222: Chapter 223 The Tenth Set of Broadcast Gymnastics: Foundation Building Chapter

6:00 AM.

As the sky was just beginning to brighten, a melody, both familiar and strange, rang out in every corner of the Dragon Country.

It was not the old version of radio calisthenics music, which had a lively rhythm and was full of the feeling of the times.

Instead, it was a deep, ethereal, and bizarre tune that could even make one feel numb all over if listened to for too long. It sounded like an ensemble of some ancient musical instruments, with every syllable seemingly carrying a special frequency that struck against one's eardrums.

"Ahem, students, pay attention."

Through the school's loudspeaker came the PE teacher's voice, which even carried a hint of trembling; clearly, he had not yet gotten used to this sudden change in style.

"Starting from today, the between-class exercises will officially be changed to the 'Tenth Set of Radio Calisthenics—Foundation Building Stage,' jointly released by Chenxing Technology and Longke Academy."

"The key to the movements lies in guiding the Qi."

"Everyone... please make sure to practice well; this is the key to whether you can strengthen your body in the future!"

On the playground, thousands of students wearing school uniforms looked at each other.

They looked at the man standing on the high platform on the big screen—Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen was wearing a white practice suit today, looking no different from the old grandpas doing Tai Chi in the park next door. But combined with his young, handsome face and that sense of mystery—the "I'm very strong but I won't say it" vibe—he unexpectedly exuded the air of a grandmaster.

"God Jiang is leading the exercises himself?"

"Holy crap, how much is his appearance fee? How did the school manage to hire him?"

"Haven't you noticed? God Jiang's movements... they look so strange, but why do I feel my whole body heating up after staring at them for a while?"

Jiang Chen did not waste words.

He stood on the high platform, took a deep breath, spread his feet slightly, lowered his center of gravity, and performed an extremely standard opening stance.

"Ready—begin!"

As the music started, Jiang Chen moved.

His movements were not fast; they could even be said to be slow. But every move and every stance seemed to contain some inexplicable rhythm. When he raised his arms, it created a visible fluctuation of airflow; when he shifted his center of gravity, the concrete floor beneath his feet even emitted a faint, low grinding sound.

This was not calisthenics.

This was performing a set of extremely profound martial arts!

"First section, stretching exercises!"

Jiang Chen's voice spread across the campus through the loudspeaker, "Hands upward, connecting with the Qi of heaven and earth, guiding the meridians to flow smoothly!"

Below the platform, the students followed along.

The boys who were originally giggling suddenly found their arms becoming heavy after doing a few movements. And when that soreness disappeared, it was replaced by a cool current of air that rushed directly to the top of their heads along their meridians.

"Holy crap..."

A boy in the front row touched his face in shock, "Why do I feel like my vision has sharpened? It was still a bit blurry when I looked at the blackboard just now, and now I can even see the dust on it clearly?"

"You too? I thought I was hallucinating!"

The classmate next to him was even more exaggerated; he was clenching his fist hard, feeling that his right hand, which usually struggled even to hold chopsticks, was now surging with an inexhaustible brute force.

The atmosphere of the entire playground became strange at this moment. Jiang Chen led the exercises on the platform, his posture extremely standard, with the angle of every joint as precise as an instrument. While practicing, he didn't forget to provide "technical guidance" through the loudspeaker:

"The one in the third row from the back, bend your legs more!"

"And you, the one wearing the red scarf, sink your Qi into your Dantian; don't be doing the Yangge dance here with me!"

"If this set of exercises isn't practiced properly, you won't even be able to run when you want to mine on Centaurus in the future!"

His punchable "if you don't practice it, you're the ones losing out" attitude made the students below grit their teeth in hatred, yet they had no choice but to hold their breath and desperately follow the movements.

Because that exhilarating feeling of bodily functions being rapidly awakened was simply too addictive!

Meanwhile, in an old residential square not far away, the style was even more bizarrely unwatchable.

This was a gathering place for retired grandpas and grandmas; usually at this time, they would either be doing Tai Chi or dancing to Phoenix Legend.

But today, everyone's movements were surprisingly consistent. It was a slow, elegant, yet indescribable movement.

"Ouch!"

Grandpa Wang, who usually had chronic cold legs and needed a cane to walk, suddenly threw away his cane after finishing a section of "chest expansion exercises."

He widened his cloudy old eyes, looking at his legs, his face full of disbelief: "This... this isn't right!" "Why... why don't my legs hurt anymore?"

He tentatively kicked his legs and hopped on the spot twice.

It actually didn't hurt at all! He even felt as light as a swallow all over!

The grandma next to him was even more outrageous.

Her two-hundred-degree reading glasses, which she had worn for ten years, now seemed as if they were covered in a layer of oil, making everything look hazy. She took off her glasses, stared at the bulletin board on the distant gate, and said with a trembling voice: "I... I can see it clearly!" "That's Unit 3... that's the door number for Unit 4! I haven't been able to see those words clearly for ten years!"

The entire square was in an uproar.

Grandpas and grandmas looked at their hands and touched their waists; the fear of aging had been forcibly cured in the face of this set of "radio calisthenics."

"God Jiang has performed a miracle!"

"This isn't calisthenics! This is Hua Tuo reincarnated!"

"Tomorrow! I must come again tomorrow! I want to learn this whole set!"

The news spread across the entire city as if it had grown wings.

In just one morning, the search volume for the "Tenth Set of Radio Calisthenics" on the internet directly surpassed all entertainment news.

Countless people waited in front of their televisions just to watch those few minutes of instructional video.

Some workers who had graduated many years ago, in order to cultivate that so-called "feeling of Qi," even dragged their exhausted bodies to secretly follow Jiang Chen's video in the office.

"Buddy, what are you doing?" A colleague pushed the door open and looked at him in horror as he stood on one leg in the office with his hands supporting the sky.

"Practicing!" The worker said with a fanatical expression, "Don't bother me! As long as I master this move, I can work overtime here until dawn without feeling sleepy!"

Jiang Chen was currently sitting in the base command room, watching the spectacle of the whole country "practicing" on the monitors, and sighed helplessly.

"Old Qin," he said into the communicator, "Look, it's not that I want to stir up trouble, it's that these people are too competitive."

"This is just the Foundation Building Stage; if they actually master it, we won't even be able to hire security guards in the future, because everyone will be able to split bricks with their bare hands."

On the other end of the phone, General Qin Weiguo was holding the test report, his voice trembling slightly: "Don't give me that nonsense! Jiang Chen! Tell me the truth..."

"Which immortal cultivation planet did you steal this cultivation technique from?!"

"Why did a few soldiers in the army, after practicing it yesterday, directly flatten a steel plate several centimeters thick?!"

Jiang Chen chuckled: "I told you it was for physical strengthening."

"As for the steel plate... maybe the quality of our company's steel plate isn't good enough?"

"Alright, stop dwelling on this." Jiang Chen turned his gaze to the screen, where expedition teams were already beginning to assemble on the moon.

"Let everyone practice."

"After all, when we really get to the battlefield..."

"This is the tough battle we are truly going to face."