. A window rolled down, revealing an unfamiliar, portly middle-aged man, who asked, "Hey, young man! Could you give us directions? Is there a reservoir up there where we can fish?"
Chen Jue turned to look at the man, who appeared to be in his forties or fifties and was dressed in camouflage. An attractive young woman around Chen Jue's age sat in the passenger seat. He could tell that the man had come from the city to fish out in the countryside. With that big gold watch and a Mercedes SUV, he was clearly a wealthy fishing enthusiast.
"Yes! Drive a little farther up and you'll see the reservoir. You can park beside the temple and walk in to fish." Chen Jue saw no reason to hide anything and helpfully pointed the way.
More anglers like these might even give the neighboring villages' economies a boost, creating a few extra sources of income for the elderly people living alone there. Chen Jue would be happy to see that.
"Thanks, young man!"
"Come join us once you get up there. We're going to have a barbecue and camp by the reservoir tonight. If you're free, come have something to eat." After thanking him, the middle-aged man stepped on the accelerator and sped up the hill.
The SUVs following him were all BMWs or Porsches. Clearly, this was a group of wealthy city dwellers out on a countryside getaway.
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