Breathing Technique

Although he found it utterly unbelievable and absurd,

Fang Yue looked at Fang Ergou's earnest face, and the doubts in his heart somehow lessened by a few degrees.

Then, unable to resist, he began to try.

A stone weighing over three hundred pounds.

It was much bigger than the water bucket at his home. It had probably been washed over from somewhere during a flood in years past, then stranded on the bank after the water receded.

He focused his mind and held his breath.

Fang Yue clapped his hands, then gripped both sides of the Big Blue Stone and silently shouted, Up!

The next moment,

the stone merely swayed, yet Fang Yue had actually lifted it enough to make it wobble.

But after only a few breaths, Fang Yue could no longer hold on, and the stone in his hands dropped at once.

Clearly, Fang Yue was not strong enough.

Yet although he had failed, Fang Yue was not discouraged.

Instead, he was stunned by his own strength.

The strength I had just now was at least a hundred pounds.

Fang Yue stared blankly at the Big Blue Stone before him. When he had first crossed over, his body had been extremely weak.

Only later had he gradually recovered. But due to long-term malnutrition and never having enough to eat, his body had developed slowly.

He had never possessed much strength. Even drawing water had been a struggle.

That was why Fang Yue only herded cattle instead of going to the fields with his father and brothers.

But now, he had nearly managed to lift that Big Blue Stone off the ground.

That meant the strength in his body had to be at least one or two hundred pounds.

So where had this strength come from?

Fang Yue could not help falling into thought. Could it be because he had eaten fish and meat almost every day lately, his living conditions had improved, and thus his strength had increased?

But it should not have been this exaggerated.

Time flies, Heaven rewards diligence, aptitude +1

Just then, familiar words appeared before Fang Yue's eyes.

At once, a faint warmth arose from nowhere and swiftly circulated through Fang Yue's body.

In a moment, it vanished completely. At the same time, the fatigue in his body and the soreness in his muscles both faded somewhat.

In only a few breaths, his condition had recovered considerably.

"Could it be that the aptitude gained every day is actually improving my physical condition as well?"

Fang Yue could not help thinking, thoughts constantly turning in his mind.

Soon, he came to his senses. It had to be so.

When a person's aptitude became stronger, it was their entire body that became stronger.

Put simply, if one's physical constitution improved, then an increase in strength was naturally only to be expected.

For example, in the legends from his previous life, some people had been born with monstrous strength, capable of lifting cauldrons.

Others possessed extraordinary endurance, able to run for days and nights without rest.

Things like these were examples of talent and aptitude surpassing that of ordinary people.

It was merely that most such people did not display anything too far beyond ordinary people at the beginning.

Because high aptitude represented potential more than anything else.

And if that potential was not trained, it would not reveal itself.

It was precisely because of this,

and because he had not done any strenuous work during this time, that he had never noticed the change in his strength.

"Brother Zhi, that's how it is."

"As long as you lift the stone a hundred times every day, then roughly... let me calculate." Fang Ergou counted on his fingers, carefully working out the time.

"About five months, and you'll be able to lift it."

Seeing Fang Ergou's serious expression, Fang Yue suddenly did not know what to say.

He had personally experienced it just now. That stone weighed at least three hundred and fifty pounds, perhaps even four hundred.

Athletes from his previous life who had undergone long-term training might have been able to lift even heavier weights, but no one could do so with Fang Ergou's effortless ease.

His face was not red, his heart did not race—clearly, he still had plenty of strength to spare.

This was not something weightlifting training alone could achieve.

A hundred times every day?

And it could be done in five months?

That simple?

It sounded simple, but it was obvious that it could not possibly be so simple!

If it truly were, would everyone in this world not be a man of Herculean strength?

If Fang Yue had not known Fang Ergou's character, he would have thought the fellow was pulling his leg.

This was perhaps martial arts!

Only martial arts—kung fu—could explain how Fang Ergou possessed such tremendous strength at his age.

However, Fang Yue also knew that martial arts inheritances were extremely precious.

After all, Fang Hu's family had once been great landowners. Even such wealth had been ruined by the pursuit of martial arts.

If he expected to learn it merely because he had taught Fang Ergou to fish, that would make him seem far too calculating.

Still, although he did not know any cultivation methods,

simple exercise alone seemed to be something he could actually accomplish.

The increase in aptitude could naturally make his strength grow.

He was only One in Ten in aptitude now. Once his aptitude reached one hundred points, he would be One in a hundred. Later, there might even be One in a Thousand, One in Ten Thousand.

By then, with aptitude in the hundreds or thousands, would his own strength not become even greater?

Thinking of this, Fang Yue could not help smiling.

As for lifting stones, he would treat it as exercise. He just needed to find a smaller stone.

And so, several dozen more days passed.

High summer faded, and autumn gradually arrived.

Whether because of the weather or something else, the Xiahe River's water level rapidly fell.

What had originally been a river five or six zhang wide had now shrunk to only around two zhang.

With the water volume greatly reduced, the fish in the river also dwindled in large numbers.

These past days, there had been almost no worthwhile catches at Small River Bend.

Fang Yue had no solution for this.

He could only sigh that the river truly had not been named wrongly—the Xiahe River.

Only during summer's high-water season did it resemble a river. Once the season passed, it was actually on the verge of drying up.

Unable to fish, Fang Ergou had not come often to learn fishing during this period either.

It also happened to be the busy farming season, so Fang Yue went to work in the fields with his father and brothers every day.

After finishing the farmwork, Fang Yue would do some exercise.

Of course, not the stone lifting Fang Ergou had mentioned, but a more systematic and complete fitness routine.

Whether or not it increased his strength, it could at least develop his body's potential.

That afternoon, Fang Yue finished the farmwork in the fields.

After eating, he went to the riverbank while there was still daylight.

With the refreshing cool breeze blowing around him, he found the Stone Lock he had made and began to exercise.

Each Stone Lock weighed thirty pounds. He could now easily toss one up with a single hand, then catch it again.

Even after exercising for a quarter of an hour, he did not feel tired.

"By now, my strength is probably close to four hundred pounds."

After finishing his warm-up, Fang Yue looked toward another stone beside him—the very same Big Blue Stone.

He took a deep breath and immediately reached out to grip the Big Blue Stone.

With a fierce intake of breath, his muscles exerted force. Up!

This time, the Big Blue Stone slowly rose in his hands.

"Hm? He can lift that stone without ever training in a Breathing Technique!"

"Is this... inborn divine strength?"

Just then, Fang Hu happened to pass by and witness the scene. His bell-sized eyes could not help narrowing!

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