After checking his stats panel, Chen Jue felt as though he had forgotten something.
Before drowsiness set in, he remembered that his sneakers had rubbed against his feet during his long walk that day.
With all the time he spent exercising and practicing martial arts every day, he needed a pair of shoes that fit properly.
He browsed Adidas and Nike shoes online but felt they were not much different from his domestic-brand pair. Only after asking on a forum did he learn that most martial arts practitioners wore cloth shoes.
Some experienced users also recommended training shoes. Chen Jue browsed a few listings, including a bestselling pair of Martial Arts Tai Chi Shoes and shoes from a domestic specialty store. Neither seemed expensive, so he selected his size and bought one pair of each to try out later.
He browsed the forum some more and discovered that his earlier post asking for advice on tonics had received quite a few new replies.
When he opened it, he found that someone had actually posted a recipe for Mighty Pills!
According to the post, it even came from Shaolin's Muscle-Tendon Change Classic. That immediately caught Chen Jue's interest.
After all, his constitution was so high entirely because of the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, a miraculous Shaolin art. He had never expected it to have accompanying Mighty Pills he could take.
If the recipe was genuine, practicing the Twelve Forms of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic might produce even more unexpected and remarkable results.
Chen Jue copied the recipe and took a photo of it, planning to visit a traditional Chinese medicine shop in the county town the next day to see whether they could fill it.
If it really worked, the Mighty Pills might even replace the Ten-Ingredient Tonic Decoction.
He slept dreamlessly until dawn, then got up to wash as roosters crowed in the morning light.
Once again, he put on his sportswear and weighted sandbags and began his morning workout.
He jogged up to the reservoir dam and saw flames already burning beside the camping tents. The Zhou family, who had come to fish, were apparently preparing breakfast.
Chen Jue did not go over to greet them. Instead, he practiced his boxing on the dam by himself.
Boat Boxing had relatively few moves, just eight routines in all. It was simple and easy to practice, and combining it with the Eight Immortals Stance allowed him to improve very quickly.
After an hour, he saw that his Boat Boxing proficiency had reached (160/200). He estimated that another two days of practice would bring another breakthrough.
At some point, Mr. Zhou, the man with the gold watch, had climbed up onto the dam. Seeing Chen Jue finish, he hurried over. "Young man, I see you're up here practicing martial arts again!"
"When you go rowing in a bit, could you take my daughter and me along? We'd like to take a few pictures out in the middle of the reservoir."
Mr. Zhou held a DSLR camera with a long lens that looked very high-end. His daughter was crouching by the little boat below, playing with the water and taking selfies.
"Sure, but be careful getting aboard. The boat's a little small." Chen Jue nodded, led the well-fed man with the gold watch down the steps, and leaped onto the boat.
Seeing this, the young woman tried to leap aboard too, but she lost her footing and nearly fell overboard.
Fortunately, Chen Jue reacted quickly, reaching out and pulling her to his side.
"Ah!"
"I nearly fell in! That scared me to death!" Still shaken, the young woman clutched Chen Jue's clothes with both hands and refused to let go.
The man with the gold watch also let out a long breath of relief. While thinking that Chen Jue clearly knew real martial arts, he began scolding her. "Jingjing, you're all grown up, yet you're still so clumsy! If this young man hadn't reacted quickly, you'd already be in the water."
"It's all right. The water isn't very deep near the bank. As long as you don't get sucked into that floodgate, you should be fine." Chen Jue narrowed his eyes and pointed at a persistent whirlpool on the surface.
It led straight into the drainage channel beneath the dam. Anyone pulled inside would be done for.
Still, Chen Village Reservoir had been built forty or fifty years ago, and he had never heard of anyone drowning here. Presumably, it was fairly safe.
Hearing that a deadly funnel lurked right beside them left both father and daughter shaken, and they repeatedly thanked Chen Jue for helping her.
With all three aboard the little boat, Chen Jue picked up the oar, pushed off, and rowed swiftly toward the center of the reservoir.
Seeing Chen Jue stand straight and steady along the edge of the boat, the man with the gold watch tried to stand up too. But the moment he rose, the boat rocked so badly that he immediately dropped back into his seat in fright.
"Young man! You've really mastered your martial arts. That's incredible!"
The man with the gold watch gave him a thumbs-up. When boarding, he had tested the heft of the oar Chen Jue was holding. It was solid wood, and years of soaking in water had made it frighteningly heavy.
Yet Chen Jue had rowed the boat several hundred meters without any change in expression or the slightest panting. That alone showed how absurd his stamina was.
"You're too kind, sir. It's just practice."
"This should be far enough, right?"
"Go ahead and take your pictures. I still need to practice. I'll row you back in a little while." Chen Jue smiled. Judging that they had come far enough, he set down the oar and began practicing the Eight Immortals Stance.
This was his first time practicing his stance work in front of two outsiders, and it felt a little strange.
The young woman named Jingjing was delighted by the lovely scenery around them. Forgetting that she had nearly fallen into the water, she picked up her phone and began snapping pictures of everything.
"Huihui's still sleeping in. She's going to be furious when we get back and she finds out what she missed!" Zhou Jingjing chatted with her father, though her eyes kept drifting toward Chen Jue as he shifted and rose and sank at the bow.
To her, this young man, who was about her age, looked ordinary and was even a little chubby, yet there was something about him that made her feel very comfortable.
His fair skin, especially, had such a healthy rosy glow. It had been too dark the previous night for her to look closely, but seeing him again that morning made even her, a woman, feel a little jealous.
What skin-whitening product has he been taking? How does his complexion look so good? Zhou Jingjing felt a little envious.
The man with the gold watch watched Chen Jue's stance practice for a while and clicked his tongue in admiration. Then he raised his DSLR and took a few candid shots before joining his daughter in photographing the scenery.
Naturally, Chen Jue noticed the man photographing him, but he did not ask him to stop. Instead, he focused entirely on practicing the Eight Immortals Stake Skill.
By the time he finished an hour of practice, the father and daughter had taken plenty of beautiful reservoir shots, along with quite a few pictures of Chen Jue training.
"Young man, let me add you on WeChat. Once I get back and edit the photos, I'll send them over for you to see," the man with the gold watch suggested. Apparently, he was interested in befriending this unusual local martial artist.
Chen Jue did not refuse and gave him his phone number. He then rowed the father and daughter to the bank beside their campsite, drawing calls from everyone there. Afterward, he rowed back and tied the boat to the railing by the steps at the sluice gate before heading down the mountain.
The man with the gold watch had invited him to have some noodles from the pot at their campsite, but Chen Jue wanted to visit the county town that morning, so he politely declined.
After going home to change and remove his weights, he walked to Lin Family Village for breakfast. Then he caught the minivan to the main road and boarded the No. 5 bus straight to the county seat of An County.
Before you continue