505: Chapter 505 The Path to Extraordinary Skills: Upgrading Running Skills

Chapter 505: The Path of Transcendence, Running Skill Upgrade

In the early hours of the morning, the city was still fast asleep.

The old Tubular Building complex on Jiuchang Street was immersed in a grayish-blue haze.

Floating in the air were the lingering smells of cooking oil from the previous night, along with the dampness rising from the sewers.

The dim street lamps had yet to go out, and the neon lights of the distant business district flickered in and out of the fog, resembling leftover shadows in a dream.

Occasionally, a sanitation worker would ride past on a tricycle, the clicking sound of the wheels crushing the pavement echoing far across the empty street.

At this moment of utter silence.

On the rooftop of one of the nine-story Tubular Buildings, a vigorous figure had long since begun a self-abasing arduous cultivation in the dark.

He was doing a handstand, supporting his entire body steadily on the edge of a concrete water tank with only a single index finger of his right hand.

Viewed from afar, he looked like a straight flagpole firmly planted there.

"One hundred and forty-eight... one hundred and forty-nine... one hundred and fifty."

As he silently counted in his mind, Fang Cheng's right index finger slightly curved, and the core muscles of his waist and abdomen tightened.

His entire body was like a fully drawn stiff bow, continuously completing Handstand Push-ups in the air.

"Hoo—"

A breath of stale air was exhaled, piercing through the night like a sharp sword.

Fang Cheng twisted his waist and abdomen, lightly flipped and leaped, and stood straight again.

His bare, robust body turned slightly red in the night wind.

Although not exaggeratedly bulky, every muscle looked like refined steel that had been tempered a thousand times, with smooth and dense lines.

Fine beads of sweat slid down his spine, gathering at his waist dimples, outlining a heart-palpitating sense of power.

Looking up toward the east, the horizon had just revealed a faint trace of pale white, dyeing the layers of clouds lead-gray.

"It's only a little past five, and it's already about to get bright."

Fang Cheng glanced at the sky and calculated silently in his heart.

Having just completed 6 sets totaling 900 single-finger Handstand Push-ups, he had finally settled four of the six fitness skills.

But the remaining tasks were still heavy.

The single-leg Squats were still short by two sets totaling 1,200 reps, and the single-arm Pull-ups needed another three sets, which meant 1,500 reps.

Ever since returning to Dongdu, Fang Cheng had significantly increased the intensity of his daily training, and the number of sets and reps for each skill practice had increased.

Trying to complete all fitness programs in about an hour like before was obviously a bit of a stretch.

Moreover, as the summer solstice approached, days grew longer and nights shorter, so future morning exercise times seemed like they would need to be moved even earlier.

Fang Cheng withdrew his thoughts and lightly leaped down from the top of the two-meter-high water tank.

With bright eyes, he swept across the crisscrossing water pipes on the rooftop, quickly searching for his target.

Due to years of disrepair, the surfaces of these pipes were covered with mottled rust and paint, appearing quite cold and rigid in the dark.

Finally, Fang Cheng's vision locked onto an iron pipe with a diameter of over thirty centimeters.

This pipe was positioned more than three meters off the ground, as wide as a rock face without any protrusions to grip.

In rock climbing gyms, similar props were also called "slanted wall Pull-up racks".

They were specially supplied to high-level athletes for pursuing ultimate explosive power training.

For ordinary enthusiasts, however, it was a nightmare-level challenge.

Because standard horizontal bar Pull-ups relied on the palm's gripping force on the crossbar.

With such thick pipes, the palms could not close at all, and one had to rely entirely on the pressure forcibly exerted by the fingertips against the pipe wall to create friction, thereby gaining a support point.

Even world-class rock climbers could be called a Great Master if they could do five standard Pull-ups under such slope conditions.

But to Fang Cheng, this was just daily training.

He took two steps of approach and leaped forward.

Snap!

The five fingers of his right hand hooked onto the surface of the iron pipe like steel hooks.

The strength of up to 65 points endowed him with superhuman finger strength, cooperating with the "Absolute Control" special effect inherent to the Pull-up skill.

The moment his fingertips made contact with the rust, the friction was amplified tenfold, hanging there as if taking root.

His body was suspended in the air, as steady as Mount Tai.

"Begin."

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, and his fingers and latissimus dorsi exerted force in synergy.

The entire person was like a light ape, guided solely by a single hand, drawing a smooth arc in the air as his chin easily cleared the iron pipe.

Once, twice, three times...

The movements were as standard as a textbook, with a steady and rhythmic pace.

Every contraction and relaxation of his muscles allowed him to clearly feel power surging within his body.

"The intensity is still not enough..."

Fang Cheng clenched his teeth, his eyes revealing a fierce tenacity.

