Chapter 155 - 111: So-called Righteous Skill

He slapped his forehead, cursing himself for being a total blockhead, then got in the car with a pile of filming props.

After getting in the car, however, Chen Jue still wasn’t ready to give up. He decided to try his luck and sent Wu Fang a message: "An equestrian club is opening next weekend. Want to go check it out together?"

To his surprise, Wu Fang replied instantly: "Okay (blushing)"

Chen Jue clenched his fists and pumped them a few times inside the car, shouting, "YES! My love life is finally taking off!"

Her not refusing meant Teacher Wu was genuinely interested in him. Plus, the fact that she accepted the invitation so readily meant their relationship could officially take a small step forward.

...

Now that his date with Teacher Wu was set for next week, Chen Jue was happy as a pig in mud, his heart filled with an indescribable sweetness.

The only thing that could compare to the joy of going on a date with a girl was getting a notification for an Attribute increase on his panel.

He drove back cheerfully, stopping on the way at a high-end car wash called Jiexun. He spent 298 yuan to get his filthy, domestic-model SUV a meticulous interior and exterior cleaning.

After it was thoroughly cleaned, Chen Jue felt it still wasn’t quite perfect, so he paid for a polish and wax, and had some minor maintenance done while he was at it.

By the time he returned from eating at the fast-food place next door, the car was gleaming. The jet-black paint was so polished you could see your reflection in it, and the entire vehicle, inside and out, looked brand new.

"Damn, that’s impressive! They did a better job cleaning it than a used car dealership!"

Chen Jue was extremely satisfied with the car’s condition. As he scanned the QR code to pay, he asked about the pricing for their membership plans.

He figured he’d be driving over to Teacher Wu’s side of town often from now on, so he’d inevitably need frequent car washes. He decided to sign up for a prepaid wash card, loading it with the minimum 5,000 yuan, which also got him a 10% discount—economical and practical.

After finishing up with the car, it was already past 8:00 PM by the time he returned to his apartment.

He took a long, comfortable medicated bath, then applied several types of topical liniments for bruises and scrapes to his scratch-covered hands.

’The hands of professional rock climbers are covered in calluses.’

’I haven’t been practicing [Climbing] for long, so my skin isn’t tough enough yet.’ Chen Jue lay on his bed, recalling the experience of climbing the tree that afternoon.

Although his movements were nimble and his reflexes were quick, allowing him to avoid the sharper, more pointed branches on the trunk’s surface, the bark’s texture itself was full of sharp protrusions.

When he hung his nearly 176-pound body from the tree, the pressure made it inevitable that his bare hands would get scraped.

He thought about professional rock climbers like Yu Jie. When they climbed, they would always apply chalk to their hands to increase friction, which also offered a degree of protection for their skin.

But Chen Jue was always out and about, and this [Climbing] skill was like a natural instinct that required constant practice. ’I can’t just carry a bag of chalk with me everywhere. What a hassle!’

’Is there a way to increase the thickness of the skin on my hands?’

’Or quickly increase its toughness and resilience.’ Chen Jue’s mind started racing, and he began searching online.

Unexpectedly, there wasn’t much discussion on the topic online. Most people nowadays were too busy chasing money to have any contact with things like this.

Furthermore, with the popularization of Western sports, activities like boxing and sparring mostly involved wearing gloves to protect the hands.

After searching for a while, he found a few Zhihu users who practiced Traditional Martial Arts mentioning the Iron Sand Palm technique, which could improve the hands’ Resistance Ability and the skin’s durability.

’Iron Sand Palm?’

’If you practice that technique too much, don’t your hands swell up like steamed buns? It seems like it would affect flexibility!’ Chen Jue went on a video-sharing app and looked up a few influencers who practiced Iron Sand Palm.

Their hands were either coarse and dark-skinned, or their palms were deformed as if they’d been inflated. It was obvious at a glance that they had trained incorrectly.

He scrolled through the comments, where some users even claimed to have ruined their hands practicing it.

However, watching these influencers in the videos—CRACK!—breaking bricks and shattering cobblestones, Chen Jue still believed they had some genuine skill.

It just wasn’t much; they had probably only learned the basics.

Besides, Iron Sand Palm was an incredibly common traditional technique, with countless different schools and versions circulating online. Even if Chen Jue wanted to learn, he wouldn’t be reckless enough to just follow some random online tutorial.

Training blindly like that, it would be easy to ruin his hands just like those influencers.

’I’ll go ask Elder Wu tomorrow. He’s been around; he must have seen some real hand-conditioning techniques.’ Chen Jue turned off his phone and closed his eyes to rest.

But after seeing so many people practicing Iron Sand Palm online, Chen Jue couldn’t help but recall the "Primordial Hand Old Playful" he had seen initially.

