Chapter 36

The night was slightly cool.

After Zhao Futu saw Aunt Lan off, it was already around eight o'clock in the evening. Aunt Lan lived in a nearby residential area, which was only a seven or eight-minute walk from here. After returning to his room, Zhao Futu first let out a sigh of relief, then took out the 100,000 yuan. He put half of it into a small box under the bed and stuffed the other half into his pocket.

He locked the door and left the room, heading towards the nearest Construction Bank.

There were 24-hour ATMs near the bank. He deposited 50,000 yuan into his account, checked the balance, and then turned to walk towards the night market. He bought a few items he needed at the night market and hurried home to log onto the internet. He then sent a message to an acquaintance, indicating that he would take the piece of Lantian jade, and the money could be transferred to his account at any time.

The deal was quickly finalized.

There was still over 10,000 yuan left in his card. Zhao Futu then clicked on the online shopping page and found the page for high-quality imitation weapons. After about ten minutes of selection, he finally found what he wanted. It was a finely crafted German half-sword, almost identical to the long sword he used in the space, with first-class craftsmanship and quality, forged from modern alloy steel, specifically for cold weapon enthusiasts to collect.

The half-sword was unopened, and the price was not cheap. Zhao Futu haggled with the customer service representative for a long time before finally getting it for 9,800 RMB!

The goods would be delivered to his home the next day, and the customer service representative assured him that the quality was definitely top-notch in the country!

By the time he finished these tasks, it was already around nine o'clock.

Zhao Futu had slept all day and was not at all sleepy. He decided to look up information online, reading about movies, martial arts, weapons, and survival and combat skills in the wild. He continued reading until around two o'clock in the morning, when he finally felt a bit tired. He lit a stick of sandalwood incense in the study and sat cross-legged to practice breathing exercises until dawn.

In the early morning.

Around five o'clock, Zhao Futu got dressed, washed up, and then went downstairs to buy some breakfast.

It was still very early, and there were not many people in the residential area, but some people were already heading to the park for exercise. The park was too crowded, so Zhao Futu thought for a moment and turned to a small garden behind the residential area. In the center of the small garden was a square, with pine trees at each corner and a circular area in the middle, about three to four meters in diameter, with neatly laid tiles.

It was quite quiet here, and there was no need to worry about being disturbed.

Zhao Futu warmed up a bit, stretched his body, and began to practice the moves he had once abandoned. He had learned a wide range of martial arts, such as Xingyi Quan, Bajiquan, and Baguazhang, and could perform a few moves of each. However, he was not very skilled in Tai Chi, as the Tai Chi seen on the market today was created by Yang Luchan to fool the wealthy and noble in Beijing. Most of them were indulged in wine and women and could not handle more vigorous boxing styles, which led to the current Tai Chi moves.

In reality, Tai Chi is very powerful, and the concept of "slow beats fast" is just a way to fool outsiders. When used in life-and-death combat, Tai Chi can be faster and more powerful than other martial arts! The slow, flowing movements are mainly to affect the opponent's judgment. The true power of Tai Chi lies in its energy, and true masters practice with stone balls daily, making it easy to manipulate an opponent in a real fight. Zhao Futu did not know much about Tai Chi, but he had a slight understanding of "coiling energy."

To put it simply, when you clench your fist and punch, the power generated is not the greatest.

You can increase your explosive power by using another method, such as clenching your fist with your palm facing up and rotating it 180 degrees to face down as you punch. This way, you can feel the fundamental difference between the two methods.

This is the exploration of the human body's joints and bones in the era before modern science.

"Ha!"

Zhao Futu warmed up his body and realized that this kind of exercise was not very effective.

This was because he was proficient in the large and small grappling techniques, and the popular "one-move-to-defeat" technique in the military originated from these. Such skills are best practiced with a partner, and practicing alone was not very effective. The current "one-move-to-defeat" technique is mostly effective against ordinary people, but if used against a skilled opponent, it would only lead to trouble.

He knew 72 moves of the large grappling technique and 36 moves of the small grappling technique, but he was only at a third or fourth-class level.

However, with fewer people practicing martial arts nowadays, his third or fourth-class level was enough to pass as a master among ordinary people. He had learned the "coiling grappling hand," which had some similarities to the coiling energy in Tai Chi. In the past, when Buddhism and Taoism competed, Buddhism won, and many martial arts secrets flowed into Shaolin Temple. Unfortunately, the monks later became complacent and discarded these skills.

It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty when Yu Dayou visited Shaolin Temple that they revived the practical staff techniques.

Chinese martial arts should never be exaggerated by scholars, as they tend to be overly obscure to appear profound.

After practicing for a while, Zhao Futu finally gave up.

A major drawback of Chinese martial arts is that they require a partner to practice with. Without someone to feed you moves, the efficiency drops by at least 50%.

"This is the 21st century; where am I supposed to find a martial arts master to practice with?" Zhao Futu felt discouraged. His body was now at peak human condition, and a single punch could generate a strong wind, which only a true martial arts master could handle.

Of course, the "strong wind" is a term used by scholars; a more straightforward way to describe it is the muffled sound of air friction when you punch with your bare arm.

"It looks like I can only improve through actual combat!" Zhao Futu took a deep breath and suddenly threw a punch, hearing a sharp, explosive sound.

His physical data had been fixed at the peak human level, and although his skills were not yet at a high level, his strength was already at the master level!

"I wonder what kind of monstrous form I will take if my attributes continue to strengthen!"

Since there was no way to improve, a little exercise would suffice. When Zhao Futu got up, he saw a brick under a pine tree. He picked it up, held it in his palm, and then split it with his hand blade. His hand blade felt slightly numb for a couple of seconds before returning to normal.

He thought to himself, "My body's recovery ability has also improved a lot, so I don't have to worry about being injured by high-intensity battles."

To understand his body's capabilities, he needed to grasp his specific combat level to control the rhythm in real combat. Although the space provided data, it was hard to understand the exact level just from a number.

How strong is 5 points of strength? How many pounds of force is a straight punch?

How strong is 10 points of strength? How much damage can a full-strength strike do?

These levels need to be tested by the practitioner, not just by looking at a number. For example, speed: how fast is 5 points of agility? How fast is 10 points of agility?

Will you overextend yourself and overshoot your target because you are too fast? Or will you accidentally run into the enemy's weapon?

After testing his strength and recovery ability, Zhao Futu began to test his speed and jumping ability, especially his jumping ability. How high can you jump with a certain amount of force? How far can you dodge to the side? These are all precise data points that need to be grasped. If you overextend yourself and fall into a ditch, it's a minor issue, but if you fall into a dangerous place, it could be fatal.

He couldn't accurately test these in the space and could only rely on his instincts in combat.

However, he couldn't always rely on his instincts. During this free time, he needed to have a more precise understanding of his body's condition and the exact data for his various abilities.

Has anyone ever collided with a tree because they didn't use enough force when jumping? Has anyone ever collided with a tree because they used too much force when jumping?

These data points cannot be accurately described by simple numbers like "1234567."

All of these things he needed to figure out on his own!