035 Frozen in the Air (Asking for Follows and Recommendation Votes!)

Which is more efficient—practicing martial arts or training the body? When Chen Anquan practiced Tai Chi sword, he could gain about five to ten points of proficiency per hour. But physical training allowed him to accumulate 0.01 to 0.02 unused attribute points in an hour—translating to ten to twenty proficiency points. By any measure, physical training was clearly more reliable!

What’s more, training the body didn’t just generate unused attribute points—other attributes could also improve. “Why bother with fancy martial arts at all? I should just focus on strengthening my body!” Chen Anquan grinned, relieved that he’d discovered the secret to success in time—otherwise, how many needless detours would he have taken?

Today’s workout had been excellent, but it took a heavy toll on his arms, which still ached and felt uncomfortably swollen. “Looks like I’ll need to prepare some medicinal wine for injuries,” he thought. Crafting such remedies was no challenge for Chen Anquan; he knew plenty of recipes, and any one of them would work wonders.

He walked to the kitchen, took three thumb-sized pieces of prepared rehmannia from a bamboo tray, and chewed them. The taste wasn’t great—a touch of bitterness lingered. This was the first batch of nine-times-steamed rehmannia, the purest ingredient for Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill, and not something money could buy on the open market.

Soon, he could feel a warm current spreading from his abdomen to every corner of his body. The soreness in his arms began to fade. With his eyes half-closed, he marveled at how quickly his body recovered—what a wonderful feeling!

After resting at home for over half an hour, Chen Anquan had no intention of being idle. Frog jumps must continue! Leaving the house, he headed to the basketball court, where the familiar large stone that had accompanied him through many workouts still lay.

“I wonder if this twenty-kilogram stone is still useful to me.” Having spent the entire day carrying three-hundred-kilogram loads, Chen Anquan suspected the stone might no longer challenge him. Still, it was worth a try.

He approached, bent down, and gripped the stone with both hands. But as he heaved, he overcompensated and fell backward. “Whoa—!” Only then did he realize he’d overestimated the stone, and with too much force, he lost his balance.

In a flash, he caught himself by planting his hands on the ground, his body stretched out like a plank, suspended in midair with only his arms supporting him. He hadn’t expected to perform such an incredible move, and to find it so effortless!

He bent his arms, then pushed off with explosive power, launching himself into a turn midair before landing back on his hands, body still held aloft. “Why not try…?” A bold idea flashed through his mind—breakdancing.

He planted his hands, thrust himself up, twisted his waist, and landed steadily on both feet. Taking out his phone, he searched for breakdancing tutorials. Most impressive videos were from abroad, and while his English wasn’t great, he could roughly make sense of them.

He found a video of a skilled black breakdancer. The performer leaned back, arms extended behind, hands pressing into the floor. Then, legs rose as the entire body balanced on the arms. But that wasn’t all—the dancer straightened like a black steel pen stabbing the ground, spun on his hands, and then launched himself upward, spinning rapidly in the air. As his head nearly touched the floor, his arms pressed down, shoulders and torso whipping around, arms alternating for support—like a flash of lightning.

“What a cool move! Both stylish and an excellent workout!” Inspired, Chen Anquan began to imitate the moves, practicing on the cement until he finally got the hang of it. Sweat poured down, soaking the ground, as he threw himself into the routines like a loach flopping on dry land.

“Not bad!” He thoroughly enjoyed these movements.

Next, he watched as the dancer performed a one-handed freeze, body suspended high above the ground. This move was called the “air freeze.” Chen Anquan pushed off with both hands, kicked up with his legs, and supported himself in midair, then let go with one hand. Feeling the strain on his supporting arm, he attempted single-hand jumps like the dancer.

“One, two, three…” Bit by bit, he hopped forward, balancing on one hand along the court’s edge.

Under the night sky, a villager passing by the pond caught sight of him by moonlight and was startled to see someone doing a one-handed handstand. “Good heavens! Doing handstands in the middle of the night—enough to scare someone to death!” The old woman was shocked, then even more bewildered: someone was not only balancing on one hand but hopping along the court in that position.

“Whose child are you? You’re amazing!” the woman exclaimed, approaching Chen Anquan with curiosity.

Chen Anquan glanced at the unfamiliar woman. “Auntie, I’m just working out. My name is Chen Anquan—I’ve only recently moved back here.”

“Take care, then.”

“Thank you.” He replied politely, then continued his single-handed handstand hops.

The breakdancing air freeze had sparked a surge of inspiration for him—one-handed hops, five-finger handstand hops, single-finger handstand hops, headstand hops… He even considered using his tongue. Suddenly, Chen Anquan realized how many extreme ways there were to train his body.

An hour later, he was utterly drained, unable to hold a handstand any longer. Glancing at the time, he saw it was after eight—time for another shower and a restful lie-down while he assigned his attribute points.

By the time he lay in bed, his attribute panel had soared:

Name: Chen Anquan
Age: 24
Strength: 1.77
Agility: 1.54
Spirit: 3
Constitution: 1.90
Unused Attribute Points: 0.16
(Skills omitted.)

Agility had increased by 0.08, strength and constitution by 0.04 each, and unused points by 0.08. Clearly, the high-difficulty breakdance moves were especially effective for boosting agility. That made sense—air freeze demanded more coordination than raw strength, so increasing agility was only natural.