This man, over seventy years old, possessed the ability to make his palms swell on command. He could also instantly increase his hands’ Strength and Resistance Ability. Breaking concrete slabs and metal wrenches was child’s play for him; it was definitely on a different level from ordinary Iron Sand Palm.

...

Lost in his wandering thoughts, Chen Jue gradually drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up the next day, he first went to the rooftop to do his eye and ear massages, grinding a bit of Skill Level for his [Ear Health Exercises]. Then, he specifically slung his Bow Box over his back and drove to the park.

He hadn’t been to the park for his morning workout in almost a week, but the place was as lively as ever. Elderly men and women were everywhere: playing chess, playing ball, and practicing Tai Chi.

In an open space near the chess tables, Elder Wu was practicing with his Rope Dart, just like always.

Wu Fang was off to the side, wrapped in a down jacket and reading a book quietly. She probably hadn’t fully recovered from her cold yet and couldn’t do any strenuous exercise.

Seeing Chen Jue approach with a Bow Box on his back, Elder Wu looked intrigued. "Xiaochen! Haven’t seen you in days! That Flying Needle embroidery move of yours had these old bones of mine fired up with excitement for several days!"

"I’ve been busy studying lately, so I haven’t been able to come over."

"I just bought a Hard Bow and came this morning to work on my strength." Chen Jue set down the Bow Box and waved a greeting to Wu Fang. Teacher Wu blushed and murmured a soft reply.

The two of them were like they were separated by a single sheet of paper, just waiting for the right moment to tear through it.

As a man of experience, Elder Wu naturally noticed the meaningful looks passing between the two youngsters. He could tell something was going on with them at a glance and happily played wingman from the side, adding, "The air in the park is good, the scenery is good, and it’s good that you come often!"

The moment he uttered the word "good" three times, Wu Fang’s ears turned completely red.

Chen Jue was starting to feel awkward as well, so he quickly changed the subject and asked about hand-conditioning techniques like Iron Sand Palm.

"Iron Sand Palm?"

"Whatever made you want to practice that kind of skill?" As soon as the conversation turned to Traditional Martial Arts, Elder Wu’s interest was immediately piqued.

"Well, I bought this bow to build up my strength! It’s a bit rough on my hands when I draw it, so I was thinking of strengthening them." Chen Jue opened his Bow Box and took out the black Qilin Bow.

Seeing it, Elder Wu eagerly asked to take the bow from Chen Jue to try it out. He tugged on the string a few times, but it didn’t budge an inch. The surprise showed on his face.

"Good heavens!"

"What’s the draw weight on this Hard Bow?" Elder Wu’s eyes were wide. Although he was old, his years of training meant he was much stronger than the average young man with an office job.

But even after several attempts with his full strength, he couldn’t manage to draw the Black Bow, which just went to show how absurdly powerful Chen Jue’s Qilin Bow was.

"This one has a 121-pound draw weight. I had it custom-ordered from a specialist online."

Chen Jue explained, then took back the Black Bow. He settled into a Horse Stance, gripped the riser and the string, and drew it back with a sudden exertion of force. The sight of the Black Bow bent into a full moon made Elder Wu sigh in admiration.

"Good bow! What incredible strength!"

"No wonder you want to condition your hands, Xiaochen. If your hand training isn’t solid, it would be easy to injure yourself drawing a Hard Bow like this."

Elder Wu’s gaze fell on the purplish-red marks on Chen Jue’s hand from the bowstring. His tone shifted as he said, "Iron Sand Palm is a Righteous Skill. If you want to practice it, you must have a good medicinal formula to protect yourself, because the iron sand itself is toxic. You need a medicinal catalyst to draw out the poison."

"Back in the late Qing dynasty, Huo Yuanjia contracted a lung disease because he inhaled too much of the sand’s hot toxins while practicing Iron Sand Palm. In the end, the Japanese devils took advantage of his weakness and had him killed."

Chen Jue was a little stunned to suddenly hear such a little-known, secret rumor from the Jianghu. "Then, Elder Wu, do you know Iron Sand Palm?"

Elder Wu shook his head. "My family’s inherited techniques are all rudimentary. The true skills were lost in my father’s generation. How would I know how to practice a Righteous Skill like that?"

"Most people who practice Iron Sand Palm today follow a crooked path. Practice too much their way, and your hands will become deformed. When you master the true Iron Sand Palm, your hands become like white jade, even more delicate than a woman’s."

"If you want to learn, you can go ask Master Zhao from the Tai Chi Class. Their Dragon Gate Sect has the lineage for the Iron Sand Palm Righteous Skill. The medicinal formula, in particular, is a secret passed down within the sect. If you don’t find a master and become a disciple, you’ll only learn the superficial stuff, which is as ridiculously fake as those Inch Fist brick-breaking videos you see online."