Although relying on the talent of "Omniscient Language" and the defense mechanism of the "Sun Heart Network", he had confidence in blocking the mental tracking of that leader of "Utopia".

But the biggest hidden danger still existed; his appearance had already been remembered by the other party.

Once Utopia cast a net across the heavens and earth to search with all its might, being found was only a matter of time.

According to the professor's previous prediction, if the other party only dispatched a few S-class cadres over, he still had the confidence to cope for a bit.

But if it was that leader who supposedly had lived for hundreds of years making a personal move...

Fang Cheng was very clear that his current self still lacked sufficient confidence and backing.

The newly born organization Illuminati needed time to take root and sprout.

And as its leader, he needed even more time to grow and transform.

During the experiment the night before yesterday, Fang Cheng successfully pulled Lin Chuqiao and Professor Ye Zhiren into the Inner Scene World.

This not only meant that the organization had a safe gathering place, but more importantly, it meant he had found a shortcut to rapidly grow stronger and realize "Inner Scene Externalization".

The more extraordinary beings connected by the "Sun Heart Network", the more massive the "spiritual food" fed back to him, and the faster the growth speed of the Inner Scene World would be.

Since those high-dimensional mysterious existences all needed to harvest spiritual food by bestowing abilities upon extraordinary beings.

Then, seizing food from their mouths, as long as he could withstand the backlash pressure from the rule level, the benefits he would gain would be unimaginable.

Through the practical experience of these past two days, Fang Cheng had personally witnessed the significant changes taking place in the Inner Scene World.

The island's area had extended outward by nearly a tenth, the originally low hills bulged upward by several meters, and even that river became increasingly wide and turbulent.

More crucially, the brightness of the light spots representing the two people's consciousness on the starry dome soared, and an unprecedentedly close connection was established with the sun symbolizing the "True Self".

With the experience of this successful attempt, combined with the theories of Ma Jianguo and Shi Chengyi, plus his own cultivation insights, Fang Cheng became even clearer on a path to break the deadlock.

That was "Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life".

Internally cultivating "Nature" meant sublimating the spirit.

Condensing the Divine Soul through the method of Visualization, gathering the Power Of Will of all living beings to expand the island, creating vitality, and pushing the Inner Scene World to evolve toward the legendary "Divine Kingdom".

This was the ladder to break through the upper limit of mortal destiny and lead to the supreme divine throne.

Externally refining "Life" meant tempering the Physical Body.

Training the Physical Body into an indestructible cauldron, providing a steady stream of Qi and blood nourishment, bearing the increasingly massive Divine Soul, and laying the most solid material foundation for future "Inner Scene Externalization" to interfere with reality.

Just as the ancient saying goes: "Cultivating nature without cultivating life makes it hard for the myriad kalpas of yin spirits to enter sainthood; cultivating life without cultivating nature is like having family wealth without a master's handle."

If the spirit was a skyscraper, then the Physical Body was the foundation.

If the foundation was unstable, the higher the building was built, the faster it would collapse in the future.

Without a Physique comparable to gods and demons, even if one stole the power of "God", it would still be difficult to touch that heaven-defying Law Domain.

The ultimate result could only be the disintegration of the Physical Body and the Soul turning to ashes and dust.

Only by advancing both side by side could one break the shackles of the human body and truly achieve transcendence into sainthood.

Thoughts reaching this point, the light in Fang Cheng's eyes became increasingly fervent.

"Come again!"

With a low roar, he once again accelerated the frequency of his Pull-up movements.

[You are engaging in high-intensity exercise, Physique increased by 0.001 points]

[You are engaging in high-intensity exercise, strength increased by 0.001 points]

...

Numerical information of prompts continuously jumped on the panel, and Fang Cheng tirelessly shed his sweat.

This solid pleasure of growing stronger earned through sweat was like a warm current driving away the gloom that had shrouded his heart for days bit by bit.

Meanwhile, the ultra-high difficulty single-arm slanted wall Pull-up had a training efficiency far exceeding ordinary methods of training.

The Pull-up practice that originally required 500 reps per set now only needed a little over 100 reps to achieve the same load effect.

After finishing a set, Fang Cheng dropped to the ground and then practiced single-leg Squats.

Then he switched to his left hand and continued practicing single-arm slanted wall Pull-ups.

Time quietly slipped away in the constantly repeated exercise.

The red sun in the eastern horizon finally burst forth, and the golden sunlight pierced through the morning mist, shining on Fang Cheng's bare upper body.

At this moment, his whole body's muscles flushed with a healthy rosy glow due to congestion, and fine sweat beads gleamed brightly under the sunlight.

"Hoo—"

Finishing the final single-arm slanted wall Pull-up, Fang Cheng let out a long breath and slowly straightened his body.

Although the morning exercise intensity had increased a lot compared to before, he was not exhausted because of it.

