Chapter 159 - 115: Lagging Flexibility

By the time Chen Jue arrived at Tianyu, his legs felt as stiff as a zombie’s, and he was hopping with every step.

But he never expected that by the time he left Tianyu, his body would once again be full of vigor.

However, the price for accelerating his legs’ recovery was clearing out all the free attribute points he had worked so hard to accumulate, bringing them back to zero.

"Out with the old, in with the new."

’Guess I’ll just have to keep working hard!’

Chen Jue hailed a cab back to his apartment. Gazing at the brilliant lights that adorned the burgeoning city, he felt he still had a long way to go.

「...」

Back at his apartment, he first took his customary medicated bath.

The rehab center only had showers, which weren’t nearly as relaxing as a proper soak.

After his bath, Chen Jue began applying medicine to his hands and feet, focusing on the areas dense with joints and ligaments. He had bought a whole pile of Tongluo Wine and Bone-Penetrating Ointment specifically for his daily training regimen.

He also downed some of the whey protein powder Li Rui had recommended. Relying on his daily diet alone was definitely not enough to support muscle growth.

Besides, Chen Jue didn’t watch what he ate, often indulging in high-oil, high-calorie Chinese food, so these supplements were essential.

’Classes and training during the day, relaxation at night.’ Chen Jue glanced at the packed schedule on his wall, then at the cyclical training program Li Rui had sent him.

It included a plan for nighttime yoga to stretch his fascia and ligaments and relax his muscles.

Yoga is a form of practice that originated in Ancient India. Around 300 BC, the great Indian sage Patanjali synthesized various pre-existing Cultivation Techniques of Ancient India to write the *Yoga Sutras*, which established the eight-limbed system of yoga.

These eight limbs are Yama (abstinences), Niyama (observances), Asana (postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (absorption).

The yoga most people encounter is a modified form of the practice, primarily including Asana (postures), Pranayama (breathing techniques), and Meditation.

’Improve my body’s flexibility with yoga?’

’That’s definitely worth learning.’ After reading the material, Chen Jue thought about his own current level of flexibility.

After a period of high-intensity training, although Chen Jue’s Strength and Constitution had improved by leaps and bounds—in some respects even rivaling that of a national-level athlete—his flexibility was far from ideal.

Take the forward bend stretch, for example. Whether standing or sitting, the farthest he could reach was the top of his feet with his fingertips. Even touching his toes was a struggle.

This was due to years of sedentary life, which had led to a herniated, aging lumbar disc and a slightly deformed spine. His lower back and back could no longer bend normally.

Before he got the panel, he couldn’t even touch the tops of his feet. It was only after a period of training that his stiff back had regained some of its elasticity.

But this level of flexibility was still a far cry from that of a true master of limberness.

In the yoga videos Li Rui had sent, Chen Jue saw that practically any expert could easily touch their head to their knees. This got his mind racing.

Take the vertical leap he’d been training this afternoon, for instance. A person’s jumping ability wasn’t just related to the explosive power of their thigh and calf muscles; their ligaments also played a crucial role.

If the human skeleton was the body of a bow, then the muscles, fascia, and ligaments were the bowstring.

Without a resilient string, a bow can’t possibly unleash its full power.

Chen Jue had gradually strengthened his muscles through high-intensity exercise; he couldn’t let his ligament and fascia training fall behind.

He hadn’t touched upon this type of training before. Now that he’d seen the amazing benefits of yoga, Chen Jue was naturally eager to learn it and improve his flexibility.

After all, Chen Jue’s goal was to become the well-rounded Strongest Human. Simply packing on muscle would create weaknesses.

As for yoga, it was a complex discipline—not something one could master just by watching tutorials.

So, after studying up on the theory behind yoga, Chen Jue used his navigation app to search for professional yoga studios near Jiang University. He bookmarked a few with good reviews, planning to check them out when he had time tomorrow.

「...」

After finishing his nightly self-care routine, Chen Jue went to bed and slept soundly. The next day, he woke up, drank water, took his supplements as usual, and then went upstairs to massage his eyes and ears.

Almost an hour’s work yielded 0.01 free attribute points. His Skill Level for [Ear Health Exercises] had also skyrocketed with continuous practice, triggering another upgrade.

——————

[DING~]

[Skill Level has reached 100%. Skill Level increased.]

[Ear Health Exercises Lv2→Lv3]

[Your knowledge of ear acupressure points has reached a profound level. Your massage technique has been greatly enhanced.]

[Due to long-term stimulation from ear massage, your atrophied auricular muscles have been effectively exercised. Your hearing has increased significantly.]

[Constitution Attribute +0.01]

——————

Seeing the notification on the panel, Chen Jue grinned. "Another Perfect Skill! My hearing really is getting better and better!"

He closed his eyes and focused, parsing the ambient noises. His range of hearing now extended from the radio in the security booth at the gate all the way to a car starting on the dead-end street outside the complex.

He could distinguish the roar and shudder of the cold-starting engine, the puff from the exhaust pipe, and the squeal of the tires against the pavement, all woven together.

On top of that, Chen Jue discovered that if he consciously controlled his auricular muscles, his ears would actually start to twitch and flap like two little fans.

