It was the transition between summer and autumn, a season of abundant rain, and the reservoir held a good eight or nine meters of water.
As soon as Chen Jue entered the water, he felt an undercurrent tugging at him from below.
It came from the reservoir's Floodgate Valve. Since the water level stayed within the safe range year-round, however, the Chen Village Reservoir's Floodgate Valve was only open a crack, limiting the force of the current it generated.
An ordinary person caught in its pull would never have escaped.
But Chen Jue had made real progress in his training, and all his attributes far exceeded those of an ordinary person. His constitution, in particular, had reached 1.98, greatly enhancing his heart and lung function.
On land, he could hold a single breath for a whole hour!
Underwater, with the pressure of the current and the exertion of training, even halving that time would still let him hold his breath for half an hour. (Note: the world record for static breath-holding exceeds 24 minutes.)
As the pull of the current around him gradually increased, Chen Jue felt himself slowly sinking. Within just a few dozen seconds, his feet settled into a layer of silt.
He scuffed his soles against it, pushing aside the soft silt until he felt the hard concrete base of the reservoir's Floodgate Valve.
It was a circular device resembling a manhole cover connecting a road to the sewers below. Chen Jue had seen it once as a child, when the Chen Village Reservoir had been drained and people from all the surrounding villages had come to catch fish.
This time, however, he had come face-to-face with the Floodgate Valve before the reservoir had been emptied.
He settled into his stance, spreading his feet and planting them along the edge of the Floodgate Valve's concrete base. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he felt the underwater currents brushing across his skin as they flowed constantly toward the valve opening beneath him.
Occasionally, fish swimming underwater approached and brushed against him.
The skin across Chen Jue's body alternately relaxed and tightened, his pores opening and closing as he continuously exerted force, sensing the fluctuations of the underwater currents.
The Eight Immortals crossed aboard a boat; beneath the water, strength came naturally.
So that was what it meant!
As Chen Jue felt the currents surging around him and his skin's instinctive responses whenever a fish touched him, he gained an ever-deeper understanding of this so-called hidden strength.
If bright force was characterized by ferocity, outward bursts, and directness,
then hidden strength was characterized by yielding attacks, inward explosions, and indirectness.
These were two completely opposing forces. Only by experiencing them firsthand could one truly feel the difference.
For Chen Jue, though, there was an even more straightforward way to tell: watching the proficiency of his Eight Immortals Stance on his attribute panel climb, +1 after +1, at a rate visible to the naked eye!
This speed, this efficiency-it was more than ten times faster than practicing his stance on the dam or aboard the boat!
More than twenty minutes later, as the feeling of suffocation grew increasingly intense, Chen Jue pushed off with both legs, releasing force through his feet. His whole body shot upward like a sleeve dart through the water.
That burst of force broke apart the funnel-shaped whirlpool underwater, and it took quite a while to return to its original shape.
Chen Jue kept exerting force through his feet, as though climbing a ladder by stepping on the water. In just a few seconds, he cleared the eight or nine meters of depth and surfaced. Grabbing the edge of the little boat, he pulled himself upward, using the momentum to vault back aboard.
Those twenty-odd minutes of underwater training had pushed his Eight Immortals Stance to [Lv2 (362/500)]. Another two sessions would probably be enough to raise the skill to Lv3.
Chen Jue had a feeling, though, that the moment his Eight Immortals Stance reached Lv3 would be the moment he truly mastered hidden strength.
In addition, those twenty-odd minutes spent training and comprehending force underwater had given all his attributes a considerable boost.
His constitution had broken through the "2" threshold and reached 2.01.
His strength and agility had each increased by 0.02. Even his intelligence, which had remained unchanged for a long time, had risen by 0.01. Clearly, the calm state of his mind underwater and the extraordinary breadth of his thoughts had driven that increase.
On top of that, his free attribute points had surged by as much as 0.05 in those brief twenty minutes. Even Chen Jue himself was astonished by the efficiency.
The Tieba Expert said that after Yang Guo started practicing his swordsmanship beneath a waterfall, his abilities rapidly improved, and he even comprehended the Dark Iron Sword Technique.
Does that mean my underwater stance training is much the same as what Yang Guo did? Chen Jue wondered privately.
The night breeze swept over him, and once aboard the boat, he began to feel cold. Soaked from head to toe, Chen Jue gave a short shout and activated his Impact-Conditioning Skill, sending a burst through his entire body. Countless droplets shook free of his skin and clothing, flying outward.
It could not dry him instantly in one go, but at least it shook off most of the water.
Looking up at the sky, where the bright moon outshone the scattered stars, Chen Jue felt he had become utterly absorbed in his training.
Not only did his whole body feel wonderful, but he had even disregarded the danger to his life and plunged to the bottom of the reservoir to train.
"I really am getting bolder by the day!" Chen Jue laughed at himself and poled the boat back to shore. While he still had some stamina left, he sprinted all the way home.
He took off his clothes and had a hot shower.
Although the reservoir water looked clear, it was home to living creatures and contained plenty of microorganisms and bacteria. He could not simply let it dry on his skin, or he might get an infection and fall ill.
He rinsed himself several times, applying body wash and shampoo three times. Only when he felt sufficiently clean and much more comfortable did Chen Jue put on dry clothes and go upstairs to rest and sleep.
The next morning, as roosters crowed at dawn, Chen Jue rolled out of bed.
Last night's underwater training had given him a taste of rapid progress, and mastery of hidden strength was already within reach.
Unwilling to waste time, he took advantage of the stamina he had recovered after a night's sleep, washed up, and headed up to the reservoir.
While it was still early and none of the nearby villagers were out around the reservoir, Chen Jue rowed back to the funnel-shaped whirlpool, plunged into the water, and swam down toward the Floodgate Valve.
Since it had been nighttime during his previous session, the water below had been pitch-black, with almost no visibility.
Now, in daylight, he could just barely make out his surroundings within a few dozen centimeters when he opened his eyes underwater. He could even vaguely see several medium-sized farmed fish swimming around.
The reservoir water was not particularly clean, however, and opening his eyes gave him a stinging sensation, as though something had gotten into them. After only a few glances, Chen Jue closed his eyes again.
For Chen Jue, this second attempt at practicing his stance underwater was already becoming familiar.
But he had come on an empty stomach. Although he felt that much of his stamina had returned, this time he could only last a little over ten minutes underwater before the water pressure became too much, forcing him to swim back to the surface.
Climbing aboard the little boat, Chen Jue checked his attribute panel. His Eight Immortals Stance had reached [Lv2 (436/500)]. One more session would probably be enough for a breakthrough.
"I'll head back and clean up first, then come again tonight when no one's around!"
Chen Jue rowed back to shore. While it was still early, he sprinted along the mountain path, his figure streaking through it like a bolt of gray lightning.
He was afraid that spending so long training underwater in daylight would draw the attention of villagers who did not know what he was doing. The reservoir was surrounded by hillside fields belonging to the various villages, and people often came up to tend them.
If someone spotted him and called the police and an ambulance, it would cause quite a misunderstanding.
There was no harm in waiting until night, when visibility was poor and no one was around the reservoir, to dive down and train again.
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