Except for his breathing being slightly rapid, his expression remained calm, as if that inhuman self-abasing training just now was merely a warm-up.

The light blue light screen slowly unfolded before his eyes.

Fang Cheng inspected the gains of today's morning exercise.

The experience values of the six fitness skills had all increased significantly.

An increase of at least ten points and nearly twenty points at most for each item was quite considerable.

This was the charm of calisthenics.

Even lacking equipment assistance, as long as one continuously challenged higher-difficulty movement techniques, one could approach the limits of the human body.

After reviewing the gained experience, Fang Cheng's gaze swept across the panel, continuing to check the progress bars of other skills.

"Running is still short of the last 4 points of experience value."

"Perhaps, today there is hope to achieve an upgrade..."

He muttered to himself, his spirits lifting.

By then, whether obtaining new skill special effects or precious free attribute points, it would allow his combat power to leap to another level once more.

Moving his line of sight further down, Fang Cheng's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly, noticing a line of small text annotations behind the Pull-up skill:

[When your strength attribute breaks through 70 points, this skill will undergo new changes and unlock a hidden special effect.]

Fang Cheng's eyes flashed.

His current strength attribute was 65 points, only 5 points away from the 70-point mark.

If he was lucky, perhaps the attribute points rewarded by upgrading Running could help him cross this threshold.

"Hum—"

The sound of a car starting came from downstairs, breaking the tranquility of early morning.

Fang Cheng reined in his thoughts and looked around.

The sky was gradually brightening, white smoke rose from the coal stove of the breakfast stand downstairs, and early-rising residents across the street pushed open their windows one after another.

The originally silent Jiuchang Street gradually gained a bustling atmosphere of mortal life.

Fang Cheng did not delay much.

To save time, his figure flashed, and he nimbly vaulted over the rooftop railing.

Then he slid down the drainage pipe silently, slipping into his own window like a homing swift.

The bedroom remained dim, and his mother's breathing in the next room was long and steady, obviously still fast asleep.

Fang Cheng quickly changed into a dark blue sportswear outfit and put on his Running shoes.

Only then did he lightly open the door again and walk out.

Next, his target was Jiangbin Park a few kilometers away.

...

The park at six in the morning was shrouded in a thin layer of milky-white river fog, and the air was moist and fresh.

There was no hustle and bustle here, only the figures of a few morning exercisers who loved fitness.

Several elderly people dressed in white practicing uniforms were slowly pushing Tai Chi under the willow trees by the river.

Occasionally, a young person wearing headphones would stride across the track, shedding sweat and making rapid gasping sounds.

Fang Cheng mixed into this sparse morning exercise team, adjusted his breathing, and deliberately suppressed the force under his feet.

With his current terrifying, monster-like physical fitness, he didn't dare to run at full speed at all.

Otherwise, every step pushing off the ground would be comparable to a pile driver's heavy hammer bombardment.

If he were to step deep pits into the expensive plastic runway, he would have to take the blame for destroying public property.

Fang Cheng's current state was like a brilliant dancer.

Accurately controlling the contraction and relaxation of every muscle while Running, he always stably maintained his speed at the level of a professional long-distance runner.

This was not only exercising physical fitness, but also refining minute control over strength.

He shuttled and ran in the morning wind, watching the scenery beside him flash backward quickly, feeling the pulse of the city, yet his heart was exceptionally calm.

Having run for about half an hour, an elderly man also morning Running caught Fang Cheng's attention.

The old man was wearing a tank top, and although his hair was gray, his bronze-colored sinewy muscles were quite solid, and his pace was steady and powerful; he was obviously someone who practiced martial arts.

He seemed to have been following behind Fang Cheng for a while, trying to compare notes.

But no matter how he lengthened his stride and accelerated to surpass, he was always left a dozen meters behind Fang Cheng, unable to catch up no matter what.

Finally, at a turn, Fang Cheng slowed down his speed, preparing to adjust his rhythm.

The old man chased up panting heavily, gave Fang Cheng a thumbs-up, and praised sincerely:

"Young man, this stamina is impressive! I've followed you for five kilometers, and your pace hasn't dropped a single bit, without even panting heavily."

He wiped the sweat from his face, his eyes full of appreciation:

"Nowadays, it's rare to find young people whose physical fitness is as robust as yours!"

Fang Cheng turned his head, looking at the old man who was covered in sweat yet full of vigor, and also responded with a smile:

"You're not bad either, old man, still going strong in your old age."

A few simple pleasantries, carrying goodwill and encouragement between strangers, added a touch of interest to the boring morning run.

Another half an hour passed.

When the sun rose completely and the river surface rippled with sparkling light, Fang Cheng suddenly stopped his steps under a willow tree.

The panel before his eyes suddenly emerged, blooming with an incomparably brilliant radiance.