If his ears were any bigger, could he just take flight by flapping them?

’Still not quite there. If I could fold them inward and close off my ear canals, they’d be natural noise-canceling headphones,’ Chen Jue thought, trying to wiggle his ears a few more times.

He discovered that changing the angle of his ears enhanced sound reception from a specific direction, which was as fun as aiming a radar dish.

After spending some time figuring out the mechanics, Chen Jue finally understood. These seemingly useless, vestigial organs all had a reason for existing.

In a primitive, hunter-gatherer society or a war-torn era, this superhuman hearing alone would allow him to survive longer than anyone else.

But modern society had moved beyond its primitive roots; there was no need for wilderness survival, so this extraordinary hearing had no practical application.

"It’s better to have it than not!"

’Who knows, maybe it’ll come in handy someday?’ Chen Jue comforted himself. Having mastered the skill of wiggling his ears for directional sound enhancement, he went downstairs and drove to the park for his morning workout.

「...」

Wu Fang appeared to have fully recovered from the flu. This morning, she was wearing a thick sweatsuit and slowly practicing Tai Chi beside the chess tables.

When she saw Chen Jue approaching, Wu Fang said a few words to Elder Wu, then jogged over, her face slightly flushed. "Want to do our morning workout together?"

"Of course!" Chen Jue’s eyes lit up. He noticed Teacher Wu was becoming more and more forward with him.

He greeted Elder Wu, who gave him a look that clearly said, "You’re a lucky brat." Then, Chen Jue and Wu Fang walked and talked as they headed into the grove of trees.

They didn’t go to Zhao Jianguo’s Tai Chi Class, but instead to the lakeside lawn where they often filmed their videos.

Wu Fang was carrying a Red Tassel Spear with a white wax wood shaft. It looked like she wasn’t practicing the Rope Dart today and planned to switch things up.

Before starting her spear practice, however, Wu Fang stuck the Red Tassel Spear into the lawn and walked over to a ginkgo tree to begin her warm-up.

First, she bent into a low stance, then performed forward and backward somersaults. Afterward, she propped her leg up on the tree and went straight into a standing split, pressing down to stretch.

These were all fundamental Martial Arts exercises for building flexibility. If anyone else had been doing them, Chen Jue would have offered a few words of sincere admiration at most.

After all, aside from the somersaults, which he could at least attempt, he couldn’t do any of the other moves.

But seeing Teacher Wu’s graceful figure performing such provocative moves as splits, Chen Jue felt his throat go dry and couldn’t help but swallow. ’Those ridiculously long legs! And all these secret positions... Teacher Wu really is the GOAT!’

Teacher Wu must have noticed his inappropriate gaze. She did a back flip into a split, her legs pressing flat against the lawn. Straightening her upper body, her face slightly flushed, she asked curiously, "How do you usually practice your fundamentals?"

The question made Chen Jue blush as well. What martial arts fundamentals? He didn’t know any!

His Skill Level in things like Darts had been raised through pure brute force. He didn’t know any of these fundamental exercises for whole-body flexibility. He had no choice but to confess, "My flexibility is terrible. I mostly just train my muscles."

After explaining, Chen Jue straightened his back, loosened his wrist and ankle joints, and started doing various fancy push-ups on the lawn.

Since there were no pull-up bars around, he couldn’t show off the full potential of Street Fitness; push-ups were all he could really practice.

However, after seeing the ginkgo tree Wu Fang had used for her leg stretches, Chen Jue went over, propped his feet against the trunk, and began to attempt handstand push-ups.

This was a progression exercise for the planche, one of the five god-tier skills in Street Fitness. Once he mastered unsupported handstand push-ups, performing a full planche wouldn’t be far behind.

"You’re being too reckless!"

"You’ll easily injure yourself training like that."

Wu Fang was a high school physical education teacher, after all; she could see his reckless nature at a glance.

Squeezing her legs together, she rose from her split, standing up from the lawn as straight as a pencil. She then walked to Chen Jue’s side to correct his form on the handstand push-ups.

She patiently corrected the support points in his core, the elevation of his legs, and the posture of his shoulders and arms.

Once Chen Jue had adapted to the correct handstand push-up posture, Wu Fang began to assist him. She carefully held his legs and walked them forward, moving him away from the tree’s support. He moved a considerable distance across the lawn, as if walking on his hands.

After a few assisted laps of "hand-walking" back and forth, Wu Fang took the opportunity to let go. She saw that Chen Jue could hold a stable handstand even without her support. Seeing the results of her coaching, she smiled knowingly. "Success!"

Chen Jue was also completely focused, having long since put aside his earlier indecent thoughts. He carefully concentrated on the feeling and technique of the unsupported handstand, then attempted 10 standard handstand push-ups.

He didn’t expect the panel to display a notification at that moment:

——————

[DING~]

[You have completed a high-intensity anaerobic exercise. Your muscle groups have been fully exercised.]

[Prolonged inverted activity has stimulated your inner ear’s vestibular system. Your cerebellum has been effectively exercised, and your sense of balance has slightly increased.]

[Strength Attribute +0.01]

[Spirit Attribute +0.01]