Chen Jue had practiced his stance training on the little boat at night before, but on those occasions, he had kept it moored by the shore with a rope so it could not drift freely.
This time, he intended to make things harder for himself. Taking advantage of the reduced visibility at night, he rowed the little boat out to the center of the reservoir.
The cool night wind was indeed much stronger than the morning breeze, and the current was swifter too. The boat rocked more violently than it did during the day.
Fortunately, the Eight Immortals Stance was no pushover!
If the Eight Immortals could cross the sea, what did he have to fear from a mere reservoir?
Chen Jue began his stance training, though he was far more tense than he had been when boarding the boat that morning.
Lights illuminated much of the reservoir's perimeter, but the center was pitch-black. All he could hear was the wind moaning and the water flowing. One careless move could send him tumbling into the water.
Still, with his current stamina, Chen Jue could swim safely to shore even if he fell in. His courage gradually grew, and he slowly overcame his fear.
At the campsite, the middle-aged adults were fishing and barbecuing, while someone played a guitar to liven things up. They had no shortage of entertainment.
But when the two little girls returned from the dam, their excited cries drew the attention of the whole family, more than a dozen people in all.
"Dad! That man just rowed out into the reservoir!"
"Rowed? There are boats here?"
"Isn't it dangerous to go rowing at night? This reservoir looks pretty deep."
Everyone's attention was caught. The middle-aged man with the binoculars raised them and began searching the dark water.
Before long, he actually made out a figure performing strange movements on a little boat.
The figure dodged and leaped around the boat, stepping along its extremely narrow edges, sometimes holding still and sometimes moving, his movements swift and varied. The man watching let out a startled cry. "It's that young fellow from earlier, out in the reservoir!"
"Good heavens! He rowed out somewhere that dark at night to practice martial arts? Isn't he afraid of falling in?"
Hearing this, the middle-aged group leader wearing a gold watch hurriedly took the binoculars and looked in the direction the man indicated.
After watching Chen Jue's perilous stance training for quite a while, the leader finally let out a long breath. "That young fellow must practice real kung fu!"
"Real kung fu?"
"Yes! Like those warrior monks at Shaolin Temple. They make their living from martial arts. Otherwise, he wouldn't go out onto the water to train at night."
"Shaolin Temple? Isn't that the movie we watched as kids?"
"Make his living from martial arts? Is it really that amazing?"
"Let me have a look!"
"What kind of kung fu is all that jumping around? I can't make sense of it!"
"Fourth Brother, have you forgotten that time we went sea fishing? We could barely take a few steps on board without falling over. If this young fellow can train on a boat this late at night, what else could it be but real kung fu?"
The middle-aged leader was clearly well-informed, and his explanation made perfect sense. Everyone around him exchanged astonished looks as they listened.
Chen Jue trained for over an hour. With the night conditions helping him, his proficiency in the Eight Immortals Stance had risen to (101/200).
As for his free attribute points, he earned another 0.02 in that short hour. Including the 0.03 he had earned on the dam earlier, he had accumulated a total of 0.2 over the past two days.
If he put all those attribute points into the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic at once, he could raise this extraordinary skill by another level.
But after a full day of training, his body was somewhat tired. Without a suitable medicinal tonic on hand, Chen Jue was not foolish enough to allocate the points now.
He rowed back to the dam, then took a detour to have another look at the campsite.
These middle-aged people certainly knew how to enjoy themselves. Some fished, some barbecued, some pan-fried steaks, and others played guitar and sang while drinking. All in all, the atmosphere was wonderful.
When Chen Jue arrived, the middle-aged man wearing the gold watch quickly picked up a large meat skewer and called out, "Hey, young fellow! Come have a bite! We haven't even thanked you for helping us carry everything earlier!"
With the man being so welcoming, Chen Jue did not refuse. He accepted the skewer and sniffed it, catching the aroma of beef and barbecue seasoning. One bite filled his mouth with delicious juices.
"This beef is delicious!"
"Haha! A4-grade Wagyu, imported from overseas. Pretty good, right?"
The middle-aged man boasted with some pride, then asked what martial art Chen Jue practiced and why he had gone out onto a boat to train so late at night.
"Just a few boxing moves I've been messing around with. I only started learning a few days ago." Chen Jue chuckled without revealing the details, but he was telling the truth. He really had only been training for a few days-not even a week.
"I don't think so! Going somewhere that dangerous at night-you must know real kung fu." The middle-aged man was skeptical. He had seen everything quite clearly through the binoculars.
Without years of hard training, it would probably be difficult to keep leaping around like that on a little boat out on the water.
"You've seen real kung fu before, sir?" Chen Jue's interest was piqued.
"Of course! I once took my daughter to Shaolin Temple to pray to the Buddha. Those warrior monks could do handstands on just two fingers. One of them practiced Iron Head Kung Fu and broke a brick this thick in a single strike. I handed him that brick myself, so it was definitely real kung fu!" The middle-aged man was clearly fascinated by martial arts. He held out two fingers to indicate the brick's thickness as he explained with conviction.
"So it was the warrior monks at Shaolin Temple! They definitely have real kung fu. I've watched their videos too. But compared with them, I'm just a beginner who's barely started. Nothing worth mentioning," Chen Jue agreed.
He had learned his Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic through step-by-step instruction from a Shaolin warrior monk in a video.
If they could master such an extraordinary art for improving the body, Shaolin Temple surely had many hidden masters.
If he ever had the chance, he would definitely pay them a visit.
After spending a little time at the campsite and chatting some more with the man wearing the gold watch, he learned that they were all members of the same family, surnamed Zhou. They had come from central Wenzhou especially for a vacation.
They had read online about this lovely, sparsely populated spot in rural An County, nestled between the mountains and the water. The whole family had driven over together, intending to spend a few days here.
With everyone in the family wearing gold and jade and traveling in luxury cars, it was hardly surprising that they had the leisure for such pursuits.
The boss Chen Jue had worked for in Hangzhou had also been in his forties and loved camping. Apparently, a single set of his camping equipment had cost over a hundred thousand yuan. He was ridiculously rich, far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
After chatting for a while longer, Chen Jue checked the time and realized it was getting late. He had a few more bites of his skewer, then stood, said goodbye, and headed down the mountain.
It was already ten at night when he got home. He took a hot shower, then checked his attribute panel again before lying down to sleep: Chen Jue
Player: Chen Jue Age: 27 Health index: 97% Strength: 0.99 Agility: 0.96 Intelligence: 1.23 Constitution: 1.57 Mastered skills: [Boat Boxing Level 1 (132/200)] [Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic Level 1 (10/200)] [Eight Immortals Stance Level 1 (101/200)] Free attribute points available: 0.20
Tomorrow, I'll brew another pot of Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction and raise the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic another level. Let's see what effect that has.
Before you continue