CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: HIDDEN FEATURES OF ATTRIBUTES, PERHAPS THIS IS DOG HANGING

Tightrope walking.

It originated in the Han Dynasty.

It evolved from the ancient act of walking on ropes in various performances.

Performers needed to walk back and forth on a rope tied at both ends and perform various actions, such as dancing, somersaulting, standing on their heads, riding bicycles, and so on.

Mastering this stunt sport is extremely difficult. It requires not only sufficient courage and perseverance but also amazing balance and highly sophisticated power control. All four elements are indispensable.

If one tries to walk on a tightrope without proper training, the inevitable result would be falling haphazardly and embarrassingly.

As for practicing martial arts on a rope and performing a complete set of moves? It is countless times harder than other rope activities, to the point of being outrageous.

After busying himself with his morning training partner, he earned 1 Ability Point from a weightlifting recommendation. Zhang Beixing decided to take the afternoon off to ponder the techniques to improve his martial arts skills on the tightrope.

The first piece of equipment he chose was the horizontal bar on the playground. Aside from being a bit thicker, it wasn’t much different from a tightrope. Zhang Beixing wanted to see how far he could go with his current condition.

At first, he stood stably since the horizontal bar was thick, offering a large footrest area. But as soon as he started practicing punches, his feet slipped, and he fell off.

Fortunately, he had anticipated this possibility before climbing up and had moved several mats around to cushion his fall. Otherwise, just from that fall, even if he didn’t die, he wouldn’t be much better off.

Fuck, is this thing really that difficult? Bro, you just got on and you’re off already?

Rubbing his head as he climbed off the mat, Zhang Beixing looked at the horizontal bar shimmering with golden light under the sun, somewhat incredulously. He had thought that with his Constitution of 79, he could at least manage to practice punches on the horizontal bar for a second or two.

But as it turned out, the moment Zhang Beixing got on was the moment he fell off. The transition was seamless. It was truly outrageous.

Of course, it would be much better if he didn’t practice punches.

Damn it, I don’t believe this; I’ll try again!

Zhang Beixing felt it was unreasonable for him to be this weak. So he climbed back up.

And then, once again, not surprisingly, he slipped off.

Two falls in a short period. This wasn’t just a poor start. It was like setting out and, WHOOSH, falling into a ditch after just a couple of steps.

Faced with this situation, Zhang Beixing’s temper flared up. He fiercely glared at the horizontal bar, fuming and clenching his fists.

Then, he picked up those mats and stormed off to another piece of equipment to train.

Zhang Beixing wasn’t some reckless fool, after all. Knowing I can’t do it with my current ability, yet still persisting—what’s the point? Is life too comfortable, or have I eaten too much? Making myself uncomfortable for no reason—that’s just pure masochism.

I still overestimated myself a bit; I’ve got to take things one step at a time! First, let’s look up how to train balance, Zhang Beixing thought as he walked.

Then he tucked the mats under his arm and pulled out his phone to start searching.

And wouldn’t you know it, his search returned quite a lot. Both scientific fitness and Martial Arts Training methods were available.

In the end, Zhang Beixing thought it over and decided to adopt the Martial Arts Training approach for learning. The reason being, Martial Arts Training was a bit more challenging, and he believed the efficiency was a bit better.

Zhang Beixing first went to the warehouse and found a broken table to practice on. A normal table has four legs that are all the same length. This broken table, however, had two shorter legs which didn’t provide enough support.

As a result, before Zhang Beixing even stepped on it, the table began to wobble and seemed about to collapse. Scared, Zhang Beixing quickly used his hands and feet, and after a long struggle, he finally stabilized the table.

Then he stood up.

THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD—

The table swung from side to side, as if it were about to fall apart. Zhang Beixing’s body was also shaking violently.

After standing for just half a minute, Zhang Beixing couldn’t hold on any longer. He proactively jumped down and managed not to fall.

He touched his head; a layer of fine sweat had already formed on his forehead. This made Zhang Beixing silently marvel at how exhausting this was, and he couldn’t help but reflect, A good foundation in the lower body is truly essential!

If a broken table can trouble me so much, what about an actual opponent, especially one skilled in leg techniques? What if I were in an even more unstable environment?

In ancient times, tools and equipment were scarce, far less developed than in modern times with so many exercise machines. But the methods ancient people devised for lower body training were quite practical.

This method of using a table for training was indeed an old and common way to exercise lower body strength. Passed down through the ages, it was still in use, and after trying it, Zhang Beixing had to praise its effectiveness.

"Again!" Zhang Beixing muttered softly, then climbed up again.

THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD—

Amid the violent shaking of the table, Zhang Beixing began training his lower body.

In the following days, Zhang Beixing adjusted his schedule. Previously, he practiced boxing in the morning and spent the rest of the time sparring and exercising until evening. Now, he moved his sparring and exercise time to between nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. The rest of the time was devoted entirely to practicing boxing and training his lower body.

Although this meant he earned less money and the speed at which he acquired Ability Points decreased slightly, his progress in lower body training advanced rapidly, providing some consolation to Zhang Beixing.

Just one day later, after numerous failures, Zhang Beixing was able to stand on the broken table with composure.

Then, over the course of three more days, Zhang Beixing tried to perform the Yue Family’s combination punches while standing on the table.

Persistence pays off. Finally, today, before nightfall, Zhang Beixing was able to complete a set of Yue Family combination punches on the table without falling.

His rapid progress could be attributed to two main factors. Firstly, Zhang Beixing’s high Mental Attribute meant he possessed strong comprehension and learned new things quickly. Secondly, it was due to the recent days spent specifically training his lower body.

Zhang Beixing discovered the hidden functions of attributes.

Power, Constitution, Mental.

These three major attributes might seem ordinary, but they actually encompassed profound abilities.

Like Power, for example, beyond its basic and easily understandable surface meaning, it also included limb control, explosive power, muscle endurance, and flexibility, among other things...

Constitution is similar, encompassing stamina, endurance, bodily coordination, metabolic rate, self-recovery speed, cardiopulmonary functions, balance, stability, etc...

Mental, needless to say, is even more complex. If detailed, it would be more intricate than the other two combined.

Normally, when people aim to improve themselves, what they enhance are these more detailed sub-attributes. For instance, running improves endurance, stamina, speed, metabolic rate...

But Zhang Beixing’s point allocations resulted in all-encompassing, comprehensive improvements! With just one click, immediate changes would appear in his body. Some of these changes were overt, while others were covert. The difference lay in that you could see the former for yourself. The latter, however, required you to gradually explore on your own.

Zhang Beixing had never trained in this direction before, so he had never noticed it. Now, as Zhang Beixing began this training, those covert changes naturally began to manifest.

This was also why Zhang Beixing was able to make such huge progress in such a short time. Accumulating strength for a powerful release!

Having come down from the broken table, Zhang Beixing wiped his sweat and took a deep breath. "Perhaps, this is what they call a cheat code!